Chapter 1244 Something is wrong!
"How dare you! Who are you to commit murder in the street?"

With a loud shout, a burly captain of the city patrol came to the scene with dozens of officers and surrounded Ye Mingsheng and others.

Zhang Chong stopped beating Cai Song after receiving Ye Mingsheng's gaze. Cai Song, who had been beaten beyond recognition, immediately crawled to the side of General Wang as if he had seen a savior when he saw the man coming, and said angrily:

"Captain Wang, I'm Cai Song! How dare they hit me? Hurry and put them all in jail!"

This Wang Bazong was obviously familiar with Cai Song. Hearing Cai Song's words, he did not hesitate and immediately ordered his subordinates:

"Take all these lunatics to the government office!"

Following the order from Captain Wang, dozens of officers rushed forward to capture Ye Mingsheng and others.
Seeing the opponent's icy Miao swords and spears, Ye Kui and other guards immediately became alert. They took out the weapons they carried with them, protected Ye Mingsheng behind them, and confronted the patrol officers opposite.

Seeing this scene, Captain Wang was both shocked and angry. He never expected that someone would dare to use force against the officers of the City Patrol on the streets of Lin'an City. Is there any law in this country?

Just when Captain Wang was about to lose his temper, he suddenly discovered that the guards on the opposite side were all holding the standard weapons of the Fengwu Army. After realizing this, Captain Wang stood there in a daze, at a loss as to what to do.

At the same time, Cai Song had not yet understood the situation, and he urged Wang Bazong impatiently:

“General Wang, what are you still standing there for? Quickly take down these bastards. It’s outrageous that they dare to hit me…”

Listening to Cai Song's words, Captain Wang felt very helpless. Looking at the other side's fearless and sarcastic looks, he became more and more convinced that these people must be from the Fengwu Army, and most likely high-ranking officials. Their official positions must be very high, and they were not something that a small captain like him could handle!

Thinking of this, General Wang ignored Cai Song's urging and immediately ordered his men to lay down their weapons. Then he walked over, bowed and said:

"I am Wang Jinpeng, the commander of Lin'an Prefecture, and I apologize for offending you, sir. May I know who you are, sir?"

Seeing that the captain on the opposite side had good eyesight, Ye Mingsheng smiled and shook his head, then returned to the carriage and handed the matter over to Ye Kui.

With Ye Kui's treatment, the road soon became smooth. Half an incense stick later, Ye Mingsheng returned to Meihua Cottage and had delicious local cuisine.

At the beginning of this inspection trip to the south, Ye Cui was worried that Ye Mingsheng would not be able to get used to the southern food, so she specially asked Ye Mingsheng to bring a few cooks with him.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng is a person who loves food. So although the main purpose of this southern tour is to understand the suffering of the people and investigate the customs and practices of the south so that Ye Mingsheng can make better decisions on reforms, privately Ye Mingsheng is also very interested in the food from all over the place.

For this purpose, Ye Mingsheng asked Song Haibo to make a food guide to see what delicious food there is to taste along the southern tour, so he originally had no plan to bring a chef with him. However, since this was a gesture from his mother, Ye Cui, Ye Mingsheng gladly accepted it...
Ye Mingsheng basically ate wherever he went along the way, and the chef he brought from home was basically not used. In Hebei and Henan, Ye Mingsheng ate spicy soup, soup dumplings, and baked carp noodles. In Qi and Lu, he ate scallion-fried sea cucumber, nine-turn large intestine, and fried crispy double dishes.

In Huainan, he ate crab meat lion head, squirrel fish, and crystal braised pork. After coming to Jiangnan, Ye Mingsheng became very interested in the local cuisine here, so in the past few days he specially invited chefs from several big restaurants in Jiangnan to cook the most authentic local cuisine for him at Meihua Cottage.

Ye Mingsheng had a good experience with local cuisine. Dishes like braised pork, eight-treasure duck, and fried shrimp were all good. However, Ye Mingsheng didn't dare to eat too much. After all, local cuisine tends to be sweet, and he is now middle-aged and is still afraid of the three highs.

After Ye Mingsheng finished his meal, Ye Kui also finished dealing with the matter and reported to Ye Mingsheng:

"Sir, Cai Song has been imprisoned in the prison of the Anchasi and is awaiting his fate. The couple has received fifty taels of silver as compensation!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly when he heard this, and asked Ye Kui to go back and have a rest. Then Ye Mingsheng called Song Haibo over and asked:

"Who is the father Cai De that Cai Song mentioned? Haibo, do you know?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Song Haibo said without hesitation:
"Sir, this person was mentioned in the secret report of Lin Kun, the commander of the Coordination Office. It is said that Cai De is the nominal boss of the largest underground QZ in Jiangnan!"

Hearing Song Haibo mention this, Ye Mingsheng immediately thought of it and his expression became playful. He really didn’t expect that he would meet Cai De’s son by chance...
At the symposium of major businesses in Jiangnan organized by Ye Mingsheng at the order of Song Haibo, the major businesses also spoke enthusiastically and put forward some very valuable suggestions, one of which caught Ye Mingsheng's attention.

Although Jiangnan's commerce was very developed and its goods were sold all over the world, Jiangnan's ticket business was relatively traditional and did not have the function of placing D.

In a commercially developed area like Jiangnan, it was normal for businesses to borrow and circulate money between each other. Therefore, in the past, businesses had to borrow money from friends and relatives or from underground QZ.

The interest rates of underground QZs are very high. A loan of 10,000 taels of silver would have to be charged at least 10% interest per month. Such high-interest loans were strictly prohibited in the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, in the past ten years or so, such illegal underground QZs have been rampant in Jiangnan, and many businessmen have lost their fortunes and their wives and children as a result of their abuses.

Therefore, these businesses in Jiangnan hope that Ye Mingsheng can crack down on these usurious lenders and clean up the business environment in Jiangnan!

Although these Jiangnan businesses were talking about usury and underground QZ issues, Ye Mingsheng knew very well that these businesses were talking about the problem of official administration. It was not the first day for everyone to live in the Great Zhou, and in the environment of the Great Zhou, these underground QZs could develop wildly. It was completely impossible and unrealistic without some people's acquiescence or even promotion...
Ye Mingsheng also intends to use this issue as a starting point to rectify the administration of officials in Jiangnan, make the business environment in Jiangnan better, and thus allow Jiangnan's industry and commerce to develop rapidly!
According to the investigation of the Central Coordination Office, there are more than ten underground QZs in Jiangnan, but in terms of turnover, there are three major QZs, which account for more than 70% of the market share, while the remaining ten or so account for less than 30% of the market share.
The first one is a QZ centered around businessman Feng Hanlin. This was previously the largest underground QZ in Jiangnan, with an annual turnover of over one million taels of silver. Its backer was Lu Jianchao’s eldest son Lu Houde.

After Lu Jianchao surrendered, most of the Lu family's assets were confiscated, Feng Hanlin was also arrested by the Coordination Office, the underground QZ was also uncovered, and all the silver was confiscated.

The remaining ones are Cai De QZ and Zhu Damao QZ. Previously, Cai De QZ was the second largest and Zhu Damao was the third largest. After Feng Hanlin was arrested, Cai De also swallowed up Feng Hanlin's original market share and became the largest underground QZ in Jiangnan. It alone occupies nearly 50% of the market share in Jiangnan.

Although Zhu Damao QZ's market share has increased slightly compared to before, it is still around 20%, and the growth rate is not large.

Therefore, based on this situation, the Coordination Office believes that the company behind Cai De QZ is likely to have greater power in Jiangnan after Lu Jianchao's surrender.

If we were to say who gained more power in Jiangnan after Lu Jianchao's surrender, it would undoubtedly be the current Jiangnan Governor Zhu Chen!

In addition, Zhu Chen served as the prefect of Lin'an and the Censor of Jiangnan. He has always been a high-ranking official in Jiangnan and has great power in his hands. So if he is the behind-the-scenes boss of Cai De QZ, it can explain everything················
Lin Kun, a captain of the Coordination Office who was in charge of investigating the case, regarded Zhu Chen as the primary suspect. For this reason, Lin Kun investigated Zhu Chen for nearly three months.

However, after the investigation, Lin Kun wrote to Ye Mingsheng, saying that although Zhu Chen was not an honest official, had accepted gifts from businessmen, had six concubines in his private life, and had an affair with his subordinates' wives, it was unlikely that he was the behind-the-scenes boss of Cai De QZ.

The main reason was that when Zhu Chen was the prefect of Lin'an, he once arrested Cai De and put him in jail, and sentenced Cai De to ten years of hard labor. Later, Lu Houde came forward to talk to Zhu Chen, and Zhu Chen reluctantly let Cai De go.

During Zhu Chen's tenure as Censor, although Cai De QZ had some development, Zhu Chen, the Censor, was constrained by Ma Zhang, the then Assistant Censor. Zhu Chen did not have much real power in the Censorate. There is a series of evidence showing that Ma Zhang and Cai De had very close contacts.

So based on all this, Lin Kun believes that Zhu Chen has nothing to do with Cai DeQZ, and the boss behind Cai DeQZ is most likely the current Censor Zhao Da, who is the youngest son of Zhao Yunhe, the former Jiangnan Governor. Zhao Da and Ma Zhang are close friends and often work together for money and women, so these two people are most likely the boss behind Cai DeQZ.

Under Ye Mingsheng's order, Lin Kun conducted a comprehensive secret investigation on Cai De QZ and Zhu Damao QZ. At present, all the facts about Zhu Damao QZ have been investigated clearly and the net can be closed at any time.

However, Cai De QZ is quite large, so the investigation has not been completed yet, and it will take some time to close the net. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Ye Mingsheng has been reluctant to let Lin Kun take action.

Ye Mingsheng felt that meeting Cai Song today was too much of a coincidence. Something seemed to be wrong, but he couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong…

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Yijing, Ye Mansion

An Miaoyi, wearing a phoenix crown on her head and the queen's attire, looked at herself in the mirror, her radiant appearance, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Seeing this, Qiqige on the side couldn't help but smile and said:

"Madam, this dress suits you so well. You look like a queen!"

After listening to Qiqige's words, the smile on An Miaoyi's face became even more intense. If becoming an emperor is the dream of most men in the world, then becoming a queen who rules the country is the vision of most women!
Especially girls like An Miaoyi, who were born in powerful families, have tasted the sweetness of power, so they desire and pursue power more, but unfortunately there is only one position of queen.

Although An Miaoyi is outstanding in appearance and talent, her family background does not make her very competitive in the circle of power and wealth. Coupled with the notoriety of being the reincarnation of Bao Si, An Miaoyi faced the reality a long time ago.

Looking at herself in the mirror, An Miaoyi felt like crying as she smiled. For this moment, she had walked a long way, suffered a lot, and paid too much.
Although An Miaoyi had fantasies in this regard when she married Ye Mingsheng, and felt that Ye Mingsheng was a potential stock who might reach the pinnacle of power in troubled times in the future...

But it is just a possibility. An Miaoyi herself is not very confident about this. If someone had told An Miaoyi at the beginning that Ye Mingsheng, who came from a poor family, could really get to where he is today, An Miaoyi would even think that person is crazy!

Even today, when An Miaoyi sometimes thinks about the fact that Ye Mingsheng is about to become the emperor and she is about to become the queen, she still feels it is incredible, even unrealistic!

Whenever An Miaoyi thought of this, she couldn't help but admire her own vision, determination and courage back then!

After three hundred years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, people still had deep-rooted ideas about the difference in social class. Therefore, even though Ye Mingsheng had already made a name for himself in Liaoyang, many people were not optimistic about An Miaoyi marrying Ye Mingsheng. They thought that An Miaoyi was lowering her own status and that she had to marry a poor boy from a humble family because no man wanted her!
As the saying goes, people's words can be scary. Faced with such rumors, An Miaoyi was naturally shaken. She tossed and turned in countless nights, asking herself whether it was right to do so. But in the end, she still chose to believe in her own vision and believe in Ye Mingsheng's potential!

And today, facts have proved that her choice was the right one and her efforts were richly rewarded.

After looking at the luxurious queen's attire on her body, An Miaoyi opened her mouth and gave another order:

"Qiqige, ask Tailor Wang to make a dragon robe for your husband!"

"Madam, Ye Cheng has already prepared..."

(End of this chapter)