Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 151
In Yangzhou City, in the second hall of the Yamen of the transfer of salt envoys from both Huaihe Rivers and Huaihe Rivers, Hu Tinglu, the transfer envoy, and Song Sizhang, the inspector of Yanyan, were discussing how to deal with the Huai'an incident.

Hu Tinglu sat on the top chair and pondered over countermeasures with a gloomy face, while Song Sizhang sighed opposite him.

The Huai'an Judiciary was taken away by Jin Yiwei, and both of them smelled danger.

After receiving Yang Rui's report on the dumping of private salt across the border, although he and Song Sizhang jointly signed the letter to the court, they didn't take it seriously at all.

In the middle of the game, he and Song Sizhang, the censor of salt inspection, both believed that it was someone in the capital who was jealous of Huaiyan's huge profits and tried to intervene in vain to get a share of it.

This behavior seemed ridiculous to him.

Even if the other party has a great background, if he wants to take advantage of the fire in the Jianghuai area where the salt merchants have already opened up all the relationships, the result will definitely be exhausted after all the efforts.

Wanting to steal money from a wealthy salt merchant, is this trying to make trouble?How could the salt merchants agree.

After Hu Ting Lu Ben, he summoned several big salt merchants who were close to him, deliberately disclosed the news to them, and said that in addition to going to the court to put pressure on the other party from above, he also planned to call several inspectors. Yan Ding went out and gave the opponent a head-on blow with force.

After the salt merchants heard the news, they were all shocked and furious, thinking to themselves, who is so bold and dares to take food from the tiger's mouth?
After receiving the official statement from the transfer envoy, the salt merchants were all very grateful.They all expressed that they would pay for the person and follow the arrangement of the adults. No matter who is behind the other party, they must be uprooted to eliminate future troubles.

Within a few days, the salt merchants living in Yangzhou and Huai'an got relevant news. The threshold of Hu Tinglu's house was almost broken. The support of the adult’s righteous deeds means that the money is a reward for the inspector Yanding’s seizure of smuggled salt, and please ask Mr. Hu to distribute the reward silver on behalf of the government to improve the morale of the Yanding.

These words are all rhetoric on the scene, and everyone knows who to give so much money to.As a result, Hu Tinglu had already accepted the generous gifts from the salt merchants before the salt dingers could gather.

Just when everyone's enthusiasm was high, the home of Yang Rui and Huang Can in Yangzhou was raided by Jin Yiwei.

When the servants reported that Jin Yiwei swept away Yang and Huang's family property and left Yangzhou on a boat with their families, Hu Tinglu had a premonition that something was wrong.

The original guess that the private salt crossed the border seems to be wrong.This time it is definitely not a trivial matter of private salt dumping, but a conspiracy against the entire Lianghuai salt industry. The transshipment envoy is the first to bear the brunt. The other party is like a wolf hiding in the grass. Take a bite.

If the other party wants to invade Lianghuai Salt Industry, Hu Tinglu has an indifferent attitude.

Because as long as someone gets involved, as the owner of the money tree, he will benefit from it.

It is the same as what happened when the Anhui merchants wanted to participate in the Lianghuai salt event, and when the Shanxi salt merchants who had been in business for many years competed for the market.

The transshipment, which holds the dominant position, has become the object that both sides are trying to curry favor with. After eating one side and eating the other, no matter who wins or loses, the entire department of the transshipment department will reap the benefits.

But at that time, the two sides first used their respective relationships in the court to ask the court chiefs to come forward to explain clearly, and second, they spent a lot of money to buy the officials of the envoy and did not use force to solve the problem.

What is obviously different this time is that the other party does not know which kind of immortal is able to make Jin Yiwei go out. Could it be that he is a member of the royal family?
The participation of Jin Yiwei, a behemoth, made Hu Tinglu feel the immediate danger.

Hu Tinglu went through the door of Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant at the time. He and Zhou Yanru were cousins, and Zhou Yanru wanted to call Hu Tinglu his cousin.

After Zhou Yanru became the chief assistant of the cabinet in the second year of Chongzhen, he became a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, but Huting Road, who has been wandering in the middle and lower levels, was regarded as a salty fish turned over and jumped all the way. Plum.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru was put on the same page by Wen Tiren. After Chongzhen dismissed him and drove him back to his hometown in a rage, Hu Tinglu was frightened for a while, for fear of being kicked out by his cousin's enemies.

However, due to lack of prestige and seniority, Wen Tiren has been busy fighting with the important officials in the court and central government, so he didn't have time to clean up Hu Tinglu.Moreover, Zhou Yanru was a good person when he was in office, and the ministers in the court still remembered his old love, and Hu Tinglu's New Year's gift was very generous, so he stayed in this position.

With the astonishing increase in his family property every year, while Hu Tinglu is full of ambition, he also faintly has the idea of ​​returning home as soon as possible.

He is not afraid of being liquidated by the emperor or the court.Because the whole Ming Dynasty officialdom is like this, whoever has the ability will do it, and what kind of money will be made in what position, this has become an unspoken rule.

Even if he is attacked by a political opponent and forced to quit his job, his family property will not be affected in any way.

Nearly [-] years old, he has lived a life of luxury and luxury for many years, and his body has often felt tired. In the past two years, he feels that the emperor and the court seem to have undergone new changes. He does not know the specific changes, but his intuition tells him, The tide of officialdom has changed.

When it's time to stop, you have to be decisive. If a gentleman doesn't stand under a dangerous wall, it will be enough to collect a few tribute from the salt merchant, Hu Tinglu often thought to himself.As long as there are no prodigal sons in the future generations, the money he got in five years in office is enough to spend for several or even ten generations.

Just at this time, a sudden change fell from the sky.

Now Hu Tinglu only wants to solve this trouble as soon as possible, and resolutely go to Ben to beg for the bones to go home for the elderly.As long as the official is safe and secure, the imperial court does not have the custom of settling accounts after autumn.

Song Sizhang's sighs upset Hu Tinglu, who had been thinking of ways, but the two are now grasshoppers on the same rope, so he can't attack each other yet.

So he suppressed his anger and persuaded: "Why is Wenhua like this! What you and I discussed just now was just thinking about the worst. This matter is far from our desperate situation. What we have to do now is how to deal with it. Don't forget, those salt merchants are not kind people, now that someone is calling, how can they let it go?"

Song Sizhang, who was ranked second in the Chongzhen Four-year Examination, was assigned to the Ministry of Officials to observe politics for a year and then went to the Inspectorate.

After hearing Hu Tinglu's words, he leaned forward while sitting on the chair, stared at Hu Tinglu and said, "My lord, do you think Yang Rui and Huang Can can keep their mouths shut in the hands of Jin Yi? These two If Jinyi is greedy like a wolf, how can he stop here? No matter how wide the salt merchant's network is, it is limited to the upper court. How can Jinyi's army be controlled by the salt merchant! Maybe you and I will have a relationship with Yang and Huang in the future. Meet in prison!"

In addition to the usual filial piety from the salt merchants, he has also received a lot of benefits from Yang Rui and Huang Can in recent years.

Although accepting bribes is a secret known to the officials of the Ming Dynasty, if the higher authorities really want to investigate, it will be very difficult.It is good to spend a lot of money to build relationships, and then dismissed from office. That is still the result of being dealt with by the court. Civil servants will leave room for each other, so as not to have that day in the future.

But this time it was Jin Yiwei who bypassed the imperial court and acted personally, and it was likely that Shang Dasheng listened, so the ending can be imagined.

Hu Tinglu was also at a loss. It had been more than three years since Zhou Yanru fell from power, and he had no other support in the court. Now, no matter how much money he had, he couldn't find a way to send it out. Besides, he couldn't think of anyone who could speak up in Jinyiwei.

The atmosphere in the second hall was very dignified. Thinking of the possible consequences, both of them fell into deep despair.

Song Sizhang suddenly broke the silence and asked, "My lord, what did Cheng Fang and Wang Fu say? Apart from the payment of money and salaries a few days ago, are there any countermeasures for Huai'an's promotion of the Judiciary? "

Cheng Fang and Wang Fu mentioned by Song Sizhang are all salt merchants from Huizhou who have close contacts with Huting Road on a daily basis.

In addition to the directly-managed yamen like the transfer envoys, Cheng and Wang also have close contacts with powerful giants such as the Nanjing garrison eunuchs, Nanjing garrison military officials, Nanjing military ministers, and Yingtian Zhifu. , These few people can use the relationship to solve it.

Although Shanshan salt merchants were very rich, but their nature was vulgar, their words and deeds were rude and straightforward, which did not fit the taste of Hu Tinglu, who regarded himself as a romantic and talented man.

Most Huizhou merchants studied in the private schools of the clan since childhood, and they always boasted of being elegant, and their behavior was no different from that of literati, so Hu Tinglu liked it even more.Several beautiful Yangzhou lean horses in his family were also given away by Huizhou merchants, and the two had frequent daily exchanges, and they were cited as similar to each other.

Hu Tinglu nodded and replied: "I have known about Huicheng and Wang yesterday, and Cheng Fang has sent the steward of the mansion to Nanjing overnight with a lot of money to visit the guard eunuch Zhang Yixian, Eunuch Zhang, and the Nanjing guard Xincheng uncle Zhao Boye, etc. People, please use your relationship with the Holy Majesty and the palace to resolve this matter, if it can be done in the end, you and I will feel deeply for it!"

Song Sizhang heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. These Huizhou merchants are really benevolent people who have read the books of sages and sages. At this very time, if they can help out with righteousness, I really want to accept the great favor of others.

If Zhang Yixian can really be persuaded to come forward, there may be hope for a turning point in this matter, because the eunuchs in the palace and Jin Yiwei are still closely related.

Zhang Yixian was born as a supervisor of ceremonies, and he had to stand in the hall during court meetings, and all the people in the inner court and the commanders and envoys of the Jinyiwei were like royal servants, and it was common for them to meet each other on a daily basis.

Hu Tinglu and Song Sizhang are like frogs in warm water. They don't know that the fire at the bottom of the kettle is about to burn violently. All hopes and fantasies have become extravagant hopes.

In fact, these behaviors of the two of them are a practice that has been formed in the officialdom for many years. At a critical moment, they have to ask for help everywhere, hoping that the nobles will help them tide over the difficulties.

Everyone does this, and they often benefit in the end. Even if they are convicted, their guilt will be greatly reduced.

Little did they know that this time it was a ruthless lord who was determined to take them down, even if they sought out the Heavenly King Lao Tzu to intercede, it would be useless.

Hu Tinglu and Song Sizhang are now like three-year-old children, walking in the downtown area with a huge amount of money in their arms, and the end can be imagined.

　Since you are writing about conflicts, you can't just write about one side's situation, that's taken for granted.The opponent's reaction and response should also be written, otherwise how can it be called a rivalry?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)