At this time, Fu Lu also came out from the inside, as silent as a cat, shrinking aside without speaking.
Zong Cong came up a few steps, pulled her and walked towards Dongnuange.
After entering the inside, the two of them got on the kang, and Fu Lu led someone in to serve tea, knowing that it was not good for Pan'er to drink tea when she was pregnant, so she specially prepared a cup of wolfberry and red date tea for her.
Pan'er picked up the tea and looked at it, but didn't drink it because it was still hot, and said: "Don't get angry, they are just worried about your dragon body, if it doesn't matter, why not thank you."
Zong Cong naturally understood this truth, but Fu Lu and the others asked her to put out the fire whenever they saw him get angry, which made him feel very uncomfortable.
Now that Yuanyuan is pregnant, Zong Cong always tries not to show his negative emotions to her, which is why he seldom goes to Jingren Palace when he is busy recently, for fear that she will also get angry.
"I just heard you say 30 million taels when I was standing at the door. Does the military salary at the border gate need 30 million taels?"
In fact, Pan'er knew what 30 million taels was, and it had to be traced back to his previous life, when Zong Yue went south to run an errand. At that time, the Lianghuai salt business had already been rotten from the skin to the bone. The salt merchants seemed to be prosperous, but they were actually strong on the outside and capable on the inside.
The official salt is piled up in the salt field, just because the salt merchants have to manage it everywhere from the salt field. , so that private salt is rampant.
The imperial court couldn't collect the salt tax. On the contrary, the ambassador from a small salt field below to the Lianghuai salt transport envoy, even a small official of a passing prison office, was fat and oily.
There is no cure for the collusion.
At that time Zong Yue went south to return to Beijing, and Pan'er heard about it from his son.
The key point is that we all know that salt affairs are corrupt, but no one dares to take care of them, not only because there are some high-ranking officials behind the salt merchants, but even the royal family and relatives are backers, and because things have long been in a vicious circle, and the court can't move.
For example, the chief merchant Jiang's family, their backer was first the Supreme Emperor, and later the Jianping Emperor. If you eat someone with a short mouth and take others' hands softly, do you turn around and deal with them after you eat it
The key is that this huge country is actually a sieve that has been leaked long ago. After Emperor Jianping came to the throne, he worked hard to govern, and he can be said to be promising, but he couldn't help it. A peaceful and prosperous age that seems to be full of flowers and brocades.
Pan'er guessed that when he gets angry, he always has to compromise in the end.
Because only there is the cheapest, without having to deal with various forces, and without fear of shaking the foundation, you can get money to solve your urgent needs.
At this point, she also understands why he was so obsessed with Lianghuai in his previous life. He even did not hesitate to unplug the prince at that time and destroy the support of the Zhonggong family. In my heart, I have been holding back for decades.
And here Zong Cong was probably furious, so he didn't hide it from Pan'er, and told about the fact that the salt merchants in Yangzhou had donated more than 30 million taels of silver to the court during the years when the late emperor was in power.
In fact, this is not a secret at all. The reason why this peaceful and prosperous world can be maintained due to the internal and external difficulties in the Great Week is all because of the money bag of the Lianghuai Salt Affairs.
The Lianghuai salt tax is half of the salt tax in the world. This sentence is not just a joke. As for the taxation of several big heads of the imperial court, in addition to salt and tea, there is also some mining tax, which is not worth mentioning. Just like the imperial court never expects to collect taxes from farmers to support the huge country.
"When I was in Yangzhou, everyone said that Yangzhou's salt merchants were the most wealthy in the world, and their food and clothing were all exquisite. But my father and my brother all worked on the wharf, and there were countless salt boats that traveled from the salt river to Yangzhou every year. Counting, it is inevitable to know some inside information. In fact, the life of those salt merchants is not easy.
"Naturally, the money will not be paid by the salt merchants themselves. It can only be added to the salt price. Yangzhou is not expensive to eat salt because of its favorable location. Salt to eat, even the local people in Yangzhou buy private salt to eat.
"And those private salts didn't come out of thin air. In fact, they were brought out by the salt merchants from the salt field. Because there is no need for salt imports, naturally... there is no need for the court to levy salt lessons. They simply have to manage them all the way. Those officials With short hands, we naturally turn a blind eye and let him pass unimpeded."
"Is there such a thing?!"
Zong Cong was shocked, and said again: "No wonder I said that the official salt was slow to sell. Every time they handed over the papers, they either said that there was not much salt produced by the natural disaster and weather salt field this year, or that there was a lot of salt accumulated in the salt field, but no one came to pick it up. There is a backlog every year. I also said that the people in Yin'an District don't eat salt anymore, and they told me that the illegal salt is flooding and the attack is weak. "
Zong Cong couldn't sit still anymore, and walked back and forth below, the more he walked, the faster he walked.
Pan'er looked at him, but didn't speak.
Her words can be regarded as a coincidence. Her father and the others have indeed heard many things, but they are only superficial, and many of them are based on some experiences in her previous life.
"I want to punish them! Severely punish them!" Angry to the extreme, Zong Cong also seemed very calm, probably because he didn't know about this aspect before.
In fact, thinking about it, he has only been on the throne for two years, and he has only been in contact with Lianghuai Salt Affairs in recent years. He may have thought that there would be a lot of dirt in it, but he didn't expect it to end here. Naturally, it's not like having accumulated for decades in the previous life and knowing many things by heart.
Fu Lu and the others were so frightened that they all knelt down and persuaded His Majesty to calm down.
Pan'er was still sitting, even looking very calm.
"Your Majesty said that you want to punish the crime. Whose crime do you want to punish? Just punishing a certain official is obviously a temporary solution, not the root cause, because the roots are rotten, unless everyone is replaced. But if everyone is replaced, it will be worth a thousand dollars." Politics is bound to be chaotic, and instead of doing anything, it will make the chaos even worse."
"You mean to say that Lianghuai Salt officials should be reformed?" Zong Cong stood still and looked over.
Pan'er blinked, picked up tea and drank it: "This concubine doesn't understand, and this concubine also knows a little bit."
Seeing her like this, Zong Cong lost his temper inexplicably. He sat down on the kang and brought tea to drink.
"I don't know, you know so much."
This Paner had been prepared for a long time, smiled mysteriously, drove Fulu and the others out, and then whispered: "Last time I wrote a six-door chief arrester, you said I don't know what to say, if the chief arrester Running after a female thief every day, what does that sound like, I don’t have any errands to do. You know I’ve been in Yangzhou for a long time, so this time I’m going to write about a girl who is a teacher because my father got involved in a salt government corruption case And beheaded, this girl sneaked into the government office in order to reverse the case for her father, and finally cleared up the grievances for her father."
"A girl can still be a master, but I've never heard of it or seen it." Zong Cong said, being aroused by his interest.
Pan'er thought to himself: You don't know a lot. The prince who was valued by you back then was the one who was willing to be cut into pieces by this girl and dared to pull the prince off the horse.
This was just Pan'er's temporary thought, but it just explained the hidden worry in her heart.
In the previous life, Yue'er went to Yangzhou on business to get to know his daughter-in-law Feng Sheng, but many things have changed in this life. It is still unknown whether Zong Yue will go to Yangzhou like in the previous life, and Feng Sheng. So Pan'er subconsciously wants to keep something, maybe this thing will be the marriage line of the son and daughter-in-law in the future.
On the face, she said: "Isn't this all a fabrication? In those stories, the poor boy is favored by the emperor, and he insists on marrying the princess despite the fact that he already has a wretched wife?"
"Ridiculous! How low is my princess?!"
"So it's all fiction. Otherwise, I would write about a young, promising and handsome official. In fact, he has a hidden identity, he is a prince, but this girl doesn't know. The prince is here to clean up the salt affairs, and the girl is here to replace him." Father cleared his grievances, and the two developed feelings during the investigation..."
As she said, she put down the teacup and wanted to get off the kang, she seemed very excited: "I think this idea is good, I was still worried about what kind of young offspring I would match this girl with."
Zong Cong grabbed her tightly: "What are you doing?"
"I… "
"You don't even look at your stomach."
Pan'er looked down at her stomach, and sat back in embarrassment.
"I really want to come out as soon as I come out."
…
"Your Majesty, let's not talk about it for now. I'll let Fu Lu pass on the meal. Why don't you eat something first?"
"this… "
Originally, Zong Cong planned to call someone to take a look at the account books and memorials of the Lianghuai Salt Administration over the years, but this is exactly what he said just now, as soon as he thinks about it, he thinks about it.
Seeing her laughing hard, Zong Cong shook his head helplessly, and called Fu Lu in.
Kunning Palace
Ever since Zong Duo fell ill this time, Empress Chen personally brought him back to Kunning Palace from Nansan Institute to recover from his illness.
The Kunning Palace was in a slump, and the maids and eunuchs entered and exited lightly, for fear of touching a nerve of the empress.
In the east side hall, the earth dragon was burned warmly, and the thick cotton curtains blocked the doors and windows tightly, leaving only a crack on the side of the door for the ventilation of the room.
On the bed, Zong Duo was frowning and looking at the medicine bowl in front of him.
Although he didn't say anything, he was obviously repulsed. In fact, Zong Duo had been a little noisy these past few days. He didn't want to take medicine, he didn't eat much, and he was very silent.
In fact, Zong Duo had made a fuss before, saying that he was fine, but everyone around him took him seriously and told him not to make a fuss, take medicine to avoid the wind and catch cold, and he will be fine soon.
But in fact, he felt that he was getting sicker and sicker.
"Mother always thought you were sensible, why are you becoming more and more ignorant now?" Empress Chen has also lost a lot of weight recently. One is because of the empress dowager's death, and she is in a difficult situation in the palace. The other is because of her son's illness. The woman surnamed Su was pregnant again, and there was a faint rumor in the palace that it was twins.
The combination of these heart problems almost didn't break her down.
The reason why she was not defeated was that she still had children and this hope in front of her.
"You are already the queen mother's full hope. Why don't you understand? Concubine Su is pregnant again, saying it's twins. She also has Zong Yue and the others. If this child gives birth to dragon and phoenix twins or a pair of princes. Is there still a place where our mother and son stand? The empress has been reluctant to tell you these things, but you are too naive, don’t you know that the empress and your sister are counting on you? "
"The queen mother..."
"Hurry up and drink the medicine. Many people are bound to come to the palace during the Chinese New Year. You fell ill twice in a row before. The queen mother heard from your uncle that someone in the court has been talking about it in private. You have to prove it to them. You It's fine, before I fell ill because I was too sad about the death of the late emperor and empress dowager."
Zong Duo took the medicine bowl and drank it silently.
In fact, it proves that the house leak happens to rain overnight. This year, because the first emperor and the empress dowager went west successively, the palace will not be too lively.
However, some royal relatives and honorable ministers also entered the palace, but Zong Duo did not appear in front of everyone as Queen Chen expected.
In fact, Zong Duo was already almost recovered, but for some reason he had another cough on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.
In this case, no matter how empress Chen thinks about 'revenge of shame', she can only let Zong Duo stay in the palace and see no one. It's okay to not see people, and you can still have explanations, but if you meet people, you can't hide it even more.
She is now like a person whose house has many holes, blocking one side, leaking that side, blocking that side, leaking this side.
The person, visibly thinned to the naked eye, looked very gloomy.
She didn't know that a person's mental outlook could also reflect his own condition, so before the year was over, the rumors about the eldest prince's serious illness and the empress' worry were spreading wildly, which couldn't be stopped.
It wasn't until spring was almost over that Zong Duo was finally able to go out to meet people, temporarily stopping these gossips.
But the limelight didn't last long, because Concubine Su Gui gave birth.