"His Majesty told me to keep it a secret!" Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize answered seriously.
this......
Xue Lian, Marquis of Yangwu, sat on the chair, looking somewhat dumbfounded: "It seems that I overestimated myself."
I thought I could get some information from Zhang Shize through personal connection, but now it seems I was overthinking.
The news of rent reduction was spread by Zhang Shize himself.
He had been in the palace before.
In other words, it is basically confirmed that Zhang Shize's actions were instructed by the emperor.
Why did Chongzhen do this?
What on earth is he going to do?
A series of question marks emerged in Xue Lian's mind!
Zhang Shize smiled bitterly: "Brother Xue, please don't embarrass me. You are a smart man, you will definitely be able to guess the clues."
Xue Lian was unwilling to give up and continued to ask indirectly.
Zhang Shize's answer was flawless.
He neither answered the questions nor made his attitude clear, but just used all kinds of high-sounding words to get by.
A quarter of an hour later, Xue Lian gave up his fantasy and left the Duke of Ying's Mansion in a depressed mood.
As soon as I walked out of the gate, a horse galloped towards me from the corner of the street.
Xue Lian looked around and found that the person coming was a servant from his house.
The servant came to Xue Lian, dismounted, and knelt on one knee: "My Lord, something happened in Tongzhou."
"Something happened in Tongzhou?" Xue Lian frowned, "Come closer and talk."
"Yes." The servant came to Xue Lian and said in a low voice, "News has been sent from Tongzhou. The imperial envoy has found out that Tongzhou has occupied the people's land. I hope that the Marquis will be informed of this."
Xue Lian was stunned for a moment, and then an idea came to his mind.
The imperial court sent a team of imperial envoys to Tongzhou in the name of disaster relief. They were led by Zhang Chenji, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and accompanied by Wang Zhixin, the governor of the Eastern Depot.
It seems that the disaster relief is fake, but the land investigation is real.
etc...
Thinking of the fact that Duke Zhang Shize of England reduced the rent of tenants, Xue Lian realized the seriousness of the problem.
All signs indicate that these nobles are going to be in trouble!
"I understand." Xue Lian stood there and thought for a while, then asked, "Who in the government manages the farmland in Tongzhou?"
"My Lord, it's Jiang Anguo and his son."
Xue Lian said nothing, but made a gesture of wiping his neck to the servant.
The servant was a little embarrassed: "Jiang Anguo is the cousin of the Marquis's cousin, I am afraid that if I do this..."
"What are you afraid of?" Xue Lian glared at him fiercely. "Doesn't she understand the principle of sacrificing pawns to save the king? After you finish this, go to the mansion to collect 500 taels of silver and find a place to hide it. Remember not to shed blood when you do it!"
"Yes!" The servant was about to turn around and accept the order, but suddenly remembered something: "My Lord, Jiang Anguo is in the mansion, and I can take action at any time. Jiang Anguo's son Jiang You is in Tongzhou at this time and has been arrested. I am afraid I can't do anything."
"Jiang You?" Xue Lian memorized the name in his mind, "You don't need to worry about this person anymore."
"Yes, sir." The servant got up, mounted his horse, and disappeared around the corner at full speed.
On the way back home, Xue Lian was riding on his horse with a confused mind.
He was wondering, was this the personal behavior of Zhang Chenji and Wang Zhixin, or was it Chongzhen's intention?
If it was Zhang Chenji and Wang Zhixin's personal behavior, he could easily settle the matter with his own means.
If this was Chongzhen's intention, then this matter would be rather troublesome.
Because he didn't know whether Chongzhen wanted his money or his life!
If he wanted money, he could just cry poor and donate some silver. If he wanted his life, he could only fight to the death...
what to do?
This was the first time that Xue Lian had been under such great pressure since he inherited the title in the 30th year of Wanli.
Before I knew it, I had arrived outside Yangwuhou's mansion.
This area is full of noble residences. Although some of them moved to Nanjing before the bandits besieged the city, many of them still stayed in the capital.
"Come here, prepare 100,000 taels of silver for me to deposit in Wanyong Bank. I need 1,000 10-tael bills, 200 50-tael bills, 30 1,000-tael bills, and 10 5,000-tael bills."
Before the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, money shops were illegal.
In the fifth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, Pang Shangpeng, the governor of Fujian, requested to set up a money shop, which opened the road to the legalization of money shops.
Since then, money shops have become a legal business, not only exchanging currencies (mainly silver for copper coins), but also granting loans and issuing bank notes similar to paper money.
While waiting for the banknotes to be drawn, Xue Lian was not idle either. He visited a number of nobles, including Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen, Marquis Yongkang Xu Xideng, Marquis Wuan Zheng Zhijun, Marquis Dingxi Jiang Bingzhong, Marquis Linhuai Li Hongji, and Earl Anxiang Zhang Guangcan.
When the banknotes were delivered, he had already visited all the nobles he wanted to visit.
He was still worried before leaving, so he explained some things to his family before leaving Beijing for Tongzhou.
......
Boom boom boom.
In the inn, someone knocked on Wang Zhixin's door from outside.
"Come in." Wang Zhixin put down the fan vigilantly and picked up the sword.
With a creak, the door opened.
A factory guard came in and said, "Your Excellency, Yangwu Hou Xue Lian has sent you a letter."
Then, the factory guard handed the envelope to Wang Zhixin.
After the factory guards left, Wang Zhixin opened the envelope.
A thick stack of bank notes and a piece of letter paper with a few numbers on it.
Wang Zhixin counted and found that the total amount of banknotes was as high as 50,000 taels.
"Xue Lian's move is really generous!"
There were five words written on the letter paper: Nancheng Bafangke Teahouse.
Wang Zhixin thought about it, changed his clothes and went out quietly.
In the private room of the teahouse, their eyes met.
Xue Lian stood up and poured tea for Wang Zhixin himself: "Admiral Wang, how are you?"
Wang Zhixin said nothing, but handed the envelope containing the banknote back.
"What does this mean?" Xue Lian was very surprised.
You know, the East Factory commander Wang Zhixin is famous for his love of money. Although 50,000 taels of silver is not a lot, it is not a small amount!
Wang Zhixin smiled faintly: "It's not that I don't want to help Yang Wuhou, but there are too many people involved."
Xue Lian smiled knowingly: "Don't worry, Admiral Wang, everyone who knows about this will have a share. Although everyone has a share, Admiral Wang has the most."
As he spoke, he took out a thick package and opened it to reveal stacks of banknotes.
Wang Zhixin thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, there are still more than a thousand people whose land has been occupied."
"It's easy. As long as we kill the leader, the others won't dare to fart."
Wang Zhixin shook his head: "Not right! Tongzhou is only fifty miles away from the capital. If things get out of hand, you and I will be in trouble!"
Xue Lian smiled awkwardly: "Hey, what's the big deal? In this small piece of land in the capital, isn't it you, Admiral Wang, who has the final say?"
Wang Zhixin's face suddenly turned cold: "How dare you! Your Majesty has the final say in the capital and even the whole world. What did you mean by what you just said?"
"I don't mean anything else. I just want Admiral Wang to help me."
Seeing that Wang Zhixin still refused to accept the money, Xue Lian continued, "I heard that Admiral Wang also occupied a lot of people's land in the suburbs of the capital, causing public resentment."
Wang Zhixin stood up and said, "What? Do you want to threaten me?"
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