"Jia Aiqing, if we really ask you to lead troops to Yangzhou, how soon will it be possible to arrive?"
On top of the imperial case, Li Dan asked Jia Hui in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, if we take the Xianwu Camp all the way lightly and simply, it will take more than a month. If we only bring the cavalry I brought from northern Xinjiang, as long as I have one person and three horses, I am confident that we can catch up within half a month. Go to Yangzhou!"
"good!"
After hearing Jia Hui's answer, Li Dan nodded and continued to ask:
"Ai Qing, would you like to go to Yangzhou to investigate the salt matter for me?"
Jia Hui's guess was indeed correct. Now the imperial court was extremely short of money. If he sent civil servants there, he would be delayed for a long time and would have little effect.
Now that Li Dan has the general Jia Hui under his command, he also wants to completely change his past behavior.
Now An Chengren is replacing private salt with official salt in an attempt to destroy evidence.
By asking Jia Hui to rush all the way, he should be able to be arrested before his evidence is destroyed.
Moreover, the salt merchants in Jiangnan had many backers. Even if Li Dan didn't understand them, he knew that many officials in Jiangnan must have been bribed by the salt merchants.
Even in Jiangnan Camp, I am afraid there are backers from salt merchants.
In this case, let Jia Hui handle it so that he won't be restricted everywhere.
"Your Majesty, although the Jiangnan salt tax is important, the grain tax is also a top priority. Although the strategy to suppress Uncle Wu is good, it is too fast and can easily change!"
"Your Majesty, what Zhou Yushi said is true. The two taxes in the south of the Yangtze River are of great importance. You must not act too hastily to avoid chaos!"
Everyone below can understand what Li Dan is thinking.
Not to mention the many civil servants behind the salt merchants, there are also the soldiers and horses of the Jiangnan Camp, the salt patrol soldiers of the Salt Transportation Department, and the desperadoes behind the private salt. It can be said that a single move can affect the whole body.
In their opinion, it is enough to send imperial envoys to inspect and collect salt taxes. There is no need to cause trouble again, lest some of them jump over the wall in a hurry.
"Your Majesty, I think Uncle Zhenwu's idea is good. If they are obedient, that's all. If they repeatedly disobey the imperial court, we can't be too cautious and just give them a wide berth. Wouldn't this encourage them? How brave are you? If you dare to change the private salt today, you may not know that the Jiangnan Salt Farm will become a private salt tomorrow!"
Tao Chongli, the Minister of Household Affairs, was in favor of Jia Hui's proposal.
After all, he is in charge of the household department, and others just reach out to him for money, so they don't know his suffering.
"Your Majesty, the salt merchants in Jiangnan control the salt roads. If they fall, the people will not be able to buy salt, and the official salt will not be sold. If Jiangnan is in chaos, how will our taxes be collected?"
"So this time we only need to target private individuals, and we must not escalate the situation!"
"Shangshu Gan defends the salt merchants so much. Could it be that he also accepts the salt merchants' filial piety?"
"That's nonsense! I am completely sincere to the court, how can I have any selfishness?"
"If you didn't accept the filial piety, why did you repeatedly oppose the disposal of those salt merchants?"
...
Seeing the officials below starting to quarrel again, Li Dan couldn't help but have a headache again.
"Hmph! If you say you are accepting filial piety, how can you come to those of us who are nobles and nobles? I'm afraid we are the target of those salt merchants!"
"Grass!"
Hearing this, Jia Hui couldn't help but cursed secretly, "I was watching a play, why did the fire burn me?"
The only honorable person here is himself.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Jia Hui smiled at Yu Qing, the left deputy censor who was speaking:
"Yu Yushi's words are wrong. For the sake of their own safety, how can those salt merchants favor one over another? My Jia family does accept the filial piety of the salt merchants. It is the Bai family of Taixing. It earns 50,000 taels of silver every year. There is nothing wrong with admitting it. of."
"But public is public and private is private. Since they disobeyed the imperial court, whatever consequences they ended up with are all their own fault! You all claim to be clean and honest, but how dare you let Xiu Yiwei come into the house to investigate and you have not done anything with Jiangnan Salt Do you have any personal contact with Shang?"
In one sentence, everyone was left speechless.
Even Tao Chongli, who strongly supported the severe punishment of Jiangnan salt merchants, knew that there were people in his hometown who had accepted the salt merchants' tribute.
"Your Majesty, although the salt merchants are rich, in the final analysis they are just businessmen with no power, so they are spreading money all over the world in an attempt to protect themselves. Since this batch of salt merchants are disobedient, let's replace them with another batch. The next batch of salt When a businessman comes up, he will naturally look for a backer again with money in hand."
"Besides, there are tens of thousands of salt merchants in Jiangnan, large and small, and the leaders this time are just a few of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou. If they are eliminated, those salt roads will naturally be repaired."
Now that he decided to go to Yangzhou, Jia Hui also analyzed the actions and dispelled everyone's concerns.
If the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are touched and some troubles are caused, there is no need to worry about the consequences if the businessmen are touched.
As long as the imperial court does not want to get involved, how can those officials jump over the wall for the sake of a mere salt merchant.
"Then Jiangnan Camp..."
There were also people who were worried that the salt merchants could persuade the soldiers and horses in the Jiangnan camp, but Jia Hui interrupted him directly:
"Your Majesty, there are 30,000 soldiers and horses in the Jiangnan camp. As long as your Majesty gives me an imperial edict, I can subdue them before touching those salt merchants!"
Nowadays, except for Jia Hui's military display camp, all the military power of Da Chu is in the hands of the Supreme Emperor.
If the Supreme Emperor did not speak, they would not dare to easily betray Emperor Taichang.
Therefore, although Emperor Taichang's imperial edict was somewhat useful in the military, it was not of much use.
But now seeing Jia Hui being so confident, Li Dan also began to choose to believe in Jia Hui.
"In this case, I will give you a decree. This time I will leave Beijing only for the salt tax case. I can exempt the rest of the people, as long as they are not involved in the salt tax. I will give you the Emperor's Sword, and you can Jiangnan acted cheaply!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
At this point, everyone no longer objected, and then discussed the specific details together.
Li Dan appointed Jia Hui as the "Imperial Envoy Jiangnan Salt Minister" with the title of Minister of War, and then left the palace with two imperial edicts and an emperor's sword.
After returning to the Jia Mansion, he told everyone about his upcoming departure from Beijing, and then sent a message to Qin Keqing of the Qin Mansion, and began to prepare.
In the Zhengwu Hall, Xiren dressed Jia Hui and said with a lack of interest:
"Third Master, how long have you been here before you leave Beijing again!"
"What, you can't bear to leave the third master?"
The attacker lowered his head, his face slightly red, and made no objection.
"Don't worry, this time is no different than before. The third master will be back soon!"
"By the way, Third Master, Qingwen is also the eldest maid in the house after all. Isn't it inappropriate to keep her in the dressing room all the time?"
After saying a few words, Xiren started to mention Qingwen again.
It seems that Qingwen came to Xiren again to intercede.
Jia Hui also likes Qingwen very much. After such a long time, she should be able to understand her identity. If she still doesn't understand, Jia Hui does not lack her as a maid.
"Go and call Qingwen!"
Jia Hui said calmly.
"It's Third Master!"
Seeing this, the attacker hurried to the door and sent a maid to call Qingwen.
