In the city, Wang Wenyuan, the salt envoy from Changludu and Sidu, was preparing a banquet in the flower hall.
Today, Hong Chengchou, a bachelor of the Academy of Internal Affairs and governor of three provinces, will pass through Cangzhou. Wang Wenyuan, the transport envoy, naturally has to treat him well. As a third-grade salt transport envoy, his main responsibility is to be in charge of the salt administration.
Although the situation was tense, and several saltworks along the coast of Beizhi were attacked, Wang Wenyuan was still busy trying to help Hong Chengchou. Invitations were sent out early, and all the prominent people in Cangzhou were present.
"Has Yushi Zhang arrived?"
"Just arrived."
Compared with the third-grade salt transport envoy, Cangzhou also has a salt patrol censor. The salt patrol censor is of a lower grade, only the seventh grade. The yamen of Cangzhou salt patrol censor is located in Beijing, outside Xuanwu Gate, but in
There are also hotels in Tianjin, Cangzhou and Shandong.
The relationship between Wang Wenyuan and Zhang Xuan was actually that Zhang Xuan, who was in the seventh rank, was in charge of Wang Wenyuan, who was in the third rank. Originally, when the Salt Patrol Censor was established in the early Ming Dynasty, his duties were only to patrol private traders and detect fraud, but did not manage specific salt affairs.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, Xunyan began to intervene in the management of salt affairs. Although the affairs of the salt area were still transferred to the head of the Salt Envoy Department of the capital, they were subject to the orders of Xunyan Censor.
In addition to the fact that the censor was a central official sent by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it was also because starting from the mid-term, the censor of Changlu Salt Patrol was also in charge of the rivers. The censor of Changlu Salt Patrol was also in charge of the rivers from Tongzhou to Jining Prefecture, and was also the admiral of the subordinate army.
Wei Yousi was responsible for banning and punishing powerful people, eradicating fraud, supervising the collection of money, inspecting inns, arresting thieves, inspecting horses and ships, etc.
It can be said that although the Salt Patrol Officer is only in the seventh rank, his actual authority is no less than that of the Governor.
He is also in charge of Beihe, and can actually be said to be the governor of Beihe.
He is in charge of both salt and rivers, as well as banknotes and military guards. It can be said that he is a senior official.
Compared with Wang Wenyuan's third rank, Wang Wenyuan's third rank is not worthy of carrying shoes. If he rises to the third rank, he can at most become an inspector or even deputy envoy, or participate in politics, chief envoy, or someone else's salt patrol.
It must be an important position with real power such as patrol.
He came to the door to greet Zhang Xuan in person and respectfully invited him into the flower hall.
"Sir Wang, Mr. Hong Ge is here soon. Are you ready with everything you need to prepare?"
Zhang Xuan spoke frankly when he met.
"Cangzhou doesn't have anything else, but it has a lot of salt. The boats and salt have been prepared, and the salt merchants from Changlu have also been summoned."
Facing Zhang Xuan, who was much younger than himself, Wang Wenyuan did not dare to be careless at all.
Before Hong Chengchou left the capital, an order had been sent to Changlu to prepare salt.
The Changlu Saltworks is in charge of not only the saltworks in Changlu Town, but also the entire saltworks in Beizhi and even Shandong. They are all under the control of the Changlu Saltworks. The Changlu Salt Inspector is also in charge of the Shandong Salt Law.
Now that the Qing court was in short supply of money and food, Hong Chengchou left the capital to governor three provinces, and his sights were directly set on Changlu Salt.
When he was in Beijing, he had already asked for a lot of salt from the imperial court and obtained a large amount of silver from the salt merchants in Beijing. Then when he came to Cangzhou, he had to come directly to take away a large amount of salt from Shandong to use as military pay.
Hong Chengchou didn't care about the trouble and harm to the salt merchants caused by increasing the issuance of salt, nor did he care that his coming to bring salt would actually cause the salt merchants to have no salt.
Of course Wang Wenyuan and Zhang Xuan will not care about this.
Zhang Xuan was even a student of Hong Chengchou.
Naturally, he would try his best to satisfy the teacher's request.
In addition to salt, Hong Chengchou also wanted money, grain, and soldiers.
When he came out of Beijing, he brought dozens of servants with him, and wanted to mobilize a group of green battalions in Cangzhou to serve as his model soldiers. Zhang Xuan had soldiers under his command, and he was also in charge of Beihe. The thousand-mile North Canal from Tongzhou to Jining, Shandong, was
Under his control, the soldiers and transport officers of the original guard station along the river were also under his jurisdiction.
"Have you already explained to those salt merchants? Don't cry in front of Mr. Hong Ge that you have no money. That will not only bring shame to you and me."
"Please rest assured, sir. I have already explained it to them personally. These people also know the consequences of refusing to pay for the silver. Anyone who dares not to pay for the silver will never get a grain of silver from Changlu in the future, no matter what he has."
No matter how much salt there is in it, it won't work."
Zhang Xuan nodded with satisfaction.
"The current situation is difficult, and we must work together to overcome the difficulties. Now that the Huaihe and Liangzhe salt fields have fallen into the hands of Ming thieves, the Changlu Salt Field has become even more important. These salt merchants must be obedient if they want to continue to make money."
A servant came in.
"Sir, Mr. Hongge's boat has arrived from the river."
Zhang Xuan immediately said, "Hurry out of the city to greet us!"
Wang Wenyuan followed him to the flower hall outside, where a group of officials had gathered, and in the corridor outside, there were more salt merchants wearing silk and fine clothes.
"Everyone, Mr. Hong's ship has arrived. Please go with me to greet him!"
As a result, all the civil and military officials in Cangzhou City, as well as the summoned salt merchants and powerful local gentry, rushed to Cangzhou Wharf.
Officials, big and small, crowded the pier, looking forward to it.
Looking at the fleet approaching from afar, everyone was full of awe and admiration for Mr. Hongge.
He was a legendary figure who was able to dominate the Ming and Qing dynasties and become generals and prime ministers. Especially in folklore, it is said that this man and the Queen Mother once drank ginseng soup by mouth, which attracted countless people's admiration and praise.
Even though he failed in Huguang last year and suffered a period of indifference, he now made a comeback and was directly granted the title of marquis.
It fully proves that Mr. Hongge is a mainstay figure.
The governor-general of three provinces, and even the two auxiliary princes must be controlled by him. This power is unparalleled, and no one in the officialdom wants to curry favor with him.
Gu Jing
Just like Zhang Xuan, the green-robed salt patrol censor standing in front of the crowd, he was a disciple of Hong Jinglue. He served under him in Huguang last year and served as the magistrate of Wuchang County, and later returned to Beijing with Hong.
Along with Hong Chengchou's return, Zhang Xuan, who was in Houqiu in the capital, was given the post of patrol salt, and he left the capital first and went to Cangzhou to set up a front station.
A Changlu inspector is responsible for the salt inspection and is also responsible for Beihe. That is a fat job that most governors may not be willing to change. He is responsible for salt, banknotes, and canal roads. The money that passes through here is like running water. You can get some at will.
It’s all incredible.
Fleet of ships on the canal approaches.
The first boat was flying a flag with the Chinese character Hong.
As the ship got closer, Wang Wenyuan had already waved to the music band who had been summoned to start playing the music to greet him. Although he was not as good as the seventh-grade salt patrol officer as a third-grade officer, those in charge of salt were always fat and poor, so he was still very satisfied, but he did not dare to
If you offend Hong Chengchou, if you lose this job, where can you find replacement?
How many people were staring at this fat guy, especially after the salt fields in Huaihe and Zhejiang were controlled by the Ming army, his job became even more jealous.
The ship approaches the dock.
A group of armored soldiers jumped out of the ship first.
Carrying blunderbuss, bows and arrows, and carrying swords and guns, he is very tough.
Wang Wenyuan was still flattering and said to Zhang Xuande, "Mr. Hong Ge, this pacesetter is really majestic and majestic. With this momentum, you can see that he is a soldier who has experienced hundreds of battles on the battlefield. One of them can stand up to ten ordinary green battalions."
While they were talking, more soldiers came down from the boat, ran over and lined up.
Hong Chengchou has not been seen for a long time.
More and more soldiers were getting off the ship and onto the dock.
"Did Mr. Hongge bring so many pacesetters?" Wang Wenyuan was a little confused.
Zhang Xuan also felt something was wrong. He was a student under Hong Chengchou's name, and his relationship was very close. Last year, he went south with Hong Chengchou to appease Jiangnan, and then moved to the town to manage the six provinces of Huguang. He had also accompanied Hong Chengchou in Beijing before.
Sitting on the bench, he knew that there were some old family members around Hong Chengchou, but not many.
When leaving the capital, the imperial court will definitely recruit some Manchu guards, but not many.
Why are there suddenly so many powerful armored soldiers now?
If there really were so many elites, there would be no need for him to mobilize troops in Cangzhou. The soldiers on the river were mostly former guardsmen, very average.
In confusion, another person got off the boat, but it was a national treasure.
"Hello everyone!"
Tu Guobao jumped off the boat, said hello to everyone, and then waved his hand, "Get it!"
The armored soldiers arrayed on the pier quickly surrounded the officials and gentry who were welcoming them, and everyone was confused.
Zhang Xuan looked at that familiar face and was so shocked that he couldn't speak. It took him a long time to point to him with trembling fingers, "Tu Guobao, why are you here?"
"What? I'm not welcome?"
"Master Zhang, we meet again. The last time we met was in Nanjing City. I heard that you are now the Salt Inspector of Changlu and the governor of Beihe. You are very prosperous."
Zhang Xuan looked at Tu Guobao as if he had seen a ghost.
Tu Guobao was also a confidant of Hong Chengchou. When Hong appeased Jiangnan last year, he recommended him to be the inspector of Jiangnan first and then the governor of Jiangning. Later, Hong went to Huguang without taking him with him. Later, he heard that Tu Guobao had been lost in Suzhou and finally rebelled against the Qing Dynasty.
It's dawn.
I didn't expect to see you again here.
"What are you doing?"
"To be honest, I am now a minister of the Ming Dynasty again. This time I am following His Majesty the Emperor's decree to conduct the Northern Expedition to Cangzhou."
"What did you do to Mr. Hongge?"
"Mr. Hongge is fine. He just caught a cold after falling into the water. He is currently recuperating in the cabin." Tu Guobao waved the knife in his hand, "Forget it, let's not talk about this for now. Let's not stand at the dock and talk about it first in the city."
There was a lot of excitement on the pier.
I went out to greet Mr. Hongge, but I met Tu Guobao and was eaten in a pot.
Tu Guobao robbed everyone and went directly to Cangzhou. At this time, the guards on Cangzhou City had no idea what was going on. In their confusion, they were snatched into the city by the Tu Guobao forwards.
Hong Chengchou was carried into Cangzhou City in a sedan chair. He sat in the sedan chair with a dark face.
I really don’t have the face to show up.
Who would have thought that after half his life, he would end up capsized in the gutter.
In the city of Cangzhou, Tu Guobao robbed the officials and gentry in the city and broke into the city. His subordinates quickly took control of the whole city. Many of the guards in Cangzhou did not understand what was going on. Many people surrendered in confusion and some resisted.
Yes, he was shot to death by random arrows.
"Ms. Hong, everyone is waiting in the flower hall outside. Please go out and say hello to everyone."
Tu Guobao came to Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou sat down with his head bowed and said nothing.
"Hong Gong, you have shown kindness to our national treasure. You have taken great care of me in the past. I will always keep it in mind."
"If that's the case, then you will repay kindness with hatred?"
"Hong Gong is wrong. I am here to help you return to the Ming Dynasty. I am here to save you. It's not too late to turn back and find the right shore. Otherwise, if you continue on this wrong road, there will be no good results. Not only will your life be saved, but you will also have to go to jail in the future.
It was passed down by two ministers. Now that I have repented, I can still be regarded as a hero of Conglong Zhongxing."