Among the neutral and pure ministers, Zhang Zhao, the Minister of Rites, and Zhang Hong, the Minister of Personnel, were the core. They were only responsible for practical matters and mostly stayed out of the battles between the DPRK and the Central Government.

Among these four factions, they are simply divided based on their respective methods of doing things, rather than on the basis of moral character and governance concepts.

For example, among the party of sycophants, Wen Tiren, the Minister of Punishment, is famously clean. He only spends his salary on daily food and clothing, and his simplicity is on par with Hai Rui. …

As for the Qingliu Party, just as recorded in the Dongchang archives, there are no less than a dozen evidence of corruption committed by sanctimonious people.

Even Fu'an Bo, one of Xiao Cheng's confidants in the imperial party, and Yang Dayan, the Zhendong general, were greedy and took away the spoils of war.

If such a situation is not handled properly, it will immediately turn into a party dispute between North Korea and China, with constant impeachment between each other, and the country's power will be wasted in vain, just like the Xia Kingdom back then.

After hearing Feng Bao's words, Xiao Cheng nodded slightly, but said in a deep voice:

"It doesn't matter, I know it."

This time, we are only targeting corruption in the DPRK and China.

With Xiao Cheng under pressure, and relying on his supreme prestige, it will not turn into a party struggle!

"Besides, the Hailing County in the southeast of Xia Kingdom and the four counties in Qidi have just lost control. We have to wait for Xia Kingdom to dispatch troops from the front line to suppress the rebellion. Taking advantage of this period, I will destroy the corrupt officials in the DPRK.

The wind of decay has stopped for a moment!" Xiao Cheng said in a deep voice.

As the war continues, Xiao Cheng will at least capture Jinling and take over the whole area south of the Yangtze River!

Once this war starts, I don’t know when it will end. Naturally, we have to suppress the corruption in the government before the war starts, so as not to cause too serious negative consequences after the three-year period of [One Whip] expires.

Effect.

Seeing that His Majesty is now confident, Feng Bao, who was a little worried at first, immediately felt at ease and stopped talking about this matter.

——

Xia Kingdom, Jinling City Imperial Palace, inside Jinshen Hall.

In the Jinshen Hall today, all the important ministers of the Xia Kingdom gathered here, and the atmosphere once again became extremely solemn, making everyone feel as if they couldn't breathe.

Mei Chong sighed softly, bowed slightly and said:

"Your Majesty, how come in just a short period of time, three of the four counties in Qi have fallen to the enemy? Didn't the previous battle reports from the front indicate that Zhang's bandits are gone?"

At this time, Yu Zhaoling didn't know that it was because he had been used to it many times, but his face was not particularly ugly at this time, and he just remained silent without saying a word.

The old general Dong Wei gritted his teeth and said bitterly:

"Because there were many conflicts between the Yanjiao camp troops and the soldiers from various counties who were transferred, the generals and generals of the county soldiers were angry and resentful. Who would have thought that these words would be heard by others. The generals and generals of the county soldiers were afraid of these words.

, it came to the ears of the commander of the Yanjiao Camp, the Marquis of Wuxiang, that he would be punished by military law. In his heart, he was frightened, so he elected Taishan County Lieutenant Chen Youliang as the leader, burned the grain, grass and weapons, and set up a rebellion to attack the Yanjiao Camp."

"The turmoil in the army was taken advantage of by Zhang's thieves, who went out of the city to rob the camp and chased and killed the defeated troops. In the end, the Yanjiao camp's 20,000 soldiers were almost wiped out, and 60,000 county soldiers were scattered."

"The salt merchants in Qi were dissatisfied with the new salt tax order of the imperial court. They took the opportunity to cause chaos and opened the city to welcome the rebels. Within half a month, Taishan, Jiaodong and Donghai among the four counties in Qi fell directly."

"Now Thief Zhang and the rebel Chen Youliang's troops have led troops to march into Langya County, with the intention of carving up this county..."

Hearing this, Mei Chong, who was already elderly, couldn't help but feel angry and blood rushing to his head. He stumbled and almost fainted.

It was he who implemented the new order on salt tax between North Korea and China.

This was a good policy to increase tax revenue for the court. In the past two years, it has indeed collected nearly 20 million taels of silver for the Xia court.

But it was also because of this policy that at this time, Qi salt merchants colluded with the rebels and lost four counties!

How does this old minister accept this?

Yu Zhaoling, who was originally sullen, noticed Mei Chong's look and was startled. He quickly asked the eunuch next to him to help him and said comfortingly:

"Sikong, please don't do this! After all, it was because I did not confiscate all the salt merchants in one fell swoop for the sake of stabilizing the government. This led to what happened today, and it has nothing to do with Sikong!"

Mei Chong gritted his teeth, pushed away the eunuch who hurriedly came to help him, and said urgently:

"The four counties of Qidi are the main source of salt tax. They are very important to the current imperial court and must not be missed! Your Majesty, please immediately mobilize troops and horses from the front line to quell the rebellion!"

When Yu Zhaoling heard this, he immediately said:

"Don't worry, Sikong, the order to mobilize troops has been issued a long time ago."

At this time, Feng Chu said in a deep voice:

"Your Majesty! The rebel Chen Youliang and the thief Zhang Shicheng are now fighting for Langya County. This may be an opportunity that can be exploited. Please Your Majesty, please immediately issue an order to recruit Zhang Shicheng and send gold and silver rewards so that the two can guard against each other and mobilize them for the court.

Soldiers and horses buy time!"

After hearing this, Yu Zhaoling said without hesitation:

"This plan is feasible, do it immediately!"
Chapter completed!