Chapter 620 Salted Fish Incident
Chapter 620 Salted Fish Incident
Xiao Xia had no intention of going to Jiangdu County, and returned directly to Jingkou. There must be more than one store that sold contraband salt using pickled vegetables, and he just accidentally discovered the tip of the iceberg. Last year, the salt store was burned down and the matter was eventually left unresolved. What does this mean?
After returning to the official residence, Xiao Xia immediately ordered someone to find Li Luming. Not long after, Li Luming hurried over, bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia pointed at the straw bag on the ground and said, "My personal soldiers bought this in Jiangyang County this morning. It's sold at the third butcher shop after entering the south city gate. The money has to be paid to the rice shop next door. I think these two shops have the same owner. Take it back and study it!"
Li Luming was stunned. She looked inside the straw bag and found a pickled fish. She was confused and bowed, "Your Highness, please tell me!"
"I'm not sure either. I feel like there's something wrong with this fish. Too much salt was used. Take it back and study it to see how much salt was used to pickle it. By the way, this pickled fish costs thirty cents. Report back to me after you've studied it."
"I will go back and study it right away!"
Li Luming bowed and left with the straw bag.
Xiao Xia paced back and forth in the room. He pondered for a long time and told Lu Miao, "Go find Chen Hua for me!"
Chen Hua was previously the general manager of the Xihai Salt Company. After the Xihai Salt Company was changed into the Salt and Iron Bureau, Chen Hua became the first director.
Not long after, Chen Hua also hurried over and bowed, "Greetings, Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia asked, "Has the sales volume of Jiangnan Road Salt decreased in the past two years?"
Chen Hua bowed and said, "From the sales volume, it is very stable, but considering the large number of refugees arriving, the sales volume of salt remains stable, which means it is actually decreasing."
"Have you found the reason?" Xiao Xia asked.
"We initially suspected that salt from the north was sneaking into Jiangnan Road, but we had no evidence. However, the answer is certain that other salt must be being sold secretly, and the quantity is not small, otherwise our salt sales volume would not have decreased. I am still investigating, but there is no progress for the time being!"
Xiao Xia said slowly: "Today I found a secret channel. Have you considered pickling vegetables?"
There were no refrigerators in ancient times, so vegetables and meat had to be pickled in order to be stored for a long time. Therefore, pickled vegetables have been the most consumed source of vegetables since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Ordinary people either made them themselves or bought them from outside.
Chen Hua was stunned, and after a while he shook his head and said, "I have never considered the process of pickling vegetables."
At this time, Lu Miao said at the door: "Officer Li is back!"
Xiao Xia didn't expect Li Luming to handle it so quickly, so he ordered: "Let her in!"
Li Luming came in with a large plate containing a fish and a pile of salt. She placed the plate on the small table next to her and explained, "Your Highness, we did some testing and found that the amount of salt soaked into the fish was three times the normal amount, so the fish was very salty. We scraped off the remaining salt, which weighed one and a half kilograms, so we inferred that this fish was pickled with about two kilograms of salt."
Chen Hua was shocked. Normally, only one or two kilograms of salt are used to pickle a fish, but this fish actually used two kilograms of salt. Isn't this using fish to sell private salt? No wonder he couldn't find out.
Xiao Xia nodded. "How can we eat this fish if it is so bitter and salty?"
"Your Highness, one of my relatives has bought it. They made it into a sauce called salty sauce. Just add a little when cooking. Basically, you don't need to buy salt."
Chen Hua looked at the salt on the plate carefully and said, "Your Highness, this is the salt produced in Donghai County. The grains are slightly coarser than ours, but Langya County also has this kind of salt."
Xiao Xia nodded, "This is a big case. Let the Salt and Iron Bureau and the Internal Security Bureau jointly handle this case. Start with the butcher shop in Jiangyang County. Investigate secretly and don't alert the enemy. Investigate the burning of the salt shop as well." The two bowed together, "Yes, sir!"
The Internal Security Bureau immediately formed an investigation team of 20 people, led by Li Luming himself. Among these 20 people, five were elite soldiers sent by the Salt and Iron Bureau. They went to Jiangyang County in the afternoon to monitor the butcher shop selling salted fish and at the same time inquire about their background.
A mansion in Jiangdu County became Li Luming's temporary command post. They could not rent a house in Jiangyang County, so they had to place the command post in Jiangdu County.
Soon they found out the background of the butcher shop. One of the cases reported to Li Luming: "The grain shop and the butcher shop are indeed owned by the same owner. The owner's name is Sun Wen'an, who is from Jiangdu County. He also has a grain shop and a butcher shop in Jiangdu County. They never sell pickled vegetables. The pickled fish should be sold on behalf of others."
"Have you checked Sun Wen'an's background?"
"I checked. His background is very simple. He inherited four stores from his father more than ten years ago. There has been no development over the years. He opened two stores in Jiangyang County two years ago, a rice store and a butcher shop. The meat he sells is basically mutton. He has never sold seafood."
Li Luming nodded, "Invite him to have a cup of tea tonight!"
Sun Wen'an is about 40 years old, not tall, and a short and fat businessman. He inherited the Sun Ji Rice Shop and Sun Ji Butcher Shop from his father fifteen years ago.
Sun Wen'an is a cautious person who prefers to maintain the status quo. Over the years, he has only added two stores.
Sun Wen'an was also quite worried during this period. He had been selling salt fish for others in the past two years. Jiangdu was previously under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. Although Jianghuai was also the market of the Salt and Iron Bureau of the Jiangnan Province, the Jiangnan Province had no control over Jianghuai after all, so he was not in any danger.
But two months ago, Jiangdu County was again assigned to Jiangnan Province, and Sun Wen'an was under increasing pressure. He still had more than 10,000 salt fish in his warehouse that had not been sold, which was a bit troublesome.
In the afternoon, he came out of a teahouse, got on a bullock cart, and ordered, "Go to Guangling Street!"
As soon as the ox cart started moving, two strong men got on and held him on the left and right. Just as he was about to stand up, a sharp dagger was pressed against his lower back and he felt a sharp pain.
"I'll kill you if you dare to move!"
Sun Wen'an was so frightened that he dared not move. The ox cart arrived near the south gate and went straight into a mansion. Sun Wen'an was pushed off the cart and found that there were more than a dozen guards standing in the yard. His face turned pale. The thing he feared most finally came.
Sun Wen'an was taken to a hall. Li Luming glanced at him, pointed at the two salt fish in straw bags on the table and said coldly: "This is what you sell in your store. How dare you sell private salt!"
Sun Wen'an was so scared that he knelt down. He was a local and knew what it meant to sell salt illegally. The whole family would be executed!
He kowtowed and said, "These salt fish are not mine. Someone asked me to sell them. I am willing to confess everything. I only ask for your life."
Li Luming snorted, "You also know that selling contraband salt is a crime?"
Sun Wen'an said with a sad face: "Didn't Jiangdu County fall under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province before? Because many people were selling it, I was confused for a while."
Li Luming also knew that from a legal point of view, Sun Wen'an did not commit a serious crime, because Jiangdu County previously belonged to the imperial court, and the imperial court did not implement a salt and iron monopoly. If he must be held accountable, he would only be guilty of selling private salt in the past two months.
"Tell me! Who asked you to sell salt fish?"
(End of this chapter)