Yangzhou Wharf is very lively, literati and merchants, come and go here, and the words spoken are not only the local vernacular, but all directions.

Because Yangzhou is an important node city on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, many outsiders want to settle here in Kyoto. As long as you have enough silver in your pocket, you always have to appreciate the style of Yangzhou.

Lianghuai salt is the first salt industry in the world, the three major local salt merchants are quite rich, these years, in addition to operating the salt industry, the restaurants in Yangzhou City, gambling houses, and even brothels are more or less their industry, at least there is share capital.

After the salt envoy Zou Cheng was announced to the Beijing Division, they have been sending people to listen to the news.

Over the years, the imperial court's policy on salt law has changed again and again, so they are very concerned about the possibility of any change.

But the situation has not been good recently, the atmosphere in Jingshi is delicate, and the families who are delivering news on the dock have become more and more nervous.

O holy decree,

After all, it will be preached to all the world.

The salt merchants who heard the news were like a bolt from the blue, and the salt merchants' guild had never been so lively as it was at this moment.

The so-called three major salt merchants, at this time, can not talk about the status of the business world, the bigger they do, the greater the possibility of being investigated and punished, after all, if you don't touch the illegal salt, how can you become a big salt merchant?

The big and small merchants in the room all clapped their hands repeatedly, and the discussion was fierce, and it was noisy like a vegetable market.

“…… Calm down! ”

A middle-aged man with gray hair in his hair slammed the table and roared.

This person's name is Yu Mingquan, and Zou Cheng took the three major salt merchants to visit Gu Zuo, the imperial history of salt patrol, and he was among them.

"The imperial court is now investigating illicit salt, can such a disaster be passed by you here with a few noises?!"

"Boss Yu! The court had not made a sound at all before, but now this will suddenly came out, what happened in it? "The big and small bosses sitting on both sides are going crazy.

"Yes! As long as we understand the crux of the problem, we can wait to prescribe the right medicine. I have heard that the new monarch is quite virtuous, and whenever he discusses politics, most of them discuss with his courtiers, choose the good and follow, and only a few times will he act arbitrarily. This time the salt was suddenly seized, did someone say something? ”

Yu Mingquan is a well-known local salt merchant with a family fortune of more than one million, but it is difficult for a strong man to tell him what is going on in Fengtian Palace.

"The Holy Decree is very important. The imperial court will not draw up arbitrarily. And the celebrant and the six ministries all wrote together, indicating that the imperial court has made up its mind, they are high above and don't know the actual situation below, but for us and other small people, this time is to seek a way to live. ”

He said with a very serious look in his eyes: "I think that the method that can become the old way is still useful." No matter how the court decrees, things are always done by the people below. The lord who sits high in the yahall will not look at every piece of eucalyptus. How to check and report, the key lies in the official who speaks effectively here. ”

"Hades is better, but the little ghost is difficult. None of the people in the Imperial City have the ability to speak, so we have to deal with the imps below. So whether it is silver or women, as long as we can do it, we should not be reluctant at this time. It is best to spend some silver, and it is best to turn a felony into a misdemeanor, and a misdemeanor into innocence. ”

"Besides, all the people who collect and store smuggled salt in various places must be withdrawn, and whoever has a hard neck will go against the wind."

"Finally, let's see if we can find someone on top. Yangzhou also caught a few salt merchants in this territory, if the silver taels copied out are not enough, let's make up for it, the emperor and the princes of the court may be satisfied when they see the silver, and then ask someone to talk about the disadvantages of these things being too intense. Let the emperor be able to get off the donkey and end this salt seizure, so it will be good. ”

There are policies above, and there are countermeasures below.

This has been the case since ancient times.

If the emperor issued a holy decree and everyone acted honestly, then it would be too easy to govern the country.

The reality is that there are countless possibilities for everyone at every stage.

In many cases, bad governance cannot be changed, because the people sent to change the bad government are also 'captured'.

In this way, it is natural to unite up and down and find ways to mix up.

Yu Mingquan's method is still agreed by the bosses in the hall.

Get the people who come to check first,

Then he also caught a few salt merchants,

Take out a little bit of silver,

In this way, people are easy to deal with, and they can also pass the test.

When the time comes, present the 'results': Your Majesty, you see, we have captured these people, and we also have this silver.

Anyway, everyone coaxed the emperor together, can he still know in the Forbidden City?

So there are still smart people.

Or that the rule of officials is the first problem in the world.

June 19 of the first year of Zhengde.

Two thousand households, the criminal office under the Jinyi Weibei Town Government Division and the internal guard office under the Nanzhen Fu Division, arrived in Yangzhou respectively. The former is in the light, the latter is in the dark, acting separately and not interfering with each other.

After the reorganization of Jinyiwei, it was expanded due to the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, and at the same time, in order to investigate and deal with the important points, the South and North Fu Divisions each added three thousand households.

The Criminal Office, Public Security Office, and Special Affairs Office were set up in the North Town Fu Division, and the Internal Security Office, the File Division, and the Secret Intelligence Division were added to the South Town Fu Division.

The special firms are all elite, and in fact, they were set up to allow him to handle some ultra-sensitive cases.

For example, there are clan relatives who have a special relationship with the emperor.

The criminal office usually investigates and handles cases.

Zhu Houzhao implemented the first-level management model in Jinyiwei, in which the deputy commander directly manages 1,000 households, and the 1,000 households are selected by the deputy commander, and only need to perform a procedure of reporting to the request for approval.

Generally, there are no special circumstances, and Zhu Houzhao will not deny his recommendation.

The so-called suspicious people do not need to be used, and the employment is not suspicious. Since a person has been put in the position of managing the Fusi of Beizhen, it is necessary to give him such authority so that he can control this force.

If you don't worry about this person anymore, don't let him work in Jinyiwei.

This trip to Yangzhou was led by these two thousand households, and the criminal office was naturally responsible for handling it.

The internal security station, that is, the internal security guard, actually has some stability maintenance nature, and its duty is to use the personnel placed everywhere to try to find out some unstable factors in advance.

Although it is said that a few businessmen can't make any waves,

But this time the eucalyptus is not small, and the strength of the internal guard station has reached the predetermined position in advance, which is also what should be done.

In addition, the two thousand households belong to two town government divisions, and there is actually some kind of competition between the two town government divisions, that is, between Mao Wenyu and Han Ziren.

The emperor deliberately mentioned Han Ziren for this purpose, and he did a good job to become the commander of the Jinyi Guard, and there was no special 'successor to the commander'.

】

This makes the people in the criminal and internal security offices also have a concern, that is, if you don't do what you do well, it is very likely that you will sue the other party.

The thousand households in the criminal office are Ye Kan, in his twenties, not very old, and he is a person who has been appointed and promoted by Mao Wen.

Qianhu of the Internal Guard Institute is a scholar and a former friend of Han Ziren, named Luo Chenglin.

It is very clear how the Divine Decree will be given to them.

Luo Chenglin entered Yangzhou in a low-key manner, and no one went to find it.

The inner guard is to be the eye in the dark.

So he was dressed in civilian clothes, like a common man, and he lived in a simple inn.

It's just that the owner of the inn is a little special, he turned into Luo Chenglin's room when he confirmed that there was no one around, knelt down and said, "Xiaguan Hegu has seen Luo Qianhu. ”

Luo Chenglin is a very beautiful man, and even has a feminine aura, he only reads Xiucai in his studies, and he really failed to pass the exam, and then followed his high-ranking friend to beg for food in Jinyiwei.

"If the official's expectation is good, the holy decree has arrived in Yangzhou in advance. He Zongqi, what changes have happened in Yangzhou recently? ”

He Gu, who looked like a shopkeeper, nodded and said, "Yes." There is a salt chamber of commerce in Yangzhou, which has been established for decades, and in recent days they often gather to discuss secretly. It's a pity that the subordinates are incompetent and can't install people in the guild hall, so they can't grasp the content of the conversation. ”

Luo Chenglin grabbed the cup and rubbed it gently, "It hasn't been a long time since the reorganization of Nanzhen Fusi, and Yangzhou has only started to lay out in the first month of this year, so it's good that you can stabilize here." The Salt Chamber of Commerce must be full of valuable people, and it is understandable that they can't be inserted. ”

He Gu was overjoyed, he didn't expect that there would be such a considerate Shangguan.

It's just that Luo Chenglin's words haven't spoken yet, and he seems to be a little happy.

"But the holy decree has been issued, and the official has also come to Yangzhou. This also means that the emperor may announce that the deputy envoy of Han may enter the palace at any time to report the situation here, and when the time comes, the deputy envoy of Han will not be able to say anything, and His Majesty will not spare him, naturally, he will not spare my subordinate, and I have no choice but to kill the chickens and monkeys, so that you can also know that the holy decree cannot be violated. ”

"Where Luo Qianhu is, his subordinates will never disobey the holy decree!"

This sentence is to be proved by deeds. Especially Jinyiwei has always been the showman of Beizhen Fusi, which is a heart disease of Deputy Envoy Han, so this Yangzhou eucalyptus must be done beautifully, this is a major matter related to the head. Of course, when the official said to be fast, he didn't mean to do it blindly, and the affairs of the internal guard office were a bit special, and people couldn't detect our existence, so we still had to pay attention to acting in secret. ”

He Gu had already been helped up, and he bowed his hands, "Please Luo Qianhu command!" ”

"What the internal guard wants to make sure is that no one can provoke a vicious incident. Especially when starting to arrest people, we must pay attention to the fact that the people brought by the official will enter the city separately in the near future, and all salt merchants will have to keep an eye on them at that time. You are responsible for the transmission of news in Yangzhou City, and any disturbance must be reported to the official as soon as possible. ”

"Yes!"

“…… It also includes the actions of the people of the penal unit. ”

He Gu heard it clearly, but he didn't ask much.

Nanzhen Fusi wants to come out, there are two ways, one is to do a good job by himself, and the other is to say that the other party is doing a bad job.

This setup can sometimes make it easy for them to pull each other back.

But at the same time, it is also a means of mutual supervision.

There are good and bad things in everything, and there is never a one-size-fits-all solution.

Didn't Zhu Houzhao know that the people he sent out would be knocked down by the 'sugar-coated cannonball'? This is the basic common sense in officialdom, where to think about it.

The other side.

The criminal office Qianhu Ye Kan rode into Yangzhou City,

As soon as he came to Yangzhou, the business withered a little, because it had been rumored that the imperial court was going to kill the killer this time.

Ye Kan first went to the Lianghuai Capital Salt Envoy Division, in addition to Zou Cheng, there were dozens of his subordinates.

Zou Cheng had to pretend to be crazy and stupid, but the emperor didn't bother to pay attention to him, and directly convicted him of a capital crime, so his charges were actually unclear, which made it unclear whether these subordinates in the Yunsi were involved in the sale of illicit salt.

These subordinates also thought of going with the salt merchants, and at this time there was no other way but to use silver to open the way.

Therefore, Ye Kan, who was sitting on the main seat, could see that the dozens of people below were trembling, and the silver in his hands was trembling.

Holding the knife at his waist, he asked, "I don't really understand why many of you are carrying silver. Want to pay a bribe? Or do you want to die rich? ”

"Bad!"

The people in the courtyard have not yet knelt,

There was a person rushing in from outside, he was wearing a blue official robe, and he probably knew that he was an official of Yangzhou Mansion.

It's probably the prefect.

"Tao Du, the prefect of Yangzhou, has seen the upper errand. If you miss the distance, please forgive your sins. In fact, Xia Guan was originally going to meet the errand, but he turned out to be on a fork in the road......"

"You're just in time." Ye Kan waved his finger, and the person behind him stepped forward to control this person, "This time, Jinyiwei came with a list, Yongkang Hou and Nanning Bo in Jingshi have already subdued the law, and in the list explained by Yongkang Hou, there is you, Taodu, the prefect of Yangzhou." ”

This stupid person was really sent to the door.

Tao Du was already frightened, but now when he heard the news, his whole body was directly paralyzed, and he sat on the ground with a bang.

"There are two other people on this official's list, both of whom are minions of powerful people who specialize in buying and selling illicit salt. However, everyone knows that there are more than these two salt smugglers in Yangzhou, and the officials start and end with you Tao Governor's Mansion, so Tao Governor's Mansion has to bother you to listen to the trial and confess. ”

There are many people staring at Yunsi, and the Yangzhou prefect was taken down as soon as he entered, and naturally it would soon spread all over the country.

The Salt Merchant Guild was shocked when they heard the news!

Officials, what type have they not seen?

One of the most feared is this kind of person who starts to do things according to the rules regardless of the fact that he is here.

"Boss Yu, Boss Shen, Boss Chen! It's time to get an idea! ”

If it is the Yangzhou prefect who is in charge, then he must always pay attention to evidence when he investigates this and that, and then explain it to his superiors.

But Jinyiwei can arrest people, just need a list!

Especially this kind of eucalyptus, the specific situation of many people involved in eucalyptus is basically too late to review, anyway, if someone even brings you guilty, then directly take the list and arrest people.

"Who is Ye Kan? Which of you know someone who can connect you? Let's take the money and go to meet him! ”

Now the Yun Division is full of Jinyi guards inside and out, and if they want to go in, they have to find someone from Jinyi Wei to go in and report.

At a critical time, it depends on the key personnel, Yu Mingquan took the initiative to speak, "I'll arrange this matter." The key is how many taels of silver to bring to buy his face. ”

In fact, Ye Kan was noticed by all forces at this time,

There is nothing terrible about the arrest of people in Zha Yu, it is nothing more than a few businessmen, but these businessmen are inextricably linked with the capital and even the palace, which is different.

So in fact, many figures are approaching Yangzhou.

Approaching Jinyiwei.

===

Today, the two meetings had a meal, and it was past nine o'clock when I got home. I can only write more than four thousand, forgive me.