The housekeeper of the Duke of Wei gave him a teacup, then led the maid to retreat quietly, and instructed several guards to guard the place, not allowing anyone to approach.

As the only Duke of Nanjing, Xu Pengju looked very steady after so many years of hard work. He picked up the teacup and savored it without saying a word.

Linhuai Marquis Li Yi was over 40 years old and looked like a rich family member. He had a beautiful mustache on his fair and round face. He picked up the teacup and observed the surroundings secretly. His small eyes resolutely revealed a sense of shrewdness.

Dingyuan Hou Deng Jikun is only in his early thirties. He looks tall and thin. He has a sparse beard on his jaw. He dislikes the tea-scalding mouth and puts down the teacup, and looks anxious.

The three of them are important participants in the salt smuggling network. Upon learning that 10,000 stones of private salt were seized, Linhuai Marquis Li Yi and Dingyuan Marquis Deng Jikun immediately came to the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

"How did he touch Chongming Island? Why did he seize the opportunity so well that he intercepted our smuggling fleet?" After Dingyuan Hou Deng Jikun put down the teacup, he asked in a row in silence.

Before he could even take half of the tea, Deng Jikun was already so impatient. Li Yi next to him glanced at Deng Jikun with contempt.

Xu Pengju had already figured out Deng Jikun's impatient attitude, but he took a sip of tea slowly, and then he looked at Deng Jikun with impatient gaze: "We have underestimated Lin Qingran before! He had the financial support of the joint business group and the help of the Hua family, and I don't know what means to win over Cao Meng and others. It is not difficult to find out our smuggling network. Li Mu, his former subordinate in Guangdong, happened to be transferred to Tianjin Left Guard as the commander of the guard, and he could also find out the whereabouts of our smuggling fleet. It was just that we were negligent in prevention and brought our old nest to him and intercepted the salt."

This is true for many things, and the authorities always realize it later. If they had really taken great care at that time, it would be difficult for Lin Qingran to "get both people and stolen", but things in the world would not have been repeated.

"Duke of Wei, can we still get this batch of salt back?" Deng Jikun knew that he really despised Lin Weiran too much, but he asked with hope.

Linhuai Marquis Li Yi was slightly stunned, looked up at Deng Jikun, and found that Dingyuan Marquis was indeed too naive. At this point, he didn't think about how to get out, but was still thinking about the batch of private salts.

Xu Pengju held the teacup and poured tea water lightly. Hearing this, he looked up at Deng Jikun and asked, "What do you want? Even if Lin Qingran is willing to come back, will we dare to move?"

Now that this batch of private salt has been reported to the court, the court will definitely investigate the people behind the scenes. Now they take the initiative to jump out and ask for salt, which is simply a self-destruction, and it is typically a matter of asking for money but not life.

I can only say that Dingyuan Hou is used to being arrogant in Nanjing City on weekdays and does not realize the seriousness of this matter at all.

"If we really don't come back, then our losses will be a bit big this time!" Deng Jikun slowly realized that his thoughts were indeed a bit unrealistic and said with heartache.

If all the private salts of 10,000 stones are successfully invested in the Southeast market, at least 400,000 taels of silver can be cashed in. However, after Lin Qingran did this, the money will be gone, which is really painful.

Li Yi felt quite uncomfortable when he thought of the ten thousand stones of salt that had been used to make the pool, so he took a sip of tea.

Duke Wei has a profound background, and Xu Pengju did not take this loss too seriously. He said seriously: "Salt will definitely not come back. The court may investigate it in the future. Everyone should be mentally prepared!"

"We are the lords of the Ming Dynasty, who dares to investigate us?" Deng Jikun immediately snorted coldly and said loudly with a proud look.

Xu Pengju took a sip of tea, but a wry smile appeared on his face.

It is true that they are Dukes and Marquis, but they live far away from Nanjing and are rarely seen even with the emperor. They do not have substantial military power. In fact, they are the second-generation ancestors who have been living in the founding meritorious service and are waiting to die.

Not to mention the two marquises who had just recovered their titles in the Jiajing Dynasty, Li Yi and Deng Jikun, even if he, the Duke of Wei, who had been on the rise, had no influence in the court, it would be even more impossible for the imperial envoy to investigate the case to be afraid.

For example, he wanted his youngest son to inherit the title, but he could only curry favor with officials such as Yan Shifan, which made his concubine the Duke of Wei. If he really had such a great face, would he use this to curry favor with those imperial officials?

Once they were investigated and the imperial envoy was confirmed for smuggling, the Duke of Wei's Mansion might have a chance to escape. The Marquis of Linhuai and Marquis of Dingyuan must have been deposed by the emperor again.

"Marquis Dingyuan, ordinary local officials naturally dare not provoke us, but the officials who came from the court will not take us seriously! Especially the emperor must be angry about this matter, and we must not make any flaws!" Li Yi patiently analyzed the current situation, and asked Xu Pengju extremely seriously: "Duke of Wei, do you have a solution to it?"

Deng Jikun savored this sentence carefully and looked at Xu Pengju with a serious expression.

"We are the princes of the Ming Dynasty after all, and they do not have any substantial evidence. We can just stay calm and wait and see what happens!" Xu Pengju responded arrogantly in response to the eyes of the two of them.

When things came to this point, he did not intend to reveal the loss of the account book. First, he did not want to cause panic among the two people, and second, it was useless to say it.

"Yes, we pretended not to know anything. Even if the imperial envoy investigated the case was useless even if we suspected it!" Deng Jikun held up the teacup with deep consent and said carelessly.

Li Yi took a sip of tea silently, but ultimately raised no objection.

Xu Pengju saw that the two of them were comforted, so he asked the butler to send the two marquises away.

"Butler Liu, I just left something in the study. Please take me back!" Li Yi looked at Deng Jikun as he left in the sedan chair, but said gently to Butler Liu.

Butler Liu looked at Li Yi deeply, and immediately took him back to the study.

Xu Pengju was not too surprised to see Li Yi returning. Things have developed to this point, and only Deng Jikun is so optimistic, and Li Yi is undoubtedly a smart person.
Chapter completed!