Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 774 Zhu Biao takes action

When Zhu Su brought Ouyang Lun to the Prince's Mansion to "report", Zhu Biao had just returned from the cabinet and received the two people in the front hall.

"You are saying that the nobles headed by the Marquis of Ji'an and the Marquis of Yan'an used their military connections to buy captives from the north for personal gain?" Zhu Biao looked a little tired. When he heard these words, he started to fight again. Picked up the spirit.

"Yes." Ouyang Lun frowned and looked like he was being annoyed. He almost answered every question: "The Marquis of Ji'an and the Marquis of Yan'an encouraged their ministers to say that slave trading in the north would be more profitable than mining in Fengmingzhou. And There is no need to organize a fleet, and there is no need to stay far away from home. All we need to do is smoothen the relationship between the army and the army. And there is no explicit law prohibiting this, and it has always been a common practice in the north, and there is no such thing as a disaster."

"I felt that something was wrong, so I made excuses with him before. Today I came here to report this to His Highness the Crown Prince..."

Zhu Biao briefly glanced at Zhu Su, who was looking at his nose and heart. He already knew that this was the fifth brother's method, so Wen Yan said to Ouyang Lun, "I already know what my sister-in-law said."

"Trading slaves in the north undermines the dignity of the imperial court. I will make a decision later on how to deal with it... You know not to get involved in this matter, which is good. I still have some matters to discuss with my fifth brother. You can go to the side hall to rest for a while. …”

After that, without waiting for Ouyang Lun's response, he directly called a chamberlain: "Come on, take Ouyang's consort to the side hall for tea!"

Ouyang Lun didn't dare to say anything, so he just obeyed and left. Zhu Su and Zhu Biao were the only two people left in the room. The gentle look on Zhu Biao's face just now faded away and replaced with a serious look.

"Fifth brother, is this serious?"

Wu Xun's slave trade is a big or small matter. Taking it to a serious level, it involves amassing private soldiers and plotting against evil. To put it mildly, it is just a new type of business that has emerged in recent years. It can be regarded as a tacit business at the border.

Today, there are no organized enemies outside the Ming Dynasty's nine borders. Thanks to the efforts of Wei Gong and the Xu family, countless pastures have been established on the grassland. Through the output and profits of wool, milk, etc., the ferocious blood of the nomadic people for thousands of years has been subtly cleansed.

However, there were still one or two stubborn tribes who turned into grassland horse thieves and constantly harassed the Han people's border gates, pastures and farming areas.

The only way to deal with these people is to exterminate them. Fortunately, they are out of control and cannot get the support of the pro-Ming herdsmen who already have a stable source of income from pasture, so it is not difficult to fight them. It's just that the captured prisoners are a bit difficult to deal with. If you kill them, it will harm the reputation of the court. If you let them go, they may come back to harass you later. If you keep them... then you think they are wasting food, right?

The emergence of slave traders just solved this big problem for the border soldiers: now that the Ming Dynasty is short of people, these captives can be sold as slaves, which will not bring harm to the northern frontier, but also provide benefits to the soldiers stationed in the bitter cold land. An extra income.

It's not that Zhu Biao didn't know that there were merchants buying prisoners... the court just turned a blind eye to this kind of thing. Taking extraordinary measures in an emergency, these slave traders, to a certain extent, reduced the Ming Dynasty's cost of eradicating banditry on the grasslands, so the entire court was happy to see the results.

But when Wu Xun was involved, things were different.

The imperial court can organize prisoners to build bridges and pave roads, and merchants can purchase prisoners to farm and livestock, but only Wu Xun... they should not purchase prisoners, especially those who were once elite soldiers. They have the ability to lead troops, and some can even obtain armored soldiers. They gathered captives, who knew if they wanted to use them to raise cattle and farm the land, or if they wanted to overthrow the imperial court?

Especially Tang Shengzong, Lu Zhongheng and others, who gave up their military power back then and no longer had the opportunity to make military exploits. Later, when they saw Xu Da, Lan Yu, Fei Ju and others becoming famous because of their military exploits, and even being granted territories overseas, they had long had complaints in their hearts...

These dissatisfied warriors began to participate in the slave business. What did they want to do?

"Brother, I don't know the specific details yet." Zhu Su replied to Zhu Biao. "From what Ouyang Lun said, it seems that Tang Shengzong and Lu Zhongheng were just businessmen. They purchased prisoners through their former military connections, and then immediately sold them to landlords who started farms and ranches in various places or made a living overseas. Businessmen." "But I can't guarantee whether they have any different intentions."

"But I think this matter should be restrained. If we let it go, there is a precedent like this... I don't know what kind of disaster it will cause in the future."

In the past few years of the Ming Dynasty, merchants and martial artists have grown barbarically in many aspects, and they are all trying to cross the river by feeling for the stones. That is because Lao Zhu is the founding king of the country, with great prestige, and Zhu Biao, the leader of benevolence and virtue. Only by doing so can Ming Dynasty always maintain a prosperous situation and never show signs of decline.

Otherwise, he might end up like Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty.

But even so, rules should be set immediately for all emerging things. If it continues to grow wildly without any rules and regulations, it may cause serious trouble in the future. Moreover, when Lao Zhu was there, it was actually the easiest to accomplish things. With him as the founding king of the country, all matters of the Ming Dynasty could be adjusted to the times. How to do it was only a matter of Lao Zhu's thoughts, and it would not cause any trouble. What a big wave.

But if it is passed down to the kings of later generations and they want to put shackles on these barbaric things, there may be an uproar.

"Well, you're right." Zhu Biao thought for a while, nodded, and confirmed Zhu Su's opinion. "I just wanted you to warn Ouyang Lunmo to be greedy for profit, but who would have thought that this matter would be discovered."

"The imperial court saw that the slave trade had some benefits, so it allowed it to go unchecked for a long time... However, now that it has involved martial arts and even the royal family, it can be seen that this matter cannot be left alone after all."

"It's time to find ways to regulate it."

"Ouyang Lun said they imprisoned the slaves they bought in Zhuangzi in the west of the city?"

"Not bad." Zhu Su nodded. The place where they hid their slaves was actually quite secretive, and even the Shen family, who were the owners of the market, didn't know. However, in order to win Ouyang Lun's trust, he told Ouyang Lun everything.

"Okay, this matter cannot be delayed. I will act immediately." Zhu Biao stood up, with the majestic demeanor of a country's heir apparent and a supervising prince. "Most of the other military heroes in the city are relatives of the Erhou Township Party, so they may not be trustworthy. Among the leading generals in Beijing, only you, the second brother, and the fourth brother trust you."

"With Gu Zhi's order, you, your second brother, and your fourth brother will go to the Imperial Army to mobilize five thousand soldiers and horses, and lead the way with Ouyang Lun to blockade the Zhuangzi where the Second Marquis is holding slaves."

"Remember, you must not alert the snake and cause these slaves to cause harm to the capital! Do you understand?"

This was the first time that Zhu Biao called himself "lonely" to Zhu Su. Zhu Su was shuddered, knelt down on one knee and said, "Yes, my brother takes the order!"

(End of this chapter)