Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 79

Huguang Province, Jingshan County Yagongtang.

A large number of people gathered around the hall, and Li Guangming, who was wearing a prison uniform, was brought to the courtroom by the government servants. Sitting upright in the courtroom was Wang Yue, the left deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who was wearing a third-rank official uniform.

Wang Yue spent half his life in the army. Although he was stained with the Confucian spirit of a literati, he also has the blood of a soldier. He is now in his sixties but his eyes are still piercing.

After Anlu's life in exile and recovery, he slapped the gavel like a sword out of its sheath and said in a deep voice, "Officer Li Wenguang, are you guilty?"

"Master Imperial Envoy, haven't you already checked everything?" Li Guangming asked disdainfully despite being imprisoned but still well informed.

There has never been love without a reason in the world. The reason why the price of salt in Jingshan County is 150 renminbi cheaper than that in Anlu Prefecture is naturally not due to the mercy of greedy people like Li Guangming.

Under Wang Yue's investigation, the truth of the matter finally surfaced.

What Li Guangming sells is not Huaiguan salt, but Cantonese official salt. Since "salt and Yinli are regarded as private salt", it is also regarded as a type of private salt.

During this period, private salt can be divided into five categories: field private, business private, official private, landlord private and neighbor private.

Neighborhood refers to the illegal cross-border sale of salt in neighboring places.

Official smuggling refers to the salt smuggling behavior of officials taking advantage of their positions. This is a smuggling behavior that anti-smuggling officials dare not control at all.

"It should be the blind woman in Jingyuan Village, but I heard that she has been transferred to Anlu Prefecture to open a shop!"

……

……

"Yeah, shouldn't it be beheading?"

Although Huaiyan has a wide sales area, the corruption is very serious, and it has already become a gathering place for maggots.

After the verdict was pronounced, two yamen servants immediately stepped forward and took the prisoner Huang Batian away.

Wang Yue didn't sympathize with Xiao Zhixian, who was collaborating with Li Guangming, turned his head to look at Li Guangming on the other side and said, "Li Guangming, can you plead guilty?"

……

"Beheading is someone's deliberate scaremongering. Generally, if the circumstances are not serious, they will be exiled!"

"I always thought the Salt Shop was owned by shopkeeper Zhao, but I didn't expect it was just managed by Li Guangming!"

The people in the hall saw the first verdict came out, but the situation was different from what many people thought. They all looked at Li Guangdao who was kneeling in the hall.

"It's a pity! But Li Guangming is really unlucky this time. If he doesn't say it, who knows that he opened the salt shop?"

"That's right! Now even if Li Guangming wants to quibble, he can't do it anymore. The sale of private salt is already stolen. I heard that he will be beheaded, right?"

"My lord, the law of the Ming Dynasty is indeed like this!" Yang Jizong's famous criminal master stood beside him, and when he saw Wang Yue's brows furrowed, he kindly reminded him.

Huang Batian is an out-and-out Cantonese. Because he was born in poverty, his family had already lost their land. It was because of helplessness that he embarked on this road.

"That's why you swaggered into the city this time, and you happened to get the stolen goods from the imperial envoy, right?" Yang Jizong, the inspector of Huguang who was hearing the trial next to him, stroked his beard and helped to add.

Li Guangming and Zhixian Xiao are both literate people, so they naturally know what the content of the confession is, and Huang Batian is the king of gambling, let's not deceive himself.

Not to mention that a catty of salt sells for 250 renminbi, even [-] renminbi can make a fortune, and the salt shop under Li Guangming's name sells Guangdong salt, which is also the secret of his low-priced salt.

"The villain sent salt from Guangdong, earning nothing more than a little hard money. In the past, the trader in Jingshan was called Chen Laoliu. Once he came to Jingshan, he was arrested by the county magistrate Xiao, and then Li Guangming personally took us out of the county jail. So the villain always knew that the new partner was Li Guangming, so this time..." Huang Batian made a confession after being brought to court.

"Huh? Why was he sentenced to exile?"

"A fortune teller said that this old man will have a catastrophe this year, and what he said is true! Even if it is a decree from the heavens, this old man has nothing to argue with, just bring a confession!" Li Guangming naturally couldn't deny it, and said very freely.

Wang Yue was very displeased with this confident Li Guangming, so he suppressed his anger and asked, "Li Guangming, how do you think this imperial envoy should judge you?"

Wang Yue turned his head and glanced at the scribe next to him. The clerk had already prepared the three confessions, so he got up and sent the confessions to the three people.

Market private refers to the behavior of kitchen households bypassing the government's control and control to buy and sell privately.

"That's all right?"

In fact, he already knew that there would be such a day, but this was the path he chose, and he happily signed the pledge, acknowledging this crime.

The Huai salt merchants couldn't hold back the salt official's big mouth, and they had to bear high transportation costs when selling to Jingshan County, so the cost per catty of salt went up evenly.

Since the imperial court has fixed salt sales areas, even if you get cheap official salt from Guangzhou, if you want to sell it to the capital, it will never be allowed. Guangdong salt can only be sold in two or three places in Guangdong and near Guangxi. government for sale.

"Who is the fortune teller he said, I want to do a fortune telling too!"

"Aizi, I told you to study hard, but you just don't believe it!"

Wang Yue saw Li Guangming's face full of arrogance, but he didn't expect to have no repentance at all, so he immediately gave a startling shot and said: "Let the salt lord Huang Batian!"

"If this Huang Batian was just sentenced to exile, then Li Guangming wouldn't be beheaded, right?"

"According to the law of the Ming Dynasty! Anyone who sells smuggled salt will be punished for three years with a staff of one hundred; if he has weapons, he will be given a higher rank, and those who resist arrest will be beheaded. The lower officials are indeed involved in smuggling salt, but neither has weapons nor resists arrest." Naturally, it's a hundred sticks and three years." Li Guangming raised the corner of his mouth slightly, showing that the reason should be authentic.

"Isn't it because of Hu Daniu's case earlier? It's just that Li Guangming is also unlucky. It just so happened that Guangdong sent private salt to the imperial envoy and arrested him on the spot!"

Seeing the progress of the interrogation, the common people in the hall knew that Li Guangming's smuggling of salt could not be denied, so they couldn't help whispering.

……

"Everyone is well aware of this, but why did Li Guangming suddenly admit that the Salt Shop is his?"

The people in the hall were very interested in metaphysics, combined with Li Guangming's encounter this time, they all thought that Li Guangming had really had bad luck, and they couldn't help talking about the witch.

In contrast to Huaiyan salt, after salt merchants get the official salt from Yangzhou, they can transport it to Jingshan County for sale, resolutely monopolizing most of the country's economic centers.

"Exactly!" Huang Batian said regretfully.

Wang Yue looked at Xiao Zhixian, who was kneeling in the hall, and said in anger, "Xiao Zhixian, this imperial envoy confiscated more than 3 taels of silver from your back house. You have taken a lot of benefits from it all these years!"

Smuggling refers to smuggling by non-governmental gangs, usually with their own small armed forces.

On the other hand, there are Guangzhou Salt Lifting Division and Haibei Salt Lifting Division in Guangdong. The cost of official salt here is low, and the transportation cost is much less, so Guangdong official salt has an absolute price advantage.

"Master Imperial Envoy, I don't know how to judge him?" Li Guangming looked up at Wang Yue, but asked actively.

"The criminal is guilty!" Zhixian Xiao knew that he could not justify himself, so he pleaded guilty immediately.

Commercial smuggling refers to a kind of smuggling behavior carried out by merchants relying on their status as official contractors for salt sales. It is the largest and most numerous smuggling mode.

Wang Yue confirmed that the three confessions were correct, and pronounced the verdict on Huang Batian: "According to the law of the Ming Dynasty: those who take cross-border people with them will be sentenced to exile. It is true that the prisoner Huang Batian and his subordinates brought Cantonese salt from Guangdong to Huguang, and the smuggled salt The number is huge, so they are sentenced to be exiled to Xiangzhou, Guangxi, and put on hold!"

"Otherwise? This is all stipulated by the laws of Ming Dynasty!"

"I'm not a talented official, but I've accumulated a little family money over the years, and I'm willing to lose millet to redeem my sin!" Li Guangming was complacent that he was familiar with the law of the Ming Dynasty, and added again.

The people in the hall originally thought that Li Guangming was doomed, but they found out that there was nothing wrong with him at all, and an old father was so angry that he slapped his son on the back of the head.

Yang Jizong, the inspector of Huguang, stroked his beard lightly, and found that there was nothing wrong with Li Guangming's actions, so he turned his head to look at Wang Yue who was sitting upright in the hall.

Wang Yue's face was gloomy, thinking of the system of losing millet for atonement, thinking that Hu Daniu died because of it, and this person was going to "live" because of it, he couldn't help gnashing his teeth.

"Master Imperial Envoy, please hurry up and pronounce the sentence, the lower officials have to go back to take a bath and change their clothes to get rid of the bad luck!" Li Guangming's mouth slightly raised, urging him.

(End of this chapter)