Chapter 449 Are you lying to me?

On the other side, after Luo Jinsong left the Zhen family, he soon arrived at the meeting point agreed in advance.

"How is it? How are your injuries?" he asked, looking at the two injured brothers.

"Don't worry, sir, it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious!"

"That's good!" Luo Jinsong breathed a sigh of relief.

Every soldier in the Royal Guard Battalion is a treasure. If a few of them are lost, it will be difficult for him to explain to Yang Zhengshan when he returns.

"what happened?"

At this time, another group of people came back, and Ding Qiu came over to ask.

Luo Jinsong shook his head slightly. "The infiltration failed. The Zhen family has a ninth-level master. In order to avoid causing a commotion, I can only let my brothers retreat first!"

Ding Qiu frowned, "Do you know the identity of that expert?"

Experts at the ninth level of the acquired realm are extremely rare in Liaodong. If we don’t count the military officers and generals, and only the martial artists in the martial arts world, they can be counted on one hand.

It is obviously unreasonable that the Zhen family actually has a martial artist of the ninth level of the acquired realm.

"I can't tell, but he is definitely not a master from Liaodong. I know all the masters from Liaodong!" Luo Jinsong said.

Ding Qiu fell into deep thought.

An unknown master appeared in the Zhen family!
This should be a message worth taking seriously.

"How is it over there?" Luo Jinsong asked.

Ding Qiu replied: "Everything went well. Ning Dongsheng was too scared to death. He just told me everything when I asked him casually!"

"Should we investigate the Zhen family further?" Luo Jinsong asked again.

Ding Qiu thought for a moment and said, "No need. Ning Dongsheng has confessed a lot of things. If other people have also gained something, then the evidence is enough!"

They are not constables or spies, so naturally they will not collect evidence in a conventional way, step by step.

How to find evidence fastest?
The natural thing is to go to the person’s home and ask him!
Moreover, it is not difficult to collect evidence of the crimes of these wealthy businessmen. They have done many things such as running rampant in the countryside, oppressing the people, and robbing and extorting.

Of course, the evidence Yang Zhengshan wanted was not this kind of evidence, but evidence of collusion between officials and businessmen, bribery and corruption for personal gain.

Such evidence is not difficult to find.

When wealthy businessmen collude with officials, they always like to follow some so-called rules, and these rules require accounting. Who gets how much profit each month and how much silver needs to be sent over, all of these need to be clearly accounted for.

Otherwise, the account will be a mess and there will inevitably be omissions, which will cause dissatisfaction on both sides.

The evidence Ding Qiu obtained was far more than he had imagined. Just what he got from Ning Dongsheng was enough to cause a major earthquake in the Pingyuan officialdom.

……

Chongshan Pass, inside the general’s mansion.

Yang Zhengshan sat in his study and read the letters sent from Kyoto.

The letter sent to him by Emperor Yanping!
To be honest, he was still very surprised when he received the letter.

Emperor Yanping actually wrote him a letter, which was somewhat beyond his impression of Emperor Yanping.

And when he saw the content of the letter, he felt even more flattered.

Emperor Yanping actually allocated him one million taels of silver!
The silver is still on the way, the letter has arrived first.

However, Emperor Yanping wrote this letter not to tell him about the one million taels of silver, but to ask him about the sales of glass products.

Should Kyoto's glass products be sold outside of Kyoto? How should they be sold? Are there any regulations?
Yang Zhengshan was very happy to see such inquiries.

This means that Emperor Yanping did not dislike him, and even valued him very much.

Although Emperor Yanping intended to seize the glass business, the fact that he asked Yang Zhengshan showed his recognition of Yang Zhengshan.

As for Emperor Yanping's question, Yang Zhengshan considered it carefully for a long time.

The glass workshop cannot be the private property of the Yang family!

Wealth, wealth, wealth, in this feudal dynasty, wealth is naturally not as important as nobility.

If the glass business only made a few hundred thousand or a million taels of profit, it would not be impossible for Yang Zhengshan to keep all the profits.

But the profits involved in the glass business are so huge that no one in the world can eat it alone.

Not even the emperor can do that!
Emperor Yanping can now enjoy the business all to himself, but when the civil and military officials in the court find out that the glass business can earn tens of millions of taels of silver a year, they will definitely ask Emperor Yanping to hand over the operation of the glass business to the court.

Don't think that the emperor's words are always final. Sometimes the emperor may compromise with his ministers.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Yang Zhengshan did not regard the glass workshop as the Yang family's industry, and he presented the methods and craftsmanship of making glass to Emperor Yanping from the very beginning.

Emperor Yanping certainly wanted to keep this source of wealth in his hands, but how could he explain this to the court officials so that they would not compete with him for it?
Yang Zhengshan thought about it for a long time and finally came up with an idea that seemed very good.

Ministry of Internal Affairs!
Royal merchant!

The Imperial Household Department was an institution unique to the Qing Dynasty, with as many as 3,000 officials, more than ten times the number of officials in the Ministry of Revenue, which had the most affairs. It could be said to be the largest agency in the Qing Dynasty.

The main function of the Imperial Household Department was to manage royal affairs, such as royal daily meals, clothing, storage, etiquette, engineering, farms, livestock, guards and escorts, hunting in the mountains and swamps, etc. It also controlled the salt administration, collected customs duties, and accepted tributes.

The imperial merchants were appointed by the emperor to manage the royal industries in an official capacity, conduct business on behalf of the official, monopolize some important industries operated by the court, and manage the royal industries in various places.

In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, the Imperial Household Department was also part of the imperial court, and its officials also had ranks, just like the officials in the imperial court. Similarly, the imperial merchants also had official positions and ranks.

Simply put, this is a kind of integration of government and business, and has similar attributes to state-owned enterprises in previous lives.

In fact, Dayong also had the Imperial Household Department and Imperial Merchants. The twenty-four yamen in the imperial city had some of the responsibilities of the Imperial Household Department, and the management of imperial farms and stores was similar to that of imperial merchants.

However, the people now employed by the Dayong royal family to manage the imperial farms and stores are eunuchs, not officials.

Naturally, Yang Zhengshan would not propose that Emperor Yanping establish the Imperial Household Department. This would have too great an impact on the court, and he dared not act recklessly.

He merely suggested to Emperor Yanping that the Imperial Commercial Bureau be established in the court, with a chief official, a Langzhong, of the fifth rank, two deputy officials, a Wailang, of the sixth rank, and several chief officials under him, of the seventh rank.

Merchants could join the Imperial Merchants Bureau as directors and run the royal industries, including the glass industry, as imperial merchants.

The court had the power to appoint and dismiss officials of the Imperial Commercial Bureau. The emperor could appoint eunuchs to serve as supervisors in the Imperial Commercial Bureau to oversee its operations and finances.

The profits of the Imperial Merchants Bureau were divided into two parts: one went to the Ministry of Revenue and the other went into the imperial treasury.

As for the ratio, that is a matter between Emperor Yanping and the Ministry of Revenue. Yang Zhengshan has no say in the matter.

The Imperial Merchants Bureau was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, but it was also the private property of the emperor, so both the emperor and the imperial court could benefit from it. However, this proposal had many contradictions.

The first issue is the distribution ratio: how much should the emperor take and how much should the Ministry of Revenue take.

Secondly, whether other industries should be included, such as salt and iron, and some royal land and real estate.

Finally, there is another big contradiction, which is to give businessmen official status.

If scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, and imperial merchants had ranks and official status, it would be equivalent to changing the social class of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants.

You must know that in Darong, merchants are of low status and cannot take part in the imperial examinations or become officials.

However, it is not completely impossible for merchants to become officials. If the children of merchants can join the army and make meritorious contributions on the battlefield, they can be promoted to military officers.

Therefore, merchants can be military officers but cannot be civil officials.

Yang Zhengshan had previously asked Liang Xiu to follow Yang Minghao and Luo Bo to follow Yang Chengye in order to allow them to escape the restrictions of their merchant status by making meritorious contributions.

Once an official businessman who is an imperial merchant appears, it is equivalent to opening a loophole for merchants to obtain official status.

By then, all the merchants in Dayong will flock to it.

And scholars all over the world may stand up and oppose it.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it for a while and added a sentence below: merchants serving as heads of the Imperial Merchants Bureau would not be promoted.

In this way, there will still be controversy, but it should be able to reduce the opposition among readers.

Yang Zhengshan spent a whole day writing this proposal.

There are certainly many inappropriate things or things he has not considered, but it doesn’t matter. He was just making a suggestion. Whether to adopt his suggestion and how to implement his suggestion is up to Emperor Yanping.

The next day, Yang Zhengshan had the letter delivered to Kyoto.

Just when Yang Zhengshan asked someone to deliver the letter to Kyoto, Ding Qiu knocked on the door of An Ruhui's residence in Dongyang City.

"I, Ding Qiu, the steward of Jing'an Marquis's Mansion, pay my respects to Lord An!"

In the main hall of the An Mansion, Ding Qiu respectfully clasped his fists and bowed to An Ruhui.

An Ruhui was very surprised at Ding Qiu's arrival.

Of course he knew Jing'an Hou Yang Zhengshan. After all, he had a close relationship with Lin Zhan. When he came to Liaodong to take up his post, Lin Zhan had also told him that if he encountered any trouble, he could ask Jing'an Hou for help.

But his personality did not allow him to curry favor with the powerful, so from beginning to end he never thought of having any involvement with the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion.

Similarly, he did not expect that people from the Jing'an Marquis Mansion would come to him on their own initiative.

"Are you from Marquis Jing'an's mansion? Does Marquis Jing'an want to see me for something?" An Ruhui couldn't figure out Ding Qiu's purpose.

Ding Qiu nodded, "The Marquis asked me to hand these things over to you!"

As he spoke, he took a square wooden box from his companion behind him.

An Ruhui looked at the wooden box hesitantly, "What's inside?"

"You will know when you see it, sir!" said Ding Qiu.

An Ruhui frowned, he was afraid that there were some things in there that he couldn't take, such as silver.

But thinking that there seemed to be no reason for Marquis Jing'an to give him silver, he reached out and opened the wooden box.

There were a thick stack of booklets in the wooden box.

"This is?"

Ding Qiu said: "This is evidence of the collusion between 18 officials including Pingyuan Governor Zhao Yunxing, Right Councillor Ye Changlian, Censor Ning Dongsheng, Dongyang Prefecture Governor Dong Shuyan, Guangning Prefecture Governor Wang Dexin and many wealthy businessmen. They colluded with officials and businessmen, oppressed the good, seized good farmland, dominated the market, suppressed colleagues, persecuted merchants, and killed people!"

"Moreover, they are planning to use the severe drought in Liaodong to raise grain prices. According to their plan, they will double grain prices in half a month, and will also incite the people to riot and force the court to allocate money and grain for disaster relief!"

"What!" An Ruhui was completely stunned.

Ding Qiu's words were so unbelievable and shocking.

An Ruhui was not surprised by collusion between officials and businessmen, and he would not be shocked even by murder and injustice.

But they raised the price of grain, instigated the people to rebel, and forced the court to allocate money and grain!

He couldn't even imagine such a thing.

He eagerly flipped through the books in the wooden box one by one.

The above records many facts of bribery and corruption, and the officials involved are definitely more than 18, but it can be seen that Zhao Yunxing, the governor of Pingyuan, is the main one among them.

Of course, Zhao Yunxing would not collect the money personally. The person who collected the money was a man named Liu San, who was a close follower of Zhao Yunxing.

Soon, An Ruhui browsed through all the account books. He asked with a gloomy face: "How do you know that they want to raise the price of grain and incite the people to riot!"

Ding Qiu took out another confession from his pocket and handed it to An Ruhui, "This is the confession of Deputy Censor Ning Dongsheng!"

An Ruhui opened the confession and took a look. There were indeed confessions about raising food prices and inciting the people to riot.

"This is real?"

Ding Qiu said calmly: "It's true, Ning Dongsheng is in our hands now, he can testify in court at any time!"

"You caught Ning Dongsheng?" An Ruhui was shocked.

"No, we just invited Lord Ning to a quiet place for tea!" Ding Qiu said.

Have tea!

Isn't it just being detained?
An Ruhui took a deep breath, looked at the account book in the wooden box, and then looked at the confession in his hand.

"Are they really going to incite the people to riot?"

Ding Qiu's eyes flickered. "We have all the evidence, and a detailed plan."

An Ruhui was stunned for a moment, then looked at Ding Qiu with astonishment.

"Are you lying to me?"

Ding Qiu smiled and said, "No, these physical evidences are all real!"

"..." An Ruhui remained silent.

(End of this chapter)