Zhutian: Since I was a child, I have been happy to be a father

Chapter 949 Going South for Business
April.

Disputes in the court.

The emperor's desire to make money aroused the resentment of many people, who not only resisted but also fought back to a certain extent.

For example, his brother-in-law Shen Congxing was accused of illegal activities with a total of eleven charges, including indulging his eldest son, bullying others by taking advantage of his power, lending money at high interest rates to his relatives, and even forcing people to death. The evidence was solid.

The emperor had no choice. After all, he was not really the ruler of the country. It would be fine if he oppressed the lower classes, but if he dared to lose face and rob others of their interests, he would be punished with blood. He could only take a step back and let his brother-in-law reflect on his mistakes.

As a result, Gu Er had more work to do.

Despite this, he still found time to resolve the major event in his life and married the daughter of Doctor Li from the Ministry of Rites.

Naturally, Chen Tao was also invited to attend and gave a generous gift. Of course, this money came from the treasury of the Hou family. After all, being on good terms with Gu Er would benefit the whole family, and there was no reason to let Chen Tao spend the money alone.

As for the difference between the public expenditure and Chen Tao's actual expenditure of more than one thousand taels, there was no need to return it to the public account.

Chen Tao has many wives and concubines, and he will certainly have many children in the future, so what's wrong with him taking advantage of them? He needs to make a living!
Anyway, Gu Er didn't mind and often gave Chen Tao benefits.

Don't think it's unreasonable.

If you want to form a small circle, you have to give certain benefits from the top down and take the initiative to help your younger brothers improve, rather than asking the younger brothers to please you in return.

Gu Er thinks highly of Chen Tao, not because he is Minglan's old licker, so he thinks highly of her husband, but because Chen Tao himself is really awesome and heroic, which makes people like him easily.

In a nutshell, Chen Tao has the style of Han Gao, and at the same time possesses the courage of his mortal enemy.

Of course, this kind of personality and temperament is what Chen Tao deliberately displays now in order to form cliques and factions.

Chen Tao is now willing to accept becoming Gu Er's younger brother, hoping that if something really happens in the future, Gu Er will be able to recognize the situation because of their relationship with the same party.

Therefore, by the end of April, because the Imperial Inspector who was sent in March to inspect the salt industry had not yet arrived and had encountered several attacks, the emperor could not help but send Gu Er to take action and cooperate in the salt administration in the capacity of the Lianghuai garrison commander.

Gu Er didn't think much about it and took Chen Tao with him directly.

The emperor did not object, but wanted to see if Chen Tao had any other skills besides fighting. If he did, he would naturally deserve to be promoted and make a fortune.

Either a sixth-rank commander or a fifth-rank military official can be appointed.

Age is not a problem!

When I employ honest people, as long as they can do their job well and get back every penny of "my money", they will be rewarded greatly!

April 29th, evening.

When the old man learned that Chen Tao could actually go to Lianghuai to make money, no, to be loyal, he was immediately overjoyed!

Unfortunately, although he was even younger than Teacher Fan Jin, his health was not as good and he almost fainted.

It can be seen that in the book, he died suddenly while performing military exercises for the emperor. It was his own fault and had nothing to do with others.

After chatting until late at night, Chen Tao returned to his own courtyard and gave some instructions to the sisters Molan and Minglan, basically asking them to be filial to Madam Liang, unite with pregnant concubines such as Chunge and Xiuzhu, and not fight among themselves.

The two sisters naturally agreed, but also asked him to be more thoughtful tonight.

Chen Tao naturally obeyed all the instructions, but he also took some measures.

The two sisters naturally understood. Since they already had a son, why not take a break for a year or two? No matter how many children Chun Ge had, they would only be illegitimate children.

Minglan slept on the inside, hugged Chen Tao's arm and said:
"Although I don't understand politics, I know that the salt business involves a lot of interests. You must be careful on this trip! If those people get anxious, they will definitely take risks!"

Molan hugged Chen Tao's neck and whispered softly in his ear:
"Husband, please be careful! You don't have to worry about the family. With Minglan and I here, nothing will go wrong."

Chen Tao smiled and consoled: "I wasn't the leader. Those people killed me, the little cricket official. What good can that do? Ladies, please rest assured that your husband will come back to sleep with you in good health."

Molan said angrily, "You brought Yuanyuan with you this time. I think you will take the opportunity to make her your concubine, right? I don't blame you. But since you already have Yuanyuan, you can't just go and play around with Yangzhou Skinny Horse and Qinhuai Romance."

Chen Tao kissed her and laughed:
"I already have a beauty like Mo'er, how can I still be interested in other women?"

A good meal is not afraid of being late.

He had no intention of making Yuanyuan his concubine easily, but wanted to wait and marry Yuanyuan when the right opportunity came.

Minglan bit him and snorted:
"The fourth sister is a beauty, but I, the younger sister, am not? Praise me too!"

Before Chen Yingdi could speak, Molan said proudly:

"Although mirrors are expensive, I can give you one so that you can have some self-awareness."

How could Minglan bear it? She immediately passed Chen Tao and started to fight with her good sister who loved and hated her.

Chen Tao is not good at fighting, but he is good at resolving conflicts.

So after watching for a while, he unsealed some of the seals and used a little more of his real skills to fight them.

No sleep for one night.

The next morning, Chen Tao said goodbye to his parents, wives and concubines, and set off with Yuanyuan, Ruomei and a group of people.

When Grandma Liang saw that her youngest brother-in-law had become successful, she felt more sad than if her husband, parents had died.

But there's nothing much to say.

The brother-in-law's friendship with Gu Er was his own ability, and had nothing to do with her husband, nor did he get any benefit from their eldest wife's family.

If anyone is to blame, it's her husband, who is not a playboy and can't follow his brother's example of being like-minded as Gu Er.

What a deal!

It's outrageous that even though I work hard, I am not as good as these lucky ones!
Liang Xuan felt that he had made great achievements, but seeing his fourth brother getting better and better, he couldn't help feeling a little bored. At the same time, he looked down on his second brother who had no skills but had a better chance of inheriting the title than he did.

Although Mrs. Liang was very happy, she couldn't help wiping her tears with a handkerchief when they parted.

After all, her beloved son had never traveled far away. Although it was said that he already had a wife, concubines, children, held an important position, and even killed people with his own hands, she, as a mother, could not help but worry.

In the end, they actually sent Chen Tao and others on board the boat, which must have been a boat heading south along the Grand Canal.

It was almost early summer and the scenery on both sides of the lake was beautiful.

Although Yuanyuan was an honest test-taker before traveling through time, she is lively by nature. Now that she is heading south with Chen Tao, she is in a very good mood.

Board.

"Right, that is it……"

Yuanyuan, who had grown taller and felt sore all over, stood on a small stool and let Chen Tao put his arms around her waist so that they could feel the cool river breeze blowing towards them.

Apparently she's cosplaying Rose.

It must be said that she still has a long way to go to reach Rose, but it won't be long before she will surpass Molan. She is gifted and will be a beauty in the future.

Chen Tao held her for a long time, then asked with a suppressed smile: "Are you done? Is it my turn to play?"

Yuanyuan naturally cooperated. Seeing the loving interaction between the two, Ruomei was secretly envious. She also wanted to play, but was too embarrassed to ask. She would talk about it later!

However, this "later" came unexpectedly quickly.

Early the next morning.

While Yuanyuan was still sleeping, Chen Tao hugged Ruomei and let her experience the feeling of being a rose.

It's a pity that the boat is small and the river is not big, and there is no cruise ship on the sea, which gives us the feeling that there are only each other between heaven and earth.

Despite this, Ruomei was so happy that she could hardly control herself.

Of course, she would not tell Minglan about this kind of flirting.

Yuanyuan often saw Chen Tao eating her rouge, but she was not angry with her. Instead, she was very curious and even shyly asked her how she felt and what this meant.
Does this mean that Yuanyuan is not favored and even Rouge has never been eaten? Obviously not, after all, she is not old enough.

This shows that Yuanyuan is a good person and very generous.

But if it were Minglan, she would definitely not be so easy to talk to.

After serving Minglan for these years, Ruomei has seen clearly that Minglan is not as kind as she appears to be. She is very good at pretending and has a very scheming mind.

Therefore, she wanted to stay away from Minglan and didn't want to be a minor.

Fireworks go down to Yangzhou in March.

Although it was no longer March, the scenery in Yangzhou was still beautiful. Unfortunately, the Lianghuai Salt Administration was indeed a mess, and Chen Tao was inevitably assigned to a lot of work, some of which was even dangerous.

You have to know that in the book, the emperor's confidants such as Gu Er made a fuss and took away more than 8 million taels of silver, and this was just the amount that was handed over.

If it were the Ming Dynasty, if this happened, either the emperor would fall into the water, or the people would be overwhelmed by bandits.

But since this is the setting, it can only mean that these salt merchants and the big guys behind them are aware of it.

He is willing to be controlled by the emperor for the sake of our Great Zhou and not rebel. Isn't that very obedient?
Chen Tao set a small goal for himself.

Putting aside the hard work fee that could be shared according to the unspoken rules, she would also find an opportunity to secretly get some gold to make jewelry for her daughter and son.

If anyone refuses to cooperate, the Dark Knight will take action and punish them.

This Dark Knight is a little different from the one in Gotham, the difference is that this one doesn't have a vow not to kill.

***
June 22nd, the first dog days of summer.

This is the sixth month of the lunar calendar, which is already mid-July according to the Gregorian calendar, so the weather is hot. However, this summer has been rainy, so it is relatively cool.

Today, Chen Tao, the chief clerk, did not have to lead troops to arrest people, nor did he have to drink with Gu Er and Liu Zhengjie, so he returned home early.

Ruomei came out, and then was held in Chen Tao's arms, tasting the flavor of the local rouge she had just bought.

What about Yuanyuan?

World famous painting: Yuanyuan is settling accounts.

Ruomei felt that she had had enough, so she gently pushed Chen Tao away and said with a soft smile, "Master, please come in! There are many letters from home."

Chen Tao rubbed her again, then let Ruomei go to do her work, and then went into the house alone to find his Yuanyuan.

Ruomei didn't open her face properly, but even if she didn't open her face, she could still help Brother Tao. Although Yuanyuan minded, she didn't object.

It's better than letting him go to a brothel to find some skinny girl!

In fact, Gu Er also brought his newlywed wife, Li, on this trip.

In the book, Minglan is about to give birth this month, and Xiao Qinshi will set fire to Chengyuan. However, Gu Er, who returns to Beijing because he is worried about Minglan, also sets fire to Xuan Zhiyuan at her place.

But it is no longer necessary now.

Of course, although Gu Er now respects his wife Li very much, he still goes to brothels frequently and takes in pretty maids whenever he pleases.

Chen Tao also got one, which looked quite cute, and gave it to Yuanyuan to use. He named it according to the solar terms:
Xiaoman.

Gu Er's carefree attitude actually gave Xiao Qinshi a headache.

In the book, Xiao Qin wanted to get rid of Minglan because Gu Er loved Minglan so much. The logic was this: the dead old marquis Gu Yankai only loved Da Qin, and Gu Er was as infatuated as this old marquis, so they could attack Minglan to hit him, and thus have a chance to snatch the title.

Don’t think Xiao Qin is stupid because of this.

This "arsonist" wanted to kill Gu Er and Ming Lan directly, eliminate the people who caused the problem, and get to the root of the problem. Unfortunately, because he was a villain, he could not succeed and ended up in complete defeat.

And now Gu Er has not taken any action against Xiao Qin and others, such as dividing the family or taking back his inheritance.

But Xiao Qin was already thinking about how to kill him!

Although Xiao Qinshi was a bad girl, she was different from Aunt Kang, who was of the same ilk. Her family, the Dongchang Marquis Mansion, was originally quite good, but her father was too good at spending money, and in the end even her dowry was stingy. Her elder sister, Da Qinshi, had a bad reputation. People at that time said that Da Qinshi was spoiled and difficult to give birth to, which led to not many people proposing to her younger sister.

This gave her the firm idea and belief that "I can be a concubine without much dowry, but the future Marquis of Ningyuan must be her son."

She is also the legal wife, and she comes from a powerful family. But Gu Er, the son of Bai, who was born into a merchant family and gave money to the Gu family to make up for the deficit of the Ministry of Revenue, is a bastard who was born by a father but not raised by a mother. How can he be qualified to inherit the title!

He must be killed!
But this is not easy. Gu Er is now a cautious person, and poisoning and assassination are not easy.

As for indirectly attacking Gu Er by attacking Li, let's not talk about that.

Gu Er, who has a drama and dance troupe at home, has nothing to do with the quality of being infatuated.

In Xiao Qin's opinion, even if Li was killed directly, and Man Niang, the toad who wanted to eat swan flesh and imitated Madam Liuli to rise to power by being a prostitute, and her son Changger, it would not be of any use.

Gu Er would definitely not give up his title and not remarry just because Li and Man Niang died.

This is indeed the case.

Gu Er had never even thought of giving Man Niang's son a legitimate status. You know, a concubine's son is also a legitimate master and should be included in the family tree. He simply looked down on Man Niang's background.

The premise for learning the so-called Madam Liuli does not exist. Although Gu Er played with her, he never liked her; but Gao Tanhua liked Madam Liuli very much. For this time-traveling girl, he even gave up his family.

From this point of view, Man Niang is somewhat stupid and completely wishful thinking. She neither understands Gu Er nor recognizes the reality. She looks quite normal, but in fact she has gone insane, suffered from delusions, and turned into a psychopath.

Chen Tao entered the room, sat down opposite Yuan Yuan, who looked unhappy, and said jokingly with a smile:
"Why do you look like that? I don't think I owe you any money!"

Yuanyuan rolled her eyes at him and said fiercely:
"My period is here, and my stomach hurts a little bit every now and then. I'm in a bad mood. Go make me a cup of ginger tea."

After receiving the order, Chen Tao went to make tea immediately.

I also made myself a cup of Longjing tea.

Then I found a recliner and read the letters from home.

(End of this chapter)