(After holding it for a few days, I finally got something out.) After listening to it for two days, I say sorry again. ）

No matter how the people and scholars who went back spread today's case, the Zhu Houzhao brothers and Zhao Zhiying rushed to the palace as quickly as possible in a carriage.

When they arrived at the Qianqing Palace, the three of them also walked quickly to the imperial study. There is no early dynasty today, and Hongji is here to review the folds. When the eunuch went in to make a report, the three of them waited outside the temple.

Many people may have visited the imperial palace in the capital, and the deepest impression is huge and majestic. In the palace, there are many places where you can't take a carriage, and the three of them walked quickly, Zhu Houzhao's brothers are young and strong, but it's nothing, Zhao Zhiying is over fifty, and he is already out of breath after walking such a long way. The things Li Yuanfu brought were too important, so Zhao Zhiying also let go of his usual bearing, but he was not forgiving at his age, holding his knees while waiting, panting, taking out a handkerchief from his arms, taking off his black gauze hat to wipe the hot sweat on his head, and quickly tidying up his appearance in a short time, otherwise it would not be a small crime to lose his manners in front of the king.

After a while, a eunuch arrived at the door and shouted, "His Royal Highness Prince Xuan, His Royal Highness King Fu, Shuntian Mansion Yin Jin." Zhao Zhiying put on her hat and saw if there was anything wrong with herself, so she followed the two brothers in.

Entering the imperial study, the three of them all knelt down and saluted, "Erchen (Weichen) knocks to see his father (Your Majesty), long live, long live, long live." "This is a business matter, and etiquette must not be missing.

Hongji nodded lightly, "Get up." Hongzhi saw the burden in Zhu Houzhao's hand, and Zhu Houzhao also took a few steps and gave the burden to Hongzhi. Hongji slowly opened the baggage and asked, "What is this?" ”

Zhu Houzhao gave Zhao Zhiying a look, and Zhao Zhiying hurriedly said, "Back to Your Majesty, these are sent by the housekeeper of the Liu family in Hangzhou who was kicked out of the gate, and there are some incriminating evidence of the Liu family inside." The records in it are too big, and Weichen doesn't dare to be good at it, so he asks His Majesty to make a holy judgment. ”

Hongji didn't answer him, but looked at the record inside and frowned tightly. "In the spring of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, he gave the prefect of Hangzhou 50 catties of soybeans and 3,000 catties of cotton. The prefect's mother's birthday. ”

This account book is basically full of this kind of record, Hongji saw these soybeans, cotton or something, and his heart was a little bottom, after all, this yellow rice, white rice has not been many years in the past, and Hongji remembers the things of that year very clearly.

Take out another book, which records some of the industries that belong to the Liu family, as well as the flow of funds from these industries or something. The general industry is good to say, even if there are a few salt numbers, Hongzhi did not move much, Hongzhi is not the first day in power, how many wealthy giants in the world are engaged in the private salt business He also has a rough idea in his heart, but there are weapons and armor manufacturing, then it is unbelievable, this is contraband, regular weapons can only be manufactured by the Ministry of Industry of the Imperial Court, and the weapon manufacturing workshop of the Liu family actually appeared Zhuge crossbow, bed crossbow, a swarm of high-end weapons, which are definitely contraband among contraband. If these things are lost to the north, the Ming Dynasty will lose an unknown amount. Many families in the south of the Yangtze River also have a way of doing business in the north, and it is even more harmful to be displaced to the sea. Pirates are inherently difficult to eliminate, and some people send weapons and supplies, so they are completely using the blood of coastal people to feed this family. The sea is wet, the maintenance of weapons is not easy, and the Japanese side is the Warring States, and the big names are in full swing, which is in high demand for weapons.

Hiroji's hand trembled slightly and put the booklet on the table, then he held his forehead with one hand and clenched the other into a fist and propped it up on the table. The black Yishan crown on his head was also trembling slightly, and when Brother Zhu Houzhao saw his father's appearance, he immediately persuaded him, "Father, the emperor is angry." ”

Hearing this, Hongji took off the hand that was placed on his forehead, then raised his head, sneered and said, "Rest the anger, how can this anger be stopped?" ”

Zhu Houwei continued to speak, "Father, the top priority is to investigate whether these evidence are true, and there are many people in the capital, so the evidence must be collected quickly. Hongji closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then calmly looked at Zhu Houzhao, "What are you going to do?" Zhu Houzhao had a calm face and replied quickly, "These evidences can convict the Liu family casually, it is better to send someone to collect evidence from the nearest place first, and once it is verified, immediately order to go to Hangzhou to get people." ”

Hongzhi nodded slightly, letting He Ding grind, ready to issue an order. Immediately let Jinyiwei move, and let the local Jinyiwei cooperate to investigate and deal with the recent Liujia industry. In addition, he ordered the water and land battalion to move, and quickly discharged a group of people to the south to cooperate. This needs to be issued to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and then it can be given to the water and land battalions. Once it is verified, he will go directly to Jiangnan to arrest all the personnel of the Liu family.

With Hongzhi, the emperor, speaking, things became surprisingly efficient, half an hour later, a group of Jinyiwei's men quickly came out, along the old official road straight to Shandong, and half an hour later, the water and land battalion was personally led by Wu Yiheng, and the 800 infantry troops all took carriages, plus other materials and equipment, nearly 500 side vans went straight to the south.

At this time, Zhao Zhiying had already gone back, and Lao Zhao said that the character had been preliminarily completed, and now he was staying at home and waiting quietly, as for the guests, no one would come.

In the imperial study, there were only three fathers and sons, and Zhu Houzhao had puzzled on his face, "Daddy, there are corrupt officials and corrupt officials in Jiangnan officialdom, why don't you catch them all when you have the evidence?" ”

Hongji smiled bitterly and shook his head, smiling with a bit of self-deprecation and sadness. Looking at the two sons who have gradually become adults, Hongji unloads his father's tough shell for the first time, revealing a soft inside. Zhu Houzhao and the two brothers also felt a pain in their hearts.

Hongzhi didn't speak, and Zhu Houwei had no choice but to answer Zhu Houzhao's doubts, "Big brother, even if these people are replaced now, it is difficult to ensure that the people who replaced them will not make the same mistakes." Jiangnan is prosperous and developed, and various forces are also very complicated, and new officials may also be corrupted quickly. Moreover, there are so many officials in this part of the brochure alone, if they are really all taken, Nan Zhili will be empty. The chaos of officialdom in Jiangnan will inevitably affect the transfer of materials, and Huangzhuang has no way to meet the various needs of so many people in Gyeonggi now. ”

At this time, Hongzhi also returned to the past, and said calmly, "According to the news obtained by Jinyiwei, the little prince of the northern grassland has basically unified the desert, and now except for a few tribes west of Nuergansi, the north of the Ming Dynasty is full of the little prince's forces." The little prince is already integrating his forces, and by next year, there will be no less than 500,000 bowstrings under him, and Jiangnan will be in chaos. He also sighed slightly.

500,000 cavalry is not a joke, the cavalry in this era in most cases still has to surpass the infantry in combat effectiveness, not to mention that these steppe peoples have a natural advantage in horsemanship, even if the number is the same, the cavalry of the Ming army does not dare to say that it is a stable victory. Strong mobility, coupled with the long border line, Daming is also invincible.

After listening to Hongji's words, Zhu Houzhao secretly said hateful. For hundreds of thousands of cavalry, he is not afraid of being a war maniac, but he also understands that without the material supply of Jiangnan, he cannot fight with the other party by relying on the north itself.

Zhu Houwei calmed down, making calculations in his heart, and after a while, a smile appeared on his face. Hongzhi and Zhu Hou took care of the joy in their hearts, and Hongzhi asked directly, "Houwei, what did you think?" ”

Zhu Houwei said with a smile, "Daddy, the 500,000 troops in the north sound quite scary, but it's not impossible. Although it can't be annihilated in one fell swoop, the defensive counterattack may not be without a chance of winning, and it should be able to hurt them, so that my Daming border will have a few years of peace. "Really?" Hongji also came to be interested.

Zhu Houwei smiled evilly: "It depends on whether Daddy can support it." Hongji also smiled and said, "Tell me." Zhu Houwei organized his language and slowly spoke, "With the geographical advantage of the defensive battle, we can occupy some advantages, the weapons of the water and land battalions are advanced, and the soldiers dare to fight, as long as we can have more, it should be no problem to repel the enemy." However, to expand the army again, this silver two is a problem, and the pressure on the supply of weapons is also high, but there is no other problem. ”

Zhu Houzhao smiled: "Isn't it just about money in the final analysis?" The World Chamber of Commerce still has a lot of money, can you just use it first? Zhu Houwei shook his head, "It's not enough, if you want to defeat the little prince, you need at least 350,000 people, plus weapons, this expansion of the army will cost at least two million taels, but the money of the World Chamber of Commerce can't be moved, and now there are three million left, and the road construction team alone will spend 700,000 taels per month, and Chaoyang Academy will establish a branch next year, and the number will increase greatly, which is a big expense all of a sudden." In addition, the monthly cost of the water and land camp is not a small amount, and it is almost the end of the year, and the good clan will also give money and food, which is a lot. Tianjin and Shandong are about to start large-scale shipbuilding, and the consumption of money, grain and materials is not a small amount. In a word, the money of the World Chamber of Commerce is not enough. ”

As soon as this account was calculated, Hongzhi and Zhu Houzhao were shocked, what Zhu Houwei said must be true, there is nothing to doubt about it. It's just that I didn't expect the amphibious battalion to cost so much money, but the amphibious battalion has also experienced a lot of battles, and every time it has achieved great results with small casualties, so the two of them are still very satisfied. Hongzhi pondered for a few seconds, looked at Zhu Houwei with some encouragement and said, "That's it, take three million taels from Neku and use it first, if it's not enough, come back." Zhu Houzhao's brother was very happy, and Zhu Houzhao said directly, "Daddy, how much silver is there in this inner treasury, how do you feel that it is inexhaustible and inexhaustible?" Hongzhi scolded with a smile, "What nonsense, this is all accumulated by the previous emperors of all dynasties, it is not easy to come by, and it has cost most of it this time." If it's all gone, Daddy will leave you with an empty treasury in the future. Zhu Houzhao's face was embarrassed.

Zhu Houwei said confidently: "Daddy, don't worry, I can get this money back for you in less than two years." If Daddy can help a little, the money will come back sooner. For Zhu Houwei's earning ability, the father and son are also very confident, Hongzhi asked, "What do you want?" ”

Zhu Houwei immediately said: "Land? "Land?" Hongzhi and Zhu Houzhao asked at the same time, feeling a little incredible.

"Yes, it's land, not fertile land, as long as the coastal land can't be used to grow grain."

Koji came interested in "Where?" ”

"Tianjin, Dengzhou, Suzhou Huating County, Hangzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Guangzhou, and some other places, I'll bring the map later." Zhu Houwei said with a smile.

Many of these places are owner-owned lands, and although Hongji is nominally the owner of the land, he can't forcibly seize these lands, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable. However, this incident of the Liu family brought a good opportunity.

Zhu Houwei thought happily, "When I get these places, I will immediately start building a wharf, and if I want to stop the ship in the future, I will pay the money." If you get another customs, the money will not come in in an uproar, and the World Chamber of Commerce will no longer be short of money. ”

Three days later, in a village twenty miles south of Shandong Plains County, a workshop was broken into Jinyiwei, who found a large number of prohibited weapons, and the Liu family's crime this time was decided.