On the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixth year of Tiansheng, an imperial envoy sent by the imperial court disembarked at Yanziji in the north of Jinling City and arrived at Jinling.
Jia Hui was a little surprised by the visitor.
"Why are you here to announce the decree? Just send a minister here for this kind of errand, right?"
"Of course Grandpa Huang sent me here, and you don't even want to call me King."
"Big bastard?"
"Forget it, why don't you accompany me to the Holy Lady's Mansion first?"
"Of course, the etiquette is so good, everything has been arranged for you. Let's go in the afternoon and have a meal at the old lady's place in the evening."
On the pier, there is a tall man wearing a big hat, a bright red Suzaku gold-woven round collar uniform, and a bearskin cloak, and a man wearing a winged crown, wearing a bright red four-cup dragon patch collar, and a fire fox fur cloak. The handsome man walked towards the motorcade with a smile.
The accompanying officials behind him were about ten steps away from the two of them, talking to colleagues they knew well.
After getting on the carriage, the convoy began to drive towards Jinling City.
Jia Hui's carriage had already prepared hot tea and some refreshments, but there was no charcoal stove.
The two sat opposite each other, neither saying a word, but carefully looking at the old brother they had not seen for several months.
"The smile on your face hasn't stopped since you got off the boat. Fourth child, do you miss me so much?"
"You? What are you thinking about? I just thought that I would see 450 million taels of silver soon. Mom, there are not many opportunities to see more than 400 million taels of silver." Chen Si sighed with emotion.
The person in front of me is none other than the Fourth Prince, Prince Yiyong Chen Jingyuan and Fourth Master Chen!
At this moment, his ceremonial guard has not been unloaded on the ship. It will be too late to wait until it is all unloaded before setting up a formation to go to Jinling. So he can simply let them unload it slowly and then put it up when he goes to visit the Holy Lady in the evening.
"Isn't it more? And you don't look like you are greedy for money. There must be something else!" Of course Jia Hui would not believe Chen Si's lies.
"Ah, it's nothing, it's just that my father plans to focus on training me!" Chen Jingyuan said with a worried look.
"Ah? Is it true?" Jia Hui was confused by the good news brought by Chen Si.
"Of course it's true. My father said this in front of Grandpa Huang." At this point, Chen Si could no longer maintain his expression and began to laugh tremblingly.
"Hahahaha!" The two people's wild laughter spread out from the carriage, causing the birds on the treetops on the roadside to flap their wings and fly around.
After experiencing the initial ecstasy, Jia Hui forced himself to calm down. Before finding a suitable think tank, there must be one between the two of them who can maintain sanity at all times.
"Don't be complacent. From now on, you have to be more cautious and cautious! From now on, it is not one saint who is paying attention to you, but two saints staring at you at the same time. But whenever something goes wrong .After all, I just want you to go up, not force you to go up, right? The second brother is easy to put on airs, and Xiao Qi is not inferior to you in terms of ability."
Jia Hui's frustrating words made Chen Si calm down quickly.
"I know, I just want to tell you and then be happy with you."
"I'm very happy for you, but before things are decided, any accident may happen.
From now on, just work hard in three directions. One direction is upward. The biggest obstacle to your ascendance is the second prince. After all, he is older than you. Due to the special situation of our dynasty, if we switch to the former dynasty, after the death of Prince Ying, he should be the prince. And to him, you are the biggest threat, and he will definitely try his best to suppress you. Only one of you two can live.
As for the third prince, his appearance and appearance are not suitable for inheriting the throne, so he does not need to worry about it. Instead, we can try to win him over. But I heard that his face was disfigured by the second prince’s intelligence error during his training."
Jia Hui took a sip of hot tea.
"Then go down, to prevent your brothers from stabbing you from behind, mainly Lao Qi. Lao Wu's temperament is quite similar to His Majesty's, but you can't let down your guard.
The next step is to show his abilities to the two saints. You have to have your own opinion, but you can't be stubborn. You must be respectful to the Second Saint, but you must not act like a yes-man. We still need to slowly test this degree."
Jia Hui began to talk to Chen Si again, and Chen Si didn't show any impatience.
"Okay, don't talk about me for now. My father is in the prime of his life, and his body is very strong. There is no need to worry about these things. Come on, brother, let me have tea instead of wine, and congratulate you on your success in revolting!"
The two of them reached out to touch their teacups, and drank the whole thing in one gulp, as if they were really drinking.
"I'm here this time to give you an idea of the reward in advance. Come on, I'll ask you, Duke, Governor, or Lieutenant, what do you choose?"
"That must be the lieutenant!"
Jia Hui blurted out without thinking.
"Sure enough, the Second Saint planned to make you a lieutenant. At first, it was for the sake of the initial ninety million taels of silver. But didn't your counter-rebellion turn into a rebellion? I will give you the title of lieutenant. That’s justifiable. But you really don’t want the Duke of the Kingdom, and you have to have this title become a lieutenant?”
Chen Si felt that Jia Hui was at a loss.
"I don't think so. I'm only nineteen this year. My original plan was to find an opportunity to become a Duke when I was between three and forty years old. Otherwise, if I become a Duke now, how will I get rewards in the future? Is it true that I will become an official after becoming a Duke?
Besides, I don’t want you to give me my father-in-law in person. "
Jia Hui smiled and filled Chen Si's tea cup with water.
"Then it's settled."
"we have a deal."
Jia Hui and Chen Si looked at each other and smiled.
"By the way, I plan to take this opportunity to submit a letter to split Jiangnan Province." Jia Hui suddenly took out a memorial from the drawer of the carriage.
"Split Jiangnan Province?" Chen Si took the memorial without reading it first.
"Yes, what was Jiangnan Province originally?"
"Originally, the former Nanzhili?"
"Yes, the seventeen rich lands are all under the jurisdiction of Jinling. In the early years of this dynasty, no, even now, the most taxes, grains, courses, salt courses, etc. were in the former Nanzhili, now Jiangnan Province Ah." Jia Hui sighed.
"Even when the country was first founded, it was powerful enough to fight against the imperial court with the power of a provincial family. To put it bluntly, here we need money and people, and those who don't can still go to the sea to trade overseas, and they can control the canal. , it is simply a ready-made foundation for kings and hegemons! Didn’t our dynasty use this place as its foundation to build the world? Now Jiangnan Province has just suffered a military disaster, all the aristocratic families have been wiped out, and the Jiangnan faction’s influence in the court has been wiped out. It’s a great time to break up Jiangnan Province!”
In fact, the founding of Da Qi mainly relied on Shandong soldiers and Jianghuai soldiers. Jiangnan provided the most money and food, but the people provided the least. The generals are counted separately.
"Okay, I'll read your memorial in the past two days. If you can convince me, I will join forces with you." Although Chen Si changed his mind, he did not agree on the spot.
Jia Hui is right, there is currently no resistance to splitting Jiangnan Province. And if it is really split, how many more official positions will be created? If people from my own faction can get these seats, even if they are only from one province
"The second thing is to ask for the abolition of humble status. The remnants of the previous dynasty were able to cause rebellion this time, thanks to the Jiangnan family's great lack of virtue towards their slaves, which gave them an environment in which they could unite their slaves to kill their masters and rebel. .All the civil and military personnel participating in the rebellion have signed it, do you want to sign one too?"
Jia Hui once again took out a memorial that was much larger than the previous one from the drawer.
Without thinking, Chen Si wrote his name and stamped it with the royal seal.
Whether or not one's humble status should be abolished is another matter. The attitude must be shown first.
There are many children in the Jia family, some of whom have been servants of the Jia family even from the generation of Jia Taigong. They have served the Jia family for more than a hundred years and have experienced countless ups and downs together. Maybe the Jia family does not know their own family as well as these servants. He knows a lot about the Jia family. They know or are involved in too many secrets of the Jia family, and they will definitely not let them go.
Besides, they may not necessarily give up their status as slaves.
Freedom comes at a price.
Apart from anything else, after becoming a free agent, let’s not talk about heavy taxes, hard work in the fields, and the future of future generations. In the master's house, they can continue the momentum of the master's house and become respectable masters, but what happens after they regain their freedom and leave the master's house?
Therefore, Jia Hui is not worried at all that his children will choose to lose everything now in exchange for the slim freedom in the future.
It is even said that even people like Qingwen will be entangled for a long time when faced with these two choices, not knowing which one is wrong.
Are they willing to lose the glory and wealth they gained with dignity?
But reality belongs to reality, and form belongs to form. No matter what, it is time for things like humble books to be abolished.
In name only.
. . . . . .
On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the imperial governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang - the Shangzhu Kingdom - the great general of Sima - the great governor of the left army - Dunhuang County Duke Jia Hui wrote "Please dismantle the Jiangnan Province" and "Please abolish the base book" jointly signed by the rebel civil and military forces. The announcement in the temple shocked both the government and the public for a while and aroused heated discussions.
I thought that the princes in the court were going to fight openly and secretly over these two memorials, but unexpectedly, the Holy One directly issued an edict allowing the abolition of untouchable status. The people were instantly excited, especially the untouchables who were untouchables. Tell each other, shouting that the Holy Emperor is in the court, and there are more loyal and good people to assist the court, and the Qi Dynasty will last for thousands of years!
As for "Please dismantle Jiangnan Province", the imperial court did not object, but there were differences on how to dismantle it.
Finally, on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, which was the eve of the annual holiday, the cabinet adopted the proposal of Grand Sima General Jia Hui to split Jiangnan Province.
The eight prefectures of Xuzhou, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Jinling, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou and Songjiang form one province, and the provincial name is tentatively named Jianghuai Province.
Fengyang, Luzhou, Anqing, Chizhou, Ningguo, Chuzhou, Hezhou, Taiping and Huizhou plus Guangzhou form a province, tentatively named Wan Province.
In fact, there is no rebellion in Anhui, but the eight eastern prefectures have rebelled, and the court power of the eight eastern prefectures has also been wiped out. It is useless for the officials in Anhui to oppose it. As long as Jianghuai Province is separated, it will be That's it.
As for where the capitals of each region should be, let the officials from each region who take office after the year decide among themselves.
As for who will be sent to take office, that will be a matter after the year.
. . . . . .
Chen Jingyuan also left Jiangnan years ago.
Along with him were 420 million taels of silver, 4 million taels of gold and countless jewelry and antiques.
What was left to Jia Hui was 20 million taels of silver, 500,000 taels of gold, and 5,000 boxes of various rare treasures, ancient calligraphy and painting books.
Another 10 million taels were left, and 5 million taels were allocated to the two newly established provinces as start-up capital.
The remaining money was distributed among the counter-rebellion army and civil and military personnel.
It’s really been a good year!
Regarding the whereabouts of the counter-rebellion army.
The Jiangnan camp naturally stayed in Jiangnan. They themselves were field troops stationed in Jiangnan responsible for suppressing the southern country.
For the Cao Gong army, Jia Hui gave them three choices.
The first is to replenish the troops in the Jiangnan camp and the Cao troops, so that they can stay in the army and not far from home.
The second is those who want to continue to work hard and climb up. Jia Hui can transfer them to Jiubian, Western Regions, Southwest, Liaodong and other frontier areas for development.
The third is to take the severance money and go back to his hometown.
In the end, nearly half of the people chose to retire and go home. Those who just wanted to make a living were arranged into the Jiangnan camp and the Cao soldiers. The rest were those who wanted to firmly follow this path. Jia Hui also based on their respective Their expertise sent them to the frontier.
Ning Zhe also wanted to take this path, but as he was the first to break Zhenjiang, he had to go back to Luoyang with Jia Hui and others to receive the reward before making arrangements.
During the Spring Festival of the seventh year of Tiansheng, Jia Hui spent it in Jinling with the Jinling people. During this time of countering the rebellion, many people from the Jinling tribe also chose to join the army to gain a better future.
Since the clan members were motivated, Jia Hui certainly would not stop them, so he sent them to the Cao Gong Disciples Army and the Jiangnan Camp. There is nothing else. If you want to get ahead, it all depends on your ability. Jia Hui's only care for them is to ensure that their military achievements will be in their hands without any loss.
Until the end of the counter-rebellion, a total of seventeen tribesmen survived and became prominent, with the lowest position being the general banner.
Among these seventeen tribesmen, Jia Wan, who was of the same generation as Jia Hui, was the most prominent, and he was promoted to the guerrilla general of the infantry army in the Jiangnan camp because of his merit.
Jia Hui stayed in Jiangnan until the Lantern Festival, when the imperial envoy appointed by the imperial court to be responsible for the division of the two provinces by the prime minister arrived. Then he took his three concubines and the Suzaku cavalry on his way home.
. . . . . .
Yangzhou Salt Censor Yamen.
Jia Hui met Jia Min, her daughter, and Lin Ruhai again.
Lin Ruhai went out on business. The new salt policy he submitted was highly appreciated by the emperor, and Yangzhou was set up as a pilot project to experiment with the new salt law.
I heard that the salt dealer purchased the salt on the spot and paid the tax on the spot. Combined with the current salt situation, a maximum price is set. How much the salt merchants can sell depends entirely on their abilities.
The specific situation is even more complicated, with various problems emerging one after another. Lin Ruhai, the leader, is extremely busy. He has been working continuously for more than 20 days, running back and forth from various saltworks, and came back for a New Year's Eve dinner on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, he started losing his hair when he was only in his twenties.
Fortunately, it has always been a minor problem and no major problems have arisen. If Lin Ruhai can successfully carry out the salt reform, his future will no longer be hindered. The Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue is beckoning to him, and he will be appointed as the Prime Minister soon.
The emperor has spoken. Regardless of whether the reform is successful or not, he, Lin Ruhai, will definitely return to Beijing this year. After all, he has been delayed for several years for various reasons. This year, he made a great contribution by getting rid of the salt merchant who colluded with the White Lotus Sect. It would be shameful not to be promoted.
Probably due to the continuous happy events, coupled with the arrival of the Jia family's generals and the capture of the mole who poisoned the food, the old lady of the Lin family was in good spirits, and she estimated that she could live for a few more years.
Jia Hui came here this time to pick up the Lin family members and go to Luoyang.
First update,
This chapter explains the whereabouts of various people, as well as some trivial matters, which are quite complicated...
(End of chapter)
