Chapter 135: Confiscated Household
However, with the implementation of the "Zhese System", which allowed merchants to purchase salt permits directly with silver, Shanxi merchants lost their geographical advantages and Huizhou merchants rose rapidly.

A large number of Shanxi merchants who relied on salt to make their fortunes went south with their accumulated capital and went directly to the south of the Yangtze River to continue their salt business.

Those who remained and still did business with the soldiers at the border were basically the middle and lower levels of Shanxi merchants, who did not have sufficient financial resources to go south and participate in the fierce competition for salt permits.

To put it bluntly, if there was no smuggling business and the sale of contraband to the Qing army, the original border business would have been scraps that the real Shanxi merchants looked down upon, and it was just left to the middle and lower-level Shanxi merchants like Fan Yongdou to pick up on others' ideas.

After all, according to the laws of the imperial court, trade with border residents must be conducted at designated locations under the supervision of the government and require a commission. Add to that the high transportation costs and the hassles of running circles around, and the actual profit is not high.

And most importantly, there is little market demand for soldiers in the Nine Frontiers, and the court is responsible for all their armor and equipment. Even if it finds merchants to make them, the price they offer is very low, and they even have to face the problem of government arrears of payment. This is simply unable to satisfy the appetite of Fan Yongdou and others.

In addition, the border was not peaceful after all, and caravans often faced the problem of being robbed by bandits and Tatars, which further reduced the profits of border business.

Therefore, the real wealthy merchants really looked down on the border business, which gave birth to the so-called eight imperial merchants.

When they meet people like Fan Yongdou who only care about money and not their country and nation, it is no wonder that these people are willing to sell out their country.

But in fact, Shanxi people have produced many loyal and righteous people in history. For example, Cao Cao, Cao Xueqin, Sun Chuanting and other famous generals in the late Ming Dynasty were all from Shanxi.

Zu Dashou sneered and said, "Nothing to say? You are smart. You know that today's matter cannot be evaded with sweet words and flattery."

Fan Yongdou really had no intention of quibbling anymore. After all, if only Zu Dashou's side showed up, Fan Yongdou still had the confidence that he could use the help of multiple forces to deal with the situation.

For example, people like Wu Xiang are very good at controlling Zu Dashou.

But when he saw the Jinyiwei wearing the Feiyu uniform, he knew that the matter had reached the emperor's ears, and the initiative of this matter was no longer in Zu Dashou's hands.

The real leader is the young emperor who is far away in the capital.

The contraband hidden in the carriage was not particularly sophisticated and could be found with a little searching.

Therefore, it is meaningless to quibble at this time.

Seeing Fan Yongdou remained silent, Zu Dashou sneered and wanted to say something to show off in front of someone, maybe his words could reach the emperor's ears.

However, this person came directly to Zu Dashou and said with a smile: "Marshal Zu, why bother to waste time talking to these greedy villains? You should immediately confiscate their evidence of crimes so that I can return to the capital to report."

Zu Dashou immediately smiled politely and said, "Master Zheng is right. There is really nothing to say to these villains."

After saying that, Zu Dashou just waved his hand.

The officers and soldiers around immediately stepped forward and ferociously controlled the caravan servants, followed by the accompanying servants.

Finally, they began to search the caravan for contraband.

Soon, suits of armor, baskets of swords, and medicines were brought out. The sheer number of them was so shocking.

Although Fan Yongdou looked pale, he still tried to remain calm.

But the others did not have such good self-control. Wang Dengku was so scared that he wet his pants. The other members of the caravan also wailed and cried. Some of them, seeing that the situation was not good, began to loudly condemn the crimes of Fan Yongdou and others and tried to rush to Zu Dashou and Zheng Shiyi to surrender themselves.

However, Zu Dashou and others did not care at all about these guys who were willing to be "tainted witnesses".

Because the Jinyiwei already had enough "tainted witnesses", two or three people from each caravan walked out of their respective convoys and came to Zheng Shiyi to report.

Seeing this, Fan Yongdou laughed miserably. "It turns out that you have already planted an undercover agent among us. It is really God's will that I will be killed!"

Zheng Shiyi sneered and said, "Fool, not only does the heaven want to kill you, the emperor also wants to kill you!"

"Let me tell you straight away. His Majesty has already made an order. If it is proven that you are collaborating with the enemy and betraying your country, your entire family will be executed and your entire clan will be exiled! Women... hehe, they will be sent to the Jiaofang Bureau to entertain the public!"

Fan Yongdou, who originally had the aura of a tragic hero, finally couldn't hold it anymore after hearing what was said. He glared and fainted.

"If I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place..." Zheng Shiyi sneered without any sympathy.

…………

More than ten days later, at Wenhua Palace in the capital.

"Gunpowder, armor, arrows..." As Chongzhen read out the name of each item, the anger in his eyes became more intense.

After a long time, Chongzhen slammed the file on the imperial desk, looked at Zheng Shiyi who was standing with his head bowed and said: "I never thought that some lowly businessmen could harm the country to such an extent!"

"I don't know how many of my people will be killed or injured by these arrows and gunpowder!"

Chongzhen suddenly stood up and said, "Zheng Shiyi, immediately send the files to the Ministry of Justice and tell them that I want to execute the three clans of these Shanxi merchants. Let them decide for themselves!"

Zheng Shiyi immediately accepted the order upon hearing this, and said, "Your Majesty, the undercover agents I sent into these thieves have noted down the officials who accepted benefits from Shanxi merchants and allowed them to go free. How should we deal with these people?"

Chongzhen said without hesitation: "Catch them all and put them in prison!"

Chongzhen roared, "All those who have colluded with the Shanxi merchants will be found out by me, their property confiscated and they will be executed!"

Zheng Shiyi was a little surprised.

Because Chongzhen emphasized the imprisonment, and it was the imperial prison!

This means that even if these officials are high-ranking and powerful, they cannot rely on their connections to exonerate themselves, because once they are thrown into the imperial prison, it is not just a matter of life and death.

At the very least, normal judicial procedures such as the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple are no longer effective for these people.

This is not a good thing!

If the case is handled by the Ministry of Justice, they can more or less find someone to lend a hand, or bend the law for personal gain.

But once you are in the imperial prison, nothing you say will work, life and death all depends on the emperor's decision.

Now looking at Chongzhen's furious look, he has specifically ordered that all of them be imprisoned, which shows that he obviously does not want these corrupt officials to have any good ending.

After thinking this through, Zheng Shiyi knew how to treat the arrested officials and the people who might come to ask for favors.

After Chongzhen finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and looked at Zheng Shiyi and said, "But the most important thing now is to confiscate the property of those Shanxi merchants immediately!"

"These Shanxi merchants made a lot of money from selling out their country, so they must be very wealthy. Give me all of them without missing a cent. You will do this personally!"

(End of this chapter)