Sir, I can do it!

Li Huai stood in the chrysanthemum garden for a long time, he asked Mingde: "Do you think the sixth prince looks like me?"

Mingde's heart skipped a beat, he didn't understand what the emperor meant when he asked this question, so he could only ponder and say: "The emperor's son is naturally like the emperor."

Li Huai himself was also at a loss.But the sachet of Orchid Grass obviously didn't expire, and he would wear that sachet every time he went to Yongning Palace. Could it be that Shu Ning had discovered the secret of Orchid Grass long ago and took precautions?

If so, is Pei'er really his son?If not, how would Shuning have an affair with someone under such strict security in the palace.For more than three years, from the day Shu Ning became pregnant, he was looking for evidence, looking for that man, but there was no clue at all.

Could it be that I was overthinking myself?A sense of powerlessness rose from the bottom of his heart, which made him feel very irritable.

Back in Xuanming Hall, Li Huaiku sat for a long time, until Mingde reminded that it was time to light the lamp, Li Huai just rubbed his tired eyes.After Mingde retreated, Li Huai summoned the leader of the Dragon Guards and ordered him to send someone to investigate the Huguo Temple again.

This child was conceived shortly after Wei Shuning returned from the Huguo Temple. Li Huai sent someone to the Huguo Temple to investigate, but they still found nothing.Since Wei Shuning gave birth to Li Pei, her body has been weak, and she hasn't gone to Huguo Temple to pay respects to the Buddha in the past few years, so Li Huai relaxed her investigation of Huguo Temple.Although more than three years later, there may not be any evidence left behind, but he always feels that he needs to investigate before he can rest assured.

Especially in the assassination at Huguo Temple three years ago, Changsun Ke gave him the feedback that Beiyan did it carefully, but judging from the unclear relationship between Changsun Ke and Wei Zhao now, what he gave at that time The truth' is not necessarily the truth.

Moreover, finding the whereabouts of Chuanguo Yuxi is the task left by Emperor Wu to Nanfu, and Changsun Ke can use this as an excuse to go to Nanliang openly.But he detoured to Nanliang after Shangzhe resigned, and had to ask Li Huai to think more.

He ordered the leader of the Dragon Guards: "We will send more people to the border guard army, and the Wei family and his son must pay close attention to every move."

The leader of the Dragon Guards bowed in response, turned around and retreated.

Li Huaiwei closed his eyes and calculated the forces of all parties, and kept sliding his fingers on the teacup. For some reason, there was always a faint uneasiness in his heart.

Tonight Li Huai did not summon his concubine to attend the bed, but rested in the Xuanming Hall, it seemed that he had just felt a little sleepy, but was woken up by Ming De in a daze.

Li Huai's body reacted faster than his brain, he sat up straight in a jerk, grabbed Mingde's wrist and asked, "What happened?"

Mingde offered the booklet in his hand, and said in a low voice, "Huaizhou expedites the secret booklet."

Li Huai frowned, quickly took the paperwork and quickly reviewed it, his face darkened instantly.He threw the secret book hard on the ground, and cursed angrily: "Xie Hongpifu, I swear to kill you!"

Mingde hurriedly knelt down on the ground, his clothes were soaked in cold sweat.The seal was not far away, and he only saw a few words faintly.

Huaikou, robbed, salt...

Li Huai was extremely angry, his chest heaved violently, and his forehead throbbed.He couldn't help pressing his temple hard, but the piercing pain still couldn't stop.

He asked in a hoarse voice: "Where is the person who sent the secret book? Bring him to see me,"

Mingde stood up in a hurry, bowed and walked backwards out of the palace gate, not even daring to lift his head.He went outside the temple and ordered the eunuch who was on duty to bring him.

Little Dengzi quietly walked behind him and said worriedly, "Eunuch, are you alright?"

Mingde shook his head, gently wiped the sweat from his forehead with his cuff, and told Xiao Dengzi in a low voice: "Be alert on duty tonight, don't let those blind people come forward."

He looked up at the pitch-black sky, and it would be dawn in half an hour, and he couldn't help sighing: "One wave is not calm, another wave is rising, and the previous dynasty is about to set off a bloody storm."

The Huaizhong area is located in the northeast of Qi State, with the Huai River running across it. In Chu Dynasty, it was the head of the three major salt fields, and it has always occupied a dominant position in the salt industry.After the war at the end of Chu, the southern Jiangsu salt field was occupied by Nanliang.There are only two salt fields in Huaizhong and Xiwan in Qi State.

Salt, iron, and water transportation were all privately operated in the early days, and their benefits were huge.In the early days of the establishment of the Chu State, the treasury was empty due to successive years of wars. The emperor at that time found that wealthy private merchants were operating salt and iron, and accumulated tens of thousands of gold.Then the system of Yantie official camp was started.Under Chu's 400-year rule, this system also alternated between abolition and establishment.

During the period of Emperor Jing of Chu, it was changed to be government-led. Merchants obtained management rights by ticket, and had to pay a large amount of tax to the court every year.After Emperor Jing, the imperial power declined, and the nobility rose again, monopolizing the two most important domestic salt and iron.However, due to its special structure, water transportation has not been accepted by any nobles.

At the time of Emperor Heng, he even recruited water transport to counter the aristocratic salt and iron industry, and slowly infiltrated the government's influence into it, so that the salt and iron water transport returned to the government's jurisdiction again.It's just that the aristocrat's management is quite deep, and it is difficult to pull out for a while.In the period of Emperor Wei, the officials were extravagant and the government was turbid. The aristocratic family took the opportunity to enclose the land and held the salt and iron in their hands again.

The Xiwan Salt Field is located in Ningzhou, and it is run by Mrs. Chu's natal family, Webster.This is also the reason why the Chu family's status in Ningzhou has not diminished after the change of dynasty.The Chu family guarded Ningzhou for generations and occupied the enemy Xihu.Every year, the funds for raising soldiers and horses come from the Xiwan Saltworks.However, since the revival of Chu State by Emperor Heng, the emperors of all dynasties have allowed the Chu family to manage independently in order to stabilize the border.But to show his loyalty, the Chu family still paid the salt tax to the treasury every year, and the emperor turned a blind eye.

After Emperor Wu came to the throne, all kinds of wastes were waiting for prosperity.The Chu family of Ningzhou offered a large amount of salt tax to support the smooth implementation of various policies of Emperor Wu.Because of this, Emperor Wu couldn't touch the Chu family anymore, so he set his sights on the Huaizhong area where the nobles gathered.Huaizhong is monolithic. Although Emperor Wu balanced the power of the nobility during his lifetime, he still failed to penetrate the Huaizhong salt industry.

The salt produced by the Xiwan Salt Farm was used by the Chu family's army and paid tribute to the royal family, and the rest was supplied to neighboring state capitals.The salt used by most of the state capitals in Qi State comes from the Huaizhong Salt Field.During the Chu Dynasty, the nobles in the Huaizhong area also operated the salt industry by ticket, but after the war at the end of Chu, the imperial court took back the water transportation and iron smelting operations, but the Huaizhong salt industry was always controlled by the four nobles.Emperor Wu wanted to restore Yanyou's government-run system more than once, but the aristocrats were so powerful that they could only do it slowly.

Li Huai took advantage of the Zhao family's suicide attempt.He took the Zhao family's salt field in Huaizhong and sent his cronies to Huaizhou.

Of the four nobles in Huaizhong, Xie Zhao is the most.There are also Yang family and Miao family.After the fall of the Zhao family, most of Yantian was divided among the three nobles, among which the Xie family occupied the most.A small part was dedicated to the lives of the children of Emperor Baode's clan by members of the Zhao clan.After this time, Xie's status in Huaizhong was even more unambiguous.

In the past, Huaizhong was a balance of four families. The Xie and Zhao families were powerful, and because both families had women entering the palace as concubines and both gave birth to princes, they had always been in opposition.The Yang and Miao families each choose a side to attach to.The Zhao family fell, and the Xie family dominated.Li Huai wants to join forces with the Yang and Miao families to attack the Xie family.

The Yang Miao family had been suppressed by Xie Zhao for many years, and they had long been dissatisfied in their hearts, so they quickly reached a cooperation with the court.In the past few years, Xie Hong kept a low profile, and he just didn't know the actions of Yang and Miao's family.Instruct the members of the Xie clan in Huaizhou to keep their property well, and restrain the children of the clan from causing trouble.

The Xie family has a deep foundation in the court, which is incomparable to the Yang and Miao families.The bulk of the salt business was led by Mr. Xie.Therefore, although Yang Miao contended against the Xie family, it was all a small trick in private.While taking precautions, Xie was also secretly watching for opportunities.

Originally, Xie Hong planned to boil the frogs in warm water, but he couldn't watch the Cui family get their hands on the military power, so he hastily moved his hands, and secretly ordered his subordinates to buy as much salt as possible in the market, and prepared to transport the salt in Huaizhong to Huaikou. its intercepted.

Half of the salt that was robbed in Huaikou belonged to Xie's family. Since the incident of Concubine Xi, Xie's family has always kept a low profile.But he is very willing to spend money to support the second prince Li Lin.In the past few years, Xie's family has spent a lot of money to win over officials from the DPRK and China, and this is the time when money is needed.Therefore, when Yan was robbed, Yang and Miao's family did not suspect Xie's family.It's just that the government traced along the way and found the Xie family.The prefect of Huaizhou sent paperwork to the court, but they were all robbed halfway.

Salt is indispensable for people's livelihood.Once the Xie family controls the supply of salt, there will be less salt among the people, and chaos will inevitably arise.Although there are also salt fields operated by small clans in various places, which are taken over by the government and run by the government.However, the output of salt is not as good as that of the big saltworks, and the quality is also uneven. It is difficult to make up for the big gap in Huaizhong for a while.

Yin Fangde, governor of Huaizhou, wanted to quickly order his subordinates to buy the salt from retail merchants when the salt was robbed, but he was preempted.The opportunity was lost, so Fang De had no choice but to send his confidant Yu Zhen to Shengjing to face the saint in person.They also reached an agreement with the Yang and Miao families that the sale of salt in the two salt warehouses will be suspended, and all the salt will be allocated by the government.

The fast horse from Huaizhou ran day and night to Shengjing, and ran for four days and four nights. When he reached the gate of the palace, he was already unconscious.Fearing that he would bump into the holy driver, Mingde asked someone to wait for the aftershock to wash and wash up, and forced himself to eat some porridge, fearing that he would not wake up when he relaxed, and asked the on-duty imperial doctor to perform acupuncture to ensure that he was awake.

Yu Zhen was still a little dazed when he entered the hall, but after feeling the dull and oppressive atmosphere in the hall, he immediately woke up with a jolt.

Li Huai pointed at Mi Zhe, and stared at Aftershock with heavy eyes.Aftershock only felt the tremendous pressure on his head, making him breathless.The autumn night was slightly cool, but after the aftershocks, he was sweating profusely, and his limbs trembled unconsciously.

Mingde's voice came from outside the hall: "Your Majesty, Minister of the Household Department, Governor of Shuntian Mansion, please see me."

"Xuan!"

The incident in Huaizhong was urgent, but it was not without warning.It's just that at that time, the court was arguing about the conquest of the southern army's chief general, and then mentioned the establishment of the reserve. In short, the court was in chaos.This matter was caught in it, and it was ignored for a while.

The governor of Shuntian Prefecture has written a booklet, saying that recently he found that the consumption of salt in the vicinity of Shengjing has increased, and several groups of people are stepping on the purchase limit to store salt.A person does not appear, and a place does not appear.However, there are several counties under the jurisdiction of Shengjing where many people buy in large quantities, which inevitably arouses suspicion.

Several small salt fields taken back by the imperial court were under the jurisdiction of the household department, and a servant of the household department found a sudden increase in the sales of official salt recently reported when checking accounts.He was so frightened that he thought there was going to be a famine again, so he hurriedly reported it to the Minister of the Household Department of Shangguan.After reconciling the accounts, the Minister of the Household Department also discovered the problem, and ordered people to go to the official salt shops in these places to investigate, and found that there was no incident in the local area, and there were still salt in the salt shops.

However, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs always felt that something was wrong. Maybe there were foreigners who were collecting salt, but the government didn't find out.I just searched along this line and found nothing.

Senior officials in the DPRK and China have their own informants and information channels.The aftershocks entered Beijing overnight and knocked on the city gate, but they couldn't hide it from the eyes and ears of these adults.And Yu Zhen is a subordinate of Yin Fangde, the governor of Huaizhou. He rushed to Beijing so eagerly, thinking that something happened in Huaizhong.

Hubu Shangshu immediately thought of the Huaizhong Salt Field.At the same time, the eunuch who delivered the edict from the palace also arrived, and the Minister of the Household Department thought about it, put the note he had prepared in advance into his arms, and went into the palace.

Seeing Dongfang's white belly before going out, Hubu Shangshu couldn't help but sigh.