The people from the East Factory hurriedly opened the secret room behind the Ye Family Ancestral Hall as Ye Qixian said, and then they found that the room was full of gold and silver, all of which were ingots as big as grapefruits.

Zhu Youxiao asked someone to carry out all the gold and silver and put it in Ye’s home, and count the eunuchs who learned mathematics from Nei Shutang that he brought to him.

Finally, three million taels of cash silver and five hundred thousand taels of gold were counted.

"It's true that wealth is as good as a country."

After seeing so much money, Zhu Youxiao looked directly at Ye Qixian: "Ye Qixian, how dare you deceive me! Are you aware of your crime?"

Ye Qixian was so painful that he couldn't speak. His clothes were wet, and he could only bear the pain and replied: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty forgive me! I am so guilty that I deserve to die!"

"Then use gold and silver to pay for your life. Seal all of these gold and silver in the warehouse of the Salt Road Yamen. Except for taking out two million taels as reward silver, all of them will be transported back to Beijing!"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said, "Thank you."

That's right, Zhu Youxiao is obviously going to continue on the road of a tyrant, taking all the gold and silver from others, and asking others to thank him.

But Zhu Youxiao felt that he should take it, because if it weren't for the reform of the Sino-French period when Ye Qixian's ancestors were appointed as the Minister of Revenue, the salt merchants benefited and the court's military burden increased, the Ye family would not have saved so much gold and silver. These gold and silver could be said to belong to the court.

"I thank Your Majesty for your kindness!"

Ye Qixian replied with great heartache, he wanted to call Zhu Youxiao a tyrant, but he dared not scold him.

The Kinggu Town and the border soldiers who followed Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing.

After all, they didn't expect that the emperor would really cash out the two million taels of silver reward without any discount.

Then, Zhu Youxiao continued to check on other salt merchants.

Zhu Youxiao pointed at Yao Sunju first: "The next one, let's start with you."

Yao Sunju hurriedly kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, Caomin, Caomin is not a big salt merchant, Caomin doesn't have much money! Caomin doesn't even have 100,000 taels of silver!"

"Another one who costs money and lives! Plug!"

Zhu Youxiao said something.

"ah!"

Yao Sunju screamed.

In the end, Zhu Youxiao collected gold and silver worth no less than five million taels of silver from the Yao family.

Then, other salt merchants were also investigated one by one.

Some people who are tactful and honest in their explanations, and some are smart and want to hide it and are found out that they are harsh.

Zhu Youxiao finally directly confiscated more than 20 million taels of gold and silver in Yangzhou.

This is an amount that Zhu Youxiao himself did not expect.

Because if the silver circulating on the market is a scale of 100,000, it would be considered very large.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had to admit that the wealthy businessmen of this era really did not know how to play with capital. He would rather hide the amount of silver he earned than make it more advanced technology, stronger arms, and more territory.

However, Zhu Youxiao did not intend to blackmail the salt merchants like this at the beginning.

The main reason was the salt merchants who angered him.

He just wants these salt merchants to remember that they don’t think about stopping themselves, the emperor from asking for money. As long as the emperor doesn’t want to leave all your money, just be grateful honestly.

If you have the ability, you will rebel and overthrow the emperor.

...

"The tyrant has arrived in Yangzhou!"

"This tyrant king actually ransacked salt merchants in Yangzhou and used torture. His cruelty is outrageous!"

"This tyrant and his army are like robbers and bandits! All the merchants and the people are resentful!"

What Zhu Youxiao went to Yangzhou and did in Yangzhou soon spread to Yingtian Prefecture.

The rebel gentry in Yingtianfu soon posted an anonymous announcement about Zhu Youxiao going south in the outer city of Nanjing.

There is nothing good about these posts. Because they are in a territory controlled by the rebels, these posts directly call Zhu Youxiao a tyrant, and they don’t have to scold them in their hearts like the salt merchants in Yangzhou at this moment. Even these people directly said that what Zhu Youxiao did in Yangzhou is no different from robbers.

Zhu Youxiao also quickly saw these revelations, but he just smiled faintly and did not make any comments.

Historically, Duoduo went south by relying on the "Ten Days of Yangzhou" to shock the scholars and people in Jiangnan, which made most of the scholars and people in Jiangnan take the initiative to surrender.

Zhu Youxiao naturally did not want to be a butcher like Duoduo. He was so cruel to the Han people and even encouraged the elites of the empire who were also Han people to massacre the Han people.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao could only use this method of cruelty to the salt merchants to intimidate the gentry in Jiangnan.

"I urge all parts of Jiangnan to not be disloyal to me like some salt merchants in Yangzhou. Although I am a kind king and do not want to kill too much of the people in the world, if I am really disloyal to me, don't blame me for raiding my family and taking his money! Use it to cover the silver for crimes!"

Zhu Youxiao ordered Han Du at this time.

Han Du was busy and issued an order.

Next, officials and gentry in Gaoyou, Zhenjiang and other places dared not take any luck anymore, and knew that Yangzhou could not stop the emperor, and they could not stop them even more, so they all honestly went out to greet Zhu Youxiao ten miles away.

"Zhu Youjiao arrived at Gaoyou, and all the officials and gentry of Gaoyou were welcomed. Zengbutang, who retired from Gaoyou, invited the best 15 opera troupes in Jiangnan to flatter him! He really has the reputation of being a great scholar in Gaoyou!"

As soon as Zhu Youxiao left Yangzhou and went to Gaoyouzhou, the posts from the Yingtianfu rebel-controlled area also promptly updated Zhu Youxiao's updates.

Moreover, just after Zhu Youxiao arrived in Zhenjiang, and the gentry of Zhenjiang took the initiative to lock up the prefect Cui Chengyuan who had defected to the rebels outside the city to welcome the rebels, the Yingtianfu rebels controlled area updated the announcement of Zhu Youxiao's arrival in Zhenjiang.

"The emperor has arrived in Zhenjiang!"

At this time, there was a post like this outside Zhengyang Gate in Nanjing. The content was very simple, but it revealed a lot of helpless content.

Therefore, before Zhu Youxiao arrived at Yingtian Prefecture, the rebels in Yingtian Prefecture began to collapse.

Because Xiao Jingao and Xu Shaoliang and other rebel leaders of Yingtian Mansion had already gone south to conquer cities and plunder land, most of the rebels left in Yingtian Mansion took the initiative to disband.

After Zhu Youxiao passed Zhenjiang, he was about to arrive in Nanjing.

The content of the post in the outer city of Nanjing has changed again.

"The Holy Lord has visited the Nandu, which is a blessing for the scholars and people in Jiangnan!"

"Long live my emperor! The virtue of the saint king can be revealed to the sun and the moon! Once the saint king arrives, all the rebels and thieves can be destroyed, and all the people in Jiangnan can get peace!"

"Ah! The scholars and people in Jiangnan are waiting for the arrival of the sage as if they were looking forward to the rain!"

Zhu Youxiao looked at the letter that was still on the city wall that was quite welcomed. For a moment, he couldn't believe that a rebellion had just happened here.

It was not until the guards Lu Xiangsheng's troops went to Lanchunyuan to learn about Zhou Yuji's siege and captured Huang Zunyi and the Xu family, and after listening to Zhou Yuji's report on what happened before, Zhu Youxiao had some specific feelings about the rebellion.

"Xiong Aiqing! Go and send the order, and all the border troops will confiscate all the gentry who took the initiative to participate in the rebellion to me to confiscate the family and destroy the clan!"

"Han Aiqing! You will appease the murdered scholars and people for me. All famous people will be registered. Those who are loyal and wise will report to be buried with a generous burden!"

Zhu Youxiao immediately issued a corresponding decree. He naturally would not let go of those who actively participated in the rebellion. Even if he surrendered at this time, he would naturally have to commend him for those who would rather be killed than participate in the rebellion. After all, he needed this spirit.

"Release Huang Zunyi immediately! He will kill three thousand six hundred swords! No need to wait any longer! In addition, Xu Shaoliang's nine tribes are all barbarians to comfort the sacrificed Yulin Guards!"

Then, Zhu Youxiao issued an order and patted Zhou Yuji on the shoulder: "Go and take revenge!"

"yes!"

Zhou Yuji gave Zhu Youxiao a big gift with tears in his eyes. Then, he pulled out his knife and took the remaining patrol battalion officers and soldiers to Lanchunyuan again.
Chapter completed!