"In the past, you were noisy in the court, but today you will give me an explanation!" On the highest seat in the main hall of the Luoyang Imperial Palace, there was a roar full of bitterness and grievance.

The emperor, who was sitting on the dragon chair, said to himself in a somewhat distracted manner: " Since I ascended the throne, in the first year, the imperial court gathered 500,000 soldiers and horses from all over the world, and the crusade against Zhao Xing was unsuccessful, but the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers were lost in vain; in the second year, the imperial court was forced to sign a covenant under the city, and the land of a state was divided; then in the middle of the year, Zhang Chun of Yuyang in the north was proclaimed emperor, and it was Zhao Xing who jumped out to steal Youzhou under the banner of helping the imperial court to quell the rebellion; then the two forces of Dong Zhuo and Ma Teng in Liangzhou fought among themselves, Dong Zhuo was secretly defeated under Zhao Xing, and another Liang country was separated from the border of the Han Dynasty......

"In the third year, there was a heavy snowfall in the north, and I thought that Zhao Xing could stop for a while this time, so that the big man could take a breath, but he didn't think that he would make another trade show and collect all the world's assets. Now it is not yet the end of the year, and the snowflake salt produced by the Jin State swept the Central Plains, resulting in a sharp decrease in the income of the imperial court's Hedong salt pond, and now it is less than about forty percent of previous years. In the long run, I am afraid that you will only be able to make a discount for your monthly salary, and when the time comes, don't shout grievances in the court!" Liu Bian's mocking words continued to sound, as if he wanted to pour out all the depression in his heart before he could eat at night.

The ministers of the court and the central government, who were questioned and ridiculed by the emperor, all pulled a donkey face, and their faces had been suffocated to black or purple. Don't blame the emperor for roaring at the Dragon Court, it is really Zhao Jia'er who deceives people too much, and now he actually wants to get involved in the salt and iron business where the core of the imperial court's taxation is located, this kind of behavior has seriously touched the interests and bottom line of the bigwigs in the court, causing everyone's public indignation.

Sikong Zhang Wen, who had a grudge against Zhao Xing, was originally born in the party of Bingzhou, and was very familiar with the products and situation of Bingzhou, he had the same doubts as Chen Qun, and he was very puzzled that the Jin State was suddenly able to sell a large amount of salt to the outside world.

Hedong Salt and Yizhou Well Salt are the two major salt producing places in the world, the salt produced by Hedong Salt Pond is mainly sold in the Central Plains and the north, and the Yizhou Well Salt is sold in the Yangtze River Basin.

According to Zhang Wen's understanding, perhaps Zhao Xing bought and hoarded a batch of high-priced salt from the Western Regions, and took the opportunity to launch a salt price war, intending to retaliate against the price increase of Hedongchi salt in March, and took the opportunity to demonstrate to the imperial court, demanding that the current salt price be reduced. So Zhang Wen opened his mouth and said: "The minister thinks that the Jin State is just bluffing, intending to force the imperial court to lower the price of salt that had risen before. ”

The emperor didn't expect Zhang Wen to come to this conclusion, and although he was a little angry in his heart, he still patiently asked Zhang Wen: "Why does Zhang Sikong think that the Jin Kingdom is bluffing? Judging from the situation reported by Liu Tingwei, this time the snowflake salt is menacing, and it is obviously a long-planned thing, and it is not an accidental thing. ”

Zhang Wen replied: "The minister was born in Bingzhou, and he is very familiar with the mountains and rivers in Bingzhou, and the output of mineral deposits. In the spring of this year, heavy snowfall fell in the north of the Jin Kingdom, and countless livestock froze to death, and Zhao Xing, in order to appease the herdsmen, actually came up with the idea of salting the carcasses of livestock, but as a result, the domestic storage was exhausted. At that time, the price of Hedong Salt Pond was raised by 30%, and the Jin State just spent a lot of money out of thin air for this. That Zhao Guochang was the one who would be repaid, and he secretly hated the fact that the Hedong salt pond took advantage of the fire to increase the price, and perhaps secretly purchased a large amount of salt from the Western Regions and hoarded it for several months, and then broke out in a concentrated manner, intending to force the imperial court to reduce the price of salt. ”

Whether it is correct or not, Zhang Wen's analysis sounds reasonable, so many officials in the court are in line with it.

He Miao, the captain of Si Li, said: "According to Zhang Sikong's analysis, if the Jin Kingdom's dumping of snowflake salt this time is a bluff, then it will not last, we will wait patiently for a while, once the high-priced salt in the Western Regions hoarded by the Jin Kingdom is sold out, this turmoil will naturally disappear, but Zhao Guochang has cheapened the people of the world out of his own pocket." ”

According to He Miao, Zhao Xing spent a higher price to buy salty salt from the Western Regions, and then sold it at a price lower than that of the imperial court, which was completely a stupid move to lose money and make money, as long as the price of salt in the imperial court did not follow the Jin state, after Zhao Xing used up the silver, the price of salt would still return to the standard set by the imperial court.

Yang Biao, the inner governor of Jinwu, felt that the thoughts of the previous two people were a bit wishful thinking, and stood up and said: "The minister thinks that the focus of the current court discussion is not whether the Jin State is bluffing, but for the Jin State selling salt without the permission of the imperial court, which should be severely punished. If you can't rectify it this time, all the states in the world will rise up to follow suit, you sell smuggled salt, he sells iron tools, then the Han court will lose face and have all its prestige, not to mention that taxes will be sharply reduced, shaking the foundation of the country. ”

Yuan Kui, who had been watching everyone's performance, waited for Yang Biao, who was secretly with his group, to say this to the emperor and ministers, directing the attention of the emperor and ministers to how to punish Zhao Xing, instead of analyzing the situation there painlessly, and then pondering how to fight a salt price war with the Jin State. He continued Yang Biao's words and said: "The words of Lord Yang Fangcai, the inner governor Jinwu, are thought-provoking, and the ministers feel like thunder after hearing it, and they are panicked. The salt and iron monopoly is the ancestral system of the Han Dynasty, which is related to the national system and the dynasty, and must not be taken lightly. The minister thought that the imperial court should make a quick decision, resolutely punish and crack down on the traders who sold illicit salt in various places, seal up and confiscate the chamber of commerce of the Jin Kingdom, and give Zhao Xing a head start!"

After Situ Wangyun listened to Yuan Kui's words, this time he surprisingly did not stand up to help, but spoke for Zhao Xing. Wang Yun said: "The minister does not think that Zhao Xing does not know anything about the laws of the imperial court regarding the monopoly of salt and iron, since he dares to touch the taboo of the imperial court and peddle the salty salt produced by the Jin State in various places, he must have made full preparations, if this matter is handled too harshly and annoys the Jin State, I am afraid that there will be greater trouble in the future." ”

Wang Yun's words were to remind some officials who had a deep grudge against Zhao Xing not to think about punishing Zhao Xing at every turn, but to weigh their own strength first, lest stealing chickens and rice would not lead to a loss of rice, but in the end they would hand the handle to Zhao Xing's hands.

It's a pity that Wang Yun's sensitive identity as Zhao Xing's father-in-law makes him the closest to Zhao Xing's analysis of his inner thoughts, and it has become the fuse for everyone's attacks. Everyone asked Wang Yunan what kind of intentions he had to help his son-in-law speak, and how much benefit did the Wang family secretly get from Zhao Xing this time?

After being sneered at by everyone, Wang Yun closed his lips tightly, looked at his nose and his nose, and said nothing more. He hesitated before he spoke, and after he finished speaking, he found that the people in the court were indeed as he expected, indiscriminately using themselves as a punching bag, but few people calmly thought about Zhao Xing's intentions in doing so.

After representing the imperial court to the Jin State and the Liang State respectively, Wang Yun gradually became interested in some of the changes made by Zhao Xing in his heart, and no longer held on to the mallet of loyalty to the Han court. He heard that in order to appease the severely affected herdsmen, Zhao Xing could mobilize the whole country to support the victims, and even provide the herdsmen with a large amount of salty salt for free, so that they could marinate the meat of their livestock that had not spoiled. This kind of business is obviously a money-losing business, and it can't be done if you pay back others, but Zhao Xing can do it. However, the imperial court took advantage of the fact that the Jin State needed a large amount of salt, and suddenly increased the price of salt by more than three percent, not only making money from the Jin Kingdom, but also letting the people of the world suffer along the way.

Wang Yun is very disgusted with this kind of behavior, and he knows his godson-in-law more deeply than others. In matters related to the interests and livelihoods of the people, Zhao Xing has always done better than the court officials. This time, since the Jin Kingdom dared to sell cheap salt in various places openly, it must have done a good job of banning and punishing it, and it will definitely not end in a hurry. Once this group of hot-headed people above the court did something that made the Jin Kingdom very annoyed, the consequences were really unimaginable.

Wang Yun thinks long-term, but unfortunately few people have his vision. So when everyone attacked him, the general He Jin also stood up and made a statement. He Jin said indignantly: "The Han Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom are incompatible, and now they are just temporarily seeking peace." Even if we repeatedly retreat, but Zhao Guochang is difficult to fill, today to get a state, tomorrow to occupy a county, three or five years later, I am afraid that even this Luoyang City will not be guaranteed. Instead of this, it is better to get up and confront the Jin Kingdom in a torn face, maybe there is a way out!"

He Jin's words suddenly quieted the chao shouting court, and everyone began to seriously think about how to confront the Jin Kingdom, or think about some other ulterior things.

In short, He Jin's sentence "The Han Dynasty and the Jin State are incompatible" completely put out a fact that everyone is unwilling to mention. Since the fig leaf has been torn off, whether to wait to be pushed down or to push others is a question that needs to be taken seriously and considered.