Lu Xiangsheng was ordered to hold the sword of the imperial gift, came to the gate of Yangzhou, and shouted loudly.And Lu Xiangsheng also found at this time that an official in a red robe was at the city gate, and there were five sturdy people holding spears behind him, and pointing the tip of the spear at this official.In addition, Lu Xiangsheng also found that in addition to the red-robed officials and the five fierce people, there were also five or six richly dressed people standing aside.The rich men all looked at him fiercely."
Please return to Beijing!
Don't disturb the peace of the people of Yangzhou!
”At this time, a rich man also shouted because of this."
That's right, since ancient times, the Holy Monarch has been in power, he doesn't love the people and save his benevolence, and the Son of Heaven has lived in the imperial capital, how can he come here to disturb the people!"
Another rich man chimed in.Then, another rich man looked at the red-robed official: "Liu Futai, shouldn't you say a few words?"
”This red-robed official is Liu Wanchun, the prefect of Yangzhou.Liu Wanchun suddenly shouted: "Your Majesty!
Liu Wanchun, the prefect of Yangzhou, is now held hostage by the illegal salt merchant Huang Zongke and other people in the city, they forced the ministers to resist the decree, and refused to let the saint drive through Yangzhou, the ministers are incompetent, and the ministers are ashamed of their trust in His Majesty, and the ministers are the only ones who die, and they can repay their loyalty!
”After Liu Wanchun finished speaking, he suddenly jumped down from Yangzhou City.He, like most civil officials, knew what the consequences of confronting the imperial court were.He would rather jump down and fall to his death than be a puppet of an unscrupulous salt merchant, so that he can still get a posthumous and official position, and his wife and children can also get a shadow.Therefore, as early as after Liu Wanchun was held hostage by the unscrupulous salt merchants, he decided to jump directly from the city wall when the holy car arrived, instead of being at the mercy of the salt merchants and confronting the imperial court.And the unscrupulous salt merchants Huang Zongke and Huang Zunyi were originally the children of the relatives and were in charge of the Huang family's salt industry in Yangzhou.Now, Huang Zunyi's clansmen have raised troops in Zhejiang, and Huang Zongke naturally cooperated, and gathered a group of salt merchants who were also dissatisfied with the imperial court and worried that Zhu Youxiao would enter Yangzhou City to ask for wealth, and together with them, they mobilized their own salt Ding to control the prefect Liu Wanchun, and prepared to hold Liu Wanchun hostage as the leader to prevent Zhu Youxiao from entering Yangzhou City.But now, Huang Zongke, the salt merchant who was the leader, didn't expect that Liu Wanchun would rather fall to death than be coerced by them, and even he didn't have time to let his family stab Liu Wanchun to death with a spear.Bang!
Liu Wanchun fell to the ground, bleeding from his mouth and nose.Lu Xiangsheng was also quite frightened, and hurriedly rode back to Zhu Youxiao's royal car and reported the incident."
Loyal Minister!"
Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but sigh after knowing it, and hurriedly ordered: "Collect his corpse, there is a thick burial, Han Aiqing, you personally write a sacrifice for him!"
Posthumously present his official titles, posthumously praise his virtues, seal his wife, and shade his sons, and commend such loyal ministers!
”"Obey the order!"
Han Yi replied.Then, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but say: "How can these Yangzhou salt merchants be so bold and dare to coerce the officials I sent to Yangzhou, is this Yangzhou theirs or mine?!"
”"Your Majesty, since the opening of the salt government and the reform of the Chinese law, after a large number of salt merchants from Jiubian Tuntian moved to Yangzhou in the interior, there are a large number of salt merchants living in Yangzhou, and many salt merchants are rich in the world, and the entire Yangzhou salt merchants control more than 100,000 salt dings, exploiting the stove households, colluding with the officials to deceive the superiors and conceal them, and now these salt merchants dare to do this, presumably it is related to the gentry of the Jiangnan rebellion, and their families must also have people operating the salt industry in Yangzhou, so they want to hijack the prefect Liu to prevent the holy car from entering Yangzhou City, and it may also be because the salt merchants are worried that His Majesty knows his wealth."
Xiong Tingbi answered Zhu Youxiao's question.Zhu Youxiao smiled coldly after hearing this, and ordered: "That being the case, pass the decree, someone rebelled according to Yangzhou City, and took Yangzhou with the officials and troops of the Southern Expedition to capture Yangzhou for me, and captured Yangzhou within one day, with a reward of two million taels of silver, half of each of the Guard Town and the border army, and one day later to two days, the reward of 1.5 million taels of silver, and Yangzhou City that has not yet become a monument for one more day, the reward will be reduced by 500,000 taels of silver!"
”Xiong Tingbi was shocked when he heard this.Nearly 20,000 empires are the most capable elites, plus a hundred newly made red-clothed cannons, if you really want to smash so much silver as a reward, let alone a day, half a day can take Yangzhou City.But I didn't bring that much money with me this time.Xiong Tingbi couldn't help but hurriedly remind: "Your Majesty, I didn't pay so much silver this time when I went south, isn't it too much to reward two million taels of silver?"
”"Not much!
There will be brave men under the heavy reward, and there will be silver in Yangzhou City, and I will let the Yangzhou salt merchants donate silver for my army, otherwise, I will suspect that all their Yangzhou salt merchants are the same as these illegal salt merchants, there is no me in their eyes, there is no court, and they are in the same league as the thieves!
Since they are afraid that I will take their money, then I will take it!
”Zhu Youxiao glanced at Xiong Tingbi and said.Xiong Tingbi suddenly realized, and hurriedly replied: "Yes!
”Then, Xiong Tingbi immediately spread Zhu Youxiao's will to the whole army.The whole army was very excited when they heard this, especially the Nine-Sided Border Army, which had never been very wealthy.After all, if you can win Yangzhou in one day, it will be two million taels of silver, and an average person can get a hundred taels.In this era when twenty taels of silver can make a person die, one hundred taels is indeed a very attractive reward."
Da Sima, how to fight this battle, do you want to let the family members immediately carry the ladder and rush up!
It's okay how many people die, the important thing is not to let His Majesty be wronged by eating and sleeping outside the city!
”"Yes!
Da Sima, did Your Majesty say who commands, damn it, this is also a siege battle, if it was a field battle outside the city, Lao Tzu would have led his family to rush over and cut down the illegal salt merchants who dared to be disloyal!
”"What the hell is 100,000 salt, don't say 100,000, it's 200,000, Lao Tzu can kill him seven in and seven out!
Da Sima, let Your Majesty give a specific order!
”The border generals who followed him became excited.In the past, it was not easy for them to earn money, and they could only earn it by eating empty salaries, and the key was that more than half of the silver earned by eating empty salaries had to be distributed to the civil officials who were in charge of them.And now as long as they take Yangzhou City in one day, they can divide two million equally, even if they only give fifty taels to one person, they can earn a lot, so this is a very cost-effective deal for them.Zhu Youxiao has ordered Xiong Tingbi to be in charge of the specific command.And Xiong Tingbi said at this time: "What's the hurry!
Wait for the cannon on the side of the guard town to unfold, and later, as soon as Yangzhou City is blasted open, you will lead the family to rush over!
If anyone dares to slow down, he will not have his share in the reward!
”"Don't worry, I'm guaranteed to be the first to rush in!"
These border generals hurriedly replied.Rumble!
Rumble!
Rumble!
At this time, hundreds of red-clothed cannons in Guard Town rang out, shaking the earth and trembling.…… And before that, Huang Zongke, a salt merchant, looked at Liu Wanchun, who fell to his death under the city, and only said angrily: "Bastard!
This Liu Wanchun would rather fall to his death than join us to stop the tyrant, and now it seems that we can only bring Yanding and the city sergeants to defend the city!
”"That's right, Yangzhou City has thick walls, and it is still a little difficult for this tyrant to break in."
Xu Shaocheng, another salt merchant, echoed and said.These salt merchants all thought that Yangzhou City, which was close to the high walls of the city, could reach Zhu Youxiao's army for a while, but what they didn't know was that Zhu Youxiao now had a new red-coated cannon in his hand.The red-coated cannon was already a siege weapon in this era.In history, Duoduo used hundreds of red-coated cannons to bombard Yangzhou City, which made Shi Kefa's battle to defend Yangzhou very embarrassing.Now.The cannonballs of Guard Town also hit them, directly knocking down a large part of the wall of Yangzhou City.Seeing this, the border generals who accompanied Hu were shocked by the power of the artillery in Guard Town, and under Xiong Tingbi's order, they also rushed to Yangzhou City with their respective families.Salt merchants Huang Zongke and Xu Shaocheng were directly stunned after seeing that the impregnable Yangzhou City was blasted open several gaps.