Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 543 Ning Guofu gains power

Aunt Zhen pursed her lips and smiled, then squeezed her head into Jia Rui's arms.

"Uncle, can't I miss you so much?"

"Okay, okay." Jia Rui patted Aunt Zhen on the back and said calmly with a discerning smile on her lips.

"Well, you go back and get ready. I'll go to your place tonight."

After listening to Jia Rui's words, Aunt Zhen happily came out of Jia Rui's arms, then walked away happily.

Jia Rui sat there and sighed softly. None of the women around him was a fuel-efficient lamp.

Speaking for myself, among the ladies around me, only Xue Baoqin and Second Sister You are the most popular with me, because these two silly girls only know how to please themselves and don't care about anything else.

After Jia Rui sighed, he returned to the throne and began to correct the day's memorial.

Jia Rui's brows furrowed as he looked at it, because many of the memorials sent down from below were about the people's sentiments in the south of the Yangtze River.

And many of them said that many gentry in Jiangnan had begun to prepare memorials to congratulate Jia Rui on becoming the King of Wu.

However, Jia Rui saw from the list sent that these gentry were all unknown figures, and many aristocratic families in Jiangnan were not on this list.

This made Jia Rui very angry. These Jiangnan gentry were like stones in a latrine, smelly and hard.

For Jiangnan, Jia Rui has already purged it twice, once by taking advantage of the downfall of the Zhen family, and another by taking advantage of the Buddhist rebellion.

The two purges of Jarek showed no mercy, which made the gentry in Jiangnan really honest for a while.

Jia Rui originally thought that the gentry in Jiangnan would be very sensible this time, but he didn't expect that some people still didn't take him seriously.

What Jia Ruizhen was thinking about was how to add some trouble to these gentlemen in Jiangnan. When Lao Li came in holding a memorial.

"Your Majesty, this is a congratulatory memorial from the Kong family."

After hearing this, Jia Rui's face was filled with joy.

You must know that the Confucius family is the representative of the world's princes. They have all submitted memorials to congratulate them, which means that the world's scholars recognize themselves.

Although Jia Rui introduced policies several times to limit the say of the Confucius family after he came to power, it seems that the Confucius family is still very aware of current affairs. Instead of causing trouble for himself in the matter of making himself the king, he actively Move closer to yourself.

If this is the case, after he really ascends the throne, he can relax his control over the Kong family and let them take a breather.

But before that, we cannot relax on this matter. After all, everything is not stable. If something goes wrong in the middle, it will be troublesome.

Jia Rui began to issue an order that day, asking Jiangnan to conduct a population census.

Jia Rui is giving a nod to the big gentry in Jiangnan.

You must know that hiding the population was a very profitable business in ancient times.

These common people all placed themselves in the names of the Jiangnan gentry to avoid the poll tax and other taxes.

The wealthy gentry in the south of the Yangtze River also relied on these free people to farm their own fields, and even obtained some land for free.

It can be said that the interests of both parties are consistent.

However, this would harm the interests of the court.

Under normal circumstances, as the largest landowner in the world today, the emperor is not very likely to pursue this matter. As long as it is not excessive and the interests of the court will not suffer too much, he will turn a blind eye. . But if an emperor wanted to conduct a population census, it would be a major blow to the landlords and gentry below.

And Jia Rui has resorted to this trick now. He wants the people below to get to know each other. Who is in charge today? Which side are you sitting on?
In fact, Jia Rui had no choice but to do this. The current imperial court was founded in Jiangnan, and it was inextricably linked to the landlords and gentry in Jiangnan.

Although Jia Rui now belongs to the Jiangnan clan, if he wants to change the dynasty, it will harm the interests of these people. Therefore, these famous families are not prepared to accept Jia Rui.

However, since Jia Rui is now powerful and controls the world's military power, although these people dare not openly oppose Jia Rui, they can also engage in non-violent non-cooperation against Jia Rui.

Therefore, Jia Rui's results this time are still uncertain.

Another seven or eight days passed, and the heaven-sacrifice ceremony in Jia Yu Village was finally ready. Another morning with clear skies, Jia Rui, wearing a four-clawed python robe and full of honors, left the palace and went straight to the Temple of Heaven.

Along the way, ordinary people gathered in the streets, kowtowing to Jia Rui's car, and some even shouted "Long live".

Of course, many of these people were arranged by Jia Yucun in advance just to show their face in front of Jia Rui.

Jia Rui already knew all this, so his smile was very perfunctory.

The group of people arrived at the Temple of Heaven, and what followed was a ceremony for the emperor to offer sacrifices to heaven. Everyone in the court saw this, but no one dared to say it publicly.

Jia Rui also pretended not to know what was going on and followed the officials from the Ministry of Rites to complete the entire set of discussions. And he recited the sacrificial rites to heaven, and finally ended it and returned to the palace.

By this time, all the procedures for Jia Rui's promotion to King Wu had been completed, and he was already the legitimate King of Wu.

Next, Jia Rui's first edict was to seal Ningguo Mansion.

This edict surprised everyone. They did not expect that the first person to be canonized by Jia Rui was not Rongguo Mansion, but Ningguo Mansion.

Jia Zhen, the head of Ningguo Mansion, was canonized as Ning Jinghou by Jia Rui.

After Jia Rui's canonization decree arrived at Ningguo Mansion, Ningguo Mansion immediately became a sensation.

Their family has not been so lively for a long time. In the past, they followed the lead of Rongguo Mansion. Later, when Jia Rui rose up, they followed Jia Rui around. It can be said that on the surface they are the eldest branch of the Rongjia clan. , in fact, it has no status.

Now it's good, with this canonization decree, their family has surpassed Rongguo Mansion and become the second prominent family of the Jia family.

Jia Zhen now smiled without any wrinkles on her face. She held a thick envelope and handed it to the eunuch who came to pass the paper.

"My father-in-law, go back and buy some tea. By the way, I can say a few nice words to you in front of the prince."

The eunuch who delivered the order pinched the envelope and realized that it contained at least one or two thousand taels of silver.

This time, the smile on the eunuch's face, which was still sullen, became sincere.

"It's easy to talk to. Don't worry, Lord Marquis. We will have frequent contact with each other in the future. As for you, please be at ease with the Lord. Our family will definitely give you a lot of good words in front of the Lord."

While they were talking, a little maid walked in as if there was no one else around.

Seeing this scene, the eunuch who delivered the order had a look of disbelief on his face. Then he looked at Jia Zhen, does that mean the rules in your house are so loose?

There was a wry smile on Jia Zhen's face, but she still stood up and asked with a smile on her face: "Is something wrong with your grandma?"

The maid glanced at Jia Zhen, then at the eunuch, and then walked to the eunuch who delivered the order.

(End of this chapter)