Xu Xianchun's efficiency was not bad, and in less than a day, he sorted out the intelligence information of the Jin merchants collected by Jinyiwei and sent it to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen read it carefully, and it took half an hour to finish reading the information, and then he covered the paper and pondered.

Shanxi East Taihang West Luliang, heavy mountains stacked, only a few basins in Datong, Taiyuan, and the Hedong Plain are suitable for survival, the land is barren so that many people in Shanxi can only choose another way to make a living, which has created a large number of Jin merchants.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Jin merchants have become more and more prosperous, and during the period from Jiajing to Wanli, they reached the peak. During the Jiajing period, Yang Bo, the secretary of the military department, and Zhang Siwei, the first assistant of the cabinet during the Wanli period, were all from Shanxi. Relying on the strong support of the DPRK and China, the Jin merchants went from Shanxi to the whole country, forming two major merchant gangs that stood with the Hui merchants.

At present, the Jin merchants are divided into two classes, one of which has already gone out of Shanxi and taken deep roots in Lianghuai. A considerable part of the big salt merchants in Yangzhou are from Shanxi, and these Jin merchants all have official backgrounds, and have accumulated a lot of wealth by relying on the huge profits of salt, and they are all rich and rival the country.

The other class of Jin merchants was the majority, who used the Kaizhong method to transport grain to the military town of Xuanfu Datong to get rich, and then relied on the relationship to do business with the Mongols in Zhangjiakou and other border areas, among which the Fan family, the Wang family, the Jin family and other eight Jin merchants were the head.

There were two kinds of business, one was to trade with the Mongols in Zhangjiakou for merchants, and the other was to organize caravans to go deep into the steppe and do business with remote Mongol tribes.

Since Longqing paid tribute, the imperial court set up horse markets in Zhangjiakou and other places, and exchanged daily necessities such as cloth, silk, and iron pots for Mongolian war horses, furs, cattle and sheep, and with trade channels, the Mongols no longer insisted on looting, and the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia finally went from hostility to formal, nominally Mongolia became a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and the tribute trade between the two sides also gave birth to many big merchants, these merchants were mainly Shanxi people.

There are strict restrictions on the types of goods traded, and military goods such as iron and gunpowder are strictly forbidden to trade. However, it is precisely these materials that have huge profits, and some unscrupulous businessmen collude with border city guards to smuggle them.

After Jiannu became the enemy of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty imposed a strict economic blockade on Jiannu, prohibiting any materials from flowing into Liaodong, and the trade route from Liaoxi and Liaonan to Liaodong was completely cut off, but I didn't expect these unscrupulous merchants to smuggle to Liaodong through the grassland!

Jiannu lived in a bitter cold land, lacking farmers who could farm the land, lacking blacksmiths to make iron, and were simply lackluster in other aspects except for strong force. If a strict economic blockade of Jiannu was carried out according to the imperial court's plan, it would not take many years for its economy to collapse, its strength would inevitably be greatly damaged, and internal chaos would inevitably arise. However, it was these unscrupulous businessmen who replenished the militaristic materials that Jiannu urgently needed, giving them the ability to continue fighting!

And these merchants even did not hesitate to sell the intelligence of the border army of the Ming Dynasty for the sake of silver, and dumped the looted items for Jiannu, which was simply an accomplice to Jiannu's invasion! Among them, the eight representatives were all named imperial merchants and officials after Jiannu became the master, and Fan Yongdou of the Fan family was ordered by Emperor Jiannu to preside over the trade affairs of the Qing Dynasty.

For this group of traitor businessmen who only know how to make money and ignore the righteousness of their family and country, Zhu Youzhen naturally wants to get rid of them quickly!

Ordered someone to summon Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou: "Now that winter is about to fall, and the rural restructuring of Yansui Town is also on the right track, I have decided to return to Beijing." ”

Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng glanced at each other, and both arched their hands and said, "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

As an emperor, it is not normal to be outside for a long time, and it is not good for the country, and the two of them support Zhu Youzhen's choice to return to Beijing.

"But Yansui Town still has to be arranged, two Aiqing, who wants to stay in Yan'an to preside over the overall situation?" Zhu Youzhen smiled.

It stands to reason that Hong Chengchou is the governor of Yansui and should stay, but Hong Chengchou glanced at Lu Xiangsheng and took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, it seems that it is more appropriate for Lord Lu to stay." Lord Lu is the Xiyuan military envoy, responsible for the training of the Praetorian Guard, at present, Yansui has recruited 30,000 new soldiers, and after the winter, it will gather in Yan'an to form a battalion, which only Lord Lu can do. ”

Although the governor of Yansui is high and powerful, think about the envoy promised by the emperor, this governor is naturally tasteless, and Hong Chengchou is naturally unwilling to stay.

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to stay." ”

The candidate in Zhu Youzhen's heart is also Lu Xiangsheng, so he said: "In this case, you will concurrently serve as the governor of Yansui and take charge of Yansui affairs, and Zhang Shize is the supervisor of Yansui Town, responsible for picketing the county and township officials, and managing the new army's military discipline rewards and punishments." ”

"Yes." Lu Xiangsheng stepped aside.

Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou both knew Zhu Youzhen's intentions, and leaving Zhang Shize, the prince of the country, was also the intention of monitoring and balancing Lu Xiangsheng. However, Zhu Youzhen did not appoint a eunuch as a supervisor, which was beyond the expectations of the two.

"Cao Bianjiao was promoted to deputy general, stayed to assist Aiqing in training, Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong were also promoted to deputy generals, commanding the loyal battalion and the loyal battalion, and then transferred a battalion of soldiers and horses from the Luoyang Praetorian Guard to escort me back to Beijing." Zhu Youzhen said.

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Your Majesty, Li Chongzhen, the standard battalion guerrilla of the minister, is loyal, strong in martial arts, and very good at leading soldiers, so let him bring a battalion of soldiers to escort Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded: "It's okay." ”

Zhu Youzhen decided not to take the route he came, but to cross the Yellow River from Fugu into Shanxi, then take Ningwuguan to enter Datong Mansion, and then enter Xuanfu, where the Jin merchants were entrenched, Zhangjiakou was in Xuanfu Town. Take down the Jin merchants in Zhangjiakou, and by the way, take down the border army generals involved in smuggling, and then return to Beijing from Juyong Pass.

The Jin merchants traded in Zhangjiakou and other places for not a year or two, and they must have colluded with the border army generals, and in order to make a fool of themselves, they must have a strong army in their hands, so Zhu Youzhen decided to send three battalions of soldiers and horses, and nearly 10,000 people escorted him back to Beijing.

The reason why so many people were brought back to the Beijing division was to solve the problem of Jin merchants and prevent the border army generals from taking risks on the one hand, and on the other hand, it was necessary to strengthen the defense of the Beijing division, and only when there were soldiers in their hands did they have the courage to do so. With so many squire officials moved this time, who knows how many people's interests have been touched, and whether anyone will take risks, no one can say. As for the tens of thousands of soldiers in the Beijing camp, although they have been rectified by Li Banghua, they are not too relieved by Zhu Youzhen, who knows if there is sand mixed inside.

After returning to Beijing this time, Zhu Youzhen decided to clean the palace, clean out the unreliable palace maids and eunuchs, and replace all the guards in the inner palace with soldiers of the Praetorian Guard that he trusted.

If you want to do big things, you should first ensure your own safety, Zhu Youzhen doesn't want to fall into the water inexplicably, or eat inexplicable food.