The eldest son of the red mansion

Chapter 626 Silver
As soon as the little boy finished talking about this idea, the butler next to him turned pale with fright.

"Master, we must be cautious about this matter. If any clues are leaked, we may no longer be able to hide it."

"We still have a few ministers in the court, and the foreman of the military aircraft department is also one of our people. I think this matter can be fooled."

This young man is also holding the idea of ​​what to do in his heart now, as long as he can fool the past this year, it will be fine next year.

This time the salt boat sank, and naturally all the salt on it was lost, so the price of salt in the north will naturally rise, so the extra silver can also be given to the stewards of those salt factories to let them Set things straight.

The order was quickly passed from the young master's house to Wang Yinggeng.

After Wang Yinggeng got this order, he was frightened out of his wits. Even though this Wang Yinggeng was the young man's pocketbook, he could be regarded as a respectable person, but he was not so courageous as this.

If this is found out, the whole family will have to be copied. This salt is different from other things. The court keeps a close eye on it. Once there is a mistake, it is really difficult to cover up.

Wang Yinggeng thought about it all afternoon in the study, and finally decided to act according to the young master's plan. The old book was brought out, and in the end, he could only act in this way.

So soon Wang Yinggeng visited Li Yingtai again, and first gave Li Yingtai a lot of gifts.

Li Yingtai was polite when he saw Wang Yinggeng, so he put down the matter of the previous few days.

After Wang Yinggeng saw that Li Yingtai had calmed down, he quickly told him that he had been deceived by lard some time ago, and now he had made up his mind that he would give all the tax money and the profits of the salt factories.

After Li Yingtai heard this, he looked Wang Yinggeng up and down. He was very satisfied on the surface, and chatted with Wang Yinggeng happily.

But after Li Yingtai sent Wang Yinggeng away, he felt that this was very strange. This amount of money was not a small amount, and it added up to several million taels.

He, Wang Yinggeng, had been procrastinating in the past. It must have been a problem with his turnover, but now he promised to hand over all the money. I'm afraid there is something tricky about it.

So Li Yingtai sent out those salt men under his command to inquire about the news in disguise. Sure enough, it didn't take long for the salt boat to go north to capsize on the canal. Dozens of salt boats were all sold. Floating news.

After hearing this, Li Yingtai understood what Wang Yinggeng was up to.

Li Yingtai locked himself in the study room for a day and a night without running out of water. When he came out again, his eyes were darkened and his face was sallow, but his eyes were very bright.

Besides, in the military aircraft department, the first thing they received was that the salt tax was greatly reduced this year, and even the profit of a salt factory was less than two-thirds of previous years.

As the head minister of the Military Aircraft Department, Sun Yan has actually received the news long ago, but now he feels a bit of a headache when he sees the memorial. This matter must be suppressed in the Military Aircraft Department. If it is handed over to Jia Ke, I am afraid it will be another bloodbath. up.

But this matter is really difficult to handle. The newly appointed Minister of the Household Department, Jia Yucun, has taken refuge in Jia Ke many years ago. It can be said that he is Jia Ke's hardcore and loyal minister, and it happens that he is in charge of this matter. , If I don't give an explanation, I will definitely ask Jia Ke to see Jia Ke alone if I want to come to Jia Yucun, and bring this matter to Jia Ke.

When Sun Yan was worried, another memorial was sent to the Military Aircraft Department. It turned out that the salt merchants from all over the place had agreed to make up the tax money.

It was only at this time that Sun Yan was relieved, as long as he had the money, then this matter would be nothing, and he, as the leader of the military aircraft department, could suppress such a big matter.

So Sun Yan suppressed the memorial and did not discuss it with everyone in the Military Aircraft Office.

But Sun Yan didn't expect that Jia Ke had already seen clearly the cause and effect of this incident.

It turned out that Jia Ke didn't worry about this person under the command of Prince Yizhong at all, and had already sent someone to monitor him strictly.

At the same time, Li Yingtai's documents were also quietly sent to the capital. It turned out that Li Yingtai was also a member of the secret guards. The stewards of these salt factories and salt merchants did not dare to be so arrogant, and the court wanted the place to be stable. things, and did not care much.

But this time it was different. The salt boat capsized on the canal, which caused the price of salt in the north to rise sharply, and the people complained a lot.

This incident naturally spread to Jia Ke's case, and together with Li Yingtai's memorial, Jia Ke understood what the hell these salt merchants were doing. They wanted to make up for their losses.

But Jia Ke didn't just let this matter go, because he felt it was very strange.

These salt merchants can be said to be the richest people in the world. They have never been short of money, so why are they so deliberate about money now?
And this short is not a few hundred thousand taels of silver, but several million. These silver taels can do many great things.

Jia Ke paced back and forth in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, thinking about what these salt merchants were going to do. If it was a rebellion, Jia Ke would not believe it.

These salt merchants are pampered one by one, how can they do these things with their heads pinned to their waists.

"Li Deshan."

Li Deshan, who had been waiting for Jia Ke, immediately came forward after hearing Jia Ke's greeting, and asked his grandson, "Master is calling your servant?"

"The salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, there have been some changes during this period, do you know it?"

"If you go back to the master, the slave has already received a small report. Wang Yinggeng is now vigorously developing private salt, and he rarely buys salt from the salt factory. Therefore, this year's salt tax and the profit of the salt factory cannot be guaranteed. However, some time ago Wang Yingtai All of a sudden, the money was replenished."

"He is a salt merchant, and he is well-clothed and well-fed every day. Is he so short of money?"

"Returning to the master, Wang Yinggeng himself is not different from before."

"Then you send your fan out to investigate carefully, I think there must be something ulterior."

After hearing this, Li Deshan quickly agreed that he was not a fool, and he also felt a strong sense of conspiracy in this matter.

Let’s talk about the salt merchants, not to mention that they sell illegal salt in private every year. The table salt that is purchased through serious channels alone makes an annual profit of more than 2000 million taels. The remaining 400 million taels, and the remaining 1000 million are divided among salt merchants like them. Anyone in the world may be short of money, but they are the only ones who are never short of money.

Thinking of this, Li Deshan suddenly realized another thing, this year's tribute of three or four million taels from the salt merchants has not yet been sent to the palace.

In the past, these silver taels were naturally put into the emperor's internal treasury, but now these silver taels should also be transferred to their master Yan Wang's mansion.

After Li Deshan had this awareness, he immediately reminded Jia Ke, "Master, every year the salt merchants pay 400 taels of silver to the emperor. This year, the silver hasn't been delivered yet."

When Jia Ke heard about it, "When did the money get delivered?"

"If you return to the master, it should be sent here before the Chinese New Year."

After hearing this, Jia Ke showed a sneer on his face, "It seems that these salt merchants don't take me seriously."

Li Deshan had already seen that Jia Ke was very angry, so he stood aside and didn't dare to say a word, he was really afraid that Jia Ke would vent his anger.

"Li Deshan, send someone to tell the salt merchants that last year's tribute increased to 500 million taels, and they will be sent to the capital within a month. If I don't see the silver by then, don't blame me for being rude."

After hearing this, Li Deshan quickly agreed.

"Since salt merchants are filial, are Shanxi and Huizhou merchants filial?"

"Back to the master, this slave has never heard of it."

"Since the salt merchants have made filial piety, we can't favor one another. You ask Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants to give me 200 million taels of silver each from this year."

Li Deshan was also a little startled after hearing this, he didn't understand why Jia Ke wanted so much money every year?
In fact, Jia Ke had some things he couldn't tell Li Deshan. Jia Ke collected these silver taels not for his own enjoyment, but because he wanted to launch the Northern Expedition in a few years and completely defeat the Tatars.

If Jia Ke wanted to realize this wish, at least he would mobilize nearly a million people and various folks, and the silver taels needed from now on would be a sea of ​​money.

It is obviously not enough to rely on the taxes collected every year. Now, after collecting some silver taels from these big businessmen and saving for a few years, everything will come out.

Jia Ke sat on the dragon chair, thought for a while, and felt that the price of salt in the north could not be allowed to rise like this, otherwise, the people's hearts might be lost.

"You go to the salt factory in the south of the Yangtze River and send the salt to the north immediately to stabilize the price of salt. This time, you don't have to go through the salt merchants, and they will be responsible directly. pay for their hard work."

Li Deshan nodded quickly after listening. These salt merchants played too much this time, no wonder their master left them to make their own decisions.

And if it succeeds this time, the court and their masters can share more money, why not do it?
"You go to pass the decree and tell those salt merchants that this year's annual tax cannot be reduced by a cent. If the imperial court's salt tax is shortened, then I can only renew a batch of salt merchants."

This year, Jia Ke not only cannot reduce the salt tax by one point, but also increased a lot of tribute to the court in the past. This is also to give those salt merchants some color, let them know that their arms can't twist their thighs, and be honest. Stay, or you'll all be replaced.

Jia Ke then said to Li Deshan: "I don't think the matter behind this is so simple. The Military Aircraft Department did not report to me for such a big matter. In the future, your people will feel a little bit sad about these memorials, otherwise I will I’m really going to be made deaf and blind by these elders.”

After hearing this, Li Deshan nodded quickly: "Master, today I will replace all the eunuchs serving in the military aircraft department with secret guards."

"In the future, all the memorials of the Military Aircraft Department will be copied by your secret guards, so as to save me from being deceived by these people."

After hearing this, Li Deshan immediately agreed, he was inexplicably surprised, how much more powerful was he now?

(End of this chapter)