weaving

Chapter 1509 Assassin
Before Xu Jinyong's three hundred Imperial Guardsmen had returned, the Yongning Earl's party was ambushed for the second time.

Siyancheng was an important lake salt production area in Shanxi Province during the Ming Dynasty.

As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was known as Yanshi or Yanyi. During the Han Dynasty, it was renamed Siyancheng or Jianyancheng. The Hedong Junshu Chief and the Siyan Duwei were established here to manage salt affairs.

However, before the Yuan Dynasty, Yuncheng was just a small village called Lucun. The imperial salt transport commission and other administrative agencies were stationed in Jiezhou City.

It was during the reign of Emperor Ögedei Khan that the court adopted the suggestion of Yao Xingjian, the Salt Transport Commissioner, and moved the Salt Transport Office from Jiezhou City to Lucun to facilitate the management of salt administration. This promoted the development and growth of Lucun, which gradually made it a major commercial town.

In the sixteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty's Zhizheng era, the court appointed the high-ranking official Na Haidejun as the Grand Master of the Imperial Court and the chief administrator of the salt affairs in Hedong. He believed that building a city wall was the most urgent task, so he submitted a memorial to the court and mobilized soldiers and civilians to build an earthen city in more than four months.

Its circumference reached nine li and thirteen steps, the city wall was two zhang and four chi high, and the moat was more than seven chi deep. The construction of the city wall not only strengthened the defense, but also laid a solid foundation for the rise of Yuncheng.

In the second year of the Ming Dynasty's Tianshun era, Ma Xian, the Salt Transport Commissioner, renovated Yuncheng and expanded the city gates to four, naming them Dongfangxiao, Xiliuhui, Beiyingqu, and Nanjubao respectively, symbolizing the future prosperity and flourishing of this salt city.

Subsequently, during the Jiajing era, Salt Commissioner Lu Huan, Commissioner Chu Gao, and Commissioner Yu Guangnan successively reinforced the east, west, and north city walls with bricks. Commissioner Shen Duo went even further, not only reinforcing the south city wall with bricks and stones, but also adding multi-story buildings to all four city gates, watchtowers at the four corners of the city walls, and nineteen additional watchtowers on each side of the city wall.

By this time, the scale and layout of Siyancheng were completely fixed, and due to its position as a salt transport hub, it was commonly referred to as Yuncheng.

However, this salt city mainly served as the seat of administrative institutions. Although there were a large number of salt merchants, salt vendors, officials' families, and soldiers in the city, there were not many ordinary people.

Most of the lower-class people who made their living from salt did not live in the city. They mostly lived in clusters near their workplaces, in shacks or simple mud-brick houses, forming settlements around the salt ponds.

Soldiers were called military households, craftsmen were called artisan households, musicians in troupes were called musician households, those who sold their smiles in taverns on the street were called brothel households, and those who boiled salt were naturally called salt households.

This is a characteristic of the Ming Dynasty court!

Although there has been such a tradition in every dynasty, classifying people from all walks of life, including soldiers, civilians, merchants, and artisans, into different households makes it easier for the court to register and manage them, which is more conducive to social stability and normal operation.

However, the Ming Dynasty went even further in this regard, implementing this model in an infinitely expanded and refined manner. Although it quickly stabilized society in the early stages and greatly promoted economic and social progress and prosperity.

However, as time goes by, many drawbacks are gradually emerging, causing a great social impact on the Ming Dynasty.

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Yuncheng Salt Lake, formerly known as Yanze, Gu, Jiechi, Hedong Salt Lake, etc., is located in southern Shanxi Province. It is bordered by Siyancheng to the north, Zhongtiao Mountain to the south, Anyi to the east, and Jiezhou to the west. It is about 70 li long from east to west and nearly 10 li wide from north to south. It is high around the perimeter and low in the middle, with a total area of ​​130 square kilometers.

According to the "Commentary on the Waterways Classic", "It is deep but does not flow. The water comes from white salt, which naturally condenses. It can be collected in the morning and returned in the evening, and there is no loss."

Meanwhile, the Yuncheng Salt Lake is also divided into two large lakes and six smaller lakes. The one closer to Anyi is the East Lake, and the one closer to Jiezhou is the West Lake. The six smaller lakes are named Yongxiao, Jinjing, Jiawa, Jia'ao, Sulao, and Yidou. The East Lake is the largest. In the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Li Tingguan, the Salt Commissioner, re-engraved the "Salt Lake Map" and recorded: "The lake is fifty li wide and seven li in circumference. Counting from all sides, it should be one hundred and fourteen li. Therefore, using the square li as a well and the method of nine hundred mu, it is calculated to be 315,000 mu."

A black river, known as the "Salt Mother," flows through Dongchi from east to west, connecting to the salt layer and providing abundant brine. The brine is used to produce large, white salt, a natural advantage that has enabled Dongchi's development. Dongchi is also a major salt-producing area in Yuncheng.

According to the "Shanxi General History", the main products of Yuncheng Salt Lake are four kinds: Lu salt, Glauber's salt, Taiyangxuan stone (commonly known as tortoise back stone) and wild cattail pollen.

Regardless of the dynasty, the Yuncheng Salt Lake has always received much attention from the rulers, and at one point it even became one of the economic pillars of the imperial court!

During the Dali era of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, the national salt revenue reached six million strings of cash, accounting for half of the national fiscal revenue. Among them, the salt revenue of Yuncheng Salt Lake reached one million five hundred thousand strings of cash, accounting for one-quarter of the national salt revenue, which is enough to demonstrate the important position of Yuncheng Salt Lake.

Such a large salt lake could not be protected by a single salt city, so the "Three Forbidden Gates" must be mentioned!
The Three Forbidden Gates were the core facilities of the salt lake fortification built during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. They consisted of the East Yubao Gate, the Middle Youbao Gate, and the West Chengbao Gate, and served the dual functions of salt permit inspection and military defense.

According to the "Map of Hedong Salt Lake" in the 25th year of the Wanli reign, the three forbidden gates were located five li east of Anyi, opposite Yuncheng in the middle, and ten li west of Jiezhou. The three forbidden gates were connected by a sturdy forbidden wall, forming a defense system with a total length of 120 li.

The main wall was nearly three zhang high, wide enough for horses to walk on. Outside the wall was a one-zhang wide horse path and a one-zhang deep moat.

All three gates had double-layered gate towers and were equipped with shops as inspection locations. The East Yubao Gate was the entrance for salt carts from Anyi, the Middle Youbao Gate led directly to the Yuncheng Salt Transport Office, and the West Chengbao Gate was the salt transport route from Jiezhou.

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The Earl of Yongning did not enter the city of Siyan. Instead, he entered the salt lake through the Chengbao Gate in the west, hoping to see for himself the secrets of this important salt-producing area.

Therefore, the Earl of Yongning only brought Hu Yiwen, Liu Chengzhu, Xiao Sanjie and a few others with him, as well as a hundred guards led by Zhang Mingyuan in the central army.

Lin Fangping and Chen De led the main cavalry force ahead to Siyan City to await the arrival of the Earl of Yongning and his entourage.

No one expected that in this very place, a crucial financial and tax center of the imperial court, the Earl of Yongning and his entourage would encounter their second assassination attempt after entering Shanxi.

The assassination took place inside the Youbao Gate in the middle. There was a salt field less than two miles away from the Youbao Gate. Who would have thought that among the tattered salt farmers, there would be a desperate assassin?

Fortunately, Zhang Cheng was also a military officer. Although he had no opportunity to fight on the battlefield in the past two years, he did not live a life of ease and comfort. He practiced martial arts diligently every day. Not only did he not slack off in his skills with fists, feet, spears, and sticks, but his physical reaction speed was also quite good.

That's how he barely escaped the assassin Zhiming's deadly attack...

Even so, the outer clothes were torn in several places. Fortunately, the inner armor protected them, otherwise they would have bled profusely on the spot.

Of the twelve desperados, seven were killed on the spot, and the remaining five, seeing no way to escape, secretly committed suicide by poison in order to avoid being captured alive!
Looking at the row of assassin corpses lying on the ground, Marquis Yongning Zhang Cheng's face was grim, his eyes cold, but he remained silent...