Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 361
From the second half of February to the beginning of March, Wang Tong, a thousand households stationed in Tianjin Jinyiwei, sent gold flowers and silver to the palace three more times, totaling 12 taels.

This is indeed a miracle. If a medium-sized mansion can hand over 10 taels a year to the imperial court, then the imperial court will definitely send officials there to see if gold and silver mines have been dug up in the area, or whether local officials are extorting money.

Tianjin is just a city guard by the sea, and it thrives with the convenience of water transportation hubs, but it is only a city after all, and it is a county when compared with a place.

But when Wang Tong went there, more than 80 taels of gold flowers and silver were presented to the imperial court in about half a year.

Wang Tong is just a teenager, he has not learned any practical knowledge, and he just opened a restaurant in the capital to make money.

What ability does he have, can he earn so much just by collecting taxes from passing ships and opening sea trade to collect taxes?
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has been a boom in commerce and industry in the south of the Yangtze River for nearly a hundred years. This water transportation between the north and the south has existed since the founding of the country. Maritime trade was actively banned and cut off, and now it is heavily prohibited.

The treasury of the Ming Dynasty has been in distress and emptiness since the Jiajing year. The court and the local government are making a fuss about the land tax, but they don’t think about the route of collecting money in front of them. They have to make a fuss about the poor farmers. how to think.

Many people in the capital are thinking about the miracles that Wang Tong has made. Taizu and Chengzu's ignorance and leniency of commercial taxes and related taxes may have been justified in the past, but is it still useful now? ?

However, these sober understandings are not the mainstream of public opinion. What the official Qingliu said in the capital is quite shocking. Wang Tong raised troops and horses in Tianjin Weicheng, disguised as thieves and bandits, and sneaked out of the city at night. Merchants were plundered downstream, and some even reached Linqing Prefecture.

The local people in Tianjin Wei are miserable. The tax has been received by Wanli for 40 years. Guards in Jinyi often break into the people's homes with sharp knives to loot and loot, and countless merchants from the south are robbed and killed. Then colluded with Japanese pirates, plundered Koryo and the coast of Jiangnan, and then sold the stolen goods in Tianjinwei, etc., it is indeed appalling.

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This kind of report was also reported to the desks of the big bosses by various spies. Emperor Wanli was rarely refreshed after seeing it. It is said that he once asked such words in the imperial study:

"Zhang Banban, this is the first time that Panda and Wan Dao met Wang Tong. They saw Wang Tong's simple manner. After more than ten days to see Wang Tong, Qiu Fuzhen was playing in the room. Everyone was surprised and asked. Wang Tong said calmly, "Er Lang." I went on a safari in Jinghai yesterday, why do I look so familiar?"

After pondering for a while, Zhang Cheng replied with a smile:

"Long live, this is the allusion of Zu Ti in "Shi Shuo Xin Yu" "When the ancestors rode across the river, the public and private were frugal, and there was no fun.The king and Yu went to their ancestors, and suddenly saw that the fur robes were overlapping, and the precious ornaments were lined up.The princes asked strangely, and the ancestor said: "Last night, I came out of Nantang again." At Shiheng, the ancestors made Jianer drums to rob banknotes, and those who were involved would not ask any questions." Wan Dao and the others are incompatible with each other, so there will be some surprises and inquiries."

The ceremonial inspector is in charge of the important affairs of the inner court, and Bowen can remember it no less than a cabinet bachelor. Zhang Cheng is also familiar with such allusions. Emperor Wanli thought about it for a while, and laughed:
"I understand. What is pretending to be bandits and robbing merchants is also using allusions from the two Jin Dynasties. Doesn't this mean Shi Chong?"

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Now the emperor and Zhang Cheng are not in charge of the Ming Dynasty, so the emperor has no understanding of the public opinion that is raging in the capital, and it has no effect.

After the officials and Qingliu have formed a consensus, coupled with the solidarity of the scholars in the capital, it is also a force that cannot be ignored. What's more, people with good intentions are still fueling the flames behind the scenes, and merchants whose interests have been damaged are loudly clamoring.

You must know that even though there has not been a single shipment of goods transported into Tianjin Wei by sea or water transport, the capital and Beizhili are still using last year's inventory, but the price has dropped by more than [-]%.

With the combined forces of all aspects, the investigation of Wang Tong was imminent, and it had to be launched.

The teams formed by various government offices and inner court supervisors went to Tianjin Wei under the name of investigating cases. Since there is a word "case", it means that what Wang Tong did in Tianjin Wei was all kinds of illegal activities, and he should be convicted and questioned.

However, when the candidates for each department were still being decided, Sun Dahai escorted Jinhuayin to Beijing again. After the palace accepted the silver, the Empress Dowager Li said a word:

"Wang Tong's kid has done a lot of things in Tianjin Wei, right or wrong, firstly he has no selfish intentions, secondly, he is all for the expenses of the palace, at least there is hard work..."

These words quickly spread from the mouth of the female official to the mouth of the eunuch, and then quickly spread to the ears of everyone outside the palace.

After the empress dowager said this, everyone immediately changed their tone. What was originally called investigating a case quickly became an investigation.

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As usual, when Jinhuayin came to Beijing, Wang Tong also sent letterhead to the Secretary of Public Security.

After reading the letter, Li Wenyuan, a hundred households of Jinyiwei on South Street, immediately went to invite Lu Wancai, the general judge of Shuntian Mansion, and Zou Yi from the palace to come to discuss business. He never thought that Zou Yi didn't come for the first time.

The report said that there were too many things in the palace and he couldn't leave for a while, but Wang Tong's affairs were also urgent, and Li Wenyuan didn't care about so much, so he sent someone to urge him to come over this time.

It was already the beginning of March, and the three of them sat down in the Zhenxing Building, but the atmosphere was not as relaxed and friendly as before. With a few simple drinks and dishes, no one moved. Li Wenyuan said in a deep voice:
"Master Wang has a message. Li will do what needs to be done immediately. There are still many things that need to be done by the two adults. Give Li a time limit and let Dahai wait in the capital. When the time comes Hurry back to Tianjin Wei."

Lu Wancai nodded, but Zou Yi didn't respond. He mumbled and didn't speak. He waited until the eyes of the two men looked over, and then he opened his mouth and said:
"Our family's side is not as good as before. The people on the side of Yuma Supervisor Sun Hai are arrogant and rampant. It is not easy to inquire about anything. It is really difficult to do it in the palace."

Li Wenyuan and Lu Wancai were taken aback for a moment, Li Wenyuan's expression darkened immediately, Lu Wancai unfolded the folding fan in his hand with a "swipe", shook it violently a few times, Zou Yi looked around, coughed and got up and said:

"There are still things in the palace, let's go back first, let's talk about it another day!"

Li Wenyuan's face changed color, and he stood up suddenly, but Lu Wancai stopped him with the folding fan in his hand, and said leisurely:
"Eunuch Zou, go slowly, brother has a few words to say."

Zou Yi looked at Lu Wancai, nodded and sat down in silence. Lu Wancai clasped his hands together and said with a smile:

"We've known each other for many years, and Lu's words are a bit blunt. Don't be surprised. Eunuch Zou, who will your future glory and wealth depend on?"

Zou Yi looked up, but Lu Wancai continued with a smile on his face:
"Is it the Holy One, or Eunuch Zhang? Eunuch Zou, if there is no Master Wang of Tianjin Wei, do you think that Eunuch Zhang would let you do this job in the Public Security Department after being caught? Eunuch Zou may think that the Public Security Department Now, like that Dongchang and Jinyiwei, the capital is self-contained and does not need Mr. Wang to take care of it. If you ask Lu Mou to say that Mr. Wang is in charge of Tianjin Wei, the inner court and the outside court, officials and scholars are all watching Tianjin Wei , if Mr. Wang loses money and everything falls apart, how long do you think we can do this business of collecting people's money and checking people's shortfalls, even if the emperor's favored officials are taken down, what are you and me, can it last long? "

These words were so intense that Zou Yi retorted subconsciously:

"The Secretary of Public Security has become His Majesty's most intimate housekeeper, how can it not last long?"

The smile on Lu Wancai's face turned into a sneer, he closed the folding fan and knocked on his palm, and said:
"My lord Wang is down. The Department of Public Security is a powerful and rich position and it's your turn. Then why didn't Sun Hai do it, and see Eunuch Zou, a sinner with no rank, standing here."

The words are ugly, regardless of public or private, this is already offending people to the extreme, Zou Yi's expression changed over there, and he began to be angry, and finally he was full of shame and panic, and after staying there for a long time, he lowered his head and cupped his fists and said :
"It's Zou who doesn't know the depth here. Zou will go back to the palace to deal with it. No matter what, in three days, he will definitely give us an answer."

Only then did Lu Wancai put away the sneer on his face, stood up and cupped his fists to apologize and said:

"Just now I offended you with your words, I hope Eunuch Zou will not take offense."

Zou Yi's mood changed quite quickly, and his face had returned to normal. He smiled and waved his hands there, mocking himself:
"Our family feels that we can see things clearly, but we often make mistakes in such small things. We can't accomplish big things, and we can't take on big responsibilities!"

Li Wenyuan's expression didn't change. Seeing the two parties sitting down, he continued:
"This time I went to Tianjin Wei to investigate and handle the errands, and all the adults in the court have confessed. The chief assistant Zhang Ge confessed to 'investigate with impartiality', the minister of the Ministry of War Mr. Zhang confessed to 'strict investigation', and the minister of the household department Ma Ziqiang confessed. What you want is 'scrutiny', and I don't know why?"

Lu Wancai shook his head and smiled, and said:
"There are a lot of people in contact with Lu. Someone heard from You Qi that Mr. Zhang Ge and his staff occasionally mentioned that apart from Tian Fu, there is indeed another world, but it involves too much and no one dares to touch it. There are people in Tianjin Wei. Hu Wei has opened up a bit of a situation, and it will be easier to do something in the future, these words are just rumors, but we don’t know if it’s true or not.”

Zou Yi nodded and followed suit:

"Eunuch Zhang said that Wang Tong was attacked by the officials Qingliu this time, because he hit the salt, but this time the trouble has reached this point, with the ability of those officials Qingliu, he can't do this. Someone pushed and instigated, if we can find out who this person is..."

Li Wenyuan frowned, waved his hands, and said:
"These things are for later. First, do what Mr. Wang entrusts to you, and Ms. Qin Guan Song will inform you as soon as possible..."
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thank you all
(End of this chapter)