Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 443 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

The imperial court used tea and salt vouchers for settlement, which was actually equivalent to eating the food of the next year in advance and selling tea and salt in advance.

The Song Dynasty's finances were in deficit, but it did not collapse because it used this method of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

In the end, the court restored the original method of cross-examination.

This was also an important reason for the Song Dynasty's waste.

For merchants, having too many copper coins and silver coins is not only troublesome to store, but also to transport.

In ancient times, there were no banks that paid interest, so there was no difference whether you had cash or tea and salt permits.

But last year, the Song Dynasty built the Great Wall in the north, not only sending an additional 100,000 soldiers and horses, but also conscripting a large number of civilians.

Therefore, the demand for food naturally increased.

Those grain transporting merchants had too many tea and salt permits.

Originally, those merchants could directly use tea and salt permits as money, but because the court has already paid tea and salt permits for several years, these people are a little panicked and no one recognizes them.

After all, tea permits and salt permits have a pick-up time. Otherwise, the imperial court would be overdrawn, and salt and tea wouldn't be produced yet. How could they be given the time to pick up the goods?

So now those merchants are unwilling to transport food and fodder.

This is actually human nature, and Zhao Xing has no reason to be angry.

What made him angry was that those businessmen had sucked the blood of the imperial court over the years and now wanted to withdraw.

"Tell those merchants that it doesn't matter if they don't transport grain, but their salt and tea permits will all have to be postponed. The court needs to recruit merchants to transport grain, and only merchants who transport grain for the court can use salt and tea permits to transport salt and tea." Zhao Xing said lightly.

"Your Majesty, if this is the case, there will probably be a big chaos. And it will also be a huge blow to the credibility of the court!" Bian Xihao said anxiously.

"I didn't say it was invalid, I just can't bring it up for the time being."

Zhao Xing understood what Bian Xihao meant. Why did those merchants trust the imperial court?

Because the court did not dare to falsify this matter.

If this were to happen, the imperial court would lose all credibility.

Who will dare to transport grain for the court in the future?

In fact, Zhao Xing knew that even if he said so, it would still have an impact.

But there are so many businessmen in the world, and many of them cannot get involved in the salt and tea business.

Now that there is an opportunity, there are still people willing to take the gamble.

And do those merchants who hold salt and tea permits dare to gamble?
Although Zhao Xing did not say that the salt and tea permits they had would be invalidated, if it really dragged on for a few years, who knew what the situation would be like then?
With such huge sunk costs, the businessmen should be the ones who are worried.

"Can…"

"Do as I say." Zhao Xing said calmly.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Bian Xihao did not dare to say more and responded quickly.

After sending Bian Xihao away, Zhao Xing was still furious.

Whether transporting grain for the imperial court or selling tea and salt, the profits were huge.

If these businessmen don't have some background, they have no right to participate.

Although this incident was partly caused by the excessive release of salt and tea from the imperial court, officials may not be the only ones involved.

Zhao Xing still thought that those officials had behaved themselves, but now it seems that they have not given up.

But it’s better this way. Isn’t the imperial court short of money? These merchants are all very rich. Wouldn’t it be better to kill a few and get the money?

"Your Majesty, Yin Zhengsi requests to see you and has been waiting in the side hall for a while." Sanshui reported.

"Let him in." Zhao Xing said.

"Yes!"

Sanshui responded and gave the order, and soon Yin Hanzhang walked in.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Xing asked. "Your Majesty, recently many officials in Bianjing have sent messages to other places. After careful investigation, I found that these officials are contacting relatives who are doing business. I have ordered people to conduct an in-depth investigation and come to report to Your Majesty." Yin Hanzhang said.

"Although I already know this, the Imperial City Bureau is still of some use." Zhao Xing said calmly.

Zhao Xing actually did not blame Yin Hanzhang for this matter. After all, transportation was inconvenient in ancient times and communication was the most common means of transportation.

It was quite good that Yin Hanzhang could discover the abnormality.

However, appropriate warning is still necessary. Even if Yin Hanzhang does not slack off, he will work more seriously in the future.

Yin Hanzhang was sweating profusely when he heard this, and he quickly bowed and said, "I failed to detect it in time, please punish me, Your Majesty!"

He is now even more certain that Zhao Xing has secret sources of intelligence.

What he couldn't understand was that when he noticed something unusual, he asked someone to investigate. Currently, he only knew that those officials contacted relatives in his family who were doing business.

What exactly I want to do is still unclear.

But Zhao Xing seemed to have understood it.

Doesn’t this mean that Zhao Xing’s other information channel is more powerful than the Imperial City Bureau?
If so, what use is he?
Zhao Xing didn't know that Yin Hanzhang had thought so much, so he said, "Remember this, pick out a few of the most unclean ones and send the relevant evidence."

This time he not only wanted to kill some merchants, but also a few officials, otherwise how could he make an example of them?

"Yes!"

Yin Hanzhang responded, bowed and left.

Yin Hanzhang acted quickly and sent the relevant evidence over shortly after returning.

In fact, strictly speaking, there were not many corrupt officials among the officials in Bianliang.

It is not to say that all officials in the Song Dynasty were honest. It was mainly because the officials had high salaries and gift-giving was a common practice. Officials in the capital had subordinates who showed filial piety to them, and the court did not restrict this, so it was considered legitimate bribery.

In addition, many relatives of officials were engaged in business, like Sheng Hong and Sheng Wei.

Sheng Wei would give money to Sheng Hong every year for bribery. It seemed that Sheng Hong had never helped the first wife, but as long as he was an official in the court, most people would not make things difficult for the first wife of the Sheng family.

However, except for those officials with strong backgrounds, these officials are bound to engage in corruption when they first enter the officialdom.

These are all archived in the Imperial City Department.

Zhao Xing asked Sanshui to send these to the Censorate and give them to several censors who were loyal to him.

The next day, the impeachment letters written by the censors appeared on Zhao Xing's desk.

Zhao Xing ordered a thorough investigation and sent the case to the Ministry of Justice.

Yan Kuan got a headache after receiving the knot.

He submitted his resignation letter at the beginning of the year, but Zhao Xing did not approve it.

Now that Zhao Xing has given the order, even though he is reluctant, he has no choice but to do as Zhao Xing wishes.

"Ugh!"

Yan Hai sighed and ordered his men to bring the impeached officials to the Ministry of Justice.

There were five officials impeached this time, including two officials from the Political Affairs Hall.

Before the Song Dynasty, the Censorate was under the jurisdiction of the prime minister, and its reports had to be sent to the Council of State.

However, the Censorate of the Song Dynasty was independent and directly under the emperor's control, and memorials to the emperor did not need to go through the Council of State Affairs.

Therefore, no news of this matter leaked out, and the clerk who came to invite them to the Ministry of Justice only said that he had something to ask the two of them.

However, the two of them had something to hide, and when the Ministry of Justice suddenly came to find them, they were very scared and refused directly.

Because the charges had not yet been proven, Yan Hai only sent someone to invite him.

The clerk who came to ask for help naturally did not dare to arrest anyone in the government hall, so he could only go back and report.

After sending away the clerk from the Ministry of Justice, the two officials looked at each other and fell silent.

"Brother Li, why don't we go ask the Grand Master for help?"

"If the Grand Minister knew, he would not plead for us. And even if the Grand Minister pleads for us, the Emperor will not let us go." Another person said sadly.

(End of this chapter)