xymnovel Chapter 202 Movement
Chapter 202 Movement
The so-called salt fields were generally directly under the jurisdiction of the "Salt Transport Commissioner's Office" (abbreviated as "Transport Commissioner's Office"), which had three officials: the Commander, the Assistant Commander, and the Supervisor. Below them were several to a dozen clerks, headed by the Clerk.
Saltworks sometimes had branch offices overseeing specific areas, but the Lianghuai Salt Transport Office didn't have any. They tacitly divided the annual production of over 950,000 salt permits among three major areas: Huaian Road, Taizhou, and Tongzhou. The latter alone produced no fewer than 300,000 salt permits annually—a very large quantity. Inside the Lüsi Saltworks, there was a temporary salt storage warehouse. There were originally two guards at the entrance, but upon seeing over ten bandits charging towards them, one of them immediately fled. He was just a lowly servant assigned to guard the warehouse; why was he risking his life?
"Bang!" The axe then struck the door lock three times in quick succession, quickly chopping it off.
Li Fu and Wu Shangyuan stepped forward and broke down the door. Soon they saw piles of salt, one after another, densely packed, and they didn't know how many pounds it weighed.
They looked at each other and could see the excitement in each other's eyes.
Gao Daqiang followed closely behind, and upon seeing the warehouse full of salt, he couldn't help but laugh. He ordered, "Go find some carts and move the salt!"
On the other side, Wu Heizi led a group of people to surround the government office and dragged the clerk, who had not yet escaped, out from under the desk.
Seeing the other person trembling, Wu Heizi shook his head and laughed, "Many years ago, when I was still learning to slaughter pigs from my elders, I saw an official riding in a sedan chair, surrounded by attendants, looking very imposing. I was so engrossed in watching that I didn't move aside in time, and some officials even came over and ordered me to kneel down. This corrupt official, today..."
Wu Heizi licked his lips and chuckled, "Who's kneeling to whom?"
"Uncle Hei, why waste words with him?" Wu Mazi, the swordsman and shieldman, came over, grabbed Si Cheng by the collar, and said, "Does this kind of person deserve to be an official? Just kill him and be done with it."
Wu Heizi grunted and laughed, "I used to hear in operas that during the Tang Dynasty, some officials rode in sedan chairs to take up their posts, which was ridiculed, so they mostly rode horses or mules. The officials of the Yuan Dynasty are really incompetent. They actually travel in sedan chairs. Isn't that for women? Such people are indeed unfit to be officials. Fine, I'll give you a quick death." After saying that, he drew the butcher's knife from his waist and, under the terrified gaze of the magistrate, suddenly plunged it into the magistrate's abdomen, stirring it vigorously.
A moment later, he slammed the heavy corpse to the ground, looked down at his blood-stained clothes, and sighed, "It was the first time I killed an official with my own hands, and I acted a little impulsively."
"Here, here, and there," Wu Heizi pointed around and said, "Search them all carefully, and take the valuables back with you."
Upon receiving the order, the soldiers dispersed in all directions.
They searched thoroughly, taking away bronze incense burners used for sacrifices from government offices, warehouses, and even temple schools. These so-called "temple schools" were schools set up within the Confucius Temple by the saltworks, also known as "salt farm schools." The children of salt farmers who came to study there were called "salt farm students." If the temple school was run by the transport department, it was called a "transport school."
Surrounded by Liang Tai and others, Shao Shuyi toured the salt fields.
The place wasn't very big; the main buildings were rows of salt storage bins. Once the salt was nearly full, it was sent to the salt warehouse outside the west gate of Tongzhou. After the salt warehouse had stored a certain amount, it was transported to the inspection station located at the east gate of Yangzhou, in Zhenzhou New City, and sold to salt merchants, going through a series of distribution channels.
Besides these, there were only a dozen or so rooms, which were used as government offices, temples, warehouses, and barracks.
The officials in the government office scattered and fled.
Of the three officials, only the assistant clerk was captured and killed on the spot; the commander's whereabouts are unknown; and the steward had already died in battle.
Among the officials, the clerk was shot and wounded by Cheng Ji halfway through his escape. He was dragged back and beheaded, and his head was hung on the fence.
Of the remaining officials, one died in the chaos of battle, and two were captured on the spot and are currently being interrogated. They will be killed after the interrogation, without a doubt. As for the salt, one stockpile contains ten jin (a unit of weight) of salt, totaling four thousand jin. There are twenty such stockpiles, which amounts to eighty thousand jin—theoretically that much. In reality, the salt stockpiles may not be fully filled, so the exact amount is hard to say.
In addition, there are transportation issues.
There were some vehicles in the salt field, but no one. After much thought, they decided they had to find people in the salt-making area to transport the salt. Whether they used money to lure them or threatened them with knives and guns, they had to get them to provide manpower or even vehicles to transport the nearly 80,000 jin of salt away.
This is not an easy task and is expected to take some time.
"Brother Wu, should we go and cause some trouble elsewhere? So that the government troops won't rush straight to Lüsichang." Liang Tai walked over, carrying a severed head in his hand.
"Who is this?" Shao Shuyi asked.
"A minor official was caught hiding in the cattle pen." Liang Tai seemed to think that the head was nothing to be amused by, so he threw it away.
"How many vehicles are there at the saltworks?" Shao Shuyi asked, turning his gaze away.
"Four vehicles," Liang Tai said. "Two of them are slightly larger and can carry three thousand catties each, while the two smaller ones can only carry two thousand catties each."
Shao Shuyi calculated that one trip could transport 10,000 jin, but it would take two hours to go round trip, not including the time for unloading and transshipment.
"Stop messing around." Shao Shuyi waved his hand and said, "Go to the kitchen area and find a few wealthy families. Borrow their carts and men, and get it moved as soon as possible." After saying that, he pointed to the workers scattered around and said, "Look at them, they're all so excited, thinking they're invincible. That's going too far. Go and supervise them, and try not to delay anything."
"Yes, sir," Liang Tai said, bowing with his hands clasped.
On the afternoon of the 24th, just as Shao Shuyi and his men had finished clearing the salt fields and were beginning to haul away their spoils, Zhang Quan, the patrol inspector of Lüsi, finally arrived at the prefectural government office and requested an audience with Judge Lu Ya.
However, Lu Ya was taken away by the prefect to discuss matters and did not return until evening.
Zhang Quan quickly went to greet him and explained what had happened.
Lu Ya's expression changed, and she asked, "Who do you think they are?"
Zhang Quan bowed again and said, "Sir, this is absolutely true."
"Wait a moment." Lu Ya waved her hand, dismissing several minor officials from the yamen, and then asked, "The garrison troops?"
Zhang Quan nodded and said, "I've been a patrol inspector for eleven years and have seen many salt workers, but none of them are as organized as this."
"Not a single one?" Lu Ya glanced at him.
Zhang Quan hesitated for a moment, then said, "They're not among the salt merchants, but they might be among the wealthy people in the prefectures and counties."
"You mean, these people are either government troops in disguise, or they are private soldiers kept by wealthy people in the prefecture and county?" Lu Ya asked.
Zhang Quan nodded emphatically and said, "There are many military books circulating outside, and some people have even served as military officers. It's not impossible that they would train their servants and slaves after returning home." Lu Ya sat down and remained silent for a long time.
"My lord, have you found out anything about the salt miners who attacked and killed Batu last year?" Zhang Quan asked softly.
Lu Ya shook her head and sighed, "We investigated the garrison in Yangzhou Road thoroughly. There were no salt thieves, but there were a lot of people embezzling salaries, bandits, and those stealing and selling weapons. There were also people working for wealthy families outside. In short, it was a complete mess."
"Didn't they send people to Gaoyou, Huai'an, Pingjiang, and Jiangyin to investigate?" Zhang Quan asked again.
"We didn't find anything out," Lu Ya said. "Gaoyou Prefecture and Huai'an Circuit cried foul, while Pingjiang Circuit and Jiangyin Prefecture ignored it and dragged their feet. They only started investigating seriously after the New Year, but they didn't find anything."
Zhang Quan was stunned.
Logically speaking, they shouldn't be unable to find anything, unless they really didn't do it.
"Could it be..." he frowned, "...the work of local wealthy people?"
"It's not impossible." Lu Ya nodded and said, "But we can only investigate in Yangzhou. Gaoyou and Huai'an might not be so interested. As for Jiangnan..." Lu Ya sighed and didn't say anything.
Zhang Quan understood.
Gaoyou Prefecture, Huai'an Circuit, and Yangzhou are all in the same province, yet they still have such conflicts; one can only imagine how things are in Jiangnan.
To be honest, if you go to someone's government office and say that a notorious thief has appeared in your territory, that he's killed a patrol inspector in Tongzhou and smuggled salt, what are they supposed to think? You're implying that our area is unsafe and has poor security. Which official would want to admit that? They'd be lucky if they didn't kick you out.
In this day and age, isn't it better to make some money and acquire some property? Why go looking for trouble? It's not like something happened on my territory, I don't care who you are! "Sir," Zhang Quan thought for a moment and said, "the people still need to be driven away. If the thieves stay for ten days or half a month, it won't look good." Lu Ya stood up irritably and said, "Since the beginning of the year, Hangzhou has repeatedly sent letters to Bianliang, criticizing the counties along the river for their poor governance, and the 'Huai bandits' heading south are getting stronger every day. The province is annoyed and has ordered the patrol offices of Yangzhou, Luzhou, Anqing and other circuits to strengthen their vigilance and strictly investigate those crossing the river southward. That's what I'm talking about with the prefect today."
At this point, Lu Ya walked around the room and said, "It's one problem after another, they're always causing me trouble."
Zhang Quan's face was full of bitterness.
Well, before it was Bianliang sending a letter to Hangzhou, now it's Hangzhou sending a letter to Bianliang.
One said that there might be notorious thieves in your territory who have gone to Tongzhou to collect smuggled salt and kill patrol inspectors; another said that how you govern the area has allowed bandits from Huai to flock south, killing and robbing everywhere.
They blamed each other and shifted responsibility, which strained their relationship.
"If one," Lu Ya walked around and sat back down in her chair, she asked, "could mobilizing two hundred archers from Tong and Tai prefectures, along with a thousand nameless rogue archers, drive away these thieves?"
"Yes! Yes, we can!" Zhang Quan's eyes lit up, and he said repeatedly.
They weren't like those useless guys on Pingjiang Road, where thousands of people surrounded a dozen or so and still weren't wiped out.
With 1,200 men surrounding more than 30 bandits, the chances of success were quite high.
Seeing his appearance, Lu Ya felt a little relieved and said, "Alright, I'll go see the prefect again and ask him to mobilize the Jiangyin naval 10,000-household headquarters (stationed outside Tongzhou City)." "Can the prefect mobilize them?" Zhang Quan asked.
"Naturally, we should ask the prefect to send a letter to the general administration to request the troop deployment," Lu Ya said, waving her hand.
Zhang Quan remained silent. It was hard to say how long such correspondence would take.
But what can we do? If we can't use personal connections to mobilize troops—which is actually against the rules—then we can only go through the proper procedures.
"Don't get your hopes up too high," Lu Ya said. "The Jiangyin navy has a lot of problems. There aren't many men left, and now most of them make a living by trading goods on their warships. Nobody can say for sure whether they can fight. I think they might not even be as good as the archers from the patrol office. It would be good if we had them, but if we don't, so be it. We still have to rely on our own people to drive away the bandits."
"Yes," Zhang Quan bowed and replied.
"You should go back first," Lu Ya said. "Be vigilant and guard the house carefully; don't let things get out of hand."
At this point, he beckoned Zhang Quan closer and then said, "Don't let things escalate."
Zhang Quan understood: "I understand."
After saying that, seeing that there was nothing more to say, he bowed and took his leave.
The day after he left, Lu Ya had just arrived at the yamen to take her shift when she heard some shocking news: someone came from the Lüsi saltworks, claiming that bandits had broken into the saltworks and were looting incessantly.
That wasn't the end of it. At noon, the Assistant Prefect of Lianghuai Transport Office rushed to the prefectural government office, his face ashen.
Well, it seems the news is true.