Yang Sichang has had an ominous premonition recently. Several of his close associates have disappeared inexplicably. Even if they sent out the most experienced head catchers, they still couldn't find any clues.

"Master Qiu! Master Qiu!" The spring rain in the south of the Yangtze River continued, and Yang Sichang, who was already unhappy, became even more depressed. He called his chief staff member in the study, thinking of playing chess with him to relax his nerves.

Let’s talk about the current situation again!

Master Qiu is very clever and can often come up with unexpected and wonderful ideas.

"Dong Weng! Are you calling me?" Upon hearing Yang Sichang's call, Master Qiu immediately raised the curtain and walked in. Following him, there was a trace of rain and mist.

The charcoal fire in the charcoal brazier flickered on and off.

"Oh! Come on, sit down! My mind is a little confused. Let's play a game of chess to relax." Seeing the gloomy sky outside through the glass window, Yang Sichang disliked the golden land of Jinling even more.

Although the Qinhuai flowers and willows are the best in the world, and the fat swallows and Yangzhou horses are thin. But at Yang Sichang's age, he has become less and less interested in these things. Now, he likes the painting hanging in his study even more.

The old man is brave! Aiming for a thousand miles!

The servant placed the chessboard, and Yang Sichang and Master Qiu sat down.

"Dong Weng, are you still worried about entering the capital?" Master Qiu gave in and took the lead.

"The news coming from the capital was that I would be summoned to the capital in the spring of this year to join the cabinet. But now it is March, but there is no movement at all.

On the contrary, the assistant master in the mansion is missing two people. If you say please resign! If the master and servant are together, I will send some rituals at least. How can two living people survive without seeing their bodies? "

"Does Dong Weng suspect that these people were arrested by people from the Control Yuan?"

"It's not suspicion, but almost certainty. The experts from the Six Doors searched for three days, but they couldn't even find any clues.

Except for the Supervisory Yuan under that bitch, no one can do this in Jinling City."

"Dong Weng, even if the people from the Overwatch Council capture them, what will happen?" Master Qiu put down his son indifferently.

"But, they are all responsible for taxes, money and food, this...!"

"Dong Weng! Why worry about these things, money, food and taxes? Can you put a copper coin in your pocket? All the money is in the treasury. Although there are some expenses in the yamen, isn't the bulk still given to the treasury?

How to spend the money from the treasury is not a matter of just a word between the commander-in-chief and Zhang Shouxu?

To put it bluntly, we are making money for them. Even if they find out something, so what? They are the main culprits, and you, my lord... are at most a coercion.

I have never heard of the principal criminal having to interrogate his coercion. The interrogation goes back and forth, but he is still not tried."

When Yang Sichang thought about it, it was the same reason. As long as he didn't put money in his pocket, he really wasn't afraid of those people in the Supervisory Yuan.

All the money and food were handed over to you, Li Xiao, and you, Li Xiao and Zhang Huangyan, spent the money. Now you are coming to trouble me. I am not afraid that all the governors in the world will become cold-blooded. Who else will work hard to collect money and food for you in the future?

This kind of thing was almost an open secret in both Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties. The imperial court needed money and food, and local officials levied exorbitant amounts of money just for the sake of the Ming Dynasty. They were not afraid of such lawsuits going to the Jinluan Palace.

"It's just that the call to Beijing has been delayed. This...!" Yang Sichang is fifty-five years old this year. He really wants to go to the capital to join the cabinet.

Ever since I had this idea, it has been growing wildly in my heart like weeds. I sent people to Beijing for activities for a long time, and spent countless money. Only then did I get the matter done, but now it's March, and it's unexpectedly...

There was no letter at all, which made him very angry.

When he thought of the prosperity of the capital, Yang Sichang looked down on the ancient Jinling City even more. It has been four years since the Yangtze River Bridge was built, but it has not been closed yet. It is said that the construction period has been extended from six years to eight years.

I originally wanted to open this bridge to traffic during my term of office, so as to connect my name with this bridge that shines in the annals of history.

Now it seems that I am trying my best to make wedding clothes for others.

"The situation in the imperial court is a bit murky now. The latest news is that the imperial court intends to abolish agricultural taxes within two years.

For more than two thousand years, people have been required to pay imperial grain and national taxes. But this dynasty, it was actually abolished. What does this mean? It means that no one will rebel or cause rebellion in the Ming Dynasty.

Since ancient times, farmers have been the largest group of people in China. If the taxes of these people are cancelled, all that will be left will be singing praises. How can anyone rebel?

And if the rebellion does not involve the participation of farmers, it can only be called a rebellion.

With the Ming Dynasty’s current powerful military force, rebellion is nothing but self-destruction. No one would be stupid enough to do that!”

"Today, the Ministry of War issued another document saying that there will be further reductions in the army. Jiangsu's security army only has 1,500 people left, and Zhejiang's security army has been reduced to 1,000. In the remaining provinces, there are 1,200.

There are also 1,300 people. In total, we in Jiangsu still have a lot."

"Oh! Are we just going to abolish Jiangnan?" Master Qiu frowned and put back the chess pieces in his hand.

"They've all been laid off! The cuts in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian are smaller, but they're still half. Henan, Huaihe, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places have also been laid off!

Those that have not been moved are Qinghai, Gansu, Heilongjiang, Liaodong, Hebei, Gyeonggi, and Shandong. All told, almost 200,000 people have been laid off this time."

"Dong Weng! Don't you understand the meaning? I'm afraid our commander is about to proclaim himself emperor." Master Qiu looked at Yang Sichang with a smile, his eyes full of understanding.

"Proclaiming himself emperor? You mean Li Xiao wants to proclaim himself emperor?" Yang Sichang's eyes widened in disbelief. From his point of view, it seemed that the time to proclaim himself emperor was not yet ripe.

After all, most of Li Xiao's power is north of the Yangtze River, and south of the Yangtze River, especially in the Lianghuai area where the Zhu family started, there are still many people who miss the Zhu family emperor.

Although the Zhu family no longer has any heirs to the emperor, the huge royal family is still there. There is no problem in finding one person to be the emperor among such a huge royal family.

In the final analysis, hanging the throne in vain and plotting to usurp the throne are two different things.

Li Xiao actually wanted to proclaim himself emperor without fully controlling Jiangnan? Yang Sichang, who was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, couldn't accept it for a while.

"Yes! Proclaim yourself emperor.

Dong Weng, you see, our Ming Dynasty currently has a little more than 970,000 troops. Among them, there is also a navy of almost 400,000, deployed abroad to safeguard Ming Dynasty's maritime interests.

For so many years, the commander-in-chief has been able to support a large army and carry out domestic construction at the same time by plundering overseas. Now that agricultural taxes have to be cut, overseas interests will only be strengthened and will never be relaxed. Therefore, the navy will never be abolished.

As for the field army, it is the foundation of the commander-in-chief, and he will never destroy his foundation. Therefore, the field army will never be disbanded.

There are only three types of armies left, one is the border army. Just like the security army in Gansu, the security army in Heilongjiang, and the security army in Guangxi, these all belong to the border army.

In these places, it would be difficult for the Han and barbarians not to station troops. Therefore, the troops in these places cannot be reduced. Even if they are to be reduced, they can only be reduced in small quantities.

The rest is about the Mainland Security Army, which is divided into direct line and non-lineage.

The security forces in Liaodong, Shandong, Hebei, and Gyeonggi Province are definitely direct descendants. Not only are they well-equipped, but their training is also on par with regular field armies.

I feel that the commander-in-chief wants to use these local armies as a supplement to the regular field armies of the Liao Army. The security forces in these places will also not be reduced.

Then it is easy to say that the main cuts are our Jiangnan provinces and the Huaihe and Huaihe security forces. And these places are the places where the support for the Zhu Ming royal family is strongest.

If the troops in these places are reduced, the resistance to becoming emperor in the future will be much smaller."

"But there are still loyal scholars in Jiangnan."

"Dong Weng! The scholars have failed to rebel for three years. Do you think that with the current strength of the Liao army, they will be afraid of the rebellion of these scholars in Jiangnan?

The commander-in-chief can kill two thousand scholars in one night, and he can naturally kill on a large scale in the south of the Yangtze River. The so-called scholars can't grow back even if their heads fall off. What's more, not all scholars dare to die. They are greedy for life and afraid of death.

There will never be a shortage of such people." As a fellow scholar, Master Qiu knows very well what these scholars are like.

"But isn't Li Xiao afraid that the history pen is as sharp as a knife?"

"Having done everything, why are you afraid that the history pen is as sharp as a knife? Besides, history is written by the victors. How you want to write it when the time comes is not a matter of a single sentence from the commander-in-chief.

If you still don’t understand, think about "Yongle Dadian"."

"Yongle...!" Yang Sichang had nothing to say. The "Yongle Dadian" compiled by Xie Jin was indeed a typical case written by the winner.

"Dong Weng! I know that you still care about the Zhu Ming royal family in your heart, but... time has changed. Now, no one in the Zhu family can inherit the throne. Besides...! The Zhu family has no strength to inherit the throne.

.”

Yang Sichang was speechless!

Indeed, the Zhu family no longer has the slightest strength to aspire to be the leader of the Ninth Five-Year Plan.

Can……!

But Yang Sichang still hoped to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.

The emperor's position is vacant, which is completely different from the Ming Dynasty changing the name of the country and having another person sitting on the throne. No matter what, today's Ming Dynasty is still called Ming Dynasty, and theoretically the emperor is still a member of the Zhu family.

A country cannot live without a king for a day! Li Xiao successfully broke this tradition. Not only did the Ming Dynasty not have a king for a day, it has been without an emperor for almost ten years now.

The country is doing well and getting stronger day by day. Foreign wars are always victorious, and a large amount of profits plundered from abroad support the country becoming richer and richer. The lives of the people are also getting better and better.

Now, even the agricultural tax must be abolished.

If the agricultural tax is really abolished, then Li Xiao will gain the support of farmers all over the world. No one will think about Emperor Zhu Ming anymore, and no matter how much the scholars lobby, there will be no power to abolish the agricultural tax.

After all, empty words and white teeth are not worth real money.

"Dong Weng! I feel that this support cannot be given to others in vain. Perhaps when you come to Beijing, you just need a memorial to support me. I took the courage to write a memorial for Dong Weng.

Dong Weng, please take a look. If you think it is useful, you might as well copy it and send it to the capital." As Master Qiu spoke, he took out a memorial from his pocket and put it on the table.

With a dark face, Yang Sichang thought for a long time and finally picked up the memorial. Just as he was about to open it and read it, there was suddenly a noise in the yard.

"Who is making a noise outside?" Yang Sichang asked dissatisfiedly. They dared to make a noise near his study. These slaves were becoming more and more unruly.

"Sir, outside...!" The servant's voice stopped suddenly, as if someone had strangled his neck.

Yang Sichang was startled and stood up immediately. Master Qiu also stood up, and the two of them looked out through the glass window.

You won’t know if you don’t look at it, but you will be shocked when you look at it.

There were more than a dozen soldiers standing in the yard, and several guys in black were escorting a woman into the Moon Gate. The soldiers were all fierce-looking, and they all had box cannons in their hands.

My own official was held at gunpoint and kneeling facing the wall.

His right eyelid twitched suddenly, he knew that woman.
To be continued...