Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 841 Is This the Jiangnan of Ming Dynasty
"I don't know who the backer of President Yi Qian is, but when I arrive in Nanjing, I will see this person's head!"

Before Wang Tong left, he just said such a sentence. Naturally, a group of people did not dare to be negligent. When something like this happened, when Wang Tong was about to leave, Xuzhou Counselor Bao Rushan suggested not to take the civilian boat, but to change to an official boat from Pizhou guard of honor.

But Wang Tong still insisted on taking the civilian boat, just said with a smile:

"If there are such thieves and soldiers along the road, there is nothing to be afraid of!"

It's not pleasant to say these words, but it's also true, more than a thousand soldiers and horses were killed by Wang Tong and more than a hundred personal guards, there is really no threat.

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"Master Hou, the group of Yan Ding was sent away just now. They don't recognize the badges of Jinyiwei's hundreds of households. They have to board the boat for inspection if they take out thousands of households. Fortunately, the brothers are ready to fight. They may be offended. Sorry, just left."

After Han Gang came to report, seeing Wang Tong's expression was indifferent, he couldn't help but said angrily:

"Master Hou, since passing through Pizhou, the cards are too dense, and these Yan Ding who don't even have an official waist card are so arrogant. Like this."

"Han Gang, do you know how many people in the Huaiyan world eat it?"

But when Wang Tong asked such a question, Han Gang shook his head in confusion, and Wang Tong said:
"About two-thirds of the population of the Ming Dynasty eats Huai salt. In order to provide enough fuel for cooking salt in the Huaihe River, the people are not allowed to reclaim thousands of hectares of barren land, and only let grass grow. Do you know how much the revenue of the Ming treasury comes from the salt tax? Is it? How many are obtained from the two Huaihe areas?"

Han Gang naturally didn't know, Wang Tong said with a smile:

"At most, the salt tax used to account for [-]%, of which [-]% was the Huai salt tax."

Seeing that Han Gang was still a little confused, Wang Tong said again:
"With such a proportion, Lianghuai has become the foundation of the imperial court. The investigation and anti-smuggling of salt by salt merchants in Lianghuai is naturally protecting the foundation of the imperial court. It should be more arrogant."

Liu Sanlang on the side was silent for a while, then interjected:
"I have heard people say that since the Jiajing year, the salt tax has been decreasing year by year. It was not until Zhang Juzheng was in power that the salt tax gradually increased. Now it has decreased again in the past two years. If you calculate it carefully, A place as big as our Tianjin Wei is no worse than this vast land of Huaihe River!"

"The foundation is different. How many scholars in Nanzhili are supported by these salt merchants, not to mention that many officials in the capital and localities are supported by these salt merchants. They are intricately intertwined. There are such Power is naturally arrogant."

Wang Tong said something again, everyone in the cabin was silent, and each went out to work, Wang Tong glanced at the document on the table, and put the document back into the iron box.

That guide, Lu Da, knows quite a lot. For example, the patrol inspector in Pizhou, whose surname is Lu, is in his twenties. He used to be the No. [-] villain in Pizhou. There is a large amount of gold and silver in the account, but he is still willing to rob the boats on the river, just to kill people for fun. This inspector surnamed Lu was hacked and killed by Wang Tong's personal guards that night, which saved a lot of trouble .

But according to Lu Da, that Lu Xunjian was the illegitimate son of Lu Guihe, a great salt merchant in Yangzhou. Lu Guihe was one of the largest salt merchants in Yangzhou, but there was no one to inherit his huge family business. Fang Ji concubine, but only gave birth to four daughters, and this inspector is the child he didn't know where he was romantic.

This Lu Guihe has such a big family business, I don't know how many people are staring at it. If there is an extra illegitimate child, his sons-in-law may kill people. Pizhou, my hometown, made a spot for inspections for the illegitimate child.

Let him learn something in the inspector's office, and he can also have his own team to protect him. Lu Guihe is very powerful in the Lianghuai area, and his illegitimate son's misbehavior is naturally covered. It was because of the big board of Wang Tong.

"How are the soldiers on the Lianghuai side compared to those in Pizhou?"

"Pizhou is not good, but it's not bad either. The ones who can really fight are the armed forces of those salt lords, and the guards in the salt merchant's house are also strong."

This Lu Da is really quick-witted and knows how to read words and expressions. When Wang Tong asked this, he actually knew what to answer.

"Who can fight the most in Jiangnan?"

The question was vague. After all, Lu Da was a commoner. Although he had traveled to many places, he didn't know this, but he still replied:
"The little one really doesn't know, but everyone says that Wei Guogong's Xu family's soldiers and generals are the first-class strong soldiers. Everyone who meets the little one says they are strong."

There are more than 500 generals in Wei Guogong Xu's family, and nearly a thousand family soldiers who usually serve as domestic servants. As the backbone, these people can set up the shelf of tens of thousands of troops. , are all true.

All the way to the south, I only encountered such a daring thing in Pizhou once, and in other places, although the soldiers and Yan Ding along the coast boarded the boat more frequently for inspection, there was no danger.

But having said that, in the hinterland of Daming, there were inspections and garrison collusion, robbing and killing merchants on board, and even passing gentry officials. One such incident is enough to shock the world. If there are too many, the country will really be ruined.

The Huai'an Mansion has sent people to investigate this case. The two governors of Nanzhili and even the Criminal Department of the capital may be alarmed. It depends on how far the investigators want to investigate.

What he saw was that the salt merchants in Huai'an and Yangzhou prefectures were more powerful than the sky. He saw the salt administration inspecting and reprimanding the soldiers and servants on the shore many times on the pier. It's nothing, but compared to these local soldiers and officers, they can be called capable.

The local salt merchants control everything, and they have a certain amount of power in their hands, not to mention sufficient financial resources. Such a land of Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers is really too independent.

If it is said that maintaining the Lianghuai salt industry is for Ming's finances, but now the salt merchants are big private salt dealers, and a large amount of profits from the salt monopoly flow into their own hands, but the state gets less and less. The existence of merchants will only be moths in the Ming Dynasty, and there is no benefit at all.

Sure enough, Lu Da did exactly what he said, and he knew a lot about the anecdotes of various places. For example, when the magistrate of Andong County took office, in addition to taking bribes from salt merchants, he also wanted to make more money so that several of his trusted family members Kacha smuggled salt was set up in the city, that is, for three days, these family members were beheaded at night, and what was even more amazing was that the beheaded heads were thrown into the bedroom of the county magistrate at night. The county magistrate fainted from fright.

This is not over yet, within a few days, someone in the government office accused the county magistrate of being corrupt and perverting the law.

What’s even more strange is that a battalion stationed in Yangzhou Prefecture marched on the river one day, and the boat capsized and many people fell into the water and drowned. But in fact, the battalion officer used soldiers to traffic in smuggled salt, but he and the salt merchants investigated and seized the smuggled salt. Yan's team was in a fight, and the dignified officers and soldiers were beaten by Yan Ding's patrol, with heavy casualties. Then the battalion officer was scolded by his superiors, and finally demoted. Those who were killed or injured had nowhere to go. drowned.

"There are salt merchants on the Jiangbei side, and the rich and powerful families on the Jiangbei side. Although the salt merchants on the Jiangbei side are domineering, they must bow their heads and be humble and polite to those rich families in the south. Every year, the salt merchants in Jiangbei will give Some high-ranking families in the south of the Yangtze River send heavy New Year gifts just to make their own business go smoothly. As for the government, there is no government in the eyes of Jiangnan. Local people rarely go to the Yamen to file lawsuits. They go to the local famous family to seek justice. There are many!"

Lu Da only told it as a story, but Wang Tong was very moved when he heard it. He really didn't know if this Nanzhili was the Ming Dynasty's Nanzhili.
*************
If he hadn't encountered those things in Pizhou, Wang Tong's travels all the way south would not have revealed his whereabouts, but as soon as the big case in Pizhou broke out, the news had spread, and the news that Wang Tong had arrived in Nanzhili territory, people who should know We all know.

Since the investigation into the case of the Xu family's land occupation was initiated by Hai Rui's Shangshu, Wang Tong should go to Nanjing to meet Hai Rui first, and then go to Songjiang Mansion.

A group of officials in Nanjing is also waiting for the news of Wang Tong's arrival, but since Linqing Prefecture, the imperial envoy team seems to have disappeared. When the group of people were confused, they received a report from Pizhou. Complaining, while arranging people to meet him on the way, everyone can't afford to make trouble again.

A few days before receiving the news from Nanjing, the relevant people of the Songjiang Xu family already knew that for Jiangbei, the Songjiang Xu family was the one they really needed to respect.

*************
The most prominent nobles in Nanjing are the Xu family of Wei Guogong. Compared with those princes who have no real power in the capital, the Nanjing garrison is tantamount to hereditary from the Xu family. The position of the governor is almost the same, and the military authority is important.

There is a saying in the world that the Xu family controls the southeast on behalf of the emperor. Although it is quite exaggerated, it also shows the power of the Xu family.

The imperial envoy Wang Tong came to the south of the Yangtze River. If the contemporary Wei Guogong Xu Zhitao is polite, he can go and meet him. If he doesn't want to meet, no one will say he is not.

Wang Tong's ship passed Gaoyou, and halfway through Yangzhou Mansion, Wei Guogong's mansion received a letter.

In Wei Guogong's study room, the leader of his bodyguard reported in a low voice:
"It should be the letter paper that was thrown in last night. The servants picked it up there today and reported it to the steward of the outer house, and then"

Wei Guogong frowned, waved his hands, and said:
"Everyone who has touched this letter, rush to the village outside the city and circle it first!"
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(End of this chapter)