Chapter 41: Unpleasant Meeting

"Cabinet Minister Pang, don't be angry first.

His Majesty is determined to rectify the salt administration, and the troops of the capital camp have already gone, and we can't stop it.

Salt merchants are indeed a troublesome group, but it also depends on who they are compared with.

Do you think those merchants can have hard bones in front of the imperial court's army?"

Wang Wang Anfu said with disdain.

The name of sending troops is to suppress rebellion; whoever stands in front is a rebel.

Lianghuai salt merchants are indeed rich and have bought many people in the local area, but it doesn't mean that these people are willing to follow them to rebel.

Moreover, salt merchants are not of one piece; for their own interests, they have had many conflicts in private.

As long as the imperial court takes action fast enough and captures the leaders among them for the first time, the remaining people are a plate of loose sand.

"Cabinet Minister Pang, salt merchants are not just salt merchants; the thorny ones are the aristocratic families behind them.

You haven't lived in the Lianghuai region and don't know how great their influence is in the local area.

If you are not careful, it will cause a big mess!"

Pang Pang Hengsheng said earnestly.

These words were all out of public interest, absolutely not for factional interests; he dared to guarantee with his own character.

"Cabinet Minister Pang, in fact, the problem is not that serious.

The people behind the salt merchants are indeed many, but it doesn't mean these people will rebel.

Where the situation develops mainly depends on how the Emperor wants to reform the salt administration."

As soon as Cabinet Minister Xu, who was also of the pure-stream faction, opened his mouth, the tense atmosphere instantly eased.

Aristocratic families are powerful, but they also have many concerns.

Salt is their important income, but it is absolutely not the only income.

Even if someone has dangerous ideas, the clansmen serving as officials in the imperial court will try their best to stop them.

Twenty years of hard study, finally high-ranking and stepping into the imperial court, suddenly changing the copy, this sunk cost is too high.

Although Great Great Dayu has various problems, the overall situation in the world is still stable.

"That may be so, but the risks of the Lianghuai Salt Administration are still not small.

For the sake of the country, the cabinet must send high-ranking officials to sit in town and cannot let... the Eunuch Faction act recklessly!"

Fortunately, Pang Pang Hengsheng reacted quickly and changed the Emperor into the Eunuch Faction in time, otherwise it would be another political accident.

Emperor Tianyuan had done many bad things since he ascended the throne, but the black pots were all carried by the Eunuch Faction.

As of now, in the hearts of the people of the world, Emperor Tianyuan is still a good emperor.

"The Lianghuai Salt Administration situation is special, and ordinary people can't hold the scene.

Cabinet Minister Pang comes from Nanzhili and is most familiar with the situation there; why don't you take a trip yourself!"

Song Haidong's proposal said with a chuckle.

Salt administration reform is imminent, and now the Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the capital camp have all gone, and the civil official group also needs a person with weight to preside over the overall situation.

Since ancient times, salt administration reform has never been without people dying.

Ordinary civil officials go over, and it is easy to become cannon fodder for both sides to fight.

Salt merchants and Lianghuai gentry are closely linked, and that place happens to be the base camp of the pure-stream, so who would believe that there is no connection between the two.

Others can't stand firm, but high-ranking officials of the pure-stream faction can.

"The chief cabinet minister should choose another virtuous person!

The Lianghuai Salt Administration involves too many things and needs officials in their prime to handle it; my body can't stand the toss."

Pang Pang Hengsheng refused instinctively.

The relationship between the chief cabinet minister and the second cabinet minister in the Great Great Dayu Dynasty has never been good, and he dare not go to the position recommended by his competitor.

The southeast is the base camp of the pure-stream faction, but there are several "pure-stream leaders" with high prestige there.

The pure-stream faction is not of one piece; these pure-stream bigwigs are good friends on the surface, but they are competitive in private.

In politics, anything can happen.

If there is collusion inside and outside, and they give him a ruthless one, it is possible to capsize in the gutter.

"Since Cabinet Minister Pang is unwilling, then I will trouble Cabinet Minister Xu to take a trip!"

After Song Haidong's words were finished, Xu Xu Wenyue, who was named, frowned slightly.

Pang Pang Hengsheng felt thorny, and he also felt thorny.

The reform power of the Lianghuai Salt Administration is not in his hands.

Going over at this time sounds like presiding over the overall situation, but it is actually cleaning up the mess.

The rot of the salt administration cannot be separated from official corruption.

In the base camp of the pure-stream, most of the officials in office are pure-stream faction members, and this time rectifying the administration is cleaning up their own people.

The Eunuch Faction is watching from the side, and if they don't take ruthless action, they can't explain to the imperial court.

If they take ruthless action, the pure-stream internal will feel that he is not close to human feelings.

Wanting to open his mouth to refuse, Song Haidong's eyes that did not allow refusal made him swallow his words.

The power gap between cabinet ministers is huge; Song Haidong looks like a good person, but if you treat him as a soft persimmon, you don't know how you died.

Being able to kill out from the officials and sit on the position of chief cabinet minister, everyone has a ruthless side.

The candidate nominated by the chief cabinet minister can be refused once, but it is absolutely not allowed to be refused a second time.

The fighting in the court, Li Mu, who had embarked on the journey, no longer had the energy to pay attention.

Not long after boarding the grain transport ship, an incident occurred with the Five Cities Military Commission party.

The land ducks who came out of the capital couldn't adapt to life on the boat, and they were seasick in twos and threes.

The soldiers were fine, they had all suffered, and their physical adaptability was relatively strong; only a few fell ill.

The noble children who were pampered were miserable, many of them vomiting and having diarrhea, and the accompanying physicians were too busy to handle it.

The suffering they found themselves, they had to eat it with tears.

However, mental will often loses to reality, and by the third day, they finally made a mess.

"Stop the boat!"

"Stop the boat quickly!"

"Stop the boat quickly, I'm going down!"

"I am the nephew of the Duke of Cheng, stop the boat quickly!"

"I am the brother of the Imperial Consort Rong, how dare you..."

Facing the trouble of a group of relatives and noble rascals, the boatmen had no confidence to refuse.

Running into this scene, Li Mu secretly called out bad luck.

Being on the same boat with this group of bear nobles, he was really unlucky for eight lifetimes.

"The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang's military order, those who stop the boat without authorization will be executed!"

"Everyone continue to sail, those who dare to destroy the military action will be charged with colluding with the enemy!"

Li Mu immediately stopped it.

Once the boat stopped, this group of bear nobles would run away, so who would be the sacrifice.

This military action, he didn't hear any wind before, suddenly everyone received the news, which was obviously abnormal.

The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang's performance also had problems; he was indeed persuading to leave, but he didn't work hard.

Otherwise, reporting the matter and letting the Emperor issue an edict to leave this group of troublemakers behind would be fine.

After combing through the process, Li Mu reached a shocking conclusion: the people above deliberately led this group of people to die.

Salt merchants were arrested, the imperial court's army gathered, and normal people's approach was to be cautious first.

Anyway, the capital camp would not be stationed in Lianghuai for a long time, and it wouldn't be too late to come out and make trouble after the army left.

The large-scale reduction of salt tax was mainly due to the rampant private salt.

The salt merchants engaged in official salt trading were also the biggest private salt sellers, so the salt tax naturally couldn't be collected.

For the behind-the-scenes manipulators, the puppets on the surface were arrested, and then supporting a few newcomers would allow the profits to continue running.

The failures of several salt administration reforms in the past were because they didn't touch the core.

These behind-the-scenes manipulators all had prominent identities on the surface. Without solid evidence, the imperial court couldn't take action against them.

Wanting to lure the snake out of the hole, it wasn't enough to have smart people; they also needed idiots.

Someone took the initiative to cause trouble, and conflicts would occur.

If a few relatives of the emperor or nobles died, and then they took action to arrest people, the scholars would have nothing to say.

Rushing up recklessly, if not careful, it would be the Great Great Dayu version of "Five People's Tombstone".

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 42 =====