Chapter 48

Two Huai'an Prefecture.

"Left Chancellor, you have come personally!"

Gu Gu Yuansong couldn't help but exclaim.

He had thought that with him, the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander, coming south personally to handle the raid on the Seven Great Families, it was already prestigious enough.

He never expected that Zuo Zuo Guangen, the Eunuch of the Ceremonial Secretariat, would also run over personally.

"The salt administration of the Two Two Huai concerns the fate of the nation.

His Majesty is worried, so he sent me to come and sit in command personally.

For all actions, you just proceed according to the plan; I am just watching from the sidelines.

By the way, besides me, Grand Secretary Xu from the Cabinet has also come south.

Your speed must be fast; you must finalize the case before Grand Secretary Xu arrives!"

Zuo Zuo Guangen said with a smile.

The Seven Great Families of the Two Two Huai have been manipulating the empire's salt industry in secret for nearly a hundred years, and the wealth accumulated is absolutely an astronomical figure.

With such vast wealth, the Emperor wouldn't trust it to anyone.

Nobility, imperial relatives, Embroidered Uniform Guard, Eastern Depot, and Qingliu have all come; in essence, it is to make them supervise each other.

With political enemies watching from the side, even if one reaches out, one wouldn't dare to go too far.

Zuo Zuo Guangen says he doesn't care, but in reality, he is the highest person in charge of handling the Two Two Huai salt administration.

Being able to entrust this heavy responsibility to him is enough to prove that Emperor Tianyuan's trust in him far exceeds that of others.

"Left Chancellor, please rest assured; according to our plan, the Five Cities Military Commission has already traced it to the Seven Great Families.

The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang sent an official document asking us to raid the Seven Great Families as soon as possible.

Considering the influence of these families in the local area, we will take action immediately once the Capital Battalion troops arrive!"

Gu Gu Yuansong guaranteed immediately.

The Ceremonial Secretariat doesn't want the Qingliu faction to intervene, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard is equally unwilling to have Qingliu involved.

No matter how precisely they deploy, they will eventually leave flaws.

The court's big picture is not equal to Qingliu's big picture.

If Qingliu discovers the flaws, no one can guarantee whether those guys will stab them in the back at a critical moment.

In essence, this operation is a redistribution of salt industry interests.

The interests are only so much, and now the court is short of money and needs to take a larger share.

Nobility, imperial relatives, and the Depot and Guard have also gotten involved, all wanting a piece of the pie.

Just taking down the Seven Great Families is not enough; it will also take away the interests of the Qingliu faction.

Not to mention anything else, the donations received by the major academies in the Qingliu sphere of influence this year will shrink drastically.

The ice and charcoal tributes received by capital officials at the end of the year will also be significantly reduced.

"The Capital Battalion switched from land to water midway and will arrive in Two Huai'an Prefecture in two days.

With the strength of the Seven Great Families, even if we try our best to block the news, they will receive word once the army enters the Two Two Huai region.

Watch their every move, and if the situation is not right, act immediately.

You can force them to rebel, but you absolutely cannot let them organize an uprising!"

Zuo Zuo Guangen's words made everyone present look solemn.

They made so many layouts just to strike a fatal blow and not give the enemy a chance to resist.

But what the Left Chancellor is revealing now is clearly asking them to deliberately force the Seven Great Families to rebel.

The benefit of doing this is very obvious: as long as these people raise the rebel flag, the flaws they left behind earlier will cease to exist.

The Qingliu group will not overturn a verdict for rebels; this is a matter of principle.

Incidentally, they can also use the rebel army to implicate more Qingliu party members and take the opportunity to weaken political opponents.

The drawbacks are equally obvious: the slightest carelessness will cause the situation in the Two Two Huai to rot, and it might even affect the entire Jiangnan region.

If the Emperor blames them, they, as the executors, are very likely to become the scapegoats.

Walking on the streets of Yangzhou, Li Mu only felt it was dull.

Affected by the city-sealing policy, merchants closed their doors, and the common people no longer walked the streets, fearing they would bring trouble upon themselves.

The prosperous Yangzhou City suddenly became desolate.

"Pass down the order to notify the merchants in the city to open their doors for business.

Tell them the rebel assassination case of the Imperial Envoy has been solved, and the court has already dispatched troops to capture the rebels, so they don't need to worry."

Li Mu ordered decisively.

The supplies stored in the common people's homes are limited, and the order in the city must be restored as soon as possible, otherwise, it will cause a major mess.

Just thinking about it is pathetic enough.

A group of colleagues set their sights on the salt merchants imprisoned in the jail, and everyone was busy getting rich, while he, this miserable person, took on the heavy responsibility of managing Yangzhou City.

Officialdom values balance; one cannot monopolize all the benefits.

The merit of solving the case has too much water in it; Li Mu just understood the will of those above and pushed it forward according to the big shots' ideas first.

If someone else went, at most it would add some twists and turns, but in the end, they would still be able to complete the mission.

The Marquis of Marquis Wuyang still gave him the first merit, and when it comes to making money, Li Mu naturally has to be sensible and make concessions.

Having personally participated in the conviction of the salt merchant group and witnessed the Seven Great Families of the Two Two Huai becoming meat on the chopping block, Li Mu is very open-minded about money.

Greed is the original sin.

The salt merchant group is the best negative example.

Salt is a daily necessity; in a peaceful era with a continuously growing population, the salt tax should be continuously increasing.

The salt tax of Great Great Dayu reached a peak of 3.3 million taels, but by the sixth year of Tianyuan, it only remained at 1.3 million taels, with the Two Two Huai salt industry tax seeing the largest decline.

In order to solve the problem of the continuous decline in salt tax, the court sent people to inspect the salt roads many times, but unfortunately, it has had little effect.

The bizarre death of the previous Salt Inspection Censor was even more disgusting to the Emperor.

Since they won't give money voluntarily despite kind advice, then he will send people to take it himself.

"My lord, something terrible has happened!

A group of scholars gathered in the west of the city, suspected of wanting to cause trouble at the yamen."

Company Commander Deng said in a panic.

The status of scholars reached its peak in the Great Great Dayu Dynasty.

Every time scholars cause trouble, it causes a sensation.

Handling such things is the most troublesome.

With the slightest carelessness, the pens of scholars can also kill.

"Such a simple matter, do you still need me to teach you?

Immediately send people to block the nearby streets in the name of arresting rebels, and trap these troublesome guys inside.

Whoever dares to lead the trouble is an accomplice of the rebels.

Find an opportunity to ferret out the planners and investigate their social background.

Knowing that we are handling a rebel case, and yet someone dares to pop out at this time—I don't believe there's no one behind it!"

Li Mu ordered coldly.

Clearly he is the imperial court, representing the side of justice, but now he is becoming more and more like a villain.

The feeling is bad, but the work must be done.

Salt administration concerns the finances of Great Great Dayu, and finances concern the life and death of the empire.

On this issue, whoever dares to jump out and cause trouble is an enemy of the empire.

As a member of the noble camp, Li Mu is very clear about his position.

"This subordinate obeys!"

Company Commander Deng replied, biting the bullet.

Coming to report to Li Mu was because he didn't want to do this pathetic errand.

How could he have known that this hot potato could not be thrown away.

Not doing it is even worse; if his inaction leads to the scholars causing trouble.

Among the list of those who sacrificed in the south, it is estimated that another name will be added.

Watching Company Commander Deng leave, Lan Lan Linjie slowly said:

"My lord, this matter is likely related to the salt merchants.

When I was reminiscing with my fellow students, I heard them say that some scholars are running around to rescue the arrested salt merchants.

There are quite a few scholars in the Jiangnan region who have received funding from salt merchants, and some have handles in the hands of the salt merchants..."

(End of chapter)