The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 540 A huge argument broke out
Several days after General Iri imprisoned more than one hundred foreigners.

At the grand court assembly in Shangdu, just as the chief eunuch announced, "Please speak now,"...

The Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs, eager to submit his memorial, stepped forward:

Your subject, Shen Yanqing, respectfully reports to Your Majesty:
Since I was appointed to the Court of Colonial Affairs by Your Majesty's grace, I have always adhered to the principle of "pacifying distant peoples" to appease foreign nations.

However, I find it difficult to agree with the recent actions of General Iri of Kansai.

Yesterday, hundreds of foreign merchants from the Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain and other countries jointly submitted a letter of protest to the Court of Colonial Affairs.

In the book, Alexander, a representative of the foreign merchants, tearfully recounts that General Iri, under the pretext of "testing for drugs," not only confiscated the tobacco they had painstakingly transported to Kansai, which was enough to pay a high tariff of 50%, but also locked them in a wooden cage and forced them to smoke half a catty of tobacco every day in full view of everyone.

Although I have not personally witnessed such a scene, I can imagine the suffering and wailing of the Yi people who have been watching it like a play these past few days, and how extremely ugly the scene must have been!
Your Majesty, I find these methods unlike those used by our border garrison; they resemble the cruel tortures employed by the former dynasty's secret police. Where is the dignity of our Celestial Empire in all?
Your Majesty, in my hometown of Jiangnan, black tobacco has been available for several years. I have heard that smoking this medicinal tobacco has the remarkable effects of eliminating fatigue, relieving exhaustion, and alleviating pain.

I have never heard of smokers experiencing poisoning.

In addition, ordinary people in our dynasty also had the habit of smoking water pipes in their spare time, and merchants often used snuff bottles when discussing business.

Among the goods exported from the Kansai region, the sales of nine-leaf hibiscus are particularly high.

If tobacco is considered a poison, what about these other things?

Such cruelty towards foreign merchants will surely tarnish the court's reputation for 'benevolence and righteousness'.

I am not speaking on behalf of foreign merchants, but I am worried that General Ili's reckless actions may affect Your Majesty's overall goal of "submitting to the allies".

At last.

I heard that General Yili had seized more than 10,000 catties of tobacco and stored it in his mansion instead of returning it to the foreign merchants!
What is this if not robbery?
We humbly request Your Majesty's wise judgment!

As soon as the Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs finished speaking, the entire court was in an uproar.

The officials felt their fists harden.

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation:
"Absurd! Utterly absurd! I must impeach the General of Yili for abusing his power!"

"I second that! General Tian actually locked the foreigners in cages and made a fool of them like monkeys? Furthermore, I want to impeach the Grand General for negligence in supervision!"

"Your Majesty, I urge you to conduct a thorough investigation! In particular, a thorough investigation into the discipline of the Kansai Army is required."

Emperor Qianwu and Xiong Zhen exchanged a glance, both realizing from each other's eyes that they were unaware of the inside story.

Xiong Zhen, as if on cue, launched into a massive attack on the entire map:
"I have a question: where did these hundreds of foreign merchants get the ability to submit these lawsuits to the Court of Colonial Affairs?"

These Western countries have not yet established diplomatic relations with our dynasty, so how could they have the right to report to the emperor?
Your Majesty, I implore you to conduct a thorough investigation and determine whether anyone, inside or outside the court, has been bribed by these foreign merchants!
Furthermore, based on my understanding of the Grand General, she would never do anything without a reason.

Since it was a diagnosis from a former imperial physician, isn't that more credible than the sophistry of foreign merchants?

Whether it's about upholding the dignity of a superior nation or considering the overall situation, it's all about doing what's right.

It concerns the health of our people.

To put it bluntly, we would rather kill a thousand innocent foreign merchants than let one go!
Moreover!
General Iri simply locked them up; he did not torture them!
Don't they still provide three meals a day?
They're really going to get into trouble because of smoking!

All I can say is that they are reaping what they sowed!

Don't rush to defend him; just wait patiently for three more months and the truth will be revealed.

The current Minister Xiong is no longer the Minister Xiong who first arrived in Shangdu.

During court assemblies, he would often argue with the civil officials, and there were always back-and-forth exchanges, with some winning and some losing.

After he spouted a series of fallacies such as shifting blame to other countries and claiming that those who are not of our race must have different intentions, the entire dynasty descended into chaos.

Impeachment, you know.

Everyone has the right!
You have the right to question the Kansai Army's abuse of power for personal gain.

I also have legitimate reasons to suspect that those who speak out for foreign merchants are not upright.

They kept arguing.

The matter concluded with Emperor Qianwu issuing an edict ordering the Grand General of the State to defend himself.

Actually.

Before giving the order to Tian Jiu, Gan Minglan had considered the potential consequences. She had no idea about the dosage of opium in the herbs.

The worst outcome was that those foreigners didn't see any noticeable effects even after three months of use.

But she simply couldn't wait any longer.

I've heard that wealthy merchants in Jiangnan have been using this tobacco for several years now.

She was eager to amplify the impact of this matter.

A few days ago, a warning letter was sent to Gan Mingfu, the Governor-General of Jiangnan.

In the letter.

She detailed the medicinal properties of opium and the dangers of addiction with continued use.

she says:

"From what I understand, most Europeans use opium as a pain reliever, but they don't smoke opium."

Why?

It must be the foreigners who produce and sell this tobacco who know the consequences. And they certainly don't want to harm their own people!

"Once people in other countries become addicted to smoking, not to mention the health problems these smokers will suffer, even the wealthiest families can't withstand such waste."

At the end of the letter.

Gan Minglan also suggested that she should find several long-time smokers of Wuxiang medicinal tobacco, have a local doctor take their pulses in detail, and send her a copy of the pulse diagnosis records.

Not to mention that Gan Mingfu had complete faith in his sister.

Seeing the warning letter about the physical abnormalities caused by long-term opium use, I was terrified.

During his years governing Jiangnan, he engaged in a battle of wits and courage with the Jiangnan gentry.

Even with the support of his father-in-law and daughter-in-law, he still worked diligently and cautiously.

Right under his nose.

Such a scourge went undetected!

He couldn't even wait for the imperial court to issue a ban on opium.

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

In the following days, brothels and opium dens involved in smoking were shut down for various reasons!
The turnover of the opium den was indeed insignificant.

However, brothels and brothels involved in smoking were lucrative businesses that made a fortune every day.

They just shut it down like that?!

This move not only cut off their supply channels at the source, but also destroyed their livelihood.

For a while.

The flower maiden from Jiangnan wept bitterly.

Following the impeachment of General Yili and the Grand General of the State, the Imperial Son-in-Law, Governor-General of Jiangnan, was honored to be ranked third on the impeachment list.

The officials paid no heed to the self-defense memorial submitted by the General of the State, no matter how confidently he swore.

They also ignored the so-called medical records of those opium addicts presented by the Governor-General of Jiangnan.

In their eyes.

As long as smoking these foreign cigarettes doesn't result in any deaths, the aftereffects of smoking are no big deal!

Normally, he would find something to discuss, even if it was just for show.

How could we let these two siblings handle such a huge vulnerability so easily?

Driven by those with ulterior motives, calls to dismiss the General of the Western Garrison and the Governor-General of Jiangnan grew increasingly louder.

The waters of the upper echelons of officialdom in Shangdu have been completely muddied.