For Qian Lei, the reason why he defected to Zhu Mingzhong at the beginning was not only to survive, but also to be able to find a background. He came to Qinghe from Changzhou, as the general office of the Military Payroll Bureau, although he had not yet received a new assignment, he was still in charge of the Military Payroll Bureau, but on the other hand, he was also appointed to take charge of Huai'an Mansion, and if he did not agree, he took the responsibility of how to govern the counties of Huai'an Prefecture as a matter of course, as if he were the prefect, and all local affairs were pressed on his shoulders.

Born as a master, he is already good at local government affairs, and he is also concerned about everything on the board of directors, and he cares about everything, no matter how big or small, there is not a single thing that is not orderly, properly and appropriately, and has many ideas. In front of him, there was hardly the slightest difficulty in this place.

With such a good helper in the place, Zhu Mingzhong was greatly relieved. Because of this, in fact, he has delegated all local affairs to Qian Lei. It was also under his control that the chaotic situation in Jiangbei quickly passed, and was replaced by a new atmosphere of well-planned, busy but not chaotic.

After Zhu Mingzhong returned to Qinghe from the salt field, he immediately found that Qinghe was different from when he left, not only reproduced the prosperity of the past, but also built a circle of earth around the outer city without the slightest barrier, although it was not as good as the city wall, but for the Qinghe without a city wall, there was finally some protection.

In this regard, Zhu Mingzhong just saw it in his eyes and remembered it in his heart, and the reason why he hurriedly rushed back to Qinghe from the salt field was also simple, because the envoy sent by Zheng Chenggong and the messenger brought a lot of good news, such as he himself was appointed as the "Jianghuai Economic Envoy" and had full authority over the Jiangbei trip. In addition, there are also rewards for military supplies and other aspects, and the rewards are far more generous than Zhu Mingzhong imagined.

But in addition to the good news, there is also some bad news.

Of course, in front of the envoy, Zhu Mingzhong did not show the slightest dissatisfaction, and it was not until after the messenger left that Zhu Mingzhong said to everyone with some dissatisfaction:

"Basically, this time, Nanjing agreed to our request, but it was just ......"

Zhu Mingzhong, who was sitting in the first seat, looked at Zhu Daxian, Shi Lei, Zhang Guojiu, Xu Youzheng, Qian Lei, Wu Pinya and others, and said with some displeasure.

"Who is this extra Wu Weiye? Patrol Salt Imperial History...... This is eyeing Yangzhou's salt tax. How is this good? ”

Different from usual, Zhu Mingzhong will naturally pay attention to Qian Lei and Wu Pinya, the two of them may not be as talented as Zhu Daxian and Zhang Guojiu, but what are their biggest characteristics? Their officialdom experience is good at dealing with this kind of thing.

After pondering for a moment, Qian Lei looked at Zhu Mingzhong and said:

"What Jingluo is worried about is also what the lower officials have considered in the past few days after Jingluo went to the salt field, the lower officials think about it, these two Huai salt taxes are important to me, and they are equally important in Nanjing, if we intercept the salt tax, it will definitely lead to Nanjing's unhappiness, don't have a child, if Jingluo intends to ease the relationship with Yanping, this salt tax has to let him intervene."

Although it is well known that Zheng Chenggong's suppression of Jinglu was the reason why Jingliu almost went on the Northern Expedition alone, Jingliu was under Zheng Chenggong after all, and even if Jingliu is now based in Jiangbei, it cannot change this fact. At most, compared to the past, now that I have a territory, I don't need to worry about the suppression over there.

But despite this, Zhu Mingzhong's official identity was given by Zheng Chenggong, and this existence made it impossible for him to change the identity of Zheng Chenggong's general, unless one day, he could be rewarded by the Yongli Imperial Court and be able to sit on an equal footing with Zheng Chenggong. And before that, as his general, he must accept his command.

"But if there is no salt tax, what is there in Jiangbei? With local taxes, how much can you come up with? ”

Zhu Mingzhong said with some annoyance, although he knew very well that even if he arrived in Jiangbei, it was impossible to get rid of Zheng Chenggong's shadow, but he didn't expect that this shadow would come so quickly, almost like a shadow.

A salt patrol envoy seems to be inconspicuous, but it means that Nanjing cannot ignore the salt profits for him, and Nanjing wants to share the money!

"After a little strategy, if it really doesn't work, then the salt tax will be divided into one cent......"

With a sudden increase in his eyebrows, Shi Lei said coldly:

"How can the salt tax alone be enough? Seven or eight out of ten salt profits in the world belong to salt merchants, and the salt merchants in the world are mostly in Yangzhou, the richest man in Yangzhou, who should push Lu Miantang. This Lu Miantang word Nanlin, his father Lu Xing was the manager of the so-called "Eight Imperial Merchants" Wang Dengku of the Qing Dynasty, and he had several times out of the customs to trade with the Qing Dynasty, and had a deep relationship with the Qing generals. That year, when the Qing captives went south to the south of the Yangtze River, he followed the Qing captives all the way south, selling their grain and grass and weapons on the one hand, and selling the property they plundered along the way. Later, Lu Xing died of illness, and Lu Miantang was a guest in Yangzhou, but he asked him about things, and he devoted himself to business, and in the past ten years, the Lu family has accumulated millions of family business, and its annual salt profits alone can get hundreds of thousands of ......"

"Oh!"

Zhu Mingzhong shouted softly, although he knew about the wealth of the salt merchant before, he didn't expect that the financial resources of the salt merchant were so abundant!

Millions of net worth!

And that's just one of them!

"The second one wants Wang Pingdu. He was the nephew of Wang Dayu, the "Eight Great Emperor Merchants" of the Qing Dynasty, and in addition to dealing in salt goods, he also dealt in horses. ”

"The salt merchant still sells horses?"

The answer is, of course, yes, salt merchants are inseparable from horses, and Wang Dayu, as an imperial merchant, can naturally rely on the convenience of foreign trade to sell horses from outside the mouth to the south.

"However, Wang Pingdu only became a salt merchant twelve years ago, although it is not as good as the Lu family, but the property of the Wang family, to say the least, is two or three million. The third household is ......"

Since coming to Jiangbei, Shi Lei, as the chief of the military law, has been setting up his military justice department on the one hand, and on the other hand, according to Zhu Mingzhong's instructions, he has set up the inspection department of the military justice department, which is responsible for monitoring and collecting intelligence, and the intelligence of Yangzhou salt merchants is collected by the newly established inspection department.

When Shi Lei mentioned the identity and family business of these people, Zhu Daxian, Zhang Guojiu and others all looked at him, and when they still felt a little strange, Qian Lei, who had copied the Yan family in Jiangyin, immediately understood the intention of Jing Liu.

“…… There are also some small households that seem not worth mentioning, but they also have a net worth of more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan! Most of these Shaanxi and Jin salt merchants have a deep relationship with the Qing Dynasty......"

Without waiting for Shi Lei to finish speaking, Qian Lei, who had already guessed the idea of the strategy, immediately said sharply.

"Although these people are salt merchants, they are actually traitors, I can tolerate such traitors, and even more so the silver they earned by colluding with the Qing Dynasty, and enjoy all the glory and preciousness in my tomorrow!"

Qian Lei's face suddenly became hideous.

"By chance, a traitor like this will not only be killed, but also raided his house, confiscated his property, and collected his business, so that the people's fat and ointment he scraped will be used to fight against the great cause of the Qing Dynasty!"

"That's a good idea."

Zhu Daxian touched the beard on his chin and said hesitantly,

"However, if they raid their homes like this, will there be any reaction from Nanjing?"

The reason why he didn't react at all, in addition to the fact that Shi Lei's previous words emphasized that the identities of these people had a deep-rooted connection with the Qing Emperor merchants, and more importantly, they were Jin and Shaanxi merchants, and in this house, no one had anything to do with them at all, so naturally no one spoke for them.

Even as Jiangnan people, because their relatives and friends have died tragically under the knife of the Qing Dynasty, they are full of hostility to those "traitors" who cooperate with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it is precisely because of this that they don't mind copying those people's homes, not to mention that this copy is to enrich military supplies, and if the money is sufficient, the people of Jiangnan will be able to reduce the burden, and they naturally understand this truth.

"Reaction, what reaction? It's just a bunch of traitors! Who can still speak for a traitor? ”

Zhang Guojiu said coldly.

"Yushan said yes, but it's just a group of traitors! What's not to copy? ”

Seeing that everyone did not object to his proposal, Qian Lei thought for a while. Suddenly, he looked at Zhu Mingzhong and said.

"If we could get another person involved, it would be much easier."

"Who?"

"Wu Weiye."

It was the new salt patrol imperial history, Qian Lei's suggestion made Zhu Mingzhong's eyes shine.

"He is from Nanjing, if he intervenes in it and agrees to raid the house, Nanjing will naturally not be able to say anything about this matter."

But after thinking about it, Zhu Mingzhong shook his head again and said.

"But if he is allowed to intervene, when the time comes, doesn't it mean that Nanjing will also intervene? ...... from this robbery"

"As long as he agrees, as for how much to copy and how little to copy, it's not what we say?"

Shi Lei sneered.

"This matter, although you can rest assured, this matter will naturally be arranged by the lower officials, but this matter cannot be rushed! After all......"

Originally, he wanted to say that "the crime needs to be confirmed", but the conversation suddenly changed.

"After all, we don't have the evidence of their collusion with the Qing Lu now, and when the evidence is in hand, we will naturally not let them go!"

What is the evidence?

No one knows, and no one cares, but Shi Lei, as the marshal general, knows very well that he must be invulnerable in this matter, and only in this way can outsiders attack Jing Strategy with this.

"Well, this matter, please leave it to the four stones! As for the saltworks......"

After pondering for a moment, although he was a little unwilling, Zhu Mingzhong nodded and said.

"Just let Wu Weiye intervene for the time being, after all, at the moment, another thing is more important,"

Looking at everyone, Zhu Mingzhong said in a deep voice.

"This matter is in the salt field, Zhu has recruited tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and how to train the troops at the moment is the most important thing! Thinking that in the next few days, the newly recruited soldiers will gather in Qinghe, has this barracks been prepared? ”