Chapter 448 Jinling Fire
Chapter 448 Jinling Fire
It was already afternoon when Xiao Xia returned to the General Manager's Office. It was less than half an hour before the court session ended. Xiao Xia picked up the teacup and took two sips. At this time, Du Ruhui said at the door: "Your Highness, Chen Hua wants to see you. Do you want to see him now or tomorrow?"
Xiao Xia nodded, "Let him in!"
Chen Hua is the chief steward of the Xihai Salt Company and a second-level staff member. He came to ask for an audience when it was almost time to get off work. It must be something important. Not long after, the staff member Chen Hua walked in quickly, bowed, and said, "Your Highness!"
"What's the important matter?"
"I have three important things to report to Your Highness. The first is that the second batch of coal from Pengcheng County has arrived today, a total of 500,000 kilograms, and has been put into storage!"
"Very good. Do you have a report from Zheng Rong?"
"Have!"
Chen Hua took out a sealed letter and handed it to Xiao Xia. Xiao Xia took it and put it on the table, "Go on!"
"The second thing is that the head of the Salt Administration, Wei Chaofeng, has escaped!"
Xiao Xia frowned, "What's going on?"
"I don't know the specific reason, but the Salt Supervisor Wang said that Wei Chaofeng came to the Salt Supervisor last night and burned a large number of account files. I think there must be a serious problem. He couldn't explain it, so he left without saying goodbye today. His official seal and official uniform are all there. I have taken over the Salt Supervisor today. The reason for his disappearance will be investigated later."
After eight years in office, the Salt Inspector Wei Chaofeng was transferred back to Luoyang by the court to take up another post. According to regulations, he had to give a clear account of the Salt Inspector's accounts over the years and ensure that the accounts were consistent with actual expenses before he could leave office.
There must be something seriously wrong with Wei Chaofeng. Xiao Xia knew that the Guanlong nobles collected salt directly from salt households in the official salt district. This was actually a serious crime. He had already reported this to his father, but it seemed that his father did not mention it.
However, because this crime involves the Guanlong nobles, the court will not investigate it, so Wei Chaofeng will not abscond for this crime. Maybe he did not abscond, but went directly back to the capital to report. After all, he is a sixth-rank official, and he may not be willing to give up.
"Did the chief clerk make it clear what his problem is?"
"The chief clerk said that there was a volume of accounts kept by Wei Chaofeng himself, which was about salt loss. The court stipulated that there could only be a loss of 200%, but Wei Chaofeng relaxed it to 500%, and then the loss list was used as the basis for accounting. As a result, Wei Chaofeng burned it, and all the lists and accounts of the past years were gone."
The so-called salt loss means that salt households would not deliver the salt so accurately. One stone of salt delivered would often be one or two kilograms less. This was allowed by the court, but Wei Chaofeng relaxed the limit to 5% loss per hundred, which meant that he embezzled a lot of salt in private.
Of course there are other problems, such as bribes to salt merchants, shady deals with Guanlong nobles, etc. Once investigated in depth, the amount would be at least one hundred thousand strings of cash.
Xiao Xia waved her hand, "We'll talk about Wei Chaofeng later. Is there anything else important?"
"There is another important thing. A new salt company was established today, called Wuchuan Salt Company."
Xiao Xia laughed in silence. This was just like his own Xihai Salt Company, with the name written on the forehead. Xiao Xia asked, "What's the last name of their chief executive, Yuan or Dugu?"
"My surname is Yuan, my name is Yuan Wenzhen, I'm over 30 years old, and I look smart and capable."
Xiao Xia nodded. This meant that they must learn from him, get rid of the middlemen, open stores directly in various counties, and compete head-on with him.
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said to Chen Hua: "It seems that the Guanlong nobles are preparing to get rid of the Wan, Cao, and Yu families. Without the salt source, these three families will have to change their business."
Chen Hua whispered, "I am worried that they will continue to collect salt privately in the official salt district. I will send people to various salt towns to monitor them. If I find that they are still intercepting our salt, I will report to Your Highness immediately."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Don't worry, we have prepared sharp swords for these three families and will kill them at the critical moment. But you can send someone to Yan Town to check, go ahead!"
"I'll take my leave!" Chen Hua took his leave and left.
Xiao Xia paced back and forth in the government office with his hands behind his back. The Guanlong nobles were not stupid at all. They responded promptly and directly got rid of the middlemen and opened a shop like himself. If they sold refined salt, the cost would not be high. They could use reed as fuel. In fact, it was not impossible for the Guanlong nobles to have a share of the pie. Their salt production was only 300,000 shi, while the official salt production was 800,000 shi, so the bulk of the profit would still be theirs.
We are afraid that the Guanlong nobles will transfer salt from Hebei to Jiangnan for sale, which would make us have no bottom line. We must warn them that they are not allowed to sell refined salt. In this way, no matter how much coarse salt they transport, the market for coarse salt will be so small.
The reason why Xiao Xia had no intention of turning against the Guanlong nobles and leaving a share for them was because Xiao Xia still wanted to sell salt in the Lianghu Road and Henan Road and grab the market from the Guanlong nobles.
The best way is to sell refined salt yourself and leave the market for coarse salt to them so that everyone can keep to themselves.
In the south of Jinling County, at three o'clock in the morning, five or six dark shadows appeared next to the Xihai Salt Shop. They quickly threw a large amount of sulfur and hay onto the roof and threw a torch. The five dark shadows then fled. The salt shop soon caught fire, which not only engulfed the entire salt shop, but also set fire to the surrounding shops.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The gong sounded loudly, and the night watchman shouted, "There's a fire! Come and put it out!"
The sleeping people were awakened one after another. They ran out with buckets and basins to put out the fire, but the fire was too big and soon caught fire on the three shops and a group of houses behind them. The people cried and shouted and watched their homes being engulfed by the flames.
The sky gradually brightened and the fire was extinguished. The fire destroyed more than a dozen shops and over a hundred houses, killing four people and injuring more than ten people. Most of the injured did not survive. This was the worst fire in Jinling County in the past ten years.
At this time, Pei Renji, the newly appointed governor of Piling County, hurried over accompanied by several officials. The scene before him was truly shocking. Large tracts of houses were burned to the ground, and hundreds of homeless people were sitting around them. Their tears had dried up, and they stared blankly at their burned homes.
The head of the police, Xue Zhi, stepped forward to report to Pei Renji and the county magistrate Qiao Zhennian: "Your Excellencies, this is an intentional arson!"
"how do you know?"
"Reporting to the envoy, we found some sulfur fragments and torches around the salt shop. In addition, there are witnesses who said that five men in black came from the east and gathered around the salt shop. Soon the salt shop caught fire."
Pei Renji snorted coldly. As expected, he was heading for the Xihai Salt Shop. "Who is the witness?"
"The witness was the night watchman. He happened to be in an alley on the east side. Five black men carrying bags ran past him. He followed them and saw the five of them gathered around the salt shop, lit a fire and ran north."
"Who are these five people? Does the night watchman know them?"
"There was a man who he said looked very familiar. He seemed to be the son of Wang, the owner of Yifeng Restaurant in the east. I have already asked him. Wang said his son's name is Wang Gui. He has been hanging out with a group of scoundrels for the past few months and has not returned home for several days. We are tracking down this Wang Gui."
Pei Renji said solemnly to the county magistrate Qiao Zhennian and the constable, "This is obviously aimed at Prince Jin. We must make it our top priority this year and do our best to capture this Wang Gui."
The county magistrate Qiao Zhennian, who had been silent the whole time, said, "Sir, I have an idea."
"you say!"
"I think that the fire at the Xihai Salt Shop was caused by Yu Chunxiao, a big salt merchant from Piliang. It just so happens that Yifeng Restaurant is owned by the Yu family. I suggest that we go to Qixing Town where the Yu family is located to have a look. Maybe we can get something."
Pei Renji nodded, "I'll leave this case to you. Solve it as soon as possible!"
(End of this chapter)