Chapter 47

At the gate of the government office.

Lin Zhao looked at the wide gate in front of him. The beams and pillars on the left and right were inscribed with big gold lacquer characters, and the first plaque on the top said “Yangzhou Government Office”.

The door was open, and the main hall not far from the open space could be vaguely seen. In front of the door, there were mighty and strong soldiers standing on the left and right.

Lin Zhao walked in front of them, and the sticks in the hands of the soldiers hit the ground together, making a threatening sound.

“The government office is the most important place, stay away from idlers!” one of the government soldiers said in a deep and majestic voice.

“The poor monk has important clues about the sale of smuggled salt and needs to report it to Zhizhou, please pass it on.”

Hearing the words, the two government soldiers looked at each other for a while and exchanged views. Although hesitant in their hearts, they turned around and went in to report.

Not long after, the mansion soldier came out and asked Lin Zhao to go in with him.

Passing through the open space full of sunshine and coming to the hall, the sight changes from bright to dark, and the warmth of the body is also covered by the shade. The government soldiers took him around to the back of the hall again.

“Report to my lord, the person has been brought.”

Zhizhou sat in front of a desk above, holding a scroll and contemplating. Hearing the voice, he raised his head and saw the familiar shiny white monk robe and the familiar indifferent eyebrows and eyes in front of him, he was surprised, “It’s you?”

“My lord, please make amends first. The poor monk actually has no clue of selling illegal salt. It’s just that the situation is urgent. In order to ask your lord to see him, you have to use this trick.”

The government soldiers on the side glared at him, but this man actually lied to the government soldiers and passed on the false information. Didn’t this make him dereliction of duty? Thinking of this, he looked up at Zhizhou, waiting for his order to take down the monk who dared to play tricks on the government.

But Zhizhou just waved his hand to make him retreat? The government soldiers retreated back to the door in confusion and continued to guard. If it wasn’t for the rule that small talk was not allowed, he would have to talk to his colleagues on the opposite side right away.

If it had been before, Zhizhou would definitely have someone take him down when he saw this monk.

At the beginning, he heard that a large number of students stayed in the temple and the miraculous deeds from the temple, which made him dislike the monk very much. He felt that he was playing tricks and tricks to make the students go astray.

But after confronting him several times in the temple, Zhizhou realized that this monk was not the person he imagined. On the contrary, his words were very philosophical and wise, and it was the carambola debate that made him realize the shortcomings of his prejudice.

Most importantly, when the results of the palace examination reached Fucheng, he suddenly realized that there were more than a dozen Jinshi under his rule! One of them became Tanhua!

The emperor also specially commended him for his style of governance and good governance, and the words faintly revealed that he would be promoted next year!

He carefully checked the rankings, and found that these dozen or so Jinshi had all retreated and studied in Qingquan Temple for three months. Through this incident, he once again realized the extraordinaryness of this temple.

The first time I changed my view of the temple was after that lottery.

When he returned home at night, he pondered over and over again. He felt that the abbot seemed to have seen through what he was asking for when he asked for a lottery. Thinking of the result of the lottery, he finally decided to give up the further approach.

My friend didn’t understand very much at the time, and he gave up on the great opportunity for promotion.

Although Zhizhou felt a little regretful, he still insisted on his own approach. At that time, he thought that it might be because he was not following the right path that he was so uneasy and believed in the result of the lottery. In fact, it was his subconscious mind telling himself to give up.

Until later, when the news came that the Minister of the Household Department recommended by his friend had been sacked, and the official who replaced him in that position had been implicated and exiled, he broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

He almost ended up in the same fate as that official. Fortunately, fortunately…

So when he saw Lin Zhao again, although Zhizhou couldn’t put down his face and respect him, he still attached great importance to Lin Zhao’s thoughts in his heart.

Even if the theory of strange powers and chaotic spirits is not mentioned, just the friendship between the dozen or so Jinshi and Lin Zhao, he still has to take into account the feelings of the other party.

“I don’t know why the abbot is so urgent?”

“A few days ago, the poor monk sent monks out to buy flowers and trees because of the construction of the temple. Yesterday, I heard that he was arrested for smuggling salt. It is a matter of life and death. The poor monk came to see you.”

Hearing that it was about the luck of illicit salt, Zhizhou was silent.

“The poor monk knows that the lord is responsible, so he must deal with it fairly. The poor monk came to see him this time, not to let the lord do favoritism, but to ask the poor monk for a chance to prove his innocence.”

“If it is just because illegal salt was found on the boat he rented, it will be determined that he was lucky enough to sell it, and his head will be beheaded. If the idlers don’t know, then, won’t slandering the adults for cruel officials and strict governance will damage the positive image of the adults for impartiality and law enforcement?”

Zhizhou pondered upon hearing the words, there is indeed a loophole. And now, knowing that the person is a monk who came out to buy salt from Qingquan Temple, the motive for smuggling salt is less. Just thinking about it, I heard Lin Zhao say again:

“The poor monk just asks the Lord to delay the execution for a while, and give the next ten days, and I will be able to investigate this matter to the bottom!”

Ten days? It’s not impossible. Zhizhou twirled his beard.

“Okay! Then I will give you ten days.”

Walking on the bluestone road under the scorching sun, Qingtou in front led Lin Zhao all the way to the side of the boat that had been moored at the pier since he was stopped by the government that day.

The tung tree, the boatman, the porter, and the illegal salt found on the boat were all seized by the government, and now there are only some flowers and trees left on the boat.

Lin Zhao walked from the deck to the cabin and inspected it carefully. There are some snow-white crystals scattered in the corner of the cabin, and next to them are flowers and trees whose roots are wrapped in mud and cloth.

That is to say, the salt is always kept together with the flowers and trees. If the tung tree and the others enter the cabin to check it, they will find it at any time during the transportation. Then the time between the salt boarding the ship and arriving at the destination must be very short, so short that the tung tree will not enter the cabin to check.

“When did Huamu get on the boat?”

“The boss ordered it in He County, and then went all the way back to Yangzhou Prefecture, and didn’t go anywhere else.”

“Didn’t you go to other places, didn’t you stay in the middle of the ship?”

“There is no other town from He County to Yangzhou… Oh, right! I remembered, we stopped at a wild ferry when we were having lunch. We left after lunch.”

“Nodo?”

“Yes, I remember that there were many reeds in that area.”

“Tell me carefully what happened after that wild crossing, without missing any details.”

“That day we ate stewed bean rice steamed by the boatman. We sat around and ate together. The porter, Mr. Sun, even invited us to eat the sauce made by his wife. After the meal, everyone began to feel sleepy, and the boatman also dozed off. The boss yelled He, he also said that the lower half of the river is flowing downstream, just let it float. Because he was too sleepy, and he was tired of boats and cars, the boss didn’t say much. When he woke up, he found that he had arrived at the Yangzhou Wharf. They were also surrounded by officers and soldiers.”

“How many people are there on board?”

“There are me, the boss, the boatman, two porters… porters on board!”

“Fewer porters?”

“Yes, when the officers and soldiers searched, I took the opportunity to slip off the boat and sneak into the crowd to see that they only took away one porter, and I didn’t see the other one.”

“Abbot, is it, is there something wrong with him?! Or did he slip away just like me?”

“There is indeed a problem with the porter. There is a high probability that there is a drug in the sauce he gave you, which is why everyone is sleepy. It is very likely that he wants to throw the private salt overboard while all of you are asleep, and then let the rescuer people take away.

It’s just that some accident happened halfway, so the salt was not transported away, but arrived at Yangzhou Wharf instead, and the government was even informed. It is very likely that the porter jumped off the boat and escaped before reaching the Yangzhou wharf. ”

“Then we can save the boss as long as we find the porter!” Qingtou suddenly realized, with a look of joy.

“There is no time. Finding someone who is willing to hide himself now is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.”

“Then…then what should I do? Boss, woohoo!” Qingtou suddenly became frightened, tears falling down uncontrollably.

“Don’t cry. It’s useless to cry now. You and I will split up with the boatman at the pier and find out where the upstream and downstream pass. Be sure to find out in detail, even if it is a beach that can run aground, you must inquire clearly, understand?”

“Yeah!” Qingtou cheered up when he had something to do, wiped away his tears, and immediately ran to ask the boatman on the nearby boat.

After half an hour, the two met again.

“I asked the abbot, the downstream will go to Tang Town, Chen County, and then turn to Haidao at Fukou to go to southern Fujian.”

Lin Zhao nodded in thought. It is very likely that these illicit salts were originally intended to be transported to southern Fujian, and they can be traced through the transportation and sales channels. But now the government is cracking down on the sale of private salt, and rumors of people being arrested and beheaded spread all over a radius of 800 miles. Now those private salt dealers are making a fuss, and everyone is in danger, hiding deeper than grasshoppers after autumn.

His purpose was to find out suitable places for salt production.

It is obvious that Chuzhou is more suitable to transfer directly from the Grand Canal to the sea than Yangzhou, but those people do not take the Chuzhou Road, which shows that the place where the salt is made is near Yangzhou.

He already had several points of suspicion in his heart, but he was still not sure.

“Qingtou, do you remember what the salt bag looked like?”

Qingtou was stunned when he heard the words, and thought about it carefully, but that day was a mess, he was terrified, and he didn’t pay attention to what the salt bags that the officers and soldiers took away looked like.

“Abbot, I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, let’s go directly to the government.”

“what?”

Stepping into the government office again, Lin Zhao may have been greeted by Zhizhou, and Lin Zhao was taken in directly.

Zhizhou heard Lin Zhao say that he wanted to see the salt bag, and asked someone to take him to the warehouse without saying a word.

As soon as the quaint door of the warehouse was opened, the oncoming dust choked the guard’s face, and several of them covered their mouths and noses and still couldn’t help coughing.

The sunlight projected by the window sills shone on the dozens of large salt bags piled up in the corner, exuding a strong salty smell. Lin Zhao carefully inspected the salt bag.

“This kind of bag is called cloth, and it is a bag made of mat grass. It has the effect of moisture-proof. It is different from the salt bags you usually see, but many people in Fengxian County will weave this kind of bag, sell it to grain merchants, and ship it to them. For food.”

A bag of salt was emptied from the warehouse of the government office. Lin Zhao took the salt bag and searched for shops and merchants everywhere to ask, and finally found the answer from the mouth of the shopkeeper of a grain shop.

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