The sky was overcast, and a few crows could be heard from the woods beside the Wusong River.

Five men quietly carried the bodies of a businessman and a servant into the woods, took tools from the boat, dug a hole and buried the two bodies.

These people were not brothers at first, but now they are all regarded as brothers when they are sorted by age. They buried the two corpses and returned to the small boat.

When the boss saw Lao Wu's suspicious look, he comforted him and said: "Lao Wu, you are not familiar with it now. If you do this kind of thing more in the future, you will get used to it!"

"Yes, this kind of thing is actually no different from killing pigs and sheep. If you do it a few times, you won't notice anything anymore!" The second son got into the cabin and took out the baggage of the merchant just now, and added a postscript.

The fourth child's eyes were slightly bright, and he reached out anxiously to grab the baggage, but when he opened it, he was disappointed and said: "I saw this pig dressed like this, I thought it was a big fish, and I didn't want to just give it a few taels of silver."

!”

The third and fifth sons saw that they only had a few taels of silver. Although they thought it was not too little, they were inevitably a little disappointed.

"What do you know? Good stuff should be hidden here!" The second brother patted the inconspicuous thick bamboo pole in his hand and said with a confident smile.

The boss winked at the fourth child, who picked up the ax still stained with blood and split the bamboo tube open.

The bamboo tube was split in half, and there were indeed several pieces of gold lying quietly inside, which made several people's eyes light up immediately. This was already a relatively rare big fat pig.

Several people excitedly divided the spoils at the bow of the boat, then worked together to wash away the blood stains on the boat, and parted ways at the grass dam in front, while the second one returned to the small pier in front to continue his business of soliciting customers.

Jiang Pirates have become a persistent problem in the Ming Dynasty.

Whether it is the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, or the Pearl River, the third largest river, there will be river thieves in some remote rivers, sometimes harvesting the property of passing merchants.

Some extremely vicious gangsters often have legitimate professions. They usually appear honest and honest, and are very good at disguising themselves. As long as they are given a chance, they will show their ugly faces and commit murder and swindle goods.

Pudong Salt Farm is a small and medium-sized salt farm with a permanent population of tens of thousands.

The salt farm is the most basic unit of salt production. There is an ambassador and a deputy ambassador each, who are responsible for managing the production of salt in the entire salt farm and the collection of salt taxes. About 21 households are divided into one company, and the second and third companies are one group.

Following the Ming Dynasty's policy of inward relocation of ordinary people, these Zao households, often numbering in the tens of thousands, often lived by the sea, and their descendants even multiplied and formed villages one after another.

The eldest son's real name was Chen Er, and he was also the second eldest son in the family. After leaving with the brothers, he walked towards his residence. As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, he saw Mr. Li talking to everyone in the grain drying field.

Each regiment will have a general manager, who is roughly equivalent to the head of the village. He is mainly responsible for managing the kitchen workers, supervising the salt class, surveying the land, etc. He has great authority and is a wealthy class among the kitchen households.

When Chen Er stepped forward, he heard Mr. Li shouting to everyone: "You guys, please be more honest! Now there is news from Songjiang Fucheng that the imperial envoy personally led troops to Wusongjiang to suppress the bandits.

, I don’t care what shameful things you do outside, just give me a rest this month!”

A group of men in the grain drying field listened to these words. Some people expressed their innocence, while others directly agreed, but most of them were still sitting there talking about things to themselves.

As the salt class was changed from salt to silver, they, the kitchen households, were gradually freed from the business of producing salt. After all, as long as they had enough silver, they could make payments to the salt farm.

Just like this, in order to get more money, some people engage in murder and smuggling goods, some people breed in the sea, and some people go out to sea for smuggling, etc.

Even if Mr. Li urges this kind of person, he may not be so clean. He will occupy the farmland of some low-level kitchen households through loan sharking and other methods, and then cultivate it into farmland to gain profits from it.

All in all, the Zao households in this era also have the phenomenon of "unrenovated hearts". Many Zao households are unwilling to be poor and resolutely embark on a gangster path.

Chen Er's heart moved slightly, and he took the initiative to talk to Mr. Li: "Mr. Li, which imperial envoy is coming to suppress the bandits?" While speaking, he opened the spring rolls he just bought and reminded Mr. Li with a smile.

Passed one.

Mr. Li glanced at Chen Er with satisfaction, and while eating spring rolls, he responded: "Who else is the imperial envoy? Of course it is Lin Haoran, the left deputy censor of the Lianghuai Patrol Salt Imperial Envoy!"

"Isn't he just in charge of Huaiyan? Why did he come to our Zhejiang salt territory?" Chen Er naturally knew such a person, but he slightly frowned and asked in confusion.

"Some god damn thing robbed the imperial envoy, Mrs. Ru, of her goods, causing the imperial envoy to stand up for her, Mrs. Ru!" Mr. Li turned to the group of men on the grain drying ground and cursed angrily.

The man on the grain drying field still went his own way, but he didn't know whether he was not afraid of Mr. Li's urging, or he had already developed a grudge against the greedy Mr. Li, so he turned a deaf ear to these words.

In fact, they robbed a lot of goods. Who knows which batch belonged to the imperial envoy, Mrs. Ru? It’s not clear at all, and it’s even less likely that they would take the initiative to admit it.

Chen Er didn't expect it to come from this incident, but he still asked in confusion: "Lin Haoran is obviously in charge of salt affairs, how can the officers and soldiers in Songjiang City fool around with him?"

"I have... the right to do whatever is convenient for me! In short, as long as I can control it, you all should be safe and go out as little as possible!" Mr. Li urged him to finish the spring rolls and warned him seriously.

It's not that he cares much about this group of people, but he is afraid that if these people are really caught, he might be implicated. Now that he is saying this publicly, he hopes that this group of people can temporarily stop.

"We are all doing legitimate part-time jobs! Since Mr. Li has urged you to say so, we will not go out this month!" Chen Erdang said even though he agreed.

This has always been the case. Local bandits inevitably have various relationships with the government. Once there is any big move from above, they can always get information from the government's informants.

Once the officers and soldiers come to clean up, they will take the initiative to stop for a while. Once the officers and soldiers leave, they will continue to "make a living." This kind of thing has already formed a tacit understanding between the two parties.
Chapter completed!