But salt merchants are different, because there are only a few salt producers in the entire Ming Dynasty, and they are all controlled by a few people! These people control a lot of money and have a huge network of contacts, making them very difficult to deal with!
At this time, Li Wenquan continued: "Originally, the salt price issue can be delayed for a while, but once the incident of him beating the scholars comes out, I am afraid that he will be attacked from all sides, and half of the court will be moved. Deal with him!"
At this time, Queen Mother Li said slowly: "Long live my lord, do you know what Wu Ninghou did?"
Emperor Wanli said: "Mother, this happened just now. If grandma and uncle hadn't entered the palace, I wouldn't have known about it!"
Queen Mother Li probably believed what Emperor Wanli said, after all, what happened just now. So he let Emperor Wanli go and said angrily: "This little hozen can really make a fuss! I originally thought he could help Wansui Emperor with some things, but now he has beaten up the scholars. I'm afraid the court will not be peaceful tomorrow morning." !」
Emperor Wanli said: "Those scholars were the first to cause trouble. It would be no big deal if Marquis Wu Ning just taught them a lesson!"
However, Empress Dowager Li reprimanded loudly and said: "Is this just a matter of teaching the scholars? If three or two scholars are beaten, just beat them. At the worst, just pay some money and apologize! But beating dozens of scholars at one time Son, this is something that has never happened since the founding of the country. Doesn’t this annoy all the civil servants! In addition, the things he did in the past have offended so many people, I’m afraid the court will have an outburst tomorrow morning!”
At this time, the old lady said: "I have also heard about Wu Ninghou. He should be a capable person, but he is too young, too careless in his work, and has offended too many people. I am afraid that this will be difficult!" But fortunately, his thoughts are still towards Lord Long Live. If Lord Long Live comes forward and asks him to publicly admit his mistake, pay some money, and punish him to stay at home for some time, the matter should be over!"
Emperor Wanli felt even more upset when he heard this! How do you say that you have to apologize publicly and pay compensation even though you have done nothing wrong? But before he could speak, Li Wenquan said: "Mother, you don't know that Wu Ninghou's style of doing things has always been extremely rigid! It is absolutely impossible for him to apologize and pay money!"
When Emperor Wanli heard what Li Wenquan said, he looked at them suspiciously. He felt that the mother and son were singing in harmony as if they were having a cross talk, but at this moment, Queen Mother Li approved and said, "Indeed! This boy has a very tough temper! He has never bowed his head since he became an official!"
Li Wenquan nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, that's right! With his temper, I'm afraid he won't be able to gain a stable footing in the court! Especially the wealthy people in his family have long made everyone jealous, but they're just afraid that they will attack him this time!" As the saying goes, he is guilty of possessing a treasure. His Liansheng Company has been involved in so many industries, and he has created such a huge industry in the Tianjin fiefdom. Maybe these industries will be divided up!"
Although Emperor Wanli didn't understand their purpose yet, he felt that Liu Haojia must be protected at this time. So he said loudly: "What's wrong with Marquis Wu Ning? Can't you teach others a lesson if you are bumped into? Besides, what does his own property have to do with those people?"
Empress Dowager Li was furious when she heard this and said: "That's nonsense! What do you know! How can you arrest dozens of scholars and beat them up together! You don't know how powerful those civil servants are. Now he even controls the entire court." If he is offended, who can protect him in times of trouble?"
Emperor Wanli raised his head and said, "I can save him! He is my confidant, no matter what, I have to bow to others!"
Queen Mother Li was even furious when she heard this! Said: "Which is more important, the country or a minister! Your top priority now is to appease the whole court before things get serious!"
The old lady Li Wangshi also nodded repeatedly and said: "This is the truth! We must put the country, the country and the country first! Moreover, Wu Ninghou's industry involves a lot of income from the inner treasury. Once something happens to him, the income from the inner treasury will also be affected. !」
Emperor Wanli finally came to his senses at this time! It turns out that mother and son were not here to help him solve his problems at all, but were eyeing business in Tianjin! So he said coldly: "Oh, what exactly do you think, grandma, why don't you tell me and let me think about it."
Even Queen Mother Li could hear the coldness in Emperor Wanli's words. Logically speaking, the old lady should also be able to hear it! But at this time, her eyes were covered by money, and she had no idea at all.
aware! Instead, he pretended to be calm and analytical and said: "The inner treasury now has a lot of income in Tianjin, and Wu Ninghou is about to be deeply involved in the whirlpool, and I'm afraid he won't have time to take care of it! Why not send someone to Tianjin to help him take care of all the business?" , just wait for the court affairs to end. In this way, no matter how much trouble Wu Ninghou causes, it will not affect the palace!"
Emperor Wanli felt cold when he heard this! He knew that those courtiers would never miss this opportunity. They would knock Liu Haojia to the ground, restore the salt price to the previous price, and make a fortune! But he didn't expect that the person stabbed by the first knife was actually a relative of his!
And he can be sure that if everything in Tianjin falls into the hands of the Li family, don't even think about getting it back! Even if they could be returned, the salt field, which is crucial to them, would definitely not be among them! And this is something he absolutely cannot allow!
Although Emperor Wanli was not interested in the salt field at the beginning, the salt field is now a big treasure in his heart! If Liu Haojia can really lower the price of salt throughout the Ming Dynasty to about 40 cents, then all the people in the Ming Dynasty will be able to eat salt!
And according to Liu Haojia's calculations, the price at that time will also expand to about 15 million taels! If this is the case, the salt tax alone is close to the entire tax revenue of the entire Ming Dynasty! What an achievement it is to make all the people of Ming Dynasty eat salt. It will far surpass that of his teacher Zhang Juzheng. He will be the emperor destined to leave a name in history! But now they plan to make their plan completely collapse. This is absolutely unforgivable!
So Emperor Wanli took the opportunity to lower his head and adjust his clothes to hide the fierce light in his eyes. At the same time, he tried his best to suppress his anger and said slowly: "Then who do you think is better to go to Tianjin?"
At this time, the two people who had been blinded by the money did not notice that Emperor Wanli was angry, but Queen Mother Li noticed the cold air emanating from Emperor Wanli's body! But before she could speak, the old lady had already said loudly: "Of course your uncle is going! We are a family, and it will be absolutely no problem for your uncle to help take care of Tianjin!"
Hearing what his mother said, Li Wenquan even puffed up his chest, showing that he was able to bear the heavy burden! I didn’t feel the anger in Emperor Wanli’s heart at all!
