First Minister of Ming Dynasty

First Minister Section 431

Chapter 6 and One Can't Make the Queen Too Shabby

Li Shanchang accepted the task, his face turned slightly pale, and he felt uneasy.The Salt Transport Envoy is a fat job. It has been so many years, and it is hard to say how much profit has been involved.

Now it is suddenly abolished, if there is no proper arrangement, God knows how many things will happen.

It is indeed a bit difficult to put everything on your own head.

After thinking about it for a while, Li Shanchang suddenly came up with an idea.

"Your Majesty Qizuo, the officers and officials of the Salt Transport Envoy are all under the door. Now that Prime Minister Zhang is staying in Beiping, can you let Yao Guangxiao be a helper to deal with this matter?"

The old guy Li Shanchang is still very powerful, even at this juncture, he still wants to pull Zhang Ximeng, even if he is scolded, the two of them are together.

What's more, Menxia Province is indeed doing this, and it's justifiable.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not easy to refute, but said: "Since we have entrusted the matter to Mr. Li, we believe in Mr. Li's ability. You think Yao Guangxiao can be your helper. It's just that things need to be done properly and neatly!"

Li Shanchang nodded quickly, ignoring the livid faces of some people.

Old Zhu looked at the officials again, surprisingly, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything, he just waved his hand to tell everyone to retreat!

All the officials put all their thoughts on the abolition of the Salt Transport Envoy, and they didn't dare to say anything, so they could only leave hastily.

This imperial meeting is very inconsistent with Zhu Yuanzhang's style.

What is Lao Zhu's style?

Someone impeached Li Shanchang to attack the new salt law.

Zhu Yuanzhang should judge right from wrong, Li Shanchang is innocent, and those who impeach should die.

There is nothing wrong with the new salt law, those who attack the new salt law are traitors and need to be eradicated.

At worst, they should be dispatched to Peiping, so that they can taste the bitter cold wind and sand in the north.This is Lao Zhu's temper.But it was obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang meant to hold it high and put it down gently.Even the household department did not deal with it, which was really unexpected.

Could it be that Lao Zhu changed his temper and became kind?

Obviously, this is not possible.

Even if Lao Zhu wanted to change, it would be impossible so quickly.

"Hey, it's been more than ten years. Originally, we were short of salt, so we could only buy it from outside. Officials, businessmen, we all had to accommodate... As time goes by, over the years, we don't know how many people are involved in this."

Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his temples and felt a headache for the first time.

Empress Ma was calmer than Zhu Yuanzhang, "No matter what, we still want to let the people get benefits. The salt shop was built and the low-priced salt was sold to the people. This is the merit of being an emperor. As for the messy things in the court, I It's not easy for a woman to say anything."

Empress Ma paused and said, "One thing, you have to remember. If the female workers in Suzhou are implicated because of their good deeds, and become the targets of those nasty things in the court, I will not agree!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded again and again, "Don't worry about this, we have already told Guo Ying and Zhu Liangzu, they really dare to mess around, we will arrest people here!"

Old Zhu smiled contemptuously, "This time, we are just ignoring it for the time being, and let Li Shanchang abolish the salt transportation envoy. If he can do it well, it means that the Ministry of Education is still saved. If he can't do it well, the Ming Dynasty Hall will not need it." him!"

Empress Ma took a deep breath, she was startled by her husband's murderous intent.

After so many years as a veteran, Li Shanchang has come to the moment of life and death, which is really embarrassing!

In the palace, the husband and wife chatted casually, but the topic was earth-shattering.

But in Li Shanchang's mansion, he was so worried that he couldn't sleep at night, so he simply got up with his clothes on and paced in the courtyard.

He needs to think carefully about the matter in front of him... Yang Xian, Hu Weiyong, Yang Siyi and other bastards, their proposals are full of calculations.

First of all, Yang Xian, who dances the most, is probably the safest guy. He is in charge of Yushitai and has no deep entanglement with Yanfa.

He took the initiative to jump out, most likely because he wanted to replace himself and live in Zhongshu Province.

Live the addiction of the prime minister.

As for Hu Weiyong, this guy is in charge of the tax department and holding the money bag. He also wants to climb up, but he wants to expand the authority of the tax department. If he can hold the salt tax in his hands, he will win .

As for the household department, they are the most important. Zhu Yuanzhang has cleaned up the household department several times in the past, but it is not so simple for these people to be in charge of a country's financial power. No one can tell how many disadvantages there are. .

If it is opened, the consequences will be disastrous.

Therefore, the Ministry of Household Affairs hopes to keep it intact, just change the name, keep the salt merchants and salt transport envoys, and let them continue to be in power. As for the new salt law, it is naturally best to survive in name only.

Still the same sentence, this kind of thinking is not realistic at all, let alone Zhu Yuanzhang, since Zhang Ximeng has activated it, it will not be like this...

"Hey! If I knew this, I should have retired and returned to my hometown!"

Li Shanchang walked all the way to Tianming. Facing the current situation, there is no good way. It is almost impossible to take care of both ends.

It seems that only by cutting off one head can the old life be saved.

But when Li Shanchang dragged his exhausted body to Zhongshu Province, Yao Guangxiao actually waited here with his official documents in hand.

"Li Xianggong, humble and polite."

Li Shanchang let out a breath, and he subconsciously glanced at the young man.

Yao Guangxiao is tall and has a broad frame, but he doesn't have much flesh. His cheekbones are protruding and his cheeks are sunken. Due to the lack of flesh, he is young, with drooping eyelids and triangular eyes, looking very shadowy.

This is a master who wants to kill!

Li Shanchang was startled suddenly, he was only thinking of dragging Zhang Ximeng into the water and scolding him together, but he didn't expect that Yao Guangxiao was not so easy to play with.Let him intervene, I really don't know if it's a blessing or a curse!

Sure enough, after taking his seat, Yao Guangxiao said directly: "Li Xiang, before His Majesty ascended the throne, he set up the Transshipment Envoy of the Two Huaihe Capitals, and later established the Salt Transport Envoy of the Two Zhejiang Provinces in Hangzhou. Set up Tongzhi, Deputy Envoy, Judgment, Experience, Governor, Zhaomo, Gangguan, Commander, Sicheng, Centurion, etc. Officials in the salt field... In addition, there are Yanding, Zaohu, which are large in scale and extremely wasteful. A lot, as much as [-]% of the annual salt tax is used to support these people. Now that it is abolished together, it is really a blessing for the country and the people!"

Li Shanchang listened silently, his old face had changed color.

"So many people are dismissed all at once? Many of them are meritorious ministers, hardworking, and have put in so much effort for the Ming Dynasty. If they are all dismissed, is it unreasonable? It will chill people's hearts?"

Yao Guangxiao lowered his eyelids, and said in a deep voice: "Li Xiang, the Salt Transport Envoy has a lot of disadvantages. If it is abolished now, maybe there will be less trouble, otherwise, there will be endless troubles!"

Li Shanchang was startled, his eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

Yao Guangxiao said: "It's nothing interesting, just take Fan Guang, the transfer envoy of the two Zhejiang capitals, as an example, he is nepotism, and has a close relationship with the salt merchants, many people have passed secret reports to the province, said a lot of things, and they are not small. .”

Li Shanchang's heart was beating wildly... It's broken, it's really broken.

He pulled the door down to save the water, thinking he was smart, but in the end he probably screwed up.

Zhang Ximeng will never launch it hastily. Although he is not in Yingtian now, his soul is there!

Zhu Yuanzhang used all kinds of methods to lure the enemy into deep, so he set up suspicious formations and cast down sky nets, just waiting to catch them all.This is Zhang Ximeng's style.

Yao Guangxiao, as a provincial official under his family, held the criminal evidence in his hand, but he still refused to release it, until now, he brought it out.It's also Zhang Ximeng's style.

What does it mean?

Is it possible to trap myself in it?

Li Shanchang thought for a while, and said decisively: "Since there is something wrong with Fan Guang, why not arrest him immediately?"

Yao Guangxiao said: "He is responsible for the salt affairs of the two Zhejiang provinces. Even the salt of Yingtian needs him to supply it. If you are in a hurry, you can't move!"

Li Shanchang said in a deep voice: "It was right to be cautious in the past. But now that the new salt law has been rolled out, Yingtian uses Changlu to supply table salt. There is no need to be afraid. Every district is transshipment. Don't worry about it. The old man immediately ordered to send him Take it down, and then strictly investigate!"

Yao Guangxiao looked as usual, just nodded and said: "The guards are ready, just waiting for Prime Minister Li's order."

Li Shanchang was even more terrified, as expected, Menxia Province had planned it long ago.

"Do it now, there is no need to hesitate. The old man also wants to know how much money these silverfish have made in the salt method!"

Yao Guangxiao pondered for a while, then nodded in agreement, and got up to leave.

The new salt law met with so much resistance that there were voices of opposition in the court.

If salt work is a hard job that everyone avoids, how can there be so many voices of opposition?It has long been obedient to others and directly abolished.

The greater the resistance, the greater the benefit!

This is almost inevitable.

Prepared from top to bottom.

But when the Arch Guard Division dispatched to take down Fan Guang, the transshipment envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces, people suddenly discovered how much wealth this guy really has?

Fan Guang has a long beard and regular facial features, which is very in line with the current aesthetics, and he belongs to the kind of person who is very official.He is also a person who pays great attention to his own image. Ever since he became the transfer envoy of the capital, apart from the official uniform, Fan Guang has a habit of not wearing the same clothes when he sees the people below or the salt merchants in private.

Those jade pendants and accessories are not the same.And everything is very rare and precious, which can be called ingenious workmanship.

For a man to live his life so exquisitely, it is also shocking.

The security department in charge of the inspection was a little confused... Don't be confused!

In Fan Guang's study room, there is a sign that says a gentleman is like jade.

When checking his family property, let's not talk about the number of jade pendants.

It adds up to more than 200 catties!

The inventory was delivered to Zhu Yuanzhang, and Lao Zhu was dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he read it correctly, so many?

crazy!

Coincidentally, Mrs. Ma brought him lunch, and Old Zhu Hong asked, "That girl, how many jewelry do you have now?"

Empress Ma smiled, "I have about a hundred of them at my place. Except for major events every year, I don't need them... How did you think of asking this?"

Old Zhu said awkwardly: "No, it's nothing... just thinking that we will prepare some more for you after a while, no, it can't be too shabby."

Chapter 6 What is Emperor Hongwu!

Empress Ma didn't know what Zhu Yuanzhang was up to, and she wanted to buy jewelry for herself after reading the memorial?What, you picked up the dog's head gold?Got rich?

She didn't believe it at all, walked up to Lao Zhu, grabbed it casually, and looked at it.

Only Empress Ma had the guts to ignore Lao Zhu's gaze at all.

When she took a rough look, she was dumbfounded.

There are thousands of sets of clothing, 200 pairs of boots, more than [-] catties of Hetian jade, and gold is worthless. In addition, there are overseas spices, perfumes, precious red corals, pearls, and precious stones...

Needless to say, the jewelry in the entire harem is probably not as rich as this one!

What is he trying to do?

Take Zhu Yuanzhang as an example, deducting the emperor's uniform, armor and military uniform, and daily clothes, there will not be more than ten sets.Empress Ma also has a few sets more than him.

Thousands of robes, hundreds of pairs of boots... How many bodies has he grown, how many feet can he wear so much?

"You don't have enough people, you are greedy!" Empress Ma said through gritted teeth, "Chongba, you have to handle this matter well, and you can't mess with it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, do you need to say that?

"We have already sent a secret decree to Mr. Zhang, asking him to come to Beijing to assist in the investigation."

Call Zhang Ximeng back?

Empress Ma nodded, "It is true that Mr. Zhang should be brought back. This matter is too big. If the investigation continues, I don't know how many people will be involved. But Chongba, you have to think about it, and you can't let Mr. Zhang get involved too early and offend others." Let Li Shanchang do it first! His subordinates have such a big corrupt official, he can't escape the responsibility. At least he is not strict with his subordinates!"

Of course Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously and couldn't agree more.

Zhang Ximeng, who lives in Beiping, is more concerned than Zhu Yuanzhang.

In other words, he took the implementation of the new salt law more seriously.

It can even be said that the success or failure of this matter is related to the future development direction of Ming Dynasty.

If Zhang Ximeng loses, just clean up and go home to hold the baby!

Leave everything to Zhu Yuanzhang. Anyway, the worst is 300 years. As for leaving a name in history, Zhang Ximeng has already done it, so there is no need to care too much.

But if this is done, it means that there is still some hope for the implementation of the New Deal and the development of industry and commerce. Zhang Ximeng is still willing to continue to devote his energy.

Judging from the current situation, he may need to redouble his efforts.

"Your Highness, here in Beiping, I'm afraid His Highness will have to stand up for a while."

When Zhu Biao heard this, he was startled and shuddered.

He subconsciously wants to decline, because the reason is very simple, Lan Yu has just led the army, and with Avalokitesvara as his guide, he crossed the Juyong Pass and sneaked into the desert.

That's right, after months of preparations, Sapphire finally set off.

His goal is very clear, to pursue the remnants of the Yuan army, it is best to capture the youngest son of the iron pot, and completely cut off the inheritance of the Yuan court royal family.Secondly, taking Song Lizong's skull back and burying Song Lizong can be regarded as a funeral for the Song Dynasty, and finally a grand funeral.

Zhang Xiang is already preparing to re-edit the history.

Then there is what he Lan Yu wants to do, Le Shi Yanran, Feng Lang Ju Xu... At least he has to do the same thing, otherwise how can he compete for the championship?

When Lan Yu went out to fight, Li Wenzhong and Zhu Wenzheng also led troops out of the fortress to support Lan Yu.

There are almost 5 troops invested by the three parties.