Chapter 255 The Princess Visits

Wuchang, the admiral headquarters.

The mysterious middle-aged man felt the atmosphere was wrong as soon as he stepped into the signing room, because in addition to the new Huguang Admiral Zhao Xin, there was also a mysterious masked woman in black.

The middle-aged man tried his best to calm his mind and asked in a voice: "Sir, what do you mean?"

Zhao Xin asked back without answering, "I don't know what the teacher's name is called?"

The middle-aged man also asked irresponsible: "Sir, what's going on with this woman?"

Zhao Xin smiled faintly and said, "This girl is the intelligence secretary of the Governor, Miss Liu."

The middle-aged man took a breath of air conditioning and turned around and left. Liu Qingyan twisted her body, blocking the middle-aged man's way like a ghost. She stretched out her hand and twisted her arm, tied her back, and then scolded coldly, "Since you have shown yourself, do you still want to leave easily?"

The middle-aged man was tied up with his hands and shouted: "Master Supervisor, if you don't listen to good advice, you will die in the future without a place to bury him."

"Hahaha." Zhao Xinyangtian laughed, "The governor will wait and see if anyone can take the governor's life?"

The middle-aged man shouted: "The one who took your life is not someone else, but Wang Pu, the governor of the five provinces!"

"It's indeed a lotus with a tongue-brightening tongue!"

Liu Qingyan snorted softly, and the seemingly soft soft horn exerted a light force. The middle-aged man's arms behind him were tied up. The middle-aged man's face turned pale in an instant, and several cold sweats as big as beans had emerged from his forehead, but he forced himself to not hum.

"It looks like there are two kilograms of bones." After saying that, Liu Qingyan said to Zhao Xin, "Sir, this guy is probably the spy who instigated Zuo Liangyu to rebel. If there is nothing else, the little woman will take him away."

Zhao Xin bowed and said, "Please give me a gift, girl."

Liu Qingyan turned around and waved her hand. The two young women had already entered and took the middle-aged man away. Liu Qingyan bowed to Zhao Xin again and turned around.

Three days passed in a blink of an eye.

Under the instigation of Fushe, riots broke out in Zhejiang and Zhili prefectures, and the gentry and people joined forces to resist the court's additional levy for the next three years. The three prefectures in Songjiang, Suzhou and Changzhou were particularly disturbed. The officials sent by the court to collect the pay not only did not collect the food and pay, but were also hanged up by the mob and beaten up.

The news soon reached Nanjing.

Emperor Longwu urgently summoned the cabinet ministers to the Qianqing Palace (there is also a Qianqing Palace in Nanjing, which was repaired by Zhu Yuanzhang) to discuss matters. Sun Chuanting was ill under the order and was not allowed to appear publicly for less than half a year, so it was naturally impossible to enter the palace to discuss matters. Qian Qianyi and Lu Daqi also had sick in bed as usual, only Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and Wang Duo hurried into the palace.

After meeting, Emperor Longwu asked Gao Hongtu with a gloomy face and said, "Gei Gao, haven't I repeatedly reminded me to do a good job of appeaseing the people? Why are there still large-scale riots in Songjiang, Suzhou and Changzhou, and all the officials sent to collect wages were beaten up. What's going on?"

Gao Hongtu wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and knelt down and explained: "Long live the remarks. The old minister once repeatedly reminded the officials who went down to collect wages, to make them pay attention to appease the people's emotions and explain to them the difficulties of the court. This should not happen."

Emperor Longwu frowned and said unhappy: "Grade Gao, something has happened now!"

"Investigate." Gao Hongtu hurriedly said, "The old minister must send someone to investigate thoroughly and find out the truth about this matter to see who dared to fan the flames in secret and disturb the court's collection of food and wages?"

"Of course, we need to investigate," said Emperor Longwu. "But I want to know what Gaoge Lao planned to do? Will you continue to collect wages? What if a mutiny is triggered? Zhejiang and Zhizhou provinces have always been the main tax bases of our Ming Dynasty. If even these two provinces are in chaos, where does the treasury come from?"

Gao Hongtu said in a singular voice: "Long live, it's absolutely impossible to continue collecting wages."

Emperor Longwu frowned and said, "If you can't collect wages, you will have no money. How can you repair the palace without money? How can you marry the emperor's sister without money? How can you select a girl without money? Is Mr. Gao still planning to let me whisper and borrow silver from the honorary relatives in Nanjing?"

"I dare not." Gao Hongtu hurriedly said, "The old minister must not have such a ruthless idea."

Emperor Longwu shouted: "What do you think you should do?"

"Long live." A trace of viciousness flashed through Gao Hongtu's eyes and said in a calm voice, "The old minister also thought of a way."

"Oh?" Emperor Longwu asked, "What method?"

Gao Hongtu gave a wink at Jiang Yueguang behind him. Jiang Yueguang walked two steps and went forward and reported: "Long live, the people in Zhejiang and Zhizhou are already very poor. The real money is the silk households, the silk households, and the riots that happened in Songjiang, Suzhou and Changzhou this time are also these silk households, and the sea cotton households are the most inflicted."

Emperor Longwu said: "Jiang Aiqing means..."

Jiang Yueguang said: "What the old minister means is that instead of giving money to the people who have no money, it is better to give money to these silk households and seaweed and cotton households! This civil rebellion is a great opportunity. As long as the blame for inciting civil rebellion is placed on these silk households and seaweed and cotton households, they can take the opportunity to confiscate all their property!"

Gao Hongtu said: "Long live, Songjiang is a cotton-producing mansion. The Songjiang cotton cloth produced every year is millions, while Suzhou and Changzhou are silk mansions. The high-quality silk produced every year is more than 500,000! These prefectures are also the richest mansions in Zhejiang and Zhejiang provinces. Conservatively estimated, there are hundreds of silk households and silk households, with each household having hundreds of thousands of households!"

There are hundreds of large households, each with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one dollar will be tens of millions of dollars. If this amount of money can be replenished to the national treasury, the cost of the imperial court will be settled in the next few years.

In fact, Gao Hongtu's estimate was ensured, and the wealth of the people in Jiangnan was already quite considerable at that time.

Since Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty gradually relaxed the sea ban. Silk, tea and porcelain from Jiangnan are the best-selling luxury goods in the Western world. Every year, a large number of merchant ships are loaded with silver from Southeast Asia, Japan, Luzon, and even Europe to Jiangnan for trade.

Since the Ming Dynasty prohibited trade with the West, these trades were all private smuggling, and the huge wealth brought by trade flowed into the large silk merchants, cotton and linen merchants, textile merchants, tea merchants, and the officials who colluded with them.

This is also a unique phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty. The people's wealth was very abundant, but the country was too poor to go bankrupt.

Emperor Longwu pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Gaoge, let me leave this matter to Mr. Jiang and Mr. Wang. Mr. Jiang and Mr. Wang. I hope you will make a decision before you act and never cause another civil rebellion."

Jiang Yueguang and Wang Duo quickly bowed to the ground to receive the imperial edict: "The old minister received the imperial edict."

Emperor Longwu waved his hand, Jiang Yueguang and Wang Duo retreated outside the hall.

Emperor Longwu waved to Gao Hongtu again. Gao Hongtu took two steps forward and knelt at Emperor Longwu's feet. Emperor Longwu bent down and asked in a low voice: "Gei Gao, how is the other thing done?"

Gao Hongtu said: "The old minister has already made a complete plan and is about to report it."

"Oh?" Emperor Longwu said happily, "Tell me quickly."

Gao Hongtu said: "The old minister has been thinking about it and there is only one way to dismantle Wang Pu's Central Army."

Emperor Longwu said: "What method?"

Gao Hongtu said: "The firewood is removed from the cauldron!"

Emperor Longwu said: "How to remove the firewood from the bottom of the pot?"

Gao Hongtu said: "Wang Pu repeatedly defeated Jiannu, burned, killed and robbed Jiannu in Shengjing, and captured the slave chief Huang Taiji alive. If the old ministers expected it was not bad, Jiannu would definitely hate Wang Pu to the core. This time, Yang Tingjian led a delegation to Beijing to discuss peace with Jiannu. Jiannu would definitely take the opportunity to propose conditions and ask us to get rid of Wang Pu."

Emperor Longwu nodded slightly when he heard this. It was completely reasonable for Jiannu to propose this condition, and it was very likely.

Gao Hongtu continued: "As long as Jiannu put forward this condition, the big thing will be halfway! As long as Jiannu takes the initiative to attack Shandong, Wang Pu will definitely lead his army to rescue Shandong again! After Wang Pu leads his army to the southern Jinshan Guard, Zhejiang Linshan Guard, Guanhai Guard's army enters Beijing, and forced a submission to the Central Army who stayed in the Yanziji camp. Finally, the three generals Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing are released, and they use them to control the 60,000 old Jiangbei subordinates of Yanziji camp. In this way, Nanjing will be completely under the control of the court!"

Zhang Zian, who was on the other hand, curled his lips and commented on Gao Hongtu’s idea in his heart: Talking about war on paper.

In Zhang Zi'an's view, Gao Hongtu's idea had too many loopholes, including too many subjective conjectures. He took it for granted that Jiannu would definitely send troops, and took it for granted that Wang Pu would definitely send troops to rescue Shandong. He even more took it for granted that Wang Pu would hasten to send troops without preparation.

Emperor Longwu was very satisfied after hearing this, and nodded happily and said, "Gaoge, I will give you the important task of eliminating Wang Pu."

"Long live, don't worry." Gao Hongtu said solemnly, "The old minister will definitely live the trust."

"Okay." Emperor Longwu said happily, "I have nothing to give special advice. You can leave the palace."

"In this way, the old minister surrendered."

Gao Hongtu bowed to Emperor Longwu for a long time, knelt on his knees and walked out of the hall. He met Jiang Yueguang outside the hall, and Wang Duo went straight to Wenhua Hall.

Wuchang, Liu Qingyan's residence.

In the dark dungeon, the middle-aged man was hung on the beam with his hands on his back, and only his toes could barely reach the ground. Two burly men were holding whips and holding fierce whips. Whenever the middle-aged man closed his eyelids and wanted to fall asleep, he would whip the middle-aged man hard, and the middle-aged man would scream and wake up suddenly.

Three days, it has been three days!

For the past three days, the middle-aged man has been hanging like this, not eating, drinking water, and sleeping. When he is sleepy, he will whip him up and wake him up with a whip.

This is the most typical method of killing eagles. In less than three days, even the most ferocious eagle will be tamed into a good bird. The willpower of ordinary people can't resist it for two days!

"Kill me, hero." The middle-aged man's spirit finally collapsed, "Please give me a knife."

A burly man whipped the middle-aged man on the back and sneered: "Little girl, I don't believe I can't get enough of you."

"Tell me." Another big man brought a bowl of water, approached the middle-aged man's mouth, and asked in a grim voice, "What's the name?"

"Shuishui..." The middle-aged man smelled the fragrance of water and said repeatedly, "I want to drink water, drink water..."

"Speak your name and give you water!"

"I said, I said, my name is... Zhu San."

"Bang."

The burly man loosened his hand and fell to the ground. The water from the bowl sprinkled all over the floor.

The middle-aged man was completely energetic and burst into tears: "Oh my God, let me die, I don't want to live anymore, hahaha, let me die, please, kill me..."

"Have it, continue to bear it!" Another burly man said coldly, "I don't believe that I can't bear him!"

"I said, I said everything." The middle-aged man shook his head hard and cried bitterly, "My name is Fan Wencheng, a native of Shengjing, Liaodong, and he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in three years..."

"Qing Dynasty? Jiannu!" The burly man changed his mind, "It turned out to be a traitor!"

Another burly man said, "I'll report to the lady!"

After saying that, the burly man hurriedly left. In less than a moment, he led Liu Qingyan and two maids into the basement. Liu Qingyan's cold eyes fell on Fan Wencheng's face like a knife, and asked in a deep voice: "Your name is Fan Wencheng?"

Fan Wencheng nodded weakly.

"Say that the Marquis talked about you, a hardcore traitor!" Liu Qingyan said, "Why did you come to Wuchang?"

"It's a long story, haha..." Fan Wencheng yawned and said, "Originally, he came to Nanjing to provoke the party dispute in the Southern Ming Dynasty on the order of Dorgon. Later, he found out that Sun Chuanting and Wang Pu had completely controlled the government and could not provoke the party dispute at all, so he had to find a way to get close to King Lu Zhu Changfang..."

Fan Wencheng's spirit had completely collapsed, and he said everything that happened after he sneaked into Nanjing.

Liu Qingyan felt like she was treasured, and immediately returned to the boudoir to compile a book, and passed the news back to Nanjing by Fei Ge. Although Liu Qingyan was not in Nanjing, she knew everything about what happened in Nanjing recently. She knew what this news meant to Wang Pu. It was simply a sharp butcher knife!

Fan Wencheng was not only a lackey of Jiannu, but also had an affair with the rebel Zuo Liangyu, and was also involved with Lu Wang Zhu Changfang! Anyone who had an affair with Fan Wencheng would immediately bear the three unforgivable crimes of being in touch with foreign countries, conspiring to usurp the throne, and rebelling, and any of them would be enough to destroy the nine clans.

Nanjing, Jingnan Marquis Mansion.

Wang Pu, Chang Yanling, Li Zushu, and Xu Hongji, and some of their best friends came back after two rounds of mahjong. Before they could enter the backyard, they heard bursts of silver bell-like laughter. The laughter came from the round Mudan Pavilion. Mudan Pavilion was a bedroom that Wang Pu specially built for Chen Yuanyuan. Wang Pu felt that only Mudanhua among the flowers deserved Yuanyuan's beauty and generosity, so he gave this name.

This person is very vulgar in the eyes of scholars, but Wang Pu is a little proud because he is still thinking about Orchid Pavilion, Narcissus Pavilion, Rose Pavilion, Mandala Pavilion...

Wang Pu was thinking about which women gathered in Mudan Pavilion, so lively?
Chapter completed!