Qingshi Order: In the ten cities, in addition to hiring manpower, if you want to open new shops, workshops, tile bars, song houses, teahouses and wine shops, you must apply to the Xingdong of the guild to which you belong, and you can only open business after obtaining the approval of the Xingdong.

At the time of opening, it is customary to pay taxes to the guild, and the guild is customarily required to pay taxes to the chamber of commerce. The number of members of each trade association should be reported to the City Chamber of Commerce on a regular basis to avoid excessive membership of each trade. All guilds should abide by their duties and show their strengths, and they should not rob the patrons of other banks at will, so as to avoid disputes (for example, the blacksmith shop forges gold and silver utensils for the patrons, and the gold bank builds small weapons and small instruments for the patrons).

Each business must inspect the shop, utensils, and tools of the new owner, and if it does not conform to the rules of the business, it will not be allowed to open. Those who have already opened their businesses are also required to conduct regular inspections, and the same is true for chambers of commerce. (Generally speaking, only residents of the 10 cities can open a store in the city, and outsiders can also open a store after living in the city for a year.)

[Note: "Manpower Xing" Xingdong shall not interfere with scattered idlers to work temporarily or part-time for others.] For manpower clusters, more than 10 people must apply to the "Manpower Xingdong" and pay taxes. If the following orders involve "human practice", they are all in accordance with the regulations, and there is no need to stick to the orders and no longer indicate. 】

Qinyang Order: All banks must restrict the scale of shops and shops in the bank, and it is strictly forbidden to rob other people's stores for the rich and unkind, or use fraud, coercion and other means to embezzle the property or customers of others in the bank. The master and shopkeeper of each shop have the right to recruit and hire apprentices, and the apprentices must be completed and submit their works or pass the master's test before they can set up another door, apply to Xingdong to establish their own shops or workshops in the ten cities, and can also go out to make a living.

After completing the apprenticeship, the skills taught by the master should be kept and should not be easily taught to outsiders. Baishui Order: There is no honorarium during the apprenticeship, and the room and board are borne by the master, and the apprentice shall not change careers, interrupt his studies, or marry without the consent of the master, and set up another door, otherwise he will have to pay a fine. Order: Shops along the street, vendors, no fixed place, without the approval of the city bank, privately in the city to sell businessmen, the bank has the right to order them to pay taxes, the tax should be much higher than ordinary shops; If it is allowed by Xingdong, the tax paid by the hawkers who are engaged in business and catches up with their livelihood shall be much lower than that of ordinary shops, until they are exempt from tax.

Employees of the Bank should also report to the Bank to the Bank the whereabouts of unauthorized traders of the Bank.

Order: All merchants have the right to enter into contracts, which both parties must abide by. When the contract dispute is settled through negotiation between the two parties, the disagreement can be adjudicated by Xingdong. Those who are not satisfied with the ruling of Xingdong can file a complaint with the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce, and even the city lord's meeting, and may not arbitrarily skip the level to file a complaint. Heng Yu Order: The sale of all grains, grains and ingredients such as rice, noodles, fish, fruits and vegetables in the ten cities must be carried out publicly, and it is strictly forbidden to hoard goods and raise prices. The same goes for salt, sugar, etc. In the event of famine, the price of some of the ingredients must be determined by the council of the city lords, and no one is allowed to buy more food than is actually needed. In case of the epidemic, the price of medicinal materials in the pharmacy shall not be raised without authorization, and must be allocated by each city to compensate the pharmaceutical company. The cultivated land in the ten cities shall not be diverted for other purposes without authorization, and the city lord and city guard shall have the right to temporarily seal the cultivated land.

Liu Nanling: For beggars, homeless people, and the destitute from outsiders in the city, each chamber of commerce must allocate special land to build grass huts for them to shelter from the wind and rain, and provide porridge and other subsistence food. Every New Year's festival, each city must open porridge sheds to give relief to the poor. If any of the beggars who commit wrongdoing anything wrong are severely punished, the police officers can drive them away and arrest them, but the women and children among them can be opened to the net, and those who refuse to change their ways will be punished more severely and expelled from the city. Those who take advantage of the poverty of others to forcibly sell human beings, force good people to become prostitutes, and force others to be enslaved should be tattooed and tattooed, and they will never be allowed to enter the ten cities and half a step. and town order: Each city must be responsible for the arrest of thieves, fire prevention, river defense and other things.

The tax collectors of each city shall register the use and payment of taxes in order to make inquiries by chambers of commerce and city lords. Mines, water veins, stone quarries, forest farms, etc. in each city are all owned by each city, and need to be developed through consultation by the Chamber of Commerce, and citizens can also apply to various industries for development and excavation. After the city has demarcated the city boundary, it is not allowed to cross the boundary to develop mining and forestry farms. Yunzhong Order: The shops in the ten cities must be genuine, and the children are not deceived. Each bank needs to set its own rules and commodity standards, and report to the Chamber of Commerce for the record. Xingdong has the right to expel counterfeit goods and fraudsters from the meeting and report them to the Chamber of Commerce. After the chamber of commerce investigates, it will be reported to the city lord, who must inform the other city of the person's height and appearance, and the industry he is engaged in, so that the city can be alerted to the person's movements, and if necessary, he can draw a picture and hang it at the city gate. This method can also be used to catch bandits.

If anyone violates the laws of the country or the rules of the city, it shall be dealt with by the cities according to the law. If no one complains, the "Council of City Lords" shall not interfere. (Note: Xing Wanli once disputed the implementation of the contract, calling it a "short contract.") ）

At this time, the competition between Zhou Qing's three elder brothers has reached the extreme, the eldest son "King Jin" Zhou Yuan, that is, Mingyue's husband who should have been married, the seventh son "King Zhu" Zhou Shen, and King Jin are the same queen, Zhou Shen is more cunning and scheming than his brother, he joined forces with Zhou Yuan on the one hand, and on the other hand, he secretly accumulated strength, ready to turn the tables and seize the throne at a critical time. The relatives stood on Bai Yuan's side, and the people who supported King Zhu behind them were represented by Xie Yu, an important minister of the royal family.

And what the princes appreciated even more was not King Jin and King Zhu, but the "Green King" Zhou Li born to the concubine. Although he is not a descendant, Zhou Li's mother has a very high status, and his own talent even surpasses that of King Zhu in some aspects. He had a private alliance with the princes, and reached an offensive and defensive alliance, although his behavior was also secretly reprimanded by the imperial ministers who had a gap with the princes, and then the emperor still maintained his trust in Zhou Li.

In the fifty-seventh year of Emperor Ren of Zhou, King Qing and King Jin of Zhu were already in a fierce struggle for the support of the Ming Kingdom, and the conflict focused on the joints of who would marry the princess of the Ming Kingdom, while the Chun Kingdom, which assisted the royal family in defending the north, had a strong military force. When the battle between the princes reached a fever pitch, an unexpected event suddenly happened, Emperor Ren was assassinated and seriously injured when he summoned the Ming delegation, and his life was dim. The Ming delegation originally came to escort the princess of the Ming Kingdom to Tianyuan and Zhou Shen's marriage.

After a long struggle with his brother, Zhou Shen successfully married the princess of Chunguo, which meant that he had one more reinforcement on the way to the throne, and his advantage over King Qing and King Jin was even more obvious. However, on the day that Emperor Ren summoned the envoys of the Ming Kingdom, the servants who followed the envoys to the temple suddenly pulled out a sharp weapon as thin as silk from their cuffs and rushed towards Emperor Ren. Many of the important ministers in the court were from military backgrounds, but they all underwent a medical examination before entering the court, and they did not carry a sword, and the assassins were very fast and hurried and unstoppable.

Seeing that the assassin was about to get close, the eunuch on duty resisted and blocked in front of Emperor Ren, but he was cut into several pieces, and an elderly courtier fainted on the spot. In a panic, Emperor Ren threw the jade seal of the country to resist, but the jade seal actually hit the assassin in the face, causing the assassin's hand to be inaccurate, but the blade still pierced deep into Emperor Ren's waist. After the assassin was hit by the jade seal, he was restrained by the military generals who followed him, and was killed by Jin Wuwei, who rushed to escort him.

In fact, this killer came from the assignment of the Great Sect of Qin Tianjian, and he saw that Baili Yu had already made preparations, so he paid for Tianluo to help, and waited for him to ignite the flames of this dispute with his own hands. Emperor Zhou Ren, who had been in power for fifty-seven years, suddenly fell, and his life was on the verge of death.

The toxin on the blade as thin as willow silk made the emperor sick and heavy, and at this time, all the princes rushed back to the imperial capital on a rainy night.

They did not go directly to the palace to make a pilgrimage, but immediately contacted their own forces in the imperial capital. Without exception, the high-ranking members of Jin Wuwei and the Yulin Heavenly Army were involved in this battle for the crown prince, and various detailed plans were drawn up to help the prince they supported to obtain the throne under various circumstances. Nominally, these armies are on hold, but in fact high-level mobilization orders have been issued.

Soon after Emperor Ren's assassination, all the princes and important officials of the royal family were summoned into the Taiqing Palace, and under the manipulation of King Zhu, the gates of the Taiqing Palace were also closed. King Zhu ambushed a considerable force of hundreds of people in the guards, and King Jin and King Qing also had their own preparations, more than 20 princes stood in front of the dying emperor's bed, and each other also chose their own teams, secretly intriguing. Only Zhou Qing cried loudly, his crying was a disguise on the one hand, on the other hand, Zhou Qing at this time had already felt his victory, and the struggle and pain of many years broke out in his heart.

When Zhou Shen skillfully closed the city gate, and the Yulin Army and Jin Wuwei stood still, a secret summoning order was issued through the network of Xuantian Pavilion. Xuantian Pavilion agreed to convene in the dark time, and the dark time was converging outside the palace city, breaking into the Taiqing Palace in one fell swoop to help Zhou Qing win the throne. Under the strict blockade, it only took half an hour for this secret order to be passed into the hands of all the members of the Xuantian Pavilion.

Thousands of enthusiastic young junior officers have sharpened their swords. When Zhou Qing and his brothers approached the Taiqing Palace, this force had already walked out of the barracks and houses to gather on the streets. The twelve city gate defenders who had already been reorganized by the Xuantian Pavilion had closed the imperial capital, and the young people ignored the obstruction of their superiors and even killed them, and rendezvoused at the gathering point of the imperial capital with the emblem of Xuantian Pavilion.

The incident occurred at the Xuanweifang Armory Station, when Jin Wuwei had been instructed by Zhang Wu, who supported Zhou Shen, not to act without permission, and this order was passed down layer by layer. A captain of Jinwuwei, who was patrolling the armory in the north of the city, led a small team to conduct a routine inspection, and found that Luo, a member of Xuantian Pavilion, was sharpening his gun, so he asked, "Why are you sharpening your gun?" But to rebel? Luo replied: "Just in case." ”

Du Wei ordered Luo to take him down left and right, but Luo jumped up and stabbed Du Wei to death with a gun. The members of the nearby Xuantian Pavilion raised their weapons one after another, surrounding and taking down the patrol team. Because the movement was too loud and alarmed the nearby residents, the Xuantian Pavilion in the northern city was forced to move in advance, they opened the armory, put on the armor that they would only be equipped with when they entered the battle array, and took all the heavy crossbows in the army's arsenal. After the signal of the northern city went to the sky, the members of the Xuantian Pavilion lurking in the city quickly gathered under the command of Su Jinshen and others, and the members of the Xuantian Pavilion who were scattered all over the Tianyuan were organized in an orderly manner according to the class in the meeting, gathered under the palace wall, and surrounded the Taiqing Palace when it cracked.

The princes and princes in the palace city were terrified when they heard that a large number of Jin Wuwei had gathered outside the palace and surrounded the Taiqing Palace. The three princes facing each other in the palace learned from each other's stunned eyes that Jin Wuwei besieging the palace was not the other party's subordinate, and they were a little relieved in their hearts, but they couldn't sit idly by when the huge threat was close at hand. And Zhou Qing, the initiator, took Baili Yu and still hung his head beside King Zhu silently, watching the smell of gunpowder between the three kings getting stronger and stronger.

The royal ministers who supported the three kings climbed to the top of the city one after another, carrying lanterns and braving the heavy rain to shout to the Xuantian Pavilion people under the city. Everyone either clarified the righteousness or promised heavy profits, but Dali Qing reprimanded him as "committing chaos", and then said that if the Xuantian Pavilion people dispersed immediately, they would not be held accountable with their official positions. However, no matter whether it was coercion or temptation, the Xuantian Pavilion people were indifferent, and even their bitter pleas were only scattered in the sound of the pouring rain and splashing water.

In the heavy rain, the Xuantian Pavilion stood outside the palace city, looking down through the palace wall, and even saw drops of water dripping from the noses of the soldiers in the first row. More than 3,000 people stood motionless in bright armor, and they held high the banner of "a round of great sun", and the strictness of the military appearance can be said to be the best in the Eastern Continent. If you can't control the army outside the palace, the battle in the palace is meaningless;

On the contrary, when the three kings confronted each other, whoever controlled such a force could ascend to the throne by force. After much thought, King Zhu led several of his soldiers to climb the palace wall, and promised the unknown leaders of the Xuantian Pavilion unimaginable benefits as the future owner of the throne - the status of the lord of a country, commensurate with the emperor's brothers, and shared the world. In King Zhu's calculations, this ruined step could at least induce the leaders of Xuantian Pavilion to appear.

His expectation was good, Zhou Qingzheng climbed to the head of the palace city step by step, but Zhou Shen, who had always regarded this younger brother as an invalid, did not realize Zhou Qing's hidden identity, but loudly reprimanded him for leaving the Taiqing Palace without permission, and wandering around at this critical juncture. "What are you doing here?" Zhou Shen didn't expect that he would calculate all his life, but when he was dying, he became a laughing stock.

Zhou Qing did not show the cowardice that King Zhu was accustomed to, he climbed the city tower step by step, his steps were firm, as if he had never heard Zhou Shenzhi's shout, and in his eyes was the combination of ice and fire that Zhou Shenzhi had never seen. Zhou Qing stood on the city wall, slowly raised his arms, and was greeted by the cheers of the "Thirteen Princes". The first sound was not very loud, the second voice was a little puzzled, and when the third sound of "Thirteen Princes" sounded, the whole Miyagi could hear it, and along with the cheers, there was also the sound of the armor colliding with the ground - Jin Wuwei outside the palace city knelt neatly on one knee. King Zhu Jin and King Qing suddenly found themselves completely ignoring such a terrible figure, at this time their strength was in the Taiqing Palace, but they did not dare to kill Zhou Qing, and Zhou Qing did not negotiate with them, just stood on the palace and waited calmly. Although the Yulin Heavenly Army got the news, they did not dare to attack the Apocalypse City, and the Jin Wuwei guards were waiting outside the Taiqing Palace, the guards in the Taiqing Palace were helpless, and the emperor was slowly dying.

Seeing that Zhou Qing, who was usually raised by himself as a dog, suddenly became the most powerful contender for the throne, Zhou Shen's heart lost balance. Zhou Qing hated Zhou Shen to the core, but he just waited quietly, waiting for the pressure brought by Jin Wuwei outside the city to make the other princes flawed, or even crush them. Such a gesture aroused Zhou Shen's anger even more, and he persuaded King Jin and King Qing to kill Zhou Qing together, and then decide the ownership of the world, King Qing directly rejected his request, and King Jin did not move. Zhou Shenzhi, who did not receive support, decided to make a desperate gamble and led his troops to kill Zhou Qing.

When King Zhu led his men to rush through the square in front of the Taiqing Palace, he suddenly killed a good man in the oblique. Each of them was dressed in black armor and covered their faces with black scarves, blending in the night, and the figures shook and couldn't see how many people there were. The person at the head made a spear, and although King Zhu's subordinates were the elite of the palace province, they had no generals, and they were knocked down by a shot when they met. This team of black-clothed men and horses rushed back and forth under the leadership of the leader, as if they were in a no-man's land. King Zhu's formation was in chaos, and he fell into chaos for a while, only to feel that there were enemies on all sides.

King Zhu failed to organize the team several times, so he abandoned the team and ignored it, and only led the most intimate dozen guards to rush to the city tower. However, the short distance of a hundred zhang became a moat, and the sharp arrows shot from the invisible corners pierced the guards around Zhou Shen one by one. Zhou Shenzhi's guards used him as a shield to protect him on the palace wall, Zhou Shenzhi drew his sword, but was shot through the chest by an arrow, fell down the city tower, and the Jinwuwei Mountain outside the city shouted Long live. Hearing the cry of "King Zhu is dead", King Zhu's subordinates lost their fighting spirit and threw down their weapons and surrendered.

In the folk legends of later generations, "Twelve Heroes Break Taiqing" is a popular story. In the story, Baili Yu had already sent someone to explore the waterways of the imperial city and draw a road map. That night, the twelve-man team entered the imperial city through the underground waterway, ambushed in the Taiqing Palace, and finally made the final blow. There are many theories about the martial arts and appearance of these twelve people, all of which are different, but the same thing is that their martial arts are all rumored to be powerful to the point of exaggeration. Many people believe that the spear-wielding man in the team of twelve is Ye Wang, who later served as the commander of the three armies of the Ming Kingdom, and the nameless archer who shot a fatal arrow is said to be a Tianluo killer.

In various legends, there are more fixed images: a soldier with muscles and a good sword, a strong man with high martial arts with bare hands; A dwarf with a ghostly body that kills with one blow; A thin man with a clear voice - this person was the first to shout "King Zhu is dead". As for the other members of the twelve, they have different accounts and are far from each other.

King Zhu's death ended the struggle of the prince, and King Jin, who was waiting to reap the profits, went crazy, he couldn't believe that King Zhu, who had the strongest strength among the three kings, failed in shame, and King Qing accepted Zhou Qing's conditions and knelt down in front of Zhou Qing. The gates of the Taiqing Palace opened, and thousands of Jin Wuwei cheered and poured into the palace in the meager morning light. The rain that had been falling all night gradually stopped, and the unfinished blood flowed in wisps across the square.

Zhou Qing was embraced by the Jin Wuwei into the main hall of the Taiqing Palace, where the royal nobles and hundreds of officials were respectfully waiting for the new master under the watchful eyes of the Jin Wuwei. Zhou Qing said a few words simply, and then stopped Jin Wuwei from following, and only took Baili Yu to Emperor Zhou Ren's bedroom.

The guards who loyally guarded the dying emperor did not stop them under Tang Yu's instructions, and let Zhou Qing step into his father's bedroom. And when Zhou Qing stepped into Emperor Ren's bedroom, the first rays of sunlight of the day were shining into the palace, and the dying emperor looked at him and smiled tiredly, saying, "You finally got what you wanted." ”

The emperor handed the edict that had already been written to Zhou Qing, and Zhou Qing opened it and saw that it was his name.

Zhou Li was indeed tough, and he was always a potential contender for the position of emperor, even if he had bowed his allegiance to Zhou Qing. During the Xiuwen period, he served as the commander of the Zhisu Temple, which was nominally responsible for supervising market prices, especially the price of grain related to the people's livelihood, but in order to stabilize prices and achieve a balance between the merchant group, the Zhisu Temple built a large number of warehouses to hoard a large amount of grain, ready to deal with the merchants, especially the Wanzhou wealthy merchants rushed to buy grain and frenzied selling, the commerce of Wanzhou in the late Zhou Dynasty has reached an amazing level, the merchants are proficient in the means of price control, and their financial resources can add up to compete with the state.

Therefore, in fact, Zhisu Temple controlled a large amount of money flow of the imperial family, and also managed the important royal economic control department, the Cargo Colony Mansion. Although Zhou Li did not have the right to use the money from the royal treasury, the governor of the Merchant Mansion had to report to the noble prince at any time during the collection and accounting of the money from various places. This is also the reason why Zhou Qing has always been tolerant of Zhou Li, and Zhou Li's ability to control money is of great significance to Zhou Qing's economic stability in the early days of his reign. Of course, Zhou Qing never ignored any potential enemies, he knew the ability of this elder brother, the heroic Qing Wang was not inferior to the scheming Jin King, and he also received the secret support of many great princes during the years he served as the Pingzhuan Commander of Zhisu Temple. If Zhou Qing wants to use this brother, he must prevent his counterattack.

Zhou Qing at that time may not have known these things, but Bai Liyu, who was hidden behind the scenes, should have clearly seen the future. This future is that Zhou Qing will never be able to get along with his brother, because Zhou Qing cannot represent his father's family, he is born of a lowly maid, he has never been cultivated as a future emperor, he should have been a companion in the power game, however, Zhou Qing won in the end. He suddenly jumped into the political chessboard of the family and became an outlier.

Zhou Qing is a person who will never bow his head to others, and neither is Zhou Li, Zhou Li truly represents the noble bloodline of the Zhou royal family, and Zhou Qing's fighting is largely because he wants to avenge his mother's family bloodline.

Emperor Wu Zhou Qing, this is a rebellion, but Zhou Li is not in the imperial capital, Zhou Li is traveling around the world. In the surviving historical records, it is difficult to sort out when King Qing decided to secretly oppose Zhou Qing, but judging from the fact that he asked for orders to travel to various countries at the beginning of Zhou Qing's accession to the throne, King Qing was very suspicious of his safety in staying in the imperial capital, and he never believed in this younger brother from beginning to end.

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Zhenyuan, on the first day of the new year, after Qingwang Zhouli went to Taiqing Palace to pay homage to the new emperor, he asked to travel on the table. He had good reasons for the fact that he supervised the offerings of the princes to the imperial family, and that he controlled the market price of grain in the princely states, and that the imperial family had never directly sent high-ranking officials to inspect the business situation of the princely states during the Xiuwen period, and the detailed accounts of the offerings had been checked for a long time. Zhou Li said that as the responsible official, he had the obligation to settle the matter for the new emperor, and he did not hesitate to travel far and wide, and this trip would last for three years.

Of course, Zhou Qing realized that his brother, who was extremely popular within the Zhou clan ancestral hall, made such a request at this time in order to avoid trouble and to escape his sphere of influence. But Zhou Qing had no choice, because almost all the ministers at that time supported Qingwang's proposal, and the entire civil official group was trying to protect Qingwang. In other words, the Green King was the foreshadowing they had planted early.

Zhou Qing, who lacked political experience, didn't care what the consequences of this brother's trip would bring to him, and he also hoped to avoid a head-on conflict with his brother, so he gave permission and sent him off ten miles outside Tianyuan City in a high-sounding manner. After enjoying this great glory, the Qing King swore that he would serve the new emperor to death, turned his head and stepped on the fast horse, leaving the dangerous Tianyuan political situation with lightning speed. Until the night of September 30 in the third year of Zhenyuan, Zhou Qing had unrealistic dreams, thinking that he could live in peace with this brother from now on, and every year he wrote a handwritten letter to this brother, sending Yin Yin inquiry, implying that he could travel far away with confidence, and it would be okay to travel all his life without returning to Tianyuan.

Sure enough, Qingwang Zhou Li did not step into the gate of Tianyuan after that, and his footprints traveled from the Ming Kingdom to the Chu Kingdom, and then went south to the Qingzhou Kingdoms, and the journey traversed the Eastern Continent, but he avoided the point of Tianyuan City in the center of the map.

A character who stepped into this unburning battlefield at this time, he may have been forced to enter, but he had to exit in a dishonorable way. This person is Ye Wang's brother, Ye Cheng.

Ye Cheng is indeed an extremely outstanding long history, but as an elder brother, Ye Wang dislikes him very much. Because Ye Cheng reprimanded this younger brother far more than praise, especially Ye Wang gave up the family's ancestral business, refused to learn arithmetic and went to serve in the Cargo Colony Mansion, but he had to be a martial artist in Jigong Middle School, Ye Cheng was very unhappy about this. There was a great conflict between the two brothers. But it's hard to say that Ye Cheng doesn't like Ye Wang, he is strict with this younger brother, and more because he hates this younger brother's absurdity and incompetence.

He is a conscientious elder brother, who takes care of the elders in the family and educates the younger generations, and is full of worries about his most unsuccessful brother Ye Wang, and always hopes that Ye Wang can die peacefully in a dignified position.

Ye Wang couldn't comprehend these at the time, but Ye Cheng finally passed on the position of the head of the Ye family to Ye Wang Ye Wang, which was enough to show his concern and expectations for this younger brother.

Ye Wang finally understood the love of this mediocre brother who seemed to him to be mediocre, but unfortunately it was too late.

On the rainy night of September 30 in the third year of Zhenyuan, the account of the Cargo Colony Mansion caught fire, and only one person was burned, that is, Shi Yecheng, the head of the Cargo Colony Mansion. The result of Jingwei's autopsy was that Ye Cheng's bones were purple-black, which was a sign of poisoning and death, and it was an extremely violent mineral toxin. The toxin was not easy to obtain, and needed to be purchased from some of the Witches in the Northern Mountains, and the price was close to the same weight of gold. According to the description of the lower-level officials of the Cargo Colony Mansion, some guests of unknown origin visited Ye Cheng that afternoon, and after Ye Cheng sent the guests away, he deduced that he was uncomfortable, and sent away all the subordinates of the account after sunset, saying that he would check some details of the accounts alone. Then a fire broke out from inside the ledger, and when Jingwei arrived, there was no way to recover.

When the conclusion reached the case of Zhou Qing, even if he was a fool, he found that there must be a more serious problem. He immediately assigned the most effective general, Su Jinshen, to seal up the goods and treasury overnight, detain all the personnel, and interrogate them separately.

Before Su Jinshen could find out the cause of Ye Cheng's death, he discovered a more serious problem. The tens of millions of gold baht that had been stored in the remaining accounts had disappeared, leaving Ye Cheng with an empty treasury!

Zhou Qing was stunned. He originally thought that there were still 23 million gold baht in the treasury, enough to support his policy of strengthening the army, but now that the money was gone, the remaining gold baht in the treasury was not even enough for him to pay for the expenses of officials and soldiers at all levels in Tianyuan City for the next month!

Ye Cheng embezzled tens of millions of gold baht and then committed suicide in fear of crime? This conclusion seems to make sense, but it is really ridiculous, because such a large amount of gold baht, even if it is dragged by cattle and horses, it will take months to carry it, and it is not at all that one person can embezzle.

Then the only conclusion is that the gold baht that should have been in the account was not actually put into the treasury, and Ye Cheng's death and the burning of the account cut off the clues to the trace.

While the interrogation was still going on, the Yulin Heavenly Army was almost about to mutiny. The soldiers were shocked to find that the military salaries they received could not be spent, and these yellow and clear Tianyuan gold baht were very soft, and traces could be drawn on the paper. Merchants refuse to accept these gold baht, which seems to have no problems with the casting process, because the texture of the gold baht is seriously impure. Zhou Qing himself also found out that when the gold baht could be used to write on paper, everything was clear, the gold in these newly minted gold bahts was replaced, and the person responsible for casting these gold bahts was none other than Shi Yecheng, the governor of the Cargo Colony Prefecture. In order to ensure the weight, he added a large amount of raw lead when minting the new gold baht.

Zhou Qing didn't have time to arrest his diehard henchman Ye Wang to ask what was going on, so he had to calm down Yulin Tianjun's emotions. These ordinary soldiers and some junior officers seemed to be excited, and rumors were circulating in the barracks that the new emperor had ordered a reduction in the golden ratio of the gold baht in order to build a palace to marry the concubines of the Hokuriku, and now this conspiracy to deduct the blood and sweat of the soldiers has been exposed. The soldiers of the Yulin Heavenly Army, who did not know what to do, actually broke into Tianyuan City en masse at the risk of beheading, trying to go straight to the Taiqing Palace and ask the emperor for a retroactive military salary.

Zhou Qing didn't care to check if there was anyone instigated here, if he couldn't stop the Yulin Heavenly Army outside the Taiqing Palace, he, the emperor, would lose all his majesty in front of the old ministers of the ancestral hall, and his virtue would be seriously questioned by the family and the princes, so he could prepare to go into the wilderness. And he really didn't have money to pay at that time, and he only had Taiqing Palace, the largest mansion in the Eastern Continent, in his hands, but he couldn't sell it for a while.

Zhou Qing chose to go out of the palace in person to stop the soldiers who were shouting and scolding on the royal road, but all this had lost its meaning. Since Zhou Qing ascended the throne, he has continuously increased the training of these soldiers, replaced their commanders, and conspired to deduct their military salaries at this time. They raised their arms and shouted and rushed to Zhou Qing's car, asking Zhou Qing to take out the embezzled gold, and the crowd was big enough to drown the royal car. And the number of Jin Wuwei under Zhou Qing was no longer enough to resist these soldiers who were close to rioting.

A large group of carts rushed into Tian Yuan City, separating the royal drivers and the excited soldiers at a dangerous moment, each of these carts covered with thick felt painted with the coat of arms of the Great Wind. In front of everyone's eyes, the servants who drove the car lifted the felt, and the eyes of the soldiers were dazzled by piles of piles of full-colored gold baht. After a brief silence, the soldiers swarmed up to collect the gold baht, completely oblivious to the emperor whom they had just regarded as their revenge.

The man in flowing clothes looked coldly at these red-eyed soldiers from the gap in the cart, and turned his head to exchange glances with the frightened Zhou Qing.

Jiang Li, the owner of the Jiang clan in Wanzhou, came to the imperial capital at this critical moment, and the Jiang clan, as a businessman, had an excellent intelligence system, and he had already heard about the Ye Cheng case. At that time, the large transactions between the Wanzhou Chamber of Commerce and the imperial capital used golden tickets, and in order to ensure that the problem of military salaries was solved, Jiangli took out all the gold baht collected by Jiangjia Cave, and ordered the ship to be transported to the imperial capital as quickly as possible. Wanzhou's well-developed post road system and Jiang's excellent transportation capacity finally allowed him to arrive at the last moment.

At the most critical moment, this staunch ally once again stood on Zhou Qing's side and stood up for this little brother who became the emperor.

This incident happened on October 17, the third year of Zhenyuan, only 17 days before Ye Cheng's suicide. However, Jiang Li is a businessman after all, and his support for Zhou Qing is not entirely for the word "righteousness". After Zhou Qing ascended the throne, the friendship with the Jiang family has been seen by everyone, and the Jiang family's already outstanding status among Wanzhou merchants has risen sharply, and at the same time, it has also been jealous of its peers. At this time, the Jiang family was already standing on the cusp of the alternation of power in the Eastern Continent, Jiang Li had no choice, he was already an "imperial party", and he had to go down the road of the "imperial party", and the fall of the emperor would mean the decline of the Jiang family.

Jiang Li is not a gambler, but he must gamble on Zhou Qing to win this power struggle at this time.

A list illustrates the amount of gold baht transferred by the Jiang family to the imperial capital in just half a year from October 17 of the third year of Zhenyuan to the fifth day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Zhenyuan:

576000 on October 17 of the third year of Zhenyuan, 140000 on November 6 of the third year of Zhenyuan, 300000 on January 1 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 400000 on February 11 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 100000 on February 19 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 120000 on the 1st of March in the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 120000 on April 1 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 120000 on April 15 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, 120000 on May 5 of the fourth year of Zhenyuan.

In addition, there is also a part of the transportation of grain, metals and other goods.

The Jiang clan of Wanzhou showed a terrifying ability to mobilize money in such a hasty incident, which was enough to make other merchants in Wanzhou once again shocked by the hidden strength of this family. A large amount of gold baht suppressed the turmoil in the imperial capital for a while, the Yulin Heavenly Army received a repaid military salary, and even the barbarian envoys who took advantage of the fire to rob also obtained more offerings as they wished, and Zhou Qing's throne was temporarily flattened by money.

However, the trouble is far from over, the royal family's treasury is still empty, and the financial support Zhou Qing received was paid off, and his finances are still stretched. And as long as he is in arrears once, no one can guarantee that there will be no next army riot. Secretly some people may be waiting for a new, more radical and intense uprising, for there is nothing more suitable for the overthrow of an emperor than "popular will."

Ye Cheng is the head of the Tianyuan Ji clan of this generation, and Ye Wang is a half-brother. His personality and abilities are simply worlds apart from his younger brother. Ye Cheng is a well-known arithmetic master, since he was a child has the title of "prodigy", it is said that when he was thirteen years old, he competed with his father Ye Ye to calculate all the timber flow in the Eastern Continent that year, and the calculation result was different from his father. Ye Ye was familiar with the annual timber flow at that time, so he laughed at this smart son.

Ye Cheng insisted on his results and refused to talk to his father for a month. Ye Ye gradually had doubts in his heart, so he consulted the head of the Chu family, the largest timber merchant in Wanzhou, with the calculation results, and after checking the two calculation results, the head of the Chu family said that Ye Ye had some small deviations in the compound interest calculation of the timber farm, which led to the wrong result. Ye Ye was amazed by his son's talent in arithmetic, and everyone would say that in the end, everyone in Tianyuan City knew that the Ji family had a son who was the same god in arithmetic, and this matter even alarmed Emperor Zhou Ming.

Ye Cheng inherited his father's business from the royal family, and was only eighteen years old when he entered the Cargo Colony Mansion, and when Ye Wang and Zhou Qing took the heir to the Taiqing Palace, Ji Weicheng was only thirty-one years old, but he was already the highest official in the Cargo Colony Mansion - Changshi. At this time, the power of the Cargo Colony was monstrous, because not only was it the job of the Cargo Colony to plan the economy and coordinate the currency, but also the annual offerings of the princes to the imperial family were also carried out by the Cargo Colony Mansion, and even the key to the Tian Yuan Treasury was kept by the Governor of the Cargo Colony Prefecture. Ye Cheng led a large number of Ye's children who studied arithmetic, calculated the flow of goods and goods in the Eastern Continent every day, managed what may be the largest treasury in the Eastern Continent, and had a transcendent position among the ministers. It can be said that if Ye Cheng suddenly flees with money, then the national strength accumulated by Emperor Ren's Xiuwen in the fifty-seven years of his reign will collapse, because it will be difficult for anyone else to sort out the accounts and files that Ye Cheng has mastered, and the economy of the Eastern Continent may be paralyzed.

Therefore, Emperor Ren's selection of Yecheng as the governor of the Merchant Mansion is indeed a sign of great trust. Jiang Li is actually a very low-key person, and like almost all the heads of the Jiang family in the past dynasties, in order to avoid the adverse effects of the dazzling name of "the first Wanzhou Chamber of Commerce", he rarely boasted of his wealth and always avoided the public eye. He is a good traveler, he travels more than half of the year, he travels unhurriedly, with a cart of wine, and stops, lingering in the beautiful landscapes. However, he rarely left Wanzhou, and he had to be prepared for any unforeseen situation on the trade road. Commoners of Wanzhou could sometimes meet the tycoon on the side of the post road and outside the city, and Jiang Di would often invite them to drink and inquire diligently about their lives and the prices of goods in various places.

The commoners then liked this kind and kind big family master, Jiangli once called himself "Yuntian Yike", traveled around the country with this name to leave a lot of poems, Wanzhou civilians called him "Jiang Yuntian", in order to show closeness.

And at this time, Jiang Di, who was carrying boxes full of gold baht to save Zhou Qing, can indeed be called "righteous thin clouds". The structure of the chamber of commerce The so-called Wanzhou Chamber of Commerce generally refers to the alliance established by the ten cities of Wanzhou according to the Tianhengtong Flat Contract.

In a city, all the merchants, large and small, form a chamber of commerce, elect a president, and regulate the internal affairs of the industry. The chambers of commerce of the city's industries form the city's commercial associations to negotiate the city's commercial affairs. Every city has a city lord, and this status is determined by his commercial status in the city, and whoever has the most capital will serve as the next supporter. The holding position is reassessed every year, but since capital transfers are not usually frequent, it is common for a city lord to sit in this position for ten years or more. When the lord of the new city took office, he met with the imperial court, and according to the rules, the imperial court conferred the official position of "merchant and political envoy" on the city.

Although it is an official position granted by the imperial court, and the rank is not low, in fact, the imperial court does not have any substantial support, and there is not even a fortune. The lord of the city is in charge of the military and political affairs of the city, and has the right to lead the chamber of commerce in formulating the city's autonomy statutes, taxes, adjudication, and public security. The city business associations of all cities reached a commercial and trade agreement called "Tianhengtong Pingqi", which stipulated the range of price changes, transaction taxes, and the prohibition of mutual attacks on business travel, so as to form the entire Wanzhou Chamber of Commerce and elect a general leader of the chamber of commerce. The chief chief was also granted an official position by the imperial court according to the rules, and was called the "Ten Cities Commercial and Political Envoy".

The "Ten Cities Merchant and Political Envoys" were also a false name, and had no direct control over other cities, and could only exert influence over the rest of the city lords through their wealth and personal charm. Every year, the city lords would gather in Huai'an to convene a council of city lords to discuss all matters involving inter-city trade. Each city has a city lord, who is elected by the Chamber of Commerce, and the city lord is in charge of the tax and can appoint a city guard or appoint himself. The city keeper can nominate various officials, such as catchers, tax collectors, police officers, masters, etc., and each position needs to be assessed and passed by the Chamber of Commerce. The tax collector is responsible for supervising the use of tax revenues. The castle guard was solely responsible for paying taxes to the Pinghou and the Emperor.

Appointed by the Chamber of Commerce, the Ombudsman is part of the Ombudsman, supervising officials at all levels (secretly monitoring the lord of the city). Commercial disputes in each city are regulated gradually, and non-commercial disputes are handled by the "city order" appointed by the Chamber of Commerce. The Council of Lords appointed the "Ten Cities Order", which is one of the final adjudication bodies.