Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

There are more than a dozen people living in a private house not far from the pier.

Since the last time he used a trick to sneak into Yangzhou Prefecture, Wang Yue combined with the earlier detection of King Chu's smuggling case and chose to look for the large private salt farm that Ye Fugui mentioned.

In the current salt law of the Ming Dynasty, there are two main problems with the salt policy: the output of the Daming Salt Field has declined, and the sales price of the Daming Salt Yin continues to decline.

Anyone who understands some economic principles will understand that once the volume and price of a certain product fall, the income will naturally decrease accordingly.

Faced with this crux, the officials in charge of salt administration in the Ming Dynasty did not propose a timely containment plan. Instead, they encouraged the Ming court to issue more salt.

There are two main advantages to this: First, the court's salt tax revenue has not been significantly reduced, so it will not arouse the court's vigilance. The second is that there will be "more citations and less salt", so those who hold citations can only come to "fight for connections" and their salt officials will have greater room for power and rent-seeking.

Wang Yue's goal is very clear, that is, to find the largest private salt farm in Yangzhou Prefecture, and use this as a breakthrough for him to rectify the salt administration in Lianghuai.

Hard work paid off. He did not hesitate to throw his grandson Wang Yu to the dock to work as a coolie. Finally, during the Spring Festival, Wang Yu and Hu Jun were naturally hired as temporary workers by those private forces.

"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, can we make a mistake this time?" Zhang Cai, the commander-in-chief of Jinyiwei, thought of the previous oolong incidents and couldn't help but worry.

Wang Yue was naturally worried about this, but his sixth sense told him that he had indeed found the right place this time, so he nodded with certainty and said: "It should be here! If they weren't doing shady things, who would?" How about secretly unloading goods in the middle of the night?"

"What the Imperial Envoy said is absolutely true. So what should I and my brothers do tonight?" Zhang Cai believed in Wang Yue's judgment and asked seriously.

Wang Yu and Hu Jun knew that this operation was not trivial, so they turned to look at Wang Yue.

Wang Yue knew it was time to close the net, and immediately made arrangements: "Zhang Cai, take your people to lurk around the dock tonight! If there are few of them, you will arrest them directly, and then find a way to interrogate them." The specific location of the private salt farm!”

"Okay!" Zhang Cai nodded excitedly knowing that Wang Yue was closing the net.

Although Wang Yue did not ask him to work at the dock, he had suffered a lot during this period, so he also hoped that this latent hard life could be ended as soon as possible.

Fortunately, there are now loopholes in the private salt salt field, and tonight they can catch all those involved in smuggling private salt.

It can be said that Wang Yu and Hu Jun have suffered a lot during this period. Now that they see that the hard days have finally come to an end, they can't help but smile at each other.

Yangzhou City is a place of drunkenness and wealth.

There are six transportation departments in the world, but the two Huaihe Transportation Departments are the most powerful. The Shang Zao Yuansou is rich in salt and mineral resources and is the source of wealth in the southeast. It is used for national needs and border wages, and half of it comes from here.

As more and more salt merchants became wealthy relying on salt profits, the brothels in Yangzhou City reached the peak of their times, supporting half of the Ming Dynasty's entertainment industry.

It's just that today, the first day of the lunar new year, the busiest thing is not the brothel by the Xiao Qinhuai River, but the transfer envoy's office in both Huaihe River.

Today, due to the transfer of goods between the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, the Yamen was overcrowded. A large group of salt merchants came here to give gifts. Li Zhiqing actually accepted all the orders.

By the time all the guests were sent away, the gold, silver and jewelry in the warehouse were already piled up, and Li Zhiqing staggered back to his room.

Like many officials, the principal wife usually stays in her hometown to serve her parents, while outside she raises a little goblin who looks like a fox.

When you become an official in Yangzhou Prefecture, this is even more standard.

Mrs. Liu has been following Li Zhiqing for several years, and now she is nearly thirty years old, and she just had an affair with a young boy. But she didn't expect Li Zhiqing to come back from the banquet so soon. After hearing the maid's message from the window, she hurriedly pushed the boy under the bed.

squeak……

Li Zhiqing didn't know that there was already greenery above his head, so he pushed open the door of his house.

Mrs. Liu, who had not had time to put on her clothes, hurriedly came out from the inner room, pretending to have just woken up and said: "Master, what time is it now, why did you just come back? I have already slept!"

"It's still early! Pour me a cup of tea!" Li Zhiqing glanced greedily at the red bellyband on his concubine, but at an age where he was unable to do what he wanted, he could only order.

The boy under the bed was trembling with fear when he heard that it was indeed the master who had returned.

"Master, is it too high-profile for you to accept gifts like this today?" Liu calmly poured a cup of tea and brought it over, then deliberately found a topic to distract Li Zhiqing's attention.

Li Zhiqing took the teacup and looked a little proud and said: "What do you know about women? What your master wants is this kind of high-profile gift reception!"

"Master, what if someone with blind eyes comes to impeach me?" Ms. Liu glanced at the bottom of the bed uneasily, and then pretended to be worried.

Li Zhiqing moistened his dry throat with tea and said smugly: "I am so high-profile to tell the officials around me that I have a backing in the capital, and I can also cover the sky with one hand in the local area! Only if they think that I am powerful, will they come here Join me and continue to work together to grow our power!"

"Even if no one goes to court for impeachment, what if the imperial court sends an imperial envoy to investigate again?" Mrs. Liu was afraid that Li Zhiqing would look under the bed and deliberately blocked his view.

Li Zhiqing couldn't help being attracted by Liu's body, so he put down his tea cup and said proudly: "It's useless for anyone to come down! I've thrown out 90% of the salt and profit. You don't know how deep this net is now! Let's put it this way , even if something happens to me, I can still get the only two ministers in our cabinet to stand up and speak for me!"

"Ah? The two pavilion elders can stand up and speak for you. Who did you give the silver you got?" Mrs. Liu seemed to have forgotten about the affair, and immediately raised her head in surprise.

Li Zhiqing finally reacted, picked up Mr. Liu and said, "A lot! I recorded them all in the account book, so they don't dare to let anything happen to me!"

Once human greed begins, it cannot be curbed. It's just that he is different from Li Min. He never eats alone, but has already weaved a big web.

It was precisely because of this trump card that he paid homage to those extremely wealthy merchants and accepted all orders, daring to amass money crazily in Yangzhou.

"Wait! The lights haven't been turned off yet?" When Mrs. Liu's red bellyband was torn open, she suddenly stretched out her hand to stop it, then got up and blew out the lights.

After the boy on the bottom bed was kicked, he cleverly got in with his clothes in his arms, then carefully opened the door and escaped.

Fortunately, he took a step forward. If he had taken a step slower, he might have been discovered by Li Zhiqing, who had already finished the battle.

The night is deep and there is no moon tonight.

There were many huts near a certain dock, and an oil lamp was burning in one of the huts.

Wang Yue did not go to bed, but sat under the oil lamp and read a military book. But as time passed by, his brows furrowed slightly, but he couldn't help but look at the door frequently.

If tonight's operation goes well, he will immediately return to Yangzhou to rectify the problem of smuggling and illegal salt in the Lianghuai Salt Administration.

Woof! Woof!

There was finally movement in the front yard, and amid the barking of dogs, Wang Yu and others finally returned successfully.

Wang Yue put down the book in his hand and looked at Wang Yu and Hu Jun who walked in, but did not ask.

"Grandpa, what you are carrying tonight is not salt?" Wang Yu met Wang Yue's gaze and shook his head gently.

Wang Yue's eyes couldn't help flashing with disappointment, and he frowned and said in confusion: "It's not salt? Isn't their trading table here?"

"Grandpa, don't you want to know what we are moving?" Wang Yu saw his grandfather's reaction and asked with a smile.

Wang Yue only cares about private salt now, and he raised his eyes angrily and said, "If it's not salt, what else is there to say?"

Goo!

Hu Jun couldn't help but swallowed, but he didn't rush to talk, but turned to look at Wang Yu.

"Grandpa, what we moved tonight is all silver, at least hundreds of thousands taels of silver!" Wang Yu's breath became slightly short, and he revealed it very seriously.

ah? Hundreds of thousands taels?

Wang Yue immediately raised his head and looked at the two people in shock. He never expected that he would carry hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. This was most likely a fortune that could not be seen at all.

"Prince, what we moved was indeed silver. The dog brother accidentally knocked it over. We both saw it with our own eyes!" Hu Jun testified very seriously for fear that Wang Yue would not believe it.

Zhang Caiyou, who followed, overheard what they were talking about and nodded seriously to Wang Yue.

Wang Yue put down the book thoughtfully, then looked at his grandson and said, "Did the silver come from the west, and then change ships to be transported to Gaojiadang?"

"Grandpa is great, this is indeed the route!" Wang Yu knew that what was involved here was the corruption case of Yan Guan, so he nodded heavily.

Wang Yue frowned slightly, realizing that the corruption in the salt government system was really worse than imagined. These people were probably much more greedy than Li Min, the most corrupt person in the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, I discovered something very strange tonight!" Zhang Cai, who followed in, looked at Wang Yue and said seriously.

Wang Yue knew that Zhang Cai was reliable, so he immediately asked seriously: "Mr. Zhang Qi, what's the matter?"

"The group of people who took the money were okay, but the group of people who brought the money were wearing ordinary people's clothes, but they were wearing sabers. One of them shouted Zhao Baihu!" Zhang Cai was also lurking tonight. At the edge of the pier, a report was made.

Wang Yue frowned slightly and couldn't help but sigh: "Salt merchants are filial, salt officials are corrupt, and the army transports silver. Is the water really deep?"

In fact, the first two phenomena are fine, but when the military is involved, the problem becomes more difficult. After all, if it is not handled properly, it may turn into a military disaster.

I have to admit that the water in this salt policy is indeed deeper than imagined, and the areas involved are wider. I am afraid that if we really cut off this time, there will be a lot of heads.

"Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, there are many people coming from both sides, and both sides are wearing weapons, so I did not act rashly due to my humble position. Please forgive me!" Zhang Cai just did not implement the arrest plan, so he apologized.

Wang Yue had clear judgment, but he waved his hand disapprovingly and said: "Mr. Zhang Qi, we originally promised to act with only a few people tonight, and it is not the secret agent we are looking for, so naturally it is not appropriate to take risks!"

Judging from their feedback, if they jumped out to rob someone of more than 100,000 taels of silver, then the dozen or so of them would probably not be able to come back.

"Grandpa, what should we do next?" Wang Yu also realized that the salt policy issue was quite difficult and asked immediately.

Zhang Cai and Hu Jun knew that Wang Yue was a scheming person, so they turned to see how Wang Yue would make a decision.

Wang Yue thought for a while and then made a decision: "There must be something big about this dock. We should be in the right place. Let's guard it for a few more days!"

When Wang Yu heard that he had to work as a coolie for a few more days, he immediately complained: "Grandpa, it's too hard to do hard work every day. I really can't stand it anymore!"

"Lu Song said that Your Majesty is a kind man, and he has really settled this matter. Grandpa will personally help you two to show his merit!" Wang Yue knew that he had to draw a cake, so he promised immediately.

"Thank you, Grandpa (Prince)!" Wang Yu and Hu Jun were secretly happy and immediately said with hands in hand.

In the middle of the night, the door of the hut was suddenly knocked open, and a man stumbled in.

Woof! Woof...

There was a black dog kept in the courtyard. Faced with the sudden intrusion of a person, he immediately started barking loudly at the person. Originally, the black dog wanted to pounce and bite, but for some reason it backed away.

who?

Zhang Cai suddenly woke up and immediately rushed out of the room with his sword drawn. When he saw the person coming, he rushed straight to Wang Yue's room, and his heart immediately reached his throat.

Wang Yu and Hu Jun were tired all day today. They were sleeping deeply, but when they suddenly heard such a loud noise, they immediately sat up from the floor.

Wang Yue saw someone rushing towards him and was about to use his knife to defend himself, but he took a closer look and said in surprise: "Brother Dog?"

Brother Gou's clothes were stained with blood, and he looked very panicked and said: "Master Hu, take your two grandsons and run away, those people are back to kill and silence them!"

While they were talking, two huts not far away were already on fire. At the same time, a man's screams were heard, and there were also sounds of fighting.

A group of men in black suddenly appeared, and they were heading here under the leadership of the one-eyed dragon.

"They...are they going to kill us and silence us like this?" Although Wang Yu already knew the origin of the disaster, he couldn't help but said in shock.

Zhang Cai had already noticed the danger and immediately reported: "Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, I'm afraid those people are not ordinary people. Let's evacuate first, right?"

Lord Imperial Envoy?

When Brother Gou, who was full of panic, heard Zhang Cai's name, he looked at Wang Yue in shock.

Wang Yue knew that revealing his identity as an imperial envoy at this time would have no effect, so he immediately said decisively: "Withdraw!"