Zhu Cilang drafted the edict and handed it over to the rank of Han Zanzhou, the supervisor of the Ministry of Rites, and then handed the edict to Zhao Peng.

After receiving the edict, Zhao Peng took three thousand Jinyiwei disguised himself as civilians, took a boat to cross the river north, heading straight to Yangzhou, and aimed directly to the old nest of Shanxi merchants in both Huaihe River.

Just as Zhao Peng took the Jinyiwei's house search brigade and headed straight to Yangzhou, the construction site of the Ming Dynasty Royal Silver in Nanjing, Suzhou and other places held a grand foundation laying ceremony. Han Zanzhou, from the Silijian, came forward on behalf of the royal family and attended the shrouded foundation laying ceremony.

On one hand, Han Zanzhou attended the foundation laying ceremony of the silver account, and on the other hand, Zhao Peng went to raise more start-up funds for the silver account.

In Yangzhou, the autumn is clear and the evergreen trees in the south naturally cannot see the scene of dead branches and leaves like those in the north. They are still green. The flowers in spring have already produced autumn fruits, and the fruitful garden exudes a fragrance.

The air emits the intoxicating fragrance of osmanthus, which blends with the scenery in the garden. However, the crying sounds are very despicable. Not far away, a large number of Jinyiwei, like a wolf and a tiger, were escorting a group of men, women, young and old. Their heart-wrenching cry sounds were like whips whipped on them from time to time, tearing the picturesque scenery of the garden.

This is the garden of the Zhang family, a salt merchant in Shanxi. Speaking of the Zhang family, there is actually a way out. He is a descendant of Zhang Siwei, the chief assistant of Zhang Juzheng in the Wanli Dynasty. Their family has been a salt merchant for about two hundred years. Since Zhang Siwei's grandfather, he has been rich in the country. Later, Zhang Siwei became the chief assistant in the court, and Zhang Siwei's two sons have also passed the Jinshi. The Zhang family has been in full swing until now.

Shi Kefa rushed over and asked Zhao Peng in grief and anger: "Zhongyong Bo, Zhang, a law-abiding businessman, was the chief minister of the Wanli Dynasty of the Emperor Shenzong. How could he implicate the nine clans because of his Westerners?"

Zhao Peng didn't talk much about Shi Kefa, but just handed a stack of paper to Shi Kefa: "The crimes are all on it! The Zhang family colluded with the Jiannu Emperor Fan Yongdou and other eight major officials, and purchased grain in Yangzhou all year round, and smuggled to Liaodong to supply Jiannu in the name of trafficking Shandong! These people ignored the laws of the court and smuggled capital to make Jiannu suffer from the Ming Dynasty for decades!"

Shi Kefa retorted: "How can we convict people at will because of the undocumented objects made up by the Jinyiwei?"

Zhao Peng smiled and said, "There is certainly evidence! My uncle has already been placed in the Western Shang Dynasty. The account books of the Zhang family smuggled enemies over the years are in the hands of my uncle! The Zhang family often traded with the eight major families of Jiannu, have been arrested by the Jinyiwei, and they have also confessed and convicted! The evidence and physical evidence are complete, how can the Zhang family deny it?"

The Zhang family was raided, and before the Zhang family could be escorted to the imperial prison of the Jinyiwei North Town Fushishi, the people were directly punished in the Zhang family garden. The cartilage guys could not resist it. The Jinyiwei was just the simplest whip, and then burned it with a soldering iron, and then confessed.

These old people not only confessed the crimes committed by their families, but also pulled the radish and connected the roots to confess all the crimes committed by Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou in exchange for their own Zhang family to be spared from death.

Since Zhao Peng has agreed to the Zhang family that he can be exempted from death as long as he confesses, he should keep his word. The Zhang family is exempt from death, but death is exempted, and the crime of living cannot be escaped.

"All male members of the Zhang family, regardless of their size, will be castrated and sent to Qiongzhou as eunuchs!" Zhao Peng issued an order.

"You!" The head of the Zhang family pointed at Zhao Peng and said tremblingly, "You went back on your word, but you didn't count what you said?"

Zhao Peng sneered: "Who said I didn't count what I said? Didn't I say that the Zhang family's death penalty can be avoided, but can't escape the crime of living? The castration is not the death penalty!"

The head of the Zhang family could only lower his head helplessly. It was obvious that Zhao Peng's move was really amazing. He did not kill anyone, but the Zhang family was exiled from then on. All the males were castrated and sent to Qiongzhou as slaves. In the future, the Zhang family not only lost all their property, but also their descendants were extinct.

According to the confession of the Zhang family, the secret strongholds of Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Huang Yunfa and others in Yangzhou, as well as the Shanxi merchants with close business dealings with these eight major countries, were all sealed off by the Jinyiwei.

Dozens of Shanxi merchants of all sizes were all captured, and none of them escaped the legal net. It can be said that the net of heaven is vast and unobstructed.

However, the money of the Shanxi merchants was not so easy to find. Shanxi merchants had a characteristic that they liked to put the money in a jar and buried it underground. Many of the money had been transferred back to their hometown in the north long ago, and they all got cheaper.

Next, the Jinyiwei gave a special treat to these Shanxi merchants, such as the most kind water beating to the hottest copper bulls, the iron lady, wearing mourning clothes, playing the pipa and other punishments. In the end, the guys could not bear it anymore and confessed all the Tibetan silver locations they left at their home in Yangzhou.

After more than half a month of trial, the Jinyiwei dug out more than 15 million taels of silver from the Shanxi merchants in Lianghuai. This number obviously did not meet Zhao Peng's requirements. After all, these Shanxi merchants had already transported most of the silver they had earned back to their hometowns. It is estimated that the silver is now lying in Li Zicheng's warehouse.

Although there was not enough money, these Shanxi merchants had not only business names in Yangzhou, but also money shops, pawn shops, grain shops, casinos, brothels, etc., all of which were caught by the Jinyiwei.

Money shops, pawn shops, casinos, etc. were copied and found that there was directly a silver. Although there was not much cash in industries such as grain stores, shops and brothels, the confiscated industries could be auctioned directly.

"Auction? What does it mean?" Gao Wencai was stunned when he heard the word.

"It is to use the Shanxi merchant industry we copied to buy for Hui merchants. It is not something we can buy if we want to buy it, but we call out a starting price and let the Hui merchants shout the price themselves, and the final price is higher." Zhao Peng explained.

Jiang Guomao said with a sad face: "Oh, my business in the north was confiscated by Jiannu. Jiannu sold it to Fan Yongdou's group at a discount. But you want Caomin to bid with other Hui merchants. Isn't that fair?"

Zhao Peng smiled and said, "Don't worry, shopkeeper Jiang, there are dozens of Shanxi merchants, there are so many shops, grain shops, and brothels, you can't eat them alone, right? That's it. In order to thank you for your strong support for our Jinyiwei, you can choose some shops, grain shops and brothels. My uncle will give you a discounted price for you to buy them secretly, and take out the others for other Hui merchants to bid for."

After hearing Zhao Peng's words, Jiang Guomao took a reassurance and could buy the Shanxi merchant industry at a discounted price, so that his losses in the north could be made up for some of the losses from Yangzhou.

In fact, the courts of both the north and the south confiscated the industries of hostile merchants and sold them to their own imperial merchants at a discount. After all, the courts who made money were the courts, whether it was the Qing court in the north or the Ming court in the south, they all had a business without a fortune.

The confiscated industries are all other people's money. The court did not give up a single piece of money. The merchants from the hostile countries were copied and sold to merchants in their own country. Although it was sold at a discount, things that were not capital-free were made. No matter how cheap they were sold, they were still profitable.

As the imperial merchant of the Ming Dynasty, Jiang Guomao naturally took one-third of the Shanxi merchant industry at a discount of 50% off. Other Hui merchants divided the remaining two-thirds by participating in the auction.

The 15 million taels of cash from the Shanxi merchants were confiscated, and the income from auctioning the Shanxi merchants' industries was 8 million taels of silver. As a result, the Ming Dynasty's internal treasury increased the income of more than 20 million taels of silver.
Chapter completed!