At the beginning, I became a county magistrate with greed of 500 million. The empress asked me to be

"Bring up the chiefs of the four major salt merchants."

"And Zhou Wendi, release him from the dungeon as well."

Xia Yun gave the order.

From last night till now, he has not paid much attention to the four old guys and has not arranged any meals for them.

In Xia Yun's estimation, the cooking time should be about right.

Xu Wan'er, who had just gained control of four million taels of silver, was very excited at the moment, but she did not forget to convey Xia Yun's order.

After a short while, the heads of the four major salt merchants and Zhou Wendi, who had been detained in the dungeon for many days, were all brought to the court.

As expected, after not eating for a whole day, the four old men were already pale and thin from hunger, and all looked like they were about to faint at any time.

As for Zhou Wendi, not only were his clothes ragged and his body covered in dirt, his mental state had become numb and dull, and his eyes were empty and lifeless.

He was completely different from the high-spirited middle-aged man who appeared in front of the prefectural yamen that day.

Even Zhou Maocheng, the old man of the Zhou family, had to look closely before he recognized Zhou Wendi's identity.

"My son!"

Zhou Maocheng cried out, and tears immediately gushed out of his dry pupils. His tearful appearance looked quite sad to those who didn't know the situation.

"Father, father?"

Zhou Wendi turned his head and looked at Zhou Maocheng blankly. It was obvious that he had recognized Zhou Maocheng's identity at this time, but he was still in a semi-numb state.

"Alright, alright!"

Xia Yun waved his hand impatiently. He brought these people to the court not to witness the touching moment of their father and son reunion.

"As salt merchants in Hangzhou, you have accumulated wealth for many years, but instead of repaying the court's kindness, you have hoarded it and made profits. This is an unforgivable crime."

"However, this government considers your old age. Today, each of you only needs to pay 200,000 taels of redemption silver, and hand over your salt industry, and then you can have a chance to live."

Xia Yun's expression changed immediately and he became quite indifferent.

At this moment, he did not hide the fact at all. He arrested these old guys in order to seize their property from them.

He didn't feel any burden at all when doing this kind of thing.

After all, these salt merchants have innocent lives in their hands. If they are really investigated, it would not be an exaggeration to sentence them to death by slow slicing.

However, when the four chief salt merchants present heard Xia Yun asking them to hand over their respective businesses, anger instantly appeared on their faces.

"Your Excellency, the Prefect! Although we salt merchants are not officials, we know a little about the laws of the court. If you are robbing people by trickery like you did today, aren't you afraid that the court will punish you according to the law?!"

One of the chief salt merchants stepped forward.

Xia Yun learned about the situation of the salt merchants in Hangzhou from Xu Wan'er yesterday, so he already knew the identity of the man in front of him.

This man's surname is Song, and his destiny is to make a fortune. His family has been in the salt business for generations and has made a lot of money.

"Law?"

"What this government says is the law!"

Murderous intent flashed in Xia Yun's eyes, and he slammed the gavel hard, emitting a domineering aura.

This guy surnamed Song actually has the nerve to reason with him.

It’s simply a matter of life and death!

Xia Yun then glanced at Xu Wan'er and gave her a look.

Seeing this, Xu Wan'er hurriedly took out a case file and presented it to Xia Yun.

"In the ninth year of Jiande, Song Changqing, the head of the Song family, had an economic dispute with Xiang Ningyuan, a silk merchant in Hangzhou. Xiang Ningyuan later died of a sudden illness, and the dispute was left unresolved."

"In the 18th year of Jiande, Song Guiren, the eldest son of the Song family, was sued by Zhao Dazhu, a citizen of Hangzhou City, for having an affair with his wife. Later, Zhao Dazhu died of poisoning, and the case was left unresolved."

"In the second year of Shengde, Song Qianli, the head of the Song family, was sued by the magistrate of Qingcheng County, which is under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou City. The magistrate accused Song Qianli of buying an official position. Later, the magistrate of Qingcheng County was transferred to another position, and the lawsuit was dropped."

"..."

In just a few dozen seconds, Xia Yun read out six or seven items in the case file, all of which were related to the Song family.

After he finished speaking, Xia Yun looked directly at Song Qianli with cold eyes.

At this moment, Song Qianli no longer had the same momentum as before. He just wilted and his face was full of panic.

"Mr. Prefect, where did you get this case file?"

At this time, several other salt merchant chiefs present were also panicked.

As fellow salt merchants, they naturally knew that the several cases that Xia Yun had just read out all ended in nothing.

But in fact, it was all because of the Song family's secret operations that the Song family's interests were protected from loss.

"This is not a matter for you to worry about. Why? Do you guys want to hear about the rest of the case file?"

A sneer appeared on Xia Yun's lips.

The case file in front of him was the one that Xu Wan'er and her men had searched out from the warehouse.

It contains information about all the businesses, big and small, in Hangzhou.

Moreover, the author of this case file was none other than Chen Denglin, the former prefect of Hangzhou who died on the way to Beijing!

Obviously, Chen Denglin served as the prefect of Hangzhou for more than 20 years, and was involved in many cases of collusion between officials and businessmen, including the information in such cases.

Just in case and to ensure that he could gain more benefits in the future, Chen Denglin recorded everyone's information early on.

Unfortunately, Chen Denglin died before he could use this case file to gain benefits.

"boom!"

Xia Yun struck the gavel again.

"Do you want to hand it over or not?"

A loud shout rang out from Xia Yun's mouth, and the murderous intent in his eyes gradually materialized.

If these old men continued to oppose him at this moment, he wouldn't mind killing them.

Upon hearing this, the other three salt merchant chiefs in the field all focused their attention on Zhou Maocheng.

The meaning was clearly asking Zhou Maocheng what to do.

Seeing this scene, Xia Yun was not surprised.

These days, he has also heard a lot of rumors from the outside world.

Rumor has it that the Zhou family is on good terms with the court's junior ministers, and that the two sides have economic dealings with each other.

However, Xia Yun took a completely indifferent attitude towards this.

The terms "minister" and "junior minister" were not within his consideration.

Since Zhou Wendi had already been arrested, he had no choice but to go down this path.

"Your Excellency the Prefect, I am willing to hand over 200,000 taels of silver as a ransom, as well as all of the Zhou family's salt business."

After thinking it over again and again, Zhou Maocheng made an extremely difficult decision, his voice intermittent with a slight tremor.

Hearing this, the other three salt merchants sighed inwardly.

But what followed was the statements made by the three chief salt merchants.

"My Song family is willing to hand over 200,000 taels of silver as a ransom, as well as all of the Zhang family's salt industry."

"..."

In just a few seconds, the four largest salt merchants on the scene handed over their own businesses one after another.

"That's right."

Xia Yun nodded happily.

If these old guys had cooperated with him earlier, they wouldn't have suffered this night in vain.

"Come here, let them sign and seal!"

Xia Yun then waved his hand, and the soldiers on both sides quickly stepped forward.

The four original salt merchants' chief executives were asked to sign and seal the new contract.