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Text [Kings Seize the Heir] Chapter 8 Extremely Depressed

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    Kings seize the heir¡¿Chapter 8 Extremely Depressed

    In the process of ruling the Ming Dynasty for more than 20 years, Emperor Hongguang gradually realized the importance of industry and commerce, especially after carrying out foreign plunder and international trade. He greatly reduced the exploitation of farmers and instead vigorously supported commerce.  development, encouraging businessmen to open factories and industries. In the first ten years or so, preferential policies for businessmen emerged one after another, which unleashed unprecedented vitality in the commercial development of the Ming Dynasty. Businessmen who had been despised for thousands of years began to be respected by society.  However, it was impossible for Emperor Hongguang to just give alms without collecting money, so he used the leverage of the port office and customs to start the customs taxation model of later generations. Although customs taxation increased year after year, the increase was not large, and it was what trade could bear.  , Emperor Hongguang would not do that stupid thing of killing the goose to obtain the eggs.

    In fact, the national policy is preferential to businessmen, but not all businessmen think this is a preferential treatment, especially for businessmen who started overseas trade in the early years. Their income has undoubtedly been reduced by one-third. This is what they think.  They were unwilling to accept it, so a business emerged - smuggling.  The smuggled goods cover many aspects, and the evaded duties are also more or less, but in general, compared with normal trade, smuggled merchants account for a very small proportion, but Emperor Hongguang paid great attention to this phenomenon.  , is absolutely ruthless in combating smuggling. Since the amount of smuggling is not large, some smuggling businessmen are caught every year, but most of them are fined.

    Wang Yuanwu's spearhead came from smuggling. He looked at Zhu Ci and said, "Your Majesty, Xiaguan grew up in Fujian, but he doesn't know very clearly about some things. But the rumors may not be groundless. Xiaguan heard that there is a man in Fuzhou  Large smuggling merchants evade court duties worth as much as three million every year, and they often join forces to control prices and hoard goods!"

    Zhu Ci's lips trembled a little, "Is it Zhuang Tingzhen you are talking about?" Zhu Ci felt that when Wang Yuanwu said this at this time, he must be pointing the finger at Zhuang Tingzhen.

    "Your Majesty, no one else has the guts! Zhuang Tingzhen, relying on the fact that he is the family of Concubine Chen, has united with many big merchants. He doesn't take customs laws seriously at all. To put it mildly, those port customs officers  , In fact, they are already in the same group with Zhuang Tingzhen. They benefited from Zhuang Tingzhen, so they naturally turned a blind eye to Zhuang Tingzhen's smuggling." In fact, what Wang Yuanwu said was an exaggeration. Emperor Hongguang was improving various social systems year by year.  Legislation and policy.  The Maritime Court alone has experienced unprecedented development, and some foreign business disputes have come to the Maritime Court of the Ming Dynasty for fair trials. It can be seen that Emperor Hongguang's contribution in these aspects is not small.  But then again, without these rumors, Wang Yuanwu would not dare to say this. After all, every society has its dark side, which is inevitable for development.

    Zhu Ci¡¯s heart was alive because of Wang Yuanwu¡¯s behavior.  "Sir, I wonder if you have evidence of their smuggling? If there is no evidence, it will be difficult to handle!"

    Wang Yuanwu chuckled, "Your Majesty, I have made it very clear. Evidence must be collected. And every one of these merchants is unclean. Who hasn't gotten some private goods? As long as the Prince closes the door first and beats the dog."  , collecting evidence is a matter of course. Now that disaster relief is so urgent, we first ransacked the homes of these merchants to get the food out, and then slowly collected evidence."

    Zhu Ci pondered for a long time and felt that Wang Yuanwu's words were not unreasonable, but he was not stupid. The person behind Zhuang Tingzhen was Concubine Chen.  There are many merchants.  It's a big network in Jiangnan. Does he have the ability to handle this matter?  If it messes up.  It's hard to predict his future, but what is clear is that his relationship with Lao Si will inevitably become strained, and he will offend many people in Jiangnan, which will really put him in a dilemma.

    Zhu Cixi weighed the pros and cons and felt that he could no longer wait for this matter. If it was true, as Wang Yuanwu said, that Zhuang Tingzhen was suspected of large-scale smuggling, then his father would be happy for him if this case was solved.  This matter can also make his father look good and establish his own prestige. It seems that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

    Thinking of this, Zhu Ci sighed, "When I came to Fujian, what I saw was that the victims were miserable, and the wealthy businessmen did not donate food for disaster relief. It was really heartbreaking. Since there was a fault and the law of the court was violated, then  You can¡¯t blame me for being ruthless, Liu Xi.¡±

    Liu Xi has been waiting outside. Hearing Zhu Ci's call, he quickly came in, "Master! What are your orders?"

    "Bring out the emperor's secret decree and ask the Fujian Garrison Department to come to see me." At this time, Zhu Ci had to bring out the Emperor Hongguang's secret order to suppress the situation. Moreover, the Fujian Garrison Department only had only  Only the will of the emperor can be mobilized.

    When Wang Yuanwu heard this, he was very happy. For him and his master, this was a business that guaranteed profits without losing any money. If Zhu Ci?  Enmity with the King of Chu; if the King of Chu fails to find ZhuangIf the evidence of smuggling is revealed, the prestige of King Chu will be greatly damaged. In any case, it will be a good ending for them.

    Emperor Hongguang really paid more attention to the military than to administration and local government affairs. The military strength of the entire country was almost entirely under the control of Emperor Hongguang, and the entire military command system was very complete. There would be no generals who would support their troops or even be self-respecting.  Regarding rebellion, in addition to the several corps directly under the central government and the production and construction corps in outer borders, there are also local military offices called garrison departments in various places, with one commander and 8,000 to 10,000 troops, responsible for some major rebellions.  This setting is the armed police system that Emperor Hongguang imitated in later generations. It can be said to be a powerful supplement to local security agencies. However, it can be immediately transformed into a combat force during wartime, so its strength cannot be compared with that of security police officers.

    The commander of the Fujian Garrison Division turned out to be an old acquaintance of Zhu Ci's, Liang Fu's son Liang Sicheng. Zhu Ci had known him when he was training at the military academy. Unexpectedly, Liang Sicheng, who had not seen each other for two years and was less than 20 years old, would actually become Liang Sicheng.  The commander of the Fujian Garrison Department surprised Zhu Ci, but his father valued military talents very much. Maybe this Liang Sicheng was extraordinary, and Pingding Hou Gao Di also commanded the army at the age of sixteen.  There's a war!

    Meeting old acquaintances in a foreign land.  Liang Sicheng was also very happy, "Your Highness, I had known that Your Highness had arrived in Fujian, but I didn't have the guts to come to see His Highness. I hope Your Highness will forgive me." Emperor Hongguang stipulated that no general was allowed to make friends with local officials and princes.  The reason is that he is afraid that the military will disrupt the place and interfere in the affairs between the princes in the future.  Even Gao Di didn't dare to get too close to his nephew Cijiong, and Liang Sicheng didn't even have the guts.

    Zhu Ci also knew this, "General, you don't have to be polite. I came to the general today because I wanted him to do a favor." Zhu Ci didn't want to use the local people for fear of disturbing the situation, and the soldiers and horses of the Garrison Department not only have the strength  .  Zhuang Tingzhen and other smugglers would not extend their tentacles to the army, so Zhu Ci decided to use this team.

    "Your Majesty, if you have any questions, just give me your orders. The general has read the emperor's imperial edict. From now on, the general will be under the command of His Highness." Liang Sicheng saw clearly in the imperial edict that he told the Fujian garrison department to obey the orders of the King of Chu.  So Liang Sicheng didn't say anything.

    Zhuang Tingzhen was sipping tea in his concubine's bedroom. The young and beautiful concubine gently beat him on the shoulder.  It made him feel very comfortable, but he didn't enjoy this comfortable feeling for long when he saw Zhuang Bi banging the door open and looking at Zhuang Tingzhen with a pale face, "Master Master It's not good King Chu leads the troops."  Come to search the house!"

    We haven¡¯t finished speaking yet!  The soldiers and horses of the Garrison Department had already broken in and tied up Zhuang Tingzhen's master and servants without any further explanation.  But no measures were taken against other people in the mansion and the female family members.

    Zhuang Tingzhen was confused at first. He didn't believe that Zhu Cixi dared to do this. When he was brought to Zhu Cixi, he came back to his senses and said, "Your Majesty, what do you mean? You are not afraid of the black hair on your head."  Were you blown away by the wind?" Zhuang Tingzhen calmed down immediately, believing Zhu Ci? He didn't dare to do anything to him.

    Zhu Ci smiled slightly and said, "I don't mean anything else. I just heard that Mr. Zhuang is suspected of smuggling, and the amount is huge. And I have some evidence. Come here, keep Mr. Zhuang under safe custody. Keep Butler Zhuang in separate custody.  .¡±

    Zhuang Tingzhen trembled in his heart when he heard Zhu Ci?  If you can¡¯t produce any evidence, I¡¯ll see how you end it.¡±

    Zhu Cixi ignored Zhuang Tingzhen's words, waved his hand and asked people to take Zhuang Tingzhen down, and asked other people in the banker's mouth about the location and entrance of the grain storage cellar. When Zhu Cixi found the entrance to the cellar in the backyard of the Zhuang Mansion, he listened.  When people said that there were countless grains stored inside, Zhu Ci was not only happy but also a little angry. How many lives could these grains save?  This Zhuang Tingzhen is too hateful.

    Zhu Ci immediately ordered people to move the food and set up fifty porridge stations within twenty miles of Fuzhou overnight so that the victims could be fed at dawn.

    Based on the information he obtained from Wang Yuanwu, Zhu Ci simultaneously raided the houses of five merchants and confiscated more than 500,000 kilograms of grain. The biggest advantage was that it relieved the pressure on disaster relief. Through sea ships, he could  By quickly transporting the grain to other coastal areas in Fujian, it is enough to last until the day when the disaster relief grain arrives.

    Now that the food is in hand, the real problem comes next. Zhu Ci also knows that if he can't get evidence of smuggling by Zhuang Tingzhen and other merchants, he really won't be able to explain to his father when he goes back, and even Concubine Chen won't let her go.  He, so he made a sudden interrogation all night, hoping to get something. He didn't know if these people had colluded or if they really didn't engage in smuggling. The confessions were all the same. When he asked three questions, he knew he was wronged, which made Zhu Ci?  .

    To say Zhu Ci? For business, it is purely a layman.?So there is no way to check it even if you want to, he doesn¡¯t understand it at all!  How can I investigate this case if I can't even read the ledger?  When Wang Yuanwu saw Zhu Cixi lighting up the powder keg, his attitude became ambiguous at this time. He shied away from his busy official duties and avoided seeing Zhu Cixi, waiting to see Zhu Cixi's joke.

    Zhu Ci? has always given people the impression of being steady, upright, and generous. He is also very considerate in everything he does. Although he cannot read the account books, he still understands the relationship between them. While copying the five major merchants, he also sent people to  I went to the port administration office to seal up the import and export file data and related information, hoping to find out what was wrong with these five major merchants.

    The disaster relief work and the investigation of smuggling made Zhu Ci feel physically and mentally exhausted, and he couldn't even sleep well. It also made him feel that it was too difficult to do things, and he was even more impressed by Zhuang Tingzhen's ability, or the power of the fourth son's family.  Bar!  This has not yet touched the core family interests of Lao Si, but he has already felt a network. Except for Wu Dayou, Wang Zhengzhong and Wang Yuanwu, everyone in Fujian Province who is in charge of something has come to him to intercede. This  What he saw on the Internet were favors, power, fame and fortune, and Zhu Ci felt that there was a natural gap between him and the fourth child. If it weren't for his father's love, it would be difficult for him to do anything!

    At this time, twenty days had passed since the arrest of Zhuang Tingzhen and others. Disaster relief packages from various places arrived one after another. The production and life of the victims recovered very quickly. The people were very satisfied with the court's disaster relief measures. Not only were the losses largely compensated,  Some people gain more than they lose.

    It is the season of green, fat, red and thin. In this ancient coastal city, the post-disaster reconstruction speed is quite fast. In less than a month, it has returned to its former blooming scene.  But Zhu Ci was not comfortable at all. In order to relieve his depression, he changed into casual clothes alone, without even Liu Xi, and went for a walk on the street, wanting to hear what other dissatisfaction the people had about the disaster relief.  , and the investigation of the smuggling case has now reached a deadlock. Only a few accountants he invited are checking the books day and night.

    Not far after Zhu Ci walked out of the inn, Xue Ba chased him out from behind, "Sir, where are you going alone? No matter where you go, please let us know, otherwise we will bear the responsibility for dereliction of duty."  I can't afford it!" This is still Xue Ba's sharp eyesight. If Zhu Ci leaves alone, if something goes wrong, he will live to the end.

    Zhu Ci felt irritable, "What are you worried about? I'm such a big person, and I can still be eaten by others? I just walk around casually and go back at noon. This is not a battlefield. There is nothing to be afraid of. You go back  Bar!"

    "Master, this is not Nanjing. There will definitely be some chaos after the disaster. It is safer for me to follow you!" No matter what Zhu Ci said, Xue Ba did not dare to leave Zhu Ci.

    Zhu Ci was even more displeased when he saw Xue Ba chattering away. "Okay! Just follow him. Don't let me see him, so you won't be upset." He turned around and left.

    Xue Ba also knew that His Highness the King of Chu was upset because of Zhuang Tingzhen's affairs, so he did not dare to follow Zhu Ci directly. He followed him at a distance of more than ten meters to ensure that the King of Chu did not leave his sight.

    bk

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