After listening to Qi Jiguang's words, the third lady instantly understood, glanced at Qi Jiguang, the third lady smiled, she didn't expect that this general of the Ming Dynasty would have such a side, so she smiled and said: "General Qi, don't worry, I know what to do." ”

The Ming generals below also opened their mouths one by one, what Qi Jiguang was going to do, of course they knew that this was to present beauties to the emperor!

There is a way, is this the gap between himself and Qi Shaobao? No wonder people's grace is not declining! You have to learn, you have to learn.

Yangzhou, Qincha Xingyuan.

Zhang Jing looked at the approval in his hand, a smile appeared on his face, and said to the little eunuch beside him: "Go and invite Lord Cao and the little grandfather over!" ”

"Yes, godfather!" The little eunuch agreed, turned around and walked outside.

It didn't take long for Cao Yikui and Xu Xiti to rush over, and the relationship between the three of them has become a lot weaker these days, after all, the errand is done, and the three of them basically have their own affairs, so there is no need to get closer.

After greeting each other, the three of them sat down separately, and Zhang Jing smiled and took out the document and said, "Lord Cao, little grandfather, the court has come to reply." This is the imperial court's disposition of the Qi family and other salt merchants, and the two adults can take a look. ”

Zhang Jing handed the paperwork to Cao Yikui as he spoke, and then drank tea with a smile.

In fact, since the errand was over, Xu Xiti didn't feel much about these things, he was busy with the Xu family's business recently, in fact, he was inserting a foot in the new salt policy.

So far, progress has been slow, and Li Zhongxing of the Internal Affairs Office is a master who does not enter the oil and salt.

Cao Yikui took the paperwork, glanced at it quickly, and then nodded, he was not very interested in this thing. Those people are not wronged, it doesn't matter how to deal with it, what he cares about is the arrangement of the imperial court for the salt administration.

After reading the paperwork, Cao Yikui handed the paperwork to Xu Xiti again.

Xu Xiti is even less interested, these people, who cares if they die or not.

Seeing that the two of them had finished reading it, Zhang Whale smiled and took out a holy decree, and then said to Cao Yikui: "Lord Cao, this is the holy decree given to you by the emperor, take it!" As he spoke, he unfolded the decree.

In fact, the content of the holy decree is very simple, that is, to appoint Cao Yikui as the imperial history of the salt patrol, and the imperial history of the left of the Jiadu Inspectorate, and to preside over the salt political reform in Yangzhou.

The promotion is a reward for Cao Yikui, and it also means to give him power.

Yangzhou's errand is done, Cao Yikui's Qin is not good, and a new one is needed.

Putting the holy decree into Cao Yikui's hand, Zhang Whale said with a smile: "Lord Cao, our family doesn't care about this salt policy, after the Qi family is imprisoned, our family will preside over the pawn sale of the salt merchants' property." ”

Farm shops and houses, these things will not be difficult to sell, and I don't want to hack anyone, just sell them at the market price. Zhang Whale believed that he would sell it soon, and then he would return to Beijing.

Cao Yikui nodded, what Zhang Jing meant by saying this was to separate from him, and he could understand it.

The three of them did not have a small talk, and when they finished their business, they dispersed.

On the same day, news came out in Yangzhou that the Qi family was full of beheadings, and others were either beheaded or distributed. Yangzhou's air pressure has dropped a lot, and the imperial court has still scared a lot of people by opening the knife like this, this is really killing!

After nightfall, Li Zhongxing's mansion was brightly lit, and in the lobby, Li Zhongxing and Cao Yikui sat opposite each other.

"Lord Cao, this is the best Longjing tea, produced in Hangzhou, let's come to Jiangnan, it's better to drink some Jiangnan tea." Li Zhongxing smiled and handed the tea to Cao Yikui and said with a smile.

Cao Yikui glanced at the tea with an expressionless face, and then looked up at Li Zhongxing.

In fact, Cao Yikui knew very well what Li Zhongxing had done in Yangzhou during this period of time, but he had no power to interfere in this matter before, and now that he had power, he couldn't wait to come to the door.

Regarding Cao Yikui's purpose, Li Zhongxing is naturally clear.

Without going around the bush, Li Zhongxing picked up a booklet and handed it to Cao Yikui, and said with a smile: "Lord Cao, this is all the regulations of the Internal Affairs Office for the salt political reform. As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and handed the booklet to Cao Yikui.

In fact, the most crucial point of this reform is the division of full responsibility, separating the yamen from the salt merchants.

The officials of the imperial court were in charge of two aspects, the first was the collection of taxes, that is, the salt tax.

There are three main parts of the tax on salt, one is the tax on salt works, one is the tax on transportation, and the other is the tax on sales. One salt, three taxes, but the billy of the tax is not the same. The salt works are taxed at 20 taxes, the transportation is taxed at 30 taxes, and the sales tax is the highest, with 10 taxes at 1.

The second duty of the yamen was to allocate salt from various places according to the needs of the imperial court, and at the same time to stabilize the price of salt.

According to the new regulations, there is a maximum limit on the price of salt, and the price of salt cannot be sold at more than this price, otherwise it will be treated as hoarding. However, the production, transportation and marketing are not a group of people, which makes it easy for the imperial court to control how much salt you have in your hands.

After reading it, Cao Yikui looked up at Li Zhongxing: "Lord Li, how can you ensure that Xungui does not participate?" ”

Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Why don't you let Xungui participate?" As long as they pay taxes in accordance with the law, pay money to buy salt farms, and pay money to buy shops, there is no reason to refuse them. The emperor didn't issue a decree to restrict it, so we don't have the right to do that. ”

In fact, Zhu Yijun thought about this matter very clearly, in this era, restricting nobles and promoting businessmen is death.

The basis of the rule of this era is the nobles, the gentry, and the nobles can be raised against the gentry, but the merchants are promoted, and there are simple businessmen in the Ming Dynasty? Maybe there used to be, but in this era, most of them are gentry.

Cao Yikui was stunned for a moment, and then fell into deep thought, and finally didn't say anything.

In fact, Cao Yikui also knew that he couldn't refuse Xungui, and he knew this very well. Li Zhongxing lifted the emperor out, which showed that this was also the emperor's intention, and he had no way to object.

"Tomorrow is the day of the auction, Lord Cao happens to meet with the salt merchant, and he will have to deal with him often in the future." Li Zhongxing saw that Cao Yikui was not talking, so he said with a smile.

Li Zhongxing knew very well that this Lord Cao was a salt administration official cultivated by the emperor, and the entire salt administration of the Ming Dynasty would be under his control in the future.

Although he is only patrolling the history of salt and presiding over the pilot in Yangzhou, Li Zhongxing knows that once the pilot in Yangzhou is completed, it will be when Cao Yikui enters Beijing. At that time, Cao Yikui's official position will definitely be promoted, and it is estimated that it will be the squire who jumps.

"Good!" Cao Yikui agreed and nodded, in fact, this was what he had to do.

The next day, many people got up early, and everyone rushed to Lichun Temple, which was different from before, and the sign of Lichun Yuan had been taken off. The new sign is "Yangzhou Internal Affairs Office", which has become the place of Yangzhou Internal Affairs Office.

Of course, it cost money, which Li Zhongxing bought from Zhang Jing's hands.

More than 300 businessmen gathered in Yangzhou Internal Affairs Office, not only Yangzhou businessmen, but also a lot of people from Nanjing, Jiangnan businessmen can be said to be moved by the wind, and there are simply foreign affairs housekeepers of Xun Qi. The entire Interior Office is lively, full of people.

Cao Yikui and Li Zhongxing stood on the second floor, looking at these people with smiles on their faces.

"The Zhang family, the Wang family and the Fan family of the Jin merchants are also here, it seems that Lord Li has put in a lot of effort!" Cao Yikui glanced at Li Zhongxing and said lightly.

"That's not my effort!" Lin Zhongxing shook his head with a smile and said: "The Zhang family, the Wang family and the Fan family originally relied on selling salt for a living, and it is normal for them to want to intervene here, it is estimated that they will want more!" ”

Cao Yikui can also think of this, these families have been controlling the salt from Lianghuai to the northwest town all the year round, and now let them only take care of the salt farm, I am afraid that they will not be willing!

When everyone was almost there, Li Zhongxing and Cao Yikui walked down from the second floor, Li Zhongxing first hugged his fists at everyone, and then said: "Everyone, let me introduce you first, this is Lord Cao, I believe everyone is familiar with Lord Cao's name, right?" ”

How could it be unfamiliar, no one knew Cao Yikui's name before, but thinking of the pile of heads that were about to be cut off outside Yangzhou City, how could they not know.

"I've seen Lord Cao!" No one dared to snub Cao Yikui, and everyone hurriedly gave Cao Yikui a salute.

Cao Yikui nodded, and then said, "This official came today just to witness. ”

Seeing that Cao Yikui didn't plan to continue, Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Everyone, everyone must have read the constitution of the salt administration, and the officials who handed over the documents have also read it, and there are a total of one hundred and twelve companies competing for the salt farm. ”

"There are seventy-six companies competing for transportation, and one hundred and thirty-nine companies competing for sales."

"This official first said the ugly words in front, after the bidding, the internal affairs government will send someone to verify your information, if there is fraud, the imperial envoy Cao is here, and the consequences will be borne by himself." Li Zhongxing said this very seriously, and he also moved Cao Yikui out.

Among these people, most of them don't care much about this, what kind of value they are worth, these things don't care at all.

"Three of them are all applicants, thirty-six!" Seeing that no one spoke, Li Zhongxing continued: "But the official has a word first, but one is indispensable, and each family can only participate in one of them, so please think about what to shoot." ”

In fact, this is not a good way to prevent more shooting, after all, it is enough to change the principal to shoot, this kind of routine gentry and nobles are all playing thieves.

The main reason for doing this is to divide the family, and there will not be a situation where one family will take over.

"Let's auction the salt farm first, three salt farms are a group, the right to use is ten years, and you have the right to renew the lease first after ten years." Li Zhongxing looked at the people below and said: "The right of priority to renew the lease, I think everyone knows what it means, so I won't explain it." ”

"Let's shoot the first group of salt pans!" Saying that, Li Zhongxing pointed on the big map and said: "The starting price is 20,000 taels of silver!" ”