Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 122 Reassuring the Salt Merchant

Since the Daming Tumubao incident, the empire has entered the era of civilian rule.

The trend of advocating literature and suppressing martial arts has become more and more serious, making it not a very honorable thing to be a soldier, but looked down upon.

Now that we are in troubled times, when the empire has the highest requirements on the combat effectiveness of the army, Zhu Youjian does not want the world to still regard the soldiers as vulgar.

There is a strong relationship between the combat effectiveness and breakdown rate of the army and the sense of honor of the soldiers.

In the Han and Tang dynasties, the army’s combat effectiveness was very strong, which was related to the fact that most of the generals came from powerful families and soldiers from good families.

Therefore, the soldiers at that time had a sense of honor, and their combat effectiveness was quite strong.

Most of today's Ming army is just a mess, even if they become generals, they don't have the concept of family and country. There are few dead fighters and many surrenders.

What Zhu Youjian wants to change now is to let the political status of the soldiers, especially his guards officers and soldiers, make them realize that once they join the guards, they will become nobles. Strict quality requirements, of course, but also a higher social status.

Now Zhu Youjian wants to use his majesty as a king to forcibly protect Yan Yingyuan and others in front of him. He wants to take the opportunity to tell the gentry all over the world in front of the Yangzhou officials and businessmen that the dignity of his guards includes himself as the emperor. His dignity cannot be denigrated in the slightest.

Mao Bijiang died, and Yangzhou officials and merchants became more uneasy, but the Kou Baimen in front of him was still calm and calm, and smiled: "In that case, the women of the people are ready to be killed!"

"It is not a pity for you to die, but it is inhumane for me to kill a woman. I heard that you, Kou Baimen, have a chivalrous style and are a hero among women. Since you say that my sons are vulgar, I want you to see it with your own eyes. Look, what is real talent!"

After Zhu Youjian said that, he turned around and told Li Ruolian:

"The decree was sent to Jin Xuan of the General Political Department. Kou Baimen was originally the concubine of the rebellious minister Baoguo Gong. The court thought of his innocence, so he forgives his crimes, but he never thought of repentance. He despised the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. As a medical soldier, she has committed crimes and meritorious deeds! Let her learn the first aid for trauma from the accompanying old doctor. Staying in Yangzhou will not only make the students not think about learning, but the officials will not think about politics. "

Kou Baimen was taken away by Li Ruolian's order of a Jin Yiwei.

Zhu Youjian did not punish the three of Yan Yingyuan, on the contrary, he praised the three of them, and ordered them to go back home with him on a royal boat.

The three of Yan Yingyuan were naturally overjoyed, they didn't expect that they would not be punished by His Majesty, but instead had a chance to get close to the emperor.

"Yan Yingyuan, if the Qing army attacks Yangzhou in the future, if I let you defend the city, how do you plan to defend it?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Yangzhou is closely related to Zhenjiang and Taizhou. To guard Yangzhou, you must guard the three cities of Zhenjiang and Taizhou. If Zhenjiang is not lost, Yangzhou will continue to retreat; while Yangzhou is adjacent to the Great Lakes in the north and Taizhou in the east. Taizhou is the gateway to Yangzhou. As long as you guard Taizhou , Yangzhou can be protected, if these two cities are lost, it is best not to defend, otherwise it will harm the people's ears in vain, if you must defend it, you can only accumulate food and build high walls!"

Zhu Youjian nodded, and said with a smile to Shi Kefa: "This person is more knowledgeable about military matters than you. You were also the minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War and responsible for staying in the south of the Yangtze River. Did you think so much at that time?"

"I'm ashamed that I'm not as thoughtful as Xiaowei Yan!" Shi Kefa was more magnanimous, and admitted his own shortcomings frankly.

"So the Supervisor of Rituals is more suitable for you. There is no shortage of virtuous ministers in the outer court, but it is difficult to have a wise man in the inner court. All lovers need to work together for the country!"

"Follow the imperial decree!"

……

After dealing with the matter of Mao Pijiang and Yan Yingyuan, Zhu Youjian was in a good mood. With countless lives on his hands, he was now more cold-blooded than before, as if he had completely substituted himself into the role of a real emperor.

How can an emperor achieve great things without taking a few lives under his hands.

Since ancient times, a general has been successful, not to mention the great emperor that Zhu Youjian is going to be today.

"The snow is getting heavier and heavier, let everyone come in!"

After Zhu Youjian gave an order, he pointed to the beautiful figure inside the curtain to Wang Botong, the magistrate of Yangzhou: "Who is this?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this person is Li Xiangjun. Now that His Majesty is passing through Yangzhou by chance, the salt merchants in Yangzhou have the courage to invite her to perform a dance for His Majesty. This is also a token of the loyalty of the subjects."

"It's not an example!"

Zhu Youjian smiled lightly, and then shouted loudly: "Miss Xiangjun, it has been several months since Dan Tuyi left that day, and now that we are back in Yangzhou, can you pull the curtain to see him?"

Although Zhu Youjian is an emperor, he doesn't pretend to be reserved on this occasion, and he, who is as awe-inspiring as the ruler of the world, simply does whatever he wants.

However, none of the officials and businessmen present dared to make a joke.

Except for Zhu Youjian himself, who was full of Jinyiwei and the head of Mao Pijiang, who was still able to show off, no one was in the mood to have fun with the king on such an occasion.

Li Xiangjun skillfully opened the curtain, and the jade pendant around her graceful waist fluttered with the wind, revealing all kinds of amorous feelings.

"I have seen Your Majesty!"

The voice is tactful like an oriole in a beam.

Zhu Youjian felt a crisp in his ear, sipped his tea and waved his hand: "Come here, I have something to tell you."

Li Xiangjun had no choice but to walk over, leaned over and asked, "Please give orders, Your Majesty."

"How about I stay in Dantu tonight and revisit my old place?"

Zhu Youjian didn't wait for Li Xiangjun's consent after saying that, so he gave Li Ruolian a wink: "Someone take her away first. After an hour, we will board the boat to Zhenjiang Dantu."

After finishing speaking, Zhu Youjian said to Wang Botong, Zhang Liangchao, Wei Ming and others: "I know what you are thinking now, and I have no intention of changing the Yanzheng right now. As long as you are dedicated to the country, I will naturally I won’t do anything to you guys, the Chinese method still counts, but the payment of silver and salt has to be changed back to the payment of grain and salt. Now the war is imminent, and the front line is short of food. Since you are rich, you should also have the obligation to benefit the other party. The responsibility of transporting food must be shouldered!"

Zhu Youjian has indeed decided not to stop the salt introduction system for the time being, so as to avoid intensifying the conflict with the gentry.

However, Zhu Youjian decided to restore the salt introduction system to the way of paying grain and silver before Hongzhi. In this case, it is equivalent to returning the power of the market to adjust the salt price to the macro-control of the salt price by the imperial court.

After all, in this case, it is up to the imperial household department to determine the amount of salt release based on the situation of the salt industry over the years and the food demand of the army.

From a certain point of view, Yanyin is a kind of securities. Now is the era of war, Zhu Youjian wants to take back the securities from the market and control them by himself, so as to make himself more able to mobilize the entire stock market. The national power of the Ming Empire was against Jiannu.

Yangzhou salt merchants were relieved after hearing this. For them, as long as the salt introduction system is not canceled and they are responsible for the sale of salt, they can accept it.

As for the payment of grain and silver, they don't mind, but the cost of the former is a bit higher. After all, they have to bear the transportation cost for this. The threat of war.

　The salt policy will not be changed for the time being, and a big change will be made after the protagonist cleans up several enemies from the outside world

　　
　
(End of this chapter)