Zhu Youxiao went to the early court again, countless officials in the capital began to run to tell each other, since Yang Feng went to Yangzhou, Zhu Youxiao has used the excuse of being unwell, and he has not been to the early court for more than a month.

More officials ran to Gao Panlong and other imperial historians who were kneeling in front of the noon gate to tell them the good news, Gao Panlong did not kneel after hearing about it, and hurriedly shouted at his subordinates to help him up, he wanted to go back to write a recital, and he must impeach that Yang Feng to death.

Countless civil officials are waiting for the next day's morning, this time at least half of the officials have written a recital to impeach Yang Feng, in the eyes of Gao Panlong and others, Yang Feng is dead this time.

On the first day of the first month of June, it is advisable to sacrifice, collect, and marry, and when the sky is slightly bright, the early dynasty of the Ming Dynasty began again.

Today's Zhu Youxiao is accompanied by Wei Zhongxian to go to the court, when Zhu Youxiao, who walked into the Fengtian Palace, just sat down, Gao Panlong took the lead in attacking, he strode out and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the Imperial History of the Imperial Capital of the Imperial Court of the Imperial Capital Gao Panlong has something to play!" ”

"Gao Aiqing, if you have something, just say it!" Zhu Youxiao looked at Gao Panlong, who couldn't wait to stand up, with a look of impatience in his eyes, this Gao Panlong, as the imperial history of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it stands to reason that he should impeach a person and will not come out in person, he never thought that he would be the first to jump out this time, which shows that he is really anxious.

"Your Majesty, the minister wants to impeach Jiang Ningbo Yang Feng. Yangzhou prefect Gao Yannian reported that Yang Feng had just arrived in Yangzhou and arrested Yangzhou salt merchants, arresting more than 4,000 people in less than three days, and even killing innocents indiscriminately, causing Yangzhou people to complain, and the crime he gave was that these salt merchants had fornication with the Jiannu outside the customs and made dragon robes privately! ”

Speaking of this, Gao Panlong's voice also became choked, "Your Majesty...... Yang Feng indiscriminately kills innocents in Yangzhou to eliminate dissidents, if he is not eliminated as soon as possible, I am afraid that my Ming Dynasty will be in the hands of this fang! ”

"Your Majesty...... Yang Feng is a traitor today, and I implore His Majesty to send Tiqi to arrest him and bring him back to Beijing to correct the law! ”

"Your Majesty, I beg your Majesty to remove this national thief!"

"Your Majesty......"

The civil and military worship of the Manchu Dynasty fell a large area, and the scene was very spectacular.

Looking at the officials who fell to their knees, Zhu Youxiao's face was also very interesting, smiling rather than crying. After a long time, he said: "Gao Panlong! ”

Hearing the emperor call his name, Gao Panlong hurriedly raised his head: "The minister is here!" ”

"How do you know that those salt merchants in Yangzhou don't have private dragon robes, and they don't have fornication with Jiannu outside the Guan? Could it be that you know them well? ”

"This ......"

Gao Panlong was stunned for a moment, this rhythm is not right, seeing so many people forcing the palace together, shouldn't the emperor start to panic, and then hurriedly agree to their request, why did he suddenly ask such a sentence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, which of you will tell me, why are you so sure that those salt merchants did not collude with the Jiannu outside the Guanwai? If any of you dare to vouch for them with your life, then stand up! ”

"This ......"

The officials began to be confused, what was wrong with the emperor, why did he suddenly play this hand? Let them use their lives to vouch for those salt merchants, make no mistake, these salt merchants are not my own father, why should I use the lives of my whole family to vouch for them.

Gao Panlong was not happy, he immediately said loudly: "Your Majesty's words are wrong, the ministers are just truthfully reporting, why do you want the ministers and others to use their lives to vouch for them, could it be that Your Majesty wants to kill all the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty?" ”

"Tell the truth?" Zhu Youxiao narrowed his eyes and sneered: "Gao Panlong, you said that you are truthful, but how can you do it to be sure that those salt merchants must have been wronged, could it be that you are very familiar with those salt merchants?" ”

"The minister is not familiar with those salt merchants!" Gao Panlong is not easy to deal with, since he can become the Imperial History of the Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he naturally has two brushes, I saw him said proudly: "I think the reason why Yang Feng was convicted of those salt merchants was just because he found a dragon robe when he searched He Mansion again, and he knew that this dragon robe was not planted by him privately, and those letters also seemed to be full of loopholes." But as long as you are not a fool, you know that rebellion is the crime of the Jiu clan, those salt merchants are just some money, there are no soldiers and no one in their hands, how can they rebel, do they rely on the hundreds of servants and maids in his family? ”

"Exactly, the tall man has a point!"

"Polar ...... Thinking that the whole family of the He family is only hundreds, and trying to rely on these man-made people is tantamount to a fool's dream, then Old Man He will not do such a thing even if he is stupid! ”

The officials in the court were talking one after another, and they all looked at Zhu Youxiao with angry eyes, in their opinion, Zhu Youxiao's favoritism towards Yang Feng had reached the point of being unprincipled and irrational, how could such a traitor of the country be crowned and entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

Gu Bingqian, who was standing in the first place, looked at Zhu Youxiao who was sitting on the dragon chair and sighed secretly in his heart, now the ministers in the court are all pointing the finger at the emperor, it seems that if His Majesty does not give the ministers an explanation today, I am afraid it will be difficult to step down.

Zhu Youxiao's eyes were slightly closed, his body leaned back slightly, leaning back on the back cushion, and his right hand gently tapped the armrest, not knowing what he was thinking. It took a long time for him to open his eyes and say, "Are you all done?" ”

Gao Panlong held his head high and said: "Your Majesty, after the minister has finished speaking, I hope that Your Majesty can give an explanation to the old minister and the people of the world!" ”

"Good...... Then I will give you an explanation! Zhu Youxiao turned his head to Wei Zhongxian beside him and said, "Go...... Bring that note! ”

"Whoa!"

Wei Zhongxian bowed in response, took out a wooden box from the tray of a little eunuch beside him, and gently placed it in front of the dragon case.

Seeing Zhu Youxiao's actions, Gao Panlong and the courtiers all looked at Zhu Youxiao's movements with wide eyes, they all wanted to know what Zhu Youxiao was doing, could it be that this majesty finally decided to give in to them today?

Zhu Youxiao opened the box, took out a letter from it and held it high, and sneered at Gao Panlong and the ministers: "This letter was just sent by Jiang Ningbo from Yangzhou, and there is nothing messy in it, this is a list here, it is the list of eight salt merchants in Yangzhou after he confiscated it!" Wei Zhongxian, you read it for me! ”

"Slave obeys!"

Wei Zhongxian respectfully took the fold, opened it and coughed lightly and read: "Your Majesty, the minister Jiang Ningbo, the governor Jingying Rongzheng, and the Nanjing general soldier Yang Feng played Your Majesty, after the minister came to Yangzhou, he found that Yangzhou City could be described as a literary and martial artist, and the merchants and others openly wore gold and silver silk and satin to swagger through the market, which can be described as extravagant, and there was no collusion between the salt merchants and the likes of the king and the judges.

My Ming Dynasty's finances have been almost exhausted recently, and His Majesty has worked even harder to raise military salaries for the border soldiers, but these merchants often go out in groups of slaves. The minister even heard that the salt merchants of Yangzhou and the like could spend a thousand taels of silver for a light meal in Qingfeng Building, and the minister almost lost his voice when he heard it.

The minister calculated that ordinary people only earned six to ten taels of silver a year by digging in the fields, and if they wanted to earn a thousand taels of silver, they needed to spend hundreds of years without eating or drinking, but these silver were just a meal for salt merchants. The minister was shocked when he heard this, and then investigated, and found that there were eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou City, headed by the He family, who were doing evil in Yangzhou City, and the local government not only ignored what they did, but even colluded with each other.

He Fan, the former head of the He family, even asked the imperial court to reduce or reduce his taxes several times, and the minister was deeply puzzled when he heard about it. These rich businessmen are unwilling to pay taxes for the imperial court, and the ministers dare to ask Your Majesty, dare to ask the ministers of the court, since those rich businessmen who wear gold and silver and eat delicacies from the mountains and seas are unwilling to pay taxes, these people are complaining about collecting taxes, and what are they saying about competing with the people for profit. The minister dared to ask why the peasants had to pay taxes if even those wealthy merchants were unwilling to pay taxes. ”

"Stop ......"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and motioned for Wei Zhongxian to stop. He looked deeply at the ministers of the court, with deep anger in his eyes: "Ladies and gentlemen, which of you can answer this question. Since wealthy businessmen don't pay taxes, why do farmers have to pay taxes? ”

"Boom ......"

Zhu Youxiao's words were like a bomb thrown on the Fengtian Temple, blowing all the officials to pieces. No one can answer this question. Yes, even those rich people are not willing to pay taxes, so why should those farmers pay taxes?

It's almost an unsolvable question, and no one can answer it.

In the end, it was Gao Panlong who came to his senses first, and he took a step forward and said, "Your Majesty, today we are discussing Yang Feng's wanton slaughter of salt merchants, not discussing the merchants' taxes. ”

"Good...... Do you want to discuss why Yang Feng wanted to arrest those salt merchants? Zhu Youxiao sneered: "Wei Zhongxian, keep reading!" ”

"Whoa!"

Wei Zhongxian continued: "After the minister seized the eight salt merchants in Yangzhou this time, after nearly ten days of intense inventory, a total of 1,056,000 taels of silver was seized from the properties of the eight salt merchants. Woohoo...... The Salt Merchant's Wealth...... Rich enough to rival the country! The minister did not dare to be exclusive in this matter, so he specially made it clear to His Majesty, and asked His Majesty to call the shots! ”

If the topic of taxation just now was to throw another bomb in Fengtian Temple, then this passage would be equivalent to a tornado!

What does 10 million taels of silver mean?

Today's annual financial income of the Ming Dynasty is only more than four hundred and five million taels, but Yang Feng only confiscated more than 10 million taels of eight salt merchants in Yangzhou, which is the financial income of the Ming Dynasty for two years.

When Wei Zhongxian finished reciting this letter, there was silence in the entire Fengtian Hall for a while. Even the lips of the high-definition dragon are trembling slightly, even people like a snake don't know how to "fight for the grievances" of those salt merchants, you say those salt merchants are innocent? But what happened to the 10 million taels of silver that were confiscated?

Some people may say, this is the money that people earn by their ability, what does it matter to you? But don't forget, anything, when it goes beyond a boundary, it's not a good thing. Why was Shen Wansan in the early years of Hongwu cleaned up by Lao Zhu? It's not that too much silver is causing trouble, you are rich enough to rival the country, who will you clean up if you don't clean up?

The same is true of the current situation, the property of the eight salt merchants is already equal to the taxes of the Ming Dynasty for two years, what do you want to do with so much silver? Do you want to replace the old Zhu family in this world in the next step?

Gao Panlong said a few times but didn't know what to say, this is 10 million taels of silver! This amount of money is not to mention ordinary people, even they, the court officials, were frightened, didn't they see that the eyes of Li Qiyuan, the head of the household department, had already emitted two terrifying lights?

Gao Panlong originally wanted to say that maybe Yang Feng was deceiving people, but after thinking about it, he knew that this kind of thing was absolutely true, otherwise if Yang Feng couldn't come up with such a silver at that time, let alone them, I was afraid that Zhu Youxiao would not be able to spare him first.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all tell me that these salt merchants are rich in money, why do they desperately ask the court for tax reduction? What do they want to do with all that money? ”

Zhu Youxiao's voice echoed in the Fengtian Palace, and the hundreds of civil and military officials standing in the Fengtian Hall looked at each other one by one, even the most eloquent people were speechless. In fact, even they were stunned, they all knew that the salt merchants were rich, but no one knew how rich they were, and now they finally knew the answer, but this answer scared everyone.

The sharp eyes kept sweeping in front of the officials, and Zhu Youxiao said to Gao Panlong: "Gao Panlong, do you still want to fight for those salt merchants now?" ”

In just a short moment, Gao Panlong's originally tall body seemed to be a little shorter, he sighed and knelt down and said respectfully: "The minister knows no one and is guilty!" Please punish Your Majesty! ”

"The ministers are guilty!"

As Gao Panlong knelt down, many officials also knelt down in unison to ask Zhu Youxiao for his guilt.

Looking at the officials who were kneeling in a large area, Zhu Youxiao only felt a feeling of exhaustion welling up in his heart, it was these officials. They are up and down on weekdays, jumping up and down to listen to the wind and rain, impeaching this one today and impeaching that one tomorrow, these people do not benefit the country or the family, but he can't do anything to them, because he still has to rely on these people to govern the country, this is the emperor's biggest helplessness!

"That's it...... Wait and do it yourself! Zhu Youxiao slowly stood up, walked down from the dragon chair with a long sigh, and walked towards the back.

After he left, a high-pitched voice from a eunuch rang out: "Retreat to ......"

This early dynasty retreated, but its impact did not end, but spread like a whirlwind in all directions, countless officials quickly heard the wind and ran towards the household, they had only one purpose, that is, to prepare to reach out to the household to ask for money......