Kang, An, Season!

The top three tycoons in the entire Qing court's jurisdiction are absolutely among the top three, with a net worth of more than 10 million.

Few people know how the Kang family made their fortune, and some people say that Kang Siding picked up Li Zicheng's treasure, but no one went to Kang Siding to verify this. And the Kang family is now a famous salt merchant, pawnbroker, grain merchant, big landlord, and big money merchant in the world, but it is recognized as "the richest man in the world".

And there are two that can challenge the Kang family, one of which is Ji Cangwei of the Taixing Ji family. The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty's salt method. The so-called outline of salt, is the merchant salt into the outline of the book, where the list of names, allow it to occupy the nest forever, according to the nest, no name is allowed to join. This gave the salt merchants a permanent monopoly. Salt merchants are either field merchants or transportation merchants, each with its own way of making money. The dealer buys salt from the stove and sells it to the transporter. They used such means as borrowing capital for profit, lowering prices and collecting salt. Some traders also recruit salt dices and produce them themselves to make huge profits. The transporter is responsible for the sale of salt. They buy salt at a very low market price and transport it to the salt sales port to sell it at a high price, making the greatest profit. Because Ji joined earlier, he had already accumulated enough capital, so he became the "general salt businessman" in Yangzhou. The so-called general merchant is the head of the salt merchant appointed by the government, and is generally filled by a person with more seniority and ability. Every year, when the levy is introduced, the individual merchants are subordinate to the names of the general merchants, and the general merchants supervise the salt collection section and prohibit illegal salt. The imperial court also consulted with the general merchant on the salt policy. This half-official and half-business status of the general merchant brought more profit-making opportunities to the Ji family, making it a well-known wealthy man in the world.

However, Ji's scenery is not as good as An's. An Qi of the An family, the house slave of Mingzhu, the minister of power in the early Kangxi Dynasty, because of the huge profits of the salt industry, Mingzhu sent him to Yangzhou to become a general merchant of salt affairs. Then, Anqi used his power to suppress the merchants, killed the chickens and set an example for the monkeys, and forcibly squeezed out the Kang family, who was also doing salt in Yangzhou at that time, so that the Kang family had to turn to the Changlu area of Zhili to operate the salt industry. In addition, Anqi also wantonly embezzled the salt works in the Lianghuai area. He became the largest merchant among the salt merchants in the two Huai and controlled the lifeblood of those salt merchants. In addition to the Ji family's timely response, they sent people to bribe Mingzhu and Suo Etu, and at the same time bought a large number of salt farms, there is no salt merchant in the Lianghuai area who can compare with him. After such a deed, An's and Ji's mastered more than seventy percent of the salt farms in the Lianghuai area. They use the power of the general merchants, or carry private salt, to make huge profits; or lend capital and exploit loose merchants; Or in the name of collecting funds and donating money, he filled his pockets, and his wealth further increased, and finally became the most influential salt merchant in the Lianghuai area.

Later, Mingzhu fell, and after An Qi learned the news, he hurriedly fled to the sea with silver, and the Ji family also restrained the limelight because of some connections. As a result, Wang Weihe saw this opportunity and brought a large amount of gold and silver to Yangzhou to make a handful. However, Kangxi did not make a big deal with the Mingzhu case, An Qi saw the opportunity, and ordered someone to secretly collude with Suo Etu and the big guys in the DPRK and China, and came back after overcoming this difficulty. Seeing that Wang Weihe, a famous person, dared to come to Yangzhou to grab a job, and wanted to regain his prestige, he immediately took action, and as a result, Wang Weihe returned with a loss.

However, within a few years of An Qi's return to Yangzhou, Nalan Xingde suddenly became a scholar in Jiangsu, and was highly valued by Kangxi. As a result, Anqi was panicked again, and honestly didn't dare to show up casually again. So, taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Weihe made a move to "repair the plank road and secretly cross the Chen Cang", and helped Tang Jimei to the position of president of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, which can be regarded as a breath of relief.

However, strength is still strength after all. The An family and the Ji family are the real leaders of the two Huai salt merchants, and now An Qi doesn't know what's going on, and actually waded into the troubled waters of the salt shortage in Anhui, Wang Weihe can't help but feel shocked, especially Ji Cangwei, who is also strong, has not yet appeared, and the two Huai salt merchants must be friends and enemies, so Wang Weihe can't help but be secretly worried.

Money talks! There are too many things to play with money, especially if Ma De has already left behind the "life and death", if the two Huai salt merchants are really forced to that step, with their financial resources, it is really difficult to say what they can do.

……

Wang Weihe is worried, and there are people in Beijing who are worried.

For Ma De's big move in Anhui, and for the close cooperation between Jackie Chan and Zhun Tai, although there were officials at all levels below the governor of Jiangsu and the famous imperial envoy Guo to condemn together, they failed to punish the three of them.

However, this does not mean that no one in the Qing court cares about this matter. In fact, the top and bottom of the Qing court, from the emperor to the small Goshha with sesame mung beans, are all looking at the two provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu.

Although there were no major controversies, everyone knew that the courtiers were just gathering strength.

……

Qianqing Palace.

Twice a month, the Hajj is held as scheduled.

It's just that there are significantly more people attending the court meeting this time than before!

Emperor Kangxi will definitely arrive; The prince and the second elder brother Yinren also arrived; The king of Zhijun and the eldest brother Yinchu have arrived; Baylor and the third elder brother Yinzhi arrived; Baylor and the fourth elder brother Yinzhen have arrived; Baylor and the fifth elder brother Yinqi have arrived; Baylor, the sixth elder brother Yinzuo has arrived; Baylor, Eighth Elder Brother Yinxi has arrived...... The four ministers of the upper study, who were scholars and all of them were also ministers of the guard, arrived; Li Guangdi, the governor of Zhili, the secretary of the ministry, and the scholar of Wenyuange, arrived; The other five Shangshu arrived; The envoy of the right side of the Imperial Court has arrived; The squires of the various tribes have arrived; Guanglu Temple, Dali Temple, Honglu Temple, Taifu Temple......

In short, those who have a bit of identity and can come are almost all here.

Everything started with Li Dequan's sentence "If there is something to play, nothing to retreat from".

"The slave household left attendant Lang Ahsan has a book!" A big man who was supposed to be a general, wearing a civilian robe, held a book of recitals and shouted loudly.

"Ahsan? What's the matter with you? Let's just say it. Kangxi said.

"The slave wants to impeach Ma De, the governor of Anhui!" Ah Shan said loudly, the sound of the urn couldn't help but echo in the Qianqing Palace, and everyone immediately pricked up their ears after his words.

"Mader? What do you impeach him? Kangxi asked knowingly.

"The slaves impeached Ma De for ignoring the grace of the saints, ignoring the people of Huguang (Huguang in the Qing Dynasty refers to the two lakes, and Liangguang refers to Guangdong and Guangxi), using power for personal gain, and forcibly cutting off the salt transportation of the Yangtze River, resulting in salt shortages in half of the Qing Dynasty." Ahsan said. Recently, there have been rumors in the court that Kangxi decided to appoint the governor of Jiangnan after the matter of the Hui salt famine was settled in order to allow Ma De to serve as the governor of Jiangnan smoothly. And the recommendation of him to be the governor of Jiangnan was also left behind. This made him very dissatisfied, so he inexplicably developed a huge hostility towards Mader.

"Hmm. So what do you think? Kangxi was noncommittal, but just asked the ministers in the hall.

"Your Majesty, the slave also thinks that Ma De should step down immediately, and he should also go to Beijing to ask for guilt!" Shao Mubu, the left attendant of the military department, also came forward and shouted.

"Your Majesty, the minister seconded Lord Ashan!" Lao Zhibian, who had just been promoted to the imperial envoy of the left deputy capital, also came forward to speak.

"The minister also seconded it!" Du Zhen, the left attendant of the ministry.

"The minister seconded the proposal!" Wu Xinzhong, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites.

"Seconded!" ……

……

"Is there anyone else?" Looking at these thirty or so officials who came forward to support Ahsan's dismissal of Ma De, Kangxi still didn't say anything, but just asked again.

……

No one answered. Prince Yinren's brows twisted imperceptibly. Although he only asked Lao Zhibian to come forward to support him, but now there are hundreds of ministers in the Qianqing Palace, why are there only so many of them who support the removal of Ma De? At least, there should be more than half of them!

"Yu Guozhu!" Kangxi suddenly shouted into the queue of officials standing on the left.

"The minister is here!" Yu Guozhu, who was reappointed as the imperial envoy of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, stepped forward.

"You are the imperial envoy of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and this matter is within your duties, why don't you speak?" Kangxi asked.

"Your Majesty," a few elder brothers and the four guys in the study didn't take a stand, how dare I speak casually? Yu Guozhu secretly scolded Guo Erzhu, why didn't he come back, and organized his words again, and then replied to Kangxi: "The minister just thinks that the matter has not been clarified for the time being, and it is not appropriate to make a decision!" ”

"What hasn't been figured out yet?" Ah Shan snorted, "Lord Yu, could it be that you accepted a bribe from Ma De?" I heard that this time he confiscated all the hundreds of thousands of stones of salt in the name of 'investigating illicit salt', but he made a lot of money. ”

"I heard?" Yu Guozhu smiled at Ah Shanyin, "Ah Shilang, the word 'heard' can't be used indiscriminately. Just based on hearsay, I asked the emperor to depose a feudal official, you did it, and I am the imperial envoy of the right capital, but I dare not do it! Yu Mou does things, what he wants is real evidence! ”

"You ......" Ah Shan was angry, and he was about to scold on the spot, "What kind of thing are you Yu Guozhu?" Dare to be impartial and selfless? However, as soon as his anger swelled up, he thought that the place where he was now was the Qianqing Palace, so he had to immediately suppress his anger and just refuted: "Lord Yu, even if Ma De confiscates the bribe, it is always true that he forcibly cut off the Yangtze River salt transportation, right?" Let the price of salt in Huguang, Sichuan and Shaanxi skyrocket, is it really a thing, right? Aren't these culpables enough for him to be dismissed from office and held accountable? “

"It is a matter for Ma De to cut off the salt transportation of the Yangtze River, but whether the price of salt in the Huguang area has skyrocketed, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has not received any news." Yu Guozhu held his head high and answered steadily.

"Once the Yangtze River salt transportation is cut off, there is no salt transportation in Huguang, and the price of salt will naturally skyrocket, can't Lord Yu even calculate this?" Shao Mubu was on the side to support Ah Shan Dao.

"Lord Shao, this is just an estimate, there is no real evidence!" Yu Guozhu is still not a bird.

"Lord Yu, you seem to be deliberately shielding Ma De!" Lao Zhi interjected without being yin or yang. Since he became the left deputy envoy, he has not been angry with Yu Guozhu. This is also no way, when Yu Guozhu followed Mingzhu, he was a mortal enemy with the prince Yinren, although now Mingzhu is gone, but Yinren is not a magnanimous person, so the two families are still enemies. It's just that Yu Guozhu has strong skills, and his status in the court is not low, * he always can't find a chance to get rid of him, and after taking off his Shangshu position, this guy entered the Metropolitan Procuratorate again, and it was difficult to get it tight.

"Hehe, there seems to be something wrong with Lord Lao's words. Lord Yu has already said just now that everything can only be filed if there is solid evidence, and Lord Lao, as the imperial envoy of the left deputy capital, should naturally pay attention to these. Otherwise, not only will you not be able to pass this level of Lord Yu, but when Lord Guo Xiu Guo comes back in the future, I am afraid your life will be even more sad! With a chuckle, the eighth elder brother Yinxi's "head stick" was in the middle of the struggle.

"Yes, what the eighth elder brother said is reasonable. Everything has to be substantiated! "Tong Guowei!

"That's how it should be!" Big Brother Yinchu.

……

The Qianqing Palace was silent for a while!

After a while, Chen Xijia, the right attendant of the household department, came forward and said: "Lord Yu must ask for evidence, but at this time, the situation is already rumored!" Dozens of officials below Song Xun, the governor of Jiangsu, as well as Guo Xiu, the imperial envoy of the left capital, also had an urgent turnaround, and they all asked for the punishment of Ma De. Moreover, the Yangtze River salt transportation has been cut off, in such a situation, does the imperial court still have time to wait for any solid evidence? I'm afraid that when we really get the evidence, the people of several provinces can only eat lightly. At that time, who should bear this responsibility? Moreover, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is only responsible for supervising hundreds of officials, not the Criminal Department and Dali Temple, which generally require evidence to make a verdict. ”

"......" is another quiet field!

All the civil and military officials have a feeling that they can't distinguish between the southeast and the northwest. Chen Xijia is Tong Guowei's person, which everyone knows. However, he doesn't seem to have the same meaning as Tong Guowei! Did he want to break down? Does he still want to live? Or what the hell is Tong Guowei and his party doing? It's not like that!

What Lord Chen said Yu did not agree. Although the duty of the imperial envoy is to supervise the hundred officials, it is not our duty to hear about it. What if something goes wrong? Yu Guozhu was also stunned for a moment, but immediately pushed back.

"Ahem! …… The two adults, at this time, what they are discussing is how to deal with Ma De's interception of the Yangtze River salt transportation, not to clarify the responsibilities of the Metropolitan Procuratorate! …… You'd better get things figured out first. Gao Shiqi coughed lightly twice and drove Chen Xijia and Yu Guozhu back to the queue together. Seeing this, Ah Shan and Shao Mubu also retreated one after another.

……

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Ma De can't move lightly!"

Once again, someone came forward, and Li Guangdi, the governor of Zhili and the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, walked out of the queue. And when he appeared, many civil and military officials were secretly relieved...... With Li Guangdi's prestige and ability, he is basically about the same as the four ministers of the upper study, and in the current situation that Tong, Ma, Gao, and Zhang do not take a stand, his words are the most important among the ministers.

"Why?" Kangxi's words today are very few.

"Your Majesty, the minister is in Zhili, and Ma De has only met once or twice when he accompanied the emperor to the west. I believe that all the adults present are the same, and most of them have never seen Ma De, and even if they have met, I am afraid they will not attract ten fingers. And everyone must know Ma De, and also know his 'fierce' name. Ma De is most famous for the fact that he and Yu Zhong killed Ge Li, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, in order to transport grain. At that time, he and Yu Zhong were only a three-grade commander, and the lower officials killed the upper officials, and the name of ferocity immediately surpassed the fierce generals who fought bloody battles and killed countless people; Later, Ma De coerced Anhui officials at the beginning of his tenure; Moreover, recently, Yu Zhongyu and Dutong exterminated traitors in Taiwan, with more than 20,000 heads, and many courtiers linked him with Ma De. As a result, in the eyes of many people, Ma De has become a vicious and domineering person. Everyone also believed that it was entirely possible for Ma De to forcibly cut off the Yangtze River salt transportation in order to take revenge on the two Huai salt merchants. Therefore, everyone felt that Ma De deserved to be deposed. Li Guangdi did not directly tell the reason, but first came to an analysis.

"Ma De is domineering and vicious? Hahaha...... Who spread this rumor? Of course, Kangxi knew where Ma De's reputation came from, but after hearing Li Guangdi say this, he still couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Back to the emperor, this matter is not a rumor, it is really natural!" Li Guangdi replied.

"Interesting! So why aren't you Lee Kwang-di swayed by rumors? Haven't you met Mader a few times? Kangxi restrained his smile and asked again.

"Your Majesty, Ma De was formerly the commander of Ningguta. Ningguta has changed a lot in the years he has been in office, and although the minister has only heard of it, if it were not for someone who is good at management, I am afraid that this rumor will not exist. Moreover, there is also Yu Jackie Chan in the middle of this crackdown on illicit salt. Henan and Anhui banned illicit salt at the same time, and there must be a reason for it. If Ma De didn't have a follow-up move, with Jackie Chan's character, how could he risk letting several provinces have no salt to help him? It's good to impeach him without going to the book first. Moreover, there is also Shandong Governor Zhun Tai. Zhun Tai had been a local official before, and after Jackie Chan stepped down, he became the governor of Shandong, and he had never met Ma De, nor did he have any friendship, so naturally he could not help each other for no reason. And the stakes are so high that he won't be unaware. From this point of view, Ma De's interception of the Yangtze River salt transportation must be considered, not reckless. Li Guangdi replied.

"What Lord Jin Qing said is reasonable. Huang Ama, the sons also thought that there was something that Yu Jackie Chan interfered in, and it would definitely not be a policy to harm the people! Eighth Elder Brother Yinxi said again.

"Eighth Elder Brother's words are a bit arbitrary. Isn't the Yellow River breaking the year before last about Jackie Chan? He was self-righteous and caused the Yellow River to burst in as many as 27 places in Henan at once. If it weren't for Chen Huang, Peng Xueren, and Feng Zhiren forcibly opening the three embankments to discharge the flood, I'm afraid the whole of Henan would have become an ocean! This, isn't it something that he Yu Jackie Chan interfered in? Isn't this harming the people? Lao Zhibian was glared at by Yinren and had to come forward again. Yinxi's performance today is a little out of line, and it seems that the prince is already extremely unhappy.

"Ahh It's Yinxi's gaffe. However, Yu Jackie Chan is famous and does not mean to harm the people, and Yinxi also believes that he should not make a mistake this time! Yinyu replied with a slight smile.

"Yes, and, that time in Henan waterlogging, I remember that it was Madler who took the lead in transporting 150,000 stone grain from Fengyang, Anhui Province to Yu Chengchan to solve his urgent need, although Yu Chengchan later returned 200,000 stone grain to him, but it can also be seen that Ma De is not a person who does not care about people's livelihood! He won't be reckless for the sake of a moment of anger. Big Brother Yinchu then came again.

"That's it!" Kangxi waved his hand, preemptively stopped the very likely dispute between his sons, and then asked Ma Qi, who had been silent: "Ma Qi, I asked you to be in charge of the salt shortage in Anhui, do you have any news?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the minister asked him to send a message every other day. The last news was that Ma Defa sold the found illegal salt to solve the salt shortage in Anhui, and today's news has not yet come. Mazzie replied.

"Oh?" Kangxi nodded, "Then wait, when the news comes, you will report it to me immediately." ……”

"Minions understand!" Mazzie replied.

"Is there anything else going on?" Kangxi asked again.

"......" no one spoke.

"Then let's disperse!"

……

It's gone!

This time, nothing could be discussed, and everything remained as it was. There are many disappointed people, and there are many proud people.

The news that Ma Qi got soon after also made many people lose the confidence to continue to ask Kangxi to depose Ma De: Zhou Chen, the governor of Hubei, quickly reported that 60,000 stone of salt had been transported from Anhui to Hankou a few days ago, and the price of salt in Huguang rose slightly! Moreover, it is said that there are still six stone stone salt on the way, which will arrive in Huguang in a few days, and then transfer to Sichuan and Shaanxi!

However, this news is not what people are most concerned about, what people are most concerned about is that in addition to the official agenda of this court meeting, it also carries the rumor that has been created: the eldest brother Yinren has united with the eighth elder brother Yinzhen, and he has also connected with Tong Guowei, the minister of the first assistant's study, and is ready to deal with the crown prince Yinren together.