Grand View Garden, Qichi Garden
The Zhen sisters were talking about the future, when they suddenly heard the door of Qichiyuan creaking.
In fact, the door bolt was usually closed, because Jia Heng said that he would come over to rest in the next few days, so Zhen Lan did not let the servant girl close the courtyard door.
Zhen Lan's mind moved slightly and she said in surprise: "Brother Heng is back, let's go and greet him."
As he said that, he opened the bamboo curtain and saw that the young man had come over carrying a lantern.
Jia Heng put down the lantern, his expression slightly strange.
Just now, Xiaoxiao and I were arguing for a while, and then when they were about to untie their clothes and serve her, Xiaoxiao suddenly said quietly that she was inconvenient because of her current condition.
Jia Heng was speechless for a while, secretly thinking that he didn't tell his relatives earlier when they came. Fortunately, Chen Xiao, who felt that he had teased Jia Heng once, was reluctant to see Jia Heng, so he suggested to serve Jia Heng.
But after all, Jia Heng couldn't bear to bully Xiaoxiao too much, and told her to drink more brown sugar water. After taking an early rest, she returned to Qichiyuan with a lantern.
On this hot day, it made everyone angry.
Jia Heng put the lantern aside, looked at Zhen Lan and Zhen Xi who came out of the house to greet them, and asked with a smile: "It's so late, sister Lan and sister Xi'er, are they still not asleep?"
"Brother Heng didn't say he would come back tonight, he just wanted to wait for a while." Zhen Lan came forward and took the lantern from Jia Heng's hand and said with a chuckle.
The girl smiled charmingly and whispered, completely losing her previous sadness, but the reddish circles around her eyes seemed to be describing what had happened just now.
Jia Heng walked into the room and said warmly: "I have something to do today, so I came back a little late. If you are sleepy next time, you can go to sleep first."
"My sister and I can't sleep on such a hot day. It's okay to wait for Brother Heng." Zhen Lan said softly.
Entering the house, Zhen Xi went to pour tea. She brought the teacup over and said with an eyebrow, "Brother Heng, drink tea. I'll get a basin of cold water for Brother Heng to wash your face."
Although the girl is still young, her temperament since childhood has been somewhat gentle and peaceful like Zhen Xue's married wife. Not to mention her oval face, this charm and temperament are also the youthful version of Zhen Xue.
Jia Heng looked at Zhen Xi, with a touch of concern on his face, and whispered: "Sister Xi'er, let the maids take care of it. Sit here and let's talk."
The two girls of the Zhen family were usually served by a nanny and a maid, both of whom were brought from the Zhen family. Although the Zhen family was in dire straits, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse.
Zhen Xi said "hmm" and then sat down, like a quiet cat, with a dignified manner, a gentle temperament, and a calm demeanor.
At this moment, Zhen Lan walked up behind Jia Heng, squeezed Zhen Xi's shoulders, and whispered: "I was just discussing with my sister the Bingchenke fraud case that is making the rounds in Beijing. Brother Heng is not going to the Metropolitan Procuratorate today. Has it been investigated?”
Jia Heng took a sip of the Lao Junmei poured by Zhen Xi and said warmly: "Today I went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Mr. Xu took sick leave. Later, he went to the palace to meet the saint. He met two bachelors coming from the north. Come back and have a little feast together."
Since I planned to train Zhen Lan yesterday, I naturally wanted to reveal some information to see Zhen Lan's deduction ability.
Recently Tanchun and the three housekeepers Li Wan and Baochai have not seen Tanchun.
"Ask for leave?" Zhen Lan raised her eyebrows and said softly.
The two bachelors must be Qi and Li. The day before yesterday's Dibao News reported that the two bachelors had settled the aftermath in Hebei and were about to return to Beijing from northern Xinjiang. I think it was today.
Jia Heng said: "Yes, this case is almost settled."
Zhen Lan's eyes flashed, and various thoughts surged in her heart, and she murmured: "Isn't this just yesterday?"
Suddenly he paused and said, "Brother Heng, is this about Jiangnan?"
When Jia Heng heard this, he pretended to be surprised and said, "How did Sister Lan know?"
"A whipping method has been widely circulated in the Di newspaper recently. Many Jiangnan officials have criticized it and regarded it as bad governance. Recently, the imperial examination scandal is about to start. According to Brother Heng, the original intention is to thoroughly investigate and deal with it, but suddenly And it was sudden, there should be some tricks in it?" Zhen Lan felt slightly happy and said softly, with some uncertainty.
She didn't know if her guess was accurate, but she vaguely felt that the two things should be vaguely related.
Of course, no matter what, she had to show her cunning in front of Brother Heng. Even if she made a mistake, she would just let him correct her.
Jia Heng reached out and took the jade hand on his shoulder. The girl's jade hand was as delicate as catkin, and there was a slight chill in it. He said, "Sister Lan'er, she knows the slightest and can deduce the direction of the government from some clues. She is worthy of being a queen of a famous official family."
These inferences can be drawn from some public information. Although it is somewhat subjective, it is enough for Zhen Lan's vision.
As he said that, he took Zhen Lan's hand and looked at the two-thirds cold eyebrows, and there seemed to be undetectable tears in the corners of his eyes.
Zhen Lan raised her eyes to look at the young man, and suddenly felt something. She felt slightly happy and said, "Brother Heng, am I right?"
She was just blessed. No, she was also thinking about Brother Heng's situation after returning to Beijing these days. Civil servants were afraid, but most of them were Jiangnan scholars, and the imperial examination scandal struck at Jiangnan scholars, and then Think of the whipping technique I just read in the Di newspaper.
Jia Heng looked at the girl with crooked eyebrows and a hint of joy, held the delicate jade hand, pulled her into his arms, and said softly: "Sister Lan'er, this guess is relatively close."
Zhen Lanfang was overjoyed and said with bright eyes: "Brother Heng went to the palace to be a saint, but he also took over these matters?"
Jia Heng gently lifted the girl's fair and smooth chin, looked into her narrow crystal eyes, and said, "That's about right. I'll have my own thoughts after I get to Jiangnan."
It won't be long before Zhen Lan, who often reads his newspaper, should be able to see that the four new policies he proposed will eventually be confirmed.
How should I put it, the Zhen family is close to the core of power, and Zhen Lan's political acumen is also very comparable.
Zhen Xi looked at the two of them, with a trace of envy in her bright eyes under her beautiful eyebrows.
What the third sister said about helping Brother Heng might be possible in the future, but she couldn't.
Zhen Lan's bright eyes were condensed, and she looked at the young man and said: "Brother Heng, will the civil servants who were originally hostile to Brother Heng take the opportunity to attack? The original imperial examination scandal should also be able to suppress their arrogance. What I'm saying here Looking through the old Di newspapers over time, those civil servants often slandered Brother Heng in the old Di newspapers."
This is the reason why the girl's political level gradually improved. Not only did she read the old news of Di Bao, starting from the beginning of Jia Heng's rise, but she also studied Jia Heng's "Cijue Biao" and "Ping Lu Ce" word by word.
It can be said that the reason why he has so much faith in Jia Heng's title of county king, in addition to Jia Heng being a victorious general, has something to do with understanding Jia Heng's level of political power.
Jia Heng said: "This is inevitable, but this new policy is inevitable."
"But I just told my sister that although the New Deal with the Whip Law has the effect of eradicating the old and innovating and reducing the collection of taxes and fees, if local officials have evil intentions, they will also make arbitrage in the matter of fire consumption and silver exchange, which will in turn give them disguised benefits. The people are in embarrassment." Zhen Lan thought for a while and said softly.
Jia Heng looked at the girl with slightly parted pink lips and caught the shyness in the girl's bright eyes. He chuckled and said, "Sister Lan'er knows quite a lot."
"I'm also confused... um~" Hearing this, Zhen Lan said shyly, and suddenly saw the warm breath approaching, and then the familiar warmth and softness.
Jia Heng looked at the pink-skinned girl and couldn't help but kiss the two cherry lips. She lived up to her name, her words were like orchid, and her fragrance was slightly sweet.
Zhen Lan's curved eyelashes cast a shadow, feeling the caress on her lips, bursts of joy welled up deep in her heart.
What she likes most is when he is intimate with her, she feels like she is pampered and cherished by him.
It can be said that no matter how high-spirited Zhen Lan is at her age, she still has fantasies about love. Jia Heng has indeed fulfilled all the fantasies of a young girl.
Even a trace of tenderness like a factory assembly line missing from the fingertips makes a young girl in love feel like licking candy, so sweet that it is indescribable.
But Jia Heng naturally also knows that this kind of woman who loves herself more than others may say something when she is not satisfied at all, and end up paying the wrong amount.
Therefore, this in itself is a strategy similar to the Five Skills of Controlling the People. It is like breaking your legs and giving you a pair of crutches, and you still have to thank him.
This is a process of lowering expectations and then raising them.
Otherwise, it will mean that you will not make progress if you have no money, and you will not accompany her if you have money. Such things as common letter and shrimp head... In fact, they all coincide with the art of humiliating the people in the five skills of controlling the people. They suppress your core values through words. Better parasitism and exploitation.
So the first step is to disenchant.
Seeing Zhen Xi's beautiful jade cheeks blushing like a blush, she pursed her pink lips and clenched her handkerchief tightly, feeling a little envious in her heart.
The third sister and Brother Heng started to get intimate with each other again as if there was no one around.
After a while, Jia Heng stared at the girl with slight breath and bright eyes with mist. A faint and fragrant orchid fragrance floated gently under the wings of her nose, and said: "Sister Lan, I just wrote a memorial to propose this to the court. National policy responses include returning consumption to the public and abolishing the two reforms and reforming the Yuan Dynasty."
Zhen Lan does have some political qualities and can be trained as a helper.
When Zhen Lan heard this, she felt inexplicably happy. She blinked her bright eyes and said softly: "Brother Heng, what's wrong with you?"
She knew that Brother Heng had a way, and she could infer something from these four words, which was to overcome the shortcomings of the whip method.
"We'll talk in bed later." Jia Heng paused slightly and said warmly, "Let's take a rest later."
After saying that, he also took Zhen Xi's hand and asked with a serious look: "Sister Xi'er, have you sent any letters from Nanbian'er in the past few days?"
Xi'er was too stupid to let Zhen Lan steal the letter from Zhen Qing without even reading it.
At this moment, two maids came over with red faces, carrying a basin of hot water, and said softly: "Master, girl, wash your feet."
Zhen Xi exclaimed in shock: "Hey, Brother Heng, I have a letter I'm about to give you."
As he spoke, he glanced at the girl who had knelt down to help Jia Heng take off his boots.
Obviously Zhen Xi didn't know that the letter had been secretly exchanged by Zhen Lan. It happened last night.
Jia Heng looked at the girl with picturesque features and said, "Sister Xi'er, go get the letter and let me take a look."
When Zhen Xi went to his wing, Jia Heng happened to look into Zhen Lan's shy bright eyes and said, "Brother Heng, why don't you tell your sister the truth?"
In fact, I wanted to ask what the relationship between eldest sister and Brother Heng was, but after thinking about it, I realized that this matter was extremely sensitive and dangerous, and Brother Heng would not tell her easily.
"Also remind her that Xi'er is careless." Jia Heng put his feet into the copper basin and said warmly: "Sister Lan, I washed my feet in the afternoon. I just soaked them for a while. You can wash them too."
Zhen Lan responded with a "hmm", and the maid on the side also helped the girl to put on her shoes and socks. After a while, a pair of feet as white as bamboo shoots appeared, which looked like glass under the candlelight. She put them into the basin. .
As if she was worried about the young man's gaze, the girl was a little shy, curled up her toes with vermilion cinnabar, and said if she had nothing to say: "Brother Heng, after you go to Jiangnan, you will also preside over the New Deal, right? "
Jia Heng took the book on the side and flipped through it, and said: "This is what the palace means. After the wedding, I will take a boat to Jiangnan to help implement the New Deal. Maybe I will stay longer. I may have to stay there for the next half year." Jiangnan."
Of course, I will accompany Jinyang and Mopan as they prepare for childbirth in the next half year.
Zhen Lan's eyes were filled with water, and she asked: "Brother Heng, didn't you say before that you would ask the Jiangnan naval commander to wipe out the pirates? Can you still spare your energy?"
Jia Heng said: "In military affairs, it is easier without having to fight with others. In political affairs, it takes more effort."
Zhen Lan held the boy's hand, with curiosity on her pink face, and said in a coquettish voice: "Brother Heng feels so depressed, why don't you tell me so that you can sort it out."
Jia Heng looked at the girl with warm eyes and said, "Actually, there is nothing to say. What does Sister Lan'er want to know?"
As he spoke, he held the girl's shoulders.
"I've been reading the Di newspaper recently. Brother Heng, why don't you tell me?" Zhen Lan leaned her head on the young man's shoulder, pursed her pink lips, and said softly: "The Di newspaper said that an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs submitted a report , Guangzhou Customs must be brought back to the Ministry of Household Affairs. I remember that Brother Heng proposed opening the sea when he went to Guangzhou to rectify the Navy last year, and then added Guangzhou Customs. It has been almost a year now. The Di newspaper said that a lot of customs money has been levied. .”
Jia Heng said: "The imperial court has seen that the opening of the customs has achieved great results. In the future, more customs will be established one after another, and I will take care of this together when I go south. Customs and coastal defense are intertwined with each other. Only when there is coastal defense can there be customs."
Zhen Lan said softly: "After the opening of the sea, the maritime trade business has indeed become much easier. If Fourth Uncle is doing business like this, if he is busy for ten or twenty years, he should be able to repay the money deficit of the court."
At first, the male members of the Zhen family who were officials were handed over to the Ministry for discussion and sent to the army in the smoky ground, that is, they were exiled to Guizhou. Zhen Xuan, the fourth master of the Zhen family, was engaged in merchants and goods farming in the Zhen family in Jiangnan. The final result was that he was not sent to the army, but Also imprisoned for one year for being an accessory to the crime.
Jia Heng thought for a while and said with concern: "Is your third uncle coming out soon?"
Zhen Lan said: "I don't know what's going on yet. Let's wait until the third uncle comes out and see how the family reputation is restored. I don't know what happened to the uncle and father in Guizhou?"
At the end of the sentence, the girl's face showed sadness.
Jia Heng looked at the girl with gloomy eyebrows and said with relief: "If Sister Lan had been a man, maybe the Zhen family would not be in the situation where the building is about to collapse."
Zhen Lan raised her eyes to look at the young man, with a hint of self-mockery on her face, and said in a quiet voice: "If I am a man, maybe I will be exiled to Guizhou. Not everyone can come to you in common clothes like Brother Heng." Appropriate."
As she said that, she seemed to realize that the atmosphere was too gloomy. The girl's eyes were bright and she turned to ask: "Brother Heng, please tell me about the opening of the sea."
Jia Heng nodded and said: "Guangzhou and Zhangquan were the first to open the sea. In the past year, the customs and customs fees have been huge. Officials in the DPRK and China are inevitably excited. In the spring and February of this year, Jinling and Shanghai have opened and closed. , customs bank inputs are endless. In the second half of this year, the plan is to open customs in several southeastern provinces and add a customs general tax department in the center, semi-independent of the Ministry of Revenue. At the same time, a complete set of customs systems must be established, as well as related If there is no prevention, the customs will probably not be able to handle it for a long time."
In the history of Wanqing, there was an Englishman named Hurd who served as the Chief Taxation Department of the Customs. This official was called an incorruptible official by later generations. He worked for the Qing government and the Customs Service increased its annual income from 5 million taels of customs silver in the late Xianfeng years to 3,000 taels in the Guangxu period. Ten thousand taels.
In fact, this is also due to the prosperity of the opium trade in the late Qing Dynasty and the establishment of additional treaty ports.
But the auditing, accounting, and quarantine systems established by Hurd are worth learning from.
Of course, it can also be explained by the high profits of overseas trade. If it can bring in eight million taels of customs silver for the Chen and Han Dynasty every year, it will undoubtedly be a great blood transfusion for the national treasury.
Zhen Lan rested her head on Jia Heng's shoulder, and when the young man held her hand behind his back, she felt a sense of peace in her heart, and said: "If Brother Heng is planning to establish the Customs General Taxation Department, there are probably many people who want to get involved. After all, Money moves people's hearts."
Yamen such as the Customs and Excise Department, which are making huge amounts of money every day, still need to be firmly in control. With money and food, military power can be independent.
Jia Heng said: "I will determine the economic system in the early stage, and I will talk about the rest later."
This time when he went to Jiangnan, in addition to rectifying the Jiangnan navy, he also needed to reorganize customs affairs and take charge of them.
After a while, the two of them talked, briefly washed themselves, dried the water stains on their feet, and got on the bed.
At this moment, with the sound of rapid footsteps, Zhen Xi walked quickly, her pretty face as pale as paper, and said in fear: "Brother Heng, the letter... the letter is missing."
If this letter falls into the hands of outsiders, once it spreads, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble to Brother Heng.
She obviously put the letter under her pillow, even this morning, but she forgot to show it to Brother Heng.
Jia Heng looked at the girl whose cheeks were flushed with anxiety, and asked calmly: "Why is the letter missing?"
Zhen Xi's beauty turned pale, and she almost burst into tears, saying, "Brother Heng, I remember the letter that my eldest sister wrote to me that I put under my pillow but somehow disappeared."
Zhen Lan looked at Zhen Xi who was a little worried, pursed her lips, and stopped talking.
Seeing that the girl was so worried that she almost collapsed to the ground with fear, Jia Heng couldn't tease her anymore and explained. "I read the letter yesterday and burned it."
When Zhen Xi heard this, the originally flustered look on her face gradually became happy, and she said softly: "Brother Heng, that's good, that's good. I thought I lost the letter."
Jia Heng looked at Zhen Xi with warm eyes, chuckled, and said, "Last night, I got the letter from your sister Lan."
Zhen Xi: "..."
After being stunned for a moment, his soft and watery eyes suddenly turned to his sister, but he met a familiar look and said softly: "Sister Xi'er is too careless. How can you just put such a confidential letter under the pillow? Such a maid is cleaning the bed. , accidentally saw it, and if just a few words were leaked out, it would cause trouble for Brother Heng."
When Zhen Xi heard this, her face was filled with anger. She glared at Zhen Lan and said angrily, "Sister stole it last night? Why didn't you tell me?"
How could my sister do this? She said why the two of them had breakfast together this morning. Her sister must have been peeking at the envelope and was discovered by Brother Heng, and then... she had to comfort her sister.
If the envelope is lost, what will Brother Heng think of her?
Zhen Lan said softly: "My sister put it under the pillow. I saw it right away. It can't be considered stolen."
As he said this, his expression was a little unnatural. He had been harshly punished by him for a long time last night because of this matter, and his sister was going to accuse her again today.
Jia Heng comforted and said: "Xi'er, your sister made the mistake unintentionally. Sister Xi'er should be more cautious in the future."
In fact, Zhen Qing shouldn't write letters. Of course, she shouldn't be harsh on a woman who is pregnant and gave birth to his child. She writes letters to long for lovesickness.
It is estimated that Zhen Qing is also very lonely in Jiangnan at the moment. If Zhen Xue had not been with her, she would have been driven crazy.
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