From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 568

In the room late at night, the two girls had already gone to bed.

The candlelight had gone out, but the moonlight shone into the room through the window.

They were so worried that they could not fall asleep. Bai Bing could not help asking, "Sister Xue, are you really going to work for that dog official?"

Bai Xue was slightly stunned, then smiled bitterly, "Sister, you have been wielding swords all year round, and you don't like to interact with people. You haven't recognized the situation yet."

"Now it's not a question of whether to work for others or not, but the lives of dozens of people in the family depend on a word from the other party. We are begging for help, do you understand?"

Bai Bing said, "Of course I understand, but I can see that you don't just beg him, you even deliberately cater to him and ask for help. Good for him. "

Bai Xue was really helpless, whispered: "Sister, do you think you don't need to deliberately cater to and please others when asking for help? Do you think people will help us if you give them a cold face? "

"You can lose your temper at home, your father and mother love you, and the servants respect and fear you, but this is not the past. "

"Now we are prisoners, poor creatures waiting for others to deal with our fate. If you can't even see this, how can you save your father and mother? "

Bai Bing snorted and stopped talking. She knew she was in the wrong, and she was not a fool.

How can she change overnight after years of pampering?

After thinking for a long time, she sighed: "Sister Xue, you are right... I just can't accept it for the time being."

"The trajectory of fate has changed, and I can never go back to the past."

"This dog official is so domineering, I am afraid that even if I rescue my parents, I will have to follow him as a slave."

Bai Xue curled her lips and said: "I hope to be his slave, but I am afraid there is no chance."

Bai Bing raised her eyebrows and couldn't help saying: "Could it be that you have a good impression of this dog official!"

Bai Xue sighed and said: "Sister, do you think we can really save Dad? At most, we can save his life. If we should be exiled, we will still be exiled."

"At that time, Bai Who can the family rely on? Only by relying on you and me can we make Daddy and Mommy live a better life and strive for an early amnesty. "

"We are the only hope left for the Bai family."

Speaking of this, her eyes flickered and she whispered: "Besides, what's wrong with Master Yuan Yi? He can write such poems and such beautiful sentences..."

Bai Bing gritted her teeth and said: "Sure enough, you admire him. You even call him by his pen name."

Bai Xue snorted: "At least it's a hundred times better than those scholars who seek fame but have no literary talent. Master Yuan Yi can not only write poems, but also fight. He is the pillar of the country."

Her eyes were already flashing with a blurred light, which was a symbol of worship.

...

On the second day of June, all the Bai family branches in Quzhou, Huzhou and other places were escorted to the Yangzhou government office. A large group of people attracted the people of Yangzhou to stop and watch.

Ordinary people naturally thought that the Bai family was colluding with the Wusheng Sect, rebelling and treason, and was executed for nine generations, but many salt merchants knew that it was the Duke of Wei who planned all this, and the purpose was just to kill the Bai family and kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

And the effect was very good, the Song family had already handed over everything honestly.

Xu Guangchao and others couldn't help but sigh that although the Duke of Wei's move was cruel, it did achieve the goal.

"Duke of Wei, do you really want to kill them all?"

Yangzhou prefect Yue Lingkang's voice was a little dull. Things like killing nine generations should not be done by imperial envoys, but His Majesty should personally issue an order, after all, it is too big.

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "Colluding with the Wusheng Sect, attacking the county government, ambushing officers and soldiers, and openly rebelling, what do you think the prefect should do? Shouldn't they be killed?"

Yue Lingkang felt a chill in his heart, and couldn't help but be a little afraid of Zhou Yuan. This young Duke had such a cruel heart. His goal had been achieved, but he still wanted to put people to death. It was really terrible.

Zhou Yuan continued, "Master Yue, it is reasonable to say that the mob of the He Gang should not be able to break into the government office in the middle of the night and kidnap prisoners."

"I even suspect that there is a traitor in the government office. What do you think?"

Yue Lingkang was shocked and immediately sweated profusely. He said seriously, "I will investigate it strictly! As long as I find out, I will kill him without mercy!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "The country is in danger. As an official appointed by the court, you should consider the feelings of His Majesty. Master Yue, Yangzhou is His Majesty's Yangzhou and the Yangzhou of the court. I hope you understand this."

Yue Lingkang fluttered and knelt on the ground, gritting his teeth and said, "I understand! I will find out the traitor! I will punish him severely!"

"It's good to understand."

Zhou Yuan certainly knew that Yue Lingkang was involved in this, but which faction Yue Lingkang belonged to still needed to be investigated in detail, and Guanlu would slowly give the answer.

Seeing that the whole family was arrested in prison, Bai Jingtang had already despaired.

It was only when Bai Xue and Bai Bing came to him with pen, ink, paper and inkstone that he saw a glimmer of hope.Alas…

Bai Jingtang sighed heavily. He knew that if the Duke of Weiguo did not come to see him, it meant that there were no more conditions to negotiate. Whether he could save his life depended on how much he could write.

At this point, there was no room for mediation.

He had no choice but to pick up the pen and write it down silently.

It took him a full hour to write, and he wrote more than 20 pages before he finally stopped.

Bai Xue did not dare to delay, and shouted with the paper: "Master Guan..."

Guan Lu came over and took the paper.

Bai Xue whispered, "Please say a few good words, Lord Guan. The life of the Bai family depends on this."

Guan Lu smiled, but looked at Bai Jingtang, who was worried, and said lightly, "You old boy, you gave birth to a good daughter. If the Lord can really find a breakthrough in the other six families with this thing, your life will be saved."

"Be prepared. The best outcome for you is exile to Qiongzhou, where there are natural salt mines. The court will need your experience to mine them."

"This is the best outcome that the Lord can give you."

After speaking, Guan Lu hurried away with the paper.

Zhou Yuan looked at it in detail for a long time.

It was not until late at night that he raised his head and said in a deep voice: "These private salt families are more outrageous than we imagined. Bai Jingtang is right. They not only sell private salt, but also forge salt permits. They even use bribery to secretly mine and mine salt without the court's knowledge, doing a business without capital."

Guan Lu sighed: "Selling private salt is just imprisonment or exile, forging salt permits is a capital crime, and privately mining and mining salt is to exterminate the clan."

Zhou Yuan sneered: "A catty of salt costs forty cents. Their thirteen private salt mines can mine 80 million catties of salt, which is almost 20% of the annual output of the entire Dajin."

"So this is their big head, three million taels of silver a year, after deducting the bribery expenses, there is still a lot left."

"Salt merchants, salt merchants, the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, they really deserve to die !”

Guan Lu also took a deep breath and said coldly: "Such a terrible number is happening every year. I really don't know how many corrupt officials cover up for them."

"The people of Dajin have suffered natural disasters and man-made disasters in recent years. It is difficult to make a living. They have to spend their only hard-earned money to eat this kind of black salt and high-priced salt."

"These salt merchants are not bandits or natural disasters, but they eat meat and drink blood, scrape bones and suck marrow for the people. They are even more terrible than bandits and natural disasters!"

Zhou Yuan slapped the table and said in a deep voice: "Prepare to close the net! Let Zhang Fei mobilize people! Inform Zhuang Xuansu, and the inner court must also prepare!"

"We have to be quick! Within three days! These thirteen private salt mines must be firmly controlled!"

"It's been so long, it's time to fight the eight major families!"