"A ten-mile-long street with endless markets, you can watch the gods on the Moonlight Bridge.
Life is only suitable for death in Yangzhou, where the Zen wisdom mountain is bright and the tomb field is beautiful. "
While walking in the city of Yangzhou, Jia Lian was immediately attracted by the bustling scene of this Huainan water town.
The ancient roads are long, the bridges are painted with smoked willows, and the wind curtains are green.
Although it is a small city, looking at the wind and moon in it, it seems to be better than many in the capital!
It is strange that throughout the ages, scholars have always favored Yangzhou, saying that "one third of the world is a bright moonlit night, and two is a rogue Yangzhou". He also said, "The spring breeze is ten miles along the road to Yangzhou, and it is not as good as rolling up a bead curtain."
However, Jia Lian didn't have much time to watch Yangzhou Fengyue at this time. He casually asked passers-by about the location of Yanzheng Yamen, and then took Zhaoer and others there.
At this time, it was only the fifth day of their journey south!
Driven by Jia Lian's persistence and money, the seven of them traveled almost day and night, and arrived in Yangzhou in just four days.
Because the city gate was already closed when we arrived in the middle of last night, we had to spend half the night in a farm outside the city. We entered the city early this morning, found an inn, took a shower and rested, and immediately set off for the Lin family.
…
There are four salt policies in the world, the first of which is Yangzhou.
The salt tax has been one of the most important tax sources for the government since ancient times. At present, the annual income from salt tax is even close to 20 million taels!
Therefore, the status of Yangzhou Salt Administration, which controls the land of Huaihe River and Huaihe River and accounts for almost half of the world's salt tax revenue, can be seen from this.
And in this term, the status of Yangzhou Yanzheng Yamen has become more and more prominent.
This is simply because the contemporary salt censor was not only from a noble family background, but also was already a senior official of the Lantai Temple when he came to the salt administration, and was a third-grade official with a well-established Miaohong roots!
When such a person comes to Yangzhou, how dare all the demons and snake gods not treat him with caution?
Even the magistrate of Yangzhou could not interfere with the salt administration, and the highest official rank was two steps lower, so when meeting each other, he had to bow to the other party first. For the Yangzhou magistrate, this was also a depressing matter that could not be discussed externally.
The Xunyan Yushi Yamen is divided into two parts, the front and rear. The front is the official Yamen, which is used for offices and residences for a few officials. The back Yamen is the official residence of the chief official Lin Ruhai.
In fact, most local yamen in the Wei Dynasty were like this. The official yamen and the official residences were combined into one, which not only facilitated the officials to manage the affairs, but also allowed the officials to bring their wives and children around to have family fun together. It was commonly known as the official residence. system.
At this time, Jia Lian and others came to the front of Xunyan Censor's Yamen. Although the door was open, it was quiet inside.
However, there were many government servants waiting outside the door. When they saw Jia Lian wearing a white mourning, they knew they were here to express their condolences, so someone immediately got on his horse and led Jia Lian and others eastward along the white wall.
Jia Lian was not surprised at all. He still had these basic common sense after spending many years in Beijing.
No matter how high the official position is, it is impossible to occupy the official office in front to handle official affairs, so Jia Min's mourning hall can only be located in the private residence at the back.
According to Feng Shui theory, if the door cannot be opened to the south, the east door is the first choice. Because Qinglongmen is the auspicious gate, all officials who live in the Yamen usually go to Qinglongmen on the left side when traveling and visiting relatives!
When I arrived at the main entrance of the official residence on the east side, I saw that it was a bleak place with white sails hanging high.
Within the high wall, the sound of chanting sutras and chanting Buddha's name can be heard faintly.
Jia Baoyu and others slowly stopped in front of the door, and soon an old man in white clothes came out. He stepped forward and bowed respectfully, and then said: "I am the housekeeper of the house. I don't know who this young master is." ...?"
The housekeeper felt very strange. Just by looking at the appearance of the group of people in front of him, he knew that they were here to express their condolences.
It's just that Jia Lian and others are very unfamiliar. Secondly, it has been more than ten days since the obituary was due. It is not a day for all the houses to express their condolences. The three houses did not receive greeting cards. Therefore, it is really unexpected for Jia Lian and his party to arrive here.
Besides, if someone other than a descendant of the Lin family comes to pay homage, they only need to dress modestly and go to the door to tie a filial piety belt, which will be enough respect. How could he be like Jia Lian and actually be Bai Xiao?
As the old housekeeper of the Lin family, he was quite sure that if there was such a person in the Lin family, he would definitely know him.
Jia Lian turned over and dismounted, bowed his hands to the other party as well, and said in a deep voice: "Jia Lian, the younger generation of Rongguo Mansion, has come to pay homage to my aunt on the order of the family ancestor."
In fact, the housekeeper looked unfamiliar to Jia Lian, but Jia Lian looked a little familiar to the housekeeper.
Jia Min married Lin Ruhai when Lin Ruhai was a Beijing official. Later, Lin Ruhai was transferred to other places, and finally he was transferred back to the capital. After being promoted to the adjutant of Lantai Temple, he went directly to Yangzhou to take charge of the salt administration.
In other words, Lin Ruhai only lived in the capital for a few years when she first married Jia Min. Later, although she returned to the capital, she always returned to the capital to report on her duties and did not stay in the capital to serve. This is why Daiyu grew up in Jiangnan. And the reason why he didn't go to Beijing with his father.
Therefore, Jia Lian remembered that he must have met the old housekeeper of the Lin Mansion when he was a child, but he just couldn't remember his name, so he pretended not to remember and was just doing business.
"Rongguo Mansion?" The old housekeeper was obviously stunned.
That was their wife's natal family, and he naturally knew that. He just never thought that Rongguo Mansion, which was a thousand or two thousand miles away, would send someone here so quickly!
He also thought that even if people from Jia's family would go to Jiangnan, it would be at least a long time later. Maybe by then their wife's coffin would be sent back to her hometown in Suzhou for burial.
However, the old housekeeper reacted quickly. After judging that Jia Lian and others were unlikely to be liars, he immediately showed joy: "It turns out that Second Master Lian has arrived. I will go and inform the master now..."
Obviously, the housekeeper knew Jia Lian's name, but he didn't recognize him in person.
"Wait a minute." Jia Lian called to the old housekeeper. There was no joy on his face about meeting his elders, only sadness in his eyes.
"First take me to the mourning hall to kowtow to my aunt, and then I will go visit my uncle."
Infected by Jia Lian's emotions, the old housekeeper immediately concealed his excitement: "Second Master Lian said, please..."
…
Lin's private residence, in a side hall on the south side.
Lin Ruhai looked at the dozen or so people in front of him, shook his head and said, "It's useless for you to force me here. This is the court's intention, how can I reject it privately?"
"We don't dare to force you, sir. We just want to ask you to make the decision for us and explain our difficulties to the court..."
"Yes, yes, this 'donation' thing is really hard to do. If it doesn't work, we can just pay a little more tax money. This kind of donation cannot be allowed!"
"That's right, Mr. Lin, since you became the Salt Patrol Censor, we have fully supported you. We also pay a lot of salt tax every year and hand it over to you in full. Now , you can't withdraw our salt bait without any reason..."
"I said, I don't want to remove your Yan Yin..." Lin Ruhai was very tired of playing the cards of bitterness.
I happened to see the butler appearing at the side of the hall, so I waved to him and asked him what was going on.
The old housekeeper whispered a few words in his ear, which made Lin Ruhai look surprised. After nodding, he turned around and said to everyone in the hall: "I have some private matters, please excuse me."
Back in the study, Lin Ruhai asked, "Are you sure it's Jia Lian?"
The old housekeeper said sternly: "If you tell me back to the master, you can't be wrong. It is definitely the second master Lian of Rongguo Mansion."
Lin Ruhai was just like the old housekeeper's previous thoughts: "But the capital and the capital are far apart. Even if they get the news, they shouldn't come so quickly. Could it be that he happens to be in the south?"
"Who says it's not the case? I don't know, but the people you asked me to arrange to deliver letters to Beijing haven't come back yet!"
Indeed, how did the person who sent the letter from the Lin family know whether the Jia family would immediately send people to Yangzhou or take the dry road? Not to mention taking the dry road, but not riding in a carriage and only riding a fast horse?
Isn’t this deceiving!
Lin Ruhai was wondering in his heart. He had traveled countless times between Jiangnan and Beijing. He knew that the journey was far away. It would take more than ten days to go south by carriage, let alone by boat.
"In that case, why don't you bring him to see me?"
"Originally, the old slave wanted to bring him to see the master, but Second Master Lian said it was important to pay homage to the wife first.
Now Mr. Lian is reciting a sacrificial inscription in the mourning hall. Looking at the length of the poem, I'm afraid he won't be able to finish it in a while. "
Lin Ruhai stroked the beard on his chin and nodded: "That's right. Their family is different from other families. They have more etiquette and rules in their behavior. In this case, after he has finished the sacrifice, I will take him to the study to see me."
The housekeeper must have asked, "What about those people in the side hall..."
"Just say I'm not feeling well and tell them all to go home."
"yes."
The housekeeper nodded immediately, knowing that the master was really tired of those people.
Also, after my wife left, the master's spirit was not very good, but these people came to bother the master again and again, which was the most disgusting thing!
He turned around to leave, hesitated for a long time, and then turned back.
"Anything else?"
"Back to my lord, Master Jian and Master Huan, they don't know where they went. They showed up at the mourning hall once in the morning, but they haven't seen anyone yet."
Lin Ruhai's hand that had just opened the page paused slightly, and then said: "I understand, go down."
"yes."
