Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 842: Greed is enough and the snake swallows the elephant

"If things were really simple, there wouldn't be so many dirty things in the world!!"

Fengyang Prefecture City.

Salt Transport Office.

Yuan Shizhen stared at the middle-aged man in front of him with cold eyes, "This Nanjing, I have gone to decide. Now the Lianghuai salt reform has become a trend. Those who should be killed and those who should be arrested will all be swept away."

"It is ridiculous for some clowns to want to stir up trouble in Xuzhou and Huaihai and then affect the salt reform in Lianghuai."

"Yanxian, don't rush this matter."

The middle-aged man said anxiously, "In the current situation, the Beijing Camp that is suppressing the Japanese, the Emperor Mingzong's army that is suppressing the rebellion, the coordinated suppression of the Japanese branch, and yes, the Western Investigation Office, have all poured into the Yangtze River area. You must be aware of the news from Jiangnan."

"Not to mention the unrest in the Xuhuai area, which was partly caused by the salt reform. Although the water situation in the Xuhuai area is indeed critical, as far as I know, many people in the Xuhuai area have done a lot of things in secret. If you choose to leave Fengyang at this time, once Xuhuai changes, Fengyang will be next. By then, the two Huai regions will inevitably be in chaos, and the court will inevitably be alarmed."

Compared with the unrest in the capital and the surrounding areas, or to be more precise, under Zhu Youxiao's cold treatment, the above-mentioned areas experienced abnormal calm.

Around the areas of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Huguang and other places under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, due to some events and changes, the situation became extremely turbulent, and could even be described as undercurrents.

For those who have been officials for a long time and have experienced countless ups and downs, they have never experienced this kind of situation, which has caused many people to start running around privately.

The fear is that it will bring disaster upon oneself!!
If it is said that in addition to Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places, turmoil has also occurred in other places in the southeast, and then disturbed the imperial court, there will inevitably be major changes.

The current changes are caused by the decisions made by the current emperor under his arbitrary authority regarding Zhejiang, Guizhou, Fujian and other places, as groups of people were ordered to go south.

The current situation of the Ming Dynasty seems to have touched something that should not have been touched, resulting in the current situation being completely different from when Zhu Youxiao first ascended the throne.

At that time, there were more external threats.

But now it is an internal trouble!!

However, in the eyes of many people, although they are worried about the current turmoil, they also feel a sense of relief.

Why?

Under the strong influence of the current emperor, the court began to truly touch upon those taboos, which had never happened in the past. The key was that the emperor's attitude was extremely tough.

Even the words of the current emperor, which he wanted to cleanse the southeast with blood, began to spread southward along the Grand Canal.

"If you are afraid, then stay in Fengyang."

Looking at the middle-aged man who had followed him for a long time, Yuan Shizhen felt reluctant and spoke with relief.

"Yan Xian, since I have followed you, have I ever been afraid?"

After hearing this, the middle-aged man glared at Yuan Shizhen and said, "It's not a matter of whether we are afraid or not, but Lianghuai cannot be in chaos. You, the salt magistrate, must not forget what His Majesty's decree says. The salt reform revenues from Shandong, Lianghuai and other places do not need to be sent to Beijing after receiving the decree, but will be transferred to the Joint Office for Suppressing Japanese Invasion in batches."

"Do you know what this means?"

"The battles in Zhejiang and other places will definitely not be over in a short period of time. Wasn't it the same in Liaodong in the beginning? Even now, isn't there still battle with the Jianlu in Liaodong from time to time?" "I want you to delay your trip to Nanjing and then promote the salt reform in Nanzhili. The current situation is unclear. Even if you want to go, you should at least wait for Qi Jin and others to open up the situation. In this way, Nanzhili will definitely be shocked."

"I understand everything you said."

Yuan Shizhen sighed and looked at the middle-aged man and said, "But have you ever thought about this? Why did the South Grand Canal stop operating out of nowhere?"

"You don't really think that the boatmen and canal workers rebelled because they were exploited too much, do you?"

"Take a look. These are the news sent back from Nanzhili. The situation is not like this at all. There are many reasons for the suspension of the South Grand Canal, but one of them is very clear. This is due to dissatisfaction with my salt reform in Lianghuai!"

This……

The middle-aged man was stunned. He really didn't know about this situation. If this was true, then things were much more complicated than he thought.

The middle-aged man walked forward with a complicated expression, and under Yuan Shizhen's gaze, he picked up the letters with trembling hands. However, the word "Luanwei" at the signature made the middle-aged man startled.

When did our Dong Weng get in touch with Luanwei?

How come I don’t know this?

At this moment, the middle-aged man did not open the letters, but looked at Yuan Shizhen, "So the salt minister is in a hurry to go to Nanzhili and Nanjing now, just to take advantage of the uncertain situation, wait for Fang Zhenghua and others to rush to Nanzhili, and then take advantage of the concerns of all parties to launch the salt reform in Nanzhili?"

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"Yes."

Yuan Shizhen nodded heavily and said, "This opportunity is too rare. I must seize it. With the Imperial Mausoleum Guard and the Ancestral Mausoleum Guard in Lianghuai, they can mediate even if something goes wrong."

"Moreover, as far as I know, the Emperor Mingzong's army led by Lu Xiangsheng did not take Suqian, but went north. So there is no need to worry about Xuhuai and other places."

Lu Xiangsheng goes north?
The middle-aged man's face changed drastically, this was something he had not expected. Lu Xiangsheng was ordered to go south and lead the Huang Mingzong army to Nanzhili in order to resolve the rebellion on the South Grand Canal. But now he is not going south, but going north instead. Isn't he afraid that the number of rebellions on the South Grand Canal will increase?
If this were to be reported to the capital, God knows how many people would impeach him.

"Why is he doing this?"

The middle-aged man was puzzled and looked at Yuan Shizhen.

"I don't know."

Yuan Shizhen shook his head and said, "I don't care about these things. I only care about one thing: the salt reform in Nanzhili must be launched as soon as possible."

"Otherwise, if the war in Zhejiang and other places really continues, it will be difficult to maintain it with only the income from salt reform in Shandong, Lianghuai and other places."

"Not to mention how long the war in Zhejiang will last. This is also related to the subsequent salt reform. The salt tax of the Ming Dynasty has been encroached upon."

"If the salt reform can be implemented in all places, the court will not get more than one million taels or more than two million taels, but several times more!!"

"The imperial court needs money for so many things now. Let's not talk about other things. Just the management of the Yellow River. Without continuous allocation of food and money, it will take ten years or even longer to rectify the problem. It is impossible to change the Yellow River disaster!"

"But the reality is that many greedy people are encroaching on the country's taxes in visible and invisible places!!"

(End of this chapter)