Sun Chengzong glanced at Li Yiqi and took some food as well. He was also hungry.
Sun Chengzong looked around and realized that the others were similar to them. He smiled and looked away.
The two of them walked to a table and sat down to eat.
No one spoke during meals. The entire cafeteria was silent. There was only the sound of people eating.
After breakfast, everyone left the cafeteria. Some of them went back to their dormitories to rest. They were quite tired after a long morning.
Sun Chengzong and Li Yiqi also went back to their dormitories. They only packed up their brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Then, the two of them went to the classroom with baskets.
The two of them had been here yesterday afternoon and were familiar with the place.
The classroom was very big. There were many long tables and chairs.
Sun Chengzong and Li Yiqi found a place to sit. They were looking forward to the first class.
When the gong sounded, a man in black walked in from outside. He was holding a book in his hand.
He placed the book on the table in front of him and swept his gaze across everyone.
This was a young man. He was well-built and had bright eyes. He had a black beard and looked like a teacher. However, he was different from what they remembered.
"Greetings, sir!"
Sun Chengzong and the others stood up and bowed.
"At ease!"
The teacher smiled and said, "My name is Li Qi. You can call me Mr. Li. From today onwards, I will be your mathematics teacher. Here are the mathematics teaching materials. Come, distribute them to everyone."
Li Qi glanced at Sun Chengzong and said with a smile.
While Sun Chengzong was distributing the teaching materials, Li Qi turned around and wrote two words on the blackboard behind him: Mathematics!
Forbidden City, Wenhua Hall.
Zhu Yijun sat expressionlessly on the Dragon Throne and flipped through the memorials. After reading a few of them, he casually put them aside and stood up in irritation.
Great things were happening in the northwest and Yangzhou. Zhu Yijun could not stand these memorials.
Yangzhou City, Imperial Envoy Residence.
Zhang Jing glanced at the man standing in front of him and said with a smile, "From the Inner Factory?"
"Eunuch Chang, I am Qi Ying, the commander of the Inner Factory's Bird Division!"
Qi Ying quickly bowed and replied.
Although Qi Ying was from the inner factory and had a high status, he still needed to show enough respect to Zhang Jing.
After all, Zhang Jing was the factory manager of Dongchang, and his status was very high.
Among the eunuchs, he was considered a senior.
Zhang Jing nodded and put down the teacup in his hand. He said slowly, "You came here in the middle of the night. Tell me about the current situation in Yangzhou."
Qi Ying quickly said, "Yes, Gong-gong. In fact, the matter in Yangzhou must be told from the news of the imperial envoy's arrival, or from the case of the Qian family in Hejian Prefecture.
After the case of the Qian family of Hejian Prefecture was exposed, people in Jiangnan began to worry. "
"Most of these salt merchants have sent people to the capital. Firstly, they want to gather information. Secondly, they want to prevent the court from investigating the salt policy."
Zhang Jing listened to Qi Ying's words and nodded. This was all within his expectations. He reckoned that his actions in Yangzhou would soon be known by the people in the capital.
He reckoned that impeachment would be inevitable, but with the Imperial Majesty there, Zhang Jing wasn't worried at all.
If he didn't do his job well, Zhang Jing might be worried, but he didn't need to care about anything else.
"Among the salt merchants in Yangzhou, there are seven leading families. Among them, there are four Jin merchants and three Huizhou merchants."
Qi Ying explained, "The four Jin merchants are Zhang, Wang, Li, and Fan, but they don't have deep connections with the local officialdom in Yangzhou."
Zhang Jing glanced at Qi Ying and said with a smile, "Is this all the inner factory has found?"
In fact, before Zhang Jing came, he had already investigated these things. It should be known that Zhang Jing was the factory manager of Dongchang. Dongchang was not blind, and their intelligence was not weak.
Especially after the rise of the inner factory in recent years, Zhang Jing had put a lot of effort in this aspect.
"Please forgive me, Eunuch Chang!" Qi Ying hurriedly bowed. He knew that Zhang Jing wasn't interested in what he said.
"When the news of the imperial envoy's arrival reached Yangzhou, the Yangzhou officialdom and the salt merchants quickly reached an agreement to give the imperial court an explanation."
This time, Qi Ying didn't explain and went straight to the point.
Zhang Jing smiled, took a sip of tea, and said with a smile, "It's good to give the imperial court an explanation, but whether or not the explanation they give is what the Imperial Majesty wants is not up to them to decide."
Qi Ying knew that this time, the imperial court would definitely make a big move, otherwise, they wouldn't have sent the Bird Division.
At the time of the Qian family in Hejian Prefecture, no one from the three divisions of the inner factory was mobilized.
"Who do they want to push out as a scapegoat?" Zhang Jing glanced at Qi Ying and asked with a smile.
"Yangzhou Transport Commissioner Yan Huaiyuan!"
Qi Ying hurriedly answered, "Ever since Yan Huaiyuan came to the Yangzhou Zhizhou, the Qi family made a move on Yan Huaiyuan. Using beauty and money, they directly turned Yan Huaiyuan into one of their people.
After Yan Huaiyuan came to Yangzhou, Qi Heng arranged for his new concubines.
Qi Heng has a Lovely Spring Brothel in Yangzhou that is used to collect and cultivate beautiful women and then use them as gifts.
According to this lowly official's investigation, Qi Heng basically has something on these women.
With these favored women, many of Qi Heng's matters will be much easier to handle. "
Zhang Jing laughed again, "Pillow talk, men are like this!"
Hearing Zhang Jing's sigh, Qi Ying didn't know how to respond. Talking about men in front of a eunuch, wasn't this seeking death?
"Continue talking about Yan Huaiyuan!"
Zhang Jing put down the teacup in his hand, glanced at Qi Ying, and said with a smile, "I'm actually interested in this Yan Huaiyuan."
"In reality, the Qi family is interested in the position of Yangzhou Transport Envoy, not Yan Huaiyuan himself."
Qi Ying thought about it and said with some difficulty, "The Qi family doesn't care who becomes the Transport Envoy, but the Transport Envoy must be one of their people."
Zhang Jing glanced at Qi Ying and said with a smile, "So they didn't hesitate at all to abandon Yan Huaiyuan!"
"Yes, Eunuch Chang, that's the case. Salt merchants made of iron, officials made of water."
Qi Ying nodded and said, "These days, the Qi family has been pressuring Yan Huaiyuan to take all the blame and admit that he extorted the salt merchants and forced them to do illegal things."
When Zhang Jing heard this, he immediately laughed. "Why does this method resemble those shameless civil officials?"
"Tsk tsk, what a good method. If Yan Huaiyuan really does this, this matter will be troublesome."
After laughing, Zhang Jing became serious. "If Yan Huaiyuan takes all the blame for these filthy matters, these salt merchants might actually be able to get away."
Of course, Qi Ying also knew that the salt merchants' actions were actually very obvious.
Controlling the salt fields, selling illicit salt, embezzling the court's money and grain, turning official salt into illicit salt, driving up the price of salt, these were all things that didn't need to be investigated.
In other words, any random salt merchant could be pulled over to investigate and these crimes could be pinned on them.
Zhang Jing knew what the Imperial Majesty meant. He wanted to start with the corrupt officials and investigate the crimes of the salt merchants, then rectify the salt merchants.
If the corrupt officials took the blame for the salt merchants' crimes, then the purpose of investigating the salt merchants and rectifying the salt merchants would not be achieved.
This was a drastic measure. From Zhang Jing's point of view, he definitely wouldn't let this happen.
Among the officials of Yangzhou, Yangzhou Transport Envoy Yan Huaiyuan was the key to this entire matter.
Raising his head to look at Qi Ying, Zhang Jing asked in a low voice, "Then what did the inner court do?"
"The Qi family has been pressuring Yan Huaiyuan, but Yan Huaiyuan has some letters in his hands. I don't know the specific contents, but it made Qi Heng hesitate to take action.
The Qi family wants to get these letters back through Yan Huaiyuan's concubine, Yun Niang, but they haven't succeeded yet. "
"However, I'm afraid Yan Huaiyuan won't be able to hold on for too long. Qi Heng will think of a way to make him confess."
"This lowly official is thinking of a way to get the letters, but we haven't found anything yet."
Zhang Jing nodded his head, "Then speed up the process. This gap has to be opened by Yan Huaiyuan."
After Qi Ying left, Zhang Jing stood up and walked to the room next door. Sitting on a chair, he looked at the person in front of him and asked with a smile, "Tell me, is what Qi Ying said true?"
In front of Zhang Jing, a man in his thirties stood respectfully. This man was a typical Jiangnan man. He wasn't very tall.
After hearing Zhang Jing's words, he quickly said, "Replying to the Factory Lord, what he said is true."
"However, our people have inquired about some information. I don't know if Qi Ying didn't say it or if the inner court didn't inquire about it."
As soon as Zhang Jing heard this, he was interested. In fact, he still trusted his Dongchang. This person was the person he had arranged for Dongchang in Yangzhou.
Now that he heard that Dongchang had found information that the inner court couldn't, he was naturally overjoyed.
"Yan Huaiyuan not only has letters in his hands, but also an account book."
"This account book is the account book of the salt merchants bribing the Jiangnan officials. There is a list of officials that Qi Heng bribed. It basically includes all the officials in Jiangnan, even the Six Ministries of Nanjing and the officials in the capital."
After hearing his subordinate's words, Zhang Jing suddenly became excited, "Is what you said true?
This Yan Huaiyuan has such a thing? "
"Sir, we still don't know if this news is true or not. It was just leaked out recently."
Zhang Jing stood up excitedly and said to his men, "Black Seven, I don't care about anything else, just get this booklet for me. With this booklet, I, I!" Speaking up to here, Zhang Jing didn't continue, but his eyes became more and more eager.
"I understand. If Yan Huaiyuan has this account book, I will definitely bring it back for you."
Li's Pawnshop.
Qi Ying walked into the back of the pawnshop, sighed, and found a chair to sit down.
He glanced at the person who served him tea.
Pigeon said, "Tell White Pigeon and Magpie to speed up and verify the authenticity of that booklet as soon as possible."