Chapter 25 Gu Tingye is dead?
At night, Sheng Hong gently hugged Lin Qinshuang who had "woken up", his expression full of heartache.
Lin Qinshuang knew how to please Sheng Hong very well. She stopped making any noise and let Sheng Hong hold her quietly, allowing him to enjoy that sweet and quiet moment.
At this moment, Sheng Hong's heart was full of peace. Although he was holding Lin Qinshuang's extremely soft and delicate body, he had no desire at all.
At this moment, Lin Qinshuang is irreplaceable in Sheng Hong's heart.
Slowly, Sheng Hong fell asleep with a smile and sweetness.
Gu Tingye died, but his death was not peaceful.
On this dark and windy night, the miserable cries of Gu Tingye's trusted servant attracted a large crowd in the yamen.
At first, this was just an ordinary murder case, an assassination without any novelty, and the servants on guard at the yamen just planned to delay the case and wait for the magistrate to deal with it tomorrow.
until
"My son is Gu Tingye, the second son of Ningyuan Marquis. He came to Yangzhou this time under the alias Bai Ye. Unexpectedly, he was assassinated last night. Please make sure to find my son!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the servant from the yamen hurried to the Sheng family, and the sweet and peaceful Sheng Hong was awakened.
Obviously, he was a little confused, and felt a little resentful and impatient. What case was worth such a fuss? If the truth could be found, then investigate it. If not, then forget it!
"What can't be left until tomorrow?"
He was in a bad mood when he woke up, and if the servant from the yamen didn't tell him about Luo Tou, Lord Sheng would be very angry.
"Sir, the second son of the Ningyuan Marquisate was assassinated here. No one found him alive, and no one found his body."
"My lord! My lord! Please save my son! My lord!"
The servant cried very sadly. Even if his parents had died, he might not be so sad, because if Gu Tingye really died, he would definitely not survive.
"What? Come on, go find the prefect, go find the deputy prefect."
After being woken up in the middle of the night, the somewhat dazed Sheng Hong suddenly woke up, sweat pouring down his back, his voice trembling when he spoke, and his legs and feet became much weaker.
Ningyuan Marquis Mansion is a powerful figure among the nobles, and a big man who truly controls the military power!
Now, the second son of Ningyuan Marquis was assassinated, and Yangzhou officials can't say anything.
Well, Sheng Hong is the first person to take the blame.
He was a Tongpan, and one of his duties was to maintain public order. The eldest son of the Marquis's family was assassinated. Although this incident had nothing to do with public order, when it came down to responsibility, it was naturally the public order's fault.
In that case, will the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion be able to remain in peace?
The Tongpan was in charge of trial cases and public security, and was more closely related to the assassination. Isn't he the first person to take the blame?
Sheng Hong was panicking. Although he could get close to Lord Han through his son-in-law, the status of his father-in-law was too much of a barrier. If he was really held accountable by the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion, he could not rely solely on the Chu family!
Even if the Chu family can withstand the pressure, what if the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion sends assassins?
This night is destined to be restless.
That night, the officials in the yamen truly experienced what execution power was and what it meant to dig deep into the ground.
It was so noisy that Chu Hong, who was sleeping with his wife in his arms, was woken up and walked out to watch the fun.
Seeing this, Chu Hong was also shocked. It’s fucking night! You tell me it’s night?
Bright, so bright!
A series of neatly arranged torches illuminated the earth. Chu Hong could even see pedestrians five or six hundred meters away. It was really exaggerated.
Facts have proved that digging deep underground to find people is extremely effective.
Gu Tingye was found, but his body had been soaked in water for a long time.
After the tearful trusted servant saw Gu Tingye's body in person, he fainted from anger on the spot. It was indeed the second young master, and he could not survive.
Chu Hong also saw Gu Tingye’s body in person. He knew it was fake, but this fake body looked very real.
The dead man was Gu Tingye's scapegoat. He was a servant who looked 50% like Gu Tingye. After he put on Gu Tingye's clothes and was soaked in water for a few days, his appearance was completely destroyed. The searchers could only identify his identity by his general body shape and accessories. It was normal that they could not tell whether it was real or fake. When Sheng Hong actually saw Gu Tingye's body, he was immediately disheartened. In the middle of the night, he dragged Chu Hong to the best restaurant in Yangzhou. His words were full of sighs. Although no tears fell, it was almost the same.
Hearing Sheng Hong's cries of "my dear son-in-law, save me", Chu Hong agreed repeatedly and said that he would write a letter overnight and would definitely not let the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion blame his father-in-law. After returning home, Sheng Hong also hurriedly wrote a letter to the Yue family, hoping that his father-in-law, the Grand Tutor who had passed away more than ten years ago, would make the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion have some scruples.
Then, on the 49th day after Old Master Bai passed away, amidst Sheng Hong's anxious journey, Gu Tingye came back to life!
He didn't come back to life, he just walked out of the crowd suddenly and argued with the Bai family. He mainly said that when Old Master Bai was young, he was driven out of his clan and gradually built up this huge family business. When he was old, he didn't want to pass on his property to a group of ungrateful people, so he let his grandson Gu Tingye inherit the Bai family's salt factory assets in his will. The Bai family felt resentful and sent people to hunt him down and seize his assets.
When Gu Tingye came out, the gloomy faces of the Yangzhou officials warmed up one by one. It was obviously Old Master Bai's funeral, but everyone was smiling.
Without any surprise, Yangzhou prefect Chu Yu, associate prefect Zhang Wu, magistrate Sheng Hong, number one scholar Chu Hong and others all testified to Gu Tingye's will, and Gu Tingye easily acquired the Yangzhou Salt Village property.
There are twelve salt shops in Yangzhou. The four major families of Chu, Zhang, Xu and Chen each have two, and the remaining four are owned by Old Master Bai.
Generally speaking, if a salt factory operates normally, its annual net profit is about 9,000 taels.
However, this is the result of the salt manor's interests being entirely in his own hands. If a businessman like Old Master Bai wanted to make a profit of nine thousand taels a year, he would have to have some backers and several big families in the local area. On average, a salt manor might only make five or six thousand taels a year.
Now, Gu Tingye has acquired four salt factories in one fell swoop, which makes him rich even as the legitimate son of Ningyuan Marquis.
It is true that the children of noble families have no shortage of money to spend, but that is just a small amount of money. For an average noble family, it would be a great achievement to have an asset income of five or six thousand taels a year.
After all, the most profitable business in the world is still the monopoly business. Salt administration, mining, border trade, shipping, and canal transportation are well-deserved in terms of making money. However, these five things all rely on geographical advantages, and you need to really reach out to that place to make money.
The nobles were located in Bian Jing, at the feet of the emperor, and no one dared to move. When it came to making money, they might not be able to compete with the more powerful local families.
Otherwise, with the power of the Ningyuan Marquis's Gu family, it would not be difficult for them to make money under the suppression of the strong, and there would be no such thing as being unable to pay back the national treasury.
Gu Tingye is a sensible man. He knows that he cannot stay in Yangzhou for a long time like his grandfather, nor does he have the same exchange of interests and friendship with the major families in Yangzhou as his grandfather. He knows that his grandfather takes care of the major families in Yangzhou every year, but when people die, the money is gone. If he wants to ensure the stable development of the salt village in Yangzhou, he must give up some more interests.
Therefore, Gu Tingye took out one salt shop from the remaining four and gave it to the four major families of Chu, Zhang, Xu and Chen. Each salt shop had an annual income of 9,000 taels. Naturally, the major families promised that the interests of Gu Tingye's salt shop would not be violated.
After all, salt is a monopoly business, so there is no need to worry about sales. Just sell as many as you can. There is not much competition, so peaceful coexistence is naturally the best.
If Chu Hong had just arrived and was from a merchant family, he would definitely curse and swear about paying protection money, saying that this was fucking robbery.
But now, Chu Hong is the local tyrant!
If you don't collect protection fees when you are not a local boss, and you still don't collect protection fees after becoming a local boss, then isn't it just a waste of your status as a local boss?
Ask yourself, the four big families are actually quite disciplined. They won't eat what's in the bowl and look at what's in the pot. They never take the biggest share, but just take a little soup. After you pay the protection fee, you can definitely run your business in peace. Even the thieves who occasionally cause unrest outside Yangzhou will definitely receive the message not to touch your family's property.
Ahem. Exposed!
Well, the thieves outside Yangzhou are also controlled by the local thieves in Yangzhou.
What about the thieves?
This thing is not used to harm the common people. If the common people are harmed, the major families in Yangzhou will also be indirectly harmed. This thing is mainly used to prevent invasion by outsiders.
The Great Zhou Dynasty was in great chaos in recent years. All kinds of people dared to set up bandits, and some big ones were even able to take over the whole country.
In this situation, there are bandits everywhere. If there are no bandits in Yangzhou, then there will probably be thieves targeting this place. Instead of letting the real thieves take over, it is better to raise thieves ourselves.
On the other hand, several large and powerful families really need some armed forces to protect their interests, but they dare not raise soldiers. Naturally, they can only raise some armed forces in the form of thieves, usually with a scale of only three or four hundred people, and they dare not make a big move.
It can only be said that the existence of Yangzhou thieves is very flexible. When the world is in chaos, Yangzhou must be one of the first places where thieves appear. When the world is about to suppress the rebellion, the Yangzhou Tuanlianshi must be one of the brave people who suppress the rebellion, and Yangzhou is also one of the first places to suppress the rebellion.
In short, the money is worth it and Yangzhou Dazu is very conscientious!
……
Life in Yangzhou is always so leisurely. During the dozens of days of getting along, Chu Hong slowly developed interactions with Gu Tingye. The two sides got along better and better, and they also asked for directions when they were in Bian Jing, so they slowly became friends.
Later, there was another Sheng Changbai
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(End of this chapter)