Taiyuan Fucheng, as the capital of the Shanxi Chief Executive, was undoubtedly one of the top cities in the Ming Dynasty and basically controlled the lifeblood of the entire Shanxi.
The most important thing is that Taiyuan is also a vassal state of the Jin Dynasty. Its military strategic position and political significance are self-evident.
Zhu Youxiao's first stop was in Taiyuan City.
He led five thousand elite soldiers to travel day and night, galloping all the way south from the capital. Because there were only two horses per capita, it took him less than ten days to reach Taiyuan City, which was thousands of miles away.
The reason why he came to Taiyuan on this trip was not only for the army to rest and recuperate, but also for a more important matter, and that was those Shanxi businessmen.
Although he won't take action in a short period of time, he must make arrangements in advance to ensure that nothing goes wrong when he takes action.
Xu Xianchun, the commander-in-chief responsible for surveillance and investigation, had received the order a few days ago and rushed to Taiyuan to make preparations for the emperor's arrival.
In an inn with a very large building and excellent decoration, Zhu Youzheng was discussing matters with Xu Xianchun in the best private room.
"Your Majesty, I have arranged everything according to the imperial edict, and my two Tiqi have also successfully blended into the Fan family to serve as servants. According to their recent reports, there will be more people in the Fan family within this half month.
action."
After some disguise, Zhu Youxiao was not wearing armor or special clothes at this time, but was dressed like an elegant young man.
After hearing what Xu Xianchun said, Zhu Youxiao put up his folding fan and asked:
"What action? Are there other people involved? Are the generals and officials involved? Are there any changes among other businessmen and nobles?"
Xu Xianchun, who also changed his clothes, stood aside and said with cupped hands:
"There are no new discoveries yet, and I don't know what happened during this period. They are all extremely honest and have not done anything extraordinary. They seem to be aware of it."
"I have been traveling throughout northern Shanxi for the past two months, and finally got hold of some incriminating evidence. Although it was from a few months or even a few years ago, it is enough to convict me."
Zhu Youxiao sneered, "Honestly, given the urinary nature of these people, they cannot and cannot be honest. They are just gathering momentum now."
Although today's Shanxi merchants are engaged in smuggling and selling contraband to the Tartars, their scale and strength are far from what they were during the Chongzhen period of later generations.
Now, they are still extremely cautious in every move they make. Although they have bribed the generals and local officials in the border towns, they are still very afraid of the imperial court.
Moreover, their current main customers are all the Mongolian tribes on the grasslands and the Jiannu slaves in Liaodong. They may have heard of them, but they have definitely never dealt with them.
There is no other reason. A piece of cake can only be divided by one interest group or power group. Today's situation in Liaodong is very good. Their colleagues in Liaodong are still there. How can they allow their competitors in the pass to reach out and make money?
Benefit.
In history, it was not until the Jiannu captured the two important towns of Liao and Shenyang, and then annexed hundreds of miles of Liao territory, and became famous, that these merchants in Shanxi established a line with the old slaves.
Then, it was not until Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne of Jianzhou Khan that the relationship between the two parties developed by leaps and bounds, and cooperation became more and more frequent.
In addition, Huang Taiji defeated Lin Dan Khan and conquered Monan Mongolia, and the territory was directly connected to the Shanxi border.
Coupled with the corruption of local officials and the lax armament of border towns, Shanxi businessmen headed by the Fan family became more and more rampant, completely losing the last trace of fear towards the imperial court.
These businessmen are also very cunning and do not take action easily. Without the Fan family as a smooth example, they would not dare to do this even if they had ten more courages.
If we want to deal with them now, it will take a lot of effort. If there is irrefutable proof that they are collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, even though it is the best, even if there is not, it will not prevent Zhu Youxiao from destroying their three tribes.
"Let's put this matter aside for now. You can just keep watching. When I return to the north, I will be free to take care of them. The time is not yet ripe now."
"During this period, you must not slack off at all. You must monitor them more closely and dig out all their details and connections. I want to see how bad Shanxi is."
"Similar to arranging people to infiltrate their internal affairs, we must fully support it. It will be of great help to your investigation and intelligence. When the time comes to close the net, it will be more convenient."
"I understand. It's just that there are too many people to monitor. I don't have that many manpower at my disposal."
Zhu Youxiao sighed. This was indeed difficult to handle. There were only so many Jinyi guards available. This time, he left half of the men to stay in the capital to guard the imperial city and monitor the officials.
Others were either sent to Liaodong or to various parts of the country to investigate retired officials who had served in the Ministry of Household Affairs during the Wanli Period.
Although the power in Xu Xianchun's hands is not small, it is still not enough to lay out such a large net.
After Zuo Si meditated, Zhu Youxiao finally decided to allocate a group of people from the rebels in the capital to enter Shanxi, and then gave Xu Xianchun a handwritten order, allowing him to use this order to go to Xuanfu Town to notify Mangui if necessary.
, ask him to cooperate with Jin Yiwei’s work.
Once again receiving strong support from the emperor, Xu Xianchun breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will fulfill your Majesty's mission."
Zhu Youxiao opened the folding fan again, took a sip of refreshing water and said:
"Take more snacks. Although you still have a few months, remember not to slack off. You must be a prepared person at all times."
Xu Xianchun once again accepted the order and said:
"I obey the decree!"
"Okay, this is the end of the discussion, let's just deal with it for now!"
"Although I have arrived in Taiyuan, I really don't know much about the local area. There is still time before dark, so how about you follow me out and take a closer look?"
The emperor had spoken, and there was no reason not to obey. Xu Xianchun naturally agreed.
"Hahahaha, let's go then, come with me to take a good look and see how the local people's lives are going. Is it true, as the courtiers said, that the people are rich and the world is peaceful?"
Zhu Youxiao's itinerary was kept strictly confidential. No one knew about his arrival in Taiyuan, and he only brought less than a hundred guards into the city. The large army found a relatively private place outside the city to camp and rest.
.
The first place Zhu Youxiao went to was the government office in Taiyuan City. Although it was not the harvest season yet, it was already approaching.
Some early-planted rice and other special food crops have begun to be harvested one after another. The government is afraid that people will not be able to pay taxes, so it is clearly stipulated that as long as you harvest grain, you must pay taxes.
Now that he had bumped into it, he wanted to see for himself how local officials collected taxes.