Chief Secretary Xie let out a soft sigh of relief and slowly steered the conversation back on track: "Prefect Qi, you still haven't told me, have you investigated this place?"
Xie Changshi dared not mention brothels again, fearing that the young prince might utter some shocking words.
Prefect Qi coughed twice, looking troubled, and said, "After all, that's within the territory of Quanzhou, and it's really not convenient for my men to go in."
Moreover, the Sang Dynasty was very strict in investigating and punishing officials who frequented prostitutes, so how could Prefect Qi dare to send his people to such places to investigate and collect evidence?
Chief Secretary Xie nodded, but his finger lightly tapped the words "Quanzhou" on the screen. If he remembered correctly, Prefect Qi had mentioned that the Prefect of Quanzhou hadn't been in office for very long...
But the prefect of Quanzhou responded enthusiastically during the last bandit suppression campaign, yet he doesn't seem to be one of that person's men.
With such close ties between this brothel and Li's Casino, it would be strange if there wasn't something fishy going on!
However, Your Highness's power in the Northern Desert is still too weak. To think that you can find all of that person's people and eradicate them all right now is simply wishful thinking!
Chief Secretary Xie separated this confession and gave Prefect Qi a single glance, which Prefect Qi understood immediately, nodding subtly.
Gu Yuzhi, completely oblivious to the interaction between the two, eagerly asked, "The people at the casino have done so many bad things, are they all locked up in jail? What about people like Song Yi, who were tricked into gambling by them?"
Prefect Qi sighed softly. Although the young prince was young, he had asked the right question.
"Even if these people were initially deceived, once a gambler's mentality is formed, it is very difficult to change it. Even if I shut down the casino, they will find a way to gamble elsewhere."
Besides, Li's Trading Company hasn't gone out of business yet. If one casino is shut down, they can just open another one.
Li Ji Trading Company will absolutely not give up such a highly profitable industry; at worst, they'll just have to be less arrogant in the future.
Gu Yuzhi had never been exposed to these things before, so he naturally couldn't understand what Prefect Qi meant by the gambler's mentality. Seeing him so worried, he scratched his head and said, "How about we send all these people to Xinliang to reclaim wasteland?"
The more he talked about it, the better he felt the idea was. Chen Dianyi had come back a while ago and said that Xinliang was still short of manpower. In addition, the best way to plant things on the reclaimed land was to have experienced farmers like Yu Xing take a look before deciding what to do. So the progress of land reclamation in Xinliang this year was not fast.
Xie Changshi had told him that at present, only the wasteland on the outskirts of Xinliang had been cultivated, and the area inside would still be barren.
Gu Yuzhi thought it was a good idea, and Xie Changshi and Qi Zhifu thought so too.
These gamblers put all their energy into gambling simply because they were bored. They were taken to Xinliang, that desolate place, and made to work from morning till night. They were exhausted and naturally lost their interest in gambling!
Qi Wenhan looked at Gu Yuzhi with deep emotion; the young prince was always so clever and understanding.
He straightened his back: "Your Highness, I think it would be better to let them repair the official road."
Just like land reclamation, the construction of the official road was also particularly slow because of the need to plant trees. However, the number of officials and laborers this year was limited, so even if Prefect Qi wanted to speed things up, there was nothing he could do.
Since it was all part of building Xinliang, Gu Yuzhi naturally had no objections.
The gamblers' fate was to be sent to Xinliang to build the official road, while the casino staff's fate would naturally be even worse.
Qi Wenhan has already sent a message to the capital, planning to have the manager and accountant have these people build the official road for a year, and then execute them in the autumn. The other accomplices will continue to build Xinliang next year, determined to squeeze every last bit of value out of these bad guys in the casino.
With that, the trouble Huang Fu caused was finally resolved.
Having witnessed Zhang Sheng's madness, Gu Yuzhi secretly resolved that once Xinliang was established, he would definitely include a clause in Xinliang's laws strictly prohibiting gambling.
Anyone who dares to gamble in Xinliang will have their house and land taken back, and will be driven away to continue cultivating the wasteland.
Teacher Shu said that the land in Xinliang needs to be nurtured slowly, and the task of reclaiming wasteland is arduous and long-term. It is absolutely impossible to reclaim all the land in Xinliang in a short period of time.
As Gu Yuzhi spoke, he concluded with utmost seriousness, saying to Chief Secretary Xie, "Chief Secretary Xie, the people in our household must not go to gambling dens..."
He shook his head: "No, no, gambling is forbidden. If anyone gambles, I'll write to my brother and send his whole family to Xinliang to reclaim wasteland!"
In Prince Gu Yuzhi's mind, sending someone to a desolate place to reclaim wasteland was the greatest punishment a person could receive.
Xie Changshi was somewhat amused and exasperated, but he had to take the gambling matter seriously: "Your Highness, rest assured, I will strictly control it and repeatedly emphasize that I will never allow such a situation to occur among the staff in the mansion."
Gu Yuzhi nodded in satisfaction and returned to his study in a cheerful mood to practice calligraphy. With Chen Dianyi not around, his calligraphy practice had slowed down.
After Gu Yuzhi left, Chief Secretary Xie asked, "Prefect Qi, have you had any contact with the Prefect of Quanzhou?"
The implication is, is this person trustworthy?
Thinking of this person, Qi Wenhan felt somewhat helpless: "The prefect of Quanzhou was Ke Liangyi, a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) of the thirteenth year of the Jianli era."
In the thirteenth year of the Jianli era, those were officials during the reign of the previous emperor.
Xie Changshi suddenly looked up and asked, "Who did you say is the prefect of Quanzhou? Ke Liangyi?"
Qi Wenhan nodded and said, "Yes!"
Ke Liangyi was a legendary figure among the officials of the Sang Dynasty. He ranked first in the second class in the third year of Jianli and was favored by the Grand Tutor. He should have had a smooth career and a bright future, but who knew that he was so stubborn.
He seized evidence of the crimes committed by the Duke of Qing's mansion, and without even consulting the Grand Tutor, he launched an attack during court. The Duke of Qing's mansion was raided and confiscated, and he naturally met a bad end, being exiled to Jing County in Quanzhou to become the county magistrate.
Seeing that Chief Secretary Xie remembered this person, Qi Wenhan continued, "After the incident at the Quanzhou Prefectural Government Office, it was only because the Grand Tutor strongly recommended Ke Liangyi that he was temporarily appointed and directly promoted from a seventh-rank official to a fourth-rank official."
Xie Changshi was even more confused. If it was recommended by the Grand Tutor, why hadn't the current emperor mentioned it?
However, judging from Qi Wenhan's words, Ke Liangyi is still a trustworthy person.
He thought for a moment and asked, "What is the extent of Li's Trading Company's influence in the whole prefecture?"
Qi Wenhan scratched his head, feeling guilty, and said, "I'm really not sure about that. But I suspect that Li's Trading Company probably controls the economy of the entire prefecture."
After all, he was the prefect of Changzhou, and it was impossible for him to have such a thorough understanding of the situation in the whole prefecture. He only knew about this matter once by chance. There was only one grain store in the whole prefecture, which was Li's Trading Company.
Food is the lifeblood of a region; controlling the food supply is tantamount to controlling the region.
Xie Changshi suddenly realized that the situation might be worse than he had imagined.
We can't wait any longer; we must tell the Emperor about this immediately!
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