"These profiteers, for the sake of a little personal gain, had an affair and established slaves, regardless of the justice of the court. They are truly unpardonable." Li Hu had an impulsive personality and hated these dirty things. When he saw the evidence of crime in his hand, he angrily yelled at the case.

Jin Mingda couldn't help but sigh: "They are really brave."

"Mingda, you go to the prefect's Yamen immediately and ask fellow magistrate Liang Yurui to issue an official document, and recommend Mao Jie to lead the Yamen to arrest the Lu family and the Liu family."

"Li Hu, you and Cao Ming, led our troops. After arresting people in the government office, they immediately ransacked the house and opened every tile."

"I will go to the governor's Yamen to see Zeng Junmen, hand over the evidence, and ask Zeng Junmen to report the news to the court."

After Zhu Yunfei pondered deeply, he decided to cut the knot with a sharp knife and put Liu Liang, Fu and Lu Shiming's family in one pot.

As for the bachelor Xie Sheng, he doesn't care.

The Ming Dynasty's cabinet bachelors are indeed high-ranking and powerful, but they are also the most worthless bachelors.

The reason is very simple. You must know that although the current emperor has only been in power for fifteen years, he has already had more than a dozen chief ministers and thirty cabinet ministers.

The number of heads beheaded by the emperor, including the Minister of War and the Ministry of Punishment, as well as the governors of various provinces, totaled more than thirty.

And this was still the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty in the next two years, Chongzhen had eighteen chief ministers, and seventeen of them were demoted and removed from power.

On average, one chief minister would be replaced in less than a year. As for the cabinet bachelors, as many as fifty people were replaced. It was like a revolving door.

So even if Zhu Yunfei knew that Liu Liangfu and Lu Shiming, a pair of government and businessmen spies, stood behind them, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Xie Sheng, a bachelor of Wuyingdian.

He was not afraid at all, as long as he sent the money and evidence from the confiscated house to the emperor.

Not to mention that Xie Sheng is just a bachelor of the cabinet, even if he is the chief assistant, if he dares to jump out, he will have to peel off a piece of his skin and get out.

Zhu Yunfei rushed to the governor's office, met with Zeng Ying, and handed over the evidence in his hand.

"This is unreasonable. These people are simply lawless. No wonder in the bitter cold land of Liaodong, our Ming Dynasty has become stronger and stronger in these years. It turns out that they are all these traitors, collaborating with bandits and making huge fortunes."

When I saw the evidence in my hands, I thought of the Shanxi merchants who had been annihilated by the previous imperial court and had liaisons with slaves.

Zeng Ying was also heartbroken. As a staunch loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Ying's descendants have served the Ming Dynasty from beginning to end.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty in history, Zeng Ying returned to her hometown in Jiangxi, dispersed her family property, and led her descendants to resist the Qing Dynasty until the last moment of her life.

It can be said that Zeng Ying's life was worthy of being a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.

"Immediately the magistrate's office will arrest all these black sheep, interrogate them severely, collect evidence, and send them to the Ministry of Punishment and the Cabinet for review."

Zeng Ying, with a look of grief and anger, shouted furiously on the spot.

"In order to prevent these profiteers from escaping, the military gate sent someone to report to Liang Tongzhi of the prefect's Yamen when he came here."

"Liang Tongzhi has sent people to arrest the criminals, and asked our guard station to mobilize hundreds of people to assist."

Zhu Yunfei hurriedly bowed down to report.

"Well, Yunfei, you have thought carefully. These traitors must not be allowed to escape." Zeng Ying is such a shrewd person, she immediately realized this matter, and Zhu Yunfei must have arranged it.

But he was able to come and report to himself, which was a sign of respect for himself, and he was quite satisfied with it.

"It's all because of the good teaching in the military, and only in humble positions can we make progress." Zhu Yunfei said with a humble compliment and a smile.

"You, I am an old man, I can't stand your compliments." Although Zeng Ying said so, she was still very pleased with Zhu Yunfei's respectful attitude.

"Lian Po is eighty and has not yet said he is old. Ming Gong has just turned sixty, how can he say he is old?" Zhu Yunfei continued to compliment him with a smile.

"This year, Ming Gong celebrates his sixtieth birthday. The soldiers of the Hsinchuang and Denglai Guards have to ask for a drink of birthday wine from Ming Gong."

"Hahaha..." Zeng Ying laughed heartily, stretched out her hand to stroke the white beard under her chin, and said with a hearty smile: "It seems that I can't do anything about this birthday."

Ye Zengying chatted for a while, and after receiving the official documents from the governor's Yamen, Zhu Yunfei left.

As soon as he walked out of the governor's office, Zhu Yunfei happened to meet Zeng Ying's granddaughter Zeng Shuting.

Zeng Shuting came down from the carriage with her hair in a beautiful bun, with a silver hairpin inlaid with pearls and jade inserted in her head. Under the refraction of the sun, she was particularly dazzling.

Zeng Shuting, who has skin like snow and beautiful appearance, is wearing a bright red tight-fitting horse-face skirt, which makes her curvy figure look very slender and beautiful.

"My little girl has met Mr. Zhu." Zeng Shuting, who was elegant and graceful, showed a sweet smile, with a pair of small dimples that made her look particularly youthful and beautiful.

"Miss Zeng is so polite." Looking at this pretty girl's dress, and seeing the groom and maid beside her, Zhu Yunfei didn't understand that this girl must be a young lady from the Zeng family.

"Hee hee, my daughter Zeng Shuting has met Mr. Zhu and my father Zeng Wende."

Zeng Shuting bowed and saluted, showing a playful smile.

"It turns out that she is Brother Wende's daughter. No wonder Bingxue is smart and innocent." Zhu Yunfei smiled slightly, but he raised his status a bit.

"Hmph, you are a scoundrel and take advantage of others." Zeng Shuting huffed angrily, expressing her dissatisfaction.

"Hahaha..." Zhu Yunfei laughed loudly, got on the horse and said with a smile: "Miss Zeng, next time we meet, just call me uncle. There is no need to call me young master."

"Uncle? You are not much older than me, so I don't want you." Looking at the back of Zhu Yunfei riding away, Zeng Shuting pouted and snorted, and said angrily.

Under the leadership of Zhu Yunfei and with the support of Governor Zeng Ying, Dengzhou's fellow magistrate Liang Yurui, together with the general judge Wu Hanqi, promoted Mao Jie, and attacked Liu Liangfu and Lu Shiming's family overnight.

An interrogation was held, and a confession was forced with a lot of hard work.

Coupled with the solid evidence, Liu Liangfu and Lu Shiming had to explain that over the years, they had traded with the Jian slaves, sold grain, iron ore and other military supplies, and made huge profits.

According to Liu Liangfu's account, their merchant ships made two trips to and from Jinzhou last year and sold a total of 120,000 shi of grain to Jiannu.

The transaction price was three taels of silver per stone, while the official price of grain in Shandong last year was eight taels of silver per stone.

The market price is one or two taels of silver, but Liu Liangfu grows grain on his own estate, plus some grain bought from the world, and the total cost is less than one tael of silver and one stone of grain.

Then it was shipped to Liaodong, and the profit doubled directly, making huge profits.

Even after going out for various expenses, they made a full two hundred thousand taels of silver from their trade with Jiannu last year.

According to Lu Shiming's explanation, this amount of money was divided into three parts.

He and Liu Liangfu each took 70,000 taels, and gave 50,000 taels to the Xie family, and 10,000 taels to Wang Yongji, the former governor of Shandong.

And this is only the maritime income of Liaodong, as well as the maritime business of Goryeo and Fusang. The income last year also reached 200,000 taels of silver.

However, Liu Liangfu personally swallowed up 100,000 taels of this silver, and only took out 100,000 taels to share it equally among several families.

Including his private salt business and land income, Liu Liangfu's personal annual income was as high as 300,000 taels of silver.

Last year, the taxes paid to the imperial court by the Chief Secretary's office in Shandong included all the officials of the three government offices, as well as the salaries of various prefectures, prefectures, and counties, excluding the Chief Secretary and the Chasi.

It was only 370,000 taels of silver, which shows how wealthy the people of the Ming Dynasty were.

Li Hu led a team to search the houses for three days and confiscated a total of 850,000 taels worth of property from the Liu and Lu families.

There are 430 houses and shops, and the land title is 135,000 acres, basically covering eight states and counties in Dengzhou.

There are 112 large and small merchant ships, and more than 1100 boatmen and slaves.

In addition, there are 50,000 shi of grain in the granary. Although this grain is nothing compared to Liu Liangfu's wealth, it is enough to feed Zhu Yunfei's soldiers and horses for more than half a year.

When he saw the account book delivered by Li Hu, Zhu Yunfei was a little moved.

But in the end reason defeated his greed, because he couldn't swallow the money.

If he swallowed the money, Zeng Ying would definitely be dissatisfied. And there was no way he could hide it.

"Not a cent of the money was moved, and all was handed over to the governor's office. Half of the houses and land were deducted for military purposes, and the merchant ships, boatmen, and slaves were all taken to Changshan Island to serve as corvees."

Although Zhu Yunfei could not touch the money, he took back the 130,000 acres of land, Hengshan Manor, and the properties in the hands of Liu Liangfu and Lu Shiming in the name of the prefect's Yamen and the Weisuo Yamen.

That is also reasonable, because these things originally belonged to the government.

This is also a huge amount of property. If it were all discounted, it would be worth at least several hundred thousand taels of silver.
Chapter completed!