"Are you going to let the five Cao and Liu families go like this?"
"The officials and generals in the Governor's Mansion won't be held accountable either?"
Li Dejiang asked Huaiyu, feeling a little dissatisfied. They all knew that not only the Peng family, but the entire Lingzhou family was involved in the smuggling of private coins.
Huaiyu smiled and said, "If we continue to investigate, there is no good person in Lingzhou, so we will kill them all? Or in the end, Li Daozong, who will be re-elected as the king of the city, will not let him go?"
This matter cannot be pursued in this way. You must know that Wu Huaiyu, Xue Wanche, and Doulu Huairang also took part in the private investment before.
Those are all issues left over from history, products left over from special circumstances.
It's not that the court didn't know about it before, it just didn't take care of it. Now that the court wants to take care of it, Wu Huaiyu naturally has to ban it on behalf of the court. If someone doesn't cooperate, he will take action.
Now that the Cao family and others have handed over the Peng family and are willing to stop, the matter will be settled like this, which is also a result that all parties are willing to see.
For the imperial court, it is good that the imperial court's policies and intentions can be implemented and the imperial court's authority can be guaranteed. For powerful men such as Cao Liu and others, it is also very satisfying for them to get away with the Peng family as a scapegoat. As for the
Although they would lose a lot of profits by withdrawing from private casting, they did not dare to really go against the imperial court.
The main reason to blame is Peng Weizhong, a lame man who was so bold that he repeatedly tried to commit suicide, which gave the court enough leverage to kill them.
They don't want to fight to the death, and they don't have the strength.
"Are they really willing to give up private casting?"
"At least they have expressed their withdrawal now. As for whether someone will secretly cast it in the future, that is another matter."
Now they have reached an agreement that they will not continue to engage in private casting after withdrawing, and the court will no longer pursue their previous private casting behavior.
If someone wants to break the agreement, then the old and new accounts will be settled together.
This means that if you don't eat the toast, you will be punished with a drink.
Wu Huaiyu wanted to negotiate with them to stop the private casting industry, persuade them to switch to mining, and get policy concessions for them, such as reducing or exempting some mining courses, and even allowing them to mint copper coins jointly between the government and the private sector. Unfortunately, these
No one will shed tears without seeing the coffin, and no one is willing to give up the interests in his hands easily.
Now, the imperial court decided to set up a Lingzhou Money Supervisor in Lingzhou. Set up a coin furnace here and open the furnace to cast money. The people are allowed to mine minerals and prepare their own materials for cooking. The rate is ten points, and the officials receive two points. The remaining eight points are
The households are allowed to sell their own goods.
The imperial court levied 20% of the tax in kind and did not implement official purchases of the rest.
This tax is actually not low, because in the past, for minerals, the court generally implemented government-run mining and refining for those in need, and generally ignored the mining by ordinary people. They could pick and sell whatever they wanted, so naturally there was no tax.
One word.
Of course, in general actual situations, the court or localities will implement official purchases from mines when necessary. If you mine copper ores and the court needs copper, it requires you to sell the mined copper to the court at the official price. Generally, the official price will be natural.
It is lower than the market price, so it is also a mining tax in disguise.
In this era, those who can open mines are actually local powerful forces, and they often need to have a good relationship with the local government and have a certain amount of benefits, otherwise it will be difficult to open the mine.
Another change in the policy this time is that Lingzhou no longer allows private minting of money. Even if you have copper in your hand, you are not allowed to mint money. The casting of copperware is also restricted. Only a certain amount of copper can be minted with permission.
Bronze sales.
Now the imperial court directly sets up money supervisors and sets up money-making furnaces in Lingzhou to make money.
Xue Wanche set off back to Chang'an that day. He actually wanted to stay in Lingzhou for a few more days, but the official who was responsible for the order told him directly that the emperor hoped that he would return to Beijing immediately after receiving the order.
Wu Huaiyu and the others went to see each other off outside the city. Xue Wanche was still injured and had to take a carriage back to Beijing. Fortunately, the injury was not serious, but he could not wait for Huaiyu to remove the stitches.
Wu Huaiyu gave him some pills, and Xue Wanche gave Huaiyu the two mouthfuls of copper sea originally given to him by Li Daozong. He felt that he had no chance to return to Lingzhou.
"Wait until the Governor recovers from his injuries and then come back."
Xue Wanche looked at Cao Xuan and others who came to see him off, "Wuchang Shi, be careful of those people, none of them are good." Now he really wanted to draw his sword and kill all those dog slaves. It was not easy to win the emperor's trust. From Longzhou
The governor was promoted to the governor of Lingzhou, but he returned to Beijing with a physical injury within a hundred days.
By then, everyone in Chang'an will probably laugh at him. Being the governor of Lingzhou will almost cost him his life.
Now this has become the second humiliation in Xue Wanche's life. The first humiliation was when he, Luo Yi and Li Shentong fought against Liu Heita. The Tang army was outnumbered and defeated, and he and his brother Wan Jun were even captured on the battlefield.
, and was even shaved into a bald head.
Now it's even worse. The dignified governor's egg bag was scratched.
"I really wish I could kill that Peng Weizhong."
Xue Wanche really wanted to kill Peng Weizhong with his own hands, but now he only had the title of governor and no power of governor. He had no right to interfere in Lingzhou's affairs.
With a bit of regret, shame and anger, Xue Wanche did not accept the gifts or money from Cao Xuan and other officials, nor did he say hello to them. He got into the carriage and left.
Sitting in the carriage, Xue Wanche calmed down and couldn't help but sigh that Wu Huaiyu was really capable. After the incident, he wanted to mobilize troops to arrest and kill people, but Wu Huaiyu only made a slight move and a few words to make the Cao and Liu families kill Peng.
The family handed it over and even implicated three fifth-grade generals.
Now the heads of Peng Weizheng and the three fifth-grade generals are put in boxes and sent to Chang'an with him.
Lingzhou is inevitably in a state of chaos.
Even Peng Weizhong wanted to defeat the enemy, but unfortunately this time Cao and Liu all joined forces to betray him at the same time, and Wu Huaiyu also transferred two thousand soldiers from Su Lieniu and Wu Jianwu from Yanzhou, and even some soldiers from the three governor's offices of Qingzhou, Huizhou and Xiazhou
Also on the way.
Thick smoke billowed from the Peng family's mansion in the city.
The city gate was suddenly blocked, and Peng Weizhong could not escape after hearing the news. The lame man wanted to set fire to Peng's house, but the officers and soldiers quickly surrounded and broke in. The fire was quickly put out, and Peng Weizhong did not die.
People are being arrested everywhere in Lingzhou City.
The three fifth-rank generals, including Peng Weizheng, were captured and executed in court after the decree was announced at the Governor's Mansion.
Those on the rest of the list, regardless of whether they are big or small, or have no official position, will not be able to escape this time.
Qinglong Temple, Lingzhou.
On the top of the seven-story Qinglong Pagoda in the temple, Cao Taigong and the other four old men stood here looking at the thick smoke over the Peng family in the city, all of them silent.
Some of these old guys in their 70s and 80s have already experienced the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang dynasties. As the old heads of several major local families, they were all figures who would stomp their feet and tremble when they return to Lingzhou.
.
"Is this the end of the Peng family?"
"It's over."
The Peng family is the fourth among the six major families in Lingzhou. After the death of the old man of the Peng family, the Peng family is indeed in decline. Although Peng Weizheng's father, Peng Yuxun, is the governor of Jiangnan and has a county prince, his father
After his death, his family fell into the hands of a crippled concubine.
Peng Laizi acted in extreme ways and went out of his way to be ruthless. He was not liked by other companies for a long time. Now they finally no longer have to put up with this lame man.
Together they sold the lame man.
Although Peng Yuxun was in the south of the Yangtze River, he would soon be taken to the capital and even hanged to death by a postman on the way.
The Peng family, a century-old wealthy family, was finished like this.
If you commit a serious crime such as rebellion, you will never be able to recover. If you just steal the forging, you still have a chance to survive.
It's inevitable that there is a bit of sadness at the death of a rabbit or a fox.
"That Wu Huaiyu is really ruthless."
"We can only blame Peng Laizi for his extreme behavior, which got us all involved." Even though Cao Taigong said this, he had to convince the young man in his heart that Wu Huaiyu's methods were very good. Even if Peng Laizi hadn't assassinated him, they would probably have to ask Wu Huaiyu in the end.
Bowed.
"Wu Huaiyu doesn't know how to keep his words, right?"
"Will he turn around and attack us again? I heard that soldiers from the three former Qingxia Prefectures are coming to Lingzhou, with a total of six thousand elite soldiers."
The six major families have always been arrogant. In addition to being a century-old local family, occupying many fields, owning a large number of slaves and tenants, and controlling local industry and commerce, they also have another important capital, which is the tribe in their hands.
Lingzhou nominally has 6,000 united soldiers, but in fact each of the six major families controls two battalions of 1,000 local soldiers, plus 4,000 city side Tibetan soldiers, basically following their lead.
Although these ten thousand troops are all militiamen, they are also soldiers.
The native soldiers they commanded in the past certainly made great contributions to the imperial court in resisting Liang Shidu and Turk attacks, but such a force did support their transcendent status in Lingzhou.
Seeing that 2,000 Yanzhou soldiers have already moved in and 6,000 more soldiers are on the road, it is impossible not to panic.
Everyone knows that in the face of absolute power, you can only be at the mercy of others.
Taigong Cao leaned on crutches and remained silent.
Standing on this six-story tower, you have a panoramic view of the entire Lingzhou Huile City.
Lingzhou has sealed the city gates and put the entire city under martial law. The Yanzhou soldiers brought by Wu Huaiyu are searching the entire city. The Peng family and other people on the list are being searched and arrested.
Anyone who resists will be killed on the spot.
In broad daylight, most of the people in Lingzhou City have already closed their doors and stayed at home. At this time, if they go out on the streets and riot, they will be hacked in vain.
Qingqi from Yanzhou patrolled the deserted streets with murderous intent.
This Lingzhou City has truly changed.
Once upon a time, the Sui Dynasty became the Tang Dynasty, but during the nine years of the Taketoku Dynasty, Lingzhou actually changed little. No matter who became the general manager, governor, or governor, this place was still their home field.
a long time,
Cao Taigong let out a long sigh and said seriously to the other old friends, "We are all buried up to our necks in loess. We have experienced so many things in the world, and we have to accept it when we get old.
Don't have any thoughts that you shouldn't have, let alone have any contact with Tu Tuan at this time.
Let’s just watch and wait quietly and do nothing.”
The grandfather of the Liu family couldn't help but ask, "But if Wu really wants to take action, can we just sit back and wait for death?"
"If we really want to take action, what can we do?" Cao Taigong sighed, "Now is the Zhenguan Dynasty, not the past."
"I believe Wu Huaiyu would not do that. We have already compromised and surrendered. There is no reason for you to kill them all. Wu Huaiyi is not Xue Wanche. If he is that bitch slave of Xue Wanche, it is really possible."
Several old men looked at the chilling Lingzhou City and the unfamiliar Yanzhou soldiers and horses, and they always felt panicked. This uncontrollable feeling was really terrible.
"Shall we visit Wu Huaiyu together and have a good talk with him, or give him some money, land, and beauties? I heard that this man named Wu is greedy for money and lustful."
"Don't worry, we'll talk about it after this period of time has passed."
