The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Wu Zhirong and others were thrown in the courtyard of Xunyan Yushi Yamen, where the cold wind blew all night.

But no one dared to complain.

Seeing the officers and soldiers carrying boxes of belongings into the compound, Wu Zhirong and others didn't know that Jia Lian had stolen the Zhao family's house!

Even though the Zhao family is just a salt merchant, their background is much stronger than that of local officials like them.

If Jia Lian dared to copy Zhao's house, he dared to steal their black yarn and copy their home.

Suddenly hearing Jia Lian coming back, Wu Zhirong and others rushed out to greet Jia Lian, flattered Jia Lian, and politely asked when they would be released back to the Yamen, saying they still had government affairs to deal with.

"Go back? Master Wu may not be able to go back..."

As soon as Wu Zhirong and the others' expressions changed, Jia Lian raised his voice and yelled: "Come here, arrest the prefect Wu Zhirong, fellow acquaintance Wei Jitong, judge Yan Shixiang, and the Salt Transport Envoy, and wait for their release!"

"Yes." The officers and soldiers rushed forward and tightly detained the four people, ignoring their shouts, and directly took them down.

The remaining two or three people, as well as Gao Kui and the others who ran over from the side courtyard, also changed their complexions again and again, looking at Jia Lian in a fawning and vigilant manner.

Jia Lian smiled at them and said, "Masters, don't be nervous. Wu Zhirong and others colluded with salt merchants and embezzled salt taxes. The evidence is solid, so I took them down and waited for the court to deal with them. My lords are good officials who are loyal to the emperor and patriotic. Naturally, the official won't take anything against you."

After finishing speaking, he looked to the middle-aged civil servant: "I have been in Yangzhou for a few days. I heard that Mr. Zou is diligent in government and loves the people. He has a good official voice. He is a rare Qingtian master in Yangzhou City. Because of this, he was excluded by Wu Zhirong and others. .

This official admires such a mighty and unyielding official like Mr. Zou.Although I took Wu Zhirong and others down, I still have to continue to investigate the Yanzheng, and I don't have time to care about the government office, so before the court sends a new magistrate down, I will ask Cheng Zou for the affairs of the government office. bother. "

Zou Tong, the Tong Zhi of Yangzhou, looked solemn. Seeing that Jia Lian was not joking, he quickly clasped his fists and saluted, "Your Excellency, this is all a matter for the lower officials. Thanks to your Excellency's trust, from now on, as long as you have orders from your Excellency, the lower officials will be the ones." Do your best to undertake it.”

Although Zou Tong was not very used to Wu Zhirong's behavior, and he was indeed marginalized because of it, but he was able to stay safely until today, and he did not report Wu Zhirong and others to the court, so he was not completely free.

He knew that Jia Lian might see that he had some official voice, or maybe Jia Lian needed someone to stabilize the affairs of the government office, so he let him go, and he was naturally grateful.

"Since Mr. Zou said so, I happen to have something to ask for your help.

This official left Beijing in a hurry and didn't bring many documents with me. I have copied a lot of real estate from the Zhao family this time, and there are many accounts of the Zhao family's salt industry that need to be checked. It is really difficult for me to check it with my current manpower. After Mr. Zou returns to the Yamen, please send a few more officials from the Yamen who are familiar with Wen'an work to assist me.

In addition, there is also a list of properties registered and sealed by the Zhao family in the government, and I will also copy a copy so that I can check it. "

The Zhao family has been entrenched in Yangzhou for decades, with deep roots and numerous industries.

This era is not like later generations, where all industries are registered by the government.Nowadays, buying and selling, even land and real estate, can be done directly without going through the government, as long as there is a contract signed by both parties, it is called a "white contract". …

Although it is difficult for Bai Qi to obtain the protection of the government, it can save a large amount of taxes and avoid being made things difficult by officials. Therefore, most of Wei's private property is Bai Qi, which depends entirely on family inheritance or contract certificates.

This is also the fundamental reason why things like tyrants and bullies encroaching on other people's property are easy to happen in this era.

Naturally, it is impossible for the Zhao family to register all their properties in the government, so it is easy to copy out the deeds, but it is difficult to track down those who do not.

But at least the government has to make a list, and it needs to be counted out.

For Jia Lian's request, Zou Tong naturally agreed immediately, and then said goodbye to Jia Lian, and left Xunyan Yushi Yamen together with two other officials.

……

"grown ups."

In Jia Lian's temporary office, Jia Yu walked in, and was a little surprised to see that there were only a few people in the hall, and they were all leaders.

"Everyone's here?"

Jia Lian raised her head and smiled at Jia Yu and the others. Without talking nonsense, she took out four yellow envelopes from the drawer and handed them to Jia Yu, Yang Xun, Zhao Cheng, and Wu Jin, the captain of the Forbidden Army respectively.

"Last night, everyone accompanied me to deal with the case. You worked hard. Here is a little hard-working money. Please accept it."

Yang Xun, Zhao Cheng, and the captain of the imperial guards were not too surprised. They had already seen that Jia Lian was a healthy person.It's no wonder Jia Lian didn't express anything to rich and unkind merchants like Zhao's family last night.

On the other hand, Jia Yu, a martial artist with seniority in the military camp, had never experienced such a thing, and was a little enlightened for a while.After all, judging from the short few times he had been in contact with Jia Lian, he thought that Jia Lian was a selfless and upright person, so he was reused by the emperor.

Didn't expect to do such a thing.

Seeing Jia Yu's expression, Jia Lian didn't explain it.

"However, this is not only for you, but also includes the hard work of your brothers. The investigation of the Yanzheng is far from over. I still need you and your subordinates to represent the court and the officials. Work hard. As long as things are done well, I am not stingy to share some reasonable benefits with everyone, and I don't like everyone with shallow eyelids...

I hope that all the brothers who are working this time, regardless of their positions, will get at least ten taels of benefits. Do you understand what I mean? "

"The humble rank understands, and I will definitely live up to your high expectations. Don't worry, my lord treats us so sincerely, and we won't be so shallow as to skimp on the benefits of our brothers."

Zhao Cheng, a member of Jinyiwei's hundred households, was the first to reply with a smile.He and Yang Xun received a lot of benefits on the day they left Yangzhou, and thought that they would not have their share this time, but Jia Lian still prepared for them.

As for giving each brother at least ten taels of silver... Although they think it is too much, after all, apart from Yang Xun, they have quite a few brothers under them.But thinking about it again, since Jia Lian said so, the amount of money in the yellow seal was indispensable, so he became happy instead.

Jia Yu even took a deep breath.There are eight hundred officers and soldiers under him, and each of them has at least ten taels. Doesn't that mean that there are at least 8000 taels of silver in his yellow envelope?
So after returning to the lower part of my home, I couldn't wait to open the yellow seal, and found that there was indeed a stack of silver notes inside, and there were a few gold leaves! …

After a few counts, his hands began to tremble a little.

8000 taels!

This... Even according to Jia Lian's explanation, the brothers at the bottom are divided into ten taels, and those with higher ranks are more, so he can almost keep 1 taels for himself? !
Ever since he became the head of Qian and became a fifth-rank official, he felt that his salary was pretty good, with 200 taels of silver every year!It was enough for his family to live a prosperous life in Jinling City.

It wasn't until this moment that he really understood why those civil servants in Jinling City called them bitter warriors!

Damn it, following Jia Lian on an errand will pay off his hard work for decades.

I don't know if other people's hands are so rich, or Jia Lian took extra care of him for the sake of his family.

But it doesn't matter anymore, he knows that from today on, his vision needs to change.

There is no future for staying in the Xishan Camp in Jinling City, and you have to find a chance to fill in a good position. It is best to be promoted to Jia Lian's side to work.

Working with this powerful cousin is [-] times better than working alone in Jinling.He even began to thank Governor Liao Jihong in his heart. If he hadn't made it happen, he really had a great future and backing, and he didn't know how to fight for it!

Jia Lian could probably guess what Jia Yu and others thought, but he didn't care.

What is the benefit given to them compared to the Zhao family's wealth?Only the real gold and silver copied from the Zhao family last night was nearly 300 million taels.In addition to the various industries that have not yet been counted, and finally converted, I dare not say how much, about 400 million is definitely available!
This amount, as long as the emperor receives it, he will be shocked.

Besides, it's not over yet...

Jia Lian always felt that the Wang and Bai families were only a lot more than the Zhao family in terms of the number and madness of selling official salt.Letting it go like this is unfair to the Zhao family.

Deliberately copied the two of them. At that time, wouldn't it be possible to return to Beijing with a wealth of more than 1000 million taels?
In that case, I'm afraid the emperor would jump up with secret joy.

After all, the annual revenue of the entire national treasury is only tens of millions of taels a year, and most of them have fixed destinations. The rest is the share that the two monarchs compete with the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty.

Moreover, among them, most of them will be divided by the Supreme Emperor.

So Jia Lian knew that Emperor Ningkang was actually very poor.This is also the reason why Emperor Ningkang secretly told him that he must give these greedy salt merchants a look, and even acquiesced in the reason why he would kill him if he refused to accept it.

In this case, to bring back 1000 million taels of silver to Emperor Ningkang, I don’t know if he will directly make himself a Duke of the Kingdom...

After all, this is a benefit for him to gain his own reputation!It is conceivable that if he really wanted to confiscate the homes of these salt merchants, the Qingliu celebrities in the court would definitely criticize him verbally and give him reputations such as "greedy and cool" and "skin-skinning".

But think about it or forget it, if Emperor Ningkang really promoted him to be the Duke of the state now, then he really has to be careful whether Emperor Ningkang is planning to play the trick of a cunning rabbit and a dead dog.After all, it is definitely not a good thing for the courtiers to have nothing to seal. …

Forget it, counting the luck of those two, the big deal is that they will bleed more than other salt merchants in the future, and the house raid will be avoided.

So Wu Zhirong was brought forward and forced to ask him about the whereabouts of An Siyuan's son.I didn't ask before because I didn't want to scare the snake. Now that he has been taken down, it is natural to help Xu get his son back.

At first Wu Zhirong naturally refused to admit it, but under Jia Lian's persecution, he still said: "Well, if the subordinate officials say so, might your lord put down the official position and leave?"

Wu Zhirong deeply regretted underestimating Jia Lian, so that without any preparation, there was no room for resistance.

Jia Lian looked at him and said with a half-smile, "What do you think?"

Wu Zhirong became gloomy and gloomy.

"Could it be that Mr. Wu thinks that there is no friendship between me and An Siyuan? If you are willing to hand over his son, I can remember that you have a heart of repentance and report your crimes truthfully without malicious smearing.

If you don't cooperate, it doesn't matter, it's just adding an additional charge of murdering your colleague's young heir to your crime, so that your Wu family's crimes will go deeper, and there will be no loss to this official. "

Wu Zhirong knows that it is not a wise choice to offend Jia Lian now, and he has not given up completely.Having been the prefect in Yangzhou for so many years, like the salt merchants, he also used money to open the way and find a backer for himself. He also hoped that the people behind him could save him.

In this way, it is even more important not to offend Jia Lian too hard and make Jia Lian fall into trouble, so he said: "I don't dare to lie to my lord, no matter what happened to An Siyuan or the kidnapping of his son, it was all done by the salt merchants. The lower officials really don't know about it." However, after the lower officials found out that Mr. An's son had been kidnapped, they also investigated, and probably found out that An Siyuan's son was in the hands of the salt merchant Wang's family. If you want to save someone, you might as well start with the Wang family."

It is difficult to protect himself, and Wu Zhirong will not be the umbrella of the salt merchants anymore, and he will betray him without hesitation.

"Really? Do you know what happens when you lie to me?"

"The lower officials don't dare, the adults just need to investigate and know the truth."

Seeing what Wu Zhirong said was true, Jia Lian didn't make things difficult for him, and ordered him to be escorted back, so he got up and went to the inner courtyard.

Originally, I just wanted to find Mrs. Xu to confirm the news, but when I saw Mrs. Xu, she looked lost.

But when she saw Jia Lian, she seemed to want to cover up.

"What's wrong?
"No, it's nothing... My lord is tired, let me relax my shoulders..."

Mrs. Xu helped Jia Lian to sit down, and then rubbed Jia Lian's shoulders as usual.

Jia Lian frowned slightly, pulled her into his arms and sat down, but stopped asking, instead raised his chin and smiled: "You said your son is in Wu Zhirong's hands, and I have already captured him for interrogation. But he said that your son is not in his hands, but in the salt merchant Wang's house.

This officer doesn't look like he's lying. Are you guessing wrong?Don't worry, no matter whether your son is really in the Wang family or not, as long as he is still alive, I will be sure to rescue him. How about you wait for a few more days with peace of mind? "

Mrs. Xu looked up at Jia Lian in a daze, and suddenly broke free, turned over and knelt down in front of Jia Lian, crying, "What is the virtue and ability of a concubine to make adults worry about my concubine! I have an important message to send My lord..."

"what?"

"There are still people who want to assassinate your lord!"

"!
……