Hearing the man shouted, Tan Zong understood that it was the man from the Salt Road yamen who was parading in the streets of private salt dealers.

Since the Han Dynasty, the salt that people must live in and the iron that they must fight have been officially operated, called "salt and iron official business", and has its own system outside the local administrative system.

In the official salt and iron camp, salt is especially profitable, so some illegal people took risks and sold private salt to make huge profits.

In order to safeguard economic interests, the state often adopts a high-pressure crackdown on private salt. Once it is found to be trafficked in private salt, it will be beheaded and shown to the public to serve as a warning.

Not only were the young people tied up, but they also had something stuffed in their mouths, and they couldn't speak. Some naughty children picked up stones and threw them away, but were stopped by the people beside them and ran away with laughter.

"It's unfair, sir, unfair!" When passing the tea stall, a middle-aged woman covered in patches suddenly rushed out of the crowd, hugged the thigh of the man who beat the Luogong and shouted loudly.

"It's you again, how many times have you told you that your son sells private salt. The evidence is conclusive. Go back and wait to collect the body." The man who beat the gong looked at the middle-aged woman, raised his foot, and kicked her aside.

"Sir, Tiedan'er has never sold salt, he has never done it before." The middle-aged woman got up, crawled to the side of the man who beat Luogong with her hands and feet, hugged his legs again, and burst into tears.

"Go to your *ma*." The man who beat the gong couldn't help but get upset and slapped the middle-aged woman.

The middle-aged woman's body fell back straight, her cheeks were swollen, and bleeding from the corners of her mouth, and she couldn't stand up for a moment.

A tall and dark-skinned young man in the parade was immediately excited, and he whimpered and ran towards the middle-aged woman. After a few steps, he was knocked to the ground by the man next to him. After a punch and kick, he left.

"Tomorrow at 3:00 noon, the east gate will be killed!" The man who beat the gong walked past the middle-aged woman and left while beating the gong.

Several people walked forward and helped the middle-aged woman up and comforted her at the age of seven. The middle-aged woman did not wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, and sat on the ground and burst into tears.

"What's going on?" Tan Zong glanced at the middle-aged woman and asked suspiciously while the tea stall owner was pouring water for him.

His Mandarin spoke with a little bit of Northeast flavor, and he heard that he was from Yanyun.

"Oh, it's not just a private salt." The tea stall owner didn't want to say anything, so he sighed heavily, poured Tan Zong's teapot full of water, and then walked away.

The middle-aged woman cried for a while, stood up and left with a sad expression.

Seeing this, Tan Zong put the tea stock on the table and followed it quietly. From the middle-aged woman's reaction, he felt that there must be something hidden in it. Anyway, he is idle now, so it is better to find out what happened. Maybe there will be some unexpected gains.

The middle-aged woman walked into a broken shanty town, looked around and looked at a dilapidated scene, turned around and pushed open the door of a low thatched house.

As soon as Tan Zong entered the shanty town, he covered his hand in front of his nose. To be honest, the smell here is indeed very harsh, and the air is filled with an indescribable smell.

If it hadn't been witnessed with my own eyes, Tan Zong would never have imagined that there would be such a shabby slum in this colorful Yangzhou city.

When he arrived at the door of the house where the middle-aged woman entered, Tan Zong raised his hand and knocked on the door. It was not so much like the door, but rather two pieces of wood boards.

"Who are you looking for?" A young man with a stubborn and strong figure opened the door. He seemed to be injured in his left arm. He tied it with a bandage and hung it around his neck. After looking at Tan Zong, he asked.

"I'll look for the elder sister who just entered." Tan Zong smiled slightly and said.

"Who are you? We don't seem to know you." The young man looked at Tan Zong again and asked suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter whether you know or not. What's important is that maybe I can save Tiedan'er." Tan Zong shrugged his shoulders and replied with a smile.

"There are no iron balls here." The young man's expression changed when he heard this, and he suddenly became alert. After snorting coldly, he slammed the door.

Tan Zong felt that the young man was full of hostility towards him, and shook his head with a smile. At first, he just guessed that now, there must be another hidden information here, but he just didn't know if this hidden information would help him.

After thinking about it for a while, Tan Zong knocked on the door again.

"Are you annoyed? If you don't leave, I'm not polite to you." Soon, the young man opened the door, his face sank, and he shook his fist as big as a bowl in his right hand at Tan Zong.

"As the saying goes, it's great to have guests coming from afar. Is this your way of hospitality?" Tan Zong hugged his hands and stared at the young man with a smile.

"What are you happy about? I think you are itchy and deserve a beating." The young man glared at him and raised his fist at Tan Zong, making a gesture to hit him, trying to scare Tan Zong away.

"Huzi!" At this moment, a crisp voice came from the side, and a pretty girl with a ponytail came over.

"Sister Yingzi, why are you here?" After seeing the girl, the young man quickly put down his fist and said in surprise.

"Give it, take it to save Brother Long." Sister Yingzi's eyes were red and swollen, as if she had cried. She stuffed a small cloth bag in her hand into Huzi's hand, and then trotted away.

Hu Zi looked at Sister Yingzi's back in amazement. When he opened the small cloth bag, he couldn't help but be stunned. There were two ingots of five taels of silver inside.

"Dad, mom, Sister Yingzi is going to marry that playboy Zhou Yi." Huzi was stunned for a moment, and didn't care about Tan Zong, so he turned around and ran into the house.

Seeing this, Tan Zong walked in with the trend.

Hu Zi's home is very shabby, and it can be described as being barely covered with walls. There is no furniture in the hall except for a few worn tables and chairs.

There is a bedroom with cloth curtains on each side of the hall, and behind it is a small courtyard with firewood inside, as if it is a kitchen for cooking.

Huzi entered the bedroom on the left. Tan Zong looked at the surrounding environment and sat down on a four-legged high stool beside him.

As soon as Tan Zong's butt was close to the stool, he heard a click, and one of the legs of the stool broke, and Tan Zong sat on the ground with his butt.

"Don't worry, I will compensate." Hearing the sound from the hall, Hu Zi hurriedly walked out, followed by the middle-aged woman. Tan Zong helped up the stool and smiled at the two of them awkwardly.

"Hey, why haven't you left yet? Do you deserve a beating?" Hu Zi glared at her eyes, reached out to push Tan Zong, and shouted, "Go out, our family won't welcome you."

"Sister, do you want to do it? I just want to do it?" Hu Zi's strength was really great. He actually pushed Tan Zong and staggered. After Tan Zong stood firm, he looked at the middle-aged woman.

"Can you save Tiedan'er?" The middle-aged woman looked at Tan Zong in shock when she heard this.

"Mom, there is no good thing about losing pies in this world. I see that he is definitely not a good person, so he may have any ideas." Before Tan Zong could speak, Hu Zi snorted coldly and looked at Tan Zong vigilantly.

"If you don't give it a try, how do you know what I'm going to do?" This was the first time that Tan Zong heard someone say he was stingy. He looked at Hu Zi quietly, "Do you want your brother to be beheaded? Do you want Yingzi to marry Zhou Yi?"

"You...how do you know about Sister Yingzi?" Huzi was shocked when he heard this and looked at Tan Zong in surprise.

"I don't think it's hard for you to shout so loudly just now!" Tan Zong shrugged his shoulders at Hu Zi helplessly.

Hu Zi was speechless for a moment, standing there, his face flushed. He vaguely felt like he had been fooled by Tan Zong.

"What's the matter?" At this moment, a weak voice came from the bedroom on the east side.

"Dad, it's okay, have you found the wrong person?" Hu Zi quickly shouted into the bedroom, then pointed to Tan Zong at the door with a blank expression, "You won't worry about our family's affairs. You can go out now, otherwise I will be rude to you."

"Sister, do you want to save Tiedan?" Tan Zong glanced at Hu Zi and looked at the middle-aged woman.

"Why help us?" The middle-aged woman hesitated for a moment and looked at Tan Zong in confusion.

"Maybe, it was a mother's mother's love for her son that touched me." Tan Zong thought for a while and found a reason, "Sister, I was at the dock just now and witnessed the whole thing."

"Huzi, kneel down!" The middle-aged woman turned her head and shouted at Huzi, "Hurry up, apologize to the young master."

"Why, why should I kneel down to him?" Hu Zi twisted his neck and looked at the middle-aged woman with dissatisfaction.

"Because he can save your brother." The middle-aged woman's tears instantly flowed down, her knees softened, and she knelt in front of Tan Zong, "Young Master, if you can save Tiedan'er, then I'm willing to serve you as a cow and a horse."

"Sister, this is not possible." Tan Zong quickly reached out to help the middle-aged woman, but the middle-aged woman just knelt on the ground and couldn't get up. He couldn't use force, so he glared at Hu Zi beside him, "I'm not here to help your mother."

Hu Zi was yelled by Tan Zong, and the corners of his mouth squirmed for something to say, but in the end he didn't say it. He helped the middle-aged woman up with Tan Zong.

"Go, I'll send it to you Sister Yingzi." Then, Tan Zong took out a silver note of twenty taels from his arms, and threw it to Huzi who looked at him coldly, "Of course, if you want Sister Yingzi to marry that Zhou Yi, you can't go."

"Brother, Hu Zi is a rough man. He was so offensive just now. I kowtowed to you here to accompany you." After looking at the silver notes in his hand in surprise, Hu Zi knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Tan Zong, and jogged away.
Chapter completed!