If this happened in the past, it would definitely cause an uproar.

Not to mention anything else, in Jiangnan, I won’t say how powerful the Shilin is. The salt merchants also have many pens. At that time, they will criticize the pen and believe it or not, and they will be able to curse the court as shit. If it is just like this, it doesn’t matter. If you scold you, I will copy mine.

However, there will be civil rebellion in Jiangnan. If you dare to use a knife to interest groups represented by salt merchants, they will incite civil rebellion and drive outlaws who sell private salt to make trouble. At that time, it is hard to say what chaos will be in Jiangnan.

In fact, even if we searched the Shanxi merchants in the north, we were very cautious. It was because Emperor Chongzhen had a direct army that he could truly control and made a big move before he dared to attack the Shanxi merchants.

However, it is precisely because of the examples of the northern Shanxi merchants that somehow demonstrated the methods of the court.

Later, the Changshu civil war was suppressed by the eunuchs in Nanjing, and the leaders of Donglin Qianqianyi and others, no matter how close you are to your connections and background, were directly determined to be a rebellion by the emperor, and then they were brought down, and more than a hundred black hats were also taken down. This was a completely different result from the civil war in Wanli.

In addition, during this flood disaster in Jiangnan, the court did its best to rescue the disaster, which greatly strengthened the court's prestige among the people. Even if some people want to bewitch, it is impossible for the people to follow.

Most people can distinguish right from wrong and bad.

In this way, the officialdom and the people were either shocked or thankful, and not many people opposed the court's large-scale action against the big salt merchants.

That's why this Jiangnan operation did not touch the elite army under the Imperial Horse Supervision, but the Jinyiwei dispatched to coordinate local troops and could be implemented.

It can also be seen from this that the imperial court's control over the local area is slowly recovering.

Of course, some people must be confused about such a big thing. How could the salt merchants in Jiangnan be so far from Liaodong?

Before these doubts spread, the Jinyiwei issued an announcement, saying that the matters about how Le Qingsheng and Jianlu colluded, finally reached an agreement, and the first batch of goods were released, all explained in their original form, and there was a copy of the alliance as evidence. The relevant participants, including Wu Zhong, were naturally arrested by the Jinyiwei one by one.

The matter of the salt merchants and the Tonglu is progressing very quickly, and the relevant memorials are delivered to the imperial court. Then Emperor Chongzhen became angry and said that the salt merchants and the salt road yamen were sucking people's fat and ointment. The old salt administration has reached the point where it must be reformed. It sent a signal to the whole country that the salt administration was reformed soon.

In the past, a large part of the income of the imperial treasury was based on salt tax. Therefore, the emperors generally did not have the courage to act on this, for fear that even the original amount of salt tax would be lost. However, this obviously did not include Emperor Chongzhen.

He had actually thought about how to innovate the salt administration. However, if he had just captured the big salt dealer and immediately introduced it, then anyone would feel that the emperor had made plans and then inferred that those big salt dealers might be scapegoats, which was just blocking the emperor's path to innovating the salt administration.

Therefore, if you want to have a good look, you should not rush to introduce it. Let the ministers have a discussion process. Finally, Emperor Chongzhen guided him to introduce the salt administration he wanted.

While the Ming Dynasty was speculating about what the new salt administration was like, on the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, the famous Lushun, which later generations were very peaceful, and seemed to be no different from usual.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty wanted to manage Liaodong and all the supplies supplied by Liaodong were transported by sea. They left Dengzhou or Tianjin and then landed in Lushun.

Because of the importance of the location of Lushun, during the Hongwu and Yongle periods, the Ming Dynasty set up many important military cities on the Liaodong Peninsula, among which a defensive system was established with Jinzhou and Gaizhou as the core.

In Jinzhou, it was the location of the Liaodong Commander Commander Office. Later, it became the headquarters of the Jinzhou Guard Commander Commander Commander Office.

Lushun is a thousand-household office under the Jinzhou Guard. Originally, there were only trees as a slat, and a Muzha City was built for defense. Later, because of the defense of Japanese pirates and pirates, Luzun's position became more and more important. In the tenth year of Yongle, under the leadership of Xu Gang, the commander of Jinzhou Guard, Muzha City was converted into a brick city, and divided into two cities, north and south.

Among them, the northern city is one mile and one hundred and eighty steps, the wall is one meter or two feet high and two feet wide. Two city gates are "Jinghai" in the south and "magnificent" in the north.

The southern city is slightly larger than the northern city, surrounded by one mile and three hundred steps, with a wall of one meter and two feet high and two feet wide. The same two city gates are "Tongjin" in the south and "Renhe" in the north.

However, as time went by, corruption in the Daming Guards prevailed and military households fled. Therefore, by the 44th year of Jiajing, the Nancheng had to be abandoned. The Northcheng was demolished by them a few years ago when the Qing Dynasty was captured.

In other words, Lushun, which is such an important location, actually has no city. To be more precise, not only does it have no city, but there are no people. The Qing Dynasty had orders, and the film was not allowed to go into the sea.

However, this order was loosened after King Zhishun Shangkexi arrived in Jinzhou. At least the warships that were almost abandoned in Jinzhou began to be repaired again, and the sailors were summoned again to start training.

Just now, even Lushun, which has not had many people for many years, has many people here.

Most of them were migrant workers, or Han slaves, with about a thousand people. Under the supervision of the Tartars, they were cleaning up the ruins of the north and south cities of Lushun. After more than a month of cleaning up the northern city, they could see the city again.

On a restored city wall, a Tartar general surrounded by a group of subordinates, glanced at everything in front of him. He suddenly sighed and said, "There are still too few people!"

This person was Ban Zhifu, one of Shang Kexi's confidant generals, who was sent by Shang Kexi to rebuild Lushun City. Because Shang Kexi, as the navy commander of Dongjiang Town, naturally knew the importance of Lushun. Since he had to do something in the future, Lushun City would definitely be rebuilt.

"Sir, I don't know what the court is doing. Why did it be demolished when a good city was built?" One of his subordinates complained when they heard this.

Before Ban Zhifu could answer, the other person replied with resentment: "What else can I do? Isn't it just a fear of the sea? Who dares to go into the sea?"

Although he did not say anything explicitly about what he was referring to them, everyone present knew that this was talking about the people of Jianzhou Jurchens.

When Ban Zhifu heard this, he frowned and immediately scolded him: "It's enough, don't talk nonsense anymore!"

These are naturally his confidants and his old subordinates. It is impossible for him to punish him just because he complains about his master.

After stopping, he still explained: "What should you say and what shouldn't be said, you should have a sense of your ability. If the prince heard what he heard, he wouldn't have spared you so easily. Do you understand?"

When his subordinates heard this, they were immediately shocked. Because they knew that Ban Zhifu did not scare them. Their commander was named King Zhishun by the emperor. Such great favor also made their former commander and the prince who is now grateful. He wanted to say bad things about his master in front of him, even if it was not intentional, he might be severely punished.

In fact, it is precisely because they realize this that they hold all the anger they usually receive in their hearts. Now they just take the opportunity to vent their anger.

Shang Kexi was valued by Huang Taiji, which does not mean that ordinary Han soldiers would not be discriminated against by the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Mongols.

Ban Zhifu obviously knew this, and after giving a statement, he changed the subject and frowned and said, "I will go back to Jinzhou tomorrow. I must need more staff. Otherwise, if I want to complete the construction of this Lushun City, I don't know when it will be delayed. The prince said that he would transfer the navy here before July and after the construction of Lushun City was completed."

Hearing this, his men were a little curious and asked again: "Sir, I saw that the prince was rebuilding warships, training navy, and rebuilding this Lushun City. Could it be that the Ming Navy is going to fight over?"

"Nonsense!" Another subordinate heard this and denied without hesitation, "Dongjiang Town is gone. What other naval masters do you think there is still a naval master in the Ming Dynasty? If there is a naval master, there will be no movement? How many years have passed?"

"Yes, the court is corrupt..." Another subordinate immediately continued to talk about the topic. Seeing Ban Zhifu's eyes coming, he immediately woke up and quickly defended himself, "I mean the court is corrupt, the emperor is stupid, and the treacherous ministers are in power. Where can I get the money to build a ship? Just like the bear in Mingguo, we are all dying of that heart? How could we still fight? Every time the Qing army who was entered into the pass won't grab points, it's Amitabha!"

When I heard this, I remembered that these Liaodong Han people who were soldiers from Dongjiang Town were silent for a while: the past is unbearable to look back on!

But then, the man standing behind a little, leaned forward a little, showed a gossipy expression, lowered some voices and said, "It is said that this time the Qing army entered the pass and suffered a great defeat."

"Don't talk nonsense, how is that possible!" Someone immediately retorted, "Have you seen someone robbed so many people and animals and supplies back? More than ever before! Oh, by the way, and the vassal kings were all taken away in one fell swoop, how could this be defeated!"

"Yes, if you really want to defeat the war, the emperor will definitely be furious, and he has not seen anyone punished!"

"I really heard that the war was defeated. Those Jurchens have a lot of widows. Don't you know?"

"I'm thinking too much about women, just talk nonsense!"

“…”

Ban Zhifu's status is higher than these people, so naturally he knows more than these people. As far as he knows, the Qing army's defeat should be true. However, he doesn't know the specific situation. The reason why the subordinates don't know is that the emperor deliberately dealt with it in a low-key manner.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frown. He was a little confused about this. How could the Qing army be defeated by such a strong force? Could it be that the battle was too smooth and he was so proud?

Ban Zhifu thought about it but couldn't think of other possibilities. Because in his impression, the incompetence of the Ming Dynasty was actually similar to what his subordinates said.

At the beginning, Shang Kexi was just a navy commander of Dongjiang Town. His status was even lower, and he was only in Liaodong, so his vision was naturally limited. Although Shang Kexi was later named king, he was also restricted. Shang Kexi basically had no way to know about the Ming Dynasty, let alone him.

In fact, in Liaodong at this time, most people's impression of the Ming Dynasty was still the same as before.

Most people don’t know what happened in the pass. Only the leaders in Jianlu can understand that the Ming emperor suddenly became powerful, and the Qing Dynasty, the Shanxi merchants encountered difficulties without the Qing Dynasty.

Ban Zhifu heard that they were talking for a while, then interrupted them and said, "It's enough. Don't care about things you shouldn't care about. You all have a look at me. Just a few people. If someone escapes and delays the construction period, they will be beaten by military sticks!"

When his subordinates heard this, they immediately agreed, and then they said with a smile: "Sir, even if they are asked to escape, can they still escape?"

"Yes, can they still swim to Dengzhou, haha!"

"Even if someone escapes, it is not normal to report death and loss. I will go to see the prince tomorrow, so I will need more people."

“…”

Seeing that they seemed to be a little indifferent, Ban Zhifu yelled with a heavy face: "This time the imperial court has not allocated many people and supplies to the prince. The prince said he should be careful. I don't know how much I can get when I go back this time. If you dare not be careful, believe it or not, I will deal with you with military law!"

Seeing that he got angry, these subordinates did not dare to smile and quickly promised that they would be careful.

But when they looked back and looked at the skinny Han people, they remembered the little food they had transferred, and many individuals lost confidence. They didn't believe that if Lushun City was to be restored, how many of these people could survive.

In fact, if you have to do heavy physical labor, just a little food is actually not enough to eat. A team of soldiers must be assigned to rush fish on the beach and replenish some food. But even so, there are still dead people every day.

Time passed slowly, and it was soon evening. The setting sun set, dyeing the west sky red.

The Han slaves who worked were driven back to the half-built city by these fake Tartars. They were surrounded by city walls, so it was much more convenient to guard them.

However, not all the Han slaves were driven back. One of them was carrying the bodies to a nearby low cliff, and was about to throw the companions who were exhausted today into the sea. And a bunch of Han slaves were driven to the beach and picked up more seafood when the tide was low in the evening.

One day is about to pass again, and it is no different from usual.

After the light was dimming a little further, among the Han slaves who were picking up seafood, one of them suddenly whispered to his companion in front of him: "Brother, do you really want to escape tonight?"
Chapter completed!