System, help me be an empress

Chapter 91

On the tenth day of August, several major events were exposed in Jinyang City.

First, Ning Kun, the prefect of Jinyang City, was escorted to Shangjing for many crimes such as corruption and bribery, collusion between officials and businessmen, abusive lynching, and murder. cut.

Secondly, a total of five wealthy businessmen in Jinyang City were simultaneously arrested by the imperial guards on the charge of collaborating with the enemy and traitorous country, and their houses and all their properties were sealed up on the spot.

Just when the people of Jin were stunned and didn't know what happened.The "Shanxi Merchants", which they have always been most proud of, was published in "Qianbao" in an extremely shameful way.

"I didn't expect Shanxi merchants to shout the slogan of honesty and righteousness all day long. They are so righteous? They are so righteous that they can collude with the enemy and betray the country!" The literati in the capital city read newspapers and scolded Shanxi merchants as wolf-hearted.

"What do you mean! That Yang Zhuiyue who risked his life to sue the imperial court to report this group of people is also a Shanxi merchant! Who agreed to call those beasts 'Shanxi merchants'? I don't feel bad about those beasts yet. You have ruined the air in Jinyang!" The people in Jin who listened to the newspaper couldn't take it any longer, and hurriedly refuted it.

Most of the people who listened to the report were quite reasonable: "Yes, some of the worst among Shanxi merchants have been arrested by the imperial court! The remaining Shanxi merchants are all businessmen with backbone and blood."

"What's the noise, keep reading the newspaper! What will you say later?"

"Your Majesty is grateful for Yang Zhuiyue's loyalty to the emperor and serving the country, and named him the 'No. [-] Imperial Merchant in Daqian', setting an example for thousands of Shanxi merchants."

"...Yang Zhuiyue disbanded the old Shanxi Merchants Alliance and established a new Shanxi Merchants Group, announcing that 'patriotism' is his duty, and welcomes virtuous merchants from all over the world to join."

……

At this time, Xu Youxi was sitting in the imperial study room, reading the latest copy of "Ganbao" in his hand.

"How is Yang Zhuiyue?" Xu Youxi asked while drinking tea.

Jin Yiwei Xu Ling took a step forward and said: "Return to Your Majesty, Yang Zhuiyue has successfully taken over the business of most shops in Jinyang City, because of the "Ganbao" campaign. Now the entire Jindi merchants are proud of Yang Zhuiyue, and it is common I am willing to follow him to join the new business group."

Xu Youxi didn't expect that "Ganbao", which was published for only ten days, would have such a great influence.

Liu Jiye is really a talent. After living in the market for a long time, he has become more and more aware of how to look at problems from the perspective of ordinary people. The articles he writes are easy to understand and can arouse the empathy of the common people.

Xu Youxi continued to ask: "Where are the Shanxi merchants who were arrested, have you found out who they are doing iron ore business with?"

"Besides Dagan, these Shanxi merchants mainly do business with the Jurchens. Apart from iron ore, there are also many other business contacts. But it seems that some people in China have approached them to purchase several batches of extremely large quantities of iron ore. The specific sales They don't know who it was given to, but they speculate that it may be the remnant of the White Lotus Sect."

"White Lotus Sect?" Xu Youxi asked back.

"Yes, according to the confessions of several Shanxi merchants, the boots and bamboo hats worn by those who traded with them at that time were a bit like those produced in Jingzhou, and their accents were also similar."

Xu Youxi put down his teacup, and said mockingly: "If he said that what he sold to the White Lotus Sect was gunpowder, I would believe it, but it was iron ore?"

Xu Ling didn't understand why Xu Youxi suddenly mentioned this, and he didn't continue to interrupt.

"At the beginning, the group of White Lotus Cultists in Jingzhou was copied by Master Yu together. There was no sign of a large amount of iron ore. Are you buying ironware just for display?"

"Your Majesty is wise."

Xu Youxi thought for a moment: "The last time Sir Yu mentioned the King of Shu to me, he said that he has great ambitions. Find someone to imitate the accent of Shu, and try to see what those Shanxi merchants say."

"Yes."

After Xu Ling retreated, Zhou Yuxue, who was standing beside him, hurriedly poured tea for Xu Youxi.

"Zhou Yuxue, have you seen the King of Shu?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, this old slave has met twice, once on Emperor Sheng Yuan's birthday, and once when Emperor Sheng Yuan was sidelined as the crown prince."

"What do you think of the King of Shu?"

"...The King of Shu has a good reputation among the people. He has always been in love with the Princess of Shu. Even if the Princess of Shu is unable to have children, she will never leave her. She even adopted a baby boy from Princess Shu's mother's family to raise her."

"The king of Shu has no son?"

"Yes, the King of Shu has only one adopted son."

Xu Youxi wasn't sure why he was suspicious of the King of Shu at this moment, whether it was a real problem with this person, or he also had the emperor's paranoia.

"Go and call Lin Hong from the clan mansion into the palace."

Xu Youxi thought that he still had to investigate the King of Shu carefully.

While waiting for Lin Hong to enter the palace, news came from Xu Ling's side, saying that several businessmen from Jin area agreed that the accents of the people doing business with them were somewhat similar to those from Shu area.

Ever since Lin Hong became the patriarchal order of the clan mansion, he has unswervingly taken it as his duty to make trouble for the clan.

These clans have ghosts in their hearts. From their point of view, Xu Youxi is a ruthless person who doesn't care about his own brother. Can he still show some clan affection with them?

It is estimated that the new emperor can hardly find an excuse to remove their names from the genealogy one by one, and it is best to save a large amount of annual alimony!
As a result, after a period of time, these clans have restrained a lot, which made Lin Hong's reputation among the people extremely good.

"Chen Lin Hong kowtows to His Majesty." Lin Hong still followed the usual practice, and started with a full set of formal kneeling salutes.

"Master Lin, please get up." Xu Youxi raised his head and praised, "Master Lin's recent political achievements are outstanding. There are rumors of Mr. Lin's heroic deeds of fighting against the clan everywhere in the market. Sure enough, I did not misunderstand the person."

"Your Majesty's reputation is too high! I just did some trivial things." Lin Hong was flattered and said, "I also feel ashamed. So far, I haven't found out which vassal is suspected of murdering the royal family!"

Xu Youxi knew that what Lin Hong mentioned was probably the rumor that he asked Xue Jing to go for a walk among the people.

"It's also for this reason that I called Master Lin here this time." Xu Youxi put on a sad look, "I got the news that some people suspect...the king of Shu has the intention of treason."

Lin Hong was shocked: "How could it be the King of Shu! He doesn't even have a son."

"Perhaps the most intelligent part of the King of Shu is here. It is precisely because he publicizes that he has no son, so no matter how good his reputation among the people is, no one will suspect that he may have the possibility of treason." Xu Youxi sighed.

"This..." After listening to Xu Youxi's words, Lin Hong also became anxious, "Your Majesty, there is no wave without wind, and this King of Shu dares to have such thoughts! This, this must be severely punished!"

(End of this chapter)