After receiving the imperial decree for donating an official position, Song Quan stood up and asked Wang Zhong: "May I ask what is your name?"
"Wang Zhong, a captain of the Northern Pacification Division."
"It turns out to be Captain Wang," Song Quan smiled and took out a banknote from the Daming Bank and handed it to Wang Zhong. "You have come all the way here to convey the emperor's order. It is really hard work. This is a little gift from me. Let's find a place in Yangzhou City to drink tea and listen to some music."
Wang Zhong was not polite and took the banknote and stuffed it into his sleeve at lightning speed.
Most of the Jinyiwei would accept this kind of money.
After all...who would complain about having too much money?
After making sure that the banknotes would not fall, Wang Zhong stepped forward and approached Song Quan and whispered, "Sir, we have another errand."
"Oh? What errand? Do you need Song's help?"
"I don't need your help, but I need your cooperation." Wang Zhong said mysteriously, "The Pacification Office received news that someone might harm you. For this reason, Eunuch Gao asked us to protect your safety before leaving Beijing."
Bad for me?
Song Quan began to feel suspicious.
He knew that his salt inspections harmed the interests of some people, but he had no choice.
If the deficit of the imperial court could not be made up, the Ming Emperor Chongzhen would most likely do extreme things to the gentry in Jiangnan.
As for how extreme it is, it depends on how much mercy Chongzhen has left.
He never doubted Chongzhen's methods.
Let’s not talk about things that happened far away, let’s just take the mining cases in various places as an example.
On the surface, it is mining.
To put it more deeply, it is to investigate the grievances in various places.
However, these are all illusions!
The real purpose of mining is to target the wealthy and unscrupulous gentry and landlords in various places.
Punish them for their crimes, chop off their heads, and confiscate their houses.
Song Quan's purpose of raising money from the salt inspection was to protect the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Not only did they not appreciate it, they also planned to harm him!
This made Song Quan very angry.
"Captain Wang, can you tell me who is planning to harm me?" Song Quan asked.
"This news was heard accidentally by an informant from the Imperial Guards, and its truthfulness remains to be verified. But sir, you can just go about your work as usual, and we will pretend to be servants and stay by your side to protect your safety," said Wang Zhong.
"This... is too much of a compliment to me, Song?" Song Quan said politely, but he felt very unhappy in his heart.
From now on, he will be accompanied by the Royal Guards every time he travels. Is it to protect his safety or to monitor his every word and action?
Many things that cannot be made public cannot be seen by the Jinyiwei.
After Wang Zhong finished speaking, he felt something was wrong, so he changed the topic and asked, "You only need to tell me what to do, and we will do it."
Song Quan thought for a moment and said, "How about this? You just need to take care of my safety every time I go out. I won't bother you at other times, such as at the post station or the government office. After all, there are guards in these places, so there won't be any accidents."
"Okay! Sir, please go and do your work. We will have some tea in the teahouse across the street." Wang Zhong said.
"That's fine," Song Quan said with satisfaction, "I'll have someone contact you guys in advance when I leave."
After simply tidying up his official uniform, Song Quan stepped into the office of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office.
Zhang Xizhou, the transport officer, immediately came forward and bowed, "Zhang Xizhou, the transport officer of Lianghuai Transport Department, greets the censor!"
"Greetings, Lord Song!" The others followed suit and saluted.
They had already seen Song Quan outside the yamen.
Because he was afraid of the Jinyiwei around him, he hid in the yamen and dared not come out.
Seeing that the Jinyiwei had left, they came out to greet them.
"You are too polite," Song Quan clasped his hands together, "Let's go, let's talk in the government office."
After entering the side hall of the government office and taking their seats, Song Quan said, "Everyone, the imperial court has sent an order."
"Oh?" Zhang Xizhou, the transport envoy, immediately asked, "What is the content of the decree? Lord Song, can you reveal a few words?"
"Of course," Song Quan nodded, "The contents of the decree not only concern you and me, but also all the salt merchants in Lianghuai."
Hearing what he said, the officials of Lianghuai Transport Bureau fell silent and looked at him with concern.
Each of them has a number of salt merchants under them.
They made money by paving the way for salt merchants, and the salt merchants gave them dividends after making money.
Over time, an intricate chain of interests has been formed.
When interest chains intersect, a network of interests is formed.
There cannot be any holes in this net.
Otherwise, the hole will become bigger and bigger under the impact of the "clear stream" until it is torn into pieces.
"First of all," Song Quan paused and asked everyone, "The imperial edict states the court's deficit. You all should know how big the court's deficit is this year, right?"
The officials present all nodded and said, "Yes, it is said to be as high as 4.5 million taels of silver."
"Wow! Isn't this too much?"
"We're just getting started. There are less than two months left until the end of the year. No one can guarantee what will happen in these two months, so there could be more."
"Stop talking! The greater the deficit of the imperial court, the greater the pressure on Lord Song to inspect the salt!"
"Even if the pressure is great, we can't just ask for money from the salt merchants. The salt merchants do have money, but their money is earned legally. If the court demands too much, I'm afraid the salt merchants all over the world will unite to resist."
Seeing that everyone was getting more and more excited, Zhang Xizhou, the transport officer of the Lianghuai Transport Bureau, stood up and stretched out his hands to make a downward gesture: "Everyone, stop talking and listen to me first!"
After everyone quieted down, he looked at Song Quan and asked, "Master Song, have you found a solution to the deficit of the court?"
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