The Ming Dynasty started with caution

Recently, many new things have appeared in the capital.

Xie Yu had not been to the capital for a long time. He brought a batch of silk from Jiangnan to the capital and found that many people in the capital were selling silk.

Silk was a scarce commodity brought by French merchants. They would not bring too much when they came to Daming.

Confused, he walked into the store and said to the smiling man: "Boss, where did you get this silk from?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Eight taels of silver per pair. If you want, I will sell it to you. If you want to ask, don't ask." After that, his face darkened.

Businessmen will not easily reveal the source of goods, otherwise they will lose their jobs.

Xie Yu knows the rules.

After the boss left, Xie Yu took out a tael of silver and secretly gave it to the shop assistant: "Brother, where did you get this silk from?"

The shop assistant looked back and whispered: "It's from Liangxiang. I advise you not to go there. There are refugees gathering there, and it has long been a bandit's den. I heard from the shopkeeper that he encountered bandits several times and spent a lot of money to get out."

Xie Yu felt strange. The person was released, so why did he release the goods as well?

Could it be that the bandits didn't know the value of silk and didn't know that silk was valuable?

He would encounter bandits when transporting silk from Jiangnan to the capital, and he had some experience. He was afraid, but not as afraid as most people.

He asked other workers, and they also said that the goods were imported from Liangxiang.

Xie Yu returned to the inn to hide his valuables and decided to take two shop assistants to Liangxiang.

The road from Beijing to Liangxiang County is a bit far. After walking for more than an hour, there was no one in the official road in the dense forest. It was easy to encounter bandits. Xie Yu wiped his sweat and did not dare to stop. He continued on his way.

As he walked, he found a tattered sedan in front of him, which seemed to be going to Liangxiang as well.

Xie Yu hurriedly followed it.

The sky was sunny and the breeze was gentle.

Yan Chengjin came to Liangxiang County in a sedan chair. Inadvertently, he saw from the rearview mirror that a middle-aged man with suspicious behavior and two men chased him, "Go and ask why you are following my sedan."

He Neng trotted over and came back after a while: "Master, I came from Beijing and wanted to go to Liangxiang. I was afraid of encountering bandits, so I wanted to go with us."

"Well, let them keep a distance of thirty steps." Yan Chengjin frowned.

There are no bandits in Liangxiang. It's just a rumor spread by unscrupulous merchants.

After Lao Gan Die sold well in Beijing, some daring profiteers came to Liangxiang County and purchased a lot of goods. Yan Chengjin thought that they would go back to Beijing to promote it.

Who knew that they not only did not promote it, but also spread rumors.

Tens of thousands of refugees poured into Liangxiang County, and there were countless rumors. Some said that the refugees occupied the land and became bandits. There were even more exaggerated ones, saying that the county magistrate Zhang Xian had been chopped into eight pieces by the refugees and was ready to rebel.

There were a large number of refugees gathered in Liangxiang, and they dared not come after hearing this.

Only a few merchants knew that Liangxiang had long become a place for treasure hunting.

Yan Chengjin decided to dispel the rumors three days later.

When he arrived at the border of Liangxiang, everything in sight was brand new.

Those countless straw huts had been ordered by Zhang Xian to move to the southwest corner of Liangxiang.

Xie Yu entered Liangxiang and looked at everything in front of him. There were rows of shops in neat rows. Although the streets were shabby, they were very clean. The rumored refugees were nowhere to be seen, and only some merchants were shopping.

The three characters "optical store" were written on the plaque. He walked into the store and saw that the glasses were neatly placed on the shelves. "What is this?"

"This is a monocular telescope. You look like a boss from the capital. Do you want to buy some? I'll give you a discount." The waiter greeted.

Looking at those merchants, Xie Yu understood that those bosses in the capital lied to the people that this place was infested with bandits, but they secretly came to buy goods.

"How much silver? Can I buy on credit?"

The waiter smiled and said, "Boss, who can I find if you run away?"

Xie Yu was so angry that he cursed his grandmother.

These bastards made him hide the silver in the capital, and now he didn't bring a penny.

Yan Chengjin came to Liangxiang Yamen.

Zhang Xian said angrily, "You are the censor, you are responsible for inspecting the government and the country. Why don't you impeach and refute the rumors!"

It's fine if those merchants in the capital spread rumors, but they also said that he was chopped into eight pieces, and the rumors became more and more outrageous.

"Impeachment, be cautious."

Yan Chengjin resettled the refugees in order to gain the trust of Emperor Hongzhi.

This thing is much more useful than the gold medal of immunity from death.

Although Emperor Hongzhi now trusts him, for the sake of caution, the more the better.

Now he is not a member of the cabinet boy group, and he is a long way from debuting as the center.

Emperor Hongzhi cares about refugees and summer and autumn taxes.

In addition to making money by returning refugees to Liangxiang, Yan Chengjin also wants the court treasury to receive silver and unify the commercial taxes of the Ming Dynasty.

Just like unifying weights and measures.

But this approach is extremely difficult, which will hurt the interests of gentry and tax supervisors. Even Wang Bushui is unwilling to do so, so he has to think of a way.

Naturally, he can't rush in front, and Zhang Xian, a young man, is very suitable.

"In two days, this official will dispel the rumors, so you don't have to worry." Yan Chengjin said.

In the past two days, many gentry from the capital came to Liangxiang County, but none of them were willing to stay here and rent a shop.

Because Liangxiang County used the new system, collecting commercial taxes in silver, while the capital still used the old system, which only required the delivery of goods.

The gentry would rather take the goods back to the capital to sell, deceiving the people that this was a place of banditry, than stay in Liangxiang.

The next morning, Zhu Houzhao was bored in the palace, and ran to Yan's house to have fun.

Yan Chengjin was about to go to Liangxiang.

"Lao Gao! I knew it was you as soon as I saw the sedan chair." Zhu Houzhao's smiling voice came.

Yan Chengjin's face was dark: "Your Highness, have you run out of the palace again?"

"I saw that you haven't been to the palace for a few days, so I rode out. What are you going to do?" Zhu Houzhao blinked.

"I'm not going anywhere. Your Highness, please go back to the palace."

Yan Chengjin got off the sedan chair and returned to the mansion. He saw Zhu Houzhao leave before going to Liangxiang.

Who would have thought that he would see Zhu Houzhao in Liangxiang...

Zhu Houzhao was eccentric and obviously a little angry: "Didn't you say that you were not going anywhere?"

This guy must have asked the secret sentry of the Jinyiwei.

"To be honest, I have found the fifth warrior to assist your Highness." Yan Chengjin bowed seriously.

Zhu Houzhao blinked and looked at Yan Chengjin warily.

A moment later, they arrived at the Liangxiang government office.

Yan Chengjin reminded, "This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Zhang Xian, why don't you pay your respects quickly."

Zhang Xian had never seen Zhu Houzhao before, so he quickly bowed and saluted, "I am Zhang Xian, your Highness the Crown Prince."

Yan Chengjin said to Zhu Houzhao, "This is Zhang Xian, the magistrate of Liangxiang, and he is also the warrior that Your Highness has been looking for."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Yan Chengjin suspiciously, then at Zhang Xian, and was unhappy, "Old Gao, why do I feel that warriors can be picked up casually on the street?"

Yan Chengjin said, "Your Highness doesn't know that Lord Zhang has resettled tens of thousands of refugees in Shuntian Prefecture. His talent is not as simple as his face looks."

Zhu Houzhao pinched Yan Chengjin's neck, "You fooled me, I am not angry, I am angry that you fooled me in front of outsiders, I will be very embarrassed."

Your brain is stuck in a donkey's ass, and you still need to pay attention to appearance when being fooled

Zhu Houzhao calmed down: "What exactly do you want to trick me into doing?"

"I want Your Highness to... take him in."

Zhang Xian was very stubborn, but his position was a little low, and Liangxiang County was the birthplace of the new tax law, so he had to find a backer for him.

Yan Chengjin was a little worried. Zhu Houzhao was very smart, and when he didn't want to be fooled, he wouldn't listen to anyone.

Zhu Houzhao hesitated, took out a booklet from his arms, and handed it to Zhang Xian with some disdain: "Before I verify your identity, I will give you a pending position."

"…………" Zhang Xian looked confused.