Chapter 46 The first profiteer to be investigated in Xichang: Shanxi Merchants!
"You mean the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and even your Ministry of Households have all asked His Majesty for internal funds?"
Shangshu Wang Yingjiao came to Zhang Gui in casual clothes and told Zhang Gui about it. After hearing this, Zhang Gui felt something was wrong and asked Wang Yingjiao to confirm.
"How could I hide this from my uncle! It's just that the amount of internal money that His Majesty needs to allocate this time is quite large, more than 12 million taels of silver."
Wang Yingjiao replied.
"It's a matter of pinching and forgetting. I know that the silver stolen by Wei Zhongxian will probably be around 10 million taels! It's clear that I don't want His Majesty to have money to train soldiers and horses."
Zhang Gui sneered, and then said to Wang Yingjiao in a slightly reproachful tone: "Da Si Nong, they did this, why do you follow suit?"
"Shandong patrol office came to report that the earthquake in Yuncheng and Juye needed one million taels of silver for disaster relief; Shaanxi patrol press also came to report that the earthquake in Guyuan Prefecture also needed one million taels of silver relief. The disaster was like a fire, so I had to report it Ah, Uncle Guo!"
"What's more, I was inspired by my uncle Guo, and thought that the people in Beizhi were heavily apportioned, so I asked for an order last month to exempt the people from Beizhi, and the Ministry of Households gave money to the people in Beizhi to buy grain and cultivate wasteland. Now the household The Ministry spent the last bit of silver."
"Now, suddenly there is a need for disaster relief, and then the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry sent letters asking how much money we still have in our household department, saying that they want to solve the problems of salaries owed by officials, salaries owed by frontier soldiers, and wages owed for the construction of the three halls. The question book has been written, let our household department think of a countermeasure, I thought about it, how can I deal with this? I am afraid that I will still have to ask His Majesty for money! Now only His Majesty has money."
"After all, it is well known that Eunuch Wei is now wantonly copying the homes of Liu Yixiu and other collaborators and traitors, and this means that even if the internal money left by the temple is due to the construction of the imperial mausoleum and the new developments in Southwest and Shandong I spent a lot of money in the war, and now His Majesty should still have a lot of internal money."
Wang Yingjiao replied.
Zhang Gui nodded after hearing this, and asked, "Then tell me, what do you want me to do?"
Wang Yingjiao immediately stood up and bowed to Zhang Gui: "Naturally, I ask the uncle of the country to continue speaking for the people of the world."
"I understand what you mean."
Zhang Gui smiled, and then reminded: "But His Majesty's silver is not so easy to get, I hope Da Sinong will not lose his old face by then."
"See off!"
Immediately, Zhang Gui put down the teacup.
"Let me say goodbye."
Not long after Wang Yingjiao left, Zhang Gui suddenly asked, "Has Xiong Tingbi come yet?"
Han Gui immediately brought Xiong Tingbi to appear in front of Zhang Gui, and promised, "Enfu, Xiong Butang is here."
Xiong Tingbi was reinstated by Tianqi after he was released, and co-organized the military affairs school with the title of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War.
Zhang Gui supervised the teaching affairs of the Wubei Academy, so he was Xiong Tingbi's boss in the establishment of the Wubei Academy.
Zhang Gui also took the initiative to let Han Gui pass on Xiong Tingbi.
As soon as Xiong Tingbi came, he gave a deep bow to Zhang Gui, choked up and said: "The court officials and scholar-officials of the Manchu Dynasty, but they never thought that only Uncle Guo would speak up for me, so I ask Uncle Guo to be worshiped by me, as a thank you for saving my life!"
Immediately, Xiong Tingbi bowed his knees and fell to the ground, saluting.
Zhang Gui heard what he said, so he had no choice but to accept his gift, and then he helped him up himself: "This governor is also leaving talents for the country, why should you do this?"
As he said that, Zhang Gui asked Xiong Tingbi to sit at his head, and said: "Now the military training school is still in preparation, and the instructor and students have not yet been decided, so you can't do the work of the military training school at the moment. Coincidentally, this governor is The imperial court selected another 3,000 young men to serve as soldiers of the Xishan Battalion set up by His Majesty, and the Governor has heard for a long time that the public has talents for military training, so he asked the Duke to stay in Xishan and train for His Majesty with the official letter of the Governor. These three thousand young men commanded them to guard the West Mountain at the same time."
Xiong Tingbi stood up and said yes.
Zhang Gui asked Xiong Tingbi to take the official letter stamped with the seal of his admiral Jingying Guanfang.
In order for the future Xichang to really make a fortune by combating commercial crimes, Zhang Gui has already used Sun Yingyuan, a military officer who has experience in the frontier army to not accept nights, and has used a lot of money to recruit many outstanding nights in the frontier army. If they don't accept it, they will enter Xichang as an official school, and let these people specialize in investigating all kinds of smuggling, hoarding and other profiteering activities for Xichang.
And the first one he targeted was Shanxi Merchants, a large smuggling and traitorous group!
For Zhang Gui, whether it is the expansion of Xishan’s industrial scale, the expansion of Xichang’s troops, and the training of soldiers for the emperor. They all needed money, and it wasn't enough to just count on Wei Zhongxian to steal his home, but after Wang Yingjiao came to him just now, he realized that it was very necessary to use the West Factory to make a quick fortune.
So, Zhang Gui couldn't wait to ask Sun Yingyuan now. He had arranged for Sun Yingyuan to send Yebushou, who was recruited by Xichang, to investigate the behavior of various profiteers.
At this time, after Zhang Gui asked this question, Sun Yingyuan immediately cupped his hands and replied: "I report to the commander-in-chief, they have sent news that they have verified that on the third day of next month, several profiteers in Zhangjiakoubao will send the last batch of this year. The supplies are going to Shenyang, and they have figured out the route."
Zhang Gui nodded after hearing this: "Very good! This is the first major smuggling case handled by our West Factory, there must be no mistakes!"
"The humble job understands!"
Sun Yingyuan replied.
Here, after Sun Yingyuan answered, Zhang Gui said: "Then execute according to the original plan and set off in three days!"
"yes!"
Three days later, Zhang Gui personally led his 800 family members and Sun Yingyuan's 500 Xichang official school, sneaked out from Dabaiyang Fort, and set up camp by the Qingshui River.
Sun Yingcheng, the garrison of Dabaiyang Fort, is Sun Yingyuan's brother, and he has joined Zhang Gui through Sun Yingyuan's relationship. At this time, he also brought two hundred Ding Jingqi, and followed Zhang Gui to the Qingshui River.
Sun Yingcheng reported to Zhang Gui: "Uncle Guo, I just got the news that our commander-in-chief is expected to arrive at our fort in five days."
Zhang Gui nodded: "It seems that this group of profiteers who are trying to transport grain to Shenyang must be stopped within five days and successfully enter the customs."
As he said that, Zhang Gui asked Sun Yingyuan, a man named Jiao Lian, who was brought by Sun Yingyuan, said: "Can the caravan from Zhangjiakou arrive here within five days?"
Jiao Lian replied: "Returning to the commander-in-chief, there should be no mistakes. Our people have served as guards in the caravan and have inquired clearly. Once the caravan appears, he will come on horseback and use archery. In the name of the road, let us know the news by planting three arrows in one place at the same time."
As soon as Jiao Lian finished speaking, he immediately stood up, pointed excitedly at the three arrows stuck in a distant stone, and said, "Uncle Guo, they are coming soon!"
Zhang Gui couldn't help but his heart beat faster after hearing this: "Order to go on, get ready to fight!"
"yes!"
Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan and Sun Yingcheng agreed.
Zhou Neng, a member of Zhang Gui's servant team, couldn't help but hugged the turtledove gun even tighter, and began to take out the paper shell with shaking hands.
Paper shell ammunition is the loading method promoted by the Jia Ding team after firearms training. Before combat, every soldier must prepare paper shell ammunition, which is more convenient for shooting.
Da da!
Not long after, the sound of horseshoes came.
Then, there was a large caravan with thousands of mule carts, pulling a large amount of supplies.
"Strike!"
Zhang Gui immediately issued an order.
Sun Yingcheng and Sun Yingyuan each led two hundred cavalry to outflank the caravan, blocking the caravan's front and back.
At the same time, the guard teams on both sides also formed a phalanx of cloth armored infantry coordinated with firearms, sword shields, and spears, and rushed towards the caravan.
(end of this chapter)