Number of People

Chapter 2416: Gui Zi Juan is thoughtful and weighs int

Chapter 2416: Gui Zi Juan deliberates carefully and weighs interests

"In order to capture me, the Zhen family offered 300,000 taels of silver. Brother Zhisheng probably won't pay less for me. Also, Brother Wenru, you guys are lucky to have come in secret. If the Zhen family knew about it, I guess it wouldn't be too much." It will be lower than this number, and when Mr. Gu Ge and the others arrive? I don’t think it will be lower than one million, right?"

Feng Ziying said that the people present could feel their blood boiling and they were frightened. They were all weighing themselves, how much are they worth?

"What does this mean? It means that the Zhen family has taken active actions to save themselves. We here may be able to withstand it, but who can guarantee that the people in Beijing can also withstand it? This is the case with the Zhen family, but what about the Ding family? Lian Xiu My wife is capable of such things, but the Ding family seems to have a lower limit and dare to use any means. The Ding family is the largest tea merchant in Jiangnan and the largest landowner in She County and Qimen. They can also easily make thirty or fifty money. Wan has opened up everything, and they have even started to do so, but they may not be here with us, maybe in Beijing, or even among Gu Ge Lao and his group?"

This is a bit heartbreaking, but both Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang had to admit that it was not possible, or even too likely.

"As for the Tang family, Songjiang is rich and fertile, and Songjiang's literary talent is at its peak. It is much better than Huizhou. The Tang family has extensive connections, and it is even more incomparable to the Ding family. Once they start to act in unison, they may even take action ahead of us. I am very worried, can all of us here be able to withstand it?"

Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang were both lost in thought.

Feng Ziying's words are so profound that they are deeply rooted in people's hearts. Once millions of dollars are poured out, how many of the people here, including Gu Bingqian and his party who are heading south on the canal, and countless people in Beijing, can resist it?

If you can't resist it, can you still successfully complete this mission to the south?

Since we all know that the other party will definitely do this, and the trapped beast still fights, this is not to destroy the family to save the trouble, but to save oneself at the expense of money!

Even if half of the family property is used to buy things, others think it is a good deal, but why should my group give the other party such an opportunity?

 Wouldn’t it be better to keep the distribution rights of these people’s property firmly in your own hands?

Perhaps Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang are both honest people, but no one cares about political performance, and no one is willing to take the initiative in their own hands.

After wanting to understand this truth, Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang quickly unified their opinions.

Sun Chengzong also admired Feng Ziying's eloquence and ability to instigate, and he persuaded Yang Lian in a few words. Even if Yang Lian was not moved, how could Yang Lian bring this group of censors not to be moved?

Why do we have to wait until powerful people like the Zhen family, Tang family, and Ding family spend a lot of money to bribe court officials and those people brought by Gu Bingqian?

Of course, my own group of people cannot be exposed to these evil smells, so don't even think about it, just take all the money and property of these families into your own hands.

We can’t put it into our own pockets, but we can transfer the money into the national treasury and turn these things into real political achievements of our country. This is always no problem.

With the Metropolitan Procuratorate’s opinions unified, many things will be much easier to handle.

 For officials, especially local civil servants, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the power of life and death. For powerful people, it is Long Jinwei's specialty. When it is necessary to mobilize the army to cooperate, Sun and Feng are responsible for the arrangements, which can be said to complement each other.

Coupled with the active cooperation of Jia Yucun, it can be said that everything is ready, just waiting for the order.

 When the other censors on both sides had retreated, only Sun Chengzong, Feng Ziying, Sun Dingxiang and Yang Lian were left.

 In addition, Zhao Wenzhao from Long Jinwei's side also arrived.

  It can be said that they are now a five-person decision-making group in Jiangnan.

"Ziying, you are responsible for almost all the preparations in the early stage. Although Jia Hua has also done some work, he is the person recommended by Wang Ziteng after all, and he has been in Jiangnan for a long time. He can assist but cannot take the lead, so it is still you. Come, let’s talk about our thoughts with Shuxiang, Wenru and Wenzhao.”

 Sun Chengzong did his duty, as the person in charge at the moment, but he also knew that Feng Ziying was more experienced and experienced in this regard, and directly handed over the initiative to the other party.

Sun Dingxiang and Yang Lian both set their eyes on Feng Ziying, obviously wanting to see what kind of strategy this famous but somewhat complicated right minister of the Ministry of War could come up with.

 Zhao Wenzhao is an old acquaintance of Feng Ziying and has worked together in Beijing, so he is very relieved.

"Everyone, before leaving Beijing in the early stage, Prime Minister Fang and Duke Mingqi of the Ministry of Revenue made special explanations. During the period of going south, after the situation was under control, I was entrusted by Brother Zhisheng to make some preparations." Feng Ziying also told the truth calmly. : "As you may all know, there were some disputes in the court over how to deal with Jiangnan. The main reason was that taxes from Jiangnan had not been paid to the court for three years, and the grain supply was also cut off for two years. All of this was squandered by the Nanjing puppet government, but now the matter has passed. , I’m afraid it will be futile to pursue it further, but it is an indisputable fact that the imperial court’s deficit is close to 20 million taels of silver. This does not include the national debt, how to solve it?”

This is not a secret. The Ministry of Revenue continues to borrow money from Haitong Bank and continues to issue treasury bonds. No one knows the exact amount, but it can be roughly estimated. It is estimated that it is not far from 20 million taels of silver.

 Let his group stand at the front, and then Gu Bingqian leads a large group of people to the south. Isn't it really to appease the people?

Jiangnan now does not need to be appeased, but needs to be purged and completely eliminate all kinds of ideas that are different from the imperial court. Whether it is local officials or country gentry, those who should be dismissed should be dismissed, those who should be eradicated should be uprooted, and those who should be uprooted should be uprooted. The future troubles will have to be uprooted.

"I'm afraid that before Brother Shuxiang and Brother Wenru went south, the ministers also gave instructions. There are two tasks. One is to rectify the finances and make up for the deficit. To put it bluntly, it is to increase revenue for the court from this operation; the other is to eliminate the local separatist regimes in the south of the Yangtze River and establish independence. The remaining poison will completely destroy those powerful people who intend to fight against the imperial court, and even collude with each other to resist stubbornly. We must not be merciful and leave remaining troubles in the future!"

Feng Ziying said more and more relaxedly, "Actually, these two items basically have two sides. Where to start to solve the problem of financial deficit? It has to be on these powerful gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. If it were not for the instigation and support of these powerful and evil gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, the Nanjing puppet dynasty would not have been able to do anything." Dare to raise the flag? Similarly, they also used the banner of the puppet dynasty to embezzle the taxes that should be paid to the court. At the same time, the lives of the people in the fish and meat township were becoming increasingly poor. Eradicate this group of people, return Jiangnan to a bright and prosperous world, and let the court order Yu can travel unhindered in the south of the Yangtze River without any restrictions. At the same time, it can be considered as a contribution to the first task by providing sufficient resources..."

Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang both nodded slowly, agreeing with this point of view.

The current plan can only be like this. The court is in difficulty and money is needed everywhere. Where will it come from? Can we still scratch a layer of suffering from these miserable refugees and disaster victims in the North?

The civil unrest in Shanxi has not yet been completely pacified, and the imperial court is still transporting a lot of money and grain to Shanxi. If we really need to increase taxes, there will really be wars everywhere.

These powerful people in the south of the Yangtze River live in rich clothes and luxurious food in the fish and meat town, and Yangzhou salt merchants are the leaders among them. The cost of a house can reach millions. It is incredible to think about it. Hundreds of thousands of frontier troops in the north paid hundreds of thousands of taels. The money and food payment are repeatedly delayed, and even cannot be obtained for a year and a half. How can people achieve psychological balance by comparing these two things?

Although Yang Lian is friendly with the Jiangnan scholars, he has no good impression of these Jiangnan powerful men. If these people are eradicated, then these people will come to sacrifice the flag and make contributions. It can be said that there is no psychological barrier at all.

"Ziying, there is no need to say anything else. Let me just tell you what needs to be done." Yang Lian and Sun Ding exchanged glances before saying, "Without further delay, if all the Zhen family can get involved, what else can we do?" It’s hard to say how much trouble it will cause us.”

"Well, hit the snake within seven inches, capture the thief first and capture the king first. The Zhen family is the head of the four major families. Needless to say, Zhen Yingjia, the third brother of the Zhen family, it turns out that the president of Nanjing Tirenyuan, who is also the Imperial College Jijiu, is even a member of the imperial family. If you are not a character who can serve as a wine sacrificer in the Imperial Academy, it is not the era of the puppet dynasty, and you can imagine his methods and abilities." Feng Ziying was not polite.

"I won't talk about the prosperity in the Nanjing Puppet Dynasty later. The second eldest son, Zhen Yingyu, served as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing. Later, he was impeached many times, but he just retired and was not dealt with. Similarly, the Nanjing Puppet Dynasty was also like a fish in water. The third eldest son, Zhen Yinghui, was also like a duck in water. Needless to say, the current prefect of Jinhua needs to be taken seriously the most. He is the legitimate daughter of the Tang family and has a particularly close relationship with the Tang family. The Songjiang Tang family is the largest powerhouse in Songjiang and has the largest fleet in Songjiang. He is also the major shareholder of Wusong Shipyard, the largest shipyard in Songjiang, and the Tang family is closely related to the Dong and Lu families in Songjiang..."

 The Dong family, the Lu family, Sun Juxiang and Yang Lian all know the details. If they are not easy to touch, a single move can affect the whole body.

"The other in-laws of the Zhen family, the Ding family, are also a powerful force. They are divided into two branches. One branch is strong in Huizhou. It is the largest landowner in Shexian and Qimen, the largest tea merchant in Huizhou, and one of the major tea merchants in Jiangnan. , Qimen's original major tea merchants were all destroyed by the Ding family's plunder. Needless to say, Ding Deju, everyone knows that Jiangxi Chengxuan's political envoy Si Yousensuo, and the other one was the Yangzhou salt merchant Ding family. This Si’s reputation is even worse. Salt merchants already have a bad reputation, but this Ding family is actually one of the three salt merchants with the worst reputation. This shows how popular this family is..."

Sun Juxiang rubbed his chin and said word by word: "It seems that these three families are not simple. Ziying, the Tang family you mentioned has a close relationship with the Dong family and the Lu family. The Dong family and the Lu family are not too involved, right? "

This is also an issue that Yang Lian is concerned about. If it involves too much, then it needs to be carefully considered.

 (End of this chapter)