Zhang Lin walked out of the inner hall and blocked Marseille, who rushed in with Qing soldiers: "Dare to ask my lord, what did my Zhang family do that the court wanted to copy my Zhang family?" ”

Marseille snorted coldly: "What did you do?" You and other profiteers jump up and down, collude with corrupt officials, bribe court officials, lower the price of grain purchases, hoard grain, raise the price of grain for sale, squeeze shipwrights, and harm the people, do you dare to say that you are not guilty? ”

Zhang Lin only felt that his head was buzzing, which of the officials and businessmen in the world is not like this? A big businessman who can become a grain merchant and a salt merchant has no relationship in the officialdom, can he do these transactions? As for colluding with corrupt officials and bribing officials, those are semi-public matters, and who in the world doesn't know these tricks. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"There is no excuse for the sin that you want to add!" Zhang Lin sighed, "Pity my Zhang family for making great contributions to the Qing Dynasty, but now they end up like this!" If it weren't for us salt merchants, how would the imperial court collect the salt tax? Now that we are useless, we simply cross the river and tear down the bridge! ”

A large part of the income of the Qing court depended on these grain and salt merchants, and the prosperity on both sides of the canal was due to these merchants.

But that's all in the past, and now that these people have lost their role, the Qing court simply killed them as pigs.

Maltai sneered: "The surname is Zhang, don't sigh!" The court can give you a way to live, it is already the emperor's grace! If you look at it according to this general, you and other profiteers should be killed! ”

After speaking, Maltai raised his big hand: "Go, search for me!" Search every corner! Look for the wall, and there is no wall! Dig up the floor! There may be gold and silver treasures hidden underneath! Search everywhere! Don't miss a copper plate! ”

Zhang Lin looked at the Qing soldiers who rushed into his house and rummaged through the cabinets, and knew that this time was completely over, and the wealth accumulated by his ancestors and his own three generations would be all over today! Although he was heartbroken, it was better to die than to live, and he could only honestly follow the Qing soldiers out, ready to be escorted to the criminal department for trial.

As for the trial, it is just a formality, the crime has already been decided, and how to deal with it has already been decided. In fact, the most important thing is not the trial, but torture, I am afraid that wherever the Zhang family and the silver are hidden, they will be tortured.

In the courtyard of the Xian Hall, the Qing soldiers searched through the boxes and cabinets, and as long as there was a little valuable thing, it would be removed. The ancient paintings on the walls were also taken down, and several soldiers knocked on the walls to see if there was a mezzanine inside. The door to the cellar was opened, and the Qing soldiers carried out boxes of gold and silver treasures from inside.

When the chest brought out of the cellar was opened, the Qing soldiers who raided the house were dumbfounded: they saw that the gold and silver treasures inside the box shone brightly in the sun.

There were also stacks of silver tickets, land deeds, and account books, all of which were searched by the Qing soldiers. The salt merchant of that year, as expected, was a rich country, and by the way, he copied a big salt merchant, and he could copy out millions of silver in his family property.

The homes of the four wealthy merchants in Tianjin were all raided, and the Qing soldiers seized property worth more than 9 million taels of silver, as well as a large amount of grain, cloth and bags of refined salt smuggled in from the Nanyang Company.

At this time, Wang Xi stood in front of the ordinary people outside, looking at these yellow-faced and thin-skinned people, Wang Xi was so distressed that he almost shed tears: "Fathers and fellow villagers! You have suffered! Because of these profiteers who are rich and unkind, as well as the corrupt officials and corrupt officials who collude with the best businessmen, you have suffered so much! Fortunately, today's son is wise! The imperial court punished profiteers and corrupt officials! Today, the official is here to announce that each of you will receive five buckets of grain and one tael of silver! These are the treasures that belong to you! Now the emperor can't bear to see the suffering of the people, so he specially ordered this official to deal with this matter! ”

More than 100,000 people stood by the canal, and of course Wang Xi's shouts could not be heard by everyone, but some Qing soldiers quickly passed on Wang Xi's words and let everyone know about it.

The ordinary people outside knelt down one after another, and many people shouted: "Lord Qingtian!" The emperor is wise! Our people are saved! ”

Wang Xi made a gesture to signal everyone to be quiet.

Because there were too many people, it was noisy and noisy, and it was impossible to calm down. Knowing that there were Qing soldiers shouting to let them be quiet, this is why someone shouted: "Everyone is quiet, listen to what the adults say, what the court says!" ”

Wang Xi continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, now that the transportation has been interrupted and the salt industry has been damaged, you can no longer return to your old business. First, there are strong people who can join the army and help the court defend against thieves! If you don't want to join the army, everyone should come and register, and the court will give you the land to be cultivated! ”

There was another cheer in the crowd, and at this time, many people said that they were willing to sign up for the army.

In fact, most of these workers and salt farmers no longer know how to farm, and if they are given land, they may not be able to survive, and it is better to join the army as a way to live.

At the same time that the Qing soldiers in Tianjin were attacking the salt merchants in Tianjin, the governors, governors, admirals, and commanders on both sides of the canal and other officials all received secret decrees from the imperial court, asking them to raid the homes of profiteers and thoroughly investigate corrupt officials.

At the same time, the 13 Yamen agents under the control of Kong Sizhen went out to secretly investigate some officials who had ties with salt merchants and grain, and arrested countless officials. Even many flag man officials were taken away.

The flag man official was arrested for corruption and bribery, which was a big hornet's nest, but these things were naturally settled by Wang Xi. Bumu Butai and Kangxi are good people in front of the banner people: "You banner people are the foundation of our Qing Dynasty, but it is not the mourning family and the emperor who want to arrest you, but the criminal department who wants to arrest you!" The country has its own laws, and we can't open it up. ”

In the end, it was Bumu Butai and Kangxi who became good people again: these banner people who committed crimes were originally to be sent out of the customs to serve more than ten years in prison, and after many family members of the banner people interceded through various relationships, everyone's sentences were finally reduced, and the original ten years of exile became three years, and those who were originally assigned to the armored people became enslaved became five years of exile......

Basically, the flag man who committed the crime did not even have his home raided, but only returned the stolen money for embezzlement and bribery.

But those Han officials who were arrested were not so lucky, and they were all raided and then tried by officials from the Criminal Department organized by Wang Xi. The corrupt officials who fell into the hands of Wang Xi, what kind of fate can be imagined!

In the end, some of those Han officials were sentenced to be hanged, some were sent to Ningguta and armored people as slaves, and the lightest were also sent to Guanwai to serve ten years in prison.