When Ma Yongcheng came to a courtyard under the guidance of Lin Pingzhi, he saw a figure standing there with a smile on his face. Who could it be if it wasn't Li Huan?
When Li Huan saw Ma Yongcheng and his party, he smiled slightly and said, "Brother Ma has come a long way, and I am sorry for the disappointment."
As the governor of Dongchang, Ma Yongcheng was the emperor's eyes and ears. He was in charge of Dongchang. It can be said that he was one of the most powerful figures in the court.
If ordinary people had heard about Ma Yongcheng's arrival, they would probably have opened the central door and gone out to greet him in person. Like Li Huan, who just sent someone to greet him, I'm afraid there would be no one else.
If it were anyone else, Ma Yongcheng would have kept the custody in mind, and he might have been framed for revenge at some point. But facing Li Huan, Ma Yongcheng showed a sincere smile on his face and hurriedly took a few steps forward.
He smiled at Li Huan and said, "Brother Li is really joking. How can you and I be so particular?"
While speaking, Ma Yongcheng looked Li Huan up and down and sighed softly: "Our family already knows about Brother Li. I didn't expect that there are so many bold and daring people in Yangzhou Mansion. Thanks to Brother Li, he is so lucky."
You are lucky, otherwise, even if you slaughter the officialdom of Yangzhou Prefecture, it will not be enough to relieve your anger."
Li Huan welcomed Ma Yongcheng into the hall, looked at Ma Yongcheng's indignant look and chuckled: "They are just a bunch of clowns."
Ma Yongcheng laughed when he heard this and said: "It's true that these people are not good at provoking anyone. If they insist on provoking you, brother, they deserve this disaster."
Li Huan chuckled lightly, cupped his hands in the direction of the capital and said, "I wonder if Brother Ma is here in person this time, does your Majesty have any orders?"
You don't need to guess to know that for Ma Yongcheng, the governor of the East Factory, to come in person, it must have been an order from the emperor, otherwise Ma Yongcheng would not have been asked to do it in person for such an easy matter.
Upon hearing this, Ma Yongcheng immediately looked at Li Huan with a serious expression and said: "Brother Li, Your Majesty ordered me to come here to bring Xu Lin and other criminals to Beijing. I wonder what is happening to those people now..."
Ma Yongcheng looked at Li Huan and sighed with some emotion: "Your Majesty really cares about you, Brother Li. He is afraid that Brother Li will impulsively bring those people to justice. When the time comes, brother, you will definitely end up with a cruel and murderous person."
They have a bad reputation, so Your Majesty specially asked me to bring those people to Beijing."
Lin Pingzhi, Cao Yu and others on the side changed slightly after hearing Ma Yongcheng's words, and at the same time their eyes fell on Li Huan.
Li Huan sighed softly, cupped his hands in the direction of the capital and said, "Thank you for your majesty's love. Your majesty is so caring. Li is so grateful that he sheds tears of gratitude."
Ma Yongcheng said with a smile: "Brother, we have accomplished a big deal this time. As long as you and I escort these prisoners back to Beijing, we will be able to retire with success, and the infamy will be given to those above the court."
Let someone carry it."
However, after listening to Ma Yongcheng's words, Li Huan slowly shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I will disappoint His Majesty."
Ma Yongcheng, who was slightly stunned, didn't know what he thought of. His eyes gradually showed a bit of horror, and he said in a trembling voice: "Brother Li, you... you don't want to say that those people have..."
Looking at Ma Yongcheng's shocked look, Li Huan seemed to know what Ma Yongcheng wanted to say, so he nodded slightly at Ma Yongcheng and said: "Just as you thought, brother, just a few days ago, I
We have ordered that all prisoners be punished on the spot, and now they have all been punished and there is no need to be escorted to the capital."
With a grunt, Ma Yongcheng, who was drinking tea, subconsciously swallowed a sip of tea. His face was full of shock, and he was obviously shocked.
But after all, Ma Yongcheng was in charge of Dongchang and a man who had seen the world. Although he was shocked for a moment, he quickly came to his senses.
After reacting, Ma Yongcheng just looked at Li Huan with a rather complicated expression. After a long time, he sighed and said: "Brother Li, why are you doing this? Now that you have killed so many people at once, even though anyone with clear eyesight can't.
I know that these people are all worthy of death, but after all, there are tens of thousands of them. Killing so many people at once will definitely cause a sensation in the world. By that time, Brother Li, you will definitely have bad words and your reputation will be ruined.
It fell a thousand feet."
It can be seen that Ma Yongcheng really thinks about Li Huan. Otherwise, he would not have said these words.
Li Huan just smiled slightly and said: "Li just wants to be worthy of his heart and his majesty. As for the bad reputation, what does it matter to me?"
Ma Yongcheng sighed softly and said: "That's all, I don't know how we will explain to His Majesty when we return."
While he was talking, he saw Chen Ke and Zhang Huai coming together outside the hall.
Several people walked to the front of the hall, and when their eyes fell on Ma Yongcheng, they were stunned for a moment, and then they came to their senses.
Both Chen Ke and Zhang Huai were no strangers to Ma Yongcheng. Although they were a little curious about why Ma Yongcheng suddenly appeared in Yangzhou Mansion, at this time, the expressions on their faces remained unchanged as they stepped forward to greet Li Huan, and then continued
He bowed his hands to Ma Yongcheng in greeting.
Li Huan waved his hands and looked at the people and said, "Come to see me at this time. Could it be that everything has been loaded on the ship?"
Chen Ke took a deep breath and said to Li Huan: "Sir, everything has been loaded on the ship. We can leave at any time with just one order from you."
Ma Yongcheng, who was sitting nearby, looked at Li Huan and the others with some confusion.
At this time, Li Huan smiled and nodded at Chen Ke and others, and then said to Ma Yongcheng: "Thankfully Brother Ma came in time, otherwise if it had been a day or two at night, I might have boarded the ship back to Beijing.
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A bright light flashed in his eyes, and Ma Yongcheng said: "Brother Li, are you ready to return to Beijing?"
Li Huan nodded with a smile and said: "Since the time here is over, it is useless to stay here any longer. Naturally, it is time to return to Beijing to report to His Majesty."
As he spoke, Li Huan turned to Ma Yongcheng and said, "If Brother Ma doesn't have other business matters, why don't you and I go back to Beijing together?"
Ma Yongcheng nodded and said: "That's fine."
On the mighty Grand Canal, there are more than ten or twenty large ships sailing on the river. On each large ship there are soldiers wearing strong armor standing on top, showing a formidable scene.
On one of the large ships, in the cabin, Ma Yongcheng and Li Huan were sitting opposite each other.
At this time, several days had passed since the group of them left Yangzhou Mansion. Dozens of large ships were on the Grand Canal, except for the occasional stop to replenish supplies. The rest of the time, they were all on their way.
Ma Yongcheng looked at the heavily guarded large ships and said with some curiosity: "Brother Li, your posture is too scary. There are only dozens of large ships. How can you put up such a formation?"
Could it be that this time, brother, you confiscated a large amount of property in Yangzhou Prefecture?"
Ma Yongcheng is not a fool. He can naturally see that each of these large ships has a very deep draft. Coupled with the heavily guarded soldiers on the ship, even if he is slow to react, he knows that the things loaded on these ships may have been confiscated by Li Huan in Yangzhou Mansion.
of property.
Although he guessed that the ship might contain confiscated property, Ma Yongcheng still couldn't guess how much, so he was quite curious.
It can be said that Ma Yongcheng has been speculating in his mind since he boarded the ship. Even in the past few days, Ma Yongcheng has been suppressing the curiosity in his heart and did not ask Li Huan.
But now Ma Yongcheng obviously couldn't bear it anymore.
Li Huan, who was sitting opposite Ma Yongcheng, just smiled slightly when he heard this, while next to the two of them was a slim figure kneeling.
This slender figure had a good temperament and a beautiful appearance. She had a cold face and silently knelt down to make tea for Li Huan and Ma Yongcheng.
If any senior leader of the Sun Moon God Sect saw this woman, they would probably be able to recognize at a glance that this woman was none other than Ren Yingying, the holy aunt of the Sun Moon God Sect.
Maybe it was a bad taste, so Li Huan, who was bored, ordered his people to bring Ren Yingying over. After some threats and training, this holy aunt of the Sun and Moon God Sect, no matter what she thought in her heart, she at least humbled herself in front of Li Huan.
head.
At this time, Ren Yingying listened to Ma Yongcheng's words, her heart moved, and she also became a little curious.
After all, this is human nature. Even if he was reduced to a prisoner and treated like a slave by Li Huan, it would not stop Ren Yingying's curiosity.
Hearing this, Li Huan smiled slightly and looked at Ma Yongcheng and said: "Brother Ma is in charge of Dongchang and has presided over the confiscation of homes more than once. Why don't you guess how much your younger brother made during the confiscation in Yangzhou Mansion?"
Ma Yongcheng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he couldn't help laughing.
After laughing, Ma Yongcheng pondered slightly and said: "Yangzhou Prefecture is a blessed place in the south of the Yangtze River. In particular, there are many salt merchants in Yangzhou Prefecture. Each of these people is very rich. If we were to guess, Brother Li at least didn't copy it.
Thirty to fifty million taels is no longer an issue."
Li Huan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He had to say that Ma Yongcheng was in charge of Dongchang and had experience in confiscating houses, so his guess was quite reliable.
The total amount of gold and silver confiscated this time alone is nearly 40 million taels. After all, there are more than 1.5 million taels of gold, which can be equivalent to more than 10 million taels of silver, plus the more than 20 million taels
Isn't taels of silver equivalent to nearly 40 million taels?
The most important thing is that this is only the confiscated cash, and does not include the jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings and other valuable treasures obtained from the confiscation.
After all, the real ready-made gold and silver only account for a part of these people's wealth. If you include all the valuable things such as jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings, land and manors whose value cannot be estimated, the proceeds from this house confiscation may be less than
To double Ma Yongcheng's figure, it would be nearly 100 million.
Of course, this number seems a bit exaggerated, but just think about the prosperous city of Yangzhou, especially the confiscation of dozens of salt merchants. You must know that these salt merchants controlled at least half of the huge profits of the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty.
Such wealth can be taken for granted.
In fact, Jin Yiwei could not give a specific figure for the total amount of property confiscated for so long. The only thing he could give was the amount of gold and silver.
Li Huan didn't speak, but Ren Yingying, who was kneeling beside her, couldn't help being shocked after hearing Ma Yongcheng's words.
Even though she had been short of property since she was a child, Ren Yingying was deeply shocked when she suddenly heard that Li Huan's property confiscated in Yangzhou Prefecture was worth thirty to fifty million taels, and she felt unbelievable.
Li Huan smiled slightly and said: "Even I don't know the exact details, but when I return to Beijing this time, if so much wealth and goods are put into His Majesty's inner treasury, Your Majesty will be very happy to keep it."
Ma Yongcheng's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he couldn't help but laugh: "If wealth worth tens of millions of taels is put into the inner treasury, His Majesty will definitely be extremely happy, and he will definitely reward Brother Li generously."
When Li Huan heard this, he said with a serious face: "Your Majesty will reward Brother Ma generously when the time comes. Besides, you and I are His Majesty's ministers. We do everything for Your Majesty. How can we do it for His Majesty's reward?"
Ma Yongcheng high-fived and praised: "Brother Li said it well, we do things for His Majesty, not for His Majesty's rewards."
The two looked at each other and smiled, and then they couldn't help laughing. The cabin was filled with the laughter of the two. On the other hand, Ren Yingying looked at the two smiling at each other with a strange look in their eyes.
look.
The vast Grand Canal can be said to be a water artery with many ships passing between the north and the south. It is definitely not as simple as just saying it.
It's just that the signboards put up by Li Huan and his party were too scary. The imperial envoy's flag was just hung on the ship. Anyone who is not a fool would dare to provoke Li Huan and his party.
Normally, with so many large ships passing by on the Grand Canal, they would definitely not be able to escape the exploitation of the officials on the Grand Canal. However, even if these people were brave enough, they would not dare to provoke Li Huan, the killer.
After all, the news that Li Huan went on a killing spree in Yangzhou Prefecture, killing nearly ten thousand people at once, had already spread, especially with the convenience of the Grand Canal, the news spread at an extremely fast speed.
Naturally, the officials of the water transportation system on the Grand Canal are the most sensitive to information. It can be said that these people know clearly what Li Huan did in Yangzhou Prefecture.
It is precisely because of this that it can be said that all officials who know what Li Huan did in Yangzhou Mansion regard Li Huan like a snake and a scorpion, even if they guess that what Li Huan carried on dozens of large ships is what Li Huan confiscated in Yangzhou Mansion.
Even if these people were salivating over the huge wealth they had received, no one dared to provoke Li Huan, the God of Death.
Maybe there are people who really want money rather than their lives, but it depends on who they are dealing with. At least Li Huan's current reputation is enough to suppress these greedy officials.
Relying on Li Huan's reputation, the fleet sailed smoothly on the Grand Canal without any disturbance. This surprised Li Huan, who was expecting some unlucky man to come to his door.
He was originally expecting someone to come to his door to make his journey back to Beijing less boring, but in the end, no one dared to come, so that Li Huan had to focus on the training and teaching of Ren Yingying.
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On this day, at sunset, under the rays of the setting sun, the water surface seemed to be covered with red clouds. The scenery was quite extraordinary. Even Li Huan couldn't help but stand on the bow of the boat and admire the red clouds all over the river.
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