Chapter 443 Salt Warehouse Incident
Chapter 443 Salt Warehouse Incident
Pier No. 1 belonged to the imperial court and had hundreds of warehouses, mainly used to store taxes sent from various counties. Among them, the thirteen warehouses on the easternmost side were salt warehouses, each surrounded by a fence. The largest salt warehouse could hold 80,000 shi of salt, and the smallest salt warehouse, No. 1, could also hold 10,000 shi of salt.
What was robbed was the smallest salt warehouse. It is not accurate to say that it was robbed. In fact, it was forcibly sold. The buyer was naturally Xiao Xia's Xihai Salt Company. Before that, the chief steward Chen Hua wanted to buy salt from the Salt Inspector, but Wei Chaofeng did not agree. He asked Chen Hua to buy salt from the other three major salt merchants.
Since they would have to drink a forfeit if they refused the toast, Xihai Salt Company took direct action to force the purchase of salt. They arrived in the middle of the night, and in just two hours, hundreds of men in black moved away all 8,000 stones of salt in the No. 1 Salt Warehouse. The salt was packed in sacks, one stone per bag, for a total of 8,000 bags, and all were forced to buy.
Why did Xihai Salt Shop buy coarse salt? Because Wujun started selling salt. Refined salt was 20 wen per catty, and business was booming. In just a few days, half of the 1,000 stones of refined salt prepared in advance had been sold out. This was under the purchase limit, and each person could only buy three catties.
The emperor's approval was not so quick, but time waited for no one, so Chen Hua asked Xiao Xia for instructions, and Xiao Xia approved his forced purchase.
The main reason why Xiao Xia did not let Chen Hua reveal his identity was to seize the time difference. Before the Guanlong nobles could react, he could take over all the markets in Wu County, and then use Wu County as a base to advance towards Piling County and Yuhang County.
Of course, there was another purpose for stealing the salt, which was to give the Jiangdu County Government a chance to intervene.
When Wei Chaofeng arrived at Pier No. 1, the salt rush had already ended. The two warehouse managers were stunned, as if they had not yet reacted.
"You two bastards, what the hell is going on?" Wei Chaofeng roared.
The two warehouse managers said with sad faces: "Your Excellency Wei, we don't know either. Hundreds of men in black locked us in a small room and took away the key. When I came out, I found that both the people and the salt were gone. We had no choice but to send someone to inform Wei, but we just discovered something."
"what's the situation?"
"Wei Jianjun, go and see for yourself! It's in the warehouse."
Wei Chaofeng was so angry that he turned around and walked into the warehouse.
Warehouse No. 1 was empty. Eight thousand shi of crude salt had disappeared. There were two large wooden boxes in the middle of the warehouse. Wei Chaofeng walked forward and took a look at the wooden boxes. He was stunned. The two wooden boxes were full of copper coins, covered with a piece of paper, which read, "Two thousand four hundred strings of salt money."
The other party actually gave money. Wei Chaofeng felt a headache. This was not called robbery but forced purchase.
While he was in a daze, his men shouted, "Wei Jianjun, the governor is here!"
The governor of Jiangdu County was a third-rank official, much higher than the sixth-rank Salt Inspector.
Wei Chaofeng did not dare to delay and hurried out to greet him.
The governor of Jiangdu County was no longer Yuan Min, but the newly appointed Cui Fengxian, the eldest son of Cui Hongdu and the eldest grandson of the Cui family.
He was originally the fourth-rank governor of Mianyang County, but because of the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin, he was directly promoted to the third-rank governor of Jiangdu County.
Cui Fengxian had already been informed by Xiao Xia in advance, and he needed to cooperate with Xiao Xia in a play.
"Wei Jianjun, what happened?"
Cui Fengxian walked forward with the county magistrate and a group of detectives.
Wei Chaofeng bowed quickly and said, "Before dawn today, hundreds of people rushed into the salt depot. I just arrived and they had already run away with the salt."
“How much salt was taken?”
"Eight thousand stones of salt are missing!"
Wei Chaofeng sighed and said, "I don't know whether to call it robbery or not. They left 2,400 strings of cash, which was paid at the price of 30 coins per bucket. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it forced purchase."
Cui Fengxian said angrily: "Of course this is illegal. Salt costs 120 wen a bushel in the market. If this is not illegal, then people will not go to the market to buy salt. They will come here to carry salt. It costs 30 wen a bushel. They will carry the salt and leave regardless of whether you agree or not. What do you call this?"
"Your Excellency is right. It is indeed illegal. At least trespassing into a government warehouse is a serious crime. I beg you to arrest the salt robbers as soon as possible!"
At this time, Jiangdu County Magistrate Chen Shaokuan stepped forward and said, "Sir, I don't think ordinary people would steal salt. He has no place to sell it. Those who steal salt must be salt merchants. I am very worried that this incident will trigger salt merchants to follow suit. It is better to apply to the General Administration Office to send troops to station at the salt warehouse."
Cui Fengxian nodded, then turned back and asked Wei Chaofeng, "What do you think, Wei Jianjun?" Wei Chaofeng quickly said, "I totally agree!"
"Okay! I'll apply to the King of Jin, and then classify this case as a major one. Before the case is solved, all salt depots will stop shipping and seal the salt. Does Wei Jianjun have any objection?"
Wei Chaofeng had no objection, but he was worried that Wan Cao and Yu Sanjia would be upset, so he asked tentatively: "It's the seal of the county government, right?"
Cui Fengxian waved his hand and said, "Of course, seals should be affixed to both the county and prefectural offices."
"But please solve the case as soon as possible, otherwise it will affect people's use of salt."
"Don't worry! I'll open the case even if I can't solve it in ten days or half a month."
Wei Chaofeng nodded, "Then I feel relieved."
Cui Fengxian added: "If there is new salt delivered, it will be put into warehouse No. 1, but it is only allowed to come in, not to take out!"
After thinking for a while, Cui Fengxian added: "This incident is too bad. It is not good for both the Salt Supervisor and the County Government. We should try our best to suppress the news, especially the fact that the other party gave money. It will affect the case!"
An hour later, five hundred soldiers entered the salt warehouse, and the county and prefectural governments simultaneously put seals on the doors of the other twelve salt warehouses.
This is an open conspiracy. Before the emperor approves the abolition of the Jiangdu Salt Administration, no one can take away even a stone of salt.
The salt warehouse robbery incident did not spread within Jiangdu City. Both the government and the salt inspector suppressed the news, but it caused a huge uproar within the industry.
That afternoon, a man in his thirties hurried to the salt inspector's office and found Wei Chaofeng.
The man's name was Wan Guiping, and he was the eldest son of Wan Gu, the head of the Wan family.
"Wei Jianjun, I heard that someone robbed the official salt warehouse?"
Wei Chaofeng laughed dryly and said, "Where did Master Wan get this information?"
Wan Guiping said coldly: "Wei Jianjun, this kind of thing can be hidden from ordinary people, but can we, who are in the industry, keep it secret?"
Wei Chaofeng could only sigh and said, "The No. 1 warehouse was robbed, and 8,000 stones of salt were lost. Now the county and prefecture governments are jointly investigating the case."
"No clues at all?"
Wei Chaofeng shook his head. "We went there in the middle of the night. No one saw how many people were there or what kind of boat they were using. The two warehouse managers were also locked up. They only came out after everyone had left."
Wan Guiping said after a while: "It is most likely the work of local tyrants."
"Maybe! Anyway, the salt warehouse has been under military control and the warehouse has been sealed. No matter how Jiangdu County investigates, there is nothing I can do now."
"and many more!"
Wan Guiping suddenly felt something was wrong. "We need to buy 20,000 tons of salt in the next two days. Will it have any impact?"
Wei Chaofeng nodded, "It will definitely have an impact. The salt warehouses have been sealed. Let's talk about it after they are unsealed!"
"Can't we pay first?"
Wei Chaofeng cursed inwardly. These three bastards always paid after selling the salt a few months later, but now they wanted to pay in advance. Humph! What were they doing before?
Wei Chaofeng spread his hands and said, "I'm really sorry, but I can't make the decision now. The warehouse is under military control and sealed. Not to mention you guys going to pick up the goods, even I can't enter the warehouse."
(End of this chapter)