Zhang Huangyan hurriedly persuaded: "Now is not the time to pursue responsibility, let's think about the countermeasures first, I'm afraid...... The other party will go out of the city in pursuit. ”

Jiang Quanyi was depressed at this time, and he did a good job, but he was beaten by the enemy.

He muffled, "No! If they dare to go out of the city, they will be torn to pieces. ”

Wu Zheng glanced at him and said, "You're not injured, are you?" ”

Jiang Quanyi lowered his head and responded: "Thanks to the blessing of the prince, I have not been injured." ”

Wu Zheng said angrily: "Then don't you go to the whole army to be on guard?!" ”

Jiang Quanyi didn't even dare to answer, turned around and ran to reorganize the army.

Wu Zheng took a deep breath and said to Zhang Huang: "Send people to meet Jin Shanwei on the road quickly, and order them to march in a hurry, and in six hours, they must launch an attack outside the east gate." ”

"Yes." Zhang Huangyan immediately sent people to give the order.

Wu Zheng slowly calmed down at this time, "Brother Xuan, this thing is very strange." ”

"What does the prince mean?"

"Do you think, even if Zheng Youde is convicted of corruption and perverting the law, the law will not be a capital crime, right?"

Zhang Huangyan pondered: "Yes." At most, he will be dismissed from office, and if other crimes are found, he will only be exiled and confiscated. ”

Wu Zheng said: "But before the matter was opened, he was fierce, closed the city gate, and wanted to harm the king, not hesitating to expose this rebel army, this is a big crime of killing the head of the Yi clan, what is he afraid of?" ”

Zhang Huangyan also wondered, "This thing is really strange, it stands to reason that he has to probe the prince's tone first, after all, people were killed by yellow camels, Zheng Youde is at most just accepting bribes and corrupt and perverting the law, if he didn't take the initiative to expose this rebel army, I'm afraid we wouldn't have thought that there was such an army hidden in Silk City, let alone know that there were a large number of firearms in the city." What's even more strange is that when we saw Huang Po, our identity was not exposed at all, so after that, more than a dozen officials came to arrest us, obviously not against the prince, that is, whether it was the prince or not, as long as someone found Huang Po, he would be arrested by the government...... I wondered, could it be that they were trying to cover something? ”

Wu Zheng said: "Paying such a big price to put us to death, obviously it will not be as simple as corruption and perverting the law...... This makes me wonder if the Zheng family's tragedy will be related to the current reverse case? ”

At this time, Ma Shiying suddenly said: "Lord Wang, Xiaguan remembered something. When the lower officials were invited to Xiushui, Zheng Rong held a banquet in Zheng's house, and when chatting during the banquet, the lower officials listened to Zheng Rong say a word...... It is said that the goods go north, and they need to visit Suzhou, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang along the way, which costs a lot of money...... At that time, although Xia Guan was a little surprised in his heart, thinking about what kind of goods needed to be dotted along the way, but at that time, he thought that it was a business anyway, and who to sell it to was not a sale, even if he did business with the Qing court, as long as he could earn silver, he would not have to ...... So I didn't pay attention to it. ”

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart, Wu Zheng's face changed and said: "What did you say?" Doing business with the Qing court? ”

Ma Shiying was really scared, he muttered, "The lower officials don't mean to have an affair with the Qing court...... ”

Wu Zheng suddenly said, "I understand...... Brother Xuan, seeing the muskets and cannons on the city wall just now, I was wondering, this is obviously not the arquebus used by the Qing court musketeers, but the flintlock pistol used by our army. In addition to the Songjiang Military Workshop, the flintlock pistol was imitated, and the only source was to buy it from abroad. Brother Xuan, what came to mind from this? ”

Zhang Huang said: "What does the prince mean is that there are merchants selling muskets to Zheng Youde? ”

"That's for sure, but even if Zheng Youde has accumulated enough money, he has bought a large number of muskets and artillery, what do you want to do? Does he have what it takes to stand on his own feet from the king's rule? ”

Zhang Huangyan shook his head and said: "This is impossible, only with a county, he doesn't have that ability." ”

Wu Zheng said: "That's right, this shows that there is someone behind Zheng Youde, and this person must be related to the Qing court." ”

Zhang Huang said in a hurry: "I understand, Zheng Youde bought firearms, in the name of buying and selling grain with Suzhou, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang, but he was actually selling firearms to the Qing court in the north!" ”

Wu Zheng's eyes shrank slightly: "With this explanation, you can smooth out these doubts, if it's just grain, where can there be such a big profit?" Even Ma Shiying's office, he spent more than a year dotting 200,000 taels, plus the dots in the three prefectures along the way, these dots are estimated to add up to more than 300,000 taels, it is conceivable that the total price of this batch of goods is at least more than one million taels, otherwise, how can it be so generous? ”

Zhang Huang said: "It can only be this explanation, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has been unimpeded, even when the prince and the Qing court were at war, the merchant ships on the canal channel were not prohibited from going south and north. It's a pity that these three mansions are all under the control of the imperial court. ”

Wu Zheng sneered: "Speaking of which, I have to blame for this, I didn't even think of this link...... Fortunately, from this day onwards, the good days in the north are over. ”

Zhang Huangyan was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "Does the prince want to cut off the canal channel?" This must not be, this strategy hurts others and hurts himself, the prince must think twice! ”

Wu Zheng smiled and said: "Naturally, I won't cut off the waterway, and the people's livelihood goods can be opened unimpeded, but the government prohibits a few materials, and there is always a precedent to follow." ”

Zhang Huangyan suddenly said: "This strategy is feasible. ”

Wu Zheng immediately said: "Come on, take pen and ink." ”

After a while, Wu Zheng finished writing a letter, kept his mouth silent with fire paint, and then ordered Suihu to send it to Wang Zhiren overnight.

Zhang Huangyan fully comprehended Wu Zheng's method at this time, "Does the prince want the Xingguo Gongshui Master to intercept it?" ”

Wu Zheng nodded and said: "Only when Zheng Youde is secretly buying and selling firearms with the Qing court can he explain why he didn't dare to meet this king, he was afraid that once this king tracked down Zheng Rongmanmen's murder case, he would find out the secret of secretly buying and selling firearms with the Qing court." And I can infer from this that at this time in the city, these firearms must have been hoarded and had not yet been transported north. Otherwise, Zheng Youde would never have exposed this rebel army easily. ”

Zhang Huangyan nodded and said: "The prince is right, it can be seen from the firearms on the city wall that this batch of muskets and artillery is in the city, Zheng Youde is just afraid that he will not be able to stop the prince from attacking the city, so he used this batch of firearms first." ”

Wu Zheng sighed lightly, "Now that I think about it, fortunately, I found it early, and this matter can be regarded as a great luck in misfortune, otherwise in the future, when the war with the Qing court starts, once this rebel army is in chaos in the rear, it will be a big trouble." ”

Zhang Huang said: "There is great luck in misfortune...... But I don't understand a little, although this rebel army is scattered among merchants in the name of protecting caravans, according to Zheng Youde's resume, he is from a high background and has no experience in leading soldiers, how can he secretly train such a strong army and not be known? ”