The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 490

Princess Zhaoyang Mansion.

In the inner room, after reading Jia Lian's private letter to her, Princess Zhaoyang smiled.

She likes the heroic Jia Lian, and she likes not to look down on women, but to regard her as a lover who is right and right.

After writing a reply letter to Jia Lian with a pen, he wrote a separate family letter of greetings, which was sent to Bai's house, and then forwarded to his uncle Yang Wuhou.

This is not what Jia Lian asked her to do.

When Jia Lian was telling her about his recent situation, he mentioned the salt merchant Bai's family, and she understood what Jia Lian meant.

Although her uncle Yang Wuhou is not in the center, he is the Jiedu envoy who holds the power alone at the border.Last time in Anxi Mansion, Jia Lian beat his cheap brother-in-law, which can be said to be a misunderstanding, and this time Jia Lian "robbed" his purse again, I am afraid that his uncle will hold Jia Lian in a grudge.

Of course she couldn't watch this happen.She had to explain the stakes to her uncle and persuade him to restrain himself.

Before she was just a carefree princess, now she has grown up and needs to think about more things.She also felt that her uncle's hand was stretched too far.

In their position, excess money is usually not a benefit, but a curse.

She was very happy that Jia Lian told her these things.

She knew that Jia Lian was not afraid of her uncle Yang Wuhou.Although Jia Lian's seniority and official position are not comparable to her uncle's, Jia Lian is an official with real power in the central government and a close minister of the emperor, so unless Yang Wuhou leads his troops to rebel, Jia Lian has no need to be afraid of him at all.

On the contrary, her uncle is far away from the center and has a high position, so he should be afraid of Jia Lian playing tricks on him in the center.

Therefore, Jia Lian would mention this to her only because Jia Lian felt that there was a relationship between the two of them. He and her uncle Yang Wuhou should be natural political allies.Such natural political allies, even if they don't communicate with each other usually, but there is no major misunderstanding, they should support each other at critical times.

And since she decided to help Jia Lian to rise to the top, the only thing she had to do at this time was to help Jia Lian avoid all unnecessary troubles.

"By the way, I heard that the concubine in the palace is ill, what's the matter?"

When the confidant nanny came back to answer, Princess Zhaoyang asked suddenly.

"Princess Qi, according to the news from the people in the palace, Concubine Li is indeed ill, but it seems to be a heart disease. I heard that when she went to pay her respects to the Supreme Emperor yesterday, she offended the Supreme Emperor and was ordered to be confined.

It seems that the Supreme Emperor was really angry this time, so even when His Majesty went to Chonghua Palace this morning to intercede with the concubine, the Supreme Emperor did not summon her. "

After hearing this, Princess Zhaoyang showed no expression.

Not to mention that she was never close to Concubine Li, but she has already confirmed that it was basically Concubine Li's plan to send her to get married, and the purpose was just to upset the Queen Mother...

How could she sincerely respect her own grandmother who treated her with such contempt.

"Where is my imperial grandmother?"

"The queen mother is in a good mood recently. I heard that she plays the piano and cooks tea every day in the palace. She enjoys her feelings and nourishes her nature. She occasionally goes to Chonghua Palace to accompany the emperor to go fishing and play chess or something."

Princess Zhaoyang laughed, then shook her head again.

She knew that since she returned to Beijing safely, the queen mother has been in a good mood.And she also felt that after returning to Beijing this time, her imperial grandmother had also changed.

Although she can't say much, she feels that the relationship with the Supreme Emperor is more cordial. Correspondingly, Concubine Li is becoming more and more disgusted by the Supreme Emperor, and she will always be reprimanded by the Supreme Emperor.

She felt that her imperial grandmother was more or less responsible for this.

Because in the past, the queen mother would definitely invite her into the palace every two days, and during this time, it seemed as if she had been forgotten.

Maybe, I'm really busy...

Thinking of this, Princess Zhaoyang respected the Queen Mother even more.The empress dowager, who used to be so elegant and uncompetitive, has started to deal with others, and I'm afraid there is also a reason to vent her anger.

Although he was definitely on the side of the emperor's grandmother in his heart, he still had to save face.

"Since the imperial concubine is ill, I naturally have to go to say hello and greetings. Order, I will drive to Changchun Palace after noon."

Casually gave the order to enter the palace to pay his respects, Princess Zhaoyang sat in the study, but remembered that there were some inappropriate words in the previous reply to Jia Lian.

So he dug it out and revised it several times, until he was sure that Jia Lian could fully understand her mood and admiration after receiving her reply, and then blushed and transcribed it in elegant lowercase letters, so that safe people could go sent to the south.

……

Yangzhou City.

Jia Lian also gradually began to send the situation of the Yangzhou Salt Administration to the capital in letter after letter.

I believe that with his report, the imperial court will make a qualitative determination of all the problems in Yangzhou's salt administration.And the new Xunyan Yushi will come down soon.

Sure enough, the salt merchants did not dare to despise his authority any more, and distributed the 400 taels of silver to Xingyuan according to the share of Yanyin.

And Jia Lian was also very loyal. After receiving enough money, he ordered the withdrawal of all the officers and soldiers at the door of the salt merchants.

As for the Wang's bank, I don't know what tactics Zhou's family used. None of the others fought against him, and Jia Lian didn't deliberately make things difficult, so Zhou Boru finally took it down.

After all, the Wang family was ransacked and questioned.Even though Jia Lian immediately asked the government to control Wang's bank, I'm afraid there will still be turmoil, such as some people donating money and fleeing.

So the Zhou family also took a certain risk in taking over the Wang's bank.Whether the cost can be recovered as soon as possible depends on the Zhou family's own means.

"My lord, this is a little treat for my lord, for my servants and colleagues in the industry..."

After talking about the bank, Zhou Boru handed Jia Lian a list alone.

Jia Lian opened it and saw, good guy, there are two or three pages full of good things.

It's not a celebrity calligraphy and painting, it's an antique curio.Judging from Jia Lian's knowledge, I am afraid that the value of none of the gadgets will be less than 1000 taels!

It also marked which item was sent from.

Jia Lian knew that they would do this, but he never expected that they would show respect in this way.Thinking about it carefully, it seemed to be for his consideration.

After all, these things are small and not as eye-catching as real money, so they are really good choices for gifts.I'm afraid that the items above are also collected by salt merchants.

"You have a heart."

It didn't mean to refuse.Think of it as the price paid by these salt merchants who knew that the Wang family wanted to assassinate him, but concealed it and did not report it.If you don't accept it, I'm afraid they won't feel at ease.

"As long as the adults like it, that's fine. Besides, besides the gadgets above, the villains have also prepared 10 taels of silver for the adults, and put them together in the atonement silver brought in..."

"Ha ha."

Compared with the copied Zhao and Wang families, and compared to the 400 million atonement silver, 10 taels is indeed nothing.

"Do you have anything else?"

After Zhou Boru finished his filial piety, he didn't intend to go on, obviously he had something to say.

So when Jia Lian spoke, he immediately bowed his hands and said in a low voice: "It is true that there is something unfeeling, please ask for forgiveness."

"Go ahead."

Jia Lian, who took the benefits, seemed very reasonable.

Zhou Boru stopped making detours and said directly: "Although the villains don't know how much the Zhao family and Wang family have, but based on what the adults found out and the criminal evidence of their two families, I'm afraid they didn't do less. It's a matter of misfortune and plunder.

In this way, I am afraid that their family has gathered a lot of property.

Now that the adults are advocating justice and bringing them to justice, it is in accordance with the law of nature!
only……

Like villains, they are all salt merchants selected by the court.I'm afraid that after your lord reports the results of the Wang and Zhao family raids, the court officials will mistakenly think that each of our salt merchants is as wealthy as the Wang and Zhao families...

Therefore, if the villains want to implore the adults to appropriately underreport the family property of the Wang and Zhao families, it is considered to be considerate of me and other law-abiding salt merchants.

The adults must also know that since the imperial court implemented the new salt policy, the profits of villains have not been as good as before.If the senior officials in the DPRK and China mistakenly think that the salt industry still has huge profits, I’m afraid they will try to extract profits from the salt administration. At that time, it will not only be us who abide by the law and never sell private salt for profit. , and there are thousands of ordinary people who eat salt all over the world. "

Hearing Zhou Boru's words, Jia Lian felt quite eye-opening.

The salt merchants were worried that the wealth of the Wang family and the Zhao family was too rich. After he reported them in full, they would "expose" the trump cards of these big salt merchants, making the court princes feel that they were too rich, and gave birth to the idea of ​​killing pigs. normal.

However, it was the first time for him to hear such grandiose things about someone using power for personal gain, taking money and breaking the law.

Listening to what he said, if he didn't underreport the family property of the Wang and Zhao families, he would become a bully who persecutes law-abiding and good salt merchants, and a bad person who harms the people of the world?

"Then as you said, what should I do with the family property that I underreported? Give it to you law-abiding salt merchants as compensation?"

The reason why Zhou Boru dared to make such a statement was naturally for a reason.

He immediately said seriously: "My lord is joking, how dare you think so. My lord has traveled thousands of miles to the south, worked hard for the court and the salt administration, and was plotted twice by villains. Therefore, the Wang and Zhao families The wealth obtained by stealing from the tyrants will naturally belong to the lord, and it can be regarded as atonement for the lord by the Wang and Zhao families."

"Hehe, isn't Chairman Zhou making me a corrupt official and trapping me in an unjust place?"

"grown ups……"

Zhou Boru was about to say something, but was interrupted by Jia Lian raising his hand: "Okay, I have already been concerned about this matter, so I won't bother Chairman Zhou.

On the contrary, Chairman Zhou should negotiate with other salt merchants in Yangzhou on how to improve the salt administration in the south of the Yangtze River for the imperial court.If at the end of this year, if you are still like last year, I am afraid that even if you escape this disaster by chance, you will not be able to have a good year next year. "

Zhou Boru didn't dare to say anything, and he said yes to Jia Lian again and again.

But I also have a bottom in my heart.

He could see that Jia Lian was not a pedantic Qingliu, so as long as he said something and let Jia Lian listen to him, his goal would be achieved.

So immediately skip this stubble and talk about another thing.

"I have heard that Tsing Yi offended my lord that day on the Little Qinhuai River. Please forgive me, Tsing Yi is not disrespectful to your lord, but she has always had such a cold personality.

The villain has already sent someone to reprimand her, and please don't be as knowledgeable as her..."

As Zhou Boru was talking, he realized that Jia Lian's expression was not quite right, so he immediately shut up knowingly.

Then I heard Jia Lian say: "First, the girl in Tsing Yi did not offend this official. Second, although you used to be her boss, since you have given her to this official, she is my official's.

I am afraid that there is no need for President Zhou to reprimand those who belong to me.Therefore, I do not hope that President Zhou will say such things again next time. "

When Zhou Boru heard this, he quickly knelt down and said, "Your atonement, this servant has no intention of offending you... I will remember this, I will never be disrespectful to the girl in Tsing Yi next time."

Zhou Boru used Gu Qingyi as his hole card, and it was also his biggest reliance on Jia Lian's line.

So, when I heard that Gu Qingyi didn't get Jia Lian's favor in the first place, but was robbed of the limelight by Shen Pan'er, he was a little angry and anxious, so he mentioned this.

Although he was reprimanded by Jia Lian now, he felt relieved in his heart.

Judging from Jia Lian's tone, it seemed that he treated Gu Qingyi as his own woman, and his goal was achieved, so naturally he didn't dare to argue with Jia Lian.

"Okay, get up. This time I am going to Yangzhou, President Zhou will take care of me, and I will keep it in my heart.

It's just that this official has always been very stingy, he doesn't like his own woman, and has anything to do with other forces.

Therefore, if President Zhou has anything to do in the future, he can send someone to find me directly.Don't be smart, for example, let the girl in Tsing Yi pass something on her behalf, it may not be worth the loss, President Zhou must understand this point. "

"Yes, yes, the villain understands. Thank you for your love. From now on, if you need anything from the adults, please feel free to ask the villain. The villain and the entire Zhou family will definitely do the work of the adults!"

Jia Lian just smiled and gave Zhou Boru a cup of tea before letting Zhou Boru go back.

Zhou Boru is a smart person, and his influence spreads all over the south of the Yangtze River. If he uses it well, it will be a great help. He doesn't mind maintaining a good relationship with him.

The matters of the salt merchants were resolved one by one. Next, all the property of all the salt merchants and corrupt officials had to be copied, and then they were ready to leave for Beijing.

However, when the servants, Wu Zhirong and other Yangzhou officials collected the details of the house raids for him, Jia Lian was stunned for a long time.

At the very beginning, nearly 300 million taels of real gold and silver were copied from the Zhao family.In addition to all the Zhao family's manors, fields, and properties in major state capitals, even if they were all sold at a low price, they could make up nearly a million taels of silver.

Therefore, just one Zhao family is nearly 400 million!
The Wang family is a little lower, even including the Wang's bank sold to the Zhou family, the overall value is only about 300 million.

The family property of the Feng family, a wealthy and unkind little salt merchant, is nearly 50 taels.

Wu Zhirong and other government officials also had a lot of wealth.However, they do not belong to the salt administration system, so Jia Lian only copied real gold and silver, as well as those who were easy to take away. As for other assets, they were charged into the treasury according to the usual practice, and finally the treasury was reported to the court.

One is to reduce trouble, and the other is to give other Yangzhou local officials a little bit of oil and water, so that they will not be too jealous when they look at the mountains of wealth in Xingyuan.

But even so, Jia Lian copied nearly [-] yuan of wealth.Most of them were contributed by the prefect Wu Zhirong.

In addition, all the big and small salt officials of the Salt Transportation Department, as well as the salt inspector An Siyuan and other salt officials...

An Siyuan, as the censor of salt inspection, had made such a big mistake in the salt administration, he could not escape the guilt, and ransacking his home was a must.

As for the An family.In the end, An Siyuan had the heart of reporting repentance, and was poisoned by the salt merchants, so he was given a lighter sentence, only ransacked the house, and did not implicate his family, which is very reasonable.

As for the copying of the house, it is natural to divide it into clean copying and random copying.With Jia Lian around, the result is obvious.

Although most of the officials in the salt administration system are of low rank, they can't bear to be secretly rich, so the value of the copy is at least one million taels.But Jia Lian disliked the messy assets of these small fish and shrimps, and was too lazy to count them one by one, so he only took away the real gold and silver that was easy to get, and assigned all the rest to the government office, allowing them to count and store them by themselves.

In this way, it is about 60 million.

Add in the 300 million that the salt merchants paid for their sins recently, plus 100 million as a hush money to the courtiers, all added up...

More than 200 million!

call.

Jia Lian let out a long breath after getting this number.

I still remember that day in Zhaojiami's room, seeing more than one hundred thousand taels of gold and one million silver piled up together, that dazzling scene like a mountain.

More than 200 million, what kind of exaggerated figure is this?
Even in the Great Wei Dynasty, nearly [-] million people contributed nearly one-fifth of the national treasury revenue.

So, he didn't go to Yangzhou to investigate the salt administration, but to help the court increase revenue?
It seems that more troops should be deployed to protect Xingyuan, otherwise if so much money is stolen casually, the loss will be immeasurable.

……

"grown ups……"

At Jia Lian's residence, Mrs. Xu turned over from the prostrate table, wiped her sweaty forehead, then turned around, walked to Jia Lian's side, and sat on the armrest of the grand master's chair.

"Are you sure you want to leave today?"

"Well, the carriage and accompanying personnel are all ready."

"Ah."

Xu is the mistress of the An family.Although An Siyuan died, the foundation of An's family in her hometown is still there, and her son needs to go back to inherit it, so she has to go.

Although she was reluctant, but no matter how reluctant, she had to go.

Not just for her son, but herself.

Encountering each other and returning to the right path is the only result.It's not good for her or Jia Lian to keep pestering her.

"If you can't bear it, just stay, and I can support you."

Hearing what Jia Lian said, Xu smiled, but was seriously relieved.

She turned around and knelt in front of Jia Lian, took Jia Lian's hand and kissed it, shook her head without explaining anything.For various reasons, I have already said it, and I have said it thoroughly.

"Little girl, I miss you very much. She must have fallen in love with you. After coming to say goodbye to you, she cried when she went back."

Xu said so.The little girl she was talking about was naturally her daughter An Cai'er.

Jia Lian smiled when he heard the words, not surprised.

It's not uncommon for a little girl to fall in love with a hero at the beginning of her love life.

It's also Xu's own fault, always pretending to be a maidservant in front of him, and even brought her daughter to rectify her internal affairs, and gave her daughter many opportunities to contact him.

Especially after Jia Lian helped Xu find his son back, Jia Lian could clearly feel that the little girl was very close to him.

"She is still young, and in a few years, she will be fine when she grows up."

"What if it doesn't get better?"

Xu squatted on the ground, looking up at Jia Lian seriously.

Jia Lian understood that this woman hadn't completely let go of her desire to promise her daughter to him.

"Then you bring her to the capital to find me, and then you two will follow me together."

Being teased by Jia Lian's raised chin, Xu gave Jia Lian an annoyed look, but didn't say anything else.

After taking one last look at Jia Lian, she got up and kissed Jia Lian, then turned and left.

(End of this chapter)