Although Niu Cheng is not capable, he is still more than enough to be a general. Zhu Lang is preparing to hand over the entire fly-scissor fleet to Niu Cheng for management. The most important thing about the fly-scissor fleet is to transport various supplies.

Although the Ming Dynasty is actively repairing cement roads, building four-wheeled carriages, and increasing the speed of transporting goods, the best way to go hand in hand with water and land.

"The groom, the bride... is here..."

At this moment, Princess Anqing and Zhang Chao quietly walked into the hall together. At this time, Anqing was in a phoenix crown and a red robe. Zhang Chao also showed a happy smile. After everyone saw it, they immediately stepped forward and congratulated each other.

Zhang Chao also returned the gifts one by one, and followed everyone to the dining table. He thought it was a celebration family dinner, but no one expected that as he ate, talked and laughed, all of them changed after Zhu Lang finished a glass of wine.

Seeing Zhu Lang drinking a glass of wine toasted by Princess Anqing, Princess Anqing, who was originally full of smiles, suddenly turned her face and shouted loudly: "Zhu Lang, you are dead, drink the poisonous wine I gave you.

The poison of the crane head, you will definitely die, the prince consort... I finally avenge you."

"What..." Zhu Biao was startled, then stood up and cursed: "An Qing, why are you crazy?"

"Why are you going crazy?" Princess Anqing looked at Zhu Biao and showed a vicious expression, "You said I'm going crazy, but you're forcing me to go crazy. What did my son-in-law do wrong? Isn't it just making some money? You are jealous and you are going to kill my son-in-law. The queen mother went to ask her father for her. Originally, the father was soft-hearted, but Zhu Lang was forced to make a statement. Once, he made a statement to strengthen his father's heart to kill my son-in-law.

I ask you, what did my prince-consort do wrong? Do you insist on forcing him to die?"

"Because he was insatiable, the Ming Dynasty implemented the "tea induction" system: that is, merchants must spend money to buy induction tickets first. Otherwise, it will be sold private tea.

On the border, a good horse can make tea 120 kilograms, a horse can make tea 70 kilograms, and a horse can make tea 50 kilograms; while in the mainland, a horse can make tea as much as 1,000 kilograms.

With such a huge price difference and such a huge profit, there will naturally be people who illegally transport tea to the border and make private transactions with other people.

In view of this, the court formulated extremely strict laws and repeatedly stated: No one is allowed to trade tea and horses with other people for any reason, otherwise they will be sentenced to death.

However, Ouyang Lun ignored the laws of the court and chose his confidant Zhou Bao as the leader to set up a team specializing in selling private tea.

If you show mercy this time, it will only make more people feel fearless, so Ouyang Lun must kill. Not killing will only make more officials unscrupulous...!"

But at this time, An Qing didn't know what was wrong with what her prince consort did. This was a woman. She couldn't see the seriousness of tea smuggling at all. Why did the Ming Dynasty implement the official tea-horse trade system? In fact, there were profound reasons.

First of all, the Ming Dynasty actually had its political and military purpose. At the beginning of its establishment, the world was not decided. The remnants of the Yuan Dynasty still occupied the northern desert, and "there are still many people waiting and watching" in the northwest. In order to ensure the rule of the Han landlord class, the Ming court established the stupid strategy of "inside China and outside the country" and "specially defending Mongolia". The main point of this strategy is to control "Xifan" (the abbreviation of the Tibetan Banners in the Ming Dynasty), and to ask about the relationship between "Xifan" and Mongolia, making "Xifan" a "barrier" for the Ming Dynasty to fight against Mongolia.

But how to control it? That is tea, which is the ordinary tea we see now. Through tea, they have to rely on the Ming government. Does the small tea really have such a role?

There are also things that "the Esperus" does not produce grains, only plant barley, beans, and raise cattle and sheep. They "eat only cheese, pulp, and stew, and they produce beef without fire, which is still the ancient style of eating raw meat and drinking blood.

They like to drink tea with others, and they are caused by greasy axes that can block the stomach and intestines. Drinking tea helps them digest. Since tea has been introduced to the snowy areas, tea has gradually become one of the necessary daily necessities for Tibetan people. They do not produce tea, so they can only rely on tea production areas such as Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Therefore, this ordinary tea became the most important bargaining chip of the Central Plains dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang decided to monopolize tea and tried to use tea as the main means of "controlling the fence". In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the government's monopoly on the production and operation of tea can not only force the Tibetan people to accept unequal changes through the policy of expensive tea and low horses, but also obtain huge monopoly profits through the tea-horse trade.

By exchanging tea for horses, we can not only make profits, but more importantly, we can make the monks unable to live without tea, allowing them to be controlled by the Ming court, and at the same time we can also achieve the goal of differentiating them from Mongolia. This is a political, economic and military purpose, and the three elements are all beautiful.

After Zhu Lang submitted his letter, he received strong support from Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang understood clearly. Therefore, starting from the tenth year of Hongwu, the son-in-law Xie Chuan was sent to Xichuan to give his son Shu King the decree, asking him to strictly implement the policy of exchanging tea for horses. In addition to using tea slaves, there is another important reason that Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ming Dynasty both needed horses.

We know that Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ming Dynasty were the only dynasty to complete unification from south to north. What did they rely on? Cavalry, Xu Da Lan Yu and others had powerful cavalry during the northern expedition, just like why the Song Dynasty was always threatened by ethnic minorities because there were no powerful cavalry. However, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, there was still a lack of war horses, and there was a great demand for horses. The Ming Dynasty's capital, border defense centers, garrisons, and post stations needed a large number of horses. In the process of eliminating the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, war horses became a very important and extremely scarce strategic material. Therefore, horse politics was the key task of the Ming Dynasty.

In China, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to raise horses, but you should know that people in the Central Plains are not good at raising horses. Although the people raise horses in large quantities, they still cannot meet the needs. However, the monks are good at raising horses, so it is easy to deal with. We exchange tea with you for horses. Isn’t this a way to be both good at both worlds? So the official tea and horse trade system was established.

Since it is the official tea-horse trade business, it is quite strict. In addition, the tea leaves are strictly controlled. If merchants want to buy and sell tea, it is good to buy tea from the government first. Each tea can only buy 100 kilograms. If you buy too much or have no tea, you must follow the crime of selling tea. During the tea sale process, the tea leaves are followed completely according to the regulations on tea, and it is not possible to exceed or shortage them.

In Sichuan and Shaanxi near Zhufan, the Ming Dynasty completely banned private traders and implemented a tea-debt system.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, in order to ensure the amount of official tea used by the government for Yima, special purchases were implemented. If it was a private tea garden, the government would take one of the ten, and then the rest would be sold to the government. If the tea garden had no owner, then all the tea leaves belonged to the government, that is to say, all the tea leaves in these areas were in the hands of the government, and the supply of tea in Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places was in the hands of the government.

In fact, it is equivalent to being monopolized by the government. The more monopolized it, the more significant the profits it will be. Wouldn't anyone take risks because of interests? Naturally, there will be. Some people will also smuggle tea to make huge profits, but once they are discovered, the consequences will be very serious.

The Ming Dynasty court characterized the smuggling of tea as "Tongfan", which was to be blunt, that was the country's stolen. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that those who left the country would be killed; those who were not aware of the pass would be sentenced to death. Later, it was stipulated that "if the guards did not strictly guard, they would be sentenced to death if they were released from private tea, and the family would be sentenced to death if they moved outside; the person who was the same crime; the person who sold tea would be executed, and the wife would be punished by the villain."

In other words, those who sell private tea and leave the country will be killed directly. If the guards are not strict, they will be sentenced to death. All wives and children will be slaves. It can be said that they are very strict. Under such severe punishments, these are all to ensure that the tea is monopolized by the government, in order to obtain a large number of horses from the monks, especially the snowy areas, etc.

Tea is in the hands of the government, so how can we obtain horses in foreign countries, especially snowy areas? For this reason, the Ming Dynasty established a special institution called the Tea Horses and Horses, which specializes in managing tea and horse transactions and formulated a complete set of strict measures to ensure the implementation of tea and horse market. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that if we want to exchange tea for us, we must exchange it with your horses. Of course, other things that are not available in the Central Plains are also fine, but they are still mainly horses, and some are even just horses.

Moreover, the price was stipulated by the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the price of tea-horse transactions was: and the price comparison of tea-horse is determined by the government. "Everyone puts a horse on the horse, each horse will give 40 kilograms of tea; each horse will be 30 kilograms; and the horse will be 20 kilograms." This price is actually beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. Even if the foreign countries do not accept it, there is no way, because the government has monopolized tea and it is unlikely to obtain it from smuggling channels. Even if there is, the quantity is very small, so the Ming government completely held the initiative.

Looking back, why Ouyang Lun had to die? Ouyang Lun's private tea sale actually violated the Ming Dynasty's official tea-horse trade system. It was a death sentence in itself. This is clearly stated in the Ming Dynasty's laws, and it was formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. Now someone sells tea privately, which is something that Zhu Yuanzhangsu cannot tolerate. This is contrary to the system of the court and harms the interests of the court, not to mention that this person is his own son-in-law.

If Zhu Yuanzhang forgives his son-in-law this time, what should we do if there are any heroes and powerful people who follow suit in the future? Should we punish or not? So Ouyang Lun must die, and it seems that he is not unfair to die. Since the moment he sold tea privately, this ending has been destined and no one can change it.

But An Qing piled up everyone's anger on Zhu Lang. She knew that she could not beat Zhu Yuanzhang, so she wanted to kill Zhu Lang. Looking at Zhu Lang's righteousness and stern words, An Qing suddenly burst into laughter.

After laughing, An Qing looked at Zhu Lang and said, "Zhu Lang, no matter how famous you say, it cannot change the fact that you want to die. I went down in the wine pot. You must die after drinking."

"Ah...!" A crane head fell into the wine pot, and the people who had just drunk the wine in the wine pot showed a look of horror.

An Qing smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, you will be fine. My son-in-law's revenge. As long as Zhu Lang dies, I will use Suixin Pot...!"

The so-called free-spirited pot is a kind of pouring out water and wine according to the owner's needs, which is often used to cheat or have fun in banquets.

The inside of the pot actually contains two independent small pots, one of which is inverted structure and the other is a normal pot-type pot. The two small pots are not connected, but they share a flow port. The small pot is filled with wine and water, and press one of the injectors, and the liquid in the other small pot will be poured out.

This is because, after one injection port is closed, due to the atmospheric pressure, the liquid in the small pot cannot flow out, and the liquid in the small pot is not affected. In fact, if both injection ports are closed, no liquid can be poured out of the pot.

For convenience of use, the two upper and lower bets of the Conscience Pot are generally close to the handle of the pot, and the lower bets are even arranged at the lower end of the handle. The user can operate with one hand and control whether the wine or water poured out of the pot without anyone noticing it.

Of course, since water is OK, poison is OK too.

Just when everyone was relieved, Zhu Biao shouted anxiously: "Imperial Doctor, Imperial Doctor, hurry up and go and pass on the Imperial Doctor."

However, at this time, Zhu Lang smiled and blocked Zhu Biao and said, "Brother, don't worry, I'm actually fine. This Suixin Pot has been replaced long ago. There is no poison in it, it's all the same wine.

I originally thought of giving An Qing another chance, but An Qing was still a little anxious. I couldn't wait to drink An Qing just now."

"What...it's impossible without poison." An Qing was shocked.

Zhu Lang said calmly: "Actually, An Qing's words and deeds have been monitored by the Jinyiwei long ago. No matter what you do, the Jinyiwei is clear. This is what the father means. She knows that your personality is, and you will definitely not give up, so you will definitely take revenge.

Fortunately, you didn’t take revenge on your father, otherwise your life would be gone. Revenge on me would not be a big deal. However, An Qing, you have a good prince consort, but that prince consort is not Ouyang Lun, but Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao had already said in front of his father that if you want to commit a death penalty, he will take over. Although Anqing's previous son-in-law is very outstanding, he will violate the law of the country, which is that it is not tolerated by heaven. Even if you kill me, you will not change what your former son-in-law does."

"An Qing... It's the shore when you look back!" Zhu Biao also shouted excitedly when he looked at An Qing.

But at this time, An Qing didn't say anything, just stood there blankly. Zhang Chao went to help him, but An Qing knocked him off his hand. Then he saw An Qing stabbing his chest with lightning speed.

Seeing that the knife could stab An Qing in the heart, at this critical moment, Zhang Chao rushed over and directly blocked the sharp knife with his arm, so blood was scattered on An Qing's body, and An Qing was stunned.

"Zhang Chao." Zhu Lang immediately shouted, then shouted to the outside: "Imperial Doctor, Imperial Doctor..."

Then a large group of people rushed in, and An Qing was also arrested at this time. It was the Jinyiwei who arrested him. This time, An Qing made the matter big, and most people could not save her. The only one who could save her should be the prince-consort Zhang Chao.
Chapter completed!