The tax sent by Rongcheng? Isn't this really teasing them
The guard was stunned immediately, and couldn't believe what he had heard. There was even an urge to open those salted fish to see if there were any assassins or spies hidden inside. Otherwise, the king of Narong County is stupid, and he would never send dozens of carts of salted fish to pay taxes. Aren't you afraid that Long Yan will directly take his head in anger
However, in the face of their caution, the two tax envoys and the escorting soldiers all had sneers on their faces. And I think these guards are simply too sweet. Just like the straightforward character of the county king. How could it be possible to come up with any moths? That is a spit and a nail.
Want to check? no problem! As long as you don't regret it.
So, under the signal of the two tax envoys, all the soldiers opened the cart containing the salted fish and let them search. Immediately afterwards, the entire gate of the city was filled with the smell of salted fish.
Very authentic and pungent. Those guards immediately regretted it. I felt that I must have had a brain disease if I had doubts before. With such an unpleasant fishy smell, if someone really hid in it, they would probably be smoked to death before going to Beijing.
But now, the two tax envoys have opened all the cars, and they have to go through the inspections they asked for even on their knees. The guards burst into tears in an instant, and kept talking to them about the two taxes. "My lord, you have really worked hard."
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However, the commotion at the city gate soon spread to the palace.
After the emperor heard it, his first reaction was to be angry.
He originally thought that Song Yucheng was promising, but looking at it this way, he was indeed promising, and it became more and more outrageous.
Hearing that Song Yucheng had even received a cart of salted fish from the imperial dining room, his face became even more gloomy. If it wasn't for Song Yucheng who was far away in Rongcheng, the emperor might have called people over directly and beat him twenty times.
The dignity of the royal family is simply ignored!
But right now, the emperor was angry, and the other side of the imperial dining room was also melancholy. Even though the cartload of salted fish that Song Yucheng sent didn't sound like much, the whole imperial dining room was going to explode.
Salted fish has a strong taste, but the ingredients in the imperial dining room are all carefully selected. All kinds of masters are used to fine clothes and fine food, no matter how good the ingredients are, if they are smoked by the smell of salted fish, they will all be tainted with fishy smell.
"Master, what are we going to do?" the servant in the imperial dining room asked the imperial chef sadly.
In the end, the imperial chef was also helpless, so he could only decide, if not, let's make these salted fish first. At any rate, it was a native product sent by King Rong, so let's try it out together.
Just like that, everyone in the palace had an extra dish of salted fish for dinner today. The emperor was already angry because of this. After seeing the dinner, I felt more and more that the fish head and fish eyes on the plate seemed to be a speechless mockery.
"Asshole! I'll ask the imperial dining room to send the rest of the salted fish to the Prince Rong's mansion." The emperor was furious and dropped his chopsticks.
And the one who will accompany the emperor to eat, happens to be Concubine Ying, and when she heard that there was something wrong with Song Yucheng, she also couldn't wait to make trouble.
"The emperor calm down, praying for the new year is the heart of a child, don't blame him, what if he thinks this salted fish is a good thing!"
This is very embarrassing to say. After all, no matter how stupid a person is, he would not think that salted fish is a good thing. As for the heart of a child, it's all about sowing discord.
Concubine Ying did this on purpose, right now he loathes Song Yucheng extremely. It's not just because Song Yucheng made a big fuss at his wedding and almost killed the Seventh Prince by mistake. Even the matter of Huo Yinshan's father and daughter was blamed on Song Yucheng's head by her mistake, and she felt that none of the people from Congrong City had a good thing.
And the emperor was even angrier because of her persuasion: "What kind of heart, I'm afraid I'm not used to him being so bold! Native property tax credit, what kind of local product is salted fish? And even if it's a local product tax deduction, it's worth it. It's also money and food, how can it be paid for with local products? He is disrespectful!"
But at this moment, there was another reply from the treasury, saying that the treasury had been looted.
"What?" The emperor was startled suddenly, but the second half of the man's next sentence made the emperor dumbfounded again.
"It was ransacked by cats."
Who would have thought that those cats who followed the two tax envoys all the way to Beijing would not give up even after they failed to get their way from the two tax envoys. Not only did they not, they also followed to Shangjing and sneaked into the treasury cunningly.
However, those in charge of guarding the treasury did not take care of these salted fish very carefully. He even thought that maybe the emperor ordered Song Yucheng to be punished tomorrow, so these salted fish would be disposed of.
So I didn't take care of it at all.
So, these cats really succeeded. Just look at the big cats and kittens jumping up and down in the treasury, each with a salted fish in its mouth. Going up the tree, going up the house, going up the window on the wall, that's a fast run.
When the guards reacted, almost every cart of salted fish was looted. As for other things in the warehouse, they were also damaged a lot. After all, cats don't care if you're precious or not.
In their eyes, the fish is the most important thing.
"So, Your Majesty, what do you want to do with these salted fish? They can't all be piled up in the treasury's warehouse. One is that other items in the warehouse can't stand the smell. The other is that these cats are also a problem!" The official in charge of the treasury Eyes full of bitter tears, I very much hope that the emperor can quickly dispose of these unlucky salted fish.
But he didn't know that the emperor was far more annoying than him. Because the palace has already been baptized by a wave of salted fish.
Smell the fishy smell that can't dissipate in the air, it's the smell of salted fish from the same origin as in their warehouse. There are so many capable chefs in the imperial dining room, there is no way to eliminate these fishy smells, they can only let them disperse, let alone the emperor himself.
In the end, he simply decided that if it didn't work, he would send all the salted fish to the Prince Rong's mansion. Send two tax envoys to Rongcheng again, this time to pay the tax, you must ask for money! Moreover, Song Yucheng must be severely punished.
However, at this moment, someone outside reported that it was someone from Rongjun Wangfu and the crown prince.
"What are you here for? Leading fish?" The emperor was furious. In the end, the man said that the people from Rongjun Wangfu came here with things.
No more, no less, three hundred thousand taels.
That's all Song Yucheng's net worth. Seeing the Xu broken silver on the top, he knew that Song Yucheng might have taken out all the monthly money from the mansion for that month. Even at the bottom, there is the official seal of rewarding silver in the palace.
The person who came to give the money was when the eldest princess was still alive, there was an old mother and a hidden guard beside her. Seeing that the emperor's expression eased up, the hidden guard reported the specific situation: "Your Majesty, our father entrusted you His Royal Highness's subordinates sent a message, saying that Rongcheng's tax money should be prepared by the manor. They told you not to be angry, because he was ignorant and made things difficult for you."
"Is this ignorant? It's just nonsense! Rongcheng's tax money comes from the prince's mansion of another county, what's the matter? Demonstrating with me, isn't it?"
"Your Majesty's atonement." The hidden guard and the old mother kowtowed immediately.
And the prince's subordinates also took advantage of the opportunity to send a note of greeting.
The emperor didn't want to watch it, but the people in this place were all related to Song Yucheng's cart of salted fish, no matter which one it was, it made his stomach hurt. It's better to take a look at the prince's booklet.
After all, although he doesn't like this son, he is capable.
When I opened it up, it was even worse.
Compared with Song Yucheng's little greeting papers every time, the crown prince's is obviously more organized. The content description is also more clear.
He mainly said three things.
The first is the corruption of the prefects of the five cities and prefectures in Rongcheng. It listed in detail all the crimes committed by the five prefectures, including Huo Yinshan, in the border town far away from Emperor Shangao over the years. For such a long memorial, I actually wrote three volumes.
The emperor directly flipped through the summary of the last book, and when he saw the total amount of money corrupted by the prefects of the five cities, he was almost stunned.
Nearly 70 million taels of silver, this is their tax revenue for a full year in Da'an! However, now, they have come together from the mansions of these five magistrates. And it's only cash, not counting other rare treasures and precious stones.
"It's unreasonable, it's unreasonable!" The emperor's original anger towards Song Yucheng was instantly transferred to these corrupt officials. And then, after seeing the second thing reported by the prince, my heart became more and more tense.
It is about the current situation of the five cities in Rongcheng. Among them, the four cities of Yancheng are still relatively peaceful, but Rongcheng... is really poor.
In the words of the crown prince, there may be no place poorer than Rongcheng in Da'an.
There is no land, only the sea, but the four surrounding cities all have seas. Therefore, no one bought Rongcheng's seafood at all. And Rongcheng didn't have any salt guides, so he wasn't qualified to sell sea salt.
Even if some people say that if you rely on the sea to eat the sea, you will not starve to death, that life is not guaranteed. Medicinal materials are scarce, and food and vegetables are even less pitiful. Some poor people can't even eat a bite of vegetables after Chinese New Year.
After Song Yucheng led the troops there, he couldn't find a better way to improve it. He could only ask the quartermaster to speak out and exchange some of the food and vegetables for the people in the city.
"Nonsense! What about the two tax envoys? Why didn't you report this situation?" The more the emperor looked, the more angry he became. Soldiers are the foundation of defending the country. Even though the status of warriors is lower than that of literati, the emperor has never treated soldiers badly in terms of military rations. Even more generous.
Therefore, when he heard that the soldiers brought by Song Yucheng couldn't even eat a decent meal, he didn't want to mention what it was like.
However, the two tax envoys who came later confirmed the prince's words again.
"Rongcheng is really poor, and not only the people and the soldiers of the garrison eat fish, but even the king of Rong's three meals a day are the same as those generals."
"You mean that Qi Nian eats these things every day over there?"
"Yes, because there are only these things in Rongcheng." Although the two tax envoys hated Song Yucheng's salted fish to the extreme, they couldn't help but show some admiration for Song Yucheng when they mentioned this. It is said that Rongjun Wang is a dandy and arrogant, but judging from the hearts of the people he leads the army, he is a righteous and bloody man.
The anger in the emperor's heart suddenly subsided a lot, and he even felt a little embarrassed. The majestic king, the food he eats every day is probably not as good as an ordinary palace man in the palace. If so many people hadn't seen it with their own eyes, the emperor would never believe it.
But after seeing the third thing that the prince reported back, these sighs immediately turned into shock.
The case of the ransacking of that village in Yaocheng has been investigated. The perpetrators were not others, but Japanese pirates.
"How could there be Japanese pirates?" The doubts in the emperor's heart deepened.
As far back as the beginning of the founding of Da'an, there was indeed a Wa country next to it. And every time winter approaches, Japanese pirates come from the sea to loot coastal villages. But later, the ancestors of Da'an were furious, and simply led troops to encircle and suppress the Wa Kingdom. After the Wa Kingdom was destroyed, the coastal towns completely recovered their calm. Until now, there has been no news of any changes.
But right now, when He Qinghaiyan was here, he heard that there were Japanese pirates attacking him, and he had already been robbed once. This was definitely a very serious matter for the emperor.
"No, call the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Prime Minister to come over. This matter is of great importance! It must be dealt with seriously. Is the crown prince still in the city?"
"Yes! The prince of the county has been practicing the navy since he arrived in Rongcheng. When we sent the news a few days ago, the prince of the county had already managed to determine where the gang of Japanese pirates settled. Based on the current time, it is estimated that he has led troops to encircle and suppress them. gone."
"Nonsense! What encirclement and suppression? Does he have a boat? Rongcheng can't even eat, and Yu Qinian has to lead troops to fight. What should he use to fight? Can he use Rongcheng's salted fish?" At this moment, the emperor was really anxious. Even the salted fish in Rongcheng said such things.
But the reply from the prince's subordinate made the emperor feel as if he had been poured cold water.
"Your Majesty, the county prince said, don't worry about it. He just took people to have a look, and if he didn't really fight, he went to grab the search ship and come back." After the prince's subordinate finished speaking, he felt that the influence was not good. But thinking of the sentence that Song Yucheng exhorted Wan later, which was more nonsense than the first half of the sentence, he felt that it was nothing to snatch a boat or something. So after taking a deep breath, he still finished the rest of the sentence, "In addition, Your Majesty, the county prince also said that he asked you to help take care of his wife, and he will come back alive and well, don't let his daughter-in-law remarry .”
God damn remarried.
The emperor was completely speechless, just for a while, he was angry, sad, and anxious, and now he was dumbfounded by Song Yucheng's words, "Don't let my daughter-in-law remarry."
No matter what time, my unreliable nephew is still messing around. The Japanese pirates are such a big deal, they still think about Wu Wenshan, how much does Song Yucheng like him
The more the emperor thought about it, the more he felt a splitting headache. In the end, there was no other way but to let the crown prince stay in the city and help watch Song Yucheng. As for the Japanese pirates, let the Ministry of War and the prime minister come up with a charter first, and make plans.
As for the salted fish brought by Song Yucheng... the emperor didn't even have the strength to be angry now, so he simply ordered it to be distributed from house to house according to the division of Da'an officials, counting from head to head.
From today onwards, all officials in Beijing, including the royal family members, must eat salted fish every day, so that they can experience the suffering of the people in Rongcheng together. When they become officials, they will also warn themselves to be a good official !
That's it, after the order was issued, the emperor finally felt a lot better, but the officials and clan members couldn't help but want to cry. As for the cooks in their respective families, they scolded Song Yucheng thousands of times.
It was hard for them too, even though there were a large number of relatives of the officials who went to Beijing, they couldn't make up for the dozens of carts of salted fish worth 300,000 taels of silver.
For a moment, the entire inner city of Shangjing was filled with the smell of salted fish. Even when these officials went to court, the official uniforms on their bodies all had different shades of fishy smell of the sea.
———————
However, the side of Shangjing was full of complaints because of Song Yucheng's tossing, and Song Yucheng's side had already taken people out to sea without incident.
But this situation is not very beautiful. Although Yu Jiajun has been familiar with naval battles since arriving in Rongcheng, and often takes his boats to conduct exercises by the sea. But when they actually entered the sea, they realized that naval battles are not like that.
Just trying to stand firm with a weapon on a bumpy deck is already very difficult in itself, let alone fighting.
What's more troublesome is that the soldiers suffered from severe seasickness, so severe that they almost vomited to the point where they could not eat. But this was only the second day they entered the sea. The point is, their boat speed is still very slow.
"Master, this won't work. After a few days of tossing around, even if we arrive, the soldiers may not have the strength to fight in this state. It's good not to be caught, let alone steal the ship."
"I know." Song Yucheng nodded, frowning and lost in thought.
Regarding the unsuitability at sea, he had considered it a long time ago, and he also took a lot of precautions. But these precautions, after actually encountering the march at sea, are all useless. After all, a person's physique and habits cannot be changed instantly.
In the final analysis, the ship is still too swaying. If there is any way to reduce this, these soldiers will be able to live much better.
While thinking about it, Song Yucheng wanted to discuss with the system. Just when he was about to ask the system if there was anything he could do, a thick and weak voice suddenly came from afar: "I'm starving to death, I want to eat."
What's this? It seems to come from the bottom of the sea? Song Yucheng closed his eyes and felt it carefully, and then his eyes suddenly lit up. Song Yucheng felt that he might have a better way to deal with the pirates.
It suddenly occurred to him that it was not just Japanese pirates who came from the sea, but others. The point is, there has never been any book of war that stipulates that the naval battle must be the navy!
The author has something to say:
Song Yucheng: Hello everyone, let me introduce you, this is my new member of the Yu Family Army!
New member: [spit bubbles]
Japanese pirates: [scared to cry.jpg]