This trip to Jiangnan took a little longer than Tang Ning expected.

He thought that he would be able to finish the examination in Jiangnan West Province in a month at most, but he has been staying in Jiangnan West Province for more than a month and a half, and there are still two states that he has not visited.

The main reason is that it rained half a month ago, and the rain was not big or small, but it was half a month, which delayed most of their trip.

The secondary reason was that about ten days ago, he received a secret letter from Emperor Chen.

The letter was not signed or sealed, and was filled with Emperor Chen's condolences for their trip to Jiangnan, and Tang Ning ignored those clichés and scenes, only to find that there were only two words left on the entire letter.

Silver!

Although the other states in Jiangnan West Province are not as rich as Ezhou, they have traveled through more than a dozen states, plus those in Ezhou, and the tax and silver recovered add up, and there are nearly 10 million taels in total.

This is still the end of Tang Ning's reined in order to take into account the overall situation and not cause chaos in Jiangnan, if he really ignores it and investigates it impartially, it is not clear that these Jiangnan officials will rise up in order to save their lives.

After seeing the wealth of Jiangnan, Emperor Chen's eyes were only silver, and the letter said that if a merchant in Jiangnan evaded taxes, he would be fined ten for one and ten fines, and according to this punishment, Tang Ning felt that he wanted to take back Chen Guo's ten years of taxes at one time.

However, he can also understand Emperor Chen's idea of asking for money to die.

After he left Beijing this time, he happened to miss two major news, and these two events were related to the survival of Chen Guo, which aroused the hearts of the courtiers in the palace.

Jiagu and Shuhu have suppressed the Yan Department for so long, and finally they are about to be unable to suppress it, the situation in the grassland has reversed, and the Western Regions have gradually grown into a threat to the Chen State.

Only when the treasury has sufficient silver and grain can it have the confidence to fight, and the current situation in the country is very stable, as long as the grain and silver can be guaranteed, they can be stoned to death with silver, and there is no need to worry about falling into a situation of passive beating.

In addition, he also heard about Feng Xiang's resignation and implicating more than a dozen officials in the Jiangnan family.

Tang Ning originally thought that the Tang family would seize this matter and chase after him, so he deliberately made those arrangements, but he didn't expect that it was Feng Xiang who jumped out.

Since he entered the officialdom, he has only wandered around the Hanlin Academy and the Six Divisions, and then he went to Xiaocaiwei, the two prime ministers of the court, he only has a few faces, he has not said anything, and he is not very familiar with it.

The impression of Feng Xiang only exists in what I have heard.

It is rumored that he is an upright and upright person, and he has reprimanded His Majesty in front of hundreds of officials more than once, without showing mercy to the Son of Heaven, and is known as the contemporary Wei Zheng.

In order to learn from Tang Dazong, Emperor Chen has always been very generous to Feng Xiang's actions, except for this time.

Obviously, Jiangnan has become a sensitive word in Emperor Chen's heart, whoever touches it will die, and the prime minister is no exception.

Speaking of Zhou Xiang, we have to mention Fang Hong, Zhou Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials took the place of Feng Xiang, and Fang Hong took his place and became the new Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials.

He was busy raising money for Emperor Chen in Jiangnan, originally wanted to pit the Tang family, but he didn't expect that in the end, he actually cheapened Fang Xiaoyue's uncle, the Fang family now has a household servant, a ministry secretary, if it weren't for Zhao Yuan's being too young, he just wanted to make a girl and didn't want to be the emperor, so that the Fang family couldn't get involved in the party struggle, with Emperor Chen's suspicious temperament, I am afraid it would be impossible to hand over these two real power departments to the Fang family for monopoly.

Chen Zhou walked in from outside, bowed his hand, and said, "My lord, the rain has stopped, depending on the weather, the next few days should be sunny." ”

In the past half a month, Tang Ning himself is about to become moldy, I don't know if Bai Juyi, who wrote "Jiangnan is good, the scenery is old and knows the past", has he experienced the embarrassment of washing his underwear and not drying it?

He didn't want to stay in this dark and damp room for a moment, stood up, and said, "Inform them and let them leave immediately, and the remaining two states of Jiangnan West Province can send two Zhanggu over." ”

Chen Zhou answered, and went out to make arrangements, Tang Ning walked out of the room and took a deep breath of fresh air.

The only good thing about the rainy season for half a month is that it washes the air and takes a deep breath, and it is full of refreshing fresh smells.

From here, it only takes one day to enter Gangnam Dongdo.

Emperor Chen may have forgotten that they went to Jiangnan to eradicate the rebel forces and not to raise money everywhere, and Tang Ning himself did not forget.

However, he traveled all over the Jiangnan West Road, and he didn't find anything wrong except for the "all things dry" used by the Ezhou Thorn History, which should not appear on his hands.

And he asked about the history of Ezhou Thorn, and the other party only admitted that his things were bought from an unknown merchant, and the others were unknown.

Tang Ning was not sure if the officials of other state capitals had any contact with the "King of Qian" in Gongsun Ying's mouth, and he could not always meet local officials and ask others if they wanted to rebel, but according to the current situation, the root cause of the Jiangnan Rebellion was likely to be in Jiangnan Dongdao.

Jiangnan Dongdao is farther away from Beijing, and it is more affluent, among which there are many rich businessmen and magnates who are rich and rival the country, those families are intertwined and powerful, even if it is a local government, they have to let them, or simply hold a certain big tree, their influence in the local area is deep-rooted, even the imperial court has to avoid them for three points.

The foundation of the Tang family is here, and if Tang Ning wants to complete the targets set by Emperor Chen, he has to find a way from here.

Raozhou.

As the last stop of Jiangnan West Road, out of Raozhou, three days away, to Quzhou.

On the day Tang Ning and the officials of the Ministry left, the officials of Raozhou sent each other for ten miles, and their reluctance was beyond words.

"Master Tang, go slowly!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, have a good trip......"

"When the adults return, be sure to come to Raozhou again, let me wait for the landlord's ......"

……

Before an official could finish speaking, he was covered in the mouth and kicked in the rear.

If this person really came to Raozhou on the way back, wouldn't they be afraid again?

Although this Lord Tang of the Ministry of Officials is not as terrible as the legend, his days in Raozhou have also disturbed the state.

Especially the merchants in Raozhou, many of them were caught by him and paid a lot of fines to the imperial court.

Public security, population, official discipline ......, he doesn't seem to care very much about these, he only cares about taxes, only cares about silver, and it is not an exaggeration to describe him as loving money as life.

Raozhou Thorn Shi stood on the official road, watched the group of cars and horses go away, and said slowly: "With his money-loving character, he will definitely hit those people with his ideas, Jiangnan Dongdao, there is no shortage of ruthless characters......"

……

Starting from Raozhou, the nearest is Quzhou.

Quzhou has five counties under its jurisdiction, and the state city is built in Dingyang County.

They walked outside the city, and the Quzhou assassin and local officials all went out of the city to greet them in person.

Quzhou Thorn Shi is a kind-looking middle-aged man, Tang Ning got off the carriage, he stepped forward, and said with a smile: "Your lords are here, and you have missed the distance to welcome ......."

Tang Ning greeted him with a smile, and was about to enter the city with him, when his eyes flickered inadvertently, his footsteps paused, and his gaze rested on a local official standing in the back row.

A hint of surprise appeared on his face, and Quzhou Thorn Shi looked at him and wondered, "Lord Tang, what's wrong?" ”

Tang Ning came back to his senses, retracted his gaze, shook his head, and said, "It's okay." ”

The officials of the Ministry of Officials were still arranged at the post station, and after the Quzhou Assassin made an appointment with them for tonight's dust-washing banquet, he left with the Quzhou officials.

Tang Ning walked out of the door and saw a man still standing in the courtyard.

He stepped forward and asked with a smile, "Brother Xu, why are you here?" ”

A few years ago, when he was still in Lingzhou, he met Xu Qingyang, when he participated in the provincial examination as the second in the state examination, and later in the palace examination, although his performance was not too good, but it was not bad, even if he did not enter the Hanlin Academy, he stayed in Beijing, and his future was unlimited, so he should not appear here.

Xu Qingyang smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "This matter is a long story. ”

In Tang Ning's impression, Xu Qingyang always appeared with Zhang Yansheng, he didn't seem to have seen the two of them appear alone, and he was still a little unaccustomed to seeing Xu Qingyang alone, so he joked with a smile: "Brother Zhang is not with you this time?" ”

"Brother Tang, it's really you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a startled voice suddenly came from behind him.

Tang Ning turned around and saw Zhang Yansheng standing at the door of the post station, looking at him with surprise on his face.