Fang Yuan stayed in Xuanfu Town for ten days, and Chigutai and Jingjie, who went to pursue Fan Yongdou, finally secretly returned to Xuanfu Town.

Jing Jie reported to Fang Yuan the process and results of the pursuit, Fan Yongdou was a treacherous old fox, after leaving the Great Wall Pass, he divided the two million silver that accompanied him into two parts, one route Fan Yongdou continued to go north into the Mongolian steppe, to join the Mongolian tribes who often had business dealings, and one route to the eastward direction of the Manchu territory with the housekeeper Fan Fu.

Jing Jie and Chigutai chased eastward, only caught Fan Fu, the housekeeper of the Fan family, and recovered one million taels of silver, but they couldn't catch up with them on the other road, and they didn't dare to go to the Mongolian tribes to make trouble with great fanfare, so they could only give up the pursuit and return to the Great Wall Pass.

let the big traitor Fan Yongdou escape, Fang Yuan was angry and hateful, but he had no choice but to find another opportunity to destroy this big traitor in the future.

Fang Yuan snatched back the one million taels of silver from Jing Jie and his party, and took out 10,000 taels as a reward for the cavalry battalion; Take out 10,000 taels as a reward for the artillery battalion, drone team, and Jinyi Guard; Another 50,000 taels were allocated to Jing Jie as the military expenses of the new-style army, which were used to purchase horses, horse fodder, and military salaries for nearly 1,000 people, which were used for daily use.

The remaining more than 900,000 taels of silver, Fang Yuan deposited all the money into the Yue Bao account.

This time, the eight Jin merchants were slaughtered, and Fang Yuan became the biggest winner, together with the previous gold and the silver recovered, he swallowed at least three million taels of silver, which was equivalent to the total financial income of the Ming Dynasty last year.

With such a large amount of silver in the account, Fang Yuan's funds were tight, and the days of breaking one or two pieces of silver in half and spending them had finally passed, and now he could let go of his hands and feet.

Of course, first of all, we must first find a base that belongs to Fang Yuan, and the territory in Fang Yuan's phase is the four richest prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, Suzhou Mansion, Songjiang Mansion, Changzhou Mansion, and Yangzhou Mansion.

These four prefectures are the most economically developed areas of the Ming Dynasty, and the annual taxes paid account for 2/3 of the total financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty, which can be said to be a veritable cash cow and cornucopia.

And these four mansions do not have the fiefdom of the Ming Dynasty vassal king, a clean piece of fat, as long as you can firmly hold these four mansions in your hands, that is, you want money and money, and you want people.

Fang Yuan had already indicated to Chongzhen before that he should send a partial division to run Jiangnan, that is, there was a taste of Mao Sui's self-recommendation in it.

But whether Chongzhen will send Fang Yuan to Jiangnan to operate, that is still unknown.

One is that Fang Yuan's qualifications are too shallow, and he has no political experience in the ruling party at all; Second, the ministers in the imperial court, led by Zhou Yanru and representing the interests of the Donglin Party in Jiangnan, would never allow Chongzhen to send Fang Yuan, a hard stubble that could not be bought, to go to Jiangnan.

Fang Yuan is willing to hand over two million taels of silver to Chongzhen this time, to fill the bottomless pit of the extremely corrupt and almost completely paralyzed military and political system of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the pass that he bought from Chongzhen, so that Chongzhen can see clearly that only Fang Yuan can find Chongzhen the silver to solve his urgent needs, and anyone who goes to Jiangnan will be in the same stream with those Donglin parties, gentry, and wealthy businessmen.

The words and swords in the court must be indispensable, and the only way to go back to the capital is to take a step at a time.

Fang Yuan had secretly made up his mind, if it was not Fang Yuan who was sent to run Jiangnan in the final decision, then this Ming would really be hopeless, and there was no need to waste time and energy to help, go to Shandong to summon the Liukou to directly enter Jiangnan and forcibly take it over by force.

He now wants silver, silver, people, and a new army whose combat power is not weaker than that of the Manchu Eight Banners. In those guards in the south of the Yangtze River, it is strange that the soft-footed crabs who rely on the backdoor relationship to go to the army to mix empty salaries can withstand their own tiger and wolf army.

After Fang Yuan and Zhou Yuji said goodbye, they led a group of Shenji Battalion and Jinyi Guards to march to the capital with more than five million silver that were ready to be handed over to Chongzhen.

Ten days later, Fang Yuan and his entourage passed Juyong Pass and Ulzhou, and finally arrived in the capital after at least two or three months of absence. It was May when I went out, and now it's mid-July.

Fang Yuan ordered Qin Zhan and Wang Qian to lead the Shenji Battalion and Jinyi Wei to bring the silver to the main square of the palace, and he went directly to the Qianqing Palace to meet Emperor Chongzhen.

As soon as Emperor Chongzhen, who was resting in the harem, heard that Fang Yuan had returned, he immediately abandoned Concubine Yuan, who was admiring the flowers together, and rushed to the Qianqing Palace.

In the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Fang Yuan reported to Chongzhen the changes that had occurred in this line of work, and handed over all the account books of the eight Jin merchants to Chongzhen to prove his guilt. Only the fact that he embezzled three million silver and the existence of that new army were omitted.

Chongzhen, who was already poor and crazy, was most concerned about not whether Wang Chengyin and the Eight Great Jin Merchants should die, but how much silver Fang Yuan brought back this time, "Fang Yuan, you have copied the Eight Great Jin Merchants, how much have you copied?" ”

Fang Yuan hurriedly said, "Pick out the 400,000 taels of silver that need to be exchanged for Your Majesty, as well as the transfer fee paid to Governor Sun's department, and there are 100,000 taels of gold left, 4.15 million taels of silver." ”

Wang Chengen knelt down suddenly, and said again and again, "Congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, Daming is saved!" There is salvation! ”

Chongzhen's eyes glowed with green light when he heard this, and he almost couldn't believe his ears, "Fang Yuan, do you mean that you brought back 100,000 taels of gold and 4.15 million taels of silver this time?" ”

Fang Yuan took out the list of confiscated family property that he carried with him and presented it to Emperor Chongzhen, "Yes, this is a list of confiscated family property, please take a look at it." ”

Chongzhen took the list handed over by Fang Yuan with trembling hands, and reviewed them one by one, gold, silver, grain and grass, cloth, jewelry and jade, really not dreaming, he stood up with great joy, walked in front of Fang Yuan, and the corners of his clothes were torn off in a hurry, "Okay!" Good! Fang Yuan, you are a loyal minister, a great loyal minister! ”

He paced back and forth in front of Fang Yuan and said, "I want to reward you, reward you heavily." ”

Fang Yuan was stunned, he was worried that Chongzhen would take out another ten taels or twenty taels of silver as a reward, so it was better not to let Chongzhen owe a favor.

Chongzhen stopped and looked at him and said, "I will give you permission to see me in private, you can not kneel or bow, but only make a salute to the monarch and ministers." ”

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, courtiers had to kneel when they saw the emperor, and even knelt when they spoke. Emperor Chongzhen's concession this time did not kneel or bow in private, and it was really only a meritorious minister who could enjoy this kind of treatment.

Since Chongzhen's accession to the throne, no minister in this dynasty has been able to enjoy this kind of treatment, and Chongzhen suddenly gave this reward, which is to regard Fang Yuan as a humerus, a confidant, and even a little bit of wooing Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan didn't know whether this matter was good or bad, as a traverser, he couldn't kneel down of course he couldn't ask for it, and he was busy thanking him, "Thank you, Your Majesty Shengming." ”

Chongzhen smiled again, and said to himself, "Okay, five million taels of silver, okay, Fang Yuan, you have worked hard all the way, go back and rest for a few days first, and I will invite you to come to discuss the matter." ”

Fang Yuan surrendered his hand, and as soon as he left the Dongnuan Pavilion, Wang Chengen also secretly followed, approached Fang Yuan and said, "Fang Yuan, you have really made a great contribution this time, Your Majesty is so happy that you get carried away, and you are allowed not to kneel or worship, that is a gift that the first assistant of the cabinet does not have!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Princess, in addition to the great gifts for Your Majesty, I have also prepared a big gift for you and the father-in-law of the celebrant supervisor. ”

Wang Chengen thanked him again and again, and said, "Actually, you can make meritorious service this time, and it all depends on Your Majesty to withstand the overwhelming impeachment of the ministers, and Your Majesty has unreserved trust in you!" ”

Fang Yuan couldn't tell what the relationship with Chongzhen was right now, maybe it was similar to the relationship between Qin Xiaogong and Shang Ying in the TV series "Great Qin Empire"! The two are both kings and ministers, but also good friends, but how long this honeymoon period can last, only God knows.

Fang Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "Princess, has Your Majesty discussed my previous proposal to run Jiangnan with the ministers these days?" ”

Wang Chengen saw through his thoughts at a glance, and said in a low voice, "I have discussed with the cabinet several times, and the cabinet's view is that even if the capital is not moved, it is imperative to run Jiangnan, mainly because the candidate to run Jiangnan has not yet been determined." ”

Fang Yuan was secretly glad that Chongzhen had not determined the candidate to go to Jiangnan on the day he left the capital, and hurriedly asked, "Who is the candidate that Your Majesty likes?" ”

Wang Chengen whispered, "Of course it's you." ”

This was expected by Fang Yuan, and he asked, "What about the candidates chosen by the ministers?" ”

Wang Chengen said slowly, "The candidate proposed by the cabinet scholar and the queen's mother is... His Royal Highness the Prince. ”

Fang Yuan was taken aback, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the son of Empress Zhou, the current crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cihong!