Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 484 The Biggest Obstacle
There was a gentle breeze in the back garden at night. There was a sense of oppression in the quietness. The faint singing followed the breeze and reached the ears of Baochai who was taking a walk.

"Go back!" Baochai stopped and called Ying'er to turn around, silently adding in her heart: Hu Feng from the Western Regions, how shameless!
The third sister's unrestrained behavior seemed a bit different in this backyard. While others rarely went out, she often wore men's clothes and went out to have fun.

Therefore, in the back garden, only the third sister was willing to cooperate with Jia Lian in such matters.

Baochai returned to the room and for some reason she envied her third sister's boldness. If she were in her place, she would definitely not agree.

"Bring some water. I'm sweating." Baochai said as she squeezed her legs together and lifted her hips.

The next morning, Jia Lian appeared in the central hall of the government office, yawning in a listless manner. Officials from all walks of life had arrived and sat down in a shape of eight below.

Qi Yun was the first to report that his men had secured the city gates. The governor, the provincial judge, and the prefect of Guangzhou all reported where their men were and what they had done.

It is not difficult to find that they are surprisingly enthusiastic. After all, they have a good excuse for this matter. It is the governor's order and has nothing to do with them. But it really does not prevent them from taking the opportunity to make a fortune.

Some of the people on the wanted list have escaped. Those who escaped are relatively important and have important information. Therefore, many things cannot be investigated further.

The city-wide curfew lasted for one day before it ended, with more than 300 gang and guild members being arrested.

Jia Lian then announced the end of martial law, but those who escaped would be issued arrest warrants and continue to be hunted down.

For the officials, local interests are important, but in the face of greater interests, these relationships are not that important.

The lives of the locals were affected to a certain extent, but not greatly. After all, it was only one day, and after that, nothing seemed to have changed.

There are some changes, that is, Jia Lian has formulated relevant rules for some industries and enforced them. Among them, the one that caused the most repercussions is that all guilds must accept government supervision. Regardless of any industry, as long as there is a guild organization, it must register with the governor's office and accept supervision. Another rule, which seems less conspicuous, is the rule of collecting regular fees.

It can be understood as protection money, which can be collected, but the current proportion is too high. For example, the pumping of water by dock coolies, the pricing of fish at the dock, etc. There are many details, so I won’t list them one by one.

Another morning came, and Lao Cai got up in the dark, carrying his load and rushing to the fish dock. The purchase price of dried fish has changed a lot recently, and it is unknown what the price will be today.

After recuperating from his wounds for a few days, Lao Cai only heard about the situation in the outside world from others. He was indeed very happy, especially when the bastard who kicked him was arrested by people sent by the governor.

Old Cai didn't know about Jia Lian's existence, but he just remembered that there was a kind-hearted person who helped him at that time. He hadn't paid the doctor for the medicine he had paid for his injuries yet.

The city gate was just ahead. Old Cai stopped, touched the three coins in his pocket, and sighed silently. To enter the city, you need to pay two coins for a load and one coin for each person.

The most ironic thing about this rule is that a cow costs five cents to enter the city, which is more expensive than a person.

In the past, it took a long time to queue up, but today it was surprisingly smooth. When Lao Cai arrived, he saw the gatekeepers ready to pay, but he didn't expect them to sit lazily and didn't seem to see the people entering the city. There was a notice posted by the city gate. Lao Cai couldn't read what was written on it. But since no one stopped him, he entered the city smoothly. The three cents saved couldn't buy much meat, but he could buy some bones to make soup.

There weren't many people lining up at the dried fish collection place. Looking at the weather, if everything went well today, I could go home before noon and save the mandatory two cents for lunch.

Yes, they sell dried fish here. At noon, you have to buy lunch here, two pickled vegetable cakes, one penny each. There is really no oil at all.

For the same penny, you can have a bowl of bone soup with lots of oil on it on the roadside.

Old Cai felt that he had good luck today. The fish collectors had changed, and when it came time to grade his fish, the young man gave him an A grade at a glance, and the water content was not 30% as before, but 10%. In other words, Old Cai could take home at least 50 more coins today.

Old Cai, who was a little worried, asked, "Boss, are you sure?"

The fish collector looked helpless and pointed at the sign behind him: "Go and see for yourself, don't delay other people from selling fish, sob!"

Old Cai didn't care about being scolded. He quickly picked up his empty shoulder pole and took the receipt to settle the bill. In the past, he would be charged three cents for the bill at this stage, but today he was only charged one cent.

After putting the three hundred coins in his pocket, Lao Cai stumbled forward for a while as if in a dream and came to the bottom of the notice.

Although he couldn't understand it, someone standing under the notice saw him coming and came up to him and said, "Old man, do you want to read the notice? It's free!"

"You are a scholar, right? How could I trouble you to come here?" Old Cai didn't dare to ask this scholar to help read the notice. What if he really asked him for money?
The scholar looked bitter. Do you think I want to come to this stinky place? This is a new rule issued by the governor. The scholars in the prefectural school have to be divided into so-called conduct points. Do one good deed a day, and you must do it yourself and conscientiously implement the conduct. There are many things to choose from. You have to do it for three days every month, and draw lots to decide where to go and what to do.

Those who were drawn to go to the teahouse to read newspapers for free were naturally very happy, as they saved the money for morning tea. Those who were drawn to go to the Fishing Wharf would have to suffer for three days in the next month.

leave!
You have to do it, and someone is supervising you to do it. What's wrong with being a scholar? Is it great? Do you still want the government rice?
The scholar still insisted on not letting Lao Cai go. Since one person refused to listen, he would wait for a few more people. After seven or eight people came, the scholar read the notice and explained that everything everyone had experienced today was caused by the new governor. The notice clearly stated that in the past, the guilds and gangs of various industries had exploited too much and bullied the market. Now the governor has changed it, and the content is as follows...

Therefore, no money was charged when entering the city, and when selling dried fish, the water content was reduced by 10%, and the bill fee was only one cent. The scholar also said that in the future, there would be no need to pay when going out to sea, but one would still have to pay when returning to dock at the pier, the only difference was that it used to be thirty cents per month, but now it only needs ten cents.

"Fellow villagers, have you seen that stall? If you feel that the scale of the dried fish you buy is not accurate, there is a fair scale set up by the governor's office, and there are supervisors. If you feel that you have been wronged, you can go and complain. If you don't dare to go openly, you can find someone to write a complaint letter and put it in the mailbox at the door of the governor's office. I guarantee that someone will investigate and give you justice."

Jia Lian did not just cut off the officials and then leave them alone. Instead, he made a big fuss about supervision and system. These measures led to a significant decline in the officials' private gray income. In the long run, they would definitely be dissatisfied, but isn't this a wave of fattening? When the term is up, it's up to the next term.

A group of people were arrested and several gangs were cracked down. The atmosphere in the entire city of Guangzhou changed as a result. Mainly because those who had exploited the people in the past had to restrain themselves a little.

They dared not to be restrained. The people who were caught this time were loaded on the ship and sent directly to Annan. Among them, there were 36 unlucky people who had killed people. Caishikou was busy for a day and their heads were chopped off.

Those who were killed were not the main culprits, but their minions. It was just that they were too brutal and the public outrage was too great, so Jia Lian ordered them to be beheaded directly.

After all the commotion, the market quickly returned to normal and became more prosperous than before. As the Spring Festival approached, the joyous scenes everywhere diluted the bloody smell in Caishikou.

Xue Pan has been very busy recently. He took over all the warehouses near the dock at once without spending a penny. This is not pie in the sky, but gold bars falling from the sky.

After three days of hard work, he finally got it done. From now on, 30% of the profits from the warehouse will belong to him, and 70% will be handed over.

Even so, Xue Pan still made a huge profit. In the future, if you want to do business with foreigners, whether it is tea or porcelain, you will have to rent a warehouse to ship it to Guangzhou.

These warehouses are very popular. They are all rented out within three days of being acquired. They are all owned by various business houses. Those who rent warehouses can get a certificate. With the certificate, they can go to the newly opened trading hall to list the goods, and then sell them at different prices according to different grades.

The trading hall is an official platform where you are free to sell goods. You can set your own price and the official handling fee is 3% of the transaction amount.

The new trading hall not only facilitated merchants from all walks of life, but also bypassed local guilds and gangs, so that they no longer had to be extorted at will like before, which benefited some small and medium-sized merchants. On the contrary, some large chambers of commerce, that is, the bosses of various guilds in the past, were full of dissatisfaction and anger. However, no matter how dissatisfied or angry they were, it was useless, because the governor's standard-bearer was standing at the door, with the three-edged bayonet on his rifle emitting a dark luster. Even if they were dissatisfied, they had to hold back. If you dare to make trouble, I will stab you to death.

The emergence of this trading hall made the government offices at all levels very happy, because from now on, everyone had an additional channel to share the money. Originally, they could collect some of the money, but it had to go through the guild.

It can be said that the powerful new governor, Jia Lian, cut off the source of funds for some local big businessmen and chambers of commerce.

As many people curse Jia Lian in private, there are even more people who praise him.

Back to Jia Lian, he has never left the governor's office since he launched a series of measures.

General Qi Yun came to see Jia Lian every day to listen to his teachings. According to his report, someone on the road had already offered a hidden price to assassinate Jia Lian, and the price was as high as 50,000 taels.

Because it was just a rumor on the street and there was no real evidence, Jia Lian, in line with the principle of safety first, seldom went out for a wandering.

Upon hearing the news, Wei Da of Longjinwei said that he would send people to investigate and catch and chop off the person's head.

Wei Da worked so hard, so naturally his coffin capital became thicker. In the past, those people in the Maritime Customs were so arrogant that they would never buy into his account. But now, when they see him, they have to bow and scrape.

That's right, Governor Jia acted first and reported later, forcing all goods going out to sea to be inspected by the Dragon Guard. Without the inspection and permission of the Dragon Guard, not a single piece of wood could be sold.

In fact, the biggest resistance to the trading hall comes from the Maritime Customs, which involves many people, including officials from the Imperial Household Department, the Cabinet, the Maritime Customs, and so on.

The trading hall was equivalent to depriving the Maritime Customs of some of its rights. The Maritime Customs was of course not happy with this and indeed went to the governor's office to make a scene. Jia Lian took out a gold medal and put it in the face of the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department who was in charge of the Maritime Customs, and the eunuch immediately behaved himself.

Afterwards, Jia Lian threatened to audit the accounts again, and the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department pinched his nose and went back in shame.

If the Imperial Household Department doesn't make trouble, no one else can do so even if they want to.

Therefore, the hidden money must be real, and it is very likely that it was done by someone in the Maritime Customs. After all, they had the final say in the past, colluding with local merchant guilds to exploit both parties in the transaction and make a lot of money. Now the money is not only less than before, but also has to be shared with various government offices in the city. The dominant power is not in their hands. If they don't get angry and spit blood, it means they are well-educated and forbearing.
Before the impeachment memorials arrived in the capital like snowflakes, Jia Lian's secret memorial arrived at Emperor Chenghui's desk first.

It was nothing big, just talking about recent events, and then wishing the emperor a happy new year in advance and presenting him with a new year gift. Other people's new year gifts were lists, and there were indeed gifts put into storage. Lord Jia's new year gift was more special, it was an account book, showing how much money he had received recently, who gave it, and where he planned to spend it.

This New Year gift made Emperor Chenghui laugh, and he was in a very good mood all day. Especially the trading hall set up by Jia Lian, it is expected that the tax revenue will increase by 3 million taels of silver every year. The main source of this is the increased tax revenue from domestic merchants. In the past, this money went into private pockets.

Emperor Chenghui knew that the Maritime Customs had a lot of problems, but he didn't expect that this group of people could swallow up a huge amount of 3 million taels every year. Even so, Jia Lian still left them a sip of soup.

Jia Lian's gift list also includes some industry insider information, such as the tea guild colluding with the Maritime Customs to eat from both sides. On one hand, they eat from within, using grading methods to lower the grade of tea and buy it at a low price. On the other hand, they sell it to Western merchants at a high price, and the price shown in the account book is their purchase price. Therefore, this group of people is not just evading taxes.

Jia Lian's secret report was relatively polite, while Wei Da's was relatively vicious. He reported directly that someone offered a hidden price to buy Jia Lian's life, and the price was 50,000 taels.

At the cabinet meeting the next day, Emperor Chenghui had a basket of memorials impeaching Jia Lian carried into the meeting room, and he began by saying, "These impeachment memorials should be taken back to the cabinet ministers in charge of the yamen. I don't have the energy to deal with them."

"Before today's meeting, I want to tell you something. A senior official of the imperial court, the governor of a province, has been offered a hidden price by someone in the underworld to buy his life. Guess who this governor is?" As soon as Emperor Chenghui opened his mouth, the temperature in the room dropped by more than ten degrees. Everyone could feel the weight of the emperor's tone.

(End of this chapter)