Yang Feng's one-in-one errand and one-piece grain excerpt actually passed in such an incredible state, and the expected stormy counterattack did not come, even the officials from Jiangnan who should have been most opposed chose to remain silent, which simply broke everyone's glasses.

However, as the victorious side, Su Tong and Zhu Youxiao fell into trouble again.

After the next court, Zhu Youxiao called Yang Feng and Wei Zhongxian to the imperial study.

After instructing the little eunuch to give the two of them a seat, Zhu Youxiao also made it to the dragon chair, and his face was not happy, but a little more sorrowful.

"Yang Aiqing, your excerpt is passed, but the matter is not over, but it is just the beginning." Zhu Youxiao sat on the dragon chair and said with some annoyance.

"That's true." Wei Zhongxian nodded on the side and said: "Jiangnan is not as good as other places, it is the place where the power of the Ming gentry is most concentrated, and if it is not good, it will cause the gentry to rebound, and it will be troublesome." ”

As the de facto leader of the celebrant supervisor, Wei Zhongxian certainly knows how great the energy of the Jiangnan gentry is, and once this force unites, it may be an exaggeration to say that they can change the dynasty, but it is not a lie to say that the imperial court will be hit hard.

You must know that Jiangnan is the most prosperous place in the imperial court, after hundreds of years of development, Jiangnan's wealth has long far exceeded the north, five years before the Apocalypse, Jiangnan's annual taxes have accounted for six achievements of the entire national tax, enough to prove how important Jiangnan is, once Jiangnan is broken, it is absolutely unbearable for the Ming Dynasty.

Yang Feng's opinion was not as pessimistic as Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian, and he asked rhetorically: "Your Majesty, the minister dares to ask, if there is a great chaos in Jiangnan now, and the tax cannot be paid, can the Ming court be maintained?" ”

"What's this?"

Zhu Youxiao lowered his head and silently calculated in his mind, and said after a while: "Now the annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty has exceeded tens of millions of taels, of which about two million taels are collected from the north, five million taels are collected by the customs, and the tax revenue in the south of the Yangtze River is only less than four million taels, which means ......"

"This means that the importance of Jiangnan is not so important now."

Yang Feng interjected.

"The money in Jiangnan can be said to be rich in the world, and the silver flow of salt and iron alone has reached sixty or seventy million taels every year, and other tea, oil and other items are not under salt and iron, it can be said that the silver flow of various transactions in Jiangnan every year is at least hundreds of millions, but the one handed over to the imperial court is only a pitiful more than three million taels, what is the use of such Jiangnan?"

"The country is a country, and there is no country where to come from. But some people put their home before the country, take care of the small family and forget everyone, such people are not enough to kill the people, not to kill is not enough to correct the law of the country, if these people are allowed to continue like this, the Ming Dynasty will be ......."

Yang Feng didn't continue, but what he meant was understood by Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian.

One of these two people is the emperor and the other is the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor and the eunuch Bingbi, how can they not understand the truth that the most important thing in governing a country is money.

It costs money to fight a war, it costs money to clean up rivers for disaster relief, it costs money to pay for officials, and in short, almost everything is inseparable from money, and a regime without blood-making capacity will collapse sooner or later.

And now those gentry in Jiangnan occupy the richest land, but they don't even want to pay taxes to the court, what's the use of such people coming?

Seeing that Zhu Youxiao already had a heartbeat, Yang Feng continued: "Your Majesty, you still need strong medicine for a serious illness, besides, what is the most important thing in this world?" It's just people who want to be officials, I think Emperor Taizu killed tens of millions of officials, but look at where there was a shortage of officials at that time?

The head of the predecessor is still hanging at the entrance of the yamen, and the successor has already taken office with the official seal, don't you understand what this means? ”

Zhu Youxiao thought for a long time, nodded and said: "Yang Aiqing is right, but Jiangnan is not as strong as the north, there is the most powerful place of the Ming clan, once those officials and gentry are forced to be in a hurry, they can do anything, such as the incident when I fell into the water two years ago." ”

Although Zhu Youxiao's face was very calm, even when he said that he had fallen into the water, his tone was light, but Yang Feng clearly saw that his hands on both ends had been tightly clenched together, and the green tendons on the back of his hands were much larger.

Yang Feng can understand Zhu Youxiao's feelings, if Yang Feng hadn't arrived in time to rescue him three years ago, the grass on his grave at this time would have been several feet high, but until now he has not been able to find the real culprit behind the scenes, but what is certain is that it must be inseparable from the Donglin Party and the Jiangnan gentry.

Thinking of this, Yang Feng comforted: "Your Majesty is reasonable, but you don't have to worry too much, the minister thinks that the opportunity now is the rarest." You must know that today's Jiangnan is not lightly harmed by thieves, such as Ningguo Mansion, Huaiqing Mansion and other places The gentry were even slaughtered, and the Hangzhou Mansion also suffered heavy losses, and don't forget, Zhejiang Governor Pan Ruzhen is still in prison, if we don't do something at this time, wouldn't we have failed Weichen? ”

"You......"

Zhu Youxiao was amused by Yang Feng's words, and his originally depressed mood was much better.

Wei Zhongxian looked at Yang Feng, who was talking and laughing with his big boss, with an envious look in his eyes, although Zhu Youxiao was also very fond of himself, but he never expected Zhu Youxiao to talk to him in such a tone.

No matter how favored he is, he is only a royal slave, and life and death are also in the emperor's thoughts, but Yang Feng is different, people and the emperor are also teachers and friends, and the most important thing is that they originally wanted to leave the Ming Dynasty to go to Nanyang to be his soil emperor, or Zhu Youxiao and his family used all kinds of means to let the family stay, where can he compare with such treatment.

After laughing, Zhu Youxiao frowned again and said, "But who are we going to send to Jiangnan to preside?" Aiqing, you also know that Jiangnan is not as good as the north, especially because it is the nest of the Donglin Party, and you know how difficult these people are to deal with. Back then, the emperor's grandfather just filmed a few eunuchs going to Jiangnan to collect taxes, and was instructed by those people to beat them to death, which shows how reckless and bold those people were. ”

"Well, that's a problem." Yang Feng also scratched his head a little, turned his head and saw Wei Zhongxian, he couldn't help asking, "Father-in-law Wei, I don't know if you have any good candidate recommendation code?" ”

Wei Zhongxian was startled, and his hands were like windmills, "No, no, our family is just a slave of His Majesty, how can there be any good candidates." ”

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's frightened little face, Yang Feng couldn't help but smile and shook his head, and then said, "Your Majesty, Weichen has someone to choose here, I don't know if I should say it?" ”

"Hurry up, say!" Zhu Youxiao was anxious.