Chapter 2417 Gui Zi Juan takes action and prunes
"From the current point of view, the Tang family only married their daughter to Dong Zuchang, Dong Qichang's son. There is no other deep relationship. Of course, as in-laws, they have close contacts, and even some economic contacts are normal." Feng Ziying Explained: "As for the Lu family, they don't have much contact with the Tang family. They are just locals."
Yang Lian and Sun Juxiang both breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
The relationship between the Lu and Dong families was too close. Songjiang scholars such as Zhang Nai and Xia Jiayu were also involved, as well as Yuan Keli and Gao Panlong who were closely related to the Songjiang scholars. This would complicate matters.
Now it seems that only Dong Zuchang, the second son of the Dong family, married a daughter of the Tang family.
Moreover, except for Dong Qichang, there are no outstanding people in the Dong family. At least Yang Lian has never heard of any outstanding people in the Dong family. That means that the second son of the Dong family is probably just a mediocre person, so it doesn't matter. .
"That's good. If the Tang family is the biggest power in Songjiang, it must be eradicated. Brother Shuxiang, do you think you should go to Huizhou or Songjiang?" Yang Lian laughed.
"You two, Songjiang should not be underestimated. In addition to owning a large fleet and shipyard, the Tang family also has a bad reputation. They should have deep connections with Japanese pirates at sea, and the Japanese pirates' power has declined greatly over the years, so I don’t hear the sound much anymore, but twenty years ago, before the Imjin Japanese Rebellion, the Tang family was in collusion with the Japanese pirates. If we wanted to attack the Tang family, I’m afraid we would need the cooperation of the army. We would just rely on Long Jinwei. I’m afraid we still can’t handle it with the officials in Songjiang Mansion.”
"Huh?" Feng Ziying's warning surprised both Sun Juxiang and Yang Lian, "The Tang family has colluded with the Japanese pirates? Then why hasn't it been discovered?"
It’s hard to describe the number of Japanese pirates that wreaked havoc along the coast a few decades ago. Almost everyone from Shandong to Guangdong was harmed by Japanese pirates for decades, and it only gradually stopped around the time of the Japanese Rebellion in Imjin. However, there are still occasional incidents like this. News of Japanese pirates raiding the coast spread.
Investigating and punishing Japanese pirates has always been a task that Long Jinwei, the Ministry of Punishment, and local officials have never relaxed. However, the rapid decline of Japanese pirate power has made this task gradually fade out.
Now Feng Ziying suddenly mentioned that the Tang family had colluded with the Japanese pirates. No wonder everyone was shocked.
"We have to ask the Nanjing Criminal Department and the Long Jinwei who were there for more than ten or twenty years." Feng Ziying smiled and looked at Zhao Wenzhao, "Wen Zhao, who was the Long Jinwei here in Nanzhili for more than twenty years? Are you in charge?"
Zhao Wenzhao shook his head in embarrassment: "Mr. Feng, how can we find out this kind of thing clearly? It was still in the Yuanxi period, Commander Gu, but Commander Gu would definitely not be able to control it. To be honest, at that time, various places along the coast were colluding with Japanese pirates. There were many merchants, and Songjiang was probably not the most serious one. Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Zhangzhou were all rampant, as were Jiaxing and Suzhou. At that time, Long Jinwei also investigated and punished many people, and all of them were killed or exiled by the whole family, but the same Can’t stop,…”
"Humph, this is the evil consequence of the tribute system. Where the benefits lie, who can stop it? Later, the imperial court's maritime ban policy actually became a mere formality, so the Japanese pirates gradually stopped. However, there are still some Japanese pirates who gradually evolved. Becoming a pirate, specializing in robbing merchant ships at sea..." Feng Ziying sighed, "The Tang family may have given up on it over the years. Shipbuilding and maritime trade alone are enough for them to make a lot of money, but this It doesn’t mean that their original sin can be annihilated.”
"Of course!" Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang both hate evil and are absolutely intolerable to collusion with Japanese pirates. It is said that the Tang family may have colluded with Japanese pirates to make a fortune. How can they accept it? "This kind of thing must be investigated clearly. If it is really related to the Japanese pirates, then the Tang family must confiscate and exterminate the entire family!"
"Brother Wenru and Brother Shuxiang, I suggest that you and the Tang Family's Procuratorate will not intervene for the time being, and let Wen Zhao and the others take the lead. To deal with these powerful men, they have more means and more skillful techniques. Of course, they also have less manpower. Limited, I will let the navy battalion of Denglai Navy cooperate. Mr. Songjiang Prefecture, I am really worried. On the one hand, my ability is worrying, and on the other hand, it is out of confidentiality. Brother Shuxiang, I remember that you were once in Songjiang Prefecture has served as a co-president and can recommend one or two reliable people to help guide the way and prove identity."
Feng Ziying is not optimistic about people like the Metropolitan Procuratorate investigating these powerful people. The advantage of the Metropolitan Procuratorate lies in its deterrent effect on local officials. If they want to deal with these powerful people who do not have much official contacts, they will have to use Long Jinwei and the Ministry of Punishment. There is a better way.
"Of course, when Long Jinwei finds out that these powerful people are colluding with local officials, it will be more appropriate for the Metropolitan Procuratorate to intervene. And I can guarantee that these powerful people must basically have something to do with local officials. It's just that It just depends on the depth and the level of the officials involved.”
Yang Lian and Sun Dingxiang both knew this. How could powerful people expand and become powerful without the indulgence and support of local officials?
Especially since there are very few scholars in this kind of family who are able to flourish and thrive, there is something even more fishy about it.
Sun Dingxiang nodded first, "I think it's okay. When I was a co-president in Songjiang, I also felt that the Tang family was really at home in Songjiang. Going in and out of the Jinshan Guards was like no one's land, and the Tang family was in Shanghai and Huating County. We also had close contacts, but my time as a colleague in Songjiang was too short, and I left without understanding many things clearly."
Sun Dingxiang had only served as a co-president in Songjiang for two years, and the Tang family also knew that Sun Dingxiang, a northerner, was not easy to deal with, so they deliberately kept a distance, so they basically had no contact with Sun Dingxiang.
"Leave the Tang family to Wen Zhao and the others. The Zhen family is the big fish that bears the brunt. Brother Wenru, you can take the lead on Zhen Yingjia and Zhen Yingyu. As for Zhen Yinghui, brother Shuxiang, you just have to work hard. How about it?" Feng Ziying His eyes turned to Sun Chengzong: "Brother Zhisheng, what do you think?"
"I think it's okay, but the Ding family..." Sun Chengzong hesitated, "There are also the Zhou, Hu, and Tao families..."
Feng Ziying didn't say what problems Ding Deju had, but Sun Dingxiang didn't ask either. Some questions were raised, which was inappropriate. Even Yang Lian was not necessarily willing to know everything. Not knowing was sometimes a good thing, so there was no need to worry.
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Zhen Yinghui has always been a little uneasy.
Zhen Yinghui has always criticized his two brothers for their greed, short-sightedness, narrow-mindedness and arrogance.
Just looking at the home, there are too many offenders in private salt trafficking, and the evil with Tang Mud is even more unnecessary. These have made Zhen's status in Nanjing in the later period of Nanjing being marginalized.
On the contrary, the two brothers' business with the Tang family and the Ding family became more and more extensive, because the private salt sales were increasingly entangled with the Han family in Zhenjiang, the Zhao family in Guangzhou, and the Meng family in Huzhou.
Zhen Yinghui admitted that the close relationship with these families has indeed made the Zhen family huge profits, and money flows into the Zhen family every year. But the problem is, this must be established on the premise that the Zhen family can stand firmly, but now Emperor Wan Tong has gone After leaving the capital, Tang Mi and others also entered the capital. Nanjing was in name only and lost its support. No matter how much money the Zhen family had, could they keep it?
Brother also noticed this, but it seemed a little late.
But Zhen Yinghui had no choice. His wife had already been sent back to the Tang family, and he had to help his brother contact the Dong family and the Lu family. Otherwise, once Gu Bingqian and his gang arrived in Nanjing, it would be too late.
But Zhen Yinghui was still restless. He didn't know what went wrong, or where the problem would lie. He didn't know what to do, or he knew how to do it but couldn't do it.
He had a frightening feeling that something was about to happen.
"My lord, I know that your lord has sent someone to ask you to go to the front hall, saying that we have something important to discuss..." The chief came to report.
Zhen Yinghui frowned in confusion, "What's the matter?"
“It seems to be something related to the Qing army. It is said that Japanese pirates have recently begun to harass the coast. Our people here need to organize and strengthen training..." Chang Sui thought for a while.
"That should be a matter for Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Taizhou. Our Jinhua is still far away, right?" Zhen Yinghui disagreed: "Are we going to take our people out of the government again? Who will pay for the money?"
Chang Sui couldn't answer this question. Zhen Yinghui waved his hand a little irritably, "Okay, I understand,..."
When he reached the door of the front hall, Zhen Yinghui suddenly remembered something and asked, "Is Mr. Qian alone?"
"No, there seem to be two more officials. I haven't seen them before and don't recognize them. They seem to be from outside." Chang Sui shook his head.
Zhen Yinghui's heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously stopped: "Coming from outside? What's the accent?"
“Those two people haven’t spoken a word,...” Chang Sui shook his head.
Even if you want to leave the government to form Minzhuang, it is impossible for people from the province to come. At most, you can only send an official document. How can two people come? And if someone came from the military room of the Minzhuang Affairs Office of our government, how could the commander not recognize him? Even if he is a leader of the people, his long followers should have seen him.
Suddenly alert, Zhen Yinghui turned around and walked out, but was blocked by two people coming out from the other end: "Master Zhen, why didn't you go in? Master Qian is still waiting for you inside."
Zhen Yinghui's heart sank. He looked at the two strangers and shouted sternly: "How dare you! Are outsiders breaking into this government office? Come here, capture these two gangsters!"
"Master Zhen, why bother?" A somewhat unfamiliar voice but one that clearly knew him sounded in Zhen Yinghui's ears, but it was like a thunderbolt hitting him: "We came here to see you on Master Sun's order. We have been waiting for you for a long time."
(End of this chapter)