Emperor Chongping had just taken a nap, washed his face with a gold basin, and wiped his face with a towel. Dai Quan on the side said: "Your Majesty, Jia Ziyu handed the sign to the palace."
When Emperor Chongping heard this, he smiled and said, "Announce him to come in."
Dai Quan nodded and turned around silently.
Soon after, he led Jia Heng into the palace.
Jia Heng cupped his hands and said, "I have met with you, Your Majesty."
"I heard from Dai Quan that you are fully prepared to go out to suppress the bandits this time?" Emperor Chongping asked with a smile.
Jia Heng said: "Your Majesty, we have already made some preparations. We have mobilized the Jinyi Mansion to assist and provide military support beforehand."
Emperor Chongping looked through the memorial and said: "Jinyi Mansion is good at gathering military intelligence. It has been used to advantage in the Dongcheng incident for the first time. It uses military intelligence as the leader and uses it for time planning, which is the key to the art of war. You first go to Liaodong to send secret spies."
The same is true for things."
When Jia Heng heard this, he was startled. He raised his hands and apologized and said: "At first, I heard about the investigation and found out that Lan Qianhu in Liaodong was transferred to Jiangxi Prefecture to serve. I thought it was a pity, so I removed him from Jiangxi Prefecture.
He was transferred back, and then because of the Dongcheng incident, he forgot to discuss it with the two colleagues in Jinyi Mansion. It was really a sin.
Emperor Chongping smiled and said: "At that time, what could you do to improve the Jinyi? In addition, I have reprimanded Lu Jingyao of the Jinyi Mansion for not being prepared for the detailed investigation of the Eastern captives in these years. Sun Tzu said in the Art of War, the winner is the temple before the battle.
, It has to be counted as more. If you don’t fight without a temple, you can’t win. You have to count as little. If you count more, you will win, but if you don’t know the situation, how can you say that you can win by counting?"
At the end of the sentence, the smile on Emperor Chongping's face disappeared, and his voice became stern as he reprimanded Lu Jingyao and Qiu Liang.
Jia Heng said: "The Holy One is the Holy Ming."
He secretly said that the emperor has been reading military books a lot recently, and he has used time and space to win in temple battles.
In fact, among the secret spies, it is clear that the emperor has a more secretive and powerful force hidden under his command, and that is the guards of the internal police factory.
Emperor Chongping said: "Just do your job. Jinyi Mansion will go with you this time. You often said before that you must first calm down the inside before fighting outside. I think it is the right thing to do. First, wipe out all the thieves in the Sanfu area. Over there with the Ministry of War."
I am also writing about the local cleanup of bandits and bandits. I will not rush you to the three auxiliary areas. I have been reading history recently and found out how many kings used their troops to fight for success. They were eager for success and urged troops to advance, so as to achieve great defeat. No matter whether they succeeded or not, they were defeated.
Don’t forget to go back to Beijing to celebrate the New Year.”
When Jia Heng heard this, his body trembled, and he said with gratitude: "I obey the imperial edict. I believe that the bandits are raging now because of heavy taxes. The fundamental solution is to eliminate excessive taxes and allow the people to recuperate and recuperate."
Emperor Chongping sighed and said: "A harsh government is as fierce as a tiger."
Jia Heng's face showed admiration at the right time, he cupped his hands and said: "Holy Lord, Holy Ming."
An emperor can say that harsh government is as fierce as a tiger, which shows the sign of a wise king. Although he only quoted the words of a saint, the consciousness of the ruling class is also commendable.
At least he didn't die in the "why not eat minced meat" and drunken dreams of life and death.
Seeing Jia Heng's admiration, Emperor Chongping said: "People's livelihood is difficult, and I don't know. Shandong has been exempted from taxes for two years, and Henan and other places have also exempted this year's autumn grain. However, in recent years, floods and droughts have stopped harvesting."
, there is an endless stream of victims from Shandong who are living in Beijing. It seems that corrupt officials are exploiting the local area too much, and next year we need to vigorously rectify the officialdom."
Jia Heng nodded, bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the candle shines thousands of miles away, pointing directly at Guan Shu. I admire you."
Emperor Chongping showed no complacency on his face, but said: "It is not difficult to know the disadvantages. The key lies in how to eliminate the disadvantages and create advantages. This requires you and I, the emperor and the ministers, to work together and implement strategies according to the disadvantages."
Jia Heng raised his hands and said yes.
Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "I have been reading the newspaper recently. The Yangzhou Salt Institute has submitted a memorial. It seems that it wants to correct the shortcomings of the Salt Law?"
Emperor Chongping said with a smile: "I was about to talk to you about this matter. Lin Ruhai proposed that when the Ming Dynasty be restored, we should open the Central Law and strictly control the release of salt, so as to transport grain at the border. This matter, Mr. Yang Ge and Mr. Han Ge greatly agree."
The Kaizhong Law was established in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, which promoted the prosperity of Shangtun and the rise of Shanxi merchants. However, during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, after Ye Qi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was changed to the Nayinyunsi, this law gradually fell into disuse, and Hui merchants once again controlled salt.
profit.
A few days ago, the King of Chu used the money allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs to buy grain and transport it to the border areas.
Jia Heng said: "Your Majesty, I think that regardless of how to reform the salt law, the rectification of salt affairs involves a wide range of interests. The saltmen who are in charge of the salt field, the officials who inspect the salt road, and the salt merchants who live in Yangzhou are all involved in the salt industry.
The food, the vines and the vines are intertwined with each other. If their interests are damaged, how can they give up? I think we should be on guard against those dogs jumping over the wall and taking risks."
Before doing anything, you must fully anticipate the difficulties of the matter. As for those who will block things, you must predict them in advance and be as vigilant as you are against the enemy. If there is any abnormality, eradicate it in one fell swoop!
If you come up with the idea of not rectifying the salt affairs, but to use the rectification of the salt affairs to seize money from homes, there is a high probability that the matter of rectifying the salt affairs will be successful.
When Emperor Chongping heard this, his face turned pale and he said in surprise: "You mean they will..."
"I think I have to take precautions, so I might choose some guards in royal robes to sneak into Yangzhou secretly to protect Lin Yushi Zhouquan." Jia Heng said in a deep voice with a solemn expression.
Emperor Chongping pondered for a moment, looked solemnly, looked at Dai Quan, and said coldly: "You select people from the inner guard and send them to Yangzhou to keep an eye on them."
Then he looked at Jia Heng and said warmly: "Zi Yu, Lin Ruhai is your in-law, and you will also transfer people from Jinyi Mansion. This way, the two groups of people will be safe."
Jia Heng cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Regardless of whether the salt affairs rectification is successful or not, at least Lin Ruhai's safety is no longer a problem.
Emperor Chongping said: "Ziyu, what do you think of the benefits of salt reform?"
Jia Heng pondered and said: "I think the key is to reduce the distribution links. The more distribution links, the more people will benefit from it, and these profits should be obtained by the court. If we can implement monopoly methods, regulate salt prices, and reduce
It is good governance to benefit the people universally, but we need to be careful of officials who neglect their responsibilities."
If the administrative efficiency is high enough, why does it need the hands of fake salt merchants?
When opening a salt industry company, officials closed the company, ruled it out, dissolved it, and sold it out, but they faced another problem: government-run yamen. One was corruption due to administrative rigidity, and the other was that managers found it difficult to distribute profits, were not enterprising enough, and were inefficient.
There is no need to avoid it, this is naked human nature, indulging in leisure and indolence.
According to officials from the DPRK and the Central Government, once the salt industry becomes a monopoly and private salt becomes rampant, the people may not even be able to eat salt.
But now Chen Han has to follow Liu Han's example and start a salt and iron franchise to solve financial difficulties.
As for the opening of China, Shanxi merchants are enjoying smuggling to the grasslands at the moment.
Sure enough, Emperor Chongping frowned and said: "I'm afraid that the price of salt will rise at that time, which will make it difficult for the people to buy it. In the end, illegal salt will spread, and many people in the government and the public will argue that they do not compete with the people for profit."
Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said loudly: "I think that even if it is not officially sold, we should curb the big salt merchants and crack down on lawlessness in order to alleviate the financial difficulties."
By outsourcing the sale of salt to salt merchants and establishing regional agents, management costs are saved, efficiency is improved, and worry and effort are saved.
However, it once again enriches the flexible intermediaries, channels, and the upstream and downstream of the entire chain.
Perhaps it has greatly promoted social vitality, inspired more people to create wealth, and increased the total social wealth.
However, the side effects are that people have different abilities, and the gap between the rich and the poor is rapidly widening. The rich have a vast land and the poor have no place to stand. The contradictions are sharp and irreconcilable.
Then go again and mix everything?
There is nothing new under the sun.
Of course, innovation is always moving forward in twists and turns, and there is no eternal way. It is always on the road, because times change.
If you fall on the salt merchants, you will get rich first...raising pigs and killing pigs, I am afraid that the rulers of the dynasty do not even have the awareness and responsibility to kill pigs, so they deserve to perish like the previous Ming Dynasty.
Killing pigs does not necessarily require violent means. With tax regulation and prosecution, and judicial prosecutions to crack down on crime, those salt merchants must be carrying blood debts and original sins with them in the process of their rise.
"If I were to rectify the salt affairs, I would probably start with a blood debt, or I might just overturn the table and let Shunchang die. The latter would be a little ugly and would be easily slandered by current discussions."
Salt merchants who possess economic strength will certainly not sit still and wait for death. They will inevitably seek a jump in political status, donate millet to buy officials, bribe officials, flatter the powerful, build academies, bribe and train cynical scholars, and build momentum for public opinion...
It is unbelievable that the salt merchants have already taken notice of the situation and entered Shenjing to spend a lot of money.
Then, the ruling elite is not monolithic. They have different political demands, there are many internal constraints, and they are occasionally filled with some personnel struggles. Are you going to stir up salt affairs and stir up trouble?
The price of salt has soared, and the people cannot afford salt. There is a civil uprising. Hurry up and vacate your "seat", and I will clean up the "mess"!
"Observing history can reveal the ups and downs. This is generally the case in the world."
Jia Heng's mind was racing, he suppressed some of his thoughts, and said with his hands, "I think the two cabinet ministers should have a comprehensive plan. I don't know much about salt affairs, so it's hard to speak nonsense."
Let those people do it first, and everyone will be happy if it works. If it doesn't work, he will deal with it later.
Emperor Chongping nodded and said: "The two pavilion elders are discussing this matter. There may be trouble in Shenjing recently. Please feel free to suppress the bandits."
Jia Heng raised his hands and said yes.
After that, Emperor Chongping whispered a few more words, and Jia Heng also said goodbye and left, leaving Daming Palace and heading towards Ningguo Mansion.
Beijing camp, in the evening, in a barracks with green walls and red tiles in Guoyong camp, there was a lot of noise. Several people gathered around a wine table. There were rich dishes on the table, and a roasted deer was placed in the middle.
Guo Yongying's commander-in-chief, Tongzhi Che Zheng, sat in the middle. Commander-in-Chief Qianshi Lu He and Xia Mu sat on the left and right. On both sides were general Shan Ming and guerrilla Yu Zhenglun. The five of them were already drunk with wine, their ears were hot, and their faces were red.
"Lao Lu, Lao Che, now Jia Heng is bringing some Guoyong camp to suppress the bandits. I'm thinking it doesn't seem like a good idea. Could it be that the higher-ups intend to let him be the commander of Guoyong camp?" Xia Mu complained and said.
Che Zheng frowned, raised his wine cup, and said in annoyance: "He is not a prince, but he is a third-class general and is in charge of an army. He is not qualified enough."
He surrendered to the Prince of Beijing. He originally wanted to suppress the bandits as a way to advance to the rank, but now he was intercepted by this young powerful man.
"The whole battalion will go out tomorrow, what will I do when the time comes?" Xia Mu suddenly asked.
Lu He sneered and said: "What else can we do? How dare we not disobey people who are carrying out errands under the imperial edict! However, when we use troops, we can't work hard. Last time in Dongcheng, we collected so much money from the Sanhe Gang.
Not even a tael was given to us!"
Che Zheng picked up the wine cup and frowned and said: "It's a small matter if you don't have enough money. I'm afraid that there are more than 20,000 soldiers in Guoyong's camp. When the whole army goes out tomorrow, we will gather the drums and gather the troops. Once the calculation is done, I will give you the money from there."
He conjured up 20,000 people? This is a fatal thing. If that kid shows up, every one of us will be held accountable!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's expressions changed, especially those of Xia Mu and Lu He.
There are still 9,000 taels of space for more than 9,000 people, calculated based on the monthly salary of one tael per person. Most of them were taken away by Lu He, who was in charge of the Experience Department, Xia Mu, who was in charge of military discipline, and Niu Jizong, the commander of Qianguoyong Camp.
As for the governor, Che Zheng, who also knew Che Zheng, also received a share of the benefits, but turned a blind eye to it.
"Eating the quota and drinking the blood of the soldiers, which one of the twelve regiments and camps in Beijing is not like this? Otherwise, if you just rely on my salary and don't take the quota, how can you gain a foothold in the sacred city of Jingjing?" Guerrilla General Yu Zhenglun frowned.
He said coldly.
Shan Ming was silent for a moment and said: "There is a way and the law does not blame everyone. That Jia Yunhui will not know this principle. The most important thing is that we are waiting for the suppression of the bandits this time to help people. If the military affairs are done well, these
It’s all small details.”
Che Zheng said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid that people won't explain this to us."
Xia Mu said angrily: "Yes, people think that we are outsiders. We went to Dongcheng to assist the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses in wiping out the Sanhe Gang. We also made great efforts. This Jia Yunhui is not authentic. I heard that when we go to Cuihua Mountain, people
After receiving the silver reward, the Sanhe Gang's more than 10,000 taels of property were immediately stared at by the brothers who were carrying the property. If it weren't for the people from the Jinyi Mansion who were watching, they would have to snatch a handful of it."
Lu He smiled contemptuously and said: "Lao Xia, I am related to that boy Cai Quan, so I take good care of his people! I just received the transfer order and rushed over. Besides, he is a small hundred households.
In just a short time, I have been promoted to guerrilla level, and now I have gained quite a lot of authority and authority, and I am actually giving orders to you!"
Che Zheng sighed and said: "It's useless to talk about this now, let's just deal with it tomorrow."
Lu He picked up the wine cup, took a sip, and said with a hint of alcohol on both sides of his cheeks: "How about we borrow some manpower from other camps?"
Che Zheng frowned and said: "This idea was feasible in the past, but Cai Quan is also from the Beijing camp and knows our details very well."
Xia Mu's eyes flashed, and he lowered his voice and said: "Why don't we make trouble for him tomorrow? Jingying hasn't paid wages for three months. If the brothers below make a noise, he will definitely not be able to deal with it. Once he loses face, he wants to
If you lead troops, you have no prestige at all."
As soon as these words were spoken, the wine table fell into a strange silence for a moment, with everyone having different thoughts.
Guerrilla general Yu Zhenglun, smelling of alcohol and looking fierce, echoed: "Master Xia, this is a good idea. Once a mutiny breaks out, no matter what the outcome, he will not be able to lead the troops!"
Shan Ming frowned and said: "It can't be a true mutiny. Just let the brothers make a fuss and not leave without paying them. This shows that he is incompetent in running the army. It will be difficult to organize any more troops."
Lu He nodded and said with a smile, "That's the truth."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Lu He looked aggressively at Che Zheng, who was sitting aside with a silent expression, and asked, "Old Che, what do you think of this strategy?"
Facing everyone's gaze, Che Zheng's expression remained unchanged and he smiled and said, "I think you can give it a try."
Xia Mu slapped the table and said, "It's settled then! Lao Lu, let's find some people who don't want to go out of the city to work hard, and we'll make noise tomorrow."
Lu He and Yu Zhenglun both responded.
However, several of them had no intention of drinking, so they all went separate ways.
Ningguo Mansion
The night falls, and in the study, a lamp is as bright as a bean.
Jia Heng was looking at the map and the book submitted by Qu Lang. According to it, there were 22,000 soldiers in the Guoyong camp, and eight or nine thousand soldiers were not in the camp. In this way, all the money and wages were lost to the chariots and soldiers below.
The high-ranking generals, as well as the Qianhu and deputy Qianhu who surrounded them, were eaten.
Not far away, Qu Lang, dressed in a flying fish suit, was sitting on a chair, waiting quietly.
"Qu Qianhu, just now, you said those people are trying to incite the general to cause trouble tomorrow?" Jia Heng put down the book in his hand and looked up and asked.
Qu Lang said: "A few hidden detectives have sent urgent news. They seem to want to incite a mutiny among the soldiers tomorrow and embarrass you!"
Jia Heng looked gloomy and said in a deep voice: "They are really brave."
"Sir, they may be worried that they will take advantage of the situation when you order troops." Qu Lang looked solemn and said with cupped hands: "Sir, why don't we arrest them first tonight."
Just as Jia Heng was about to speak, the mother-in-law's voice suddenly came from outside the study, saying: "Sir, there is a military attache outside who claims to be the Guoyong camp. He has come to see you. He has already been welcomed into the flower hall to entertain you."
With that said, the woman came in and handed over a greeting card.
Jia Heng's face paused slightly, he took the greeting card from his mother-in-law, lowered his eyes and looked at the famous thorn on it, his eyes were strange for a moment.
"Sir, what is this?"
"Che Zheng is here, but I don't know why he's here." Jia Heng said, with a strange expression on his face, and murmured: "Don't come here to report a message, right? You wait here, I'll go see you."
When Qu Lang heard this, his expression was also a bit strange.
Jia Heng said, leaving the study and heading to the flower hall.
I saw the governor's colleague, Che Zheng, sitting on a chair, on the small table beside him, his cup of tea still untouched, his face solemn.
At this moment, as footsteps sounded, a tall young man with a sword hanging on his waist walked in.
"I have met Mr. Jia." The commander-in-chief of Guoyong Camp immediately stood up and said with cupped fists.
Jia Heng said: "The troops will leave Shenjing tomorrow. Che Tongzhi is not in the camp to supervise the affairs. How can he have time to come to my official residence?"
Che Zheng said in a deep voice: "Sir, I have something urgent to report to you."
Jia Heng said in surprise: "Oh?"
Che Zheng said: "Sir, there is someone in the camp who wants to take the opportunity to cause trouble when the troops are ordered tomorrow, and hinders your progress to suppress the bandits."
Jia Heng looked solemn and asked aggressively: "What should I say about this matter?"
Che Zheng was General Xia, and the two Lu told them the details of how they planned to cause a "mutiny" among the soldiers tomorrow. The people behind him looked angrily, as if they were filled with righteous indignation, and said in a deep voice: "When the former governor was here, the generals were corrupted, military discipline was lax, and the food was eaten.
Drinking the blood of soldiers with empty positions has become a trend that can hardly be controlled. The two officials of Lu and Xia are bent on flattering Governor Niu. The lower officials are unable to support themselves. They are repeatedly squeezed out by their colleagues, so they can only make excuses with them. Now they don't expect them.
You are so bold, for your own selfish interests, you ignore the military aircraft, coerce the soldiers to cause chaos, and your subordinates have been favored by the emperor, how can you join in the same trend?"