Zhao Yan's rhetoric was so fierce that he almost scolded the Manchu officials, and the words seemed to be mild, but they were sarcastic in many places.

first complained about injustice, then obediently offered a salt tax of 3 million taels, and then criticized the other two Huai salt merchants and officials, so as to divert the source of the contradiction.

After a sharp refutation of the slander, he directly rejected the will to move the town of Hancheng.

"My father was killed by Kong Youde's rebellion, and I hope that Your Majesty will not be able to go to Hancheng during the period of filial piety. In addition, the ministers raised troops during the period of filial piety, all of which were caused by family feuds, and they wanted to have the level of virtue in their hands. The ministers went to Fengyang to fight the thieves in person, all because of the danger in the capital, and it was impossible to leave Denglai. However, the minister moved to Hancheng, how could he resist Jiannu in the north, Qindi was far away from Beijing, and if Jiannu invaded the pass, it would be beyond the reach of the whip. However, if Jiannu enters the Kou Pass, he will attack Liaodong at sea, so that Jiannu will not dare to move lightly. In addition, the minister stays in the town of Denglai, which can be the disadvantage of His Majesty's salt administration, and within three years, the salt tax will be collected from His Majesty 5 million taels, and if His Majesty entrusts the world salt government to appoint the minister, the minister will make his annual income more than 10 million taels...... Although the minister is a military general, he also reads the book of sages, and His Majesty's grace and ministers dare not forget, only to be born and die, in order to repay the king's kindness...... If the Holy One appoints others to the salt administration of Lidenlai, it will inevitably be like the land of the two Huai, and the salt tax collected will be deducted layer by layer, and how many people will pay it? If the salt tax is not met, His Majesty may revoke it. ”

…… After asking the eunuch to deliver this piece on his behalf, Zhao Yan received a letter from Lu Xiangsheng at this time, and Lu Xiangsheng persuaded Zhao Yan in the letter: Those who are salty are like honeycombs for honey, and they should not be kept for a long time. If you don't want to go to Hancheng to suppress thieves, you can come to the Central Plains, now the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong is running on the border of Chu and Shu, although the Liaodong soldiers are fine, but they are more useless than the Denglai soldiers...... Since Zhang Xianzhong heard that Zhao Yan had returned to Shandong, he was not in a hurry to return to Shaanxi, but fought in the mountainous areas on the border of Huguang and Sichuan, and it was extremely difficult for Lu Xiangsheng to chase him, and the mountains were steep, and the Liaodong cavalry often could not play a role.

And Zhu Dadian also encountered trouble at this time, and the 5th Battalion of the Left Movement entered Anhui, chaotic in the Yinghuo Mountains (Dabie Mountain), threatening Nanjing to the east and Fengyang to the northeast.

The Fifth Battalion of the Left Battalion of the Revolution, that is, the five thieves of the Lao Hui Hui Ma Shouying, He Yilong of the Geli Eye, He Jin of the Zuojin, Liu Xiyao, the King of the Ruling World, and Lin Lin of the Fighting World, are relatively stable groups engaged in joint operations, and this is the so-called "Fifth Battalion of the Revolution and the Left."

After they rushed into Dabie Mountain, they immediately became like fish in water. He is good at bribing natives to collect intelligence, and most of the officers and soldiers are ambushing, and few are facing the enemy.

Zhu Dadian sent men and horses to search the mountain, and the fifth battalion of Gezuo was ambushed in danger, and the officers and soldiers were guests and were often defeated. Not long ago, he was impeached for 'losing the state and county', and the surname Zhu Youzhen only reprimanded him.

Zhu Dadian was already burning his eyebrows, and he had to drop his black gauze hat if he continued like this, so he hurriedly wrote to Zhao Yan, hoping that he could send some soldiers and horses to Anhui to assist in the suppression. The only foreign aid that Zhu Dadian can ask for is only Zhao Yan in Denglai, after all, he was Zhao Yan's boss, and the relationship between the two is also good, not to mention that Zhao Yan's Denglai soldiers are elite, and it must be useful to transfer them to suppress thieves.

Zhao Yan thought about it for a while and decided to transfer the third infantry battalion led by Li Ran to Huguang to suppress Zhang Xianzhong, and Wang Zheng, the head of the Yingzhou regiment, to suppress the fifth battalion of the left left of the Anhui Cooperative.

and sent someone to send a letter to Lu Xiangsheng, informing Lu Xiangsheng of his intentions, and explaining the pros and cons, hoping that Lu Xiangsheng could help one or two.

Lu Xiangsheng is deeply trusted by Chongzhen, and if he speaks for Zhao Yan, he will definitely be able to play a role.

…… On October 13, Zhao Yan's recital was presented to Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youzhen's face was cloudy after reading it, I don't know whether he was happy or angry, and then Zhu Youzhen took the recital and looked at it several times, his face slowly became gloomy, and it was terrifyingly gloomy.

"Your Majesty." Bingbi eunuch Wang Chengen called tentatively, and then said: "Then Zhao Yan is unwilling to move the town of Hancheng, and wants to stay in Denglai to control the salt profits, whether to make another holy decree and let him move the town......

"That's it, this son is still loyal and brave." Zhu Youzhen raised his hand and said, Wang Chengen couldn't help but be stunned, originally thought that Zhu Youzhen was angry at Zhao Yan's resistance, but now it seems that this is not the case.

"The Manchu Dynasty is civil and military, bullying and concealing superiors, greedy for life and afraid of death, drunk on money like life, good, good, good." Zhu Youzhen trembled, slapped the table angrily, and immediately knocked the inkstone on the case to the ground.

"The emperor is angry, the emperor is angry, it's not worth it to be angry with those villains!" Wang Chengen hurriedly helped Zhu Youzhen to admonish.

"Hmph, what a two-Huai salt envoy, if it weren't for Zhao Yan to report the truth about the salt administration, I would still be kept in the dark and draft the purpose." Zhu You shouted angrily at Wang Chengen.

"Yes." Wang Chengen hurriedly asked the little eunuch below to clean up the copywriting, picked up the brush and prepared the draft.

"Zheng Zhiyang, the envoy of the two Huai salt transports, dereliction of duty and deception, greedy for ink and salt profits, is called dismissal and investigation."

"Wearing brocade clothes and guarding the salt merchants to strictly investigate the bribery of officials, be sure to check the list one by one and report it to ......" Zhu Youzhen was furious and made two holy decrees.

But it was Zhao Yan's performance that made him pay attention, and he was very moved by the seizure of the two Huai salt merchants, but Chongzhen didn't understand it, it was almost impossible for him to do this, even if he was the emperor, he would inevitably be opposed by the minister.

After a while, after Wang Chengen prepared the decree, he asked Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, how to deal with Zhao Yan's letter?" ”

"Stay in the town of Denglai, concurrently serve as the Shandong salt transportation envoy, and the prime minister of the world's salt administration." Chongzhen said. Zhao Yan's 'weeping blood playing' undoubtedly improved his impression in Chongzhen's mind again.

Of course, the most important thing is that he showed his loyalty with his actions, and he directly had to pay three million taels of salt tax, and the salt tax in Shandong alone was more than the total salt tax in the world.

Originally, he hated Zhao Yan because Zhao Yan moved his cheese. This time, Zhao Yan returned the cheese to him, and pointed out to him that it was those salt merchants who really moved his cheese.

Zhu Youzhen was really furious, and directly ordered the investigation of Zheng Zhiyang, the two Huai salt transport envoys named by Zhao Yan.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is not in accordance with the rules, then Zhao Yan is a martial artist." Wang Chengen hesitated for a while and said.

"Current affairs are extremely difficult, only talent is appointed, although Zhao Yan is a martial artist, but he also reads sage books, why not let him be the salt envoy of Shandong?" Zhu Youzhen snorted coldly, Wang Chengen hurriedly responded, but continued to suggest: "It is okay for the emperor to appoint Zhao Yan as the Shandong salt transport envoy, but if he is allowed to be the prime minister of the world's salt administration, those ministers will inevitably oppose it, and then it will touch a lot of powerful people, and if it is too hasty, there will inevitably be some incidents." ”

"Then let him prime minister Shandong Yanzheng first." Zhu Youzhen thought about it, nodded and agreed to Wang Chengen's suggestion, Wang Chengen quickly drafted the holy decree, and then immediately sent it to the palm seal eunuch for sealing.

Theoretically, the eunuch of the palm print is greater, but the influence on the emperor is that the eunuch is greater, and the eunuch of the palm print is only the authority of the eunuch to supervise the pen.

Wang Chengen is Wei Zhongxian's successor, but compared to Wei Zhongxian, the power is obviously a heaven and a earth, Chongzhen is a very diligent monarch, Wang Chengen cannot become the second Wei Zhongxian, and the eunuchs with the palm seal do not cooperate with him, they are all higher than Wang Chengen, and there is obviously no way to command them.

The palm seal eunuch was very surprised when he saw these three holy decrees, and asked Wang Chengen if he had written it wrong? After checking that it was correct, the palm print eunuch stamped the seal.

The three holy decrees under Chongzhen can be said to have made a 180-degree turn from the previous attitude, which makes people scratch their heads.

However, such a reversal can be caused by Zhu Youzhen's concern about finance, since he ascended the throne, the finances have always been in a state of constraints, and even the internal funds are not much in deposits.

On the question of how to increase fiscal revenue, ministers generally suggested increasing the land endowment, but the land endowment was added to the local people's upheavals.

After Zhao Yan moved his private salt, Chongzhen's anger was all due to his concern about finances.

At this time, Zhao Yan pointed out a clear way for him to increase fiscal revenue, and guaranteed that the operation of Denglai Salt Administration could earn 5 million taels of salt tax per year, and if the prime minister verified it, he could earn 10 million taels per year.

Ten million taels! That's enough money for him to start a big war. Zhu Youzhen had no reason to be suspicious, after all, Zhao Yan had three million taels of silver to hand over.

As far as Zhu Youzhen is concerned, he doesn't believe in anyone, he only believes in the facts. Especially for the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen was even more distrustful.

Since he ascended the throne, he and his ministers have been in a state of mutual struggle, and it is precisely because of this that there are a large number of civilian officials who have been killed, which is the reason why he promoted Wen Tiren to be the first assistant of the cabinet, because Wen Tiren does not form a party and is in the opposite camp of the ministers.

There is also a reason why Zhu Youzhen does not believe in those civil ministers, the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty [***] is repeated, greedy and contemptuous, and these civil ministers jump up and down, unscrupulous, and his decrees are often stubbornly opposed, which also makes Zhu Youzhen embark on the road of eliminating the other party, and constantly sends eunuchs to various important towns, and even some institutions in the court are overridden by eunuchs, for example, the Ministry of Industry is completely controlled by eunuchs, all kinds of actions show Zhu Youzhen's distrust of civil officials.

At the same time, Zhu Youzhen is a ruthless person once he turns his face, he turned his face with Zhao Yan before, and he also intended Zhao Yan to change his town to Yan'an, which can be seen.

At this time, after Zhao Yan criticized those senior officials in the DPRK, Zhu Youzhen immediately resonated, coupled with his distrust of those civil ministers, he suddenly overturned the negative impression left by those civil ministers when they impeached Zhao Yan, and immediately thought of Zhao Yan's benefits.

can kill thieves, and there is money to hand in, these two aspects are the most urgent needs of Zhu Youzhen, the officials and soldiers are not effective in suppressing thieves, and the ministers are constantly greedy for ink, which has always been Zhu Youzhen's most helpless place.

Zhu Youzhen's will was a sudden uproar, and I don't know why Chongzhen suddenly went against the norm and actually promoted Zhao Yan to Shandong Salt Transport Envoy.

"Jinyiwei will check for me, check hard! Anyone who accepts bribes from the two Huai salt merchants will be dismissed from their posts and questioned. Zhu Youzhen's will suddenly made many officials tremble, and many Wenchen had already realized that a violent storm was coming.

Wen Tiren broke out in a cold sweat, he was able to change from an inconspicuous petty official in the court to a 'rocket cadre' and rise to the head of the cabinet, and his understanding of the holy will was outstanding.

Wen Tiren knew that what Zhu Youzhen was angry about was the erosion of the salt administration by the Salt Transportation Department and the two Huai salt merchants, resulting in a significant decrease in internal income, and what was even more angry was that the Manchu Dynasty ministers were deceived en masse.

He has received bribes from salt merchants, even the bribes of Zhao Yan, the chief soldier of Shandong, but Wen Tiren is in the camp of the two Huai salt merchants, no matter how much filial piety the Shandong general soldier has, there are not as many salt merchants as the two Huai salt merchants, and the two Huai salt merchants have a wide range of connections, if he does not cooperate well, he will definitely be dismissed.

Jin Yiwei thoroughly investigated Wen Tiren and was not worried, with Jin Yiwei's [***] level, at most a few people came out for the dead ghosts, but what he was worried about was that the Shandong General Army was also the Shandong Salt Transport Envoy.

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that Zhao Yan, the chief soldier of Shandong, is a martial artist, and it is not in line with the etiquette system to concurrently serve as the salt transport envoy of Shandong. Wen Tiren stubbornly bowed down and admonished, so far, he still doesn't understand why the Holy Lord wants Zhao Yan to concurrently serve as the Shandong Salt Transport Envoy, this rash persuasion will undoubtedly be like stepping on a landmine, and he will never know if there is a landmine in front of him.

"I've heard that the salt transport envoys everywhere in the world are a fat mess! If there is no heavy bribe, everyone is very good, very good. Zhu Youzhen looked like a negative child, and said angrily.

"Your Majesty, then Zhao Yan smuggled salt profits, Your Majesty did not punish but appointed him, what if the world followed suit?" Wen Tiren stepped forward and asked.

"If the people of the world can pay the same tax of three million taels of salt as he does, and promise to pay five million taels of salt a year, I will accept it." Zhu Youzhen snorted coldly.

The ministers understood at this time, it turned out that it was Zhao Yan, the chief soldier of Denglai, who had paid three million taels of salt tax.

Is this the highest level of bribery? Such an idea popped into the minds of some officials.

Others bribed the minister, but it was good for the general army of Denglai to directly take out three million taels to bribe the emperor, such a big deal, even the two Huai salt merchants could not take it. The financial resources of the two Huai salt merchants are no problem, but they are digging the corners of the emperor's walls, where will they go to bribe the emperor.

The two Huai salt merchants have an intricate interest group, and Zhao Yan has become a salt envoy in Shandong, but it is extremely unfavorable to them.

"Your Majesty, you must not let the general soldier of Denglai take up the post of Shandong salt transportation envoy, the vulgar warriors will go to the world to squeeze the people's capital, and then it will be a harm to the world." Zhang Fengyi hurriedly jumped out and said with a sympathetic look.

Immediately, many officials who had colluded with the two Huai salt merchants jumped out to oppose it, and they may list them one by one.

However, the wind direction at this time was not the same as when the ministers impeached Zhao Yan last month, and those officials of the Shandong faction suddenly stepped forward.

The officials of these Shandong factions are all related to Shandong merchants, but the number of officials of these Shandong factions is not large. The officials of the Shandong faction appeared to be weak.

A month ago, the ministers impeached Zhao Yan, and these officials of the Shandong faction did not dare to speak, but at this time, the officials of the Shandong faction relied on Zhu Youzhen's obvious intentions, but they were not afraid, and they also became more and more courageous.

When it was said that the early dynasty, the ministers scolded and fought, and the court suddenly became a vegetable market.

Chongzhen, who watched coldly, finally joined the scolding war, and was furious about the matter of salt politics, and was as angry as before, but the spearhead was pointed at those ministers, and almost scolded the Manchu officials.

At this time, Zhu Youzhen was like a raging volcanic crater, which could erupt scorching magma at any time.

As for Zhao Yan concurrently serving as the Shandong salt transportation envoy, it was tentatively decided.

Zheng Sanjun, the secretary of the ministry, originally wanted to delay the matter for a while, and put off the previous paperwork for a few months, and then maybe there would be a turnaround.

However, the tragedy is that the officials were officials of the Shandong faction in the matter, Zheng Sanjun had just dragged on for two days, and was immediately given the position of impeachment in the matter......

(To be continued)