Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 218 Huizhou merchants offer gifts to Yangzhou and meet Liu Rushi by chance (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

In fact, when Zuo Liangyu's troops first started to attack the mountain, Chongzhen ordered Yang Sichang to take the two-year-old crown prince Zhu Cixiang and Queen Zhou to break out from the path behind the mountain.

After all, his goal is too big, and he won't give up until he finds his thieves.

Chongzhen hoped that he could win a chance of life for his wife and children.

For this reason, he ordered Cao Bianjiao to personally lead the army to clear the way for Yang Sichang and others.

Therefore, ministers such as Wen Tiren also broke out with Yang Sichang.

It's not that they think they have much chance of winning by breaking out, but if you stay with Chongzhen at this time, you will have to die for His Majesty!

Of course, you can also choose to surrender, but surrendering at this time will definitely bring you the infamy of "regicide against your master", which will be infamy for thousands of years!

The history books will definitely scold him more severely than Zuo Liangyu, who forced Chongzhen to death, and Wen Tiren cannot afford such a reputation.

So in the end, there was only one Wang Chengen left beside Chongzhen!

Although Yang Sichang and others took advantage of the chaos and successfully ran to a valley at the foot of Bagong Mountain, the surrounding roads had been blocked by Zuo Liangyu's Yulin Camp.

Cao Bianjiao and his men rushed several times but could not get out.

Even he himself was injured in many places!

At this time, there were only a few dozen people left around them.

Wen Tiren quietly pulled Yang Sichang aside and said softly: "Based on your Majesty's temperament, Yang Benbing will never be willing to be a prisoner and be escorted back to the capital by the traitors. Long Yu has probably passed away at this moment."

"Next, the bandits will definitely search the mountain and capture Empress Zhou and the Crown Prince. We can't escape!"

Yang Sichang sighed, knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of Chongzhen, and said, "The humble minister is incompetent and failed to protect His Majesty from breaking out of the encirclement!"

At this time, Wen Tiren glanced at Yang Sichang with contempt.

I thought to myself, it’s already this time, why are you still acting in front of me?

If you are truly a loyal minister, you should be like Wang Chengen and die by your Majesty's side!

Yang Sichang didn't answer just because he wanted to speak out.

At this time, the two of them are grasshoppers on the same rope. Can you, Yang Sichang, do it alone? Wen Tiren adjusted his breath and said: "If we are found by the bandits, even if we survive, our career will be ruined, and future generations will be implicated. If we sacrifice Empress Zhou and the Crown Prince, although we will not be reused, we will still be able to survive in the end." Keep a career."

"At least your and my descendants can still take part in the imperial examination, and they won't never be able to get ahead!"

Yang Sichang said: "I'm afraid Cao Bianjiao won't agree. His uncle died at the hands of Zuo Liangyu. How can he be willing to arrest him without mercy?"

Wen Tiren said with a smile: "You only need to send your trusted people to find the bandit army to express that you and I are willing to sacrifice the crown prince, and then lead them here!"

However, when Wen Tiren's people attracted Zuo Liangyu's men, they found that everyone was there except Yang Sichang and the two-year-old crown prince Zhu Cixiang who had disappeared.

Zuo Liangyu's people searched for several days but could not find any trace of Yang Sichang, so they had to give up.

Li Xianzhong was still satisfied with the result that Chongzhen hanged himself on Bagong Mountain. Although Yang Sichang and Zhu Cixiang escaped, it did not affect the overall situation.

As Zuo Liangyu who took the blame for him, he still wanted to reward him heavily.

Li Xianzhong said: "General Zuo not only intercepted Chongzhen this time, but also decisively rejected the temptation of Hou Xun and others to receive a title and a silver reward. Your Majesty will be very pleased to know that!"

"Your Majesty has always made clear rewards and punishments. I have truthfully reported General Zuo's achievements to Your Majesty and asked for a knighthood for the general. I believe there will be good news in the near future!"

Zuo Liangyu was extremely excited when he heard about the knighthood.

It seems that I made the right bet this time!

He quickly said: "General, I would like to thank you for your cultivation. I will definitely dedicate myself to the imperial court!"

After Zuo Liangyu left, Zhang Zhiji said: "There are not a few of our Liaodong soldiers who have made great contributions to the Pass this time, and no one has been knighted so far."

"If Zuo Liangyu is given a title this time, will it cause dissatisfaction among the generals?"

Li Xianzhong understood what Zhang Zhiji meant, but he said with a smile: "I have already spoken with the civil and military officials of Liaodong. After establishing the world, I will reward you based on my merits!"

"What Zuo Liangyu got is just a title from the Hongguang Dynasty, the civil and military forces of Liaodong won't care!"

If he doesn't care about the title of the Hongguang Dynasty, he naturally wants the title of the Xin Dynasty.

Li Xianzhong didn't shy away from him, and he obviously regarded him as a confidant. Zhang Zhiji was naturally overjoyed!

He quickly expressed his position: "I will benefit a lot from the honor of following the prince. I should do my best to help the prince rule the world!"

Zuo Liangyu forced Chongzhen to death, and he must bear the infamy. He asked Zhu Yousong to issue an order to the Jin Dynasty to confer the title of Dingnan Bo, naturally in order to connect this matter with Zhu Yousong.

Li Xianzhong had a fine coffin built and temporarily parked Chongzhen's coffin in Fengyang, the central capital.

As for Wen Tiren who surrendered and Queen Zhou of Chongzhen, they were sent to the capital by Li Xianzhong. Let Zhu Yousong handle these troublesome matters by himself.

He learned from Wen Tiren that the hostage he was in Chongzhen's hands had been left in Kaifeng because his true identity had been exposed.

They were stranded in the capital as hostages and had suffered a lot over the years. Li Xianzhong had given an order to the Intelligence Department to rescue them.

Su Tai was originally his concubine in name only. Although the two children were not related to him by blood, after all these years, he was prepared to recognize them as his adopted sons.

Li Xianzhong built a new tomb for Cao Wenzhao next to Lian Po's tomb at the foot of Bagong Mountain, and went to pay homage in person.

Cao Bianjiao finally agreed to serve Li Xianzhong, and Li Xianzhong appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the expedition, under the command of Zhang Zhiji, the governor of the left.

As Huai'an, Fengyang, Shouzhou and other places fell one after another, the Ming army's Huaihe defense line had actually been completely broken through!

As the news that "Chongzhen hanged himself on Bagong Mountain" spread like wildfire, the Jianghuai area lost the will to resist.

When Zhang Zhiji's army moved south, Luzhou, Hezhou, Chuzhou, Anqing and other places south of Fengyang all surrendered without a fight.

The 3-strong army led by Mao Wenlong went south from Huai'an Prefecture and occupied Baoying, Gaoyou, Xinghua, Taizhou and other places!

In just over ten days, all the prefectures in Jiangbei were almost wiped out, leaving only Yangzhou as an isolated city!

Originally, there were more than 10,000 remnants of Zhu Dadian, the governor of water transport, in Yangzhou City. After Zhu Dadian learned that Chongzhen had hanged himself, he abandoned his official position and returned home.

These soldiers also fled in all directions. When Shi Kefa returned to Yangzhou with three thousand remaining soldiers, Yangzhou City was almost an empty city.

Shi Kefa knew that if he wanted to hold Yangzhou, he must get the support of those salt merchants!

So he quickly arrived at the residence of Wang Shiming, the general merchant of the salt industry!

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty adopted the "open-China method". Salt merchants exchanged grain for salt, and a large number of merchants went to the frontiers to farm.

Shanxi merchants took advantage of their geographical advantage of being close to the "Nine Borders" to gain the upper hand.

However, during the Hongzhi period, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, reformed the tax system. Salt merchants no longer had to go to the frontier to pay for grain, but instead allowed them to pay silver directly in exchange for salt.

The implementation of the "opening and folding color method", the so-called first-come-first-served approach to the buildings near the water, allowed Huizhou merchants close to the Huaihe River to gradually gain the upper hand in the competition with Shanxi merchants.

After several generations of hard work, the Wang family finally occupied a dominant position among Huizhou merchants.

Now that Yangzhou City is in danger, Wang Shiming, the leader of Huizhou merchants, actually sticks to it personally.

In fact, it is not only the Wang family, but also the Wang, Xi, Li, and Ye families, who are all the four major Huizhou merchant families, all have their principals staying in Yangzhou.

This made Shi Kefa very excited, at least it showed that Huizhou merchants had not given up on Yangzhou like others.

But it turned out that he was overthinking it, and Wang Shiming was not willing to see him at all. In the end, he just asked the housekeeper to take out two thousand stones of grain and send him away.

After Shi Kefa left, Hui merchant Ye Tianpeng said: "General Shang Wang, the people we sent to Fengyang haven't come back yet. If the talks with the Liaodong County Prince break up, we have to leave a way out for ourselves, right?"

Wang Shiming glanced at Ye Tianpeng, and then said slowly: "According to the latest news, the navy of the Liaodong Army has occupied Chongming and will soon head to Nanjing and Yangzhou on the river. Where does Manager Ye think our retreat is?"

Ye Tianpeng sighed helplessly. How could businessmen like them control such a major event of dynasty change?

At this time, Wang Shiming's brother Wang Shiyou had arrived in Fengyang.

He first showed his trump card: Huizhou merchants fully supported the "Hongguang New Deal" and would not engage in land annexation.

In fact, Huizhou is mostly mountainous and has very little farmland. Although the price of acres of land in Huizhou is high, Huizhou people do not rely on farming to make a living.

Because it is impossible to support oneself by farming, almost seven out of ten adult Huizhou men are engaged in commercial activities, so Li Xianzhong's "gentry and gentry receiving grain from one body" has little impact on them at all.

They are worried about two things. One is whether the salt tax in Lianghuai will change?

Second, it is said that the backer behind those Shanxi merchants is Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong. Will he support Shanxi merchants in suppressing Hui merchants?

There is an essential difference between Huizhou merchants and the gentry groups in Jiangnan. Although they have also purchased a lot of land in other places, land is not their core interest.

Relatively speaking, the conflict between Huizhou merchants and Li Xianzhong was not serious.

Therefore, Li Xianzhong treated them differently. He decided to obtain the support of Hui merchants first so that he could concentrate on dealing with the more difficult Jiangnan gentry.

As for the salt tax in Lianghuai, Li Xianzhong promised not to make any major changes within three years, but would still adopt the existing policy and outsource the salt industry in Lianghuai to Hui merchants.

However, Li Xianzhong had a request. He wanted to set a maximum price limit for salt in various places.

Salt in the Huaihe and Huaihe areas usually costs 8 qian to 1 tael of silver per 8 kilograms. Li Xianzhong requested that the maximum selling price on the market in the future should not exceed qian.

Anyone found selling salt above this price will be beheaded.

This relatively limits the profits of these salt merchants. Even if they achieve a monopoly in the region, they cannot increase prices indiscriminately.

As for the lowest price, Li Xianzhong didn't bother to care.

Of course, there is one more thing, we must ensure that there is enough salt on the market. If there is a shortage of salt on the market in Lianghuai, the government will directly sell it at a price lower than this.

At present, the Chongzhen Dynasty's Lianghuai salt tax is nearly 150 million taels per year on its books, but the actual amount collected is less than 100 million taels.

Li Xianzhong didn't talk about arrears here. If he didn't have any money, he would just ransack his house.

Of course, in addition to threats, we also need to make excuses.

Li Xianzhong said that after the reunification of the Ming Dynasty, he would completely lift the sea ban.

As long as they pay taxes according to the law, he encourages all businessmen to invest in foreign trade and make money from foreign devils.

This can also be regarded as a reminder to their Huizhou merchants to prepare early.

As for the security issues they worry about, merchants can form a joint merchant fleet and hire armed escort ships from the East Ryukyu Company.

In addition, he also introduced the services of Liaodong Bank to Wang Shiyou. In the future, meetings of Liaodong Bank will be held in Yangzhou, Nanjing, Huizhou and other places.

In this way, the safety and efficiency of their business operations will be greatly improved, and Hui merchants are welcome to send people to Liaodong for inspection.

The salt tax from Lianghuai was the lifeblood of the court in the Chongzhen Dynasty, but it was nothing to Li Xianzhong.

The court's high salt tax was actually obtained through these salt merchants exploiting the people. He really didn't like the money very much.

It's just that his reform of the land tax has offended a large number of people, and it is not appropriate to continue to fight over the salt tax at this time.

After Li Xianzhong showed great sincerity, these Huizhou merchants would naturally not be stingy.

The Wang family took the lead, and Huizhou merchants in Yangzhou provided 400 million taels of silver and 100 million shi of grain to express their support for the Hongguang court.

At this time, poor Shi Kefa is probably the only one who is still dreaming about holding on to Yangzhou.

Originally, Li Xianzhong was planning to let Mao Wenlong directly attack Yangzhou.

However, the Wang family said that there was no need to bother General Mao with this trivial matter.

From the magistrate of Yangzhou to the city gate clerk, the appointment and dismissal of officials in Yangzhou City has never been the final decision of the Ming Dynasty.

It was decided by the Anhui merchants in Yangzhou City.

In fact, the situation is similar to the situation in Qixian County, Shanxi and other places. Those big businessmen have a great influence on the local area.

Soon under the instigation of Huizhou merchants, the defenders of Yangzhou City opened the city gate and released the Liaodong Army into Yangzhou.

Fortunately, Shi Kefa was usually very popular and was able to escape from Yangzhou City in embarrassment.

The surrender of Hui merchants ensured the commercial integrity of Yangzhou area to the greatest extent.

It also extinguished the resistance motivation of the Jiangbei gentry.

They paid a lot of money, so Li Xianzhong naturally had to be comforted.

So he came to Yangzhou City in person and met with many businessmen, including the four major Huizhou merchant families.

Li Xianzhong also introduced them to the situation of overseas trade, which made these Huizhou merchants very interested.

Wang Shiming stated that he would deposit 100 million taels of silver at the Yangzhou branch of Liaodong Bank.

Afterwards, various Huizhou merchants expressed their support.

Li Xianzhong almost turned this interview into an investment conference.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Wang Shiming said: "Does Your Majesty know what Yangzhou's biggest specialty is, and that Yangzhou's thin horse is one of the best in the world?"

Originally, Li Xianzhong wanted to refuse. After all, with his current status, he couldn't just look for women outside.

He was just about to decline when he heard Wang Shiming say: "Miss Yinglian is a famous singer from Songjiang. She is not only outstanding in literary talent, but also in both erotic and artistic skills. The prince will definitely like her!"

Li Xianzhong immediately became interested and asked: "Is the girl Yinglian mentioned by Mr. Wang called Yang Yinglian?"

Wang Shiming was very surprised. This Yang Yinglian was only 13 years old this year. He had just found her from Songjiang last month. How could Li Xianzhong know her name?

But he still said: "It's Miss Yang Yinglian!"

Although Yang Yinglian is not famous, she has another name that is well-known to everyone in later generations, that is Liu Rushi, the first of the "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai".

Except for Ma Xianglan, the eight beauties of Qinhuai are now deceased, and the others are probably just little girls now. Li Xianzhong originally didn't care.

Unexpectedly, he met Liu Rushi in Yangzhou. Of course he wanted to meet him!

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(End of this chapter)