Chapter 397 Are there officials along the coast colluding with Japanese pirates? !
Wuying Palace.
After taking a bath, Tang He went to the palace to have an audience.
Zhu Yuanzhang was still very excited and looking forward to Tang He's return. He had been waiting in front of the palace gate early. When he saw Tang He, he also greeted Tang He warmly and said, "Tang He, you are back. You won't blame us for letting you stay in the south for several months, right?"
Tang He said with a smile, "How dare you blame your majesty?"
"It's just that the weather in the south is known to your Majesty. It's so gloomy and sizzling. When winter comes, my legs will tremble with cold. I just thought about what His Highness told me, otherwise I would have given up my business a long time ago." ." Tang He replied half-jokingly.
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Then follow us into the palace first. The palace is very popular."
Enter the palace.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Pu Gouer to bring a chair to Tang He, and the monarch and his ministers sat around the stove.
Tang He only dared to sit on half his butt.
Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes and said: "What's going on with the salt administration in the south? Are there any officials in the south who dare to block it secretly? There are also several guard stations in the south. Have you figured out the situation for us? We're not in a hurry. You can do it. Let’s talk slowly, one by one.”
Tang He nodded quickly and said: "The salt administration in the south is progressing very smoothly now. The few people Xia Zhibai requested from His Majesty are all very capable. Although they were a little difficult to deal with in the early stage, after getting familiar with them, they were all very efficient in doing things. And these He is very pragmatic and spends most of his time at various major salt stores Squatting outside the factory, rarely returning to the county government and other official offices."
"Under the watch of Hualun and others, there is little resistance to the advancement of the Southern Salt Administration."
"It's just your Majesty."
Tang He hesitated for a moment and said hesitantly: "The other places in the south In fact, many officials have complained, because Xia Zhibai's actions directly caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of people in the south, and most of them were young and strong. When I came back, many local officials were complaining to me, hoping to make your majesty To a certain extent, reduce local taxes.”
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and sneered: "Tax reduction?"
"It's good that we didn't increase taxes for him. In the past, these kitchen households were supported by the imperial court. When will it be their turn to dictate? ? As long as these bitches look better when eaten, These Zao households can’t live anymore? Now that Zao households don’t want to stay here, they have something to say.”
“Are we giving him face?”
“No!”
Tang He smiled slightly, not too surprised.
He just brought the words of the southern officials to His Majesty truthfully.
Tang He added: "Now large salt plants in the south are under construction, and the steam equipment that has been secretly hidden is also being seized continuously under the leadership of officials such as Lian Zining, and many incidents have occurred. There were few conflicts, and almost all officials were killed. If Jiang Wei hadn't arrived in advance, Lian Zining and others might have died. Their lives are in danger."
"However, Jiang Wei later arrested all these people."
"I sentenced these people to death in private without your Majesty's permission. Living is a waste of food."
"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands, not trusting him, and said contemptuously: "Why don't you just kill a few people who don't have eyesight? What does that mean? I let you go there just to let you solve local problems. I gave you the power of life and death." , feel free to use it, we are not stingy people.”
“ If you must kill, you must kill!"
"But it seems that the profits of this salt factory are high enough, otherwise these people would not take the risk and attack the court officials in order to protect some machines."
< br>Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. Tang He said in a deep voice: "It's high, and it's very high. What's more important is actually not the salt, but the fact that these people want to protect the sea lanes. According to Jiang Wei's investigation, there are a lot of private smuggling in some places in the south, and I A lot of tea, salt, agricultural tools, silk, etc. in the Ming Dynasty were smuggled overseas and exchanged for expensive overseas spices, and then made huge profits from them. ”
"It's just that Jiang Yu didn't find out exactly how many people participated, so the memorial at the time didn't state it clearly."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.
He snorted coldly, his eyes flashing with anger.
He hates smuggling the most.
Because these things were originally exclusive to the royal family, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, these people were family thieves and thieves, stealing money that should belong to his Zhu family.
Zhu Yuanzhang covered up the anger in his eyes and said: "We know about this, and we also have the intention to block it, but our Ming Dynasty's coastline is too long, and we are really powerless. But if they dare to confront us, we will let them know that they will take advantage of us." There is a price to pay for something "
"We don't care how many people are involved in private, and how many officials benefit from it and cover it up. They'd better pray that we won't find out. If we find out, we will let them have a taste of it. The feeling of grass.”
Tang He said again: "Apart from these things, there are basically no major events in the south."
"With Jin Yiwei's thunderous attack, Hua Lun, Lian Zining and others, whether it was relocating the population or recovering steam engines, , or moving factories, etc. , everything is going relatively smoothly, and it shouldn’t take too long for the large salt factories in the south to be reassembled.”
“The imperial court will then have great control over the whereabouts of the salt in the south. Understand.”
"As for the guard post that your Majesty asked me to investigate."
"The situation is not optimistic."
Tang He took a deep breath, his face became serious, and he said in a deep voice: "In recent years, the South Since there has been no fighting for a long time, these guard posts have actually gradually become deserted, and many military households’ fields have been destroyed. Some officers privately found reasons to occupy it, and a large number of fields distributed by the imperial court were artificially occupied. "
"The reason why the Zaohu incident in front was so big"
"To a certain extent, it has something to do with these military households."
"Many of them lost their fields and were unable to make a living, so they had to find other things to do. Therefore, many military households fled privately, and many people focused on selling private salt. As a result, the imperial court promoted steam engines, which allowed As soon as the private salt was sold out, these people joined together to cause trouble. "Among them, Suzhou, Mingzhou, Taizhou and other places were the most serious." br>"Under my secret investigation, many military households were threatened to participate in maritime smuggling, and some even colluded with Japanese pirates in business. As far as I have found so far, the places where the most smuggling ships docked are Fuzhou and Mingzhou. !”
“It’s just that the number of people involved is too large, and I haven’t found out yet.”
“Please forgive me.”
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was completely dark.
Smuggling is already intolerable to him. Now his military household in the Ming Dynasty is actually smuggling with the Japanese. Is this still his military household in the Ming Dynasty? Can such a military household really protect the Ming Dynasty's maritime territories?
No wonder accidents often happen along the coast. With a guard station like this, it would be strange if nothing happened.
I am afraid that these people have been secretly communicating with each other for a long time. How could the court prevent them? As the saying goes, it is difficult to guard against domestic thieves. He can guard against Japanese pirates and can guard against thefts by coastal officials. ? Should the inside be coordinated with the outside?
"These people are looking for death!" Zhu Yuanzhang was completely angry.
(End of this chapter)