Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 325 5.7 Jia Min’s dowry

Volume [-]

5.7 Jia Min’s dowry

In the following time, Yangzhou City fell into a strange calm. The salt merchants had no intention of fighting back, as if the more than 30 kilograms of illegal salt still piled at the Yangzhou dock did not exist at all; Lin Ruhai was busy sorting out the abalone every day. The various materials seized at home would lead people to clean up a salt merchant from time to time, but they never encountered any obstacles.

In a blink of an eye, it was the end of the month, May 28th. Among the entire Yangzhou salt merchants, except for the remaining seven, all other small and medium-sized salt merchants were more or less affected. Just because of the conclusive evidence, some of their families were wiped out. There are five or six families. Although these people are also engaged in private salt business, they mainly get some "second-hand goods" from the eight families. Those who were confiscated all got their goods from Bao's family.

"Master Lin, are you finally done?" In the study room of Lin Mansion, Zhou Yang smiled and looked at Lin Ruhai, who was storing the last case file in a copper box and preparing to transport it to the capital for disposal. "These days are quite interesting. The salt merchant is actually really There was no movement at all. Compared with the two, my approach of stationing all the people around the Lin Mansion seems a bit unworthy of being a villain."

"Thank you also to General Zhou for his firepower." Lin Ruhai smiled with a smile on his face, "Unfortunately, the Bao family is indeed only the last of the eight families. None of the seized account books, letters and other evidence can really affect the other seven families; although In this way, the property confiscated in these days alone is worth more than 300 million taels, and this does not include the most valuable parts such as various properties and houses.

These merchants, who were in vain to receive the grace of the king, did not want to serve the imperial court, but wanted to do illegal things, so what if they saved tens of thousands of wealth?In the end, they still couldn't escape Huihui Skynet. These yellow and white things were just their reminders; the old man had already formally signed up, explained all the case files clearly, and asked for another commissioner to deal with the remaining property matters. "

"Mr. Lin" Zhou Yang was completely speechless by his speech that was full of the right direction. He could only change the subject, "I mean, the salt merchants cannot allow us to clean up like this. If there is no surprise, now the capital There is already a huge commotion over there; the next one is the remaining seven families, and I have sent a message to Daye asking them to send double the reinforcements."

"Why don't I know this?" Lin Ruhai could be a close confidant of Emperor Yonghe, so he would not be dazzled by victory. "So, these days, I will organize the progress of the matter into a memorial every day, and rush it to the capital six hundred miles away; In particular, the money confiscated this time has been reported clearly, the ledgers and files are here, and they will be sent together today."

Now Zhou Yang understood that Lin Ruhai's solution was simple and crude - send money to the court and the emperor. During this period, the entire Zhou Dynasty's annual tax was about 1000 million taels, and it was basically losing money every year. , Lin Ruhai sent the 300 million taels of goods that were almost cash money. No matter how much anyone thought about it, they could only watch those salt merchants die in vain.

Of course, there are other problems
"Master Lin, even if the trouble with the imperial court is solved, what about Yangzhou?" Zhou Yang said worriedly, "These salt merchants have deep-rooted influence in the local area. Unless we can really kill them all, it is difficult to say that there will be no trouble. "As the saying goes, 'You can only commit a thief in a thousand days, but you can't prevent a thief in a thousand days'. Is it possible that we just wait like this?"

"What else?" Lin Ruhai glanced at him and looked around before saying, "Dongfang Qianhu must have gone to inquire about the news, right? When you see her, tell her not to waste time. With that 30 kilograms Unless they want to die, private salt and salt merchants can only endure it, even if these things have now been pushed to the dead Bao Zhidao.

In fact, many things don't require much evidence at all. As long as they can be justified, no one dares to turn over the old accounts; those smugglers are at the dock. If there is anyone who is not discerning, I don't mind sharing the blame with him, just casually His son can let his whole family follow the Bao family. Isn't that enough? "

"Salt merchant." Zhou Yang shook his head with a wry smile and said nothing more.

Throughout the middle and late feudal era, everyone knew that salt merchants were wealthy, and everyone knew that they sold smuggled salt and sucked the blood of the imperial court. But no matter how many batches were killed or how many were processed, in the end it was still up to them to ensure that the salt products were spread. Because of the poor end-execution ability in the feudal era, it was impossible to rely on the court to make the people eat salt.

Lin Ruhai's meaning was very clear. The direct enemies of his wife and children had been exterminated, and the tasks assigned by the emperor had been completed. In the next period of time, the collection of salt taxes could also be guaranteed. His work would end here, and there was no need to continue. There were many things happening - for example, when Zhou Yang said that he would deploy double the number of troops from Daye for support, he never answered a word.

"Okay, I understand what Ziyang means." Lin Ruhai sighed softly, got up and patted Zhou Yang on the shoulder, and spoke a lot more kindly, "When I was ordered to come here, I also held the idea of ​​sweeping the universe and peace and prosperity. It's a pity that many things cannot be explained in a few words. If the old man really wants to kill the salt merchants, not mentioning the one from Longshou Palace, even His Majesty will not be able to get through here.

Let's go. It's a rare happy event today. I've prepared a family dinner. Without your help these days, I'm afraid it wouldn't be that simple if I wanted to deal with those scum so neatly. It's not until today that I understand the power of this firearm. It is indeed beyond the reach of manpower. You might as well report it to the imperial court. I believe that His Majesty will never begrudge the reward. "

As Lin Ruhai said, no matter how big or small the salt merchants in Yangzhou are, it is a basic operation to keep a group of guards and thugs at home. If you dare not touch the salt goods without a knife, it is impatient to live; There is no way to solve the problem; basically every time he encounters a big problem, his arquebuses and infantry cannons will show their power. "My lord, please!" Even if he still had doubts in his heart, Zhou Yang knew that he couldn't go any further. Among other things, the Bao family could become one of the eight great salt merchants. If there was no backer in the imperial court, who would believe it?But these days, Lin Ruhai has not mentioned a word. Perhaps, he has already explained it to the emperor in the memorial?
While the two were chatting and joking, they had already entered the restaurant, and a fairly good banquet table had been placed. These days, Zhou Yang had also confirmed that the Lin family was rich, very rich, and Lin Ruhai was not an upright official in the true sense, so he deserved it. He has never been polite about "rules". Coupled with the family background of four generations of princes, the Lin family's wealth may be less than ten million, and thirty-five million taels is really easy.

However, the Lin family has a very good family tradition and has no habit of extravagance and waste. Just like this banquet, two large items, six side dishes, and a soup are enough to complete the meal, which is exactly in line with the "nine generations and ten" There are rules for the banquet; there is also a "miniature version" placed on the small table, but it is prepared for Zhao Yanling and Lin Daiyu, and there is no screen between the two tables.

When Zhou Yang followed Lin Ruhai to the seat, Zhao Yanling and Lin Daiyu were already sitting on the two chairs of the small table, and Xueyan was serving behind Sister Lin. Seeing the two of them entering the door, they did not forget to stand up and salute, Lin Ruhai nodded Even after it passed, Zhou Yang smiled and held his hands in his hands, not forgetting to call him "Sister Lin".

These days, as Lin Ruhai opened up the situation step by step, Lin Daiyu's mood became brighter day by day. Coupled with the addition of Zhao Yanling, who has good medical skills, the girl's condition is getting better day by day. It cannot be said that there has been much improvement. , at least it’s a good start.

"Girl, drink some soup first to moisten your stomach." Not to mention Zhou Yang and Lin Ruhai, Xue Yan took on the "important responsibility" of the maid very conscientiously, "This ginseng chicken soup has always been the best in the kitchen, girl might as well use it first These, my slave will bring them over right now - Oops!"

While everyone was looking at them in surprise, Xue Yan, who was about to pick up the soup basin, slipped in his hand and dropped the porcelain basin in his hand to the ground. A basin of fragrant chicken soup was scattered all over the floor.

"Xueyan, what are you doing?" Lin Daiyu looked at her maid blankly.

"Girl, why is this soup basin so heavy today?" Xue Yan said nervously.

"Girl, how much can a basin of soup weigh?" Zhou Yang didn't take it seriously. He smiled and reached out to pick up the soup basin on the table, but his expression changed instantly, "This soup basin is indeed heavy."

"Brother-in-law, please put it down first!" Zhao Yanling's expression suddenly changed, and she rushed over regardless of etiquette, took the soup basin from Zhou Yang's hand, and slowly put it back on the table after a long while, "This soup is wrong, it has been tampered with. It should be mercury, but the person who did it was an amateur, so he added too much, and that’s how it was exposed!”

"Come on, let the kitchen steward come here immediately!" Even if Lin Ruhai doesn't understand Chinese medicine, he knows what will happen to mercury if he eats it. "I want to see what kind of stupid slave it is!"

But this time, the situation obviously exceeded everyone's expectations. After half a stick of incense, I saw an old woman entering the restaurant with a pale face. Just by looking at her expression, I knew that things might be a bit serious.

"Master, this soup was indeed made in the kitchen, but both pots of soup were brought by Lao Zhou, but my slave just found out that he has died in the woodshed!"

"Old Zhou?" Lin Ruhai didn't understand either, "He followed his wife into the family, why would he do such a thing?"

Jia Min's dowry?Zhou Yang felt it was not that simple.

"Master Lin, this old Zhou must have already married, right? Is his wife the dowry of the second wife of Rongguo Mansion, or some other relationship?" After thinking for a moment, he remembered something Su Yun had mentioned.

Lin Ruhai's expression instantly became extremely gloomy.

(End of this chapter)