Qi Yongtai sighed, stroked his beard under his chin, and pondered for a while before saying: "It's hard to say now. I personally don't feel very good. Since last year, don't you think the situation in Jiangnan is a bit strange?"
Cui Jingrong was the most sensitive. He was the Left Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and knew the situation best. He hesitated and said: "Brother Chengfeng, are you referring to the large-scale delay in the payment of taxes in Jiangnan?"
"Jiangnan taxation is the lifeblood of the imperial court, but problems with the taxation began last year in the summer, but it was not serious yet, but the autumn taxation was too prominent. Suzhou, Jinling, Yangzhou, Changzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Huai'an or other prefectures
There have been more or less delays, or requests to postpone delivery to this year. This situation has not never happened before, but it only happens when there are floods and droughts. But what disasters happened last year? Their reasons are varied, of course.
The most justifiable ones are the Japanese pirate attacks, and the abnormal weather and poor harvest..."
Qi Yongtai's face was a little grim, "This kind of situation in Jiangnan has to make people suspicious, and it also caught up with the imperial court's deployment of troops in the southwest. Almost all of Huguang's tax revenue was retained to supply military expenses in the southwest. Even if it was not enough, it also needed to be collected from Sichuan.
You can imagine how difficult it is for the court this year to release part of it. Bo Xiao (Zheng Jizhi) fell ill because of too much pressure and had to retire. Originally, the emperor and we both hoped that he could wait until the southwest war came to an end, but
Now……"
Han Xu was still a little puzzled: "Brother Chengfeng, do you think that the delay and arrears of taxes in Jiangnan and the taxes in Huguang being left for the southwest war were not coincidences, but designed by someone? Is this possible? Chieftains like Yang Yinglong are revolting.
How can it be controlled by outsiders? This is impossible. As for Jiangnan, who do you think is behind it, who is so capable of doing this kind of thing, and what is the purpose?"
After all, Han Xu has been in opposition for many years, and is naturally not as sensitive to changes in the DPRK as officials in the DPRK, so he asked this question.
Zhang Huaichang and Qiao Yingjia exchanged glances, and it was Qiao Yingjia who asked: "Chengfeng, do you suspect that someone in Jiangnan is planning something behind your back?"
"If there is a coincidence to explain it, it would be too much of a coincidence. I never believed that there are so many coincidences in the world. I would rather think of the situation in a bad direction." Qi Yongtai's tone became more serious: "The capital's supply is almost
When we come to Jiangnan, if Jiangnan is cut off from supply, you can think about what will happen? Especially when Huguang's tax revenue is exhausted by the war in the southwest, what will happen?"
Sun Juxiang said bluntly with a straight face: "Brother Chengfeng, why are you so secretive? Do you doubt Prince Yi Zhong?"
This sentence shocked everyone except Feng Ziying. In fact, everyone could vaguely guess something, but no one dared to believe it. Thinking about this kind of thing is terrifying. If it is really like that, it would be a big mistake.
Zhou's calamity was in jeopardy.
Zhang Huaichang looked at Qi Yongtai and said word by word: "Chengfeng, tell the truth. As Bofu (Sun Juxiang) said, do you also suspect that Prince Yizhong is going to cause trouble in Jiangnan? What does he want to do? Since you
Everyone has been summoned, so they must have some doubts in their hearts, right?"
Qi Yongtai stood up and paced back and forth in the center of the flower hall, but did not speak for a while.
Feng Ziying had been listening with bated breath. It turned out that she was not the only one who noticed the weirdness and strangeness in it. Master Qi and several others were also aware of it, but everyone did not understand the meaning and intention of doing so. Everyone started from
I never thought that some people wanted to divide the north and the south, or divide the river to rule, or even prepare to use the south to control the north.
It is normal that everyone cannot accept this possibility. Only outsiders like Feng Ziying can abandon those inherent thinking and keenly realize that if Prince Yi Zhong really has the full support of the Jiangnan gentry, and Huguang is held back by the Southwest Rebellion
, it is indeed this opportunity.
As long as the supplies from the capital and the north are cut off, not only the capital but also the nine borders will suddenly become chaotic. This will not only give the Mongols and Jianzhou Jurchens an opportunity to take advantage of, but also relieve the military pressure that Jiangnan may face. As long as it is delayed,
After a period of time, relying on the wealth and money and food support of Jiangnan, the story of the Battle of Jingnan in the previous Ming Dynasty might not be repeated, except that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was from south to north.
Zhang Huaichang made a remark, and everyone was shocked and then shook their heads. Apparently they didn't agree with this view.
"Impossible!" Wang Yongguang was the first to categorically deny it. "Now that the emperor's status is stable, the position of Prince Yi Zhong and the former crown prince was more than ten years ago. The emperor has been on the throne for ten years. Although it cannot be said that his civil and military skills are so dazzling, but
At least it is remarkable. Ningxia suppressed the rebellion and regained Shazhou and Hami. The situation in Liaodong was also eased. The reputation of the government and the public was very good. Anyone who dared to raise the flag of rebellion would definitely be despised by the majority of scholars and people. They would not
If anyone supports him, even if the Jiangnan gentry officials do not like the emperor, they cannot accept this situation of dividing the north and the south. Such careerists will only end up in ruin. Although Prince Yi Zhong has great power, he cannot
It is impossible to choose such a bad strategy."
What Wang Yongguang said makes sense. Emperor Yonglong is still there, and his position is very stable. In addition, he has solved the big problem in the Beijing camp. Almost all the armies on the nine sides are loyal to the court. No matter how rich Jiangnan is, its military strength is weak. If it really wants to rebel,
As long as the nine-sided army mobilizes a few elites to go south, it can crush all the ambitions of the ambitious.
In fact, even Qi Yongtai felt that what Wang Yongguang said was reasonable. It was unbelievable that Prince Yi Zhong wanted to use Jiangnan as his backing to confront the imperial court. When the imperial court encountered such a thing, in anger, Liaodong, Jizhen, Xuanda and Yulin
The elite border troops in these places may be mobilized to go south and solve the problem completely with lightning speed. This is impossible to have any other results.
But the strange situation in Jiangnan and Huguang made it difficult for him to let it go. Prince Yi Zhong was not stupid either. He also had a large number of staff who made suggestions for him, and there were many outstanding people. How could he not understand the truth behind this?
If he really does this, it means that he is quite sure and confident, which is quite dangerous.
Qi Yongtai also hopes that his guesses are unrealistic conjectures, but he also knows that situations often happen in directions that he does not want to happen.
The problem is that he is worried and suspicious, so what? Qi Yongtai had mentioned it euphemistically to Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe before the Wenyuan Pavilion business plan. Of course, Qi Yongtai did not mention it so obviously. He only talked about these situations and some of his own experiences.
Worry and doubt did not make Ye Fang think about it at all.
Both of them felt that Qi Yongtai was making a fuss out of a molehill, or that as the leader of the Jiangnan scholars, they had their own confidence in Jiangnan. They even felt that Qi Yongtai, as the leader of the Northern scholars, was too narrow-minded and had a natural inclination towards Jiangnan.
Prejudice, so I don’t want to think too much about it.
"Chengfeng, is this impossible?" Han Xu also asked hesitantly: "The folk customs in the south of the Yangtze River are weak, and those guards are very difficult to deal with the Japanese, let alone the elite border troops. No matter who has the wrong intention, as long as the court gives an order
Next, the frontier troops marched south along the canal, thundering like thunder, any monster or clown who dared to stop them was like a mantis trying to act like a chariot, a fly shaking a tree, and not worth mentioning at all."
Qi Yongtai recommended himself to be the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, which was obviously targeted. He had worked in the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing for several years, and had some connections throughout South Zhili and Jiangyou. He had also served as an official in Huguang for many years, and he was also very familiar with Huguang.
, If there is really going to be chaos in Jiangnan, then as the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, I am the most suitable candidate.
But the situation that Qi Yongtai was worried about seemed impossible to Han Xu, and he would inevitably waste a few years in Nanjing.
Qiao Yingjia also thought it was impossible.
The most obvious problem here is that the current emperor has great righteousness. Even if the emperor jumps out and shouts for Prince Yi Zhong, it is impossible to win the support of the people of Shilin, just like the emperor Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty wanted to overthrow Taizong Li Shimin.
Totally impossible.
Without great righteousness, and the imperial court has an absolutely crushing frontier army, the south has no military support to resist. No matter how emotionally inclined the Jiangnan gentry is to Prince Yi Zhong, they cannot risk the fate of their own family.
, so this is simply impossible.
Zhang Huaichang and Qiao Yingjia both shook their heads slowly: "Chengfeng, aren't you too suspicious? Isn't the situation in Huguang the same as that your cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs agreed to intercept them and hand them over to the southwest for counterinsurgency? There is indeed something wrong here in Jiangnan.
But this should be caused by some Jiangnan gentry. I received a lot of reports in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which reflected that some of our officials from the North were pressing for taxes in the Jiangnan provinces and the South. There was no room for accommodation, which also caused a stir.
There is a huge backlash in local public opinion. Are some gentry here colluding to cause harm?"
Qi Yongtai's head felt swollen. He couldn't help but rub his temples and sighed, "I hope I'm worrying too much. Maybe it's because I've been busy with various affairs during this period, and I've been entangled with Jinqing, Zhonghan and the others all day long.
The bickering, and the chaos in the capital area made me a little upset and angry, so I became suspicious, right?"
Sun Juxiang also nodded: "Brother Chengfeng, you have indeed worked hard during this period, but as you said, the seven departments and the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate have been decided, and the next arrangements will be relatively simple, but the Gyeonggi Province
The land is too chaotic, the law and order is not peaceful, and refugees are rampant. If tens of thousands of refugees had not gone to Ziying's Yongping Mansion, the situation would have been even worse. Would Wu Daonan, the Shuntian Mansion Yin, have the nerve to continue in this situation?
?The cabinet has not considered replacing people? Or are Ye and Fang pretending to be deaf and blind due to personal friendship?"
