Chapter 401 Finally Connected
Di Renjie concluded: “This is like the law of nature, which has no loopholes!”

Li Yuanfang sneered and looked at Zhang Shen: “He must be a repeat offender! If we hadn’t returned in time, Fang Jiu would have been ambushed by him!”

Zhang Shen heard this and quickly explained, his voice a little flustered: “No, no, I was just afraid that he would find out about our murder, so I wanted to knock him out! We were just confused for a moment and made a big mistake!”

Fang Jiu listened to the entire horrific murder case from beginning to end, and couldn’t help but feel a chill running through his heart. He almost got murdered to silence him.

Di Renjie listened to Zhang Shen’s sophistry and sneered: “Hmph, even if it is true! What was the name of the man you killed? Why did you kill him?”

Zhang Shen sighed helplessly and finally began to confess: “His name is Yuan Datou. I was greedy for a moment and saw that he had a lot of wealth, so I wanted to kill him.”

The village head frowned when he heard this: “Are you tempted by the money? Where are the stolen goods?”

The village head is the person in charge of the case and must do it from beginning to end.

Zhang Shen sighed again and replied, “Hidden in the kitchen.”

Di Renjie said decisively: “Take us to see it!”

Zhang Shen stood up and led Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang, the village head and others to the kitchen.

The door creaked open and he led Di Renjie and his party in. He moved the pile of firewood next to the stove, revealing a dozen hemp bundles hidden underneath.

Di Renjie reached out and touched the sack, frowning and asking, “This sack is wet?”

Fang Jiu was mixed in the crowd. The moment his eyes touched those wet sacks, he suddenly cried out in surprise: “Huh?”

He had seen too many of these standard sacks when he was a river worker and a boatman!

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang, the village head and others turned around and looked at Fang Jiu with puzzled eyes.

Fang Jiu realized that he had lost his composure and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

The head of the village looked confused and asked, “You were allowed to kill people and rob people just for these dozen broken sacks?”

Zhang Shen sighed helplessly and explained slowly: “These sacks are filled with salt!”

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the room and everyone was shocked.

Li Yuanfang quickly pulled out the chain knife and lightly scratched one of the sacks. Then, large grains of salt poured out from the gap.

Di Renjie stepped forward, picked up a few grains of salt and tasted it. After confirming it, he said to Li Yuanfang, “It is indeed salt!”

They had conducted open and secret investigations and had heard along the way about the salt shortage in Yangzhou, especially in Huaibei. How could they not be surprised to see such a large amount of salt?

Not to mention salt-scarce areas, even in salt-producing areas, it would be difficult for ordinary people to get a dozen sacks of salt.

Li Yuanfang was full of doubts: “Where did they get so much salt? Could it be that these two people are salt smugglers selling illegal salt?”

Fang Jiu’s eyes widened, but he didn’t dare to speak easily. He knew very well that this salt was actually the official salt of the Jianghuai Transport Commissioner.

Di Renjie did not answer immediately, but took the lantern from Zhang Huan and shone it carefully at the sack. He noticed that there seemed to be a few words printed on the bottom of the sack.

He then ordered Zhang Huan and Li Lang, “Carry the sack down!”

The two men moved quickly, lifting the sacks one by one. Di Renjie squatted down, raised the lantern and looked carefully at the bottom of the sacks.

At the bottom, a few large black characters had become blurred due to being soaked in water.

Di Renjie carefully identified it and said softly: “…Jiang…Huai…This word is…Salt…”

He continued to look back and read softly: “This, this is the word ‘iron’…Transportation…Envoy…” Suddenly, he raised his head sharply and blurted out: “Jianghuai Salt and Iron Transport Envoy!”

Li Yuanfang couldn’t help but gasp when he heard this: “What? Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner? This, this is official salt?!”

Fang Jiu frowned, feeling heavy in his heart, and was also curious about the source of this batch of salt.

Di Renjie turned around, stared at Zhang Shen with cold eyes, and asked sternly: “Do you know where this salt comes from? How did such a large amount of salt get transported to your store?”

Zhang Shen was taken aback, but answered honestly: “Yuan Datou came to our shop first and stayed overnight. Then he asked me and my assistant to hire a car and go to the dock to transport the salt.” “I overheard his conversation with his companions. They said that this was all salt. They also asked Yuan Datou to hide in the shop. His companions would come to meet him tomorrow and bring another shipload of salt!” Zhang Shen added.

Di Renjie frowned and asked, “Wharf? In other words, the salt was transported from the water? Yuan Datou has an accomplice?”

Zhang Shen nodded obediently. He himself could not get better, but he was unwilling to let these salt smugglers go.

A hint of excitement appeared on Di Renjie’s face, and Li Yuanfang was even more delighted.

“Village head, it’s late tonight. Let Zhang Shen stay in the town for the time being. Tomorrow we will meet the salt dealer together, catch them all in one fell swoop, and then hand them over to the government for punishment. What do you think?” Di Renjie suggested to the village head.

The head of the village readily agreed: “As you wish, sir.”

Fang Jiu silently observed Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang from the side. He was puzzled by their behavior and even more puzzled by the fact that the head of the village obeyed their orders.
–
The murder was cleared, and unexpectedly, the mystery of the salt ship capsizing was also solved, which made Di Renjie very relieved.

He refused the invitation of the head of the village to stay overnight at his home and decided to stay in Hekoudian, waiting for Yuan Datou’s accomplices to fall into the trap tomorrow.

Di Renjie washed himself with the water boiled by Zhang Huan and others.

At this time, Fang Jiu was sitting cross-legged on the couch, looking at Di Renjie with burning eyes. He keenly noticed that Li Yuanfang, Zhang Huan and others were very respectful to this old man.

This old man was extraordinary. Fang Jiu couldn’t help but ask, “Old man, who are you?”

Di Renjie smiled and put down the towel in his hand: “I am just an idle person, entrusted by my son and nephew, I came to Yangzhou to do some things.”

When mentioning Yangzhou, Fang Jiu’s eyes flashed: “Are you going to Yangzhou too?”

Di Renjie shook his head, sat down next to Fang Jiu, and explained, “Oh no, I came from Yangzhou and want to visit the counties of Xuyi and Shanyang in the north.”

When Fang Jiu heard about Xuyi and Shanyang, he was overjoyed and sat closer to Di Renjie: “Isn’t that a coincidence? I am from Xuyi! I, I, I am going to Yangzhou!”

“Hey, I heard that a high-ranking official came to Yangzhou City, named the Imperial Envoy, and can make decisions for the people. Is it true?” Fang Jiu asked hopefully.

Unconsciously, after witnessing Di Renjie’s abilities and deeds, Fang Jiu became friendly with him. Di Renjie just had this kind of approachable trait.

Fang Jiu was excited to hear Di Renjie’s words, and how could Di Renjie not be surprised to hear what Fang Jiu said.

He looked at Fang Jiu with a different look and nodded, “It is true. The court sent an imperial envoy to investigate the Han Canal boat capsize incident. He was also sent to rectify the administration and understand the people’s sentiments. This imperial envoy is a good official who serves the people and will make great achievements.”

Fang Jiu’s face lit up with joy when he heard this: “That’s great! There’s finally hope for what Brother Wang told us to do! The villagers are saved now!”

Di Renjie was not surprised by Fang Jiu’s excitement. He asked gently, “Do you have any grievances in your heart and want to appeal to the imperial envoy?”

Fang Jiu sighed, his expression darkening. “Yes, I am one of the merchants on both sides of the Han Canal. I used to deal with the official salt you saw today every day.”

“But in recent months, the government has insisted that we, the grain transport households, are going to rebel, and we really can’t survive. Brother Wang showed us a way out, saying that the imperial envoy is coming to Yangzhou and asked us to file a complaint.”

Di Renjie nodded slightly, ready to take over the matter: “Do you have a complaint? Can you show it to me?”

Fang Jiu hesitated for a moment. Di Renjie had actually gained his trust. He said, “There is no complaint, but Brother Wang wrote us a letter, saying that if we give it to the imperial envoy after we meet him, he will help us!”

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie’s expression suddenly became serious.

Fang Jiu took out the letter written by Hu Jinghui and handed it to Di Renjie: “This is the letter.”

Di Renjie immediately felt that the handwriting on the envelope was somewhat familiar. After taking a closer look, he was surprised: “Chengyuan’s personal letter! This… This is Jinghui’s handwriting!”

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Fang Jiu: “Where did you get this letter?”

Fang Jiu was stunned when he heard this: “Brother Wang gave it to me!”

Di Renjie calmed himself down a bit and asked, “Is the brother Wang you are talking about about 37 or 38 years old, and he carries a sword with him?”

Fang Jiu’s eyes widened immediately: “Do you know Brother Wang?”

　Headache

　
(End of this chapter)