Zhu Youzhen's great-grandfather, Emperor Longqing, only served as emperor for six years, but he did two far-reaching things!

The first is to open the sea ban, set up a city in Yuegang, and allow maritime merchants to go to sea to trade, so that the Ming Dynasty has been raging for many years The Japanese invaders were cut off, and the gentry on the southeast coast rejoiced, and brought 20,000 taels of silver to the Ming treasury every year.

The second is Longqing's tribute. In the fifth year of Longqing, peace talks were finally reached between the Ming and Mongolia, which had been at war for two hundred years.

Emperor Longqing canonized Altan Khan of the Mongol Tuhu Special Department as the king of Shunyi, and opened the horse market in Datong Victory Fort and Zhangjiakou of Xuanfu, allowing Mongolia and Ming trade.

They could rely on trade to obtain cloth, tea, grain and other necessities, and the Mongols were not willing to risk their lives to break through the border walls and rob. Anyway, war horses, cattle and sheep will breed every year, and the excess cattle and sheep must be slaughtered before winter, so why not take them out and trade with the Ming people in exchange for what they need. Wouldn't it be nice to drink liquor bought from Ming Dynasty merchants, wear comfortable cotton clothes, and sing and dance around a campfire in winter?

Rob? No, we Mongolians like art, and if we weren't forced to do something that didn't fit our identity as artists, we wouldn't want to do anything that didn't fit our identity as artists.

There was no war on the border, there was trade, and the people who had fled the battlefield returned one after another. Many merchants with a keen sense of smell also smelled the smell of money, and came to Zhangjiakou and other places to set up warehouses and trade with the Outer Mongolian tribes.

Zhangjiakou, a once barren frontier place, has become a thriving market for business travelers.

Every month, a large number of Mongols drove cattle, sheep and horses into the horse market to trade with Ming merchants in exchange for various necessities.

Ming merchants, Mongolian tribal leaders, officials of the Fuyi Department who managed the market, Zhangjiakou and nearby castle guards, and even the Xuanfu Governor Yamen formed a whole interest group around the Zhangjiakou horse market, and countless people benefited from it.

Driven by interests, if there is no supervision, even if the eight major Jin merchants are copied, there will be the next eight masters in a few years.

Unless you take down all the people in the chain of interests!

If it were in the past, Zhu Youzhen would not have had this courage, but now, there are nearly 10,000 elite guards around him, what else would he not dare to do!

However, Zhu Youzhen did not go directly to Zhangjiakou, but first went to Xuanhua City, the capital of Xuanfu.

Guo Zhicong, the governor of Xuanfu, the general of Zhenshuo, and Hou Shilu, the general of Xuanfu, led a group of civil and military officers in Xuanhua City to welcome Zhu Youzhen and his party into the city.

Zhu Youzhen summoned the generals of the Xuanfu army, and the generals from all walks of life came to Xuanhua City to meet the guerrilla garrisons.

Three days later, hundreds of generals and officers came to Xuanfu, all of whom were directly controlled in the imperial camp.

"Your Majesty, what do you want?"

Guo Zhicong, the governor of Xuanfu, said in horror.

"This month, Jin Yiwei caught a caravan trading with Jiannu in Liaodong, and actually smuggled tens of thousands of catties of refined iron and hundreds of stones of gunpowder to Jiannu through the grassland outside the Saiwai, and learned after interrogation that the owner of the caravan was the Fan family in Shanxi, and entered the grassland through Zhangjiakou.

Violating the ban of the imperial court and smuggling military materials to Jiannu is actually treason against the enemy, Your Majesty is furious, and you must strictly investigate a profiteer! And tens of thousands of catties of refined iron can actually pass through the grassland and enter the grassland, how can a businessman alone have such energy, and how many officials have a joint for it, it must also be thoroughly investigated!

His Majesty was worried that the news would leak out and cause changes, so he summoned the generals of Xuanfu to Xuanhua City. However, the Qing people are self-purifying, and the officials and generals who have nothing to do with this matter will naturally not be pursued by His Majesty, and Governor Guo does not have to worry. Hong Chengchou said for the emperor.

Guo Zhicong's body trembled, and he couldn't speak.

"Guo Zhicong, you have an interest in those Jin merchants, it's not too late to say it." Zhu Youzhen said lightly.

Guo Zhicong knelt down suddenly: "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty." ”

There is no official in the world who is not greedy, and Guo Zhicong is no exception. Xuanfu is a military town, responsible for guarding against Mongolia, there are 80,000 or 90,000 soldiers on the military roster, and the imperial court alone allocates millions of money and grain every year, plus Zhangjiakou is a port for trade with the Mongols, and the oil and water in Xuanfu as a governor is no worse than other places.

Guo Zhicong didn't need to do anything, those Jin merchants would naturally give him silver, and the filial piety he received from the merchants alone was as much as 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver every year.

The emperor led the army to Xuanfu, and with the means of Jinyiwei, Guo Zhicong knew that he couldn't hide the bribes he had received.

"But Your Majesty, the Zhangjiakou Horse Market is managed by the Fuyi Department, and the Fuyi Hall is directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households, and Weichen only received some silver, and he didn't know much about the behavior of Zhangjiakou merchants, and he didn't know that the Fan family would sell fine iron to Jiannu!" Guo Zhicong said in a mournful voice, very aggrieved in his heart.

As the governor, he is in charge of the major affairs of the entire Xuanfu, where does he have the energy to take care of the small Zhangjiakou? As for those merchants, he had never even met them, and they were all housekeepers who dealt directly with them.

Listening to his justification, Zhu Youzhen smiled angrily: "As the governor, you are responsible for everything in the Xuanfu." Even if the trade of the horse market is under the jurisdiction of the Fuyi Department, can the guards of the forts in Zhangjiakou not be under your control? You are not responsible for letting the caravan out of the jam without permission?

If it weren't for you, how would those guards dare to do this? How could these businessmen be so bold? ”

Guo Zhicong lowered his head and had nothing to say.

"Dragged it down, stripped him of his official uniform, and handed it over to Jinyi Wei for interrogation." Glancing at this guy in disgust, Zhu Youzhen ordered.

When he was dragged away, Guo Zhicong suddenly struggled and shouted: "Your Majesty, you can deal with Weichen, but you must not implicate too much, if you provoke a mutiny, it will be too late to regret it!" ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled angrily: "Mutiny? Is this Xuanfu or not my Xuanfu? Does anyone dare to use a knife or a gun against me? ”

Guo Zhicong shouted: "Under normal circumstances, naturally no one dares, but Your Majesty, what you want to move is everyone's job!" The net worth and life are about to be lost, what do they dare not do? ”

Zhu Youzhen sneered: "Then let them come." I want to see, who can do anything? ”

After Guo Zhicong was pressed down, Zhu Youzhen asked Hou Shilu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, to be brought in.

"You Shilu, the chief soldier of Songshan, has the same name as you, and he was martyred in the battle with Jiannu in this month, and I ordered to give a plaque to the martyrs to shade his descendants." Zhu Youzhen said lightly.

"The last general understands what His Majesty means," Hou Shilu was very single, and said directly, "The last general will know about the Jin merchants' private customs trade, but the last general will not know about the smuggling of military materials. Although the last general is the chief soldier, there are governors of the Xuanfu Mansion and officials of the Fuyi Department, and they can't interfere in trade matters, so they can only share some filial piety every year. ”

"Well, I believe in you!" Zhu You said, "Now I want to investigate this case thoroughly, are you willing to help me?" ”

From the intelligence investigated by Jinyiwei, Hou Shilu does not have much to do with trade matters. With Hou Shilu here, at least many people did not dare to move, Zhu Youzhen decided to spare this guy first, and then sent him to Liaodong to make meritorious contributions.