I, Jiajing, successfully cultivated immortality

Chapter 120 Preparations before the war
After Hu Zongxian dealt with the case of salt tax theft, he went straight back to the Governor's Mansion. He was thinking about this problem all the way. A small chief secretary dared to tamper with the imperial court's salt tax!Those high-ranking officials must act more recklessly, not to mention the salt merchants behind them who are making a lot of money.

Those salt merchants have amassed more than tens of millions of dollars by selling private salt!However, only eight to nine million taels of salt tax are handed over to the imperial court every year, and most of these salt taxes are corrupted by officials at all levels, and only a mere 900 million taels of salt tax finally reach the imperial court.

The development of these salt merchants is inseparable from the Kaizhong method set up by the imperial court at that time, allowing some merchants to transport a series of materials such as military rations and horses to relatively remote areas to ensure the supply of materials, and the imperial court provided salt according to the amount of grain they handed over. , The businessman took the salt and went to pay for the grain.

In the third year of Hongwu, there was a special shortage of food in Shanxi. At that time, in order to solve this problem, the imperial court came forward to recruit merchants, and also promised that after the food was delivered, these merchants would get a certain amount of salt. Salt is introduced to the designated place to sell, so that a considerable fortune can be obtained.

But later, the imperial government gradually corrupted, and the opening of the Chinese law could no longer be implemented. The officials in charge of these joined forces with those salt merchants to jointly sell private salt and make huge profits from it.

"Do you want to give a memorial to Your Majesty, and use the opportunity of collecting salt tax this time to solve this matter?" Hu Zongxian sat by the desk, thinking so.

After a long time, Hu Zongxian seemed to have made up his mind, spread out the pen and paper, and said word by word: "Your Majesty, the current salt tax system is corrupt, and the court cannot collect enough money, so the court's finances are tight!"

"Furthermore, as far as I know, the salt merchants behind it colluded with the officials and jointly trafficked in private salt. They collected more than ten million yuan each year, but only paid 900 to [-] million salt taxes to the imperial court. Therefore, I request Your Majesty took action to remove these moths from my body, Ming Dynasty..."

After Hu Zongxian finished writing the memorial and put it in an envelope, he immediately called his cronies and said in a deep voice, "You must hand this memorial to His Majesty in person, and no one can pass it in between! Do you understand?"

Looking at the solemn expression on Hu Zongxian's face, the cronies also understood that the content in it must be extremely important, and absolutely no mistakes are allowed.

I saw him take the envelope, knelt down on the ground on one knee, and said in a deep voice: "Yes, my lord governor, my subordinates must bring the letter with me!"

"Well, okay, you can set off when the sun breaks." Hu Zongxian looked at the sky outside and ordered.

"Yes!" After the confidant said, he put the envelope in his arms very solemnly, bowed and left.

……

The night passed quickly, and in the early morning of the next day, Hu Zongxian's cronies rode fast horses and rushed towards the capital.

"Your Excellency, the reply from the Ministry of War has arrived."

As soon as Hu Zongxian got up, a guard came to report.

"Well, you go down."

Hu Zongxian took the reply letter from the guard and said.

"Yes!"

After the guards left, Hu Zongxian opened the envelope. After seeing the above content, he couldn't help showing joy. The above content said that the Ministry of War will send 36 warships with ocean-going combat capabilities to cooperate with Hu Zongxian's operation. At present, the Daming Navy has only about [-] warships in total!

"This must be His Majesty's instruction, otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to mobilize so many warships from the Ministry of War, which is equivalent to most of the family property of the Daming Navy."

"Your Majesty attaches so much importance to this matter, I will definitely go all out to wipe out the group of Japanese pirates entrenched in the sea!"

Hu Zongxian thought so in his heart, and exerted a little more force on his hands, holding the reply letter from the Ministry of War into a bad shape.

"Notify Qi Jiguang, and tell him that the official has something to look for him." Hu Zongxian instructed his subordinates on the side.

"Yes!" The subordinate quickly left, went to the place where the army was stationed outside the city, and informed Qi Jiguang.

Soon, after Qi Jiguang received the news, he hurried to the Governor's Mansion of Zhejiang Straight.

"Your Excellency!" Qi Jiguang immediately saluted Hu Zongxian as soon as he entered the hall.

"Get up and sit!" Hu Zongxian said, pointing to the seat in front of him, then picked up the teapot, and poured a cup of tea for himself and Qi Jiguang.

"Thank you, Governor." After Qi Jiguang finished speaking, he sat down beside Hu Zongxian with a reserved look.

"Your Excellency, the governor, suddenly summoned the general to come. Is the matter of suppressing the Japanese settled?" Qi Jiguang asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Well, that's right, with His Majesty's support, the Ministry of War will send 36 warships to assist us in fighting!"

"What? So many!" Qi Jiguang turned pale with shock after hearing the news brought by Hu Zongxian.

"Well, Your Majesty has taken great pains for this. At present, our Daming Navy has only more than 50 warships! We must fight this battle beautifully." Hu Zongxian picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Obey, Governor! The subordinates will do their best." After listening to Hu Zongxian's order, Qi Jiguang knelt down on the ground and said in a deep voice.

"How are the things that were given to you before?" Hu Zongxian shifted his gaze to Qi Jiguang, and then asked aloud.

"Report to the governor, the general has already done what you have entrusted to the general! The general has selected more than [-] soldiers who can swim from the army and trained them. I think they will be able to fight this battle."

"Well, the 30 here, plus the [-] on the ship, add up to [-] troops, plus the more than [-] warships of the Ministry of War, I think Wang Zhi and the Japanese pirates will be completely wiped out by then!"

"After destroying this group of Japanese pirates, I will personally ask His Majesty for a reward for you!"

Hu Zongxian was very satisfied with Qi Jiguang's performance, nodded and encouraged him.

"Yes, thank you, Governor, for your support!" After hearing Hu Zongxian's words, Qi Jiguang's face was full of excitement.

Then Hu Zongxian waved his hand, asked his subordinates to bring the map, pointed to an island on it and said, "Look, this is the Zhoushan Islands, and there is an island in the Zhoushan Islands called Jintang Island, and this is the leader of the Japanese pirates." Wang Zhi's lair!"

"My idea at that time is to use the artillery on the ship first..."

Time passed without knowing it. When Qi Jiguang came out of the Governor's Mansion, his face was full of confidence. After detailed planning, if it was only [-]% before, then now he is [-]% sure that he can get Wang Zhi This group of Japanese pirates is completely wiped out!

At the same time, food, grass, ordnance, salaries, etc. required by the army are also being secretly allocated.

……

In a dark prison cell, the smell of blood lingers for a long time. Under the arrangement of Zheng Michang, all the people who participated in stealing the salt tax tried all kinds of harsh punishments in the prison. Died instantly!Those who survived were also tortured to the point of losing their human appearance. From a distance, they looked like lumps of rotten flesh dripping with blood.

Zheng Michang covered his mouth and nose, walked in, and asked the jailer beside him, "How's it going?"

"Report, sir, five of them died, and these two are the only ones left!" After the jailer finished speaking, he pointed to the two people hanging upside down on the beam by iron hooks, flatteringly.

"Well, hurry up and deal with everything." Zheng Bichang frowned and ordered.

"Yes, my lord! The subordinates must do their best."

Zheng Michang walked out of the cell after giving his orders, and the moment he stepped out of the cell door, a burst of mourning sounded from behind...

(End of this chapter)