"Husband, the world in Daqi is about to change."
"You are a woman, talking nonsense about state affairs! Nothing changes, so let's go, I will take you home today!"
On the second day of November in the fourth year of Taichu, at Guangjimen in Shenyang, Yang Tong, the chief officer of the Zhenfu Army, stood at the door of the Shenyang Chamber of Commerce Yamen, looking back at the hazy North and South Streets behind him, and repeatedly urged his wife.
The patter of cold rain hit the iron hook, giving off an icy cold light.
There was a carriage parked in front of them, and a coachman who looked like a soldier was waiting patiently in the rain.
Yang Tong raised his surviving right hand, holding a slightly worn oil-paper umbrella, to protect his wife who had just walked out of the Yamen from the wind and rain.
"What a woman, I am now the deputy director of the Chamber of Commerce, maybe in a few days..."
Yang Tong glared at Liu Yuer gently and signaled her to stop talking. He glanced around alertly and urged his wife.
"If you have something to say in the car, there are a lot of people talking here."
Liu Yue'er followed her husband onto the carriage, which drove slowly toward the North and South Streets, heading back towards the Yang Mansion.
In the thick fog behind the carriage, the largest business office in the empire was in chaos. Officials kept coming in and out, and the door was in a mess.
Yang Tong sat down in the carriage, moved his left arm, took out a rag, and carefully wiped the rainwater on the iron hook. The year before last, the head of the workshop helped him replace the iron hook with a better material, saying it was made of fine steel. , but it also requires careful maintenance.
A sharp pain spread throughout his body from the broken part of his left arm. Yang Tong gritted his teeth and said nothing.
It has been sixteen years since the Hetuala war that wiped out Huang Taiji. The old injury on the sniper's left arm has been recovering. In rainy weather or overexertion, the seams in the bones will ache. On those three-nine days when the wind is freezing, Yang Tong will feel countless insects crawling inside when he is close to the fire.
"Are the governors, magistrates, and commanders of the corps all here? Leave the rest to the coir raincoat guards and imperial guards. It's time for you to rest."
The carriage bumped slightly, Liu Yue'er took out a box of cigarettes and handed it to her husband. Yang Tong took out a cigarette, stuffed it into his mouth skillfully, and began to look for the cigarettes with his right hand.
"Give."
Liu Yue'er lit the fire fold and handed it to Yang Tong's mouth.
The cigarette made a rustling sound, and the billowing smoke spread like clusters of clouds between the couple.
The moment the clouds submerged Liu Yue'er, the deputy director of the Chamber of Commerce also lit one for himself and puffed away the clouds together with Yang Tong.
Liu Yuer's smoking movements were obviously more skillful than her husband's. She put her slender fingers to her mouth, took a shallow breath, and held it for a long time before spitting it out gently.
Outside the carriage, the soldiers driving the carriage were as motionless as clay statues. Occasionally they would wave their whips and slap the horses on the buttocks.
On the North-South Street, the bright whale oil street lamps were buried in the twilight drizzle, revealing only a faint yellow light. Passers-by held umbrellas and walked in a hurry.
"I can't take a break. There aren't enough people. How could the Emperor give me a day off?"
Yang Tong blew out a faint smoke ring and stared at the circle rising slowly.
"Corrupt officials are here. How many street lights are going to be hung this year?"
Starting from mid-October, more than a hundred governors and prefects, as well as shopkeepers from various provincial chambers of commerce, came to Shenyang. These powerful figures from the customs were discussing the new policy with the Supreme Emperor in the Dazheng Palace and the cabinet, ranging from the land system to personnel arrangements. All have to change.
Shenyang is full of soldiers and officials with foreign accents, and the pressure falls on the Zhenfu soldiers and the coir guards.
These days, he was guarding against assassins and appeasing the people - the feudal officials did not come alone, many of them came with their families - Yang Tong was extremely busy, and old wounds recurred.
"Hang up street lights? It's not a major cleaning. How to hang up street lights? Don't talk nonsense."
Yang Tong was a little dissatisfied with the question raised by his wife. The Emperor liked to let corrupt officials hang up street lights. Last year at this time, under the whale lights on the North and South Streets, there were not eighty but a hundred officials who were hanged, just like the spicy fish hanging at the door of the people. Bacon, when the wind blows, the corpses of corrupt officials sway in the wind...
Liu Yue'er didn't take Yang Tong's warning to heart and started asking about Xie Yang again.
Xie Yang is Liu Yue'er's superior and the woman's only superior in the Chamber of Commerce. Half a month ago, due to corruption in the collapse of the Huguang Chamber of Commerce, the ill-fated boss of the Chamber of Commerce was once again arrested and interrogated.
"Is Director Xie alive? Who else does Kang Yingqian want to arrest?"
Yang Tong's eyebrows twitched, and he pressed out the burned cigarette butt in the palm of his hand. He pushed away the layers of smoke in front of his eyes, pointed at his wife's face, and said word by word:
"Don't ask about this, or you'll get angry!"
Liu Yue'er pushed her husband's hand away and said angrily:
"Director Xie works hard, thinking about making more money every day, making armors and firearms for the soldiers, and avenging Yuan Zhifu, but he didn't expect this to happen in the end! What do you think of the brother you let die on the battlefield!"
Yang Tong glared at his wife and said nothing.
Liu Yue'er joined the Daqi Chamber of Commerce and worked hard without complaint for more than ten years. Except for getting married and taking maternity leave when giving birth to her son, she spent the rest of her time working hard for the Chamber of Commerce:
Develop the Nanming cigarette market, plan brine salt trade with Daxi, and regulate the export of cement soap with European countries...
Over the years, the deputy director-general has earned as much as ten million for the empire, if not eight million.
The most important thing is that this strong woman never gets involved in political affairs and turns a deaf ear to the revolving door changes in the cabinet at the top of the empire.
Every year when the Chamber of Commerce organizes the selection of model officials with both ability and political integrity, Liu Yue'er is elected.
In short, no matter from which perspective, this woman can be regarded as a perfect tool under polarism. He is also one of the most advanced tool people. This is also the fundamental reason why the couple can survive rounds of cleaning campaigns.
However, in the fourth year of Taichu, especially in the second half of the year, the atmosphere inside and outside Shenyang changed significantly. The Chamber of Commerce, which had been peaceful for a long time, began to panic, and various rumors about the collapse of the empire emerged one after another.
There were rumors that the imperial court was going to abolish the chamber of commerce, restore private property, and let Shanxi and Huizhou merchants and other forces take over the business in Liaodong and other places, so that they could continue to help the imperial court make money as the imperial merchants of Da Qi.
The news spread with style, and even the names of several Shanxi merchants were announced.
On the post roads from Shenyang to Liaodong, the smuggling trade is becoming more and more rampant, and even many chamber of commerce leaders are involved...
I thought that Huangtu's hegemony would eventually be realized.
Unexpectedly, I would end up going backwards.
Liu Yue'er had doubts about her faith for the first time.
"Xie Yang, are you also involved in smuggling? Let's talk."
"You have to ask Zhang Mazi, I don't know."
If people's hearts are lost, it will be difficult to lead the team.
Yang Tong and his soldiers were staunch defenders of the Qi Dynasty's land and property system.
But now, even these imperial eagle dogs are beginning to waver.
There are rumors in Shenyang that Xie Guangkun is in trouble this time.
The rain was still falling, and the driver, wearing a black military uniform, was driving calmly in front.
"You don't know anything, are you working for a living in Zhenfu Yamen? Tomorrow the Emperor will arrest me and send me to prison! You won't have an easy time either!"
Yang Tong stretched out his hand to stop the agitated woman in front of him, remained silent for a while, gritted his teeth, and whispered to Liu Yuer:
"Yes, things are going to change."
Liu Yue'er quickly grabbed her husband's sleeve.
"What? Someone wants to force me into the palace again?"
Yang Tong shook his head and said: "Kang Yingqian and the governors and chief officials clamored to restore the old system. Dozens of people surrounded the Supreme Emperor and argued."
"Restore the old system?" Liu Yuer's eyes widened.
"Restore the imperial examination, prevent imperial power from going to the countryside, abolish the chamber of commerce, abolish the peasant association, and allow the common people to do business and rent land..."
Liu Yue'er had expected that there would be major changes in the court, but she didn't expect that the changes would be so complete. I originally thought that the "Qi Dynasty Land Acquisition System" would only be fine-tuned, and there would be a period of transition, and the country would still control the land, but I didn't expect this to happen.
All kinds of rumors are flying all over the sky these days, and the shopkeepers and directors of the Chamber of Commerce are as anxious as ants on a hot pot.
Some smart people have already begun to find a way out for themselves.
Yang Tong said anxiously: "The landlord, the old man, is back, and it's going to be dark again."
He stayed close to Liu Yue'er again and lowered his voice to the lowest level:
"A group of people have been quarreling in the Dazheng Palace for several days. We still have no clue. The Supreme Emperor refuses to give in. Kang Supervisor Army said that he would find a few scapegoats and put on a show for the people."
Liu Yuer was shocked: "So Xie Yang was arrested because of this?"
"It's still unclear. Now, they have found Sun Chuanting, Ma Shiying, Jin Dajiu, and Song Yingxing. The four people were convicted of treason, usurpation of power, and corruption."
"Kang Yingqian and others said that Song Yingxing embezzled 40 million taels of silver, which is why Daqi was so poor in the past two years and the people were starving."
Liu Yue'er immediately shook her head and said: "Absolutely impossible! How could he get so much money by himself? What's more, he is in Huguang and has no one to help him. He can't do it alone."
Yang Tongtong: "Who asked him to escape to Nanming? The national treasury was short of 40 million taels, so he embezzled 40 million taels of ink. When the national treasury was short of 400 million taels, he embezzled 400 million taels of ink. Around Junzhou, people deposited grains in banks. The banknotes and savings are all gone, so the court has to give an explanation, right?"
"this·····"
Liu Yue'er was speechless.
Song Yingxing was in Nanzhili or Yangzhou, surrounded by Yangzhou thin horses and Qinhuai. When he was intoxicated, he picked up a Di newspaper issued by Daqi and saw the news that he had fled abroad with 40 million yuan, and then took a look at his body. You can imagine the complexity of the 40,000 taels of silver he carried.
"The Supreme Emperor issued an edict yesterday, ordering Emperor Hongguang to hand over Song Yingxing and all corrupt officials who fled to the south, but Nanming probably won't listen to us."
Liu Yue'er murmured to herself: "Why was Chief Sun arrested? Even if he was the scapegoat, he wouldn't be his turn. He has done so much for Da Qi over the years."
Yang Tong didn't answer anymore. The facts were already obvious. If Kang Yingqian wanted to truly take power, he had to find a group of scapegoats to negate all previous policies. It didn't matter who these people were.
"What about us?"
The carriage slowly stopped at the door of Yang Mansion. The driver jumped down holding on to the railing and opened the door curtain.
Two guards walked out of the front yard and led the horses toward the backyard.
Yang Tong supported his wife into the courtyard, waved everyone away, and whispered:
"The matter has come to this. I have conspired with Pei Dahu, Liu Xingzhao and others to prepare troops to admonish the Supreme Emperor and eliminate Xiaoxiao. We must not let Daqi's achievements be destroyed. This is our way out."
7017k
