According to the order, Lu Xiangsheng came to the gate of Yangzhou City holding the sword given by the emperor to Shangfang, and shouted loudly to ask questions.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng also discovered that an official in red robes was at the city gate, and behind him were five strong men holding spears, pointing the tips of their spears at the official.
In addition, Lu Xiangsheng also discovered that in addition to the red-robed official and the five tough people, there were five or six rich people in luxurious clothes standing aside.
These rich people all looked at him sternly.
"Please return to the capital! Don't disturb the peace of the people of Yangzhou!"
At this time, a rich man yelled because of this.
"That's right. Since ancient times, the sage kings have always loved the people and shown kindness. The emperor should live in the imperial capital. How could he come here to disturb the people!"
Another rich man echoed.
Then, another rich man looked at the official in red robe: "Liu Futai, shouldn't you say a few words?"
This red-robed official is Liu Wanchun, the prefect of Yangzhou.
Liu Wanchun suddenly shouted: "Your Majesty! I, Liu Wanchun, the magistrate of Yangzhou, are now held hostage by the unscrupulous salt merchant Huang Zongke and other fierce people in the city. They force me to resist the decree and refuse to let the Holy Emperor pass through Yangzhou. I am incompetent and I cannot trust your majesty. The only way I can repay my loyalty is through my death!"
After Liu Wanchun said this, he suddenly jumped down from Yangzhou City.
Like most civil servants, he knew the consequences of defying the imperial court.
He would rather jump to his death than become the puppet of an unscrupulous salt merchant. In that case, he could still get a posthumous title and official post, and his wife and children could still get a title.
Therefore, after Liu Wanchun was kidnapped by the unscrupulous salt merchants, he decided to jump off the city wall when the Holy Emperor arrived, instead of listening to the salt merchants' mercy and confronting the court.
However, the illegal salt merchants Huang Zongke and Huang Zunyi were descendants of the same family and were responsible for the Huang family's salt industry in Yangzhou.
Now, Huang Zunyi's tribe has raised an army in Zhejiang, and Huang Zongke naturally followed suit. He also gathered a group of salt merchants who had to follow because of the rebellion of their relatives, or were dissatisfied with the court and worried that Zhu Youxiao would enter Yangzhou City to demand money. , together with them, mobilized the salt men they raised to control the prefect Liu Wanchun, and prepared to kidnap Liu Wanchun and prevent Zhu Youxiao from entering Yangzhou City.
But now, the leading salt merchant Huang Zongke didn't expect that Liu Wanchun would rather throw himself to death than be coerced by them. He didn't even have time to let his servant stab Liu Wanchun to death with a spear.
boom!
Liu Wanchun fell to the ground, bleeding from his mouth and nose.
Lu Xiangsheng was also quite horrified and hurriedly rode back to Zhu Youxiao's chariot to report the matter.
"Loyal minister!"
When Zhu Youxiao found out, he couldn't help but sigh, and hurriedly ordered: "Collect his body and give him a generous burial. Han Aiqing, you personally write a memorial for him! Give him an official title, posthumous title for his virtue, make his wife, protect his son, This kind of loyal minister must be commended!"
"I obey the decree!"
Han Xu replied.
Then, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but said: "How can these Yangzhou salt merchants be so bold and dare to force the officials I sent to Yangzhou? Is this Yangzhou theirs or mine?!"
"Your Majesty, since the reform of the Salt Administration, a large number of salt merchants from the Jiubian farmland have moved to Yangzhou in the mainland. There have been a large number of salt merchants living in Yangzhou, and many of them are richest in the world. The entire Yangzhou salt merchants control more than ten Thousands of salt merchants exploited kitchen households and colluded with officials to deceive them. Now that these salt merchants dare to do this, they must be related to the rebellious gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Someone in their family must be running the salt industry in Yangzhou, so they want to hijack them. Magistrate Liu prevented the Holy Emperor from entering Yangzhou City, perhaps because the salt merchants were worried that His Majesty would know of his wealth."
Xiong Tingbi answered Zhu Youxiao's question.
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled coldly and ordered: "That's the case, here is the decree. Someone has taken advantage of Yangzhou City and rebelled against me. I will lead the army to conquer Yangzhou in the south. I will capture Yangzhou within one day. I will be rewarded with two million taels of silver." , the guards town and the frontier army each have half. From one day to two days later, the reward will be 1.5 million taels. If Yangzhou does not become my Yangzhou city for one more day, the reward will be reduced by 500,000 taels!"
Xiong Tingbi was shocked after hearing this.
Nearly 20,000 of the empire's most capable elites, plus hundreds of newly made red cannons, if they really wanted to spend so much money as a reward, they could capture Yangzhou City in half a day, let alone one day.
But I didn’t bring so much money this time.
Xiong Tingbi couldn't help but remind him hurriedly: "Your Majesty, we didn't bring so much silver this time to the south. Is the reward of two million taels too much?"
"Not much! There must be brave men under heavy rewards. There is money in Yangzhou city. When the time comes, I will ask the Yangzhou salt merchants to donate silver to reward the army for me. Otherwise, I will suspect that all their Yangzhou salt merchants are like these unscrupulous salt merchants. There is no me, no court, and we are on the same side as the rebels! Since they are afraid that I will take their money, then I will take it!"
Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xiong Tingbi and said.
Xiong Tingbi suddenly realized it and hurriedly replied: "Yes!"
Then, Xiong Tingbi immediately conveyed Zhu Youxiao's decree to the entire army.
The whole army was excited after hearing this, especially the Jiubian Border Army, which had never been very wealthy.
After all, if Yangzhou can be captured in one day, it will be a reward of two million taels of silver, and each person can get a hundred taels on average.
In this era when twenty taels of silver can make a person sacrifice his life, one hundred taels is indeed a very attractive reward.
"Da Sima, how are you going to fight this battle? Do you want me to ask my servants to carry the ladder and rush up immediately? It doesn't matter how many people die. The important thing is not to let His Majesty suffer the injustice of sleeping in the open outside the city!"
"Yes! Da Sima, did your Majesty say who is in charge? Damn it, this is a siege. If it was a field battle outside the city, I would have rushed over with my servants and beheaded the unscrupulous salt merchants who dared to be disloyal! "
"What the hell is a hundred thousand salt men? Let alone one hundred thousand, even two hundred thousand, I can kill him seven in and seven out! Da Sima, please let His Majesty give a specific order!"
The accompanying border army generals became excited.
In the past, it was not easy for them to earn money. They had to rely on empty wages. The key point was that most of the money earned from empty wages had to be given to the civil servants in charge of them.
Now, as long as they capture Yangzhou City in one day, they can share two million equally. Even if they only give their servants fifty taels each, they can still make a lot of money. Therefore, this is a very cost-effective deal for them.
Zhu Youxiao has ordered Xiong Tingbi to take charge of the specific command.
And Xiong Tingbi said at this time: "What's the rush! Wait for the cannons over at Jinwei Town to be deployed. Later, as soon as Yangzhou City is opened, you will lead your servants to rush over! If anyone dares to be slower, he will not be rewarded with silver. share!”
"Don't worry, I promise to be the first to rush in!"
These frontier generals hurriedly replied.
boom!
boom!
boom!
At this time, hundreds of red cannons in Kinwei Town fired, causing the ground to tremble.
…
Before that, the salt merchant Huang Zongke looked at Liu Wanchun who fell to death outside the city and said angrily: "Asshole! This Liu Wanchun actually would rather fall to death than join us to stop the tyrant. Now it seems that we can only do it ourselves." Bring Yan Ding and the city sergeants to defend the city!"
"That's right. The city of Yangzhou has high walls and thick walls. It would be difficult for this tyrant to break into it."
Another salt merchant, Xu Shaocheng, echoed.
These salt merchants all thought that Yangzhou City, which was close to the city and had thick walls, could reach Zhu Youxiao's army for a while, but what they didn't know was that Zhu Youxiao now had a new type of red cannon in his hands.
The red cannon was considered a powerful siege weapon in this era.
In history, Duduo used hundreds of red cannons to blast away Yangzhou City, which made Shi Kefa's Yangzhou city defense battle very embarrassing.
now.
The artillery shells from Jinwei Town also hit, directly knocking down a large part of Yangzhou City's wall.
Seeing this, the accompanying border army generals were shocked by the power of the artillery in Jinwei Town. At the same time, under Xiong Tingbi's order, they also hurriedly rode their horses and rushed towards Yangzhou City with their servants.
The salt merchants Huang Zongke and Xu Shaocheng were stunned after seeing several gaps opened in the impregnable Yangzhou City.
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