Chapter 452: Are there any people from Marquis Jing’an?

When Yang Zhengshan returned to the Marquis' Mansion in the afternoon, Ji Hai had already left Chongshan Pass.

This guy came and went in a hurry, just like a martial artist.

Of course, he brought five carts of wine and drinks when he left.

In the Marquis's Mansion, Yang Mingcheng told Yang Zhengshan about his meeting with Ji Hai today, "Dad, why did you invite Senior Ji to Chongshan Pass?"

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and said with a smile: "If I'm not mistaken, Ji Zhen has probably already entered the Xiantian realm!"

"Ah!" Yang Mingcheng was shocked.

"That's impossible. Senior Ji is already eighty years old now!"

Today's Yang Mingcheng is no longer a mediocre person. His cultivation has reached the eighth level of the acquired realm, and he has begun to practice the Yi Mu Chang Chun Gong. His understanding of the innate realm is far beyond before.

It is not easy for an acquired warrior to break through to the innate realm. Generally speaking, the older the age, the smaller the chance of a breakthrough.

An aging body, a depletion of vital energy and blood, and a weakened spirit will all affect the progress of cultivation.

The peak period for acquired warriors is in their forties. After fifty, their strength will decline and it will be difficult to make further progress in their cultivation.

Although Half-Step Innateness can alleviate the difficulties brought about by physical aging to a certain extent, it cannot reverse birth, aging, sickness and death.

It is almost impossible to step into the threshold of innateness at the age of eighty.

"If it were someone else, it might be difficult, but if it were Ji Zhen, there would still be a chance!"

Yang Zhengshan explained: "Ji Zhen has been famous for a long time. He was already a ninth-level martial artist in his forties. Although his body has been declining over the years, his decades of experience are not comparable to that of ordinary martial artists."

"And don't forget that Hengdao Sect has obtained a lot of Baicao Wine from us over the years!"

Lingquan water does not have the effect of reversing the cycle of life, aging, sickness and death, but it can enhance physical fitness, improve potential, and delay the aging of the body to a great extent.

Ever since Ji Hai saved Yang Mingcheng, the Yang family would send a gift to Hengdaomen during every festival, and every gift would include Baicao Niang and Donglingchun.

As early as several years ago, Ji Hai went to Tenglongwei to ask Yang Zhengshan for Baicao Niang.

Over the past few years, Ji Zhen has drunk no less than a hundred jars of herbal wine.

With the nourishment of so much spiritual spring water, coupled with Ji Zhen's own foundation, breaking through to the innate realm is no longer an out-of-reach thing.

After listening to Yang Zhengshan's explanation, Yang Mingcheng showed a look of sudden realization.

"I see!"

"When will Dad be able to break through to the Xiantian realm?"

He looked at Yang Zhengshan expectantly.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and smiled, but said: "This is not something you should worry about!"

Except Yu Qingyi, no one else knew about his breakthrough.

The reason why Yu Qingyi knew this was because Yang Zhengshan gave Sanhuangli to Yu Qingyi. If he hadn't told Yu Qingyi that he had made a breakthrough, Yu Qingyi would not have taken Sanhuangli.

As for the others, it’s not that Yang Zhengshan doesn’t trust his family, he’s just afraid that they might let the cat out of the bag.

"You should practice hard and strive to break through to the Xiantian realm as soon as possible!"

Yang Zhengshan patted Yang Mingcheng on the shoulder, left the main hall and went back to the main courtyard.

Yang Mingcheng scratched his head, feeling a little depressed.

It is really difficult to reach the innate state.

Let alone the innate realm, he now feels very far away from the ninth level of the acquired realm.

The higher the level of cultivation, the harder it is to make progress. Even though Yang Mingcheng drank countless spiritual springs, he still had no confidence in becoming a congenital warrior.

……

In the imperial study in Kyoto Imperial Palace.

The Minister of Justice Wei Rong and the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple Yan Ruishu stood in front of the desk.

Emperor Yanping rubbed his brows and said, "I just received news that Zhao Yunxing was murdered a few days ago!"

Wei Rong and Yan Ruishu met each other and frowned.

Zhao Yunxing was a second-rank official in the imperial court. Although he was not an important official in the court, he was also a high-ranking official.

A second-rank official was murdered!
No matter what the reason is or what the hidden story is, the court must get to the bottom of it.

"Besides, you also read An Ruhui's memorial!"

"Liaoyuan and Pingyuan provinces are suffering from severe drought. The court must not allow chaos to occur in the two provinces!"

"And the collusion between officials and businessmen in Pingyuan with the intention of causing chaos, I will never allow it to happen!"

"I have only one request, to get to the bottom of this case as soon as possible, whether it's the murder of Zhao Yunxing or the collusion between officials and businessmen to plot chaos, we must get to the bottom of it as soon as possible!"

Emperor Yanping raised his head and looked at the two of them. "How long will it take you to find out?"

This matter cannot be delayed. The longer it is delayed, the more disadvantageous it will be to the court.

"Your Majesty, even if we mobilize people to Pingyuan now, it will take at least a month to get to the bottom of it!" Wei Rong said solemnly.

A major case like this naturally requires the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to jointly handle the case.

Although both the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple have many experts in investigating cases, it must take a lot of time to go back and forth.

"One month!" Emperor Yanping frowned.

It is already July, and the drought in Liaodong has become very serious.

Crops in many places have died, and many people are facing the reality of having no harvest this year.

The harvest was total and food prices soared.

The people were in a state of panic.

As time goes by, Liaoyuan and Pingyuan will become a huge powder keg. It only takes a little spark to cause a horrific turmoil to break out in the two provinces.

Food shortage is only one of the problems; water shortage is the most fatal one.

Yan Ruishu said, "Your Majesty, can you ask the Secret Guards to help?" Emperor Yanping shook his head slightly, "Pingyuan is not the focus of the Secret Guards' surveillance. They can only provide you with some evidence, but they can't help you too much!"

The Secret Guards are not omnipotent.

The Secret Guards' focus of surveillance is in Kyoto and border towns. Although there are Secret Guards in every state and prefecture, they do not focus on monitoring local officials.

For example, the provincial governor, the provincial judge, the military commander-in-chief, etc., only had a few people deployed to monitor.

As for officials like prefects and governors, they are not worthy of being monitored by the Secret Guards at all.

Emperor Yanping thought for a moment before saying, "You guys go investigate the case first. I will discuss with the cabinet and arrange for a governor to go to Liaodong to be in charge of disaster relief!"

The case needs to be investigated and disaster relief needs to be provided.

Compared to disaster relief, investigating the case is secondary.

"I obey your order!" Wei Rong and Yan Ruishu left the study after receiving the order.

After they left, Emperor Yanping took out Yang Zhengshan's letter.

Emperor Yanping thought Yang Zhengshan's proposal to set up an Imperial Commercial Bureau in the court was a good one.

However, compared with Yang Zhengshan, Emperor Yanping thought more far-reachingly. Not only did he want to bring the glass industry under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Merchants Bureau, he also wanted to bring the salt and iron trade under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Merchants Bureau.

Especially the salt industry. Dayong's salt industry has long been in a state of decay. It should have been the most profitable industry for the court, but now it can only provide a small amount of salt tax for the court.

If there were no comparison, Emperor Yanping would not have paid attention to the salt trade so quickly, but the situation of the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner forced him to question the entire Dayong salt industry.

The reason is very simple. The salt price in Liaodong is the lowest in the whole Dayong, but the salt tax in Liaodong is the highest in the whole Dayong.

The reason for this is that the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner's corruption case was a major case that eliminated a large number of corrupt officials and salt merchants. In addition, Zheng Xiao has been in charge of the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner's Office over the years, which has allowed the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner to maintain a relatively clean environment.

This led to the continuous increase in salt tax of the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner's Office.

After learning about the Liaodong Salt Transport Commissioner's Office, Emperor Yanping also became interested in the salt industry in other places.

Now, Yang Zhengshan’s proposal to set up the Imperial Commercial Bureau seems to be able to be used to manage the salt industry.

However, this is not an easy task and requires gradual progress.

Emperor Yanping pondered for a moment and said to Nansheng, "Have someone copy down some of the contents of the Imperial Merchants Bureau. I will need them later!"

The establishment of the Imperial Commercial Bureau must be communicated to the Cabinet first. As for incorporating the salt industry into the management of the Imperial Commercial Bureau, there is no need to think about it in the short term.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish!
Now Emperor Yanping has realized how difficult it is to govern a country.

Nan Sheng took the letter and said, "Your Majesty, we have almost cleared out the spies in the imperial city. Do you want to continue digging deeper?"

"No need for that. Be more cautious with the personnel in front of the emperor in the future." Emperor Yanping waved his hand indifferently.

The spies are naturally the spies planted in the imperial city by various forces in the court.

Since Nan Sheng was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard, he began to conduct large-scale searches for eunuchs and palace maids in the imperial city. In less than a month, he arrested as many as four hundred eunuchs and palace maids.

"Yes!" Nan Sheng replied.

“By the way, is there anyone from Marquis Jing’an?” Emperor Yanping suddenly asked.

Nan Sheng's eyes turned slightly, but he lowered his head and said, "No."

"Really?" Emperor Yanping was surprised.

"I dare not deceive Your Majesty!" Nan Sheng said with his head down.

Emperor Yanping nodded with satisfaction, and it was unclear whether he was satisfied with Nan Sheng's attitude or with Yang Zhengshan's failure to place anyone in the imperial city.

Nan Sheng indeed did not find any information about Yang Zhengshan’s men, otherwise he would never have concealed it.

As for why Yang Zhengshan's men were not found, it was actually very simple. The people Wu Zheng recruited in the imperial city were not eunuchs and palace maids, but soldiers on duty at the palace.

After all, Yang Zhengshan didn't want to monitor Emperor Yanping, nor did he want to find out any secret information. He just wanted to find out the news in the court.

The news in the court is secretive and ordinary people cannot get access to it. But if you want to keep it secret, that is impossible. After the morning court ends every day, all kinds of news will spread out from the imperial city.

You don't have to go in front of the emperor to find out this information; you can hear some of it more or less in the imperial city.

You don't even need to have a high position, some ordinary soldiers can know it.

When they are not on missions on weekdays, the soldiers of the imperial army can tell you everything that happened in the court just by chatting in the barracks.

Some gossipers can even talk about matters in the harem in detail.

Simply put, the soldiers of the imperial army are no different from the aunties at the village entrance, and their ability to collect information within the imperial city is extremely powerful.

It was because of this that Wu Zheng took the initiative to make friends with many soldiers of his own army.

Nan Sheng also investigated the soldiers of his own army, but his focus was on those middle and high-level military officers and he would not investigate a group of ordinary soldiers at all.

So this time Yang Zhengshan was lucky enough to escape the disaster.

……

Because Emperor Yanping attached great importance to the drought in Liaodong, the court acted relatively quickly this time.

On the third day of July, the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple jointly dispatched personnel to Pingyuan Province to investigate the murder of Zhao Yunxing and the case of collusion between officials and businessmen.

On the sixth day of July, after a court meeting, Zhong Huamin, the Junior Secretary of the Guanglu Temple and the Censor of Pingyuan Road, was ordered to go to Pingyuan to investigate the disaster.

Luo Ren, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was appointed as the right deputy censor-in-chief of the Censorate and governor-general of disaster relief affairs in Liaodong.

He also ordered Taicang to allocate 300,000 taels of silver and 1 million dan of grain to relieve the severe drought in Liaodong.

At Chongshan Pass, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but let out a long sigh after receiving the news.

Although the court did not have much money and grain to use for disaster relief, as long as the court paid attention to the drought in Liaodong, it would be a great thing for the people of Liaodong.

The money and grain provided by the court for disaster relief is actually only a part of it. The most important thing is the official granaries in each prefecture, state, and county. As long as the court is willing to provide disaster relief, local governments can use the official granaries to provide relief to the victims. This is the key to disaster relief.

Otherwise, if the court had to rely solely on transporting grain from Taicang in the capital to Liaodong, by the time the grain arrived, most of the people in Liaodong would have starved to death.

Now that the court has begun disaster relief, Chongshan Town should also be prepared to accept refugees.

(End of this chapter)