Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 539: Food
The local "wise men" in Suzhou are the most anxious people these days.

Why? The "wise men" have colluded with the government to do too many bad things. It's not that they don't want to resist, but they don't dare to confront them head-on.

Jia Lian is an imperial envoy. Not only does he hold a righteous position, but he also holds the knife in his hand.

If the bad things they did by colluding with the government were exposed by the prefect, they were worried about being implicated.

As for the idea of ​​getting closer to Jia Lian and taking sides, these people have not taken any action yet. It's not that they don't want to, but it's their nature.

Deep down, the "wise men" still don't believe that Jia Lian would target them. This is Suzhou, and Suzhou accounts for half of the tax revenue of the Jiangnan province.

Of course, this can be collected. In private, the "wise men" have paid less tax through various roundabout ways, and I guess they themselves don't even know how much.

The only thing that is certain is that if taxes are paid normally, the tax revenue of Suzhou alone can double.

Are you anxious because you don’t know where Jia Lian’s bottom line is?
Uncle Shen hopes to pass the message through Shen Yan, but Shen Yan's status and position are too far behind Jia Lian, so it is unknown how much effect his message can have.

Another very important point is that when Jia Lian faced the local "wise men", he had a criminal record.

It is said that a righteous man is not afraid of a crooked shadow, but among this group of local "wise men", none of them is upright.

If Jia Lian really wants to investigate, he will definitely find something. By then it will be too late to take action. This is the accumulation of several generations. It will only take a moment for the family to be destroyed.

Hiding is an instinct. In fact, everyone knows that it is impossible to hide. If a person runs away, what will happen to all the property? Can he take it with him?
Especially after Jia Lian launched a heavy-handed crackdown on the local black and gray areas, the power comparison with the "wise men" has shown a crushing trend.

The next day, Shen Yan went to work and asked to see Jia Lian, hoping to talk alone.

Last night, Shen Yan thought for a long time before he realized that it was not because of how important he was, but because Jia Lian deliberately left a loophole as a channel for communication. Shen Yan's status was not high, and he was still a member of the Shen family, which happened to be in an ecological niche. Of course, Lord Jia was particular and rewarded him handsomely for doing things. As for the future, after the incident, would Shen Yan be used as a target for venting anger? Isn't that obvious?

The "wise men" of Jiangnan did not do nothing, but did a lot. However, they were working so hard in the court that there was no time for them to see any feedback.

That's why so many people hide away, waiting for feedback.

Jia Lian met Shen Yan very readily, arranged a seat for him, and smiled as he asked his attendants to serve tea.

What does it mean? This buddy reacted and figured it out.

Shen Yan told the truth and explained clearly all the information that Uncle Shen asked him to find out yesterday.

Jia Lian laughed out loud, and when Shen Yan thought he had misjudged him, he became unconfident and said, "These people won't cry until they see the coffin!"

Ah... Shen Yan was shocked. These words were not good.

"Okay, in the next few days, no matter who calls you, just ignore them. Even if it's your uncle, you should stay away from him. If you can't avoid him, just say you don't know."

Shen Yan understood some of it, but not completely. It was not until the afternoon that he realized the true meaning of Jia Lian's words.

Longxing Trading Company was one of the top three trading companies in Suzhou, and its raw silk business was very large.

When the business was in operation, a group of soldiers from Shenji Town came to the door. The leading officer shouted, "Pay attention to the back door and the side door. Surround them and don't let anyone escape."

The head shopkeeper, who was negotiating business in the store, was alarmed. When he hurried out to see what was happening, he found that the manager at the door had been captured and forced to kneel at the door. The other shop assistants and thugs were also standing aside obediently.

"My dear officers, Song has always been operating legally and has never cheated anyone. Did you misunderstand me?"

"Song Cheng?" The officer in charge asked expressionlessly. The chief shopkeeper's heart twitched fiercely and he nodded subconsciously: "It is Song."

"That's right, it's not a misunderstanding, take him away!" The officer in charge didn't give him any face and just took him away. The guy next to him wanted to help, but he was stopped when he stepped forward with his bayonet.

Shopkeeper Song struggled and called for help, but was pinned to the ground, tied up, gagged, and thrown onto an ox cart.

The matter was not over yet. All the people in the trading company were controlled by the soldiers and no one was let go. Even the merchants who came to discuss business had their identities confirmed again and again before being released.

After the store door was closed and the interrogation began, everyone realized that the crimes that Shopkeeper Song had committed in the past had been brought to light.

The noise was so loud that it spread throughout the city of Suzhou in no time. At first, all kinds of speculations were flying around.

At noon, when the government posted a notice on the gate of Longxing Commercial Bank, people learned that the mastermind behind the murder of Jiaxing silk merchant Pei three years ago was actually Manager Song.

Three years ago, due to drought followed by flood, the output of raw silk plummeted. Suzhou was not affected by the drought because it was a water town. It did not rain much during the flood. People in the city still remember the good years three years ago, when every silkworm farmer made a lot of money. A businessman named Pei came to Suzhou to look for sources of goods at a high price. Because of the high price, he attracted many locals at that time. Unexpectedly, he came to Suzhou for only a few days, negotiated several deals, and before he could deliver them, he was stabbed to death by a robber at night.

What can we say about that robber? Everyone in Suzhou knows that he is a gambler who came up with evil ideas because he lost so much money.

Well, this is the case that the Suzhou prefect judged at that time. Now, after reading the notice of the imperial envoy, the people of Suzhou know that the gambler was wrongly accused. The real perpetrator was a leader of a robbery company. He took the money from the shopkeeper Song, set up a robbery, and then wrongly accused the gambler who passed by in the middle of the night. The specific way of wronging the gambler was clearly written in the notice, that is, he knocked the man unconscious with a club, and then set up the crime scene. The man was sent to the prefectural government, and the judgment was made very quickly. Why? Because the prefect took a 10% stake in this business, and dividends were distributed every six months.

After all the thugs were arrested, the ringleader confessed the crime in order to save his life.

After the notice was spread, many of the people who were asked to help immediately withdrew. The imperial envoy was investigating a murder case, not targeting a certain group.

But in subsequent developments, the "wise men" discovered that something was amiss. It would be fine if you arrested Manager Song, but why did you arrest the patriarch of the Song family?

The Song clan leader was arrested the next morning. In order to drive away the incited people, the soldiers shot and killed two vicious dogs. There were also seven or eight diehards who were hit on the head with the butts of their guns by the soldiers, causing them to bleed.

At this point, the local "wise men" were all panicked and quickly gathered together to discuss countermeasures. If they could arrest the patriarch of the Song family today, could they arrest the patriarchs of the Lin and Shen families tomorrow?

The most terrible thing now is that it is impossible to incite the people to cause trouble, because after the soldiers of Shenji Town arrested people, they immediately posted notices throughout the city, explaining why the patriarch of the Song family was arrested.

The crime is not small, because he has killed several people. The truth of the case is horrifying. The most vivid memory of the people is the case of a pretty widow who hanged herself in the city three months ago. The truth is that the Song clan leader fell in love with the woman's wife, and sent someone to seduce her husband to drink. After he got drunk, he pushed him into the water while crossing the bridge. There was another case half a year ago. For three acres of mulberry fields, the Song clan leader instructed the people who were beating the bandits to dress up as water bandits and killed thirteen people in a family. There was also a missing case. Just because an old man from the same village took advantage of his age and quarreled with the Song clan leader and cursed him, he sent people to kill the old man and bury him in the wild while he was carrying a load into the city. These are all recent cases that have been investigated. There are many more cases that are still under investigation.

To be honest, the so-called "wise men" were very clear about the foundation of the Song family. The Song family was able to gain a foothold in Suzhou by supporting scholars with the efforts of the entire family. In the past thirty years, there has been one Jinshi and three Juren. This is quite remarkable, considering that this is Suzhou. The Jinshi was still serving as an official in Fujian.

After the family produced a juren and a jinshi, the whole family progressed and entered a period of rapid expansion. How many illegal and disorderly things did they do during this period? Who can tell clearly?

The "wise men" seemed powerless and panicked. Who among these wealthy family heads, who seemed insignificant to ordinary people, had not committed a few murders? How could the wealthy families keep their hands clean when annexing the small families? To put it bluntly, those who cheated and deceived were considered good people. The Song family case opened the eyes of the people of Suzhou. In the past, people saw the Song family building bridges and roads and distributing porridge in times of disaster, but now they saw the piles of bones under the foundation of the Song family.

"Brother Shen, there can't be another one!" said the Lin family member in charge of business, and everyone turned their attention to him.

"Yes, your nephew can speak in front of the imperial envoy, so why not ask him what he wants to do?"

Everyone grabbed onto Uncle Shen like a drowned rat grabbing a lifeline.

Uncle Shen was also helpless about this. He spread his hands and said with a bitter face, "Didn't I tell you? I asked him for information later, but he didn't give me any answer. Otherwise, call more people and send a letter to the imperial envoy to invite him to the banquet."

"Will this work? We sent out invitations on the first day the imperial envoy arrived. There were quite a few people there, more than a hundred."

"Let's try again."

The "wise men" were really helpless. This imperial envoy was too rude. Not only did he not give face to the elders of Suzhou, but he also didn't give face to the retired officials?

As the group of people were talking, someone could not help but curse: "It's all the fault of that turtle bastard who played dirty tricks on Prime Minister Sun. It was he who brought Jia Lian to Jiangnan."

"Don't talk nonsense! Brother, be careful with your words!"

The group of people didn't come up with anything, and finally wanted to ask the retired former Minister of Rites, Mr. Dong, to invite Jia Lian out, but he didn't come. When Uncle Shen and others came to his house, he had already gone out to visit friends. Mr. Dong was really a smart guy. The day after the Suzhou robbery was taken down, he went on a long journey and headed directly to Hangzhou.

Uncle Shen and several other people who were known for their "prestige" looked at each other. No one wanted to be the first to take action, so they all dispersed.

When he got home, Uncle Shen told everyone around him that he was sick and would not see any visitors.

You're all shrinking back, expecting others to step forward, do you think I'm stupid?

When Shen Yan learned that his uncle was "ill", he immediately came to visit him. Uncle Shen repeatedly explained to Shen Yan: "Jia Lian is a powerful person with a large army. The governor of Jiangnan and the general were dismissed by him with a piece of impeachment, and this man was also detained. Now that he has come to Suzhou, what can we do to fight him?"

Shen Yan understood, and could only suppress his curiosity and ask, "What should I do? Will my Shen family also get into trouble?"

"The most prosperous days of the Shen family were fifty years ago. If the imperial envoy was only investigating murders, there should be nothing wrong with the Shen family in Suzhou. At least I don't know."

The implication is that the Shen family has been relatively clean in recent decades and has not done anything particularly outrageous. At least in Suzhou, the Shen family is fine. Outside of Suzhou, Uncle Shen is not sure.

The Shen family's business is not among the top ones in Suzhou. The history of the Shen family in Jiangnan is very long. If we must trace it back, it can be traced back to the Wuxing Shen family during the Tang Dynasty.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was the Huang Chao Uprising, the separatist regimes, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The aristocratic families were all destroyed. The so-called big families of the Zhou Dynasty today cannot be compared with the aristocratic families of the Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties. Whether the Suzhou Shen family is a branch of the Wuxing Shen family, they probably can't tell for sure.

Anyway, this kind of operation of randomly claiming ancestors is too common in history. Especially those ambitious people who have made a name for themselves are more likely to play this trick.

When Shen Yan left, he was not in a bad mood, he even felt a little happy. After all, even if he moved his household registration, he would not have too much burden. Besides, he did not forget his roots. He only moved his household registration because of work needs. Of course, this was said to the outside world.

Jia Lian was not so anxious to handle the Song family case. He did not do anything like "execute first and report later". Instead, he asked the officials below to work hard for three days to clear up all the facts of the case. Then he asked the largest newspaper in Suzhou to publish a series of stories for ten consecutive days. The Song family has only been prosperous for the past 20 years. During the period of rapid expansion, too many cases were left behind.

As a result, dozens of Song family members were arrested one after another, all of whom were involved in murder lawsuits.

The most outrageous thing is that according to the account of the Song clan, Jia Lian sent troops to kill a group of lake bandits on Lake Taihu. You read that right, lake bandits. It doesn't matter if they can't beat you in legitimate business, but they attacked your fleet on the lake when you were transporting goods. This is a high-end business war.

Just when Jia Lian was scaring the "wise men" of Suzhou into living in fear day and night, feedback from the capital came back one after another.

With the idea of ​​getting rid of Jia Lian and replacing him with someone else if they couldn't deal with him, many Jiangnan officials in the capital called on their friends and established relationships, causing quite a stir.

Over 200 officials came forward to submit memorials, hoping that Your Majesty would allow Jia Lian to collect some of the taxes. Delaying this year's autumn taxes was a small matter, but it would be difficult to collect taxes after Jia Lian left.

As a result, Emperor Chenghui cursed these officials for the first time at a cabinet meeting, saying that they were occupying their positions but doing nothing, forming cliques for personal gain, and those who could not do their work were hindering those who could.

The cursing was relatively civilized, but it lasted a bit long, almost half an hour.

After scolding, Emperor Chenghui warned all the cabinet ministers to manage their subordinates well. If they could not manage well, they could submit their resignation. There was no need to submit resignation three times, as the resignation would be approved as soon as it was submitted.

After talking about Jia Lian, I then mentioned the matter of the central bank.

After reading the central bank's investigation report, the cabinet ministers were all in a state of exploding. Second Prince, Second Prince, this 10 million hole can be filled by some means, why did it come to the situation of reselling licenses? And the local bank bankruptcy cases, how dare they not report it? These are all licenses approved by the Royal Central Bank, and private banks can open for business.

What's the point of this? The cabinet immediately came to a consensus that even if they have business licenses, they are prohibited from opening. All banks that have gone bankrupt and local officials who have not reported them will be suspended and investigated.

What are you doing? This is ruining the reputation of the royal family, don't you understand? This is not the Ming Dynasty. If the court has no money, it has to pay from the treasury. If the government is in a mess, it is the emperor's fault.

All members of the inspection team are subject to investigation. We asked you to inspect and find problems. How could you not find such a big problem? You took money to help cover it up, right?

The "angry" Emperor Chenghui said that this case involved the royal family, so Longjinwei had full authority to handle it. Under the leadership of Zhang Tingen, the cabinet ministers argued that because the Ministry of Revenue also had shares in the bank, this case could not be seen as a simple royal case.

In order to take the lead in handling the case, Zhang Tingen had a fierce argument with the emperor for the first time at the cabinet meeting. He insisted that the Dragon Guard only had the power to investigate, not the power to arrest officials. Of course, if the Dragon Guard arrested officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Clan, the cabinet would not say a word.

On the twentieth day after Jia Lian arrived in Suzhou, he received a secret letter from the emperor, as well as letters from his mentor Zhang Tingen and his alternate father-in-law Lin Ruhai.

The emperor's secret letter was about the central bank, asking Jia Lian to come up with an idea and find a way to solve so many bad debts. Now it is not a question of punishing people, but the central bank must not collapse.

After reading the emperor's letter, Jia Lian couldn't help but sigh silently for Li Yuan. He was afraid that he would have no chance to return to Beijing, so he should just stay in Borneo with peace of mind.

The problem is not unsolvable. Jia Lian gave a suggestion: land exchange. Where should we exchange it to? Exchange it to Shijingshan and Tanggu. Iron was discovered in one of these two places, and high-quality coal was discovered in the other. Jia Lian even reluctantly marked the places on the map, and repeatedly emphasized in his reply that the mortgaged land should be taken back first, and then the borrowers should write IOUs. Before paying off the debts, they are all on the bank's list of dishonest persons. His Majesty the Emperor must not be soft-hearted again.

As for the land to be exchanged, isn't it all in Liaodong? Then let's exchange it to the vicinity of Anshan. The area cannot be small.

After receiving Jia Lian's reply, Emperor Chenghui was overjoyed. He also knew that the two pieces of land to be exchanged were bought by Jia Lian in advance and belonged to Jia Lian's private name, and the land deeds were in Ruyan Ruyu's hands.

In this case, it would be easy to deal with. Anyway, Liaodong was sparsely populated, and the land in Anshan was not valuable. Emperor Chenghui waved his pen and directly granted Jia Lian all the land within 100 miles (50 kilometers) around as a fief. Jia Lian became the first minister to be granted a fief since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Jia Lian was stunned when he learned about this. Is this going to be a big deal? Of course, this is a story for later!
(End of this chapter)