When choosing a fake name, one would usually choose the most common surname and avoid arousing suspicion. However, this smuggler had chosen the surname "Ning", which was not available in the Wintercrow Tribe, and the surname "Le", which was used by the Wintercrow Tribe's largest slave trader. Why was that?
"The deposit he put down is not a small sum," Han Yunxi muttered to herself. "He put down the deposit … and he still doesn't want the goods?"
Han Yunxi suddenly realized something. "Long Fei Ye, Ning Le doesn't want the goods at all. He did it on purpose!"
Long Fei Ye also understood that Ning Le didn't seem like a real smuggler. Instead, he seemed to have deliberately set a trap for Shopkeeper Cao and then reported it to Long Fei Ye so that Long Fei Ye would pay attention to the illegal salt trade.
"This person … can't be Ning Cheng, right?" Han Yunxi muttered to herself. When she heard Shopkeeper Cao say the word "Ning", the first person she thought of was Ning Cheng.
"If it's him, why did he use the word" Le "?"
Long Fei Ye actually had some guesses, but he wasn't sure. He looked at Han Yunxi and frowned, deep in thought.
If Ning Cheng had deliberately put down the deposit to attract their attention, would Ning Cheng remind them that the trafficker, Le Zheng, had set his sights on the Great Qin's illegal salt trade? If it wasn't Ning Cheng, then they had to find out who the smuggler was.
Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi didn't dare to jump to conclusions on this matter. They could only wait for news from Shopkeeper Cao. With the trap that Long Fei Ye had set for Shopkeeper Cao and Shopkeeper Cao's eagerness to befriend him, they believed that as soon as there was news about the smuggler, Shopkeeper Cao would tell Long Fei Ye.
After leaving Chang Ning, Han Yunxi and Long Fei Ye continued their journey to the south. They were visiting incognito while waiting for Shopkeeper Cao to deliver the goods.
Ten days later, Shopkeeper Cao sent out a hundred carts of goods. Shopkeeper Cao was not careless enough to reveal the route of the goods to Long Fei Ye. He only said that the first batch of goods had been sent out and it was estimated that they would reach the vicinity of the Three-Way Black Market within a month.
The weight of a hundred carts of salt was not small. If it was purely transported by land, it would take at least two months to arrive. Long Fei Ye reckoned that this batch of goods should be mainly transported by water.
From the south to the north, there was only one canal that could be used, and there were many checkpoints on this canal!
"Such a large quantity of goods actually dares to be transported through the canal. This is too brazen!" Han Yunxi was furious. This meant that the three families of Jiangnan had a lot of shady dealings in the water transport industry.
Long Fei Ye did not inform any of the local officials, nor did he alert the relevant high-ranking officials. He only sent people to investigate secretly.
Five days later, the second batch of goods was sent out. The time that Shopkeeper Cao gave was also about a month. Without a doubt, the second batch of goods was also transported by water.
Ten days later, the third batch of goods was sent out. This time, Shopkeeper Cao gave them two months.
Han Yunxi sneered, "There are people in the river and on the shore. These locusts!"
Long Fei Ye still did not make a sound. He only sent his confidants to continue the pursuit. Like this, all the civil and military officials thought that the emperor and empress had gone to Northern Li to investigate incognito. Long Fei Ye and the others were secretly investigating the illicit salt in Jiangnan.
A month later, the first and second batches of illicit salt arrived at a large warehouse near the Three-Way Black Market. Shopkeeper Cao sent a letter asking where Long Fei Ye was sending these two batches of goods to Wintercrow Country.
Long Fei Ye replied that he would send them together with the third batch of goods. A month later, the third batch of goods arrived as scheduled.
Two months of time, two months of tracking. Long Fei Ye basically knew all the people involved in the transport of water and land, from the south to the north. He also had evidence.
There were many officials who had been bribed by the three families of Jiangnan. There were also those who had taken the initiative to curry favor with the three families. There were also those who were timid and had been forced by the three families.
The matter had been investigated to this point, but Long Fei Ye was still not in a hurry. He continued to use the name of Master Ye to have Shopkeeper Cao send the first batch of goods to Wintercrow Country's Xiaoshan Castle.
This time, Shopkeeper Cao actually gave him one month!
"A month?" Han Yunxi was very surprised.
It would take about two months to travel from the Three-Way Black Market to the border between Northern Li and Wintercrow Country. The distance between the two places was not long, but there was no direct path to reach it. They had to go around many large mountains and even snowy mountains. It was also a long journey from the border to Xiaoshan Castle. In total, it would take less than three months! Long Fei Ye looked at Han Yunxi and did not speak for a long time.
"Could it be that they have another way to get to Wintercrow Country?" Han Yunxi muttered to herself.
"I understand!"
Long Fei Ye suddenly understood, and a cold glint flashed across his eyes. He said, "It must be Ning Cheng! Good fellow, so he was hiding in Wintercrow Country to ask for wine! "
Han Yunxi still did not quite understand, so Long Fei Ye explained to her seriously.
The horses of Wintercrow Country were of excellent breed and were most suitable to be used as war horses. The Northern Dynasties Emperors had spent many years and sent many envoys across the mountains to Wintercrow Country to buy horses, but they had never succeeded. But it was Jun Yixie who brought along a few imperial princes to complete the task.
The route that Jun Yi Xie had taken back then was different from the usual route of the envoys. It was a secret route. Even in the cold winter, there was no need to worry about the snow blocking the way, and it could send the war horses to Northern Li in a timely manner.
The two princes had died at the hands of Jun Yi Xie, so the only people who knew about this secret route were Jun Yi Xie's people. The people of the Black Tribe later fell into the hands of Jin Zi and Ning Cheng.
Long Fei Ye did not know whether Jin Zi knew about this route. However, with Ning Cheng's personality, he would definitely find out about this route. Shopkeeper Cao and the others were able to send the smuggled salt to Wintercrow Country in such a short time, so they must have used this route that Jun Yi Xie opened.
"I understand!" Han Yunxi muttered.
After Northern Li was destroyed, all of Northern Li was under Jin Zi's jurisdiction. Jin Zi had been busy with disaster relief and reconstruction, and could only relax this year. Jin Zi hadn't reported anything about the secret route, while Long Feiye had been so busy with Jiangnan that he'd forgotten about its existence.
In other words, that secret route was not guarded at all, and there were no checkpoints. Whether it was smuggling goods or human trafficking, they could use this route!
Ning Cheng had used the word "Le" in his fake name, which was the surname of Wintercrow's biggest human trafficker, Le Zheng. This was undoubtedly hinting that Le Zheng had something to do with this matter.
With Le Zheng's ability in human trafficking, it was not difficult for him to find out about this secret route between the two countries.
Whether Le Zheng wanted to use this route to smuggle salt or human trafficking, or for other purposes, with his influence at the border, he must have the ambition to control this secret route!
Since the three great families of Jiangnan knew about this secret route, there was no doubt that they were in cahoots with Le Zheng!
"The three great families would not be involved in human trafficking," Han Yunxi said seriously, "Long Fei Ye, they must be in cahoots with each other to smuggle goods. Wintercrow Country is just a small place, how much business can they do? Le Zheng was only involved in the slave trade between the Mysterious Continent and Wintercrow Country. The three great families of Jiangnan and Le Zheng probably have their eyes on the Mysterious Continent! "
Han Yunxi was really angry.
She had wanted to trade in tobacco, alcohol, and tea from the Mysterious Continent. She wanted to do it legally, but Gu Beiyue had advised Long Fei Ye to raise the tariffs. But these people of Jiangnan were actually smuggling and evading taxes!
They had originally come to investigate the illegal salt trade, but who knew that they would find out such a big thing?
"Ning Cheng is so considerate," Han Yunxi said seriously.
Long Fei Ye said Coldly, "Beating around the bush … Haha, he better not let me find him!
Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi immediately canceled their trip to the Plum Sea and headed north with Rui 'er. When they passed by Medical City, they handed Rui 'er over to Gu Beiyue, and the two of them continued north in plain clothes.
After the batch of illegal salt entered Northern Li, they secretly looked for Jin Zi.
Jin Zi was still the same. Even though he held a high position and had done a lot for the people of Northern Li in the past two years, he hadn't changed at all. He was still very thin and didn't like loose clothes. He wore tight black clothes, short hair, and thin fringe covering the corners of his eyes. He looked cold and gloomy.
If someone who didn't know his identity saw him, they would think that he was a cold and taciturn killer. In fact, his martial arts could be said to be average. What he was best at was making money, and it was easy money.
While cleaning up Ning Cheng's mess in Northern Li, he had secretly returned to his old business and opened an underground money house. Of course, the capital came from Mu Ling 'er's gold card.
He had already donated the large sum of money that Mu Ling 'er had returned to him in various ways to deal with the disaster in Northern Li. The overdraft, or the part that he had scammed, was used as capital to open a small money house. Although it was a small money house, with his ability, it would become a big one in a year or two.
He had been waiting for Mu Ling 'er to come to him. After all, he had carefully calculated the amount. At this time, Kangan money house should have already gone to Mu Ling 'er to collect the debt. Unless Long Fei Ye, his brother-in-law, forgave Mu Ling 'er's debt and blocked the gold card, there was no reason for Mu Ling' er not to come to him.
In the past few days, Jin Zi took the gold card to the money house almost every day to withdraw some banknotes to see if the card was blocked. However, he was still able to take out the money every time. Therefore, he was more and more looking forward to Mu Ling 'er rushing to him to quarrel.
He really didn't expect that instead of Mu Ling 'er, Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi would come to him.
In fact, Manager Luo of Kangan money house had already asked Long Fei Ye about the gold card. Long Fei Ye was too lazy to care about it, so he left it to Han Yunxi to deal with.
Han Yunxi thought for a whole night. In the end, she didn't intervene. She just replied to Manager Luo, "It's official business!"
In the tent, Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi sat in the main seat and drank tea. Jin Zi stood beside them. Except for the luggage, he hadn't said a word so far.
Han Yunxi thought that if she and Long Fei Ye didn't say anything, Jin Zi would probably be silent for a whole day. She was really curious. Was this guy born to be quiet, or was he quiet in front of the two of them? This guy worked for Ning Cheng. Was he talkative?
If he was a man of few words, why would he take a fancy to Mu Linger? After all, Mu Linger was a very noisy person. She often chattered away like a sparrow without stopping.
Han Yunxi wanted to experiment to see how long Jin Zi could stand and be silent. However, Long Fei Ye wasn't so interested.
Coldly, he asked, "Ning Cheng is in Wintercrow Country?"
As soon as he said this, Jin Zi immediately looked up. "Really?"
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