Episode 19
The name of Shen Yishi's family once represented glory and glory.However, with the confiscation of the family property, the family fell into an unprecedented crisis.Although Shen Yishi's workshop cannot be stopped, the family's fate seems to be doomed.
Zheng Michang and He Maocai, two Zhejiang officials, decided to sell Shen Yishi's 25 workshops and 3,000 looms to Huizhou weavers in order to fill the vacancy in military pay and satisfy the silk trade with the West.In their view, this transaction will solve the military supply problem ahead and bring them huge profits, enough to offset their previous mistakes.
However, they did not expect that the new governor Zhao Zhenji and Jin Yiwei were already only thirty miles away from Hangzhou.In a few hours, they would be arrested and jailed.The purpose of Zhao Zhenji's trip was to trace Shen Yishi's family property. He was very puzzled by the practice of selling the Shen family's property to Huizhou merchants.
Yang Jinshui, as the envoy of the imperial court, explained the matter.He emphasized that Hu Zongxian's camp was in urgent need of military supplies, and the court had 500,000 pieces of silk to sell to the West this year, so this transaction was necessary.He also revealed that this matter had been approved by Lu Fang.
Despite this, Zheng Michang and He Maocai still insisted on completing the transaction and reported the good news to Yang Jinshui.However, their joy was short-lived.They were caught red-handed by Zhao Zhenji and faced serious charges.
In the past twenty years, the Shen Yishi family has surrendered four million pieces of silk to the court, many of which were corrupted by Yang Jinshui.Therefore, Zheng Michang and He Maocai tried to involve Yang Jinshui, hoping to take this opportunity to save their lives.
At the same time, Hai Rui and Wang Yongji were appointed as jurors to examine the corruption case in Zhejiang.Their arrival makes this power struggle more complicated.
Zhao Zhenji came to the Zhejiang Governor's Yamen to meet with Hu Zongxian.He suspected that he was being used by Hu Zongxian, while Hu Zongxian bluntly stated that the current situation in Zhejiang was very bad. If Zhao Zhenji could handle this problem, he might join the cabinet and become prime minister.Emperor Jiajing was looking for candidates for the next cabinet, and Zhao Zhenji was one of his favorite candidates.
These words made Zhao Zhenji's eyes flash with light.He understood that this was a rare opportunity.However, he also knew that to seize this opportunity, he must handle Zhejiang's affairs.
Hu Zongxian was very angry when he learned that his hometown friend was also involved in this turmoil.He didn't know it, but he deeply abhorred this kind of use of family ties for power struggle.In desperation, he could only ask Zhao Zhenji to handle the affairs in Zhejiang again.
