Wu Zhirong and others were left in the courtyard of the Yanxunyan Censor's Yamen, where the cold wind blew all night.
But no one dared to complain.
Seeing the officers and soldiers carrying boxes of belongings into the compound, Wu Zhirong and others didn't know that Jia Lian had ransacked the Zhao family's home!
Even though the Zhao family is just a salt merchant, their background is much better than that of local officials like them.
If Jia Lian dared to raid the Zhao family, he would dare to strip off their clothes and raid their homes.
Suddenly hearing that Jia Lian was coming back, Wu Zhirong and others hurriedly greeted him, flattered Jia Lian, and politely asked when they would be released back to the Yamen, saying that they still had government affairs to deal with.
"Go back? Master Wu, I'm afraid he won't be able to go back..."
The expressions of Wu Zhirong and others changed when they saw Jia Lian shouting: "Come here, take the prefect Wu Zhirong, the co-president Wei Jitong, the general judge Yan Shixiang, and the salt transport envoy from the salt transport department, and take them into custody for sentencing!"
"Yes." The officers and soldiers swarmed forward, held the four people tightly, and took them down regardless of their cries.
The expressions of the remaining two or three people, as well as Gao Kui and others who came from the side courtyard, also changed continuously, and they looked at Jia Lian in a flattering and wary manner.
Jia Lian smiled at them and said: "My lords, don't be nervous. Wu Zhirong and others colluded with salt merchants and embezzled salt taxes. The evidence is conclusive, so I captured them and waited for the court to deal with them. My lords are all good officials who are loyal to the emperor and patriotic. I am Naturally, the officials will not do anything to you."
After saying that, he looked at the middle-aged civil servant aside: "I have been in Yangzhou for a few days. I heard that Mr. Zou is diligent and caring for the people. He has a good official reputation. He is a rare Qingtian master in Yangzhou City. Because of this, he is ostracized by Wu Zhirong and others. .
I have great admiration for such a mighty and unyielding official like Mr. Zou. Although I have captured Wu Zhirong and others, I still have to continue to investigate the salt administration and have no time to care about the government office. Therefore, before the court sends a new prefect, I leave the affairs of the government office to Zou Fucheng Duoduo No trouble. "
Zou Tong, a colleague from Yangzhou, looked solemn. Seeing that Jia Lian was not joking, he quickly raised his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, your words are serious. This is a matter within the scope of the lower official. Thanks to your trust, from now on, as long as your Majesty has orders, the lower official will do the job." We will try our best to host it.”
Although Zou Tong was not used to Wu Zhirong's behavior, and he was indeed ostracized for it, he was able to stay peacefully to this day and did not report Wu Zhirong and others to the court, so he was not completely free from involvement.
He knew that Jia Lian might have let him go because he had some official reputation, or that Jia Lian still needed someone to stabilize the affairs of the government office, so he naturally felt grateful in his heart.
"Since Mr. Zou said so, I just have something to ask you for help.
I left Beijing in a hurry and did not bring much with me. There was a lot of real estate and property copied from the Zhao family. There are also many salt industry accounts of the Zhao family that need to be checked. It is really difficult for me to check it with my current manpower. Please ask Mr. Zou to send a few more officials who are familiar with copywriting work from the government office to assist me after he returns to the government office.
In addition, there is also the Zhao family's property directory registered and sealed by the government. I will also copy it so that I can check it. "
The Zhao family has been entrenched in Yangzhou for decades, with deep roots and numerous industries.
This era is not like later generations, where all properties are registered with the government. Nowadays, sales, even land and real estate, can be concluded directly without going through the government. As long as both parties sign a contract, it is called a "white contract."
Although white deeds are difficult to obtain protection from the government, they can save a large amount of tax and avoid difficulties from officials. Therefore, most of the private properties in the Wei Dynasty are white deeds, which are all certified by family inheritance or deeds.
This is also the fundamental reason why in this era, it is easy for powerful bullies to invade other people's property.
Naturally, it is impossible for the Zhao family to register all their properties with the government, so it is easy to copy the deed, but it will be difficult to check if there is not.
But at least the government records must be counted in large quantities.
Zou Tong naturally agreed to Jia Lian's request immediately, then said goodbye to Jia Lian, and left the Salt Patrol Censor's Yamen together with the other two officials.
…
"grown ups."
In Jia Lian's temporary office, Jia Yu walked in and looked at
There were only a few people in the hall, and they were all leaders, so I was a little surprised.
"Is everyone here?"
Jia Lian raised his head and smiled at Jia Yu and others. Without talking nonsense, he took out four yellow seals from the drawer and handed them to Jia Yu, Yang Xun, Zhao Cheng and the Forbidden Army Colonel Wu Jin respectively.
"You all worked hard last night accompanying me on the case. Here is some hard-earned money. Please accept it."
Yang Xun, Zhao Cheng and the captain of the Imperial Guard were not too surprised. They had already seen that Jia Lian was generous. Last night, wealthy businessmen like the Zhao family who were rich and unkind were confiscated. It was strange that Jia Lian didn't show any sympathy to them.
On the other hand, Jia Yu, a veteran warrior in the military camp, had never experienced anything like this before, and was a little confused for a moment. After all, judging from the few times he had contact with Jia Lian, he thought that Jia Lian was a selfless and upright person, so he was favored by the emperor.
I didn't expect to do such a thing.
When Jia Lian saw Jia Yu's expression, he didn't want to explain.
"However, this is not just for you, it also includes the hard work of your brothers under you. The investigation of the salt administration is far from over. I still need you and the people under you to work for the court and for me. Work hard. As long as things are done well, I will not hesitate to share some reasonable benefits with you. At the same time, I don’t like you being short-sighted...
I hope that all the brothers who are working this time, regardless of their positions, will get at least ten taels of benefits. Do you understand what I mean? "
"I understand that I will live up to your high expectations, sir. Don't worry, sir, you treat me so sincerely, and we will not be so short-sighted as to deprive you of the benefits of our brothers."
Zhao Cheng, a member of the Jinyiwei Hundred Household, was the first to reply with a smile. He and Yang Xun had already received a lot of benefits on the day they arrived in Yangzhou. They thought they would not have a share in this, but they didn't expect that Jia Lian still prepared it for them.
As for giving at least ten taels of silver to each brother under him... Although they thought it was too much, after all, except for Yang Xun, they had many brothers under them. But then he thought, since Jia Lian said so, he thought that the amount of money in Huang Feng was indispensable, so he became happy again.
Jia Yu secretly took a breath. He has a total of 800 officers and soldiers, each with at least 10 taels. Doesn't that mean that he has at least 8,000 taels of silver in his yellow seal?
So after returning to my home, I couldn't wait to open the yellow seal and found that there was indeed a stack of silver notes inside, and there were also a few gold leaves!
After a little counting, his hands began to shake a little.
Eighteen thousand taels!
This... even if according to Jia Lian's explanation, the brothers at the bottom are divided into ten taels, and those with higher grades have more, wouldn't he be able to keep almost 10,000 taels for himself? !
Ever since he became President Qian and had a fifth-rank official position, he felt that his salary and remuneration were pretty good. He got two hundred taels of silver every year! It was enough for his family to live a prosperous life in Jinling City.
It was only at this moment that he truly understood why the civil servants in Jinling City called them Kuhaha warriors!
Damn it, just following Jia Lian on an errand is worth his decades of hard work.
I don't know if other people's hands are so rich, or if Jia Lian takes special care of him for the sake of his own clan.
But it doesn't matter anymore. He knows that from today on, his vision needs to change.
There is no future in staying in the Xishan Camp of Jinling City. You have to find an opportunity to fill a good position. It is best to be promoted to Jia Lian's side.
Working with this powerful cousin is ten thousand times better than working alone in Aurous Hill. I even began to thank Governor Liao Jihong in my heart. If he hadn't made it possible, he really didn't know how to fight for his great future and backing!
Jia Lian could probably guess what Jia Yu and others were thinking, but he didn't care.
What are the benefits given to them compared to the Zhao family's wealth? The real gold and silver seized from the Zhao family last night alone amounted to nearly three million taels. In addition to the various industries that have not yet been inventoried, it will finally be reduced to too much to say, but it will definitely be around four million!
I'm afraid the emperor would be shocked if he received this amount.
Yes.
Besides, this is not over yet...
Jia Lian always felt that the Wang and Bai families, in terms of the number of official salt dealers and the degree of rampantness, were only much more than the Zhao family. It would be unfair to the Zhao family to let him go like this.
If they deliberately confiscated both of their families, wouldn't it be possible to return to Beijing with a fortune of more than 10 million taels?
In that case, even the emperor would jump with joy.
After all, the annual income of the entire treasury is only tens of millions of taels a year, and most of them have fixed places to go. The rest is the share that the two monarchs and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty compete for.
Moreover, most of them will be divided up by the Supreme Emperor.
So Jia Lian knew that Emperor Ningkang was actually very poor. This is also the reason why Emperor Ningkang secretly told him that he must give these greedy salt merchants a look, and even tacitly agreed to kill him if he refused.
In this case, if Emperor Ningkang brought an extra 10 million taels of silver back, I wonder if he would directly make himself a prince...
After all, this is the benefit that I use my reputation to gain for him! It is conceivable that if he really ransacked the houses of all these salt merchants, the elites in the court would definitely criticize him verbally and in writing, and give him reputations such as "cool" and "skin-picking".
But after thinking about it, let it go. If Emperor Ning Kang really wants to make him the Duke of the country now, then he really has to be careful whether Emperor Ning Kang intends to play the tricks cooked by cunning rabbits and dead lackeys. After all, it is never a good thing for a minister to have no title.
That's all, if those two families are lucky, the big deal is that if they do more blood work than other salt merchants, they won't have to ransack their homes.
So Wu Zhirong was brought out and asked about the whereabouts of An Siyuan's son. I didn't ask before, just to avoid alerting the enemy. Now that I have captured him, I naturally want to help Xu find her son.
Wu Zhirong naturally refused to admit it at first, but after being pressed by Jia Lian, he still said: "Well, if I tell you this, will your Excellency step down and leave?"
Wu Zhirong deeply regretted having underestimated Jia Lian, so that he had no room for resistance without making any preparations.
Jia Lian looked at him and said with a half-smile, "What do you think?"
Wu Zhirong became gloomy and gloomy.
"Does Mr. Wu think that I have no friendship with An Siyuan? If you are willing to hand over his son, I can remember that you are repentant and can report your crimes truthfully without malicious slander.
If you don't cooperate, it doesn't matter. It's just that one more crime is added to your charge of murdering a colleague's younger heir. In this way, your Wu family's sins will be further deepened, but there will be no loss to me. "
Wu Zhirong knew that offending Jia Lian now was not a wise choice, and he had not given up completely yet. After serving as the prefect of Yangzhou for so many years, he, like the salt merchants, also used money to pave the way and find backers for himself. He also placed hope that the people behind him could save him.
In this way, we can't offend Jia Lian too harshly and let Jia Lian get into trouble, so he said: "I dare not deceive you because of my humble position. Whether it was An Siyuan's incident or the kidnapping of his son, it was all done by the salt merchants. I really didn't know about it." . However, after the lower official knew that Mr. An’s son was kidnapped, he also investigated it and found out that An Siyuan’s son was in the hands of the salt merchant Wang family. If you want to save people, you might as well start with the Wang family. "
Unable to protect himself, Wu Zhirong would certainly no longer be the protective umbrella for salt merchants and would betray him without hesitation.
"Seriously? Do you know the consequences of cheating on me?"
"I don't dare, my lord. I can just investigate and you will know the truth."
Seeing what Wu Zhirong said was true, Jia Lian didn't give him any trouble. He asked someone to take him back, then got up and went to the inner courtyard.
Originally, I just wanted to find Mrs. Xu to check the news, but when I didn't expect to see Mrs. Xu, she actually looked lost.
But when she saw Jia Lian, she seemed to want to hide it.
"What's wrong?
"No, it's nothing... You must be tired, sir. Please relax your shoulders for me..."
Mrs. Xu helped Jia Lian sit down and then rubbed Jia Lian's shoulders as usual.
Jia Lian frowned slightly, pulled her into his arms and sat down, but no longer asked, instead he raised her chin and smiled: "What do you mean?
Your son is in the hands of Wu Zhirong. I have already taken him down for interrogation, but he said that your son is not in his hands, but in the salt merchant Wang's family.
I don't think he is lying. I bet you guessed wrong? Don't worry, no matter whether your son is really in the Wang family or not, as long as he is still alive, I have full confidence in rescuing him. How many more days can you wait with peace of mind? "
Mrs. Xu raised her head and looked at Jia Lian blankly. She suddenly broke away, turned over and knelt down in front of Jia Lian, crying: "How can I be so virtuous as to make you worry about me! I have important news to tell you." Lord Tongzhen..."
"What?"
"There are still people who want to assassinate you!"
"!!"
…
