Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 153 Crisis
Liang Qi tidied up his clothes, went out of the inner room and sat down on a chair in the living room, commanding solemnly: "Bring people in!"

Although he was greedy for money and lustful, he did not dare to delay the business. When he heard that it was about Huaiyan, Liang Qi, who was drunk, suddenly sobered up.

As the door opened, Hu Tinglu stepped into the hall, and after seeing Liang Qi, he bowed his hands and saluted, "Is this Liang Baihu, Fusi of Beizhen?"

He had already inquired and knew Liang Qi's identity.

Although Liang Qi led a team to Huai'an in secret, he revealed his identity after arresting the officials of the Huai'an Promotion Department, so it was easy for outsiders to know his origin.

Liang Qi looked the old man in front of him up and down, and saw that although he was wearing ordinary casual robes, his demeanor exuded a sense of grace.Liang Qi, who knew countless people, concluded that the person in front of him seemed to be a member of the officialdom, and ordinary people could not pretend to have the air of a high position for a long time.

He didn't get up to return the salute, but asked instead: "Who are you? Is there something important to visit in the dark? You must know that a certain unusual man in the government has something to tell you quickly. If you have nothing to do with someone, you can come in through this door today." , you may not be able to get out!"

Hu Tinglu heard the words without any hesitation, knelt down on the ground and made a big salute, raised his body to look directly at Liang Qi, and said in a mournful voice, "Liang Baihu, help!"

Liang Qi sat on the chair without moving his face. He had seen this kind of scene several times, so he was no stranger to it.

He said calmly: "Who are you? Why did you ask someone to save your life? Someone can only kill people, but not save others!"

Hu Tinglu cupped his hands and said: "I am Hu Tinglu, the transfer envoy of the Salt Envoy of the two Huaihe Rivers! Now I know that someone wants to harm the imperial court! So I am willing to take the risk to tell you! And by the way, I have something to ask Liang Bai Hu, I hope Liang Baihu will help you!"

Liang Qi was greatly surprised.

He knew that the Huai'an Tijusi was just an appetizer, and when the Tiqi from the capital arrived again, the transfer envoy would be the next target.

He didn't expect that the person in front of him would be his target in the future, and what was even more unexpected was that a dignified court official from the third rank came to look for him at night and begged him for help.

After Liang Qi was surprised, he felt a bit ridiculous. The person he wanted to arrest actually begged him for help. What kind of drama was this?
But after all, he has not been convicted yet, and he is still a member of the court, so he can't always kneel down, can he?Spreading it out will make people think that he is domineering and difficult to control, which is quite detrimental to him.The competition in Jinyiwei is fierce. I don't know how many people are staring at his position. If he is not careful, his opponent will catch him.

As for greed and lust, this does not affect the reputation.If it is too honest and self-confident, it will make Shangfeng feel that this is a conspiracy.

Only subordinates with obvious shortcomings are trustworthy, because Shangfeng believes that they can be controlled.The reason why Liang Qi bought two women to fool around is also a way of self-defilement.

He grinned, sat still, and said with a smile, "Who did I think it was? It turned out to be Mr. Hu! What are you playing with? Come, come, please sit down!"

Hu Tinglu has long been accustomed to the yin and yang behaviors of people in the officialdom, he stood up and smiled reluctantly: "Liang Baihu is out of touch, you and I are both working for the Holy Majesty, so we are also colleagues. ,hehe!"

After Liang Qisu gave Hu Ting Road to the guest seat and sat down, he asked with a smile on his face, "Master Hu is a distinguished guest, what can I do with Mr. Liang?"

After Hu Tinglu settled his mind, he sighed, and tentatively said: "I dare to ask Liang Baihu, where are Yang and others from Huai'an Tijusi? How does the court plan to deal with this matter?"

Liang Qi squinted at him, and said seriously: "Yang and others are imperial criminals, and they should have been arrested and interrogated in the Imperial Prison, but after receiving the order, the journey from Huai'an to the capital is far away, and the road is not very peaceful. He ordered all the officials who committed the crime to be executed on the spot! To deter the rest of the lawbreakers! His family members have traveled for three thousand miles! Mr. Hu is not an outsider, so he told me bluntly!"

Hu Tinglu was terrified at the same time, thinking to himself, he was right this time.If he hesitates any longer, or is dragged into the water by Cheng Fang and others, it will not only be a matter of losing his head, but also someone in his family will be beheaded.

He forced a smile and said: "Yang and the others also deserved their crimes. I want to know, what crimes are the Huai'an prosecutors charged with?"

Liang Qi replied with a blank face: "Master Hu is really curious! Let me tell you clearly! Yang and others are greedy for the son of Mo Guo, hooked up with salt merchants to sell private salt, and accepted heavy bribes from salt merchants, how about it? Hu My lord, are these charges enough to be beheaded?"

Hu Tinglu wiped the sweat from his brow, patted his forehead, and said as if he had just remembered: "Look at this memory! You are so old! The old man came to visit Liang Baihu and brought some local products specially. Now that I think about it, I hope Liang Baihu will not blame him!"

Of course, Liang Qi knew what kind of local products he was talking about. After hearing the words, he immediately put on a friendly smile and said: "Master Hu is really polite! You and I are colleagues. Why do you need to bring gifts when you come to talk to me? You want Then I won’t dare to let you come next time!”

Hu Tinglu couldn't wait to slap this hideous smiling face, just now he acted like he was doing business, and when he heard about local products, he changed into another face.

He forced a smile and replied: "Liang Baihu traveled thousands of miles from the capital to the south of the Yangtze River for official duties of the court. As a landlord, I must do my best! Please accept Liang Baihu!"

Liang Qi raised his head and looked out the door. A Ti Qi gestured for three, and then changed into a fish-like gesture. He immediately understood: three is a number, and the fish-like gesture refers to yellow croakers. The gift was 3000 taels of gold.

This is a huge fortune, equivalent to 3 taels when converted into silver.

This time in the Huai'an case, he only got 1 taels of silver, and Hu Ting Road gave away 3 taels.

This old boy has a rich family property, and he is a big fat sheep.

Liang Qi pondered in his heart, but his face was full of smiles.

He cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Since it's Mr. Hu's intention, then Liang is being disrespectful! I don't know why Mr. Hu is here tonight? Although speaking, Mr. Liang will do his best if he can help! Come on, come on." Tea!"

A woman in the back room came out with a teapot and a teacup, put the tea set on the coffee table between the two of them, refilled the teacup, and winked at Liang Qi, like a lame He went back to the house like a duck.

Liang Qi looked at her shaking buttocks and swallowed, picked up his teacup and said with a smile: "Come on, Mr. Hu, please use tea! Just talk about something!"

Chen Qiyu, who is nearly fifty years old, follows the old admonition and is used to going to bed early and getting up early, lying down and resting just after You hour.

Since his family members all live in the capital, he has been busy gaining a firm foothold and training recruits since he took office in Fengyang, and then led his troops to participate in the Battle of Shouzhou non-stop.Before returning to Fengyang to take office, he was sent to Huai'an by a decree of Chongzhen, so he never brought his family members here.He also doesn't like women, and usually sleeps alone.

The two brothers Chen Qizhi and Chen Qishen repeatedly advised him to take a concubine to take care of his daily life, but they were all rejected by Chen Qiyu.In desperation, Chen Qizhi hired a local servant to serve him.

Just because of the fact that after he was imprisoned, his old wife became a seller and ran around asking for him. He didn't want to take a concubine anymore, otherwise he would feel sorry for his old wife who had been with him for more than [-] years.

Chen Qizhi and Chen Qishen took a concubine by themselves, both of them were women from good families who came from common people.

The two of them have enjoyed a lot of fame with Chen Qiyu for more than a year, and they sent thousands of taels of money to their hometown alone.This is also because the two of them are not very greedy. If it is replaced by the one with long fingernails, it will be no problem to earn tens of thousands of taels a year by the side of a high-ranking clan brother.

Chen Qiyu, who was about to fall asleep, was suddenly awakened by a rapid knock on the door.Forcibly suppressing the impatience in his heart, Chen Qiyu sat up and put on his clothes and got out of bed. The servant sleeping outside had already lit the candle and opened the door.

Chen Qizhi stepped into the house, and Chen Qiyu had already come to the outside, frowning and asked: "What happened?"

"Brother, please see Liang Qi, a hundred households in the Fusi of Beizhen! He said that he has urgent business to discuss with his brother!" Chen Qizhi replied.

Just when Liang Qi in the second hall was getting anxious, Chen Qiyu in casual robes stepped in, led by a servant with a lantern, followed closely by Chen Qizhi.

Liang Qi hurriedly got up and bowed his hands and saluted: "I never thought that the governor would rest so early, disturbing Mr. Chen's slumber, please forgive me!"

Chen Qiyu waved his hand, walked to the main seat and asked, "What's the important thing about Liang Baihu's late-night visit?"

Liang Qi also sat down and said in a deep voice, "There is indeed something to do! And it's about the stability of Jiangnan!"

Without waiting for Chen Qiyu to continue asking questions, Liang Qi briefly narrated what Hu Tinglu said tonight.

As one of the hundred households in Fusi of Beizhen, Liang Qi usually only interrogates criminal officials, investigates and spy on all parties, and has never experienced the possible gathering of tens of thousands of people.So when he heard Hu Tinglu's words and realized that if it was really a large-scale civil uprising, the consequences would be very serious, and it might bring catastrophe to the prosperous Jiangnan, and he immediately panicked.

There were only ten people around him, even if he wanted to use force to suppress the civil uprising, he would be powerless, and Chen Qiyu was the only one holding a heavy army in Huai'an.So he placed Huting Road in an inn, and ordered his subordinates to protect him closely so that he was not allowed to come into contact with outsiders. After that, he hurried to the Caoyun Yamen, where Chen Qiyu lived in the backyard.

Chen Qiyu is a person who has commanded thousands of troops and seen big scenes. After listening to what Liang Qi said, he saw the anxious look on the other party's face, and felt contemptuous in his heart.

The so-called civil uprising is not a rebellion. Now there are [-] officers and soldiers who have been on the battlefield in Huai'an.Why is this shit so numb?

What surprised him was that Hu Tinglu, the transshipment envoy, actually went to find Liang Qi, and would tell him what the salt merchant was up to.

But after thinking about it for a while, Chen Qiyu made a good guess about Hu Tinglu's behavior.

This Mr. Hu was about to become the shackles in the urn, and when he was desperate, he thought of this strategy to survive.Regardless of the final result, Hu Tinglu's mind is still very clear, at least he can see who is more powerful, and he did not follow others to die.

He asked with a serious expression: "This matter is indeed no small matter! If it is not handled properly, the plan of the Holy Majesty will be frustrated under the raging public opinion, and it will be even more difficult to intervene in the matter of Huaiyan in the future! I don't know what Liang Baihu has to say about this." What's your opinion? What should be done about this matter?"

Chen Qiyu had heard about the private salt in Shandong for a long time, and Jin Yiwei had never returned to Beijing after taking down the Huai'an Judiciary, so Chongzhen's intentions were already very obvious.

As a bystander, Chen Qiyu could not help expressing his admiration for Chongzhen's boldness while seeing this clearly.

As long as the salt power is in your hands, many problems that plagued the court will be easily solved.

Without him, money is also.

As long as there is the support of salt, the seemingly precarious Daming will eventually smoothly cross the hurdles in front of him.

Your Majesty is indeed a master of great talent and strategy.The great event that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty never thought of, or did not dare to take action after thinking about it, was actually seen being done by the Holy Majesty.And in a silent situation, all the winners were in the game without being awakened, and when they realized it, they were powerless to resist.

　Thanks to book friends 2011 So Close to the End of the World for their reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)