The reason why Li Qing was so confident was to see how King Ning would react.
If Prince Ning had a clear conscience, he would never pay attention to him.
After all, he was a vassal king, or the first generation vassal king. Although Li Qing was not an ordinary imperial envoy, he was not qualified to let a vassal king come to see him.
On the other hand, if King Ning really has something in his mind, he will definitely come to check his story so that he can be prepared in advance.
Doing this will allow Li Qing to make plans in advance, regardless of whether King Ning comes or not.
Speaking of which, Prince Ning was unlucky enough. In the past, he had made great achievements at a young age. He could have been a powerful vassal king who commanded troops and guarded the border, but he met Jianwen instead.
Jianwen finally turned his gun and shot Zhu Di, but his three guards were deceived by Zhu Di again.
I thought it was an investment, but it turned out to be a big deal.
It’s okay if we don’t share the world, even Suzhou and Hangzhou are not allowed.
From the south of the Yangtze River to the west, from the east to the west of the Yangtze River, you will end up at grandma's house.
Li Qing could imagine Xiao Qi's anger. The fourth child's handling of this matter was indeed unreasonable.
But having said that, Suzhou and Hangzhou are the most prosperous in the world and cannot be regarded as a vassal territory.
"Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi..." Li Qing sighed: "I hope you will listen to my advice."
Prince Ning has contributed to the country, and Li Qing doesn't want to really take the lead. The maritime ban will be lifted in a few years. As long as he stays calm in the past few years and doesn't take the lead in rebelling against the court.
As for the people under King Ning, Li Qing also had the same plan.
There is really no need to go on a killing spree for this kind of thing.
After sitting alone in the living room for a while, Li Qing went to the east wing.
The three girls made the bed again and took off their boots to play chess on the bed. They used this to relieve their boredom along the way.
"Vaulting, shooting..." Li Qing was watching the chess game and talking nonsense, completely forgetting that he was a bad chess player.
In the end, as expected, Lianxiang was successfully defeated.
Lianxiang was extremely depressed, "Sir, look at you, I may not have lost in the first place."
Li Qing's face heated up and he said with a sneer: "This one doesn't count, let's try another one."
"Then sir, come on." Lianxiang wanted to torture Cai.
"Sure, come on!" Li Qing readily agreed.
The result was a miserable loss.
"Play Go."
Still lose.
"You guys just have fun." Li Qing had to accept the fact that his level was poor. He had no sense of experience and turned to read a book.
…
The next day, Li Qing slept until midnight.
The Dongchang fans gathered together and saw him going out. They all raised their hands and said, "I have met the Marquis Yongqing."
"Well, there's nothing going on for the moment. You can just wait here and take turns eating at meal time." Li Qing ordered and turned back to the side room.
After washing up, Li Qing thought about going out to eat something and bringing some back to the three girls, but he met Wang Yuan, the county magistrate, just outside.
"I'm here to see you, your Majesty the Imperial Envoy." Wang Yuan bowed.
"No gift." Li Qing asked, "Did someone bring it?"
Wang Yuan nodded, "Now the execution room."
"lead the way."
~
The torture chamber.
Li Qing came to the table and sat down, while Wang Yuan poured hot tea in a hurry.
"Where are the people?" Li Qing didn't bother to drink tea.
"Immediately, immediately." Wang Yuan nodded and bowed. When he turned around, his flattering expression disappeared and he acted like a county magistrate. "Bring that gold ingot."
"Yes, sir."
After a while, Wang Yuan was brought closer.
"The ordinary people pay homage to the great master," Jin Yuanbao was born with thin skin and tender flesh, but he gave people an honest image that had never seen the world. He didn't even look at Li Qing, knelt down and kowtowed, and looked at Wang Yuan, "How dare you I ask your lord, what crime did the common people commit?"
"You committed a crime..." Wang Yuan got stuck and cleared his throat, "Well, this person next to me is the Imperial Envoy. You can answer whatever I ask."
"It turns out to be the Imperial Envoy." Jin Yuanbao suddenly realized and kowtowed again, "Greetings to the Imperial Envoy."
A sneer appeared at the corner of Li Qing's mouth: This person is a little smart, but not much...
For a person of this level, Li Qing didn't even bother to use his brain, and said directly: "Jin Youzi, cabinet bachelor, was imprisoned on suspicion of harboring smuggling."
"ah?"
With just one sentence, Jin Yuanbao was shocked and confused.
It took him a while to react and force himself to calm down, "Xiaomin is related to Master Jin, but he is not involved in the smuggling business!"
"That's nonsense." Before Li Qing could say anything, Wang Yuan got angry first, "When things come to a close, do you still want to quibble? I already have the evidence of your smuggling, why don't you bring in the truth."
Li Qing glanced at Wang Yuan, raised his cup and took a sip of tea, without denying Wang Yuan's words.
Unexpectedly, Jin Yuanbao was not afraid at all, and even turned an army against him, "May I ask, sir, where is the evidence?"
"You... torture, punish...!" Wang Yuan was furious.
Li Qing curled his lips. Isn't the level of this county magistrate too low?
Even if it is only one-tenth of the level of flattery, it is not like this.
The officer on the side stepped forward, pushed Jin Yuanbao to the ground, and was about to hit him with a wooden board.
"Wait a minute." Jin Yuanbao suppressed his anger and said, "Master Magistrate, have you thought about it?"
"My officer..." Wang Yuan choked and hummed: "I have already investigated your smuggling of porcelain. I have the right to question stubborn suspects."
"The grassroots are still saying the same thing, where is the evidence?" Jin Yuanbao said firmly, "If the evidence is really conclusive, the magistrate would have beaten the grassroots to death, and the grassroots would have admitted it, but if not... the grassroots would have filed a complaint in the future. Report to the capital."
"You..." Wang Yuan was trembling with anger, but couldn't say a word.
Li Qing could see clearly that there must be bribery between the two of them, but no one dared to expose it. He also knew that there was someone on Jin Yuanbao, not just Jin Youzi.
However, this is not important. No matter how hard Jin Yuanbao's backstage is, it is not as hard as his backstage.
Li Qing put down the teacup, walked to Jin Yuanbao and squatted down, and said gently: "I like people who are open-minded. If you cooperate honestly, I will keep you safe. On the contrary..."
The voice turned slightly colder: "It's not certain whether you can get out alive."
"Although you are an imperial envoy, you cannot ignore the laws of the Ming Dynasty." Jin Yuanbao said respectfully, but still tough, "The common people are not guilty."
Li Qing sneered, raised his hand and tugged on his collar, peeling off the outer cloth, revealing a delicate silk coat, "The Ming Law contains clear text,
Farmers are allowed to wear silk yarn and silk cloth, while merchants are only allowed to wear cloth. If a farmer's family has one person doing business, they are also not allowed to wear silk yarn;
Isn't this a crime? "
Li Qing said coldly, "During the Hongwu period, a businessman had his feet chopped off by Taizu just because he had embroidered patterns on his shoes. What do you think you should do with your silk and satin clothes?"
"Caomin..." Jin Yuanbao suddenly became silent and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
He naturally knew that merchants could not wear silk, and he did not dare to wear it in broad daylight. He always wore it secretly at home. However, he was dragged out by the government servants in the middle of the night. At that time, he only had time to put on a cloth coat and did not think about this layer at all.
"Master, have mercy on me, have mercy on me...!" Jin Yuanbao was really scared this time, and kowtowed like garlic.
Can you not be afraid? To put it more seriously, he is committing a crime of transgression.
Li Qing didn't want to get involved in this kind of thing, because he felt that Lao Zhu's rule was unreasonable.
Although the common people can wear silk and silk, they cannot afford it, and merchants can afford it, but cannot wear it. It is really... unreasonable.
Li Qing also suggested to Lao Zhu that there should be no need to impose too strict regulations on the clothing of the people, but the stubborn Lao Zhu rejected it.
However, Lao Zhu was not sincerely making fun of others. The reason for such a rule was that Lao Zhu was born in the troubled times of the late Yuan Dynasty.
At that time, the poor people could not afford to eat, but the wealthy gentry and landlords were all dressed in luxurious clothes, wearing gold and jade, and they were no different from the princes, nobles and nobles.
Lao Zhu believes that the rich are extravagant and lustful, while the poor cannot even afford to eat, which will lead to instability in the country.
Moreover, he felt that the rich were so extravagant that they were almost the same as princes. They could not live without superiority and inferiority. The demise of the Yuan Dynasty had a lot to do with this.
Therefore, Lao Zhu made extremely detailed regulations on people's clothing.
For example: scholars, farmers, industry and merchants were distinguished by the color and fabric of their clothes; common people were not allowed to use gold, jade, pearls... to make jewelry, only silver.
Lao Zhu did this in order to divide classes and consolidate imperial power.
To be honest, this move is very effective, but it is also equivalent to reversing history.
After the death of Qin II and the complete destruction of slavery, feudal dynasties began to rise. With the change of dynasties, the overall social atmosphere was developing towards openness, especially in the Tang Dynasty.
The openness of the atmosphere is not much weaker than that of later generations.
This kind of openness was maintained until the Song Dynasty. By the Yuan Dynasty, it began to reverse course. On the basis of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty moved back again.
The Qing Dynasty... was even more serious. It couldn't help but completely enslave the people and even closed the country.
The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban basically existed in name only. In fact, maritime trade was basically uninterrupted during the Ming Dynasty, while the Qing Dynasty's sea ban was a real ban.
In fact, if all dynasties had continued the Han and Tang Dynasties and gradually opened up, we would have reached the openness of later generations.
Of course, in that case, the feudal dynasty would have ended long ago.
However, it would be difficult for Li Qing to make a decision on whether it would be a blessing or a curse to liberate people's minds in this Ming Dynasty.
Li Qing retracted his thoughts, raised his hand and patted Jin Yuanbao's face, "Let me ask you, is there any indirect smuggling?"
"Really not!" Jin Yuanbao shook his head desperately, "The imperial envoy clearly knows that Cao Min's clothes are...the tailor's shop used the wrong material, Cao Min was reluctant to throw them away, and he was confused for a moment... Cao Min promises that he has never worn them outside. "
Li Qing was too lazy to care about this, so he came closer and said softly: "Stop pretending, your real background is Prince Ning, right?"
"What?"
Jin Yuanbao's small eyes suddenly widened, his face full of shock, "You...how did you..."
"As long as you do as I say, I'll keep you safe." Li Qing smiled and said, "How about that?"
In fact, Li Qing didn't know either. He was deceived, but he wasn't blind either.
The biggest smuggling leader is Prince Ning, and Hongdu is only more than 200 miles away from Xingan. It is impossible for him to remain indifferent to the large volume of porcelain shipped by Jin Yuanbao.
This is indeed the case. Jin Yuanbao's real owner is not Jin Youzi and Yang Rong, but Prince Ning.
Jin Yuanbao is in a dilemma. If he takes refuge in the imperial envoy, he will not be able to live well after the imperial envoy leaves. But if he does not take refuge in the imperial envoy, he will die now.
"Common people listen to the imperial envoy." Jin Yuanbao, adhering to the concept that life is only a temporary thing, readily agreed and said flatteringly, "I hope the imperial envoy will forgive me afterwards."
