Yan Hongxin said, you guys, just rely on your ability to jump in front of me, what are you trying to do? Do you really expect that a few strokes of nonsense will scare me into letting go? Could it be that you, like Li Wenxiu, also drank the rice soup of the demon Dao Pu Zhenren? Of course, in the face of opponents with relatively low IQs, this sense of accomplishment is the most pleasant. Yan Hong was not in a hurry or annoyed, looked at those people with a smile, and just asked: "If I don't release people and don't return Zhang Yuanwai's daughter-in-law, what will I do?" Could it be that you are going to set up the three battalions of the stove and come here to rob it? ”

Lin Jinfang patted the case and said: "Yan Qincha, don't be too presumptuous!" Now that the Holy Son of Heaven is in power, he can't tolerate a little lucky man who is doing evil and corrupting the discipline! ”

Wei Zhijie said: "Yan Qin has been in Beijing for a long time, and I don't know the people of Yangzhou. If some righteous people are dissatisfied with the greed of evil officials and oppress the innocent, and rise up to resist, although I am shepherding one side, but the soldiers are few and outnumbered, and they can't be suppressed. ”

Yan Hong said: "The two of you are polite, and you don't need to wait for the bullet pressure." Today, there is a battalion of Zhejiang soldiers in Yangzhou, and tens of thousands of troops in Hangzhou. However, Geng Shaoquan in Hangzhou gathered thousands of troops to make a rebellion, and was swept away by me with only a few hundred children. ”

Everyone saw that Qin Cha was ruthless, and it was difficult to reply. No matter how strong Zao Yong is, he must not be as strong as 5,000 real widows, is this an unclear matter, but as long as Zao Yong is easy to use, it will not be Ning Wei's turn to squeeze the Hui merchants into nonsense. The first war in Taizhou moved the south of the Yangtze River, even if these wealthy businessmen and officials did not consider the consequences. I really want to pull the team out and do a hard fight. The result can only be a complete failure.

The men looked at each other. Speechless to each other, Lin Jinfang pointed out: "Duh! Yan Qincha, don't be too arrogant! The army of the imperial court is not for you to do whatever you want and oppress the locality. What should you do if you provoke a popular uprising, the salt merchants strike and the court is insufficient? ”

Zhang Yongfu echoed: "Not bad. I'm a common man, and I'm definitely not your opponent when I fight, but I'm going to contact a guy and stop fighting! We will not receive this year's salt, and we will not pay the salt tax! "Economic means have always been the best magic weapon for Yangzhou salt merchants to blackmail the imperial court and fight for their own interests. In Jiajing's annual fiscal revenue, silver is only two million taels, and the salt tax accounts for half, while the Huai salt of Yangzhou salt merchants. Again, the bulk of this half, if the merchants collectively strike. At least a quarter of this year's fiscal revenue will be lost.

In the past, salt merchants relied on this means to blackmail the government, but it can be said that nine times out of ten, after all, no local official was willing to bear such a huge responsibility as the loss of 25 percent of the fiscal revenue, and the salt merchants would not make too outrageous demands, so the two compromises basically ended with the government admitting it.

It's just that victory and defeat are not normal. Last year, Yan Maoqing raised the salt tax from 600,000 to 1 million, of which 300,000 was added to Yangzhou, and the salt merchants did not win. And that's just a strict lackey, and now it's the owner of the dog, how can they win?

Especially now, the opening of the sea is imminent, Yan Hong has copied a huge amount of money from Shandong Bailian Shengku, this kind of blood transfusion tactic is not the right way, but at least in a short period of time, the imperial court is indeed a lot more generous, so the hundreds of thousands of Huaiyan taxes will naturally discount Yan Hong's deterrent effect.

Therefore, Yan Hong snorted coldly: "Strike? All right. Hui retreats, westward advances, you Hui merchants do not support, I think the king and Ma two members of the Western merchants, must be willing to contribute to the imperial court, salt and taxes. If the West and Hui are unwilling to support it, will I have no rich businessmen in Gandi? ”

After all, everyone wants to do the salt business, and the salt introduction is not that no one wants it, but that everyone wants it. The Yan family is from Jiangxi, if they really take this opportunity to introduce Jiangxi villagers into the salt market, not only is it not considered to use power for personal gain, but also have to be praised for the benefit of Sangzi, maybe one day when they return to their hometown, the people will have to go out a few miles to greet them. Yan Hong has been in Jiangnan for a long time, intersecting with Xu Wenchang, and he has also touched the details of the salt merchants, and even said that Shen Tianpeng's tiger body was shocked with a great truth, so he hit the lifeblood of the Hui merchants with one move.

Zhang Yongfu also knew that most of the magic weapons in his hands were useless, and his arrogance suddenly dropped by eight or nine points. Ma Zimian scolded secretly: "Ramming goods." He arched his hand and said, "Yan Qincha, please." The old man encouraged himself, this is polite. ”

Yan Hong also arched his hand, "Who should I be?" It turned out to be Ma Lao in front of him, in the past, the official name of the Covenant was the three gentlemen of Hongzhi, and he also admired it very much in his heart, but he hated not to have the opportunity to see it, and today he can see the descendants of the Covenant Zhai Gong, and it is also a blessing for three lives. ”

Yue Zhai is Ma Wensheng's number, and it is also the biggest pride of the Ma family, when he saw Yan Hong respecting Ma Wensheng so much, Ma Zimian's opinion of Yan Hong suddenly improved. Especially Yan Hongfang's sentence, Hui retreats and goes west, in fact, it is the appetite of Dahema's self-encouragement and Wang Quanxin. Nowadays, the West and Hui stand side by side, regardless of high and low, but the problem is that the Western Merchants are composed of merchants from Qin and Jin, that is to say, in terms of merchants in one place, they are still much weaker than Hui merchants. If it can really realize Hui's retreat to the west, it will be a very happy thing.

Therefore, this alliance that was not very strong, the rift was even more obvious at this time, Zhang Yongfu gritted his teeth, and Ma Zimian was already talking and laughing with Yan Hong. The imperial envoy of Lin Jinfang Lin coughed a few times, but Ma Zimian didn't hear it, and Wang Quanxin closed his eyes and put on a posture that had nothing to do with himself.

At this time, Yan Hong took out a few copies of the confession from his sleeve, handed them to a few people, and said: "As for the king's law, then please take a look, how should the matter of this confession be judged according to my Da Ming law?" ”

Several people took the confession and watched, their faces changed, and Wei Zhijie said angrily: "This is a frame-up, this is a bloody mouth, the whole system is made out of nothing, malicious slander!" Please also ask Qin to let me see Li Wenxiu, I want to confront him face to face! ”

Yan Hong sneered: "Li Wenxiu, I know that I am guilty of a lot of sin, and I have committed suicide. ”

"Then where is Li Jinghu?"

"Half an hour ago, he just killed himself."

Lin Jinfang listened to the fire and hit it up, this dog thief is simply that we treat it as an idiot. Ran said: "Qincha, the trick of killing people and destroying the mouth is used, how much is the value of this confession, you can know it if you don't ask, under Miki, why don't you worry about it?" The prisoner is dead, and there is no evidence, do you really think that you can rely on this kind of confession to stop the world's leisurely mouth? ”

Yan Hong sneered: "Lin Zhongcheng, are you confused? What's the use of me plugging the mouth of the world? I only know, what does it have to do with me if I eat the king's kindness, arrest the guilty, and examine the adulterous evil? As for whether this confession is trustworthy or not, it is up to Heaven, not you and me. That's all, we don't entertain. ”

Seeing that he turned his face, those few people also knew that they couldn't get a bargain from him, after all, they didn't have the upper hand when they talked about literature and martial arts. Especially now that Yan Hong has obtained a confession and killed the criminal, what else can he do? As for the three boats of salt, it has become a trivial matter now, but it is not very important, if this thing on the paper is done, it will be the end of the house and the door, what is the use of more salt?

Everyone was about to leave, but Yan Hong arched his hand and said: "Wei Futai, Ben Qin heard that you are a Jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, I don't know if you take it seriously?" ”

Wei Zhijie said: "So what? ”

Yan Hong's face was solemn, and he stood up and said: "In this way, Ben Qin's mentor in Guozijian is Zhang Gong Juzheng in the same year. Wei Futai has the friendship of my uncle and uncle, how can I be rude to Futai? He bowed.

Wei Zhijie hurriedly returned the salute. At this moment, he had been oppressed by Yan Hong's power and was dizzy, but suddenly Yan Hong actually said a kind word, and suddenly it was like a ray of sunshine coming in in the black fog. Of course, Yan Hong's words are polite, and the meaning is also very clear, I see the face of Mr. Zhang Juzheng, but it is too difficult for you, you are also interesting, don't be embarrassed.

Therefore, he also returned the courtesy: "Oh, Qin Cha is too polite." Uncle Zhang and I are also friends at the same time, and I don't want his protégé to be so civil and military, which is really ashamed to kill the old man. "As for saying that he was slapped in the face by Xun Si before, what else is this called?

Yan Hong said again: "There are some things in the bottom, I want to ask Wei Taishou for advice, how about asking Uncle Shi to stay for the time being?" The rest of them are gone. ”

Wei Zhijie said with a fart: "Qin Cha has a life, how dare you disobey?" Mr. Lu, Mr. Lin, Mr. Ma, Mr. Wang, Mr. Zhang, everyone is invited. ”

Zhang Yongfu and the others looked at Wei Zhijie's rebellious face, and they were so angry that their chests were full of resentment, needless to say. When they got out of the Yamen of the Inspection Division, it was getting late, and it was not convenient to go back to Yangzhou City, so everyone found an inn to live in Wanshou Town. After settling down in the guest room, Zhang Yongfu quietly slipped to Wang Quanxin and Ma Zimian's room, invited them to his room, and said, "The two of you listen to me. ”

"What?"

"Now the situation is a life of nine deaths, Yan Hong's guy is clearly squeezing our salt merchants to death! That confession is a life-urging talisman, you can bite me Zhang Yongfu today, but I don't know that he doesn't have a confession in his hand, and it is the king and Ma Ergong who are falsely accused? If he is manipulated like this, our Wanguan furniture will not be able to be saved, and it will be very dangerous to lose our lives. According to me, it's better not to do it and never stop, once and for all, except for future troubles! ”

Ma Zi exhorted: "Zhang Yuanwai, what do you think? ”

Zhang Yongfu gritted his teeth: "Among the three camps, there are a lot of our people, pull out the team, Wanshou Inspection Division!" A fire, burned the inspection department to the ground, arranged for people to release random arrows, and released birds, now that Li Wenxiu is dead, if the confession is also destroyed, what else will Yan Hong use to accuse us? If even he is dead, we will have peace of mind. At most, Wei Zhijie was unlucky. When the time comes, we will put the responsibility on his head again, and we will make our fortune the same. ”

Ma Zimian snorted coldly when he heard this: "Zhang Yuanwai has a good calculation, but I want to ask, what are the benefits of our Western businessmen doing this?" ”

Zhang Yongfu, who asked this question, is really not easy to answer, the children of Western businessmen learn more bows and pistols, and the power of Yu Zaoyong is also greater than that of Hui merchants, if he leaves the support of Western businessmen, he really can't do it if he wants to mutiny because of Hui businessmen. But the other party opens his mouth to ask for benefits, how should he answer this? It's not a question of reluctance to give, but a question of how much to give to the other party to be satisfied. (To be continued......)