Princess Zhaoyang Mansion.
In the inner room, after reading the private message written by Jia Lian to her, Princess Zhaoyang had a smile on her face.
She likes the heroic Jia Lian, and she prefers a lover who does not look down on women and regards her as her right-hand man.
After writing a reply to Jia Lian, he wrote a separate letter home to express his greetings and had it sent to the Bai family, and then forwarded to his uncle, Marquis Yangwu.
This is not what Jia Lian asked her to do.
When Jia Lian was telling her about his current situation, he mentioned the salt merchant Bai's family, and she understood what Jia Lian meant.
Although her uncle, Marquis Yangwu, was not in the center, he was the military governor in charge of border affairs. Last time in Anxi Mansion, Jia Lian beat up his cheap brother-in-law, which could be said to be a misunderstanding. This time Jia Lian "robbed" his money bag again, fearing that his uncle would bear a grudge against Jia Lian.
Of course she couldn't watch this happen. She had to explain the stakes to her uncle and persuade him to restrain himself.
She was just a carefree princess before, but now she has grown up and needs to consider more things. She also felt that her uncle's hand was stretched too far.
In their position, too much money usually brings not benefits but disasters.
She was very happy that Jia Lian told her these things.
She knew that Jia Lian was not afraid of her uncle, Marquis Yangwu. Although Jia Lian's official qualifications were not as high as those of her uncle, Jia Lian was an official with real power in the central government and a close minister of the emperor. Therefore, unless Marquis Yangwu led his troops to rebel, there was no need for Jia Lian to be afraid of him.
On the contrary, her uncle was far away from the center and held a high position of power. She should be worried about Jia Lian causing trouble for him in the center.
Therefore, Jia Lian would mention this to her just because Jia Lian felt that because of the relationship between the two of them, he and her uncle Yang Wuhou should be natural political allies. Such natural political allies, even if they don't communicate at ordinary times, but there are no major misunderstandings, they should support each other at critical times.
And since she decided to help Jia Lian rise to prominence, the only thing she had to do at this time was to help Jia Lian avoid all unnecessary trouble.
"By the way, I heard that the concubine in the palace is ill. What's going on?"
When her confidant Nanny came back to reply, Princess Zhaoyang suddenly asked.
"Princess Qi, according to the news from people in the palace, Mrs. Li Taifei is indeed ill, but it seems to be a heart disease. I heard that when she went to greet the Supreme Emperor yesterday, she offended the Supreme Emperor and was ordered to be placed in solitary confinement.
It seems that the Supreme Emperor was really angry this time, so even when His Majesty went to Chonghua Palace this morning to intercede for the concubine, the Supreme Emperor did not summon her. "
Princess Zhaoyang had no expression after hearing this.
Not to mention that she was not close to Concubine Li in the first place, let's just say that she had already determined that sending her to get married was basically planned by Concubine Li, just to make the Queen Mother unhappy...
Her own grandmother treated her with such contempt, how could she really respect her.
"Where is my royal grandmother."
"The Queen Mother is in a good mood recently. I heard that she plays the piano and cooks tea in the palace every day, enjoying herself and nourishing her spirit. She occasionally goes to Chonghua Palace to accompany the Supreme Emperor on fishing, chess and other games."
Princess Zhaoyang laughed and then shook her head.
She knew that the Queen Mother had been in a good mood since she returned to Beijing safely. And she also felt that after returning to Beijing this time, her imperial grandmother also had some changes.
Although she couldn't put it into words, she felt that she had a closer relationship with the Emperor. Correspondingly, Concubine Li was becoming more and more disgusted by the Emperor. She would always be reprimanded by the Emperor within a short distance.
She felt that her royal grandmother had some reasons for this.
Because in the past, the Queen Mother would definitely invite her into the palace every two days. During this period, she seemed to have forgotten her.
Maybe, he is really busy...
When Princess Zhaoyang thought about this, she respected the Queen Mother even more. The Queen Mother, who used to be such an elegant and uncontroversial person, has now begun to deal with people. I'm afraid there is a reason to vent her anger.
Although my heart is definitely on the side of the imperial grandmother, I still have to work hard to save face.
"Since the concubine is ill, I naturally have to go to pay my respects. According to the order, I will go to the Changchun Palace after noon."
After casually giving the order to enter the palace to pay respects, Princess Zhaoyang sat in the study, but she remembered that her previous reply to Jia Lian contained some inappropriate words.
So I turned it out and revised it several times. After I was sure that Jia Lian had received her reply and could fully understand her mood and admiration, I blushed and wrote it out in beautiful small regular script for safe people to read. Send it south.
…
Yangzhou City.
Jia Lian also gradually began to send official documents to the capital about the situation of Yangzhou's salt administration.
I believe that with his report, the imperial court will make a qualitative assessment of all the issues surrounding Yangzhou's salt policy. And the new salt inspector will be appointed soon.
As expected, the salt merchants did not dare to defy his authority anymore. They divided the money equally according to the salt quota and sent all four million taels of silver to the bank.
Jia Lian was also very loyal. After receiving enough money, he ordered all the officers and soldiers in front of the salt merchants' homes to be withdrawn.
As for Wang's Bank, I don't know what means the Zhou family used. None of the other families competed with him, and Jia Lian didn't deliberately make things difficult for him, so Zhou Boru finally won.
After all, the Wang family was ransacked and questioned. Although Jia Lian immediately asked the government to control Wang's bank, he was afraid that there would still be unrest, such as someone making a donation and escaping.
Therefore, the Zhou family took a certain risk by taking over Wang's Bank. Whether the cost can be recovered as soon as possible depends on the Zhou family's own methods.
"Sir, here are some small things prepared by my colleagues from the salt industry for you..."
After discussing the bank affairs, Zhou Boru handed Jia Lian a list alone.
Jia Lian opened it and saw that there were two or three pages, full of good stuff.
It's either a calligraphy or painting by a famous person, or an antique. Judging from Jia Lian's knowledge, I'm afraid that none of the items would be worth less than a thousand taels!
It also marked which item it was and which company it was from.
Jia Lian had known that they would be capable of this, but he didn't expect that they would show filial piety in this way. If you think about it carefully, it seemed like you were thinking about him.
After all, these gadgets are small and not as eye-catching as real money, so they are really a good choice for gifts. I'm afraid these items above are also collected by salt merchants.
"You are interested."
I didn't mean to refuse. Just think that these salt merchants knew the Wang family wanted to assassinate him before, but concealed the price of not avenging him. If you don't accept it, I'm afraid they won't feel at ease yet.
"As long as the adults like it. In addition, in addition to the gadgets above, the villain also prepared a hundred thousand taels of silver for the adults, and put them together with the silver that was brought in for atonement..."
"hehe."
Compared with the Zhao family and Wang family who had copied it, compared with the four million atonement silver, one hundred thousand taels is really nothing.
"Do you have anything else?"
After Zhou Boru paid his filial piety, he had no intention of leaving. He obviously had something to say.
So when Jia Lian spoke, he immediately bowed his hands and said in a low voice: "There is indeed an unkind request that I would like to ask for your grace."
"Say it."
Jia Lian, who received the benefit, seemed very reasonable.
Zhou Boru stopped beating around the bush and said directly: "Although I don't know how much wealth the Zhao family and the Wang family have, based on the evidence of their crimes that the adults have found out, I'm afraid they have done a lot of things." It is a misfortune to one party, and it is a matter of cleverness and plunder.
As a result, I am afraid that a lot of wealth has been gathered in their homes.
Now, the adults are calling for justice and bringing them to justice. This is the only thing that is in line with the laws of nature!
only……
Like the villains, they are all salt merchants selected by the imperial court. I'm afraid that after you report all the results of the raids on the houses of Wang and Zhao, the guilds in the court will mistakenly think that each of our salt merchants is as wealthy as Wang and Zhao...
Therefore, the little people want to implore the adults to appropriately underreport the property of the Wang and Zhao families, as a sign of consideration for me and other law-abiding salt merchants.
Your Excellency must also know that since the imperial court implemented the new salt policy, the profits of villains are no longer what they were before. If the adults in the DPRK mistakenly believe that the salt industry still has huge profits, I am afraid they will have to find ways to extract profits from the salt administration. At that time, it will not only be the salt merchants like us who abide by the law and never sell private salt for profit. , and there are tens of millions of salt-eating people all over the world. "
Hearing Zhou Boru's words, Jia Lian felt quite eye-opening.
The salt merchants were worried that the property of the Wang family and the Zhao family were too rich, and if he reported all of them, the trump cards of these big salt merchants would be "exposed", and the princes of the court would think that they were too wealthy, and they would have the idea of killing pigs. This was very dangerous. normal.
However, this was the first time that he heard someone use power for personal gain and take bribes and bend the law in such a high-level manner.
Judging from the meaning behind his words, if he hadn't underreported Wang and Zhao's family property, would he have become a bully who persecuted law-abiding salt merchants and brought harm to the people of the world?
"Then, as you said, what should I do with the property that I underreported? Give it to you law-abiding salt merchants as compensation?"
There is naturally a reason why Zhou Boru dared to make such remarks.
He immediately said seriously: "Sir, you are joking, how dare you have such an idea. Your Excellency has traveled south for thousands of miles, devoted himself to the imperial court and the salt policy, and was plotted twice by villains. Therefore, the Wang and Zhao families The wealth obtained through clever means will naturally belong to you, and it can be regarded as Wang and Zhao’s atonement for you.”
"Haha, isn't President Zhou letting me become a corrupt official and putting me in an unjust position?"
"grown ups……"
Zhou Boru was about to say something, but was interrupted by Jia Lian raising his hand: "Okay, I have already taken care of this matter, so I won't bother Chairman Zhou.
Chairman Zhou, on the other hand, should discuss with other salt merchants in Yangzhou how to make Jiangnan's salt administration better for the imperial court. If at the end of this year, you are still like last year, I am afraid that even if you are lucky enough to escape this disaster, you will not be able to have a good year next year. "
Zhou Boru immediately did not dare to say anything more and responded to Jia Lian's words repeatedly.
But I also have a idea in my heart.
He could see that Jia Lian was not a pedantic Qingliu. As long as he spoke out and let Jia Lian listen, his goal would be achieved.
So I immediately skipped this issue and talked about another thing.
"I once heard that Qing Yi made you unhappy that day on the Little Qinhuai River. Please forgive me. Qing Yi is not disrespectful to you, but she has always had such a cold personality.
The villain has already sent someone to reprimand her, and please don’t get along with her..."
As Zhou Boru spoke, he noticed that Jia Lian's expression was not right, and he immediately stopped talking.
Then I heard Jia Lian say: "First, the girl in Tsing Yi did not make me unhappy. Second, although you were once her boss, now that you have given her to me, she is my own.
I'm afraid I don't need President Zhou to reprimand me on my behalf. Therefore, I do not hope that President Zhou will say such words next time. "
When Zhou Boru heard this, he quickly knelt down and said: "My lord, please atone for your sins. I have no intention of offending you... I remember this, and I will never be disrespectful to the girl in green next time."
Zhou Boru regards Gu Qingyi as his trump card, which is also his biggest reliance on Jia Lian.
Therefore, when I heard that Gu Qingyi did not get Jia Lian's favor right away, but was instead upstaged by Shen Pan'er, I felt a little angry and anxious, so I mentioned this.
Although he was scolded by Jia Lian now, he felt relieved in his heart.
Judging from Jia Lian's tone, it seemed that he regarded Gu Qingyi as his own woman. His goal was achieved, and naturally he did not dare to argue with Jia Lian.
"Okay, you get up. This time I am going to Yangzhou, I will keep President Zhou's care for me in mind.
It's just that I have always been very stingy. I don't like my own woman, and I have some involvement with other forces.
Therefore, if something happens to President Zhou in the future, he can send someone directly to me. Don't be too smart. For example, if you ask the girl in Tsing Yi to deliver something on your behalf, the gain may outweigh the loss. President Zhou must understand this. "
"Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you for your love. From now on, if you have any needs, please just ask me. I and the entire Zhou family will do your best for you!"
Jia Lian smiled and gave Zhou Boru a cup of tea before letting him go back.
Zhou Boru is a smart man, and his power is spread throughout Jiangnan. If used well, it will be a big help, and he doesn't mind maintaining a good relationship with him.
The matters of the salt merchants have been settled one by one. Next, we only need to check the properties of all the salt merchants and corrupt officials, and then we can prepare to return to Beijing.
However, Jia Lian was stunned for a long time when his subordinates, Wu Zhirong and other officials in Yangzhou, compiled the details of their confiscated homes.
At the beginning, nearly three million taels of real gold and silver were copied from the Zhao family. Including all the Zhao family's manors, fields, and properties in major state capitals, even if they are all sold at a low price, they can still collect nearly one million taels of silver.
Therefore, the Zhao family alone is nearly four million!
The Wang family's is slightly lower. Even including the Wang's Bank that sold it to the Zhou family, the overall value is only about three million.
The Feng family, a small salt merchant who was rich and unkind, had a total family property of nearly 500,000 taels.
Wu Zhirong and other government officials also have considerable wealth. However, they did not belong to the salt government system, so Jia Lian only copied real gold and silver, and things that were easy to take away. As for other assets, according to the usual practice, they were charged into the treasury, and the treasury finally reported it to the court.
This is to reduce trouble, and also to give other Yangzhou local officials a little help, so that they will not be too jealous when they look at the mountains of wealth in the office.
But even so, Jia Lian still copied out nearly 300,000 yuan worth of wealth. Most of them were contributed by Wu Zhirong, the prefect.
In addition, there are many large and small salt officials from the Salt Transportation Department, as well as salt officials such as An Siyuan, the inspector of salt patrols...
As the censor of the Salt Patrol, An Siyuan was unable to escape the blame for such a big mistake in the salt administration, so it was necessary to conduct a house raid.
As for the An family. In the end, An Siyuan showed remorse and was poisoned by salt merchants, so it was reasonable to give him a lighter sentence and only confiscate his home without involving his family.
When a house is searched, it is natural to separate it into a clean search and a casual search. With Jia Lian here, the results are obvious.
Although most of the officials in the salt administration system were of low rank, they all secretly became rich, so the value of the copies was at least a million taels. Jia Lian felt that these small fish and shrimp assets were too messy and was too lazy to count them one by one, so he only confiscated the real money and silver that was easy to get, and transferred all the rest to the government office for them to count and store it themselves.
So, it's about five to six hundred thousand again.
In addition to the three million yuan that the salt merchants recently paid for their sins, and the one million hush money given to the courtiers, it all adds up...
More than twelve million!
call.
Jia Lian took a long breath after getting this number.
I still remember that day in the secret room of the Zhao family, I saw more than 100,000 taels of gold and one million silver piled together, a scene as dazzling as a mountain.
More than 12 million, what an exaggerated figure is this?
Even in the Wei Dynasty, nearly 20 million people contributed nearly one-fifth of the national treasury revenue.
So, he didn't go to Yangzhou to investigate the salt policy, but came to help the court increase revenue?
It seems that more troops should be deployed to protect the camp. Otherwise, if so much money is stolen casually, the loss will be immeasurable.
…
"grown ups……"
In Jia Lian's residence, Mrs. Xu stood up from the table where she was lying, wiped her sweaty forehead, then turned around, walked to Jia Lian's side, and sat on the armrest of the Grand Master's chair.
"Are you sure you want to leave today?"
"Well, the carriage and accompanying personnel are all ready."
"Um."
Mrs. Xu is the mistress of the An family. Although An Siyuan died, the foundation of the An family in her hometown was still there, and her son still needed to return to inherit it, so she had to leave.
Although she was reluctant to let go, no matter how reluctant she was, she had to leave.
Not just for her son, but for herself.
After an encounter, each other returns to the right path, which is the only result. It would not be a good thing for her or Jia Lian to continue to be entangled.
"If you don't want to leave, just stay. I can support you."
Hearing what Jia Lian said, Mrs. Xu smiled and felt relieved.
She turned around and knelt in front of Jia Lian, took Jia Lian's hand and kissed it, shook her head, and did not explain anything. For various reasons, I have already said it, clearly.
"Little girl, I'm so sorry to leave you. She must have fallen in love with you. She even cried when she came back to say goodbye to you."
Xu said this. The little girl she was talking about was naturally her daughter An Cai'er.
Jia Lian smiled when he heard this and didn't feel strange at all.
It is normal for a little girl to fall in love easily with her heroes when she is just starting to fall in love.
It was also Xu's own fault that she always regarded herself as a maid in front of him, and even brought her daughter with her to sort out her housework, giving her daughter many opportunities to come into contact with him.
Especially after Jia Lian helped Xu find her son, Jia Lian could clearly feel that the little girl was very close to him.
"She is still young. In a few years, she will be fine when she grows up."
"What if it doesn't get better?"
Xu squatted on the ground and looked up at Jia Lian seriously.
Jia Lian understood that this woman had not completely given up and wanted to promise her daughter to him.
"Then you bring her to the capital to find me, and then you two will follow me together."
When Jia Lian raised her chin and teased her like this, Xu rolled her eyes at Jia Lian angrily but didn't say anything else.
He glanced at Jia Lian one last time, stood up, kissed Jia Lian, and turned to leave.
