Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 236 The Emperor's Will Spreads in Jiangsu and Zhejiang

Outside the Taizhou salt fields, the reeds stretch as far as the eye can see, like an endless Dead Sea.

Dense fog is the sole ruler of the early morning.

It rises from rivers, lakes, and seas, carrying a bone-chilling damp cold, swallowing everything in the world, turning it into a chaotic gray-white expanse, no more than three feet in sight.

Water vapor condensed on the armor, dripping slowly along the patterns on the armor plates, making an almost inaudible "drip-drip" sound in the silence.

Deep within this desolate reed marshland lies a power capable of overturning the world.

Two thousand cavalrymen, one thousand elite soldiers from the Beijing garrison, and five hundred Imperial Guards silently blended into the thick fog.

The horse occasionally couldn't help but snort, but the rider would immediately cover it with his calloused hands, leaving only a muffled whimper.

The young Mongolian centurion Batu's rough, frostbitten cheeks stood out starkly in the mist.

He didn't look at the unfathomable depths ahead, but instead turned his head slightly and reached into the saddlebag at his waist with his fingers, which were a little stiff from the cold, gently stroking the heavy cloth bag.

The bag contained his salary for the past few months, paid in full and on time.

Since following this Han emperor south, these past few months have been the most comfortable days of his life.

They had meat at every meal, their tents were sturdy, and even the warhorses beneath them were plump and strong, with glossy coats that even the wealthiest tribal chiefs on the grasslands might not be able to afford.

He glanced at his companions.

These once unruly steppe wolves no longer had any air of nonchalance. When they occasionally glanced at the faintly visible banner in the center of the army, their eyes were filled not with fear of the emperor, but with fervor and awe.

In their simple understanding, this "Great Khan," who could provide them with enough to eat and wear, pay them their dues, and promise them military achievements and grasslands, was far more worthy of their loyalty than those boastful descendants of the Golden Family on the grasslands.

It's worth wielding a scimitar for this "Great Khan"!

Batu tightened his grip on the scimitar. The gleaming blade seemed to sense its master's fighting spirit, letting out a low groan of thirst for blood in the mist.

Unlike the raw fighting spirit of the Mongol cavalry, the Han cavalry on the other side exuded a deeper and colder killing intent.

Most of them came from the border town of Xuanda and were veterans who had fought their way up in the blood and fire against the Later Jin Tartars.

Their families and comrades fell countless times in dire straits due to lack of pay and food, and the decay of their weapons.

They knew better than anyone else that those salt merchants who hoarded and speculated on salt, colluded with court officials, and even secretly communicated with foreign enemies were traitors who were undermining the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

At the very front of the army, where the fog was thickest, a figure stood as tall as a mountain.

The emperor was dressed in a tight-fitting, black soft armor, the arm guards and breastplate gleaming with a dark metallic sheen in the dim light. Over this, he wore only a wide, black cloak, making him almost blend into the overwhelming darkness.

He did not sit comfortably in the warm central command tent like a typical monarch, listening to military reports from the front.

He chose to stand with his most elite soldiers in the thick fog, feeling the same damp chill as them, and breathing the same tense and chilling air.

Zhu Youjian's gaze pierced through the layers of thick fog, locking onto a few faint, dim lights in the distance.

That place is Taizhou Saltworks, a golden city built with the blood and sweat of countless salt workers and the wealth of the empire.

At this moment, in Zhu Youjian's eyes, it was nothing more than a livestock shed waiting to be slaughtered, and those few lights were like will-o'-the-wisps guiding the way.

"Your Majesty..." Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, rode up to him in his official robes. "The fog is too thick... There are many people and forces in the salt fields, what if..."

Zhu Youjian did not turn around. His voice was like steel tempered with ice, carrying an unquestionable majesty and a hint of cruel mockery, clearly reaching Bi Ziyan's ears.

"Be on guard? Minister Bi, you overestimate them."

"A bunch of fat pigs who have been sleeping on mountains of gold and silver for too long, besides knowing how to fight for food in the trough and how to intimidate others with grunts, have they ever seen a real butcher's knife?"

Upon hearing this, Bi Ziyan felt a chill run down his spine and dared not utter another word.

"The time has come."

Zhu Youjian's deep voice, like a silent edict, resounded across this deathly silent battlefield.

The messenger behind him suddenly nocked a specially made whistling arrow onto his bow and shot it toward the sky with all his might!

"Chirp—Boom!"

The whistling arrow, trailing a blinding red tail of flame, tore through the thick fog and shot straight into the sky, exploding at its highest point into a small sun-like ball of fire, which then condensed into a wisp of crimson smoke that lingered for a long time!

Almost at the same instant the smoke rose, two faint but clearly visible red lights also appeared in each of the major salt fields in Tongzhou and Haizhou, piercing through the mist and echoing each other!

Three routes advancing simultaneously, covering a hundred miles at a time! The net of heaven and earth has been closed!
"Preach my will!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly drew the Emperor's Sword, a symbol of supreme imperial power, from his waist. In the last sliver of darkness before dawn, the sword's edge flashed with a chilling light.

"kill!!!"

The moment the order was given, the deathly silence was shattered!
A roar like a landslide and a tsunami erupted from the chests of thousands of soldiers. The wild roar in Mongolian mixed with the angry shouts of Han soldiers filled with national hatred and family grievances, creating a destructive sound wave!

The earth began to tremble violently!

At this moment, the torrent of riders transformed into an ancient ferocious beast that had broken free of all shackles, bursting out of the thick fog!
The sound of horses' hooves, initially sparse, instantly converged into an impenetrable, deathly drumbeat, as if the Thunder God from the heavens were frantically pounding the land and water of Jiangnan with his giant hammer!
The pitiful wooden gates and fences of the Taizhou saltworks, meant to protect against salt smugglers and ordinary thieves, were as fragile as paper in the face of this devastating force.

"Boom——!!"

With a tooth-grinding cracking sound, the fence was instantly smashed to pieces by the galloping warhorse, sending countless wood chips flying into the sky!

The breach was created in an instant!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"

The piercing alarm bells finally arrived, belatedly ringing out in a panic over the salt fields.

Countless salt smugglers, awakened from their sleep, rushed out of the house, disheveled and still half-asleep, brandishing knives, spears, and clubs, cursing and swearing.

However, the moment they saw what was before them, everyone froze.

What they saw was neither a small group of pirates nor some ignorant competitor.

What they saw was an endless moving wall made up of steel steeds and cold, bloodthirsty faces!

That overwhelming momentum, that iron-blooded killing intent forged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, instantly shattered their pitiful courage in the martial world.

The knife that was originally in my hand suddenly felt incredibly heavy.

What I just planned to do in a desperate gamble now seems utterly ridiculous.

Many people couldn't even muster the thought of raising a weapon; their minds went blank, and their legs felt like lead, making them unable to move.

“It’s over…it’s the government troops…” a steward cried out in despair.

Known as the number one swordsman in Taizhou, the head of the guards who usually had the final say in the salt fields, relying on his strong physique and the hundred-times-forged broadsword in his hand, instead of retreating, he charged forward, roaring as he met the cavalryman at the front. He swung his sword with both hands, attempting to cut the tall Mongolian horse and the rider in two!
However, Batu, the Mongol centurion at the forefront, saw this scene and instead revealed a savage and cruel smile. He neither dodged nor avoided the sharp blade as it slashed towards him.

Just as the blade was about to strike, Batu's body jerked to the side at an incredible angle, narrowly avoiding the attack. At the same time, the lasso in his right hand, which he used to lasso horses on the grasslands, shot out like a venomous snake that had been lying in wait!
"call--"

The leather noose drew a precise and deadly arc in the air, and right there around the steward's neck!
"Get up for me!"

Batu let out a low growl and suddenly pulled his arm back!
A tremendous pulling force came, and the steward felt a tightness around his neck. His feet were instantly lifted off the ground, and he was pulled up in an arc through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.

Before he could even let out a scream, the torrent of iron hooves rushing from behind had already crushed him.

"Pfft..."

The sounds of bones shattering and flesh being torn apart were instantly drowned out by the thunderous sound of horses' hooves.

The mighty Taizhou Saltworks' top swordsman couldn't even stir up a ripple before turning into a pool of minced meat on the ground. This scene became the final straw that broke the psychological defenses of the saltworks guards.

"what--!!"

Fear spread like a plague. The guards collapsed. They abandoned their armor and weapons, cried out for their parents, and ran away, wishing they had two more legs.

However, this army possessed both thunderous brutality and absolute discipline.

The cavalry surged into every corner of the salt field like a red and black tide.

They strictly followed the military orders issued by the emperor in advance: anyone who dropped their weapons and squatted down with their heads in their hands would not be harmed in the slightest; anyone who held weapons and attempted to resist or escape would be killed without mercy!

In his panic, a middle-aged man who appeared to be in charge tried to set fire to a pile of salt next to him.

Before he could even light the tinderbox, a cold arrow whistled through his wrist, pinning him to the wooden post behind him. His screams were heart-wrenching.

……

Almost simultaneously with the deafening cries of battle in Taizhou, two other torrents of water, with overwhelming force, precisely pierced the heart of the two major salt fields of Tongzhou and Haizhou.

The first sound that rang out over the Tongzhou Saltworks was not shouts of battle, but a piercing sound of something tearing through the air!
Sun Yingyuan, a fierce general who came from the battlefields of Shaanxi, was well aware of the principle of capturing the leader first and breaking the army's morale first.

He personally led a team of sharpshooters, and the moment they broke through the outer defenses of the salt field, they unleashed a volley of arrows. Countless rockets, like meteors and fire, pierced through the mist and accurately covered several towering watchtowers and clock towers within the salt field.

The flames instantly engulfed the places that should have been the warning signs.

"kill!"

Sun Yingyuan pointed his saber forward, and his iron cavalry, like a red-hot iron, instantly burned through the loose defenses of the salt field.

Ignoring the henchmen running around, they split into three groups and headed straight for the three key locations: the accounting office, the treasury, and the general manager's compound.

Inside the accounting room, just as someone picked up the account books to throw them into the brazier, a heavy arrow that shattered through the window pinned him and the account books firmly to the wall.

Before the silver vault, the stubborn guard leader, who had been resisting, had not even seen the approaching enemy when Sun Yingyuan personally beheaded him with a single blow, and his elite cavalry instantly took control of the situation.

"Anyone who dares to touch the account books or the silver will be killed without mercy!"

Sun Yuanying's icy voice echoed throughout the salt field.

His attacks were as fast as lightning and as precise as a scalpel; the core of the entire salt field changed hands in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Most of the guards didn't even have time to put up a decent resistance before they found themselves trapped, their leaders all eliminated.

Further north in Haizhou, Ejei and his Mongol cavalry took ruthlessness to the extreme.

They had no fancy tactics, only the most primitive charges and crushing attacks!

"kill!"

Accompanied by a deafening roar in Mongolian, this pack of hungry wolves from the grasslands swept through the saltworks' defenses like a flood bursting its banks.

Anyone or anything that dared to stand in their way was instantly torn to shreds by their ferocious iron hooves and gleaming scimitars.

They neither take prisoners nor inquire about their reasons.

Under Ejei's military orders, anyone who carries a weapon is considered a mortal enemy!
Their killings possess a chilling efficiency, an instinct inherent in grassland hunters.

The Haizhou Saltworks, in their eyes, was not like a fortified fortress, but more like a sheepfold that had been invaded by wolves.

After the bloody frenzy, there was absolute silence.

When Erjelema stood in the center of the salt field, apart from the salt workers who knelt in surrender, there was not a single person standing in resistance.

Two paths fly simultaneously, a sharp sword aimed at the throat.

The emperor's will was carried out by these two iron armies in the fastest and most ruthless way to the most prosperous corner of Jiangnan!
……

By the time the morning sun shines on the earth, the battle at the Taizhou salt fields has long been over.

Half an hour, just half an hour.

The air was filled with a strange mixture of the strong smell of blood and the distinctive salty smell of sea salt, creating a nauseating odor.

Broken weapons, shattered corpses, and large patches of congealed dark red blood testify to the catastrophe that has just occurred here.

Bi Ziyan and the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Tax Inspection Office that he led finally stepped into this hellish battlefield.

There was no fear or discomfort on their faces; instead, their eyes were bloodshot and their breathing was rapid.

What they saw before them was not hell, but heaven, a feast they had been dreaming of for those who managed the country's finances!

The piles of smuggled salt in the warehouse, like small mountains, gleamed white in the morning light. That wasn't salt; it was silver—life-saving silver that could fill the national treasury and be exchanged for provisions and winter clothing for the border troops!
"Pry it up! Pry this tile off! The sound underneath is wrong!" An experienced old official, holding a specially made iron rod, kept tapping on the floor of a warehouse, then pointed at a bluestone slab and shouted.

Several soldiers from the Beijing garrison immediately stepped forward and quickly lifted the stone slab with shovels and crowbars.

A dark cellar entrance suddenly appeared, and a cold yet sweet scent of gold and silver wafted out.

"Wall! This wall is hollow! There's a hidden layer behind it!" On the other side, someone was hitting the wall with a hammer and noticed the difference in the echo.

"Hidden compartment discovered! Contains 500 gold bars!"

"My lord! The cellar... the cellar is full of silver chests! Stacked up as high as the wall! My God!"

Exclamations of surprise and shouts of ecstasy rose and fell.

These Ministry of Revenue officials, who usually argued fiercely over every penny in the imperial court, completely abandoned all their civility and restraint at this moment.

Soon, box after box of neatly stacked snowflake silver and ingot after ingot of dazzling gold were dragged out from various unexpected hidden compartments, dark rooms and cellars and randomly piled on the open ground in the center of the salt field.

As the sun rose higher, the small mountain made of gold and silver grew taller and larger.

The morning light shines on it, reflecting thousands of dazzling rays of light that almost blind people.

The lingering smell of blood in the air was quickly replaced by a cold, sweet scent of wealth.

This is the blood and fat that the Lianghuai salt merchants, who have been entrenched for a century, have painstakingly extracted and sucked from this terminally ill empire, drop by drop.

However, Zhu Youjian remained indifferent to the mountain of gold and silver beneath his feet, a sight that could drive any emperor mad.

His gaze passed over the blinding golden light, and also over the ecstatic faces of Bi Ziyan and the others.

His gaze fell upon the salt workers kneeling on the ground, silent and trembling with fear.

What Zhu Youjian saw were their numb and empty eyes, their hands rotten from the salt brine, and their bones hunched over from being exploited and squeezed.

His gaze finally settled on the distant, winding waterway, faintly visible in the morning light—the Grand Canal, the lifeblood of the empire.

The drawbacks of salt and the drawbacks of grain transport have always been like twin brothers, intricately intertwined and mutually reinforcing.

If the salt administration is to proceed smoothly, the canal transport system must be rectified first; and the enormous expenses of the canal transport system depend on the supplementation of salt taxes.

The bloody killings have ended, but the complicated follow-up work has just begun. The search, inventory, identification, and reassurance are all underway.

The busy day of inventorying and counting continued, and the stench of blood in the air was gradually dispersed by the wind. The gleam of the pile of gold and silver, however, appeared even more eerie and dazzling under the setting sun.

By late afternoon, the situation was largely settled.

A guard rode up at full speed, dismounted, and loudly reported, "Your Majesty! The salt fields of Tongzhou and Haizhou have been completely captured, with none escaping!"

(End of this chapter)