Before the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, that is, more than ten or twenty years ago, there were many rebels in the previous dynasty, and there were some rebellious armies who claimed to be emperors and kings.

Before the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the first emperor led his brothers and sons to destroy many rebels and civil rebels in the previous dynasty. By the time Emperor Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, the rebels and civil rebels of the previous dynasty had been almost eliminated.

Han Zhong escaped the fate of being exterminated because he ran to Shu. As for Dong Jin, he is like a rat in the gutter, hiding in the invisible "gutter".

In the past ten years, Emperor Wu of Zhou has been looking for Dong Jin and his comrades, but he has never found him.

It stands to reason that a group of people like Dong Jin are easy to find, but they can't find it. Emperor Wu of Zhou guessed that someone deliberately sheltered them so that they could not be found.

Although the Great Zhou Dynasty was established for more than ten years and basically recovered the territories that were fragmented in the previous dynasty, the deterrence of the imperial court did not completely reach the states.

Yangzhou has been the richest area in the south of the Yangtze River since ancient times. Here, there are many wealthy merchants and century-old gate valve families, as well as literati and scholars.

Although these dignitaries and nobles submitted to the Great Zhou Dynasty, they did not really submit to the Great Zhou Dynasty. Yangzhou is far away from the capital Tiangao Emperor, and these people collude with each other to hide certain things from the imperial court, and even confront the imperial court.

It is normal for these people to deliberately hide Dong Jin's traces from the imperial court, or deliberately favor Dong Jin. Or they cooperated with Dong Jin and used it against the imperial court.

Emperor Wu of Zhou has long understood what the situation in Yangzhou is like, but because Yangzhou is too far away from the capital, and these gate valve families in Yangzhou are no worse than those in the capital, it is not easy to move them. Moreover, the whole body is moved.

If you want to deal with these "local snakes" in Yangzhou, you have to be patient, and you have to give them a fatal blow. Emperor Wu of Zhou never thought of destroying these wealthy merchants and gate valve families in Yangzhou with one move, which was unrealistic.

These wealthy merchants and gate valve families have existed for hundreds of years, and their power is very large. Although they were exploited by Emperor Xia Ling of the previous dynasty, the emaciated camels were bigger than horses, and it was impossible to destroy them with a single blow.

At the end of last year, Emperor Wu of Zhou received a secret letter and learned that Dong Jin was in Yangzhou, and he was hidden by those gate valve families in Yangzhou. He began to plan and arrange everything, and deliberately sent Xie Shi to Yangzhou to quell the chaos.

He had long guessed that Xie Shi's going to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion would not go well, and those wealthy businessmen and gate lord families would secretly hinder Xie Shi from quelling the rebellion.

Xie Shi's trip to Yangzhou to quell the chaos was a disguise, a cover to test those wealthy businessmen and gate valve families in Yangzhou. Of course, it is still a fishhook that leads Dong Jin.

As long as Dong Jin is brought out, the imperial court can use him as an excuse to clean up the "local snakes" in Yangzhou. Although it can't give the ground snakes a fatal blow, it can hit them hard, so that they don't dare to go against the court anymore and obediently submit to the court.

The most important reason is that the imperial court must completely take Yangzhou. In this way, Yangzhou's grain, salt, and iron ore can be completely controlled by the imperial court.

At present, these things in Yangzhou are all mastered by wealthy businessmen and gate valve families. They deliberately concealed the imperial court, and only took out a little perfunctory to the imperial court at a time.

After taking Yangzhou completely, Emperor Wu of Zhou would send officials from the capital to manage Yangzhou. Now the officials in Yangzhou are basically the children of the gate valve family, that is to say, the entire officialdom in Yangzhou is controlled by the gate valve family.

The situation in Yangzhou is very complicated, and if you don't plan and arrange it well, you can't deal with these rich businessmen and gate valve families.

For Emperor Xian and Emperor Wu of Zhou, who were born as farmers, what they hated most was the family of gate valves. Since ancient times, the family of gate lords has dominated the officialdom, and their power is strong. They had to cooperate with these gate valve families, and they had to pretend to be snakes with them.

Before his death, the first emperor repeatedly told Emperor Wu of Zhou to crack down on the arrogance of the gate valve family, and he could no longer let the gate valve family control the fate of the Great Zhou, and he had to let the children of the poor family enter the officialdom.

In order to let the children of the poor family enter the officialdom and break the monopoly of the officialdom of the gate valve family, the first emperor let the Li family establish Taixue.

Taixue is open to students from all over the world, regardless of their background, as long as they are talented, they can enter Taixue to study. If you perform well in Taixue, you will be able to enter the officialdom.

Taixue has been established for more than ten years, and currently has imported some poor children to the imperial court. Although the power of these Hanmen disciples is still unable to fight against the famous families, the First Emperor and Emperor Wu of Zhou believe that in the future, when the Hanmen children grow, they will be able to resist the gate valve families.

Regarding the extremely complicated situation in Yangzhou, Zhao Yao did not understand. He only noticed that there was something unusual about the rebellion in Yangzhou from the fact that Xie Shi went to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion but was unsuccessful. If it weren't for his grandfather's family in Yangzhou, he wouldn't have invited Qian and Laixi to go to Yangzhou to understand the situation.

They went to Yangzhou for a while, heard a lot from their friends, and heard a lot of things with their own ears, but after all, they are animals, no matter how smart they are, they can't compare to humans, and they can't understand the deep meaning behind what they see or hear.

After Zhao Yao heard what Laiqian and Laixi said, his heart set off a storm, he didn't expect the situation in Yangzhou to be so dangerous.

[By the way, Yao Yao, what Han Zhong exchanged salt for the seeds of Yangzhou grain. Laixi almost forgot about it.

"Salt for grain seeds?" Zhao Yao was stunned and said, "Isn't there salt in Yangzhou, why do you still exchange salt with Shudi?" As far as he knows, Yangzhou has the most salt in the entire Jiangnan region. It seems that Yangzhou's salt is sold in many places, and even in the capital, there are shops that specialize in selling Yangzhou salt, and the business is very good. The salt eaten by his second uncle's family is Yangzhou salt. The salt used in the palace is also the best salt for Yangzhou's tribute.

The capital also has its own salt, but the salt in the north does not seem to be as delicious as the salt in Yangzhou. He had never eaten the salt in the capital, but he heard Tongxi say that the salt in the capital was a little bitter.

The salt paid tribute by Yangzhou is naturally for the masters in the palace to eat, and the eunuchs and palace maids are not qualified to eat it. The salt they eat is the salt produced in the capital itself.

Laixi said: "I don't know about this. 】

Zhao Yao frowned and said to himself: "Could it be that the salt in Shu is better than the salt in Yangzhou?" Or do they want more salt to do something? ”

Then again, what can salt do?

No, it's salt that can make a big deal?

He felt that those wealthy businessmen and famous families in Yangzhou were definitely trying to get salt. Let the second uncle write a letter to his grandfather, and let the grandfather secretly investigate this matter.

Liang Zhaoyi saw that Zhao Yao had not come to the dining room for a long time, so she had to come out and call him.

"Yaoyao, it's time for lunch."

"Oh, here we are." Zhao Yao touched Laiqian and Laixi's little heads, and said with a smile, "When I finish lunch, you can tell me." ”

[Okay.] 】

Zhao Yao walked up to Liang Zhaoyi and said to her in a heavy tone: "Mother, the situation in Yangzhou is more serious than we imagined, and it is more dangerous than we imagined. ”

When Liang Zhaoyi heard this, her heart sank suddenly, and she immediately said, "Let's talk about it after lunch." ”

When the fifth princess saw Zhao Yao, she asked him why he didn't have lunch in Lanyuan Pavilion.

For some time ago, Zhao Yao had lunch in Lanyuan Pavilion every day, and the fifth princess was very unhappy.

Zhao Yao had something on his mind, and he didn't pay attention to the ridicule of the fifth princess.

Seeing that Zhao Yao didn't quarrel with her, the fifth princess was surprised, and immediately asked with concern: "Tenth brother, what's wrong with you, you were scolded by Mr., or beaten?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yao rolled his eyes at the fifth princess very indecently, "Fifth sister, are you expecting me to be beaten or scolded by my husband?" ”

"Who is calling you not to study well?" The fifth princess laughed at Zhao Yao unceremoniously, "Without the fourth brother and eighth brother to protect you, you would definitely be scolded by Mr. every day and beaten by Mr. ”

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, there is no fourth brother and starling here, and I was not beaten and scolded by Mr."

The fifth princess wanted to say something more, but the poppy glared at her, and she didn't dare to say anything more.

Yu Mei and Pan Cairen were a little curious about the affairs of Lanyuan Pavilion, and kept asking Zhao Yao about Lanyuan Pavilion during the meal.

Zhao Yao told them some interesting things in the Lanyuan Pavilion. Including, of course, his stealing of orchids.

"By the way, mother, let the small kitchen make me orchid-stuffed buns at night."

When Liang Zhaoyi heard this, she shook her head helplessly: "You......"

"Tenth brother, He Xiang must hate you to death."

"I didn't steal any precious orchids." Zhao Yao said confidently, "I take all ordinary orchids, He Xiang shouldn't hate me." ”

"Stir-fry orchids to eat, use orchids to make bun filling, ten brothers, you are definitely the first person in the world."

Zhao Yao smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment." ”

The fifth princess pursed her lips and said, "I didn't praise you again. ”

"Fifth sister, you don't seem to have eaten orchids with me." Zhao Yao said angrily, "If you have the ability, don't eat orchids next." ”

Fifth Princess: "......" Actually, orchids are quite delicious.

Seeing that the fifth princess stopped talking, Zhao Yao gave her a look of contempt.

The fifth princess was so angry that she was about to say something about Zhao Yao, but was warned by Yu Meiren: "Eat well, don't talk." ”

After lunch, the poppy and Pan Cairen returned to their palace.

Liang Zhaoyi and Zhao Yao went to the study.

Lai Qian and Lai Xi continued to say what they knew.

After Liang Zhaoyi and Zhao Yao listened, their expressions were very solemn.

Zhao Yao told Liang Zhaoyi in detail what they had told him before.

Liang Zhaoyi listened, his brows furrowed, and his expression was calm: "I didn't expect that the people over there in Yangzhou would collude with Dong Jin and Han Zhong." ”

"Mother, did my father know about these things, so he deliberately sent the Xie family to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion?" Xie Shi went to Yangzhou to rebel for more than half a year, and there was no progress, but his father was not angry, nor did he call Xie Shi back, let alone send others to quell the rebellion in Yangzhou, which is too strange, unless his father already knew the situation in Yangzhou and deliberately sent Xie Shi to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion.

"Should know." Liang Zhaoyi sighed, "No wonder the rebellion in Yangzhou has not been quelled for a long time. ”

Zhao Yao suddenly thought of something, his face changed drastically, and he lowered his voice and said, "Mother, the people over there in Yangzhou don't want to rebel, right?" "It's salt again, and it's iron ore to build weapons, this is a proper rebellion, otherwise what are they doing with this.

Liang Zhaoyi also thought of this, and said with a very serious expression: "Very likely." "Otherwise, these things can't be explained.

Zhao Yao gasped; "This ...... It's terrifying. ”

"Since your father knows the situation in Yangzhou, he will not allow such a thing to happen." Liang Zhaoyi was full of confidence in Emperor Wu of Zhou, "The affairs of Yangzhou should be in the hands of your father." ”

"That's good, but grandfather they are still very dangerous, and I still have to remind grandfather to be careful."

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(End of chapter)