I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Jiang Zuo actually has feelings for me?"

Chen Qingyun suddenly had some complicated thoughts in his mind, but they were quickly covered up by the imperial majesty in his heart.

Even if you, Jiangzuo, do have some talents, I only regard you as a capable minister.

"I am the son of destiny, how can I be careless with matters between men and women..."

Chen Qingyun said silently in his heart.

"No, no, I am Chen Siyue now..."

Just as Chen Qingyun was thinking about that, he heard Jiang Zuo ask, "Miss Siyue, how many days will you stay this time?"

"How many days?"

Chen Qingyun came to Anding County this time to inspect the border defense and to win over Jiangzuo again. As for how many days he would stay, maybe seven or eight days, or maybe half a month.

“I don’t know yet.”

Chen Qingyun replied.

Jiang Zuo smiled slightly and said, "Then I'll take you around Anding County first. You left in a hurry last time, so you should have a good time this time."

"Um……"

Chen Qingyun nodded indifferently, but her mind was not on playing. Her idea at the moment was very simple, which was to trick Jiang Zuo into the capital under the identity of "Chen Siyue", or to let him serve as a cavalry general to resist the invasion of barbarians.

The two walked side by side, silent for a while.

At this time, a man dressed as a yamen runner came over and said to Jiang Zuo, "Master Jiang, I finally found you. There was news from the salt mine that the first batch of refined salt has been produced. Would you like to go over and check it out?"

Jiang Zuo frowned immediately and winked at the yamen runner, as if to say, "Can't you see that I'm doing my job?" On the surface, he still said seriously, "I know, we'll talk about it another day."

The yamen runner took a shrewd look at the woman beside Jiang Zuo and immediately understood: "Then I will withdraw first."

"Salt mine?"

There was a hint of doubt on Chen Qingyun's beautiful face.

Is Jiang Zuo selling illegal salt?

The salt and iron in Dayan were both government monopolies, and ordinary people did not have the right to operate them. Except for those desperate private salt dealers, the Jiangnan family was one of the agents for the court's salt trade.

After the Jizhou Prefecture case, the Jiangnan families suffered heavy losses.

Jiang Zuo helped Li Wenjian regain the position of the head of the Li family. Naturally, the latter returned the favor by transferring some of the salt and tea business to Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo did these things secretly without telling the empress.

In the memorial submitted previously, Jiang Zuo mentioned Li Wenjian and selling salt, but he just mentioned it in passing and Chen Qingyun was completely unaware of it.

"Master Jiang, is there a salt mine near Anding County?"

Chen Qingyun asked doubtfully.

"Yes, it just opened not long ago."

Jiang Zuo nodded.

"If I remember correctly, salt seems to be controlled by the court. Are you working for the court? If it's official business, then go ahead and do it. I'll just go to Anding County and take a stroll."

Chen Qingyun said this on purpose.

Jiang Zuo said: "It's not a public matter, just a small private business."

Small business?

"Don't you know, sir, that smuggling salt is a serious crime?"

Chen Qingyun pretended to be confused.

It is impossible for a local county magistrate in Jiangzuo to obtain authorization from the imperial court. As an official appointed by the imperial court, he knew the law but broke it, which is a more serious crime.

Jiang Zuo disagreed: "That's what I said, but the court has no say in it. I'm just doing some small business privately. To be honest, Miss Siyue, I was cheated out of one million taels by a bully some time ago, and now I urgently need to earn it back."

Bully? One million taels?

After hearing this, Chen Qingyun felt more and more that something was wrong.

After thinking about it, she suddenly understood and angrily said in her heart: "Is this a secret curse on the one million taels of tax silver I asked for?"

Well, you're still upset, right? Sooner or later, I'll order your property to be confiscated!

"Master Jiang, for your own safety, try not to take risks."

Chen Qingyun suppressed the anger that flashed across his face and persuaded calmly.

Hearing this, Jiang Zuo felt happy for some reason: "Miss Siyue, are you concerned about me?"

Jiang Zuo smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I have offended people from the imperial court frequently, so it won't be a big deal once. Moreover, we not only sell salt, but also have iron mines and have built many factories to cast iron tools. For so many years, the imperial court has not intervened. Miss Siyue, you are worrying too much..."

Salt and iron are all controlled by the imperial court, which means that you, Jiangzuo, do whatever is illegal, right?

The imperial court didn’t care? That’s because the imperial court didn’t know!

Chen Qingyun's dissatisfaction with Jiang Zuo reached its peak, and at this moment he wished he could get rid of Jiang Zuo immediately.

"Master Jiang, could you take me to visit the salt mine?"

Chen Qingyun suddenly proposed at this moment that she wanted to see how far Jiang Zuo and others' salt business had progressed.

Hearing this, Jiang Zuo suddenly looked puzzled and said, "Miss Siyue, there is actually nothing to see in this salt mine."

"I'm just curious."

Chen Qingyun said softly.

Since Miss Chen Siyue was interested, Jiang Zuo couldn't refuse and said, "Okay, I'll order someone to take us there now."

Jiang Zuo nodded, then went to instruct his subordinates to prepare the carriage and head to the salt mine.

He originally wanted to stroll along the Flower Street with Miss Chen, watch the fireworks by the river at night, and grow their relationship, but he didn't expect that at this moment she would actually propose to go to the salt mine.

What a strange request. Who would go to a salt mine on a date?

Young ladies from wealthy families do have some unique hobbies.

The salt mine is only about ten miles away from Anding County, which is not far away.

"Miss Siyue, please."

Jiang Zuo stretched out his hand, indicating that he wanted to help Chen Qingyun into the carriage.

Unexpectedly, Chen Qingyun did not hold Jiang Zuo's hand, but took a step forward and got into the carriage.

Jiang Zuo didn't hesitate and got into the car directly, sitting with Chen Qingyun.

Unfortunately, the carriage was quite narrow, and the two could only squeeze tightly together, and could even feel each other's warmth.

"Master Jiang..."

Chen Qingyun silently glanced at Jiang Zuo beside him.

Until now, no man had ever ridden in the same carriage with an empress.

"It's okay, we'll be there soon, just make do with it."

Jiang Zuo definitely doesn't care.

The two were extremely close...

Just like that, it slowly drove out of the city.

At this moment, the empress's guards saw this and could only follow secretly.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage finally stopped.

Chen Qingyun got off the carriage and was soon shocked by the scene before him.

For miles around, there were white salt fields and salt wells, and countless workers were working.

Under the sunlight, the salt mine looks like vast expanse of snow.

This scene is quite shocking.

This salt mine is extremely large, even much larger than those owned by the imperial court.

You have to know that the salt business is extremely profitable. With such a scale, I wonder how much money Jiang Zuo has earned privately.

Jiang Zuo, you call this a small business?

"I will send people over to confiscate them all in two days!"

The empress already had her own plans in mind.