The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 149
"Ying'er, salt is related to people's livelihood in the world, and the Lianghuai salt industry occupies a pivotal position in it, so you must be careful!"

"Well, Auntie reminded me that I must never give those salt merchants any chance to resist. We must capture the thieves and kings, take them all in one fell swoop, and then quickly control the ordinary salt households... That's good, it's still me Go there yourself!"

The red lady nodded, and after thinking about it, she decided to go there by herself. After all, the wealth and family property of those salt merchants might not be much less than that of Xungui, so it is really worrying not to supervise it in person.

"Oh, okay!"

"As long as it doesn't cause a shortage of salt supply everywhere, Auntie and Ying'er can be this villain together!"

"No, my aunt still has to be a good person. Let my niece and daughter-in-law do it alone. Anyway, my niece and daughter-in-law don't have a good reputation. As the saying goes, you don't worry about worrying about debts!"

The red lady waved her hand and said with a smile.

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Zhang Yan gave a bitter smile and didn't insist any more, but asked again: "How about the 10,000+ spinning and weaving people outside the city? Although they were all forced to come here by those gentry, But their future livelihood is indeed a problem, and it seems inappropriate to let them go back like this, but if they continue to stay outside the city, it will be winter again."

"Don't they know how to weave and spin? Didn't those scholars say that they have no work to do?
Well, we will send them all to Beijing to continue spinning and weaving. Each person will be compensated ten taels of silver. Now everyone will have nothing to say! "

"This is also a way. I have sent people to investigate. Most of them have no land. They have worked for those merchants for generations. Their lives are not good. They can barely make ends meet. Even if they don't weave and spin yarn in the north, they can still farm. "

Zhang Yan nodded, in fact, she thought so too.

"The niece and daughter-in-law will go there in person tomorrow."

The two discussed for a while, and then went back to the palace to rest.

After returning to the bedroom, Hong Niangzi did not rest, but ordered someone to call Chen Yuanyuan over again.

"Yuanyuan, have you found out everything I asked you to inquire about?"

"Go back to your mother, I have found out that there are more than a hundred salt merchants in Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers, large and small, and they are divided into Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants..."

While introducing, Chen Yuanyuan took out a thick booklet, which was full of specific information about the situation and specific information of the Lianghuai salt merchants.

How many people, how many houses, how many high-ranking officials and relatives a family has, how many stones of salt it produces every year, and where the salt is sold are all clear.

Obviously, there is nothing in Jiangnan that can be hidden from the prostitutes in the Qinhuai River. What's more, the channel for Chen Yuanyuan to get information is far from the prostitutes in the Qinhuai River, but the prostitutes in the entire Jiangnan brothel.

Now Chen Yuanyuan seems to have become the leader among the prostitutes in Jiangnan. In the past six months, relying on the support of the red lady, he has bought many brothels in various places. .

"Okay! I have underestimated you guys. The ability to inquire about news is almost comparable to that of Jin Yiwei, ha ha."

The red lady nodded after reading it, and smiled with great joy.

It was also the last time she saw that Chen Yuanyuan knew everything about the nobles in the city, so she took the attitude of giving it a try and asked her to inquire about the situation of the Lianghuai salt merchants. Who would have thought that she could inquire so clearly and in detail.

"It's a blessing for slaves to be able to do things for the empress, empress, this is the income from brothels in the past six months. Although it is only more than 100 million taels, in the past few months, slaves have purchased hundreds of brothels in various places in the south of the Yangtze River..."

After Chen Yuanyuan finished speaking, she looked at Hong Niangzi with some anxiety, worried that she would blame herself for making the decision and buying the brothel without authorization.

"Well, keep the money for yourself. You can handle the affairs of the brothel yourself, don't ask me for instructions."

The red lady waved her hand, obviously she didn't intend to ask for their money, and she didn't want to get too involved with the brothels. When she was asked to run those brothels, she just had a headache and didn't know how to deal with those prostitutes.

"The servant girl thanked the mother for her kindness on behalf of the sisters."

Chen Yuanyuan hurriedly knelt down and thanked her, her moved eyes were a little moist, obviously she also understood what the red lady was thinking.

This kind of backer who doesn't want their money, doesn't force them, and supports them, I'm afraid it's hard to find another person in the world. It's their blessing to meet the empress.

"Okay, get up quickly!"

"In a few days, the Japanese Palace will go to Yangzhou. You pick a thousand women who can write and count to go with me." The red lady raised her hand and said.

"It's the empress, and the servants will choose someone immediately when they return."

Chen Yuanyuan hurriedly replied, but her heart skipped a beat.

She wondered if the empress was going to attack those salt merchants?But this kind of thing is not dare to ask too much.

The next day, early in the morning, Hong Niangzi came to the refugee camp outside the city, and saw that there were densely packed grass sheds built indiscriminately.

Although they live in straw huts, they eat refined rice and fine grains every day, so the 10,000+ people look good no matter they are old or weak.

In fact, even if Zhang Yan didn't care about these people, those landlords and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would not let them go hungry.

Hearing that the imperial concubine went to the refugee camp, all the scholars in the city killed her.

As for going to the gate of the palace to continue petitioning, no one would dare to go even if it cost 100 taels of silver a day.

The gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River are actually most afraid of the rebel Hong Niangzi, especially now that the rebel is holding a heavy army and has imperial power on his head.

And the news came back from Huguang that Hong Niangzi killed those civil servants and gentry like killing chickens.

So at the moment, almost no one in Nanjing city is discussing the matter of cotton cloth, they are only talking about romance, as if nothing happened a while ago.

"Brother Mi, how do you think the empress will deal with these people?"

"How else to deal with it? I don't believe she can send all these 10,000+ people to Qiongzhou."

"Yes, since ancient times the law does not blame the public."

A group of scholars only dared to watch from a distance and discuss in a low voice.

And when they learned that it was the imperial concubine, the 10,000+ people were terrified and knelt on the ground one after another.

One of the five members of the family was brought in front of the red lady, and they knelt down and begged on the ground in fright.

"My lord, please forgive me. It's none of the villain's business. The villain didn't make trouble. The boss forced us to come here..."

"Okay, get up, I don't want to ask you about your crimes, but just ask you something, just answer honestly."

The red lady saw that the whole family was so frightened, and the two children trembled even more, showing helplessness on their faces.

"Thank you for your life, thank you for your life!"

"The little one must answer honestly, and never dare to lie to the empress..."

The whole family kowtowed desperately, and became a little incoherent when they were nervous.

Seeing this, the red lady was angry and hated. She looked at one of the trembling girls, thought for a while, then stepped forward and picked her up, and put her on her lap, but the girl was so frightened that she cried out.

(End of this chapter)