"Grandpa Governor, His Royal Highness Prince Fu has entered the Nanhaizi camp with the British Duke, the two Luo Weishuai, and Deputy Governor Liu."
A young eunuch appeared quietly, reported an important matter, and then left quietly.
Xu Yingyuan, known as the Grandfather of the Governor, held the account book and seemed to be distracted. The person sitting opposite him smiled and said: "Dad, the salt profit this year is a little thinner than in previous years, and the city of Beijing is also in a recession, but the filial piety I give you is 30% more than last year..."
The person who was reporting the bill to Xu Yingyuan was a beautiful young woman. The eyebrows are curved, the lips are light, and the complexion is as white as fat. His eyes were long and thin, and his eyes were moving when he spoke, but what he exuded was a rare heroic demeanor.
This young woman is the head of the Bai family, Xu Ruolan, the newly recognized goddaughter of Xu Yingyuan. She is only in her mid-twenties, but due to the early death of her husband and the constraints of etiquette, she became a widow early.
And Widow Xu not only suppressed her husband, but also suppressed her father, mother, and mother-in-law... Her biological father and mother were long gone, and her godmother, Hakka, and her godmother Wei Zhongxian, the opponent last year, also disappeared. Now there is only one godfather left, Xu Yingyuan, who can protect her!
With only such a thick leg left, Widow Xu must work hard to please her!
Recognizing one's father is just a nice word, but the real benefit is "filial piety". Last year, in order to protect her family from being implicated by Wei Zhongxian, Widow Xu gave Xu Yingyuan 200,000 taels. And this year, if we add another 30%, it will be 260,000 taels.
Of course, the 260,000 taels were not taken out by the Tianzi account managed by Widow Xu... The Xu family's Shanxi old account and Yangzhou headquarter were the ones who came out with the bulk.
After all, the salt industry is the main business of the Bai family!
It's just that this main business has encountered a little trouble recently!
When you encounter trouble, of course you have to find a way to solve it. The solution, of course, is to spend money to solve the problem.
So the Bai family made less money last year, but paid more bribes to Eunuch Xu.
But Xu Yingyuan sighed deeply and showed a troubled expression.
"Dad," Widow Xu looked at Eunuch Xu, "Can the current income be maintained?"
"This..." Eunuch Xu shook his head, "Daughter, long live the master... I can't see the numbers clearly!"
While he was talking, a burst of noise suddenly came from outside, and there were also faint sounds of snorting horses neighing.
How is this going?
Eunuch Xu was stunned and looked up at Widow Xu. Just when he was about to ask a question, the young eunuch who had just informed him of the news hurriedly rushed in.
"Supervisor, Supervisor, it's not good...a group of soldiers came from somewhere and said they wanted to arrest...arrest Widow Xu..."
Widow Xu was stunned when she heard this: "Catch me? Why?"
Xu Yingyuan was also a little annoyed. He stood up suddenly and said to his goddaughter: "Daughter, don't worry, let's go and see who has eaten the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard!"
After saying this, the governor of the East Factory swaggered out with the young eunuch. Widow Xu was worried and immediately followed her out. When a group of people arrived at the second gate, they saw a group of strong men wearing golden armor rushing in with bucklers and sabers. After they met, Xu Yingyuan started shouting: "Our family is Xu Yingyuan, the eunuch who is responsible for the ceremony and supervises the affairs of the East Factory! Who are you? How dare you break into a private house? This is the foot of the emperor!"
"Eunuch Xu," a man with a big forehead, a big beard and high cheekbones spoke up, "I have been ordered to arrest Widow Xu, the goddaughter of the Hakka family... The governor is also here. Could it be that he also led the arrest?" Widow Xu’s will?”
"What? What did you say?" Xu Yingyuan was startled, "Who are you?"
"Well, we are the pro-army troops in front of the tent!"
"The Zhangqian Army... entered Beijing City? When did it happen?"
"Just half an hour ago!" The answer was Zhu Youjian, who appeared in front of Xu Yingyuan in a golden helmet and surrounded by several big men also wearing golden armor.
"Wan, long live my lord..." Xu Yingying's legs went weak and she knelt down in front of the little emperor.
At this time, Zhu Youjian had already seen Widow Xu, and found that she was not bad looking. He showed a satisfied smile and asked: "Is that woman Xu Widow? Did she know that I was coming to rob her, so she took the initiative to meet her?"
...
"Chief Assistant, this is the memorial from the governor's yamen of the three sides... It contains urgent notes. It seems that the civil unrest in Shaanxi is getting bigger and bigger..."
"Chief Assistant, this is the memorial to the Military Affairs Office of the Governor-General of Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan, Huguang, and Guangxi. It also pays attention to the urgency. It seems that Zhang Yuanping still can't defeat the two thieves She and An!"
"Chief Assistant, this is a report from the Liaodong Economic and Strategic Envoy. The slave thieves are gathering heavy troops in the Phoenix City and Zhenjiang Fort areas. There seem to be signs of invading North Korea and Dongjiang..."
"First Assistant, this is a memorial to the drought and military fires that have hit Northern Zhili, Shanxi, and Shaanxi this year. Many states and counties have reported bad harvests! Especially in northern Shaanxi, almost all of them have lost their harvest!"
"Chief Assistant, this is what Nanzhili reported about the situation in Xuzhou City after the Yellow River water receded. Xuzhou City was flooded for three years, and the city was almost completely destroyed. After the water receded, the sedimentation was serious, and the thickest part was as thick as three to four feet. , almost the whole city was buried in sand, it’s so miserable!”
When the New Year was approaching, Huang Liji, who was still reluctantly sitting in the position of chief minister of the cabinet, listened to the reports of the ministers below, his brows became more and more frowning, and his mood became more and more depressed.
The good news is there isn’t one!
First of all, the Shaanxi uprising cannot be suppressed!
Alas, the drought in the northwest has been going on for several years. Not only has it not eased last year, it has become even more severe. Many states and counties in northern Shaanxi have suffered from drought and harvestless crops, to the point where "vegetation and trees are gone and people cannibalize each other"! Since June of the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty had been busy dealing with the war with the Northern Yuan and Hou Jin Dynasties. It was unable to organize relief and could not dispatch strong troops to Shaanxi to suppress it.
As a result, the Wang Er uprising that started in the seventh year of the Apocalypse not only failed to be suppressed, but became more and more prosperous. Peasant uprisings broke out in Fugu, Ansai (Gao Yingxiang is here), Yanchuan (Zhang Xianzhong's boss Wang lives here), Yichuan and other places.
The main force in the three important border towns of Guyuan, Ningxia, Gansu, Yulin and Lintao must be used to guard against the Han tribe and the remnants of the Tumote tribe, so not too many troops can be allocated to suppress the civil uprising.
Moreover, due to the drought and civil unrest in Shaanxi, the pro-democracy food supplies in Guyuan, Ningxia, Gansu, Yulin, Lintao and other towns were all cut off. This meant that the three border towns and five towns were in arrears of pay. Not all frontier troops in the Ming Dynasty were paid. It is composed of silver, and it is not all issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but is composed of Tun Liang (military grain grain), Mingyun Grain (it can also be discounted or partially discounted), Yanyin, Salt Price Silver, Beijing Transportation Composed of silver and other parts. Among them, those controlled by the imperial government's finances were only Yanyin, Salt Price Silver, Jingyun Silver and other parts. The two parts, the grain harvesting and the grain movement for the people, are raised by the local government and depend on the weather to a large extent. For example, the food for the three sides and five towns is provided by the local military garrisons, while the food for the people's movement is mainly provided by Shaanxi Province... The severe drought in the northwest has caused no harvest, so of course there is nowhere to go for the food and the food for the people's movement. Received!
Therefore, the only military pay for the three sides and five towns was Yanyin, Yanpianyin, and Jingyunyin (due to the reform of salt affairs, Yanyin and Yanpianyin were merged into Jingyunyin, and were spent from Liao's pay. ), it is impossible to distribute them in full. If the officials at all levels who have passed the money are a little more corrupt as usual, there will be very little money left in the hands of the soldiers.
Under such circumstances, if the officers and soldiers in the three sides and five towns do not rebel, they will burn incense. How can they be expected to suppress the bandits?
Therefore, it is natural that the civil uprising in Shaanxi will become more and more serious... Even if Zhu Youjian has now become a wise king who is "brave against Lu Bu, as treacherous as Zhongda, and as ruthless as a thief Cao", for a while There is no way to deal with the Shaanxi Civil War.
We can only let them make trouble first...
Just when Huang Shoufu was having a headache about Shaanxi affairs, an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs suddenly broke in from outside. When he saw Huang Liji, he shouted: "Shoufu, it's not good, long live grandpa is here!"
When Huang Liji heard this, he became a little anxious: "What are you talking about? Is it okay if Long live the Lord is here?"
