The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 463 Shen Pan'er

On the morning of the second day, Wu Zhirong, the magistrate of Yangzhou, came to Xunyan Yushi's Yamen very early, and invited Jia Lian to go to Xingyuan for a welcome banquet.

He also prepared a very luxurious double carriage. The carriage looks like it is at least three times the size of a normal carriage. He said that it was specially prepared for Jia Lian by his colleagues in Yangzhou, so that he could supervise the salt administration in Yangzhou. During this period, it is convenient to travel.

While Jia Lian was talking with Wu Zhirong, Zhao Sheng and the others aggressively pushed aside the yamen around the carriage, checked the carriage inside and out, and replaced the yamen as guards around the carriage.This scene undoubtedly caused Wu Zhirong and the others to blink slightly, but they dared not say anything more.

"In that case, I would like to thank Mr. Wu and my colleagues in Yangzhou."

Of course Jia Lian will not be polite at this time, anyway, he doesn't need to maintain his name, and he doesn't need to advocate frugality in this gentle and rich town.But after getting into the carriage, he was still a little surprised by the luxury inside the carriage.

In the spacious compartment, there are complete tables and chairs, and various utensils, which are full of luxury.

The most important thing is that there are two young and beautiful maids sitting on their knees, wearing only thin and beautiful clothes in the cold weather, looking delicate and lovable.

Jia Lian was wondering why Zhao Sheng and the others didn't drive the two girls out, but seeing Aqi and Aqin coming in after him, he knew that they probably knew there were people in the carriage, so they came in to accompany him.

So Jia Lian didn't do anything, sat on the right seat, sipped tea, felt the stability of the car, and admired the beauties and ladies, and soon came to the imperial envoy originally prepared for him by the Yangzhou government.

A large group of people waited outside Xingyuan to meet him, and Jia Lian couldn't tell who was who. They were probably just Yangzhou officials and representatives of the more than 20 salt merchants.

"How does your lord see this garden?"

Wu Zhirong, as a local parent official, at this time, no one would compete with him for the first place next to Jia Lian, so walking in the courtyard, Wu Zhirong asked with a smile when Jia Lian was most interested in viewing the scenery in the garden.

"That's right, I've heard long ago that Suzhou gardens are the best in the world, and I was lucky enough to see them. I didn't expect to come here today and feel that the Yangzhou gardens are just as good as Suzhou.

In terms of the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River that I have seen, this is the first. "

"Hehehe, this is a local salt shop, the garden under the name of Chairman Zhou. Chairman Zhou has heard about the reputation of the Lord, and this time he heard that the Lord is going to come down to supervise the salt administration, so he voluntarily took out this garden for preparation. It will serve as a gate for receiving adults."

Wu Zhirong briefly introduced the origin of this garden, and took advantage of the opportunity to introduce Jia Lian, the leader of the salt merchant, President Zhou.

Zhou Boru, the president of the Yangzhou Salt Trade Company, is in his fifties, of medium build, and looks very shrewd.

Seeing Jia Lian's eyes sweeping towards him, he quickly showed a courteous look, and after complimenting Jia Lian on his past glorious deeds, he said with a smile: "This garden is handed down from the old father. People live in it, but spend a lot of manpower and money every year to repair and guard it.

It’s rare that adults think it’s not bad. If adults don’t dislike it, I will give this garden to adults. On the one hand, it will reduce the burden on my Zhou family; "

Salt administration is an important taxation administration of the imperial court. There are four patrolling salt censors in the whole Wei Dynasty.

And the presidents of the four most important salt guilds are not only self-built by the people, but are supervised by the imperial court.Among them, the chairman and deputy chairman are all people with the title of the household department.Although the grade is low, you don't have to call yourself a grassroots when you see an official.

Hearing that he was about to send Jia Lian to the garden as soon as they met, even the officials of Yangzhou Prefecture were stunned.

The garden that could be selected by them as a place to welcome imperial envoys was first-class in terms of size and scale.

Such a garden is worth at least 10 taels. Zhou Boru actually gave it away as soon as he met him?
Even if his Zhou family is the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou, or even in the whole world, he wouldn't be so arrogant, right?For a while, Wu Zhirong and others were envious of the Zhou family's strong financial resources, and at the same time admired it in their hearts. This old man's courage is indeed not comparable to that of other salt merchants. Ten years without failing.

Naturally, Jia Lian was also taken aback.

According to him, this garden should be the best among gardens in the world, no matter its size or beauty. The Zhou family will give it to him as soon as they meet?
One must know that the construction of such a garden would be a huge burden for any family in the world.Just looking at the royal family sometimes wanting to build a garden to enjoy and enjoy, it is easy to be hindered by courtiers on the grounds of excessive consumption of the treasury.

Not to mention, in order to build a Grand View Garden, the Jia family almost spent all their money.

Of course, although this garden is as beautiful as the Grand View Garden, its cost is definitely far lower than that of the Grand View Garden.

The gardens in the south of the Yangtze River focus on beauty and beauty, while the gardens in central Beijing focus on splendor.Taking Daguan Garden as an example, it is only the main hall of Daguanlou, the future palace in Yuanchun. Just mentioning it alone is enough to build such a garden in the south of the Yangtze River.

But no matter what, this garden is at least at the level of 10 taels, or even more than 20 taels.

Such a good thing, I believe no one in the world will not like it.

At the first moment, Jia Lian couldn't help but feel a little moved, and even had a good impression of Zhou Boru unconsciously, but after thinking about it, Jia Lian still shook his head.

Your height determines your vision.Although the value of this garden may be higher than all his current net worth, it is not enough to make him crazy.

With his current status, if he is serious about making money, there will be many opportunities in the future.

The key is to ensure your position first, stand tall and sit firmly.

He didn't want to give people such a huge handle as soon as he came up.This is a shining garden, it is not as simple as money in with the left hand and money out with the right hand.

After taking over this garden, even if he is a shameless person, he will still be cruel to the salt merchants in Yangzhou. I am afraid that Emperor Ningkang will doubt the impartiality of his work.In the court, there must be someone to impeach and attack him.

In other words, this time he went south under the order of Emperor Ningkang, if he was bought by a garden as soon as he came up, then his style of Zhenyuanhou would be too low.

Seeing that Jia Lian shook his head and smiled, he didn't answer anything, obviously he didn't agree, Zhou Boru didn't dare to pester him, but he had a high opinion of Jia Lian in his heart.

When I came to the spacious central hall in the garden, there were five tables in total.

Jia Lian was seated at the main table, besides the prefect Wu Zhirong, there were also two or three officials of the fifth rank, including the Fu Cheng, at the same table. Among the salt merchants, only the president Zhou Boru and the vice president Wang Shanxiang were barely qualified to sit with him.

The other salt merchants sat apart on both sides.

After toasting Jia Lian with the first glass of wine, Zhou Boru clapped his hands, and immediately began to play silk and bamboo music, and then some beautiful dancers with long sleeves and narrow skirts slowly stepped into the lower hall in front of them to perform dances.

Jia Lian had already anticipated whether it was using property or beauties to bribe him, so he didn't think it was strange. He just pretended to be lazy after eating wine and watching a theater, and quietly watched the rare Jiangnan dance music.

Jia Lian only praised the leading dancer's stunning beauty and extraordinary dance skills in his heart, but didn't express anything on the surface.

After the first song, Wu Zhirong and the others asked how the dance was and how the beauties were waiting. Jia Lian praised it a little, saying that Jiangnan dance music has a unique flavor, and its freshness and elegance are better than Beijing Zhongzhong.

Jia Lian's evaluation naturally made Wu Zhirong and others very proud.

Jiangnan is rich and beautiful, singing and dancing are peaceful, so most of the officials in the world are willing to take up posts in Jiangnan.This also caused most of the people and officials in Jiangnan to have a sense of superiority.

It's just that this level of superiority is only compared to other poor provinces and places, and it is still a bit complicated when dealing with people in Beijing.

In terms of wealth and scholarly prestige, Jiangnan is not inferior to the capital at all, but the power of the world comes from Kyoto, and a word from the dignitaries in Beijing can even change the entire situation in Jiangnan.Therefore, they were very happy to be able to get Jia Lian, an authentic dignitary in Beijing, to praise the customs and culture of the south of the Yangtze River.

"Then what do you think of the girl who just led the dancer, whose singing and dancing skills can still catch your eyes and ears?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "Wu Nong speaks softly, with a sweet voice, graceful and graceful, like a fairy dancing, one of the rarest in ten thousand. If you want to come to this kind of woman, I'm afraid it's rare in the whole Jiangnan. Wait, wait for it." gone."

As soon as Jia Lian's words fell, there was a clear and pleasant voice from the outer corridor.

"Your Excellency is absurd. I'm just an ordinary geisha in the Jiangnan Jiaofang. Your Excellency praises my family so much. If the sisters in the workshop listen to it, I'm afraid they will hate my family."

Jia Lian looked up, and it turned out to be a dancer who had just performed. At this time, she had already taken off her dance skirt and put on a gorgeous lady's skirt, and came here with a pipa in her arms.

"Shen Pan'er, my slave, I have met the imperial envoy, and I have seen all the officials and gentlemen."

This woman is worthy of Jia Lian's praise, when she walked to the atrium, she simply greeted the people at the banquet, and she attracted the attention of many powerful and wealthy officials and lords, and some people couldn't help showing greed.

Wu Zhirong smiled and said: "Miss Shen Pan'er is the treasure of the Jiangnan Jiaofang Division. She is the best in dance music in Jiangnan, but she has the reputation of the number one dancer in Yangzhou. Normally, I would wait to see her, and it would be hard to find. Since your lord is here today, Xiaguan and others specially spent a lot of money to invite her to sing and dance for your lord."

"Your Majesty's words are too serious. This servant's family can't be called the treasure of Jiaofang Town, let alone the number one dancer in Yangzhou."

Shen Pan'er could see that she had experienced such scenes too many times, so she was quite natural when faced with everyone's judgments, and she was able to answer the conversation with a smile.

After seeing Wu Zhirong finished speaking, no one dared to answer because the leader Jia Lian didn't speak. The scene was quiet for a while, she turned her eyes, and she took the initiative to bow to Jia Lian and asked with a smile: "My lord, this is the first time I have come to Yangzhou." ?”

Jia Lian was still very friendly to the beauty, so he didn't put on airs to embarrass her.

"It's not the first time."

"Oh, then I don't know what music adults like to listen to?"

"I'm not very familiar with Jiangnan famous songs, Miss Pan'er just pick up the ones you like and play a couple of them."

Jia Lian smiled casually, and smiled at Shen Pan'er after speaking.

The power and power displayed by the rich and noble men in the hall did not make Shen Pan'er show timidity, but Jia Lian's smile almost made him lose his footing.

After finally calming down, she smiled happily: "Since that's the case, I will play a piece of "Spring Wind Song" and a piece of "Liu Yu Qing" for my lord and gentlemen."

Shen Pan'er had already been ordered to invite her over today, as long as she tried her best to make Jia Lian happy.

As a well-known Huakui lady in the south of the Yangtze River, she has attracted countless gold for the Jiaofang, among other things, she still has a certain status in the Fengyue field, and she is a high-ranking official in various prefectures, and she is also polite to her.

However, this does not mean that she dares to neglect people like Jia Lian.Even in Yangzhou, it is rare to see an imperial envoy come down in a few years, and she has only debuted for a few years, and this is the first time to perform for a special imperial envoy, so she also made careful preparations.

Who knew that the imperial envoys received by all the officials and gentlemen in Yangzhou, as well as those rich businessmen and big businessmen, turned out to be such a young and handsome man!Just now when she was presenting the dance, she caught a glimpse of Jia Lian who was sitting in the middle and at the top. She thought she had read it wrong and checked it several times. If the dance music presented had not been sung countless times, she might have made a mistake.

Following the conversation between her and Jia Lian, a waiter moved a round stool into the hall for her.Seeing that the waiters had placed her next to Jia Lian, they understood the situation better at the table, so they breathed out slowly, bowed to Jia Lian, then walked to the round stool, sat sideways, put down the pipa, and played Between the strings, the mouth of the sandalwood was slightly opened, and a melodious singing like a yellow warbler came from between her lips.

The main table is full of elegant people, watching Jia Lian listen to famous songs, he is naturally happy to accompany him.

But the people at the other tables were of lower status and did not dare to disturb them, so that all the rich and distinguished guests in the hall put their delicacies on the table as if they had nothing, and only listened to the wonderful sound quietly.

After the two songs were sung, Shen Pan'er only stepped forward to toast Jia Lian with a glass of wine, and then withdrew from the room.

Wu Zhirong looked at Jia Lian's complexion, and found that there was no trace of reluctance, he felt a little surprised, frowned, but didn't think about it anymore.

The atmosphere has been enhanced to this point, and it's time to talk about business.

So he dismissed the waiter, raised his wine glass and said to Jia Lian, "my lord traveled all the way south to Yangzhou to do errands for the imperial court. He has done a lot of hard work. I'm an official and others. Let me offer you a glass first."

After drinking, he said again: "I just don't know what embarrassment does your lord have about the Jiangnan salt affairs? Today, the next official specially summoned all the salt merchants in Yangzhou and several colleagues from the Salt Transport Department here for your lord. I want to help adults sort out the salt administration.

Therefore, if your lord needs to ask questions, just ask, and if they do something that is not in line with the imperial court's wishes, please ask your lord, and don't hesitate to teach them. "

At the beginning of Wu Zhirong's words, everyone knew that the topic was coming, so they all sat upright and looked at Jia Lian with burning eyes.

Jia Lian's attitude is related to the fate of the entire Yangzhou Salt Company, and no one here does not care.

(End of this chapter)