Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 765: People’s Market

The village's second dog got two gold leaves. He first promised to use the gold leaves to subsidize the beggars in the gang, and then placed the gold leaves close to his body with great care. With his dignified appearance, no one thought that he had embezzled anything. heart of.

Zhu Su was even more secretly surprised that his second brother was quite clever at wooing these people in the world. He used the word "money" and the word "righteousness" to make these people die.

After collecting the gold leaves, Zhuang Ergou said: "The leader of the Haojiao Gang learned that the villain is a beggar from Chang'an Street in the east. The gate of Ouyang Prince Consort's house is the villain's usual place of begging."

"Therefore, Ouyang's consort, how many times do we go out on weekdays, and who is visiting the house, I know it all clearly."

"Ouyang Prince Consort usually doesn't interact with many people. Even if he goes out to socialize on weekdays, most of them go to the Qinhuai River with his scholar friends to drink and compose poems. But about half a month ago, a marquis' carriage and horses came to Ouyang Mansion. The number of times has become more and more frequent. The Marquis is a big spender. That day, Ouyang Prince Consort occasionally saw him, tsk tsk, with that envious look in his eyes..."

"Do you remember which marquis it is?" Zhu Su asked. "How did he spend so much money in front of Ouyang Prince Consort's house?"

"This noble man, I don't know how to read. I only know that all my followers call me Hou Ye, but I don't know which house it is." Zhuang Ergou didn't know Zhu Su, but he also knew this. The person dressed up and standing next to the leader of the Qin Gang must be a noble person.

"But the villain knows very well how to squander it. Because in those days, the Marquis rewarded the villain with ten taels of silver in front of Ouyang's consort... Tsk tsk, ten taels of snowflake silver. ! The little man really spent a lot in those days." Zhuang Ergou said, with a look of memories on his face, as if the twelve taels of silver were more than the two gold leaves given by Zhu Ping.

That's right, he begged for the twelve taels of silver, but Zhu Ping asked him to give the gold leaves to the gang. The two cannot be confused.

Zhu Su, however, looked at each other with his two brothers, both of whom were a little strange. As soon as he made a move, he rewarded a beggar with ten taels of silver. There were indeed not many nobles in the capital who were so generous.

Twelve taels of silver, even in the Imperial Capital Yingtian, is enough to cover the expenses of a family of five for a year.

In this way, it was rewarded to a beggar.

"Since Brother Zhuang has seen his face, it is not difficult to find out which marquis this is." Zhu Ping said. Zhu Su and Zhu Di also nodded. There was no rush for this kind of matter that was already a certainty. Zhu Su continued to ask: "Then, are there any other abnormalities?"

"Well, the rest are gone..." Zhuang Ergou recalled. Suddenly something came to mind: "Ah, that's right."

"I remember when I went to the market to beg a few months ago, I met Ouyang's consort there!"

"Human market?" Zhu Su frowned.

The so-called human market is a place for human trafficking. It has always been on the fringes of imperial laws, and it can be regarded as a dirty place where literati seldom set foot. In the past, during disaster years, many refugees would sell their children and daughters in this market, hoping that some kind-hearted people would help them. His children were bought back as slaves in order to have a chance of survival.

However, the household registration system has become much more flexible in the past two years. People who moved due to famine are no longer regarded as refugees and still have the opportunity to return to their place of origin with their household registration. Moreover, when the government's finances are abundant, relief to the people is often very timely. Female Chinese people almost no longer exist.

The main "commodities" in the human market have also changed from the disaster-stricken Han people to the barbarians from all over the country who came to China to seek a living, as well as the "saucy Tatars" who were originally horse thieves on the grasslands. "He is such a dignified consort, why would he show up in the market?" Zhu Su touched his chin.

"Could they be Japanese slaves who want to buy some land?" Zhu Di guessed. In the market, the most popular items are Japanese slaves from Japan. Most of these people voluntarily sold themselves to the Ming Dynasty, and most of them knew how to farm and take care of the crops. Apart from being a bit shorter and uglier, and speaking a bit more harshly, there are no other faults.

Ouyang Lun's house has hundreds of acres of land given by Lao Zhu, so it is reasonable to go to the market to buy some Japanese slaves for farming.

"He has a butler in his house, and he wants to purchase a few serfs, but he still needs to do it himself?" Zhu Su shook his head. "Besides, this human market...is a place where filth and evil are hidden. How would he, a Jinshi-born person, be willing to taint his reputation in such a place?"

"I remember, when I saw Ouyang's consort that day, he secretly changed into a businessman's attire!" Sure enough, Zhuang Ergou continued. "But Xiao Xiao has been begging in Ouyang Mansion for three to five years. Ouyang's consort looks very clear to Xiao Xiao, and there is no mistaking the truth."

"You must be hiding something in your disguise." Zhu Su snorted coldly. "Is there some mystery in this city?"

He asked people to take out the accounts of the Ouyang Mansion that Zhu Di's men had previously found, and after asking Zhuang Ergou about the date, sure enough, what was recorded in the accounts was just "the purchase of more than ten Japanese slaves." He also asked people to investigate and found that there were indeed more than ten Japanese slaves working on the farm in Ouyang Mansion.

Everything seemed impeccable, but this made Zhu Su even more suspicious.

To buy Japanese slaves, why did Ouyang Lun, the consort, have to do it himself and even disguise himself?

"These dozen Japanese slaves are probably just a cover. Ouyang Lun went to the human market in disguise. Firstly, he might have to buy some transactions in the human market that cannot be recorded on the surface; secondly, Ouyang Lun was going to the human market. There are some shady people inside."

"No matter what, it shows that there must be something fishy about this human market. I want to explore this filthy human market." Zhu Su thought for a while and finally said.

"Why are you putting yourself in danger? If you just throw this dirty thing into a pot, can't you torture and find out the reason?" Zhu Di said. "A mere Ouyang Lun is not worth the trouble of becoming the King of Zhou of the Ming Dynasty."

"It's not just because of Ouyang Lun... I suspect that there are other people involved behind this matter." Zhu Su said. He was thinking about the Marquis who visited Ouyang Lun's house. According to his guess, the spendthrift prince was either Lu Zhongheng or Tang Shengzong. If the matter involved these two people, it might not be that simple.

Although these two men were deprived of their military power, they were still veterans on the battlefield and had many old friends. The airs of their marquis mansion were still there, and Lao Zhu did not disclose their crimes to the public, which made these old brothers lose face, so they remained in the army. China's network of relationships is still very involved.

If you are not careful, it may be another big case like the empty seal case.

It is easy to control the market, but just in case, nobles such as Tang Shengzong and Lu Zhongheng are also involved in the market. When the time comes, they can scare the snake, but the real disaster will be avoided.

(End of this chapter)