As soon as Emperor Chongzhen said these words, no one dared to answer them.
After all, the emperor has made it clear that the evidence has been produced to prove that it was definitely not fraud by factory guards. We have already talked about this, who dares to question it anymore?
If anyone is still entangled in this matter, it means that he is not busy or has ulterior motives! If this happens, the next step will probably be bad luck!
For most officials, as long as the emperor does not accuse people of treason, then what does it have to do with whether those grain merchants are dead or alive?
Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen got angry, no one dared to say anything.
Emperor Chongzhen glanced down and shouted coldly: "This year's Beijing inspection will be based on the achievements in post-war reconstruction matters. The officials must strictly control the situation, and I will also let the factory guards watch. Yes. I will watch all those who work hard, those who do good things, and those who goof around and take advantage of the opportunity to line their own pockets, and we will settle the accounts together!"
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and left.
After respectfully seeing the emperor off, many of the ministers looked at each other and thought nothing of it. The emperor is angry. If he doesn't behave well this time, it will definitely be a calamity in the officialdom.
As for the grain merchant's rebellion, we will wait until the emperor comes up with evidence.
The story of this court meeting spread quickly.
Most of them, inside and outside the capital, were ordinary people who had been tricked by grain merchants. For these grain merchants, not to mention that the emperor clearly said that there would be evidence, even if they, according to their opinions, should be sentenced to confiscation of the family and annihilation of the clan. All of them are evil-hearted, lying on their bodies to suck blood.
Of course, they were also curious. What was the evidence the emperor said? Because according to the emperor's statement, it should be impossible to hide some weapons and armor, or dragon robes and crowns. Since it's not these, then they really can't think of it. It's impossible. The emperor just said it casually to scare people, right?
Of course Emperor Chongzhen didn't just say it casually. The purpose of the Wenhua Palace meeting was to beat these officials and ask them to do their jobs well. If they know that they are comparing blindly without paying attention to their work, then they will go back and wait for the accounts to be settled.
In addition, he actually has another purpose, which is to rearrange the eavesdropping seeds. What should be recycled should be recycled, what should be replaced should be replaced, and we should prepare for the next step.
For now, he had recovered the Class C eavesdropping seeds from Fan Yongzheng, and he was already in custody, so there was no need to waste the eavesdropping seeds on him.
The Class A eavesdropping seeds on Wang Chengen have also been recovered. There are no plans to put eavesdropping seeds on him for the time being. At least in the short term, it has proven that he is loyal to him and has been scared. There should be no possibility of getting dirty for the time being.
The Grade-A eavesdropping seeds on Dongchang Stall Jiang Dong were also recovered. This person is currently considered a very angry young man. Because of his own experience, he hates corrupt officials to the core. There is no need to waste a wiretapping seed for the time being. Seeds, and they are Grade A.
Emperor Chongzhen counted the eavesdropping seeds he had on hand. According to this calculation, he had four Class C eavesdropping seeds on hand. The eavesdropping range could only be ten miles in radius, which was actually more than half of the capital. Three Class A eavesdropping seeds have no distance limit; one Class B eavesdropping seed has a radius of thousands of miles and can probably cover Shanxi, Hebei, parts of Shandong, and even Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan.
As for the eavesdropping seeds that have been rewarded outside, Cao Huachun has a Class C eavesdropping seed; Wu Zhong has a Class A eavesdropping seed, which is already on the Mongolian grassland and will soon return to Liaodong; Chengyi Bo Liu Kongzhao also has a Class A eavesdropping seed. A Class-A eavesdropping seed was ordered to resettle refugees, and is now on its way back to the capital; the last Class-A eavesdropping seed is in the possession of Chen Xinjia, the Governor of Xuanda University.
After counting all the eavesdropping seeds, Emperor Chongzhen still lamented in his heart, if only they were all Class A eavesdropping seeds! But thinking back, one Grade A eavesdropping seed can be exchanged for three Grade C eavesdropping seeds, which is actually not bad. At least it is enough to use Class C eavesdropping seeds nearby. Monitoring three at once is much better than a Class A eavesdropping seed.
While he was thinking about it, suddenly the chamberlain came to report that Li Ruolian, commander of the Jinyi Guards, was here to see him.
Not to mention it's useful, it should be that the things assigned to him have already come to fruition. Emperor Chongzhen thought so in his mind, and sent an order to him to see him immediately.
Sure enough, after seeing the ceremony, Li Ruolian said: "Your Majesty, the Shanxi Shang King Denku was so frightened that he left the city on an empty stomach and headed towards Shanxi."
"Good!" Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but praise after hearing this, "Now we have alerted the enemy, and now we are ready to close the net."
Hearing this, Li Ruolian looked confused. After hesitating for a moment, he still said: "Your Majesty, since it has been confirmed that Wang Dengku was the one behind the scenes who asked the grain merchants to hoard it without selling it, why not arrest him directly?"
The grain merchants who were caught were not hard-core at all. Jin Yiwei just used a little trick, even the eighteenth generation of their ancestors confessed, and even provided clues, allowing Jin Yiwei to immediately find the residence of Yushi Liu Meicai.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but smile and said to him: "Didn't those grain merchants say that they have been secretly purchasing grain for a long time. I just want this Wang Dengku to go back and report, so that they can buy the grain from various places that they have secretly purchased before. Gather them all together so that we can catch them all in one fell swoop, and the captured grains can also help the capital and the two hundred thousand people survive the spring famine."
Hearing this, Li Ruolian thought of the rumors outside and suddenly understood why the emperor wanted to sentence these people to treason.
In fact, he was originally an old scalper in Jinyiwei, and he was very good at solving crimes and so on. Furthermore, the emperor also did many things through him. Therefore, it is not surprising that he knows more than others and can guess something.
Although he felt that it was a little serious to label those grain merchants and the people behind them as treasonous. But it was none of his business. Besides, since they wanted to cause trouble and fell into the hands of the emperor, it was their own fault. All I have to do is listen to the emperor and do things with peace of mind.
Thinking this, he immediately responded: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Emperor Chongzhen listened, but smiled and ordered him: "You quietly go out of the city to meet Uncle Chengyi, he will be here soon. Among the people he brought, there is a woman named Gao Qingju, and Gao Qingxue who lives in your Yamen She's a sister. After you pick her up, arrange for the sisters to meet, and write down everything they see and hear."
In fact, Li Ruolian didn't need to handle this matter personally, he had to go out of the city to pick it up. However, Emperor Chongzhen "rewarded" Li Ruolian with a Class C eavesdropping seed, which was said to have the ability to eavesdrop within a ten-mile radius. He wanted to verify whether the eavesdropping range was accurate. If the scope is wider, wouldn’t it be a profit?
Li Ruolian naturally didn't know about this and thought that the emperor attached great importance to the sisters, so he quickly agreed and then said goodbye.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the news coming from this Class C eavesdropping seed. It seemed that after leaving the city gate, there was no more news, which made him slightly disappointed. You eavesdropping seed, why don’t you be so precise!
He complained in his heart, and then he ignored Li Ruolian.
However, what Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect was that when Li Ruolian returned to the capital in the afternoon, he was surprised to find that the Class C eavesdropping seeds that had no news before actually returned messages continuously, even chat records that were not within the range. , also returned together.
In the words of later generations, although this eavesdropping seed left the eavesdropping range, it faithfully recorded the movements of the eavesdropped person and then stored it there. Once connected to the system of Emperor Chongzhen, all the stored information was transmitted.
In other words, the scope limitation of the eavesdropping seed is only the difference between real-time eavesdropping messages, but the information heard by the eavesdropping seed will not be lost.
Emperor Chongzhen understood this and couldn't help but be very surprised. This meant that even Class C eavesdropping seeds were actually very practical. Yes, this is really pro-system!
He was happy on his side, but on the other side, some people were worried to death, or in other words, they were almost scared to death by him. These people are Shanxi merchants.
From the capital to his hometown in Shanxi, it was at least eight or nine hundred miles away, but Wang Denku spent a whole day and a night, outrunning two horses and almost dying of exhaustion, and finally drove back.
Although he was exhausted and paralyzed on the bed, he had no intention of taking a good rest. He immediately sent someone to summon the heads of the other seven families to see him, saying that they had urgent matters to discuss.
After hearing this, his housekeeper reminded: "Master, there are people from the capital blocking the door of the Fan family. It is said that the master of the Fan family is not here. I'm afraid he won't be able to come."
"Go, just go to his hometown and ask him to come to my place, no!" At this point, Wang Denku suddenly came back to his senses and immediately changed his words, "Let them rush to the Governor's Mansion before noon tomorrow, just say that there is Let’s discuss important matters, very urgent matters, concerning everyone’s lives and fortunes.”
Hearing what he said was so serious, the housekeeper was afraid and went to do it quickly.
After a day's rest, Wang Dengku finally recovered a little and hurried to Yanghe Governor's Mansion.
When he arrived, the other seven families had already arrived, and even Fan Yongdou, who was hiding in his hometown, hurried over.
As soon as I saw him, I immediately started asking questions.
"Brother Wang, what on earth is going on that is so serious?"
"Yes, Brother Wang Xian, I heard that you rushed back from the capital day and night. What happened to the capital?"
"It can't be about the banknotes. Those people are making trouble in Shanxi. What else can they do? Anyway, with the Governor here, what else can we fear from them?"
"..."
After hearing their words, Wang Denku felt a little pain in his head and shouted quickly: "Do you think the crime of treason is serious or not?"
"..." Suddenly, the living room became very quiet. Even Chen Xinjia, who was a little disapproving at first, couldn't help but turn to look at him in surprise.
The crime of treason? Did you hear it correctly?
This crime of confiscating their families and exterminating their families really frightened them. Fan Yongdou said quickly: "Everyone, please listen to Brother Wang Xian."
Naturally, other people are also eager to know, how come they have been charged with the crime of treason? Deep down in their hearts, there is no connection between smuggling and rebellion. After all, in their opinion, they just wanted to make money, and they did not seek to enrich the Ming Emperor.
Therefore, the seven major Shanxi merchants, including Chen Xinjia, listened with great concern to Wang Dengku's explanation of what happened in the capital.
After hearing about it, these people couldn't help but look at each other. Among them, Fan Yongdou turned to look at Chen Xinjia and said, "Sir, this... what is this? Is this a serious crime of treason?"
They did not expect that the matter regarding Fanji Bank in the capital would not develop as they expected and would happen so violently. However, in the face of the serious crime of treason, they no longer bothered with the banknotes.
Hearing his question, other Shanxi merchants turned to look at Chen Xinjia, wanting to hear what he had to say.
After all, in their opinion, what’s wrong with hoarding food? So what if he doesn't sell it? This can be linked to the crime of treason. The emperor's mind is really sick!
However, Chen Xinjia's expression was very ugly. After glancing at them, he said slowly: "If the emperor knew that you were trading with the Jianlu of Liaodong and had hoarded so much grain to sell to the Jianlu of Liaodong, he would say yes. Although treason is a bit serious, it is not unfounded."
Upon hearing this, the eight major Shanxi merchants couldn't help but look at each other again. Is it really that serious? Is this emperor irrational?
Seeing their worried looks, Chen Xinjia changed the topic and immediately said: "However, I think it is unlikely that the emperor knows about your affairs, otherwise, there will be no news at all. It is probably because of hoarding food Those companies were found by the factory guards to be hoarding large amounts of grain without selling it. This caused famine in the capital and aroused the emperor's anger, which is why he said this. But..."
Having said this, he paused and then said: "If the emperor cannot find more grain, then there is a problem with this crime. Just imagine that Yixi just hoarded some grain, even if the amount is slightly larger, Could this cause a famine in the capital? If so, how many grain merchants have not done this over the years?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Yongdou immediately came back to his senses and immediately said: "Yes, yes, the key is not to let the emperor find out the food we had hoarded before. We must send all the food to Liaodong as soon as possible! Otherwise, the factory guards will follow the arrested people and find us sooner or later."
"Yes, I think so too." Wang Dengku slapped his thigh and immediately agreed, "We are behind those grain merchants who had their homes raided and their people arrested. Sooner or later we will be investigated. As long as we collect all the grain merchants we have hoarded in various places. The grain has been sent out of customs, and with the care of the Governor, it is impossible for the factory guards to find any more grain. In this way, things will be easier to handle!"
"Yes, yes, it's time to wait. We can't wait any longer this time. We have to send all the goods to Liaodong quickly!" Tian Shenglan immediately agreed.
