Chapter 621 The truth emerges
Chapter 621 The truth emerges
Sun Wen'an lowered his head and said, "He is my cousin, his name is Sun Di."
"The salt fish was made by your cousin?"
"It's not him either. I know he's just running errands. He's responsible for getting the goods, but I never know where he gets the goods from, and he never tells me."
"As far as you know, who else in Jiangdu County sells salt fish?"
"I know there are three more in Jiangdu County, Linji Pickled Vegetable Store, Fu'an Pickled Vegetable Store and Wanjia Grocery Store. They have all transferred goods from me before, but there are definitely more than just these three."
Li Luming nodded and asked, "Who burned down the salt shop near the south gate of Jiangyang County?"
"I really don't know about this, but you can ask my cousin. I think he might know!"
All the clues led to Sun Di, Sun Wen'an's cousin. Li Luming then asked, "We need to find your cousin. Where is he?"
"I know where his home is. But he seldom goes home. He is not married and his parents are both dead. In fact, he is just a rogue. Oh, and he has a lover in Baimeiyuan, named Zhao Xiaoguan. Maybe she knows where Sun Di is?"
Li Luming was afraid of alerting the enemy, so he scolded Sun Wen'an and then released him. At the same time, he ordered him to pretend that nothing had happened and let him continue selling salt fish. He also sent someone to monitor him.
That night, more than a dozen internal security soldiers surrounded Sun Di's residence, which was a yard left by his parents. It covered an area of only half an acre and had three rooms and a small courtyard.
The security soldiers pried open the window and entered, only to find that the room was full of dust. It had been at least several months since they had been there.
The internal security immediately rushed to Baimeiyuan and seized the prostitute Zhao Xiaoguan.
Zhao Xiaoguan was trembling with fear. She hadn't seen Sun Di for several days, but she still provided Li Luming with some useful information that Sun Di had another place to live.
The internal guards soon found Sun Di's other residence, which was a three-acre courtyard by the river. There were more than twenty dark rooms in it, and it looked like no one lived there. There was a private dock behind the courtyard.
Li Luming immediately realized that this was most likely the other party's warehouse. She immediately ordered not to enter the compound, but to closely monitor the compound.
The next day at noon, a young man as thin as a monkey walked out of the compound. He looked sloppy and had a big black mole on his chin with a few hairs on it.
"Is it him?" asked Captain Lu Zhen.
"It should be him. The description is exactly the same. The black mole on his chin is the most distinctive feature."
"Follow him and wait for an opportunity to capture him!"
Several internal security soldiers followed the young man from a distance. The young man was Sun Di. Although he was a rogue, he was very alert. As he walked, he suddenly felt something was wrong. Several tall men came in front of him and blocked his way. He looked back and saw several tall men behind him, running towards him at a faster speed.
Sun Di cried out inwardly that something was wrong and ran towards a small alley nearby, with the guards chasing him closely.
After running for a mile, there was no way forward, and it turned out to be a dead end. Sun Di drew his sword in desperation, waving it wildly, and shouted to the internal guards who were chasing him: "Don't come near me, or I will kill a few of you!"
The inner guards drew out their swords and slowly surrounded him. Sun Di was so scared that he dropped his sword and knelt on the ground with his head in his hands. When they cannot defeat their opponents, ruffians will use this trick to beg for mercy.
"I'll give you all my money, please let me go!" He thought he was being robbed by a gangster.
When Sun Di was taken to the temporary office of the Internal Guard, he realized that he had been arrested by the Internal Guard. He was so scared that his legs went limp.
Li Luming began to interrogate him. In order to save his life, he confessed everything honestly and even told Li Luming some things he didn't know.
In the afternoon, Li Luming rushed back to Jingkou and made an urgent report to King Jin Xiao Xia.
"We have determined that the mastermind behind the illegal salt trafficking is the thief Du Fuwei. They started selling pickled vegetables and fish with extremely high salt content in Jianghuai and Jiangnan last year, so we never noticed.
Jiangdu County is just one of their distribution centers. We arrested a man named Sun Di who is the contact person of Jiangdu County. We found 100,000 pickled fish in the warehouse he rented. According to his own account, he has sold 70,000 to 80,000 pickled fish this year. "
Xiao Xia nodded. He also knew that people in Jiangdu did like to eat dried salted fish, while people in Jiangnan liked to eat fish sauce. Du Fuwei actually used this method to sell salt.
"and then?"
"And Sun Di is just a small figure, responsible only for Jiangdu County. A lot of the information he gave was just what he heard from others, which may not be correct."
"What other valuable information did he say?" Xiao Xia asked again.
"He heard that Du Fuwei and Li Zitong fought for Jianghuai, and it seemed that Li Zitong lost, and Li Zitong retreated from Huainan County to Ruyin County."
Xiao Xia knew that Li Zitong was originally in Huainan County, but later for some reason retreated north to Ruyin County. Was it really because of Du Fuwei? Did Du Fuwei's forces already enter Jianghuai?
What worried Xiao Xia the most was that these bandits were originally mountain bandits or pirates who could only hide in the mountains. However, after the disastrous defeat in the first war against Goguryeo last year, local powerful landlords began to lose confidence in the Sui Dynasty and turned to support these bandits who gathered to rebel.
These bandits began to enter the city one after another, and suddenly became separatist forces in various places. They had money, food, and soldiers, and behind them were powerful families from all over the place.
They continued to expand their power, which actually meant they gained support from new powerful landlords. Du Fuwei started selling salt, and it is very likely that he gained support from the Haizhou salt merchants. In Jianghuai and Jiangnan, he sold pickled vegetables only because of their pressure, but in the Central Plains he most likely sold salt directly.
Since he defeated Li Zitong, it is very likely that his power has infiltrated Jianghuai.
Five years ago, Xiao Xia reached an agreement with the imperial court to abandon the eight counties of Jianghuai and retreat to the south of the Yangtze River. According to the agreement, the imperial court was not allowed to station troops in Jianghuai, leaving the eight counties of Jianghuai as a power vacuum. Li Zitong and Du Fuwei seized the opportunity to infiltrate Jianghuai.
After Li Zitong failed and withdrew from Jianghuai, Jianghuai became Du Fuwei's meal.
What Xiao Xia is concerned about now is not just the problem of selling illegal salt, but to what extent Du Fuwei has infiltrated Jianghuai?
Xiao Xia immediately said to Li Luming: "Although I only took Jiangdu County, you should also regard the other counties in Jianghuai as having been taken by me. Send a large number of internal guards to other counties to investigate Du Fuwei's whereabouts. I want to know to what extent Du Fuwei controls Jianghuai. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand. I'll arrange it right away!"
Xiao Xia added: "But on the surface, you still use the excuse of investigating smuggled salt to make the other party think that we are investigating smuggled salt. Don't let the other party discover your true intentions. Even if you find something, don't easily alert the enemy!"
Li Luming nodded silently. She also realized that Jiang Huai might be a severe challenge he would face in the next few years.
(End of this chapter)