Chapter 472 T-shaped roll involved, variables

 The old man leaned his head on the pillow and remained silent.

 This is a difficult problem, very complex and involves too many areas.

No one expected that Lin Hai would suddenly become seriously ill and see that his life was short, but it would be troublesome to replace him.

Six years ago, Lin Hai took up the post of Si Yamen, the salt envoy of Huaihe River and Huaihe River, as the salt patrol censor. It was because he and Lao Si had reached a tacit agreement that the court would not interfere with the affairs inside the yamen.

Lin Hai is also a reliable person, and he has gained quite a lot of trust from me in the past few years. He has also handled many complex and thorny remaining issues in the previous ten or twenty years very appropriately. At least they have been dealt with, and they have not nearly exploded like the previous one. came out and caused chaos.

But now the situation has changed suddenly. If Lin Hai passes away, who will take over the position of Salt Patrol Censor?

 It is very troublesome to find a suitable candidate again.

Now that he is no longer the emperor, who would easily give up his current position to join him, knowing that this is unlikely to be a long-term solution?

 This is a problem, and it must be a scholar from the imperial examination. Even the imperial examination background is not suitable, and you must be a Jinshi to be qualified to serve as a censor.

The key is that it has to be trustworthy.

 This is too difficult.

 Just let it go? This was unacceptable to him.

He knows very well that there are too many things here that cannot be seen by people. If the fourth child takes them away, even if they will not explode for the time being, those people will no longer obey his orders and may even backlash. He cannot tolerate this. the emergence of such a situation.

Perhaps you should have let go of everything a long time ago? As soon as this idea came up, he was quickly rejected. With the cruel temper of the fourth child, he was afraid that it would lead to bloodshed.

The only regret is that I was so confused at that time that I suddenly wanted to pass the throne to the fourth child?

Emperor Yuan Xi himself couldn't understand why, after being the emperor for forty years, he became confused at the last moment. Being tired was certainly one of the reasons, and there was also despair and sadness, but more importantly, he was worried that something unspeakable would happen. , you would make such a decision in advance, right?

 But who knew how his body could recover again?

 It’s just that some things can’t be repeated.

It's not possible to let go. It would be troublesome and troublesome to replace him with the person he likes. Not to mention that the fourth child may not agree. Logically speaking, this should be left to him, but what if he just leaves it to himself?

Emperor Yuanxi sighed deeply and regretted his mistake, but what could he do?

 “Let’s take a look for now.” Emperor Yuanxi said after a long time.

"Your Majesty,..." Gu Cheng stopped talking.

“Huh?” Emperor Yuan Xi finally turned his head and said, “Tell me.”

“The urgent news is that Feng Keng followed Cui Jingrong and his entourage to Yangzhou and frequently appeared in the Yamen of the Salt Envoy of Duyuan, and met Mr. Lin.” Gu Cheng lowered his head and said softly.

"Oh?!" Of course Emperor Yuan Xi knew who this Feng Keng was. He was the son of Shenwu General Feng Tang. Not long ago, his fourth son had decreed that Feng Tang's brother Feng Qin should be named the Marquis of Hulun, and he had also instructed the Ministry of Rites to approve that Feng Ziying could also serve as a surname. The Marquis of Hulun, who concubines Feng Qin, is obviously trying to win over Feng Tang and Feng Keng's father and son.

Of course, Feng Keng is indeed worth winning over. His strategy of opening up the sea and borrowing money is said to have been unanimously approved by scholars from both the north and the south. Although there are definitely some differences here, it has generally been unanimously approved. This But it's extremely rare.

"Why is this?" Emperor Yuanxi was puzzled.

Feng Keng was a leading figure among the northern scholars, and a favorite disciple of the northern scholar leaders Qi Yongtai and Qiao Yingjia. How could he get involved with Lin Hai?

Lin Hai was a typical Jiangnan scholar, well, but he later became estranged from Jiangnan scholars.

"It seems that Feng Keng intends to marry Lord Lin's legitimate daughter." Gu Cheng could only report based on the information he had. "But as far as I know, Duke Qiao has already engaged Feng Keng to the daughter of Shen Jue, the governor of Dongchang Prefecture in Shandong Province. , but it should be the eldest room, so maybe Feng Keng intended to marry the daughter of the Lin family as his main room, and the third room as his legitimate wife."

The old man realized clearly that this was because the fourth son had allowed him to serve as a nobleman, so that the family of Feng's family could continue the legacy and title of his heirs.

This hand is really powerful.

Both sons of the Feng family died in office. One died in the battle of Hulunsai, and the other died of illness before he took up the post of general commander of Datong. However, the original Uncle Yunchuan was unable to ascend the throne because both of his sons were childless. The Feng family was very angry.

Later on, Feng Tang only succeeded him as the commander-in-chief of Datong Town, and then gave an empty title to an unknown Shenwu General. But now the fourth son generously gave him the title of Marquis of Hulun, and then agreed to also give him the title.

This skill was quite skillful. Even Emperor Yuan Xi had to admit that his son was better than his eldest son (Prince Yi Zhong). He was overwhelmed by the tricks of winning people's hearts.

And the most important thing is that Feng Tang was bribed. Feng Keng wanted to take over the title at the same time, so he would naturally benefit. And Feng Keng was the favorite disciple of Qi Yongtai and Qiao Yingjia, two famous scholars in the north.

Think about it, even if you can't say that you can win over the northern scholars and civil servants with such a move, it can at least alleviate the dissatisfaction among the scholars that Lao Si doesn't like poetry and poetry.

"Why did Feng Keng want to marry Lin Hai's daughter?" Emperor Yuan Xi was a little puzzled.

"Feng Keng happened to save Mr. Lin's daughter during the Linqing Civil War. This may be a factor. In addition, the Feng family and the Jia family of Ning Rong's second son are family friends, and their relationship has always been close. Mr. Lin's daughter has been living in Jia since she came to Beijing. Feng Keng often goes to the Jia family and is very familiar with the children of the Jia family, so this factor may be involved..."

Emperor Yuanxi remained silent.

It would be a bit troublesome if Feng Keng was also involved in the transfer of salt to the Si Yamen. I wonder if he really just wanted to marry Lin Hai's daughter, or did he have other motives?

Emperor Yuan Xi is more inclined to the latter. If it is true, then whose intention did he have?

The Northern scholars represented by Qi Yongtai and Qiao Yingjia, or the cabinet? Or the fourth child?

No one would not know that everything Lin Hai holds in his hands is transferred to the Salt Envoy Si Yamen, Salt Class, and Salt Yin. Except for the fixed portion of the Salt Class paid to the Ministry of Household Affairs every year, the remaining excess is transferred to the Salt Envoy Si Yamen. Reserved for special expenses.

Then there is the annual licensing fee for the qualification of merchants. This amount is all collected by the Yamen of the Salt Envoy of the capital. How many merchants are designated, how much the franchise fee is, and who will act as the merchants are all decided by the salt inspector.

 In recent years, the salt transfer envoy Si Yamen has mainly made up for the huge deficit left over the past years, and the source of the deficit was naturally known to Emperor Yuan Xi.

The holes brought by six trips to the south of the Yangtze River were beyond what the local government could bear. Considering how much he had spent on his wantonness and absurdity in those years, and how many of his favorites had benefited from it, he knew in his heart that Lin Hai could do it. Over the past few years, these holes have been slowly filled up, and it is already quite good.

"Gu Cheng, it's not appropriate to be alarmed about this matter for the time being. You told Lieutenant Long to keep an eye on it. Lin Hai hasn't written to me yet, and I guess it will be soon. This matter always needs to have a result. Although Lin Hai has worked hard for me over the years, there are still some problems in the accounts. But you have to give me an explanation." Emperor Yuan Xi showed a cold look on his face, "I will also greet him at the fourth son's place. I am not dead yet, and he has to wait for some things..."

At this time, Emperor Yuan Xi finally showed his decisive side, "I'm very interested in this Feng Keng. I didn't expect that a son of martial arts could actually take the imperial examination and select common people. Hmm, The fourth son is quite generous, and he gave it to him as long as he said he would give it to the editor of the Hanlin Academy... By the way, I remember that the second son of the Feng family died of illness when he was serving as the commander-in-chief of Datong Town. He also had no heirs, so he was unable to ascend the throne?"

After Gu Cheng was stunned for a moment, he thought for a while and then said: "It's true. The three sons of the Feng family, Feng Qin, Feng Han, and Feng Tang. Feng Han died of illness. Because he died of illness and had no children, the court only allowed Feng Tang succeeded him and gave Feng Tang Shenwu General a virtual title. He had no other comfort for Feng Han. Yinzi..."

Emperor Yuan Xi nodded, a strange look flashed in his eyes, "I understand."

  ****

"In the past two days, Mr. Feng and Mr. Cui have been visiting and investigating the throughput capacity of Yangzhou wharf, the number and scale of shipping companies, as well as the production status of silk workshops and incense workshops. In addition, they have also visited Yangzhou government offices and Jiangdu county government offices. Collect the number of shops in various industries, such as the number and scale of lumber shops, rice shops, cloth shops, money shops, silver shops, etc...."

Wang Wenyan quietly reported to Lin Ruhai, who was lying in the easy chair, what he had learned in the past two days through the channels of the Salt Transfer Agent Si Yamen. The Salt Transfer Agent Si Yamen was the first-class existence in Yangzhou City. He has connections with various channels and has his own personal connections, so it is not difficult to find out what is going on.

"They have a very detailed understanding. On the one hand, they have to provide the government and county governments with their respective numbers and operating conditions over the years, and then they have to conduct spot checks on their own. Two government officials and a group of officials have been running around in the streets and alleys for the past two days. and on the dock, almost based on the ratio of one out of ten, and they also specially printed a survey sheet with several questions, which is very detailed. Many questions have not even been thought of in classical Chinese, such as making a living. Seasonal fluctuations, such as the borrowing situation and import and export price fluctuations in the past three years,..."

"Wenyan, what do you think they want to do here? Are they here to open up the sea?" Lin Ruhai was also a little confused.

Wang Wenyan hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head, "Wenyan doesn't know either, but Wenyan feels that they may have gone too far during this investigation, and this is Yangzhou, not Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Ningbo, and Kaihai is not the city they chose. This is an inland shipping terminal. What’s the point of investigating all these industries one by one and getting to the bottom of it? Why does the court want this? "

"If they didn't come here to open the sea, why are they going to fight here? Cui Jingrong is not an idle person, nor is he a boring person." Lin Ruhai shook his head.

 (End of this chapter)