On October 15, the storm set off by Han Yiliang in Yangzhou finally reached the capital. In the two Huaihang salt areas, the salt prices in Huguang and Henan also began to rise rapidly, and the price of salt immediately affected the prices of other goods on the market.

The officials in charge of these places were immediately anxious and reported to the imperial court the matter of the boiling of public resentment caused by the rise in prices in the areas under their rule.

In these recitals, some officials simply handed over the issue and waited for the decision of the imperial court; Most officials believed that Han Yiliang, the salt inspector, acted recklessly and attacked too much, causing the two Huai salt merchants to fight back, so Han Yiliang should be punished and pacified by the two Huai salt merchants. In addition, Beijing has arranged for manpower to investigate the case of the two Huai salt transporters, so as to resume the normal business of the two Huai salt transportation as soon as possible.

Of course, a very small number of officials believe that the salt merchants interrupted the salt transportation and carried out a boycott of the market, obviously trying to hijack local public grievances in order to threaten the imperial court to interrupt the handling of the Lianghuai Salt Administration. It can be seen that there are indeed great problems in the Lianghuai Salt Administration, and the imperial court should send people to clean up the Lianghuai Salt Administration.

However, Han Yiliang did things well, which directly triggered the strike of the Lianghuai salt merchants, which caused the people in the Lianghuai salt area to suffer an unjustified disaster, although this person did not do anything wrong, but did something bad.

In order to avoid the incident from continuing to ferment, it caused a southeast shock. These officials suggested that the investigation of the Lianghuai salt case should be put on hold for the time being, and that normal local prices should be restored first, and then that people should be sent to deal with the relevant people involved in the case after the price crisis caused by the salt merchants' strike is resolved.

Most of the officials' recitals were Mingfa, so as soon as they arrived in the capital, they spread one after another. The officials and Qingliu who had been idle in the capital for more than a year suddenly discovered that the appearance of the Lianghuai salt case finally gave them a place to play.

Since the founding of Taizu, the imperial history of the Imperial Court and the six departments of the Imperial Court have been used by the emperor to contain the ministers.

After the Jiajing Dynasty, the Yanguan became the vanguard of the party struggle between the DPRK and China, and every round of power change in the court was the first to make trouble in the matter of those humble and serious imperial historians. Since the late Wanli period, it is no longer a certain powerful minister who has influenced the government, but these gossip officials who have been talking about benevolence, righteousness and morality all day long.

Even the head of the cabinet like Huang Liji, when the throne was changed, he was extremely trembling, for fear that a certain official who wanted to invite a name would jump out and settle the old accounts of the Donglin Party with himself in front of the new emperor.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he said that Huang Liji implemented the cabinet responsibility system, adjusted the responsibilities of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Six Sections, abolished the unlimited impeachment power of the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the Cabinet and the Six Shangshu, and withdrew the right to refute the matter.

These reform measures to suppress the officials of science and technology were also a driving force for Huang Liji to promote the New Deal, after all, no one in power would put up with it and let himself become a stepping stone for some low-level bureaucrats to gain fame.

In the process of implementing the new policy, the science and technology officials who were regarded as victims were naturally unwilling to accept this reality. As a science and technology official in the capital, the official rank is not high, and the only thing that can make people look forward to it is that serving as a science and technology official can brush up on the prestige of those important ministers in the court, so as to ascend to the sky in one step.

If they lose the way to ascend to the sky, then what is the point of them serving as science and technology officials? To serve as the head of a county at the local level, at least he is also a Baili Hou, and the science and Taoist officials in the capital, if they are not released, are no different from ordinary people.

After all, Beijing is the most powerful place in the world, and if you bump into someone on the road, you may be a slave of a certain Hou Mansion. There is a saying in the capital that the seven rank officials in front of the prime minister's door show that the nobility of the officials does not lie in their rank, but in the powers they have been removed by the new policy.

However, without the support of the emperor or the ruling ministers, their power could not be used. For example, when Huang Liji reformed the power and responsibilities of the science and technology officials, the science and technology officials also tried to resist, but without the support of the emperor, their resistance was just driven out of the capital.

The outbreak of the Lianghuai salt case undoubtedly gave these officials an opportunity to vent their resentment. After the news of the salt case reached the capital, the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Department and the Jiangnan gentry and Nanjing nobles behind the Lianghuai salt merchants immediately colluded with these officials who were frustrated because of the new policy, and launched a large-scale impeachment action against Han Yiliang and Huang Liji and other cabinet members.

From October 15 to October 18, the backlog of impeachment notes in front of Chongzhen has reached more than 100.

Wang Chengen, who was standing in the corner of the upper study, looked up at the full number of recitals on the emperor's desk, and then looked at the emperor who was lying on the chair for an afternoon nap, so he lowered his head expressionlessly.

Ever since sending off the Spaniards' fleet, the Emperor seems to have become much lazier. In addition to being concerned about the reorganization of the armies of the Gyeonggi Governorate, he also demanded that the information on Shenyang be conveyed as soon as possible.

Chongzhen's current performance, Wang Chengen thought it was the emperor's performance. In the past year or so, it is an abnormal phenomenon to deal with government affairs without sleep or food.

After half an hour, Zhu Youzhen stretched his waist and slowly woke up. After a nap, he felt refreshed and even his mind clearer.

"What time is it?" Zhu Youzhen took the water sent by Lu Qi and rinsed his mouth, then took a towel and wiped his face, and couldn't help asking.

"Back to Your Majesty, it's still four minutes before 2 p.m." Wang Chengen glanced at the table clock in the corner, and immediately replied quickly.

After throwing the towel to Lu Qi, Zhu Youzhen sat back in his seat and said, "Hasn't there been any information from Shenyang yet?" ”

Lu Qi nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, there is still no news from Shenyang so far. However, according to the plan, tomorrow will be the day when the Yingkou ship will return. The minister thought that there would be news tomorrow at the latest. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said no more. He took a notebook from the table, looked at it a few times, and threw it back.

"These are all today? Are they all impeached Huang Liji and Han Yiliang? Zhu Youzhen said casually to these pieces on the table.

Wang Chengen nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, since Your Majesty left a note on the impeachment of Shoufu and did not return it to the cabinet, the number of recitals on the impeachment of Lord Shoufu has begun to increase.

Your Majesty, has you made a decision, the cabinet elders and Feng Quan and other ministers in addition to the first assistant want to know what Your Majesty's plans are for the Lianghuai salt case. If this case drags on any longer, I am afraid that there will be even more troubles in the local area. ”

Zhu Youzhen stretched out his hand and knocked on the table, then smiled and said: "Okay, the people who should jump out have already jumped out, and it's time to give them a result." You go and inform the cabinet that the day after tomorrow will convene an expanded state meeting to discuss the introduction of the two Huai salt bills and the rise in local prices. ”

After Huang Liji got Wang Chengen's briefing, he just nodded slightly, and he didn't show much excitement. Huang Liji's performance surprised Wang Chengen, and he felt that this first assistant was ready to step down.

At 9 o'clock in the morning on October 20, outside the gate of the Wenhua Palace, hundreds of officials were divided into two shifts, east and west, and stood in the square in front of the palace.

This is about the largest number of officials gathered outside the court meeting this year. The cabinet ministers stood under the steps on the east side of the throne, and Huang Liji and Guo Yunhou glanced at each other, and then turned their eyes away.

Although the crowd has been raging these days, Huang Liji has nothing to worry about. This is just a counterattack by a few disadvantaged science and road officials, and if it weren't for the support of those Jiangnan gentry behind them, they wouldn't even be able to make a ripple.

The case of Lianghuai salt was not discovered after Han Yiliang arrived in Yangzhou, but was determined in the capital. The introduction of the Lianghuai salt case is just an introduction, so that the imperial court can intervene in the Lianghuai salt politics and comprehensively reform the Lianghuai salt industry.

The salt tax of Lianghuai occupies half of the salt tax in the world, and the salt tax in the world accounts for half of Taicang's income. Therefore, the Lianghuai salt tax has always been the most important source of wealth for the imperial court, but after nearly a hundred years of encroachment, the Lianghuai salt industry has long been included in the control of the Jiangnan gentry, and the noble clan has of course also shared a piece of the pie.

It is precisely because the Lianghuai salt industry involves too many interests of all parties that even Zhang Juzheng failed to completely return the interests of the Lianghuai salt industry to the imperial court. When Zhang Juzheng lost power and the Wanli New Deal was abolished, the Jiangnan gentry developed even more deeply in the salt industry in Lianghuai.

And the northern gentry could only share some scraps in the Lianghuai salt industry, so when Chongzhen asked the cabinet ministers to withdraw from the Lianghuai salt industry, Huang Liji and others accepted it without much embarrassment.

Originally, Huang Liji did not approve of the emperor's plan to act on the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division and the Lianghuai Salt Merchants at the same time, but he soon realized that this was no longer something he could stop.

After swallowing the two salt pans of Changlu and Hedong, the share capital of the Sihai Trading Company continued to expand, and the slightly famous northern gentry would buy several shares of the Sihai Trading Company.

For example, Huang Liji's relatives and friends more or less hold shares of this company. The profits of the two salt works provided nearly a quarter of the company's profits for the Four Seas Trading Company.

Therefore, when the emperor said that after rectifying the Lianghuai Salt Administration, he would set up the Lianghuai Salt Industry Company in imitation of the two salt farms in Changlu and Hedong, and let the Sihai Trading Company take a quarter of the shares, this plan was supported by the main shareholders of the Sihai Trading Company.

And this also represented the interests of most of the gentry in the north, and Huang Liji obviously had no interest in opposing his own township party and relatives.

In addition, the positive supportive attitude of Guo Yunhou, the secretary of the household department, also led to Huang Liji having to keep up with Guo Yunhou's statement.

In the past, if there was any problem with the salt tax on the two Huai, the treasury would be unable to make ends meet, and it would be even more of a headache for the officials of the household department.

But according to this plan, the biggest benefits are all given by the household department, compared to the receipt of tens of millions of silver, Guo Yunhou feels that even if there is something wrong with the annual salt tax of less than one million, he can accept it.