Speaking of this, Wu Zheng glanced at Mo Yanqing with pity and said, "I know, I shouldn't let you do such a dark thing, I have wronged you too much." But I can't help it, I use it as an old man of the Mo family, if I send someone who is not familiar with it, I am afraid it will be difficult to integrate it in a short period of time...... Therefore, Mo Lao recommended it, and I agreed. ”

Mo Yiqing lowered his head and responded: "It is Qing'er's blessing to be able to serve the prince." ”

"Don't worry, I will always keep an eye on it, and as soon as there is a suitable candidate, I will let you go back."

Mo Yiqing did not answer, and was silent.

"One thing ......." Wu Zheng hesitated, but still said, "In the case of absolute safety, try to contact Qian Qiaogong and Shen Zhiyuan." ”

"Yes."

Wu Zheng said solemnly, "Don't forget, it's better not to contact than to take risks." ”

Mo Yiqing was taken aback, "What does the prince mean...... Who ......are Qian Qiaogong and Shen Zhiyuan? ”

Wu Zheng took a deep breath and said, "Although there is no evidence, I believe in them. Do what I say! ”

"Qing'er remember."

……。

Early the next morning, Wu Zheng took Zhang Huangyan, Jiang Quanyi, and six followers to Jiaxing Mansion in casual clothes.

An hour later, a group of nine people entered the boundary of Jiaxing Mansion.

Wu Zheng ordered to go west directly to Xiushui County.

"Wait!" Zhang Huang was puzzled and asked, "If the prince doesn't go to Jiaxing Mansion first, he should at least inform Ma Shiying?" ”

Wu Zheng shook his head and did not speak.

Zhang Huang said: "Although Jiaxing Mansion has been restored for more than a year, after all, the Qing army has occupied it for a longer time...... It is difficult to guarantee that there are no ill-intentioned people, and the prince will inspect the micro-service this time...... In the opinion of the following officials, it is better to go to the capital city first. ”

Wu Zheng glanced at Jiang Quanyi, Jiang Quanyi understood and consciously retreated.

Wu Zheng said: "Since it is a private visit to Weifu and I went to Fucheng, won't the whole government know about it?" Moreover...... Although I believe that Ma Shiying will not vote, I still have doubts about his official character. Before, I hesitated for a long time to appoint him as the prefect of Jiaxing, I originally wanted to put him under my nose, but since I used him, I had to not doubt him, plus after all, he was the first assistant of the Hongguang Dynasty, and there were still a lot of disciples and old ones...... Xiushui County and Fucheng are close at hand, I'm afraid, will he ......? ”

Zhang Huangyan understood, he nodded and said: "The prince is very worried, then do it according to the prince's wishes, but you have to be cautious when you go to Xiushui." ”

……。

The name of Xiushui can be traced back to five dynasties and ten countries.

Jin Tianfu placed Xiuzhou in three years, which was the beginning of Jiaxing's state. Xiuzhou is named after Xiushui, and there are also those called Xiushui.

Ming Xuande divided it into two in four years, and placed Xiushui County in the northwest of Jiaxing County, and Jiaxing Prefecture was Jiaxing County.

Xiushui County is connected to Nanhu Lake in the southwest and the Grand Canal in the north, and at this time, it is actually the hub of the Grand Canal freight.

It was nearly noon.

On the streets of Silk City, people are flowing like a tide.

Wu Zheng and his party of nine people casually found a wine shop along the street to fight.

While eating, a team of carts and horses full of goods passed by outside the store, and there were dozens of them in front and behind.

Wu Zheng didn't pay attention at first, but it was a coincidence that when one of the cars passed by the door of the wine store, it suddenly reversed its wheels.

On the right side of the car, two or three sacks fell down the mountain of sacks.

One of the bags tied with straw fell apart, and the japonica rice was scattered all over the ground.

Wu Zheng noticed it and looked back and forth.

Then asked Zhang Huangyan: "Brother Xuan, the three prefectures of Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Songjiang under the jurisdiction of the General's Mansion have no longer taxed on grain, why is there such a huge grain shipment here?" ”

That's right, it's almost the middle of winter, it's not the harvest season for grain, and a cart has to load at least about five stone of grain, and this convoy has sixty or seventy cars, that's three or four hundred stone of grain.

In a county town, such a huge grain transportation fleet, if it is not transferred by the government, I am afraid it is difficult to see.

But the problem is that as early as three years ago, Wu Zheng and Mo Zhinian had already decided to halve the agricultural tax, and to reduce the agricultural tax by one percent every three years.

In the land of Sanfu, the people mostly take tea, sericulture, and textiles as their industries.

Therefore, for agricultural taxes, they also followed Zhang Juzheng's "one whip law", and did not collect grain, but converted it into silver and collected it.

The grain of the three provinces can only be self-sufficient, and they hardly export to other places.

More often, due to the need to prepare for war, Mo Zhizhi used the name of the Chamber of Commerce to buy grain from Huguang and Fujian by merchants.

This is also the reason why businessmen such as Xi Benzhen, Chen Wenhuan, and Cheng Benyuan of the Chamber of Commerce had to gather to petition the General's Mansion to raise grain prices.

Because the price of rice set by Wu Zheng has not fluctuated for three years.

The grain purchased by the merchants from other places was almost sold at a low price in Hangzhou at a low price in silver.

The problem is that it is not possible not to sell it, because this is the General's Mansion in order to reserve grain, and gave the Chamber of Commerce a death order.

Right now, such a large amount of grain transshipment really made Wu Zheng suspicious.

Zhang Huangyan shook his head and said, "I don't understand either, or ...... I'm going to ask? ”

Wu Zheng nodded and said, "Don't reveal your identity." ”

Zhang Huangyan went to the counter and inquired about the shopkeeper of the wine store.

After a while, Zhang Huangyan came back.

Wu Zheng saw that his face was not very good, so he asked, "Could it be that there are really officials among them who are corrupt and bending the law?" ”

Zhang Huangyan was silent.

Wu Zheng didn't ask, he knew that Zhang Huangyan would say it sooner or later.

Sure enough, Zhang Huangyan was stunned for a while before looking up at Wu Zheng and said, "Although this thing is hateful, it is really not illegal. ”

Wu Zheng was surprised: "How do you say this? ”

Zhang Huang said: "Jiaxing Mansion and Suzhou Mansion are adjacent to each other, but they belong to the rule of the General's Mansion and the Imperial Court respectively. The decrees of the two places are different, Jiaxing Mansion is taxed on silver, but Suzhou Mansion, which is less than a hundred miles away, is still taxed for grain. With this difference, merchants from the two places took the opportunity to sell grain back and forth, and in two or three years, they actually created a group of people who became rich in the two places, especially the Zheng family. The grain truck outside the door is the ...... of the Xiushui Zheng family Jiaxing and Suzhou are both the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but this group of profiteers is selling grain back and forth for huge profits, and even worse, hoarding grain, driving up grain prices, and exploiting the people, so tirelessly transporting grain back and forth, wasting the people's power and canal transportation capacity for no reason...... Lord, this matter has to be managed, I will bring these profiteers to justice one by one, and make the people angry! ”

Wu Zheng thought for a while and said, "It's in charge!" But if they are brought to justice, it will be wrong. The General's Mansion did not issue an order to prohibit the sale of grain, the so-called law does not prohibit anything, what you need is to improve the law as soon as possible, not to punish without teaching. ”

Zhang Huangyan pondered: "However, it is difficult to revise this law, because the two places have different taxation methods, and the grain year is big and small, which will inevitably cause the difference in grain prices between the two places." If the sale of grain is prohibited, it will also cause dissatisfaction among the merchants of the other five prefectures. ”