Turbulent Times Chapter 924: The fangs are exposed

The five chief craftsmen stood up quickly and said: "Thank you for your concern, sir, we are not short of money."

Wang Junlin looked gentle, and said in a joking tone: "You are really serious, since you are not short of money, why do you deduct the wages of salt workers and salt slaves?"

Everyone was stunned at once, but when they saw the expression on the face of the prefect, and then thought about it, the prefect took over two large carts of money from the Lu family, a thousand acres of fertile land, and 10% of the shares in the Salt Company. Just kidding!

However, although they thought that the prefect was joking, Dong Kang and the five chief craftsmen did not dare to neglect, and quickly said with a smile: "My lord, there is absolutely no such thing, no such matter!"

Wang Junlin's expression suddenly turned cold, and he looked at Dong Kang coldly, and said, "Master Dong, I hate others to lie to me the most. Four officials including Lu Jiandong from Changxiang County refused to tell me the truth at that time. , so I beheaded their heads."

Everyone's face changed when they heard the words, and Dong Kang and the five master craftsmen's hearts were beating wildly. I have acquiesced in the big things, how big is the embezzlement of money from salt workers and salt slaves, do you need to lie in front of me? To be honest, I really hate people lying to me."

Then Wang Junlin asked again: "Master Dong, I will ask you one last time, have you deducted the wages of salt workers and salt slaves?"

Wang Junlin spoke so clearly, Dong Kang thought that this person was really difficult to serve, but he didn't take it to heart. After all, judging from the legendary Wang Junlin's deeds, the other party's personality is strange, and it is reasonable to be moody. .

Furthermore, even if Dong Kang is a fifth-rank official, and Wang Junlin wants to kill him, most likely he needs to get the approval of the court. It would be strange if you were not afraid!

So Dong Kang hesitated for a while, then said with some embarrassment: "That... my lord, there are indeed incidents of extortion of salt workers and salt slaves in the salt field."

Wang Junlin nodded calmly, and said with some doubts: "Master Dong, I see that you are not short of money, why did you do such a worthless thing."

Dong Kang smiled awkwardly, and looked at the five master craftsmen in charge, and the five master craftsmen in charge quickly said: "My lord, it's because my salary is lower than that of the master craftsmen. In order to supplement the family, I did deduct some salt workers." And the money of the salt slaves. But don’t worry, my lord, since my lord mentioned this, I won’t do these things anymore.”

"Oh...so that's the case." Wang Junlin said with a smile, "That means that only the five of you are short of money."

The five master craftsmen in charge looked embarrassed, and one of them said: "No, the young master craftsmen below are also short of money, and sometimes they deduct money from salt workers and salt slaves."

Wang Junlin nodded, but his expression suddenly turned cold. He suddenly turned his head and said to Qian Zhengkuo next to him, "Qian Zhengkuo, according to the laws of the Sui Dynasty, the salt farm deducted wages and food for salt workers and salt slaves." , how to punish!"

Qian Zhengkuo faintly felt that something was wrong, and he didn't really want to tell the truth at this time, but the problem was that Wang Junlin had already said that everyone who lied to him had their heads chopped off by him. Said: "My lord, according to the laws of our Sui Dynasty, the saltworks officials or master craftsmen deducted the wages of salt workers and salt slaves. Those with relatively minor circumstances will be fined in addition to making up for the deducted wages. Those with serious intelligence will be fined here. Basically, they will go to jail."

At this time, everyone finally felt that the situation was a little different from what they had imagined, and their madness became strange. Wang Junlin nodded and said: "I heard that in recent years, there have been several incidents between salt workers and Because the salt slaves were so exploited by master craftsmen, they had troubles a few times, is there such a thing?"

All the officials were stunned. Over the past few years, due to the excessive exploitation by the master craftsmen, the salt workers and salt slaves had nowhere to go, and they did have troubles a few times, but every time a few people were killed by Yan Ding, the matter would be resolved. Pressed down, this matter has been kept secret from the county government above by the salt field. I don't want the prefect to know about it within less than a month since he arrived in Fanyang County.

Moreover, this ordinary deduction is actually a trivial matter, but if something happens, it will be different. The culprit who caused this matter is enough to lose his head.

Dong Kang hurried forward, no matter what Wang Junlin was thinking at this time, he would try his best to speak well to the master craftsmen, and said with a smile: "Returning to my lord, the several troubles were all because the funds returned slightly at that time. Slower, the wages were paid a few days late, but those untouchables took the opportunity to make trouble, which affected the normal salt production of the saltworks and brought irreparable losses to our Fanyang County tax revenue, so after the officials and others discussed, they sent The Yanding bomb was suppressed a lot, but fortunately not too many people were killed, so there was no rush to report it."

Wang Junlin naturally didn't believe Dong Kang's nonsense. According to what Xu Xiaohu said last night, the several disturbances were not due to late payment of wages, but to the fact that the master craftsmen took too much of the paid wages. Under the pent-up anger, public anger gradually arose, and the salt workers and salt slaves couldn't even eat enough to make troubles. But Dong Kang and the others didn't want to offend the master craftsmen backed by Mrs. Lu, and they didn't want to use money to make up the debt, so they pretended to be deaf and dumb, and only sent Yan Ding to suppress it until the matter became serious.

Wang Junlin frowned, his face sank, and he said: "The salt in the salt field is obtained by the hard work of salt workers and salt slaves, but you often drag the wages of salt workers and salt slaves. How much enthusiasm do you have to do things? Even if you do things, how can you be willing to work hard? In the end, not to mention the reduction in tax revenue in the county, it is not all of us who suffer the loss?"

All the officials claimed that it was true, and they all said that in the future, there will never be any wage arrears for salt workers and salt slaves.

It's just that the faces of the five master craftsmen in charge are getting harder and harder to look at.

"Just talk nonsense." Wang Junlin shook his head and sighed: "I won't talk about whether you will delay the wages in the future. I think it's better to settle the wages owed to the salt workers and salt slaves before we talk about it!"

The audience suddenly fell into a dead silence.

Speaking of which, Wang Junlin's true face was gradually revealed, and Dong Kang and others did not dare to speak any more. You must know that there are 40,000 to 50,000 salt workers and salt slaves in the salt field. It's not a small amount, even though it hasn't been settled, there are hundreds of thousands of taels of silver anyway.

Under the silence, everyone's eyes, consciously or unconsciously, looked at the five master craftsmen with unusually ugly faces.

"However, since this amount of money is not a small amount, I will give you two days to make up for the previously deducted wages." How could Wang Junlin care what the five master craftsmen in charge thought at this time? There were originally two purposes. One was to test Lu's attitude. Last night, Lu Youwei came to visit in person. After some conversations, this goal was successfully achieved, and there were other gains. And the second purpose is to win over these tens of thousands of salt workers and salt slaves.