Zhao Yingce came to the interrogation room and was slightly surprised when he saw Lu Xiucai looking helpless. He thought that the Manichaeans should be the kind of vicious desperadoes.
After Zhao Yingce sat down, Qin Hao said to Lu Xiucai, "Lv Xiucai, please."
Lu Xiucai slowly put down his teacup and said quietly, "In the first year of Jiayou, our hometown examination I failed the exam again, and my mother passed away due to years of hard work. During my mourning period, a wandering monk came to talk to me. At first, I saw that he was very knowledgeable, so I wanted to make friends with him. It was not until three years later that I learned about him. His identity turned out to be an elder of Manichaeism."
Qin Hao was not surprised. Religion's method of controlling people is often like this. Be kind to people at first, and then start to spread his ideas after gaining your trust.
There are two most difficult things in this world, one is to put your money in my pocket, and the other is to put my thoughts into your head.
Religion is precisely the best among the latter. In fact, the same is true for Confucianism and Taoism. However, the teachings of Manichaeism are extremely extreme and can easily lead people to destruction.
Lu Xiucai took another sip of tea to moisten his dry throat. "In the fourth year of Jiayou's reign, I became the leader of Manichaeism in the Jinling area. At that time, Manichaeism activities required a lot of funds. , I proposed to do some business. In addition to Yuehua Building, there are also gambling stalls, silk shops, and dyeing shops. Most of these industries are affiliated to the names of some distinguished people in Jinling City, which saves a lot of trouble."
"In the sixth year of Jiayou's reign, I was promoted to the position of Protector of Manichaeism due to my meritorious business, and took charge of all affairs of Jinling. During this period, we also attracted and bribed a group of Jinling officials and nobles, but before anything happened, I didn't let them know about Manichaeism."
Zhao Yingce sneered, "So you are a business genius. Why didn't you just make a living in business? Why did you join such a cult and live in fear. "The days"
Lu Xiucai was choked to the point of being speechless.
Qin Haodao: "Who is your superior who you usually contact like this? How did you deliver the finances you collected for Manichaeism? In addition, you have the list of all Manichaeism members in Jinling City." List it out."
Lu Xiucai breathed a sigh of relief, "My superior is the monk who introduced me to the religion. This person is extremely mysterious. I don't know his true identity, I only know his name Xuan Kong. , he usually sends someone to contact me. If there is an emergency, I will light three incense sticks, two long and one short, in front of my mother’s memorial tablet in Putuo Temple outside the city. As for the finances collected, they are all transported directly to Yangzhou via merchant ships, over there Someone has taken over, but I don’t know who it is.”
“That’s all.” Qin Hao stared at Lu Xiucai with sharp eyes.
Lu Xiucai was frightened by Qin Hao and suddenly panicked, "That's all I know, Lord Marquis, everything I said is true."
Zhao Yingce said lowly He said in a voice, "Why don't you go to jail?"
Qin Hao shook his head, "The people from the Imperial City Department will be here soon, so I'd better hand him over to them. This kind ofWe don’t need to do the dirty work. "
Zhao Yingce thought so, so he asked Lu Xiucai to prepare a pen and ink to list the list.
After seeing the list, Zhao Yingce broke out in cold sweat on his forehead, Mani said There are actually hundreds of core believers in Jinling City, and many of them have public offices in the imperial court, and the highest position has reached the level of regimental trainer.
If it is further developed by Manichaeism. In ten or twenty years, if the government encounters turmoil again, there may be a chance that someone will take advantage of him.
"Take him down. "Qin Hao waved his hand, and two soldiers lifted Lu Xiucai up.
Lv Xiucai struggled and shouted, "Master Marquis, please give me a pleasure, I have told you everything I know."
< p>Qin Hao reminded Cui Zhi, “Take good care of him, don’t let him die. ""No. "
Zhao Yingce held the list, with a gloomy face under the candlelight. He stood up after a while and said to Qin Hao, "Zihan, take the person first, so as not to have a long night and a lot of dreams. ”
That night, the four gates of the entire Jinling City were closed tightly, and no one was allowed to enter or exit. Officers and soldiers attacked everywhere, holding torches like fire dragons, lighting up the night sky of the entire Jinling City as if it were daytime.
Hundreds of people were arrested overnight. Except for a few alert Manichaeans who escaped early, the rest were all arrested. Through interrogation of them, some hidden Manichaeans were revealed, and the number was already large. There are hundreds of people.
Such a large workload is also a problem for interrogators. Qin Hao does not have that many interrogators, so he can only hold them alone.
Fortunately, two days later, Liu Jinzhong from the Imperial City Department came, and Qin Hao was happy to leave the interrogation directly to him.
Of course, this was not good news for Lu Xiucai and the others. , Lu Xiucai was as wronged as a child, he said everything, but Liu Jinzhong still gave him all the punishment.
In Liu Jinzhong's words, he didn't believe that he had not been punished. At least the prisoner couldn't believe it completely.
After interrogation, Liu Jinzhong actually found out some information that Qin Hao had not discovered. For example, there was a Manichaean shadow behind King Yan's rebellion.
According to Manichaeism's idea, the rebellion of King Yan would be wiped out. It would be best for King Yan to kill Emperor Renzong, which would trigger a rebellion among the clan vassals and cause the entire Song Dynasty to fall apart. Finally, Manichaeism took advantage of the situation. < /p>
It was just that Manichaeism did not expect that Zhao Zongquan suddenly appeared, quickly put an end to the rebellion, and gained the recognition of Emperor Renzong as a new generation of kings in the Bianjing Imperial City. , Zhao Zongquan broke into a cold sweat after seeing Liu Jinzhong's secret letter. This means that he was lucky, otherwise the world would be in chaos and he would have no chance of succeeding.
"The Manichaeans must be eradicated. "This secret letter further strengthened Zhao Zongquan's belief in annihilating Manichaeism.
That night, Zhao Zongquan came to the palace of Empress Dowager Cao and handed the secret letter to Empress Dowager Cao.
Empress Dowager Cao SeeThe official could not help but be shocked, especially when it was mentioned in the secret letter that someone in the Cao family branch was involved with Manichaeism.
"What do the officials want the Ai family to do?" Empress Dowager Cao looked at the secret letter in a daze and said quietly after a long while.
Zhao Zongquan knelt on the ground and said sincerely, "If Manichaeism is not eliminated for one day, it will be a huge threat to the country and the country. I implore the Queen Mother and her ministers to work together to protect the country of the Song Dynasty."
Empress Dowager Cao also knew that the advantage was not on her side now, so it was pretty good that Zhao Zongquan could give her a step down at this time.
"Okay, let's just follow the wishes of the officials."
Of course, cooperation is cooperation, and the salt tax reform must continue, but Zhao Zongquan also left a legacy for the Cao family. In order to save some face, he gave the salt from Jiangnan West Road and Jiannan Road to the Cao family and allowed them to continue their business.
As for other Yanyin, they followed Qin Hao's method and cooperated with nobles in various places. Not only were they able to return tax revenue to the national treasury, but they also helped Zhao Zongquan establish contacts with local nobles.
As for the Manichaean matter, it was left directly to Liu Jinzhong. Qin Hao did not interfere, but concentrated on the salt tax reform.
After traveling through most of the Song Dynasty for more than a year, we finally formulated a complete salt introduction system integrating salt production, transportation and sales.
To put it simply, it is a monopoly sale, and the salt farm produces according to the quantity of salt imported. This eliminates most of the purchase channels for private salt.
In the past, the proliferation of illegal salt was mainly due to the collusion between salt farm owners and private salt dealers. The more salt they produced, the more salt they produced would be sold to the private salt dealers for huge profits. In order to produce more salt, salt farm owners The officials will try their best to squeeze the coolies in the salt field and even care about human lives.
Zhao Yingce was a little worried at first, whether the absence of private salt would make the common people unable to afford official salt.
Qin Hao took him to the market for a walk. The price of official salt was indeed more expensive, but in fact the price of private salt was not much cheaper. After all, the transportation and sales costs of salt were Similarly, the only advantage of private salt is that there is no need to pay taxes.
But in fact, there are a lot of things that private salt dealers need to deal with. After all, the majority of the profits have been made by corrupt officials. Those private salt dealers are definitely not at risk of being beheaded. They do charity work, so in many cases private salt is actually about 10 cheaper than official salt.
The reason why the price of official salt was high before was mainly because the Cao family sold private salt for profit and priced it too high. However, Qin Hao reset the price of official salt and increased the quantity of salt. Generally speaking, , official salt is enough to meet market demand.
Of course, as long as private salt is profitable, some people will take desperate risks. This cannot be prohibited by an administrative order.
Even in later generations, the ways to make money quickly were written in the criminal law, so Qin Hao could only strengthen the investigation and punishment of illegal salt at the port terminal.
In more than a year, Qin Hao and Zhao Yingce have become increasingly tacit in their cooperation.Qi, usually Qin Hao plays the bad side and Zhao Yingce plays the red face, which also gives Zhao Yingce the reputation of "Wise King".
Jinling, which was the first to implement salt tax reform, also handed in a satisfactory answer in the past year, turning in a salt tax of 400,000 guan, which is much higher than before. It was four times more. According to estimates, the salt tax alone could bring more than 10 million yuan in tax revenue to the national treasury, and Sheng Wei also became a celebrity in front of Zhao Yingce.
On the way back to Bianjing, Zhao Yingce said to Qin Hao with emotion, "If it weren't for Zihan on this trip, such a complicated situation would be like a mess, and I just can't figure it out."
Qin Hao smiled and shook his head, "Why should His Highness, King Huan, be so humble? If His Highness, King Huan, were not here, how could I have instigated those nobles?"
This is the truth, although Qin Hao You are the founder of the country, but his foundation is still shallow. If he comes alone, those nobles may not betray his face. And as King Huan is the candidate for the future crown prince, those nobles are naturally eager to establish a relationship with him. Many of them are eager to establish a relationship with him. Things will be settled.
After more than a year, I returned to Bianjing again.
There is one good thing about ancient society. Let alone one year, it is ten or a hundred years. Many places are still the same. Qin Hao cannot even notice the passage of time.
On the pier, a little girl rushed towards him, threw herself into his arms, and sweetly shouted "Daddy."
Qin Hao hugged his daughter with emotion. Get up. When he left, this girl was only one and a half years old. It was difficult to even walk. Now she can run and jump.
"Sister Lan, do you miss your father?" Qin Hao kissed his daughter on the face.
Maybe it was the stubble on Qin Hao’s face that hurt the little girl, so she turned her head to avoid it and giggled.
"I thought about it."
"Where do I think about it?"
"I think about it here." The little girl patted her chest with her chubby little hand.
Qin Hao laughed and felt bored with his daughter again.
Yu Yanran couldn't stand it anymore, so she walked forward with her son in her arms and complained, "You only have eyes for your daughter."
Qin Hao saw his son looking at him timidly. He hugged himself, squatted down, and hugged him.
"Brother Ming, do you miss daddy?"
Brother Ming nodded vigorously, which made Yu Yanran a little depressed. This child is good at everything, but his mouth is not sweet enough. Like a girl, eloquent.
"Haha, Zihan has a son and a daughter. It's so gratifying and congratulatory. It makes others envious." Zhao Yingce said with a smile.
Yu Yanran quickly greeted Zhao Yingce.
"Mrs. Yu doesn't need to be polite. We are all our own people. From now on, we will bring the children to visit the palace more often. Sister Lan is so smart and smart. The princess will definitely like her when she sees her." Zhao Yingce waved his hand and smiled. Hehe said.
Qin Hao looked at Zhao Yingce with some vigilance, "His Royal Highness King Huan, please agree first that my daughter is not a baby."
Yu Yanran secretly tugged on Qin Hao's sleeves. , this canThis is His Royal Highness King Huan, the future crown prince, and his son may also be an official in the future. If a marriage can be achieved, the Qin family will become relatives of the emperor in the future.
Hearing this, Zhao Yingce laughed and scolded, "I don't know how many people want to get married to my Quan brother, but you still dislike it."
Qin Hao smiled faintly and looked at his daughter's round belly. "My daughter does not seek to be distinguished, but she seeks to be of the same mind as a husband and wife."
Yu Yanran's eyes were slightly red. This was what she was thinking when she was a girl, but at that time, her family The environment no longer allowed her to expect too much. If she hadn't married Qin Hao, how could she be where she is today
Afterwards, Qin Hao and Zhao Yingce went to the palace to recover, while Yu Yanran He took the children and Qin Hao's luggage back to Jinghaihou Mansion.
Inside the palace.
When Zhao Zongquan saw Qin Hao, he praised him and said, "Qin Aiqing is indeed a capable minister. In just over a year, the salt tax reform has begun to take effect, which is really indispensable."
< p>Qin Hao bowed slightly, "This matter is not the work of Wei Chen alone. If it were not for the support of the official family and His Royal Highness King Huan, it would not have such an effect.""Haha, King Huan's performance is also good. Not bad." As a father, Zhao Zongquan felt somewhat proud when he heard someone praise his son.
Zhao Zongquan did not promote Qin Hao this time. After all, he was already in the second rank. If he were promoted at this age, he would not be rewarded if he made meritorious service in the future.
So, after Qin Hao returned home, the imperial edict came down immediately, rewarding some rare treasures and two imperial palaces. In addition, the biggest reward was that Yu Yanran’s imperial edict was raised to Second grade, in terms of grade, she is now half a grade higher than Qin Hao.
When Yu Yanran received the imperial edict, she looked like she was dreaming.
"I will have a second-grade imperial edict"
She is only in her twenties now. If Xiao Qin had reached this age, he would have given it to her only after the death of Marquis Ningyuan. Feng's second-grade imperial edict.
After being stunned for a while, when she turned back, she found that Qin Hao had returned to the front hall with his son and daughter in his arms.
Sister Lan hugged Qin Hao's thigh and sat up on the seesaw. This was also their favorite game before, but Sister Lan was still young at that time, and now she sat on Qin Hao's for a while. My legs are a little sore.
Seeing this, Yu Yanran quickly pulled her daughter off, "Your father just came back today, so you can't stop for a while."
Sister Lan pursed her lips, looking aggrieved. Qin Hao picked her up with some distress, "Okay, the child hasn't seen me for a long time and misses me. Please stay with her for a while and stop nagging her."
"Huh, just pamper her. Well, if you pamper her so much that your husband will dare to ask for her in the future," Yu Yanran said unconvinced.
Qin Hao said proudly, "There will be so many people rushing to get my daughter. If you don't believe me, let's make a bet."
"Huh, I'm too lazy to care about you. Go and wash up." , the hot water has been put away." Yu Yanran said.Mouth, how could she really hope that her daughter would not get married?
In the room, Qin Hao was halfway through taking a bath when Yu Yanran came in and picked up a towel to wipe Qin Hao's back.
Qin Hao grabbed Yu Yanran's still smooth hand and said with a smirk, "Why don't we wash it together?"
Yu Yanran rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Don't make trouble, look at this The water is so black."
"Okay, how dare you despise your husband and ask for a beating?"
As he said that, Qin Hao stood up from the barrel and said simply. After wiping his body, he hugged Yu Yanran horizontally.
After the storm, Qin Hao and Yu Yanran hugged each other and fell asleep.
Qin Hao slept soundly this time, and it was the next morning in the blink of an eye.
Qin Hao opened his eyes and found Yu Yanran looking at him with distressed eyes. Qin Hao gently held her in his arms and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
" It must be very hard for my husband to be out there."
Qin Hao smiled and shook his head, "It's a bit hard, but it's nothing compared to going out to sea."
Seeing the atmosphere, he felt a little sad. Qin Hao rolled his eyes and said with a bad smile, "This time in Jiangnan, your husband and I have visited brothels several times. Tsk tsk, he is really thin and fat."
Yu Yanran looked at Qin Hao jokingly, and then She asked delicately, "Oh, then why didn't you bring me back, husband?"
Well, being seen through, Qin Hao said softly, "Actually, I have seen all those courtesans, and they are not as beautiful as Madam. "
"Pfft." Yu Yanran was touched and funny at the same time.
"A husband is always good at making people happy, but I heard that Yangzhou's thin horse has the appearance of a moon-shy flower, how can I compare"
Qin Hao's face on Yu Yanran's face Kissed her, "But I just don't think they are as good-looking as Madam."
Yu Yanran's pretty face was slightly red. Even though she was already a mother of two children at this moment, she still couldn't help but feel dry after hearing such loving words. Dry tongue.
Just when Qin Hao was about to do some morning exercises, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and Sister Lan ran to the bed with her short legs.
"Dad, mother."
Qin Hao was instantly discouraged, and Yu Yanran couldn't help laughing out loud when she saw this.
There is no other choice but to coax the child out, change clothes and get up.
Soon after Qin Hao got up, the Qin Liu family’s nanny came to ask Qin Hao to come over for dinner.
Qin Hao simply took Yu Yanran and the two little guys to have a meal, but when he arrived, he found that Xiao Qin and Gu Tingwei were also there. Please remember to bookmark the website, the latest, fastest and free to read without anti-theft