Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Gou Huowang is not in the teahouse!

Gou Huowang is not in the restaurant!

Gou Huowang is not in the brothel!

…

After the inn was empty, Li Zhiqing mobilized all the yamen servants in Yangzhou City to search for traces of Gou Huowang throughout Yangzhou City. However, he searched for three days and found nothing.

With their power in Yangzhou City, it would be easy to find a helpless kitchen household, but things turned out to be so weird.

No matter how many people they mobilized to search for Gou Huowang's traces, they could not find anyone. Gou Huowang could not leave Yangzhou Mansion without a road guide. Gou Huowang seemed to have suddenly disappeared from the world.

Now that I think about it carefully, Gou Huowang's matter is indeed not simple! Li Zhiqing had slowly calmed down and seemed to understand.

Zhang Lushan, the censor of the Salt Patrol of the Huaihe River, and Yang Mingyuan, the prefect of Yangzhou, could no longer avoid suspicion. At this time, they had arrived at the Lianghuai Capital Transfer Envoy's Yamen. When they heard Li Zhiqing's conclusion, their eyes were full of doubts.

Although they also thought it was strange that Gou Huowang could not be found, they were more willing to believe that it was due to the negligence of the people below.

Li Zhiqing looked at the two confused pig teammates, and immediately turned to look at Zhang Hushan and asked: Zhang Yushi, when you interrogated Gou Huowang, did you find anything unusual?

Xiaguan didn't think much about it at the time! It's just that after being reminded by the adults, this Gou Huowang is indeed a bit weird. He doesn't look like an ordinary citizen, nor does he look like a troublesome person! Zhang Hushan thought for a moment, then expressed his opinion. .

As if he had received a revelation, Magistrate Yang immediately nodded and said: Yu Shi Zhang is right, Gou Huowang is indeed not as afraid of officials as ordinary people are, but he is also not like those bold and unruly people!

Actually, this is the problem! Gou Huowang claimed to be a kitchen householder, but he actually dared the people to sue the officials, and he dared to write a lawsuit against anyone he caught. Have you ever seen such people? Li Zhiqing nodded gently. , asked, seeming more sure of his judgment.

Zhang Hu, the censor of the Salt Patrol of the Huaihe River, and Yang Mingyuan, the magistrate of Yangzhou, both looked at Li Zhiqing, nodded in agreement and seemed to understand: Gou Huowang does not look like an ordinary person, and no ordinary person dares to act like this!

I have sent people to the Taizhou branch to investigate Gou Huowang a few days ago. Do you know what the people who came back said? Li Zhiqing reached out to pick up the tea cup that was just delivered, but said deliberately.

Yang Mingyuan was impatient, and immediately asked urgently: Master Li, don't be too close to me. The top priority is to quickly find out who Gou Huowang is. Who is Gou Huowang from the salt farm? Are his parents still alive?

The Taizhou branch checked the personnel files and found that there is no such person as Gou Huowang! Li Zhiqing held the tea lid and poured the tea lightly, but announced the answer authentically.

ah?

Zhang Lushan, the censor of the Salt Patrol in Huaihe River, and Yang Mingyuan, the prefect of Yangzhou, couldn't help but stare. They never expected this result. After all, no one would choose to pretend to be a Zaohu, and Gou Huowang also looked like a Zaohu.

If you two had started checking Gou Huowang's identity, we wouldn't have had to be led away by him, and we wouldn't be in the trouble we are in now! Li Zhiqing took a sip of tea, his tone a bit reproachful.

A kitchen household that didn't exist at all, because he openly pointed out that there was a hidden field in the Taizhou branch, the three yamen were thrown into chaos for a while.

If one of the two of them had done a little digging around Gou Huowang and found out that Gou Huowang was pretending to be a kitchen householder, then today's chaos would not have happened.

Ah? Since Gou Huowang is a fake person, we don't need to pay any more attention to him! After learning the truth, Magistrate Yang immediately said with a smile.

Li Zhiqing held the tea cup, glanced at Magistrate Yang and said: If we find out from the beginning, then the fake person can be executed on the spot, but can we still tell clearly now?

Yes, Gou Yanwang's incident has caused a storm in the city earlier, and these days we have gone to great lengths to find someone, and now everyone is discussing the matter. Even if we now say that Gou Huowang is fake, the scholars and people in Yangzhou City will not Believe it or even think that we have expelled Gou Huowang! Zhang Hushan said bitterly with a flexible mind.

Magistrate Yang's eyes suddenly widened, and he said dumbfoundedly: That Gou Huowang is obviously a fake, but we still can't expose it?

Of course we can expose it, but we need to find out the real owner first, otherwise the problem will not be solved satisfactorily, and the Imperial Envoy will probably pursue the matter when he arrives! In addition, we need to find out the real intention of the person pretending to be Gou Huowang! Li Zhiqing pinched. The tea cup lightly splashed the tea, looking full of wisdom and authenticity.

Magistrate Yang realized that the matter had become more complicated and couldn't help but frowned and said: Master Li, since Gou Huowang was impersonated by someone else, he must have been hidden by the people behind the scenes and is unlikely to show up again in the near future. As for Gou Huowang pretending to be a kitchen householder, he pointed out that Regarding the Shengyintian incident, all the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit, and all the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit. I think the people behind this incident are those salt merchants in Shanxi!

It makes sense! As far as I know, many salt merchants in Shanxi can't get salt when they bring it. Even if they mention salt, it costs a lot. I'm afraid that I'm already resentful, so I thought of shrinking the rope. Exposing Yintian's matter will make us in trouble! Zhang Hushan immediately expressed his agreement after hearing Magistrate Yang's analysis.

Magistrate Yang became more confident in his judgment and said with certainty: That's why I think it was the Shanxi businessmen who did it! Although some big salt merchants in Shanxi have a good relationship with us, many Shanxi salt merchants have a good relationship with us. The merchants can't bring the salt, so they want to report the Taizhou branch to shrink the farm and force us to restore the previous salt production, so that they can carry out the salt smoothly!

The salt cake is really too big. Although they can get benefits from salt merchants through salt introduction, the officials of each salt farm also want a piece of the cake.

Officials in the officialdom naturally did not dare to come and compete with them for food, but they could use their power to squeeze the lower-level kitchen households, which not only occupied more salt fields, but also forced the kitchen households to shoulder more production tasks.

Faced with the declining salt production year by year, officials in the officialdom shifted the responsibility to the Zao households who were forced to leave their hometowns. However, these things could be hidden from the court, but they could not escape the eyes of the Shanxi salt merchants.

If the matter is exposed, once the court cleans up the problem of shrinking and hiding the salt fields, the Shanxi salt merchants who hold a large amount of salt imports will undoubtedly be the beneficiaries.

Listening to your analysis, this matter indeed seems to have been done by Shanxi businessmen! Li Zhiqing realized that he seemed to have complicated the matter, so he nodded gently.

A bright light flashed in Magistrate Yang's mind, and he immediately imitated Li Zhiqing and said, I'm afraid this matter has something to do with those two people!

Who? Li Zhiqing asked immediately when he noticed that Magistrate Yang seemed to have suddenly become smarter.

Although Zhang Hushan did not say anything, he looked at Magistrate Yang curiously.

Magistrate Yang received the attention of the two men and couldn't help but secretly said proudly: Wang Chunlai, the transfer envoy of the Huaidu and Huaidu capitals, and Wailang Guandong, the member of the household department of Yangzhou Chaoguan and Nanjing, are both officials from Shanxi!

In the Lianghuai Capital Transfer Envoy Department, in addition to Li Zhiqing, the transfer envoy, there are also the positions of Tongzhi, deputy transfer envoy and judge. Since Yangzhou is an important transportation hub for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Yangzhou Banknote Pass is located here.

Governor Yang, do you mean that Wang Chunlai wants to plot the position of transfer envoy to the Huaidu capital? Zhang Hushan heard the implication of Magistrate Yang's words and looked thoughtful.

Magistrate Yang turned to look at Li Zhiqing, and said with wisdom: In my opinion, the Shanxi businessmen wanted to solve the problem of difficulty in carrying salt by exposing the Taizhou branch to hide the fields, but maybe someone wanted to take the opportunity to seek for the transfer of the Huaihe River. Let’s take the position! There are more and more Jinshi from Shanxi, and the Shanxi Township Party cannot afford to take a look at it now!

Don't make any noise about this matter for now, I will handle it properly! Li Zhiqing realized that the problem most likely lies with his deputy, and immediately took charge of it.

In the early morning of the next day, someone found two corpses in the Xiao Qinhuai River. According to investigation, Wang Chunlai, Sitongzhi, the transfer envoy of the two Huaidu capitals, and Wailang Guantong, a member of the Nanjing household department in Yangzhou Chaoguan, fell and drowned due to drunkenness.

Even in a peaceful and prosperous age, there are inevitably various dark sides.

Beijing City, Qianqing Palace.

Since the last time a solar eclipse was used to launch a killing spree, everyone, whether inside or outside the palace, suddenly became much calmer.

The civil and military officials re-examined him as the emperor, and the eunuchs and maids in the palace also valued their master again, and now they all have corrected their positions.

Even Niu Mengmeng, the most favored palace maid, became cautious when speaking, and Fan Jinling did not dare to ring the bell and unbutton her buttons, but her eyes clearly said that she wanted Zhu Youtang to be domineering.

It's just that Zhu Youtang's life is still the same, and he continues to work hard to be a good emperor who is truly diligent and loves the people.

Sandalwood smoke curls up from Dongnuan Pavilion, and the faint scent of sandalwood fills every corner of the room.

Liu Jin led two young eunuchs in from outside, holding a memorial in their hands and respectfully delivered it to the emperor.

He is no longer the little eunuch who poured chamber pots, but has now become the eunuch in charge of Qianqing Palace, resolutely becoming a popular figure around the emperor.

After Guo Yong's guidance, he also strengthened his own learning. Although it is impossible to study in the inner library every day, once I have time, I will read some arithmetic books.

Memorials from the two capitals and thirteen provinces were sent to the clerk's office via the Sikyong Secretary. Some memorials that were not particularly important were sent to the cabinet for drafting, and then sent to the Qianqing Palace.

However, the memorial submitted by Wang Yue would not be sent to the cabinet for voting, but would go directly to the imperial court so that the emperor could view it as soon as possible.

Shrinking rope Hidden?

Zhu Youtang opened the memorial sent by Wang Yue through Wang Zhi, the garrison eunuch of Nanjing. While learning about the latest situation in Yangzhou, he also felt surprised and murmured to himself.

Since I was a lover of Internet literature in my previous life, I naturally had some experience in governing the country on the Internet, and clearing my father-in-law's land seemed to be a good way to save the country.

Zhu Youtang naturally knew that clearing the land could increase the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue, but after all, it involved the measurement of more than 1,100 counties. This kind of matter could not be solved by sitting in the Forbidden City and issuing orders, and it also required a person to do this. Opportunity.

Due to his inertial thinking, he always thought that the disadvantages of shrinking ropes and hiding fields would only occur in the fields, but he completely ignored that the same problem might also exist in salt fields.

If you think about it carefully, you shouldn't be surprised that the salt policy has this shortcoming.

After all, kitchen households are also at the bottom of the group, and the output value of salt fields is many times higher than that of rice fields. Therefore, how can these officials not exploit them?

What's more, the large-scale private salt fields that Wang Yue had been looking for for a long time did not exist at all. These hidden fields controlled by officials were the largest supplier of private salt fields.

It now seems that there are indeed many problems with the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty, and there are also big problems on the production side. At least they are not at the same level as the salt production of the subsequent dynasties.

Zhu Youtang realized that shrinking the rope to hide the salt field was an important opportunity, and immediately replied: The matter of hiding the salt field is related to the people's livelihood and the world! This matter must be investigated clearly, and Luo can tell the world with evidence. If the people have a meter, the officials will not dare to bully the people!

The biggest problem with shrinking the rope and hiding the field is that the officials control the meter. Not to mention that the common people don't understand the meter at all. Even if they know it, they can only pay the grain to the government obediently.

Now if we want to truly solve the stubborn problem of shrinking and hiding fields, we need to make the Taizhou branch a landmark event, so that it can become an important opportunity to clear up the world's fields.

Of course, whether this can be accomplished depends on the beheading of this king. I hope he can cut off a piece of sky in Yangzhou and make China full of vitality again.

Even the lofty emperor is still unhappy with things.

Your Majesty, the Twelfth Battalion is very resentful about the soldier's pay. I'm afraid I have to give an explanation for this matter! Qian Yi, the eunuch of the Twelfth Battalion, reports on military affairs almost every two or three days, and today he reported it bitterly.

The Aegis Battalion that Zhu Youtang wanted to build encountered another problem. The problem was not with the Aegis Battalion, but with the voices in the 12th Battalion raising soldiers' pay.

There has always been a concern not with scarcity but with inequality. The soldiers' pay of the Aegis Battalion had already made ordinary soldiers jealous. Instigated by the remaining forces of the Civil Service Group and the Wuxun Group, the 12th Battalion has made a strong voice to increase the soldiers' pay.

The problem is now in front of him. Zhu Youtang wants to quickly calm these voices, either to increase the soldiers' pay of the 12th Battalion, or to adjust the soldiers' pay of the Aegis Battalion back to the level of the officers and soldiers of the 12th Battalion.

Zhu Youtang discovered that if we really managed from the top down, many problems would not exist, or that they would be well hidden, just like the hidden field of the Taizhou branch.

But if you really want to do it or uncover it, it will be like Schrödinger's cat. No one knows what will happen when you open the box.

Zhu Youtang may have been spoiled by the civil servant group or the Wuxun group in his plan to strengthen the army, so he immediately made a decision and said: Please make arrangements, I will personally visit the SHIELD camp tomorrow!