Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 332 5.14 Your Majesty and the ministers also have difficulties

Volume [-]

5.14 Your Majesty and the ministers also have difficulties.

As the salt field at Yangzhou Wharf became more and more liberalized, and finally even canceled the purchase restriction, it was delayed for a few more days until June [-]th. Probably after realizing that there was no chance at all, the salt merchants finally gave up the idea. All the troublemaking, spreading rumors and other behaviors disappeared, and it was so quiet for a while that people were not used to it.

"Zi Yang, come and take a look at this!" This morning, Zhou Yang was rarely called to the Salt Patrol Yamen by Lin Ruhai. As soon as he entered the backyard, he heard Lin Ruhai's greeting. When he entered the living room, he found that the other party was looking at him with a smile on his face. She was flipping through a booklet with a smile, and there was an opened letter on the table next to her. When he came in, she gestured with her finger to take it and read it.

It was only after these days of getting along that Zhou Yang finally determined that although Lin Ruhai was of noble origin as a "fourth generation lord", he was essentially a civil servant. For example, even though the two had cooperated many times, and even went through life and death, but He never talked much with Zhou Yang on matters involving government affairs, and only adopted a few suggestions.

Furthermore, both Lin Ruhai's behavior and the Lin family's family tradition have completely moved closer to the "heirloom of poetry and calligraphy". For example, these days, Zhou Yang has been living in the Lin Mansion's guest room, and even goes to the garden every day to do his daily work. He practiced martial arts, but never formally met Lin Daiyu again. He only met and greeted Lin Daiyu a few times, and they were both in the same garden. There were actually several lines of servants and slaves between them.

"Is this an autographed letter from Lord Yu Chong and Yu Minzhong, the Minister of Civil Affairs?" Zhou Yang glanced at the signature at the end before saying in surprise, and then after reading ten lines at a glance, a strange look appeared on his face, "What Yu Shangshu meant, Do you want Mr. Lin to stop now and leave the remaining issues to the court officials?"

"You, you are so merciful, how could you ever say 'that's all'?" Lin Ruhai snatched the letter and put it aside. He made him laugh and cry, "This major salt merchant case is only a matter of time." It can be said that when the Bao family was confiscated for the first time, His Majesty sent an edict to praise them; but after the reports about the Wang family and Huang family were reported, the palace has not given us a reply yet."

"Sir Yu did not say anything about 'that's it', but he repeatedly emphasized the difficulties in court, such as 'the number of impeachments so far has been countless', or 'the way to be an official is to not forget the Doctrine of the Mean' Learning'." Zhou Yang said disdainfully, "If you can't handle the pressure, just say so. They were the ones who asked you to come over and fight hard in the first place, and now they are the ones who want to push you one, two, six, five."

"Your Majesty and all the ministers also have difficulties." Lin Ruhai said with a wry smile, "These days, not only the personal letters from Mr. Yu, but also many friends and classmates of the same year have written to persuade me. If not for the support of your majesty and the ministers, it would have been so long. Time is enough to remove me from office and question me; now that it’s like this, it’s time to stop.”

"Okay, you are the chief officer and you have the final say. I was just transferred here to do a favor, and I was transferred soon afterwards. There is no need to meddle in other people's business." Even if Zhou Yang doesn't understand the rules, he knows that he can't continue to investigate. "However, I remember that when we raided three salt merchants, we found a lot of correspondence and so on. Now..."

"All the Dongfang Qianhu have been sealed and secretly transported back to Beijing. They must have arrived at His Majesty's place now." Lin Ruhai glared at him angrily, "Okay, don't bother with these matters. Next, you just need to keep an eye on what's going on at the dock. Just the salt field, I won’t arrange anything else for you here.”

"One more thing, protect the safety of adults." Zhou Yang looked at Lin Ruhai seriously and said, "Those salt merchants are still holding on, obviously waiting for the operation in the court."

"No way." Lin Ruhai interrupted him with a complex expression, and handed over a big red post, "Jiang Chun and Huang Juntai jointly signed the post, inviting me to a banquet at Jiang's house tonight, and they made it clear I have written it, and other salt merchants will also be present; however, I am not planning to go there because my identity is inappropriate."

"So, you need a top cylinder?" Zhou Yang shook the invitation in his hand and said angrily, "Can Mr. Lin still tell it these days? I'm not good at this kind of thing."

"It doesn't matter if you're not good at it. Dongfang Qianhu has been here for a long time, and it's time to say hello to everyone." Lin Ruhai certainly saw someone's ability, "You don't need to worry then, just say whatever you have to say. Anyway, the result is already determined, the main purpose of letting Dongfang Qianhu come forward is actually just to reveal his identity."

"Master Lin, you are." Zhou Yang looked at Lin Ruhai speechlessly and said, "Dongfang is Princess Yongchang's No. 1 subordinate and belongs to the royal representative. I am of the martial arts lineage. She and I went to the salt merchant's banquet together, but Except for the adults, this is really a good plan!"

"See for yourself!" Lin Ruhai said nothing more and handed him the booklet he had just been reading with both hands, "Remember to arrange things well."

As soon as "I" opened the fold, Zhou Yang almost said something dirty. On the surface, the fold was obviously an ordinary minister's memorial supplies, but the content and handwriting inside made him extremely familiar. There was no head, no tail, no clothes or hat, it was just simple. In a single sentence, "We will return to Beijing after we finish the work with Lin Ruhai." "Zi Yang, do you still have any questions?" Lin Ruhai took the fold back and put it directly into the ice basin that had already melted into water, not forgetting to stir it with the writing brush. After a few seconds, "Do you still need me to attend the banquet tonight?"

"Okay, I understand!" What else could Zhou Yang say? He stood up, saluted, turned and left, but as soon as he went out, he saw a familiar figure, who was it if it wasn't Dongfang Bing?

"Follow me!" Dongfang Bing didn't say much. This was not the place to talk. He said hello and went out first.

The two of them mounted their horses one after the other at the yamen gate, and after half a stick of incense, they entered an ordinary house. After the officers and soldiers of Daye Qianhu Station revealed their identities, they semi-forcedly requisitioned more than a dozen people around the yamen of Xunyan Censor. Residential houses were stationed around them, which happened to surround the Yamen and Lin Mansion in the middle for enhanced protection. One of them was the residence of Zhou Yang and Dongfang Bing.

"Dongfang Qianhu, what do our dear princesses think about this?" Zhou Yang immediately sent everyone in the yard out, and said speechlessly, "Salt merchants each have their own backgrounds, but generally speaking, they cannot escape the royal family or the royal family. He is a civil servant, and he has nothing to do with Wu Xun alone. If you go and let me understand, what does it mean to me?"

"It is true, but things are not that simple." Dongfang Bing poured two cups of tea himself, handed one cup to Zhou Yang, and took a sip from the tea cup. "One of the three vacant salt transport general merchant quotas was given to Zhou Yang. Zhou family, the other two are arranged according to the rules."

"The Zhou family?" Zhou Yang was slightly stunned, "Which Zhou family?"

"Concubine Zhou is an old man living in His Majesty's residence. She has served him for more than 20 years." Dongfang Bing glanced at him and said calmly, "I gave birth to a daughter for Your Majesty, Princess Zhuang Min. However, Concubine Zhou thinks she is not very blessed. Please When I arrived at the Queen's place, I fostered the princess under the Queen's name, and I have always been independent of the world."

"So... that's it!" Zhou Yang sighed helplessly.

The eight families of salt merchants had different backgrounds, but they all belonged to civil servants or the royal family; however, just like the "Two Days in Heaven" in the Zhou Dynasty today, the "royal family" to which the salt merchants belonged did not belong to Emperor Yonghe, but to Emperor Yonghe. The power of the Supreme Emperor was now torn open by Lin Ruhai, and three families were dealt with at once. Neither the civil servants nor the Supreme Emperor could sit still.

Zhou Yang couldn't guess the wrestling process and didn't dare to ask, but the result was that Emperor Yonghe took the opportunity to win a spot; Lin Ruhai was a close confidant of Emperor Yonghe, but he was also a civil servant. He was really not suitable to come forward in such a "betrayal" matter. It would be best for Dongfang Bing, the number one confidant of Princess Yongchang, to come forward - everyone with a slightly larger force knows that Princess Yongchang has always been on good terms with the queen.

One more point, this time the quota of salt transport general merchant was given to the Zhou family, which is Concubine Zhou's mother's family. On the one hand, it was indeed in the hands of Emperor Yonghe. On the other hand, don't forget the role of Princess Zhuang Min. Speaking of the Queen The empress will not take the opportunity to intervene, which is simply an insult to the intelligence - no need to ask, Princess Yongchang's handiwork is indispensable in this.

As for Zhou Yang, he didn’t really need to say anything this time. He just showed up as the chief officer of Daye Qianhu Office and the military supporter of the Salt Patrol Yamen. Or to put it another way, neither he nor Dongfang Bing needed to say anything, they just drank. Just eat the food. Things have been arranged anyway. The function of the banquet is to show off to the outside world and tell outsiders that the matter is over. At this time, no one dares to seek death or "fall out" afterward.

"After tonight, you can arrange for the army to prepare. I have arranged for the 700 million taels of silver copied from three salt merchants to be shipped one after another. After you have packed up, we can set off." Dongfang Bing has not forgotten it. Explain, "I don't care where you go, but don't let anything go wrong with this batch of money."

"Don't worry!" Zhou Yang smiled confidently. There are more than 300 firearms troops guarding them. No one can secretly take them away these days. Of course, there are other problems. "Compared to this, I am more curious about another thing - you I said at the beginning that His Highness Yongchang only has a dozen people here in Yangzhou, right? Although 700 million taels is not too much, it depends on them to load the ship, eh?"

"I have transferred a group of people from other places nearby." Dongfang Bing's answer was very straightforward.

"Allocate manpower? Do you think I believe it or not?" Zhou Yang picked up the girl and turned back to the bedroom, "Also, if you are telling the truth, why don't you dare to look at me and your face is so red?"

(End of this chapter)