Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 313 Discovery
"Xue Pan has returned to Beijing?" Li Qiang looked at the information in his hand and asked Jin Dong beside him.

"Yes!" Jin Dong bowed and replied.

Now the emperor has slowly transferred the intelligence organization in his hands to Li Qiang. This intelligence organization is currently still controlled by Dai Quan, but will slowly be handed over to Jin Dong in the future.

"Let Xue Pan be the Dragon Guard First, you help keep an eye on him. If he has some ability, we will make other arrangements!" Li Qiang thought for a while and made the arrangements.

He had a friendship with the Xue family. Although helping Xue Pan clear his name in the border town and obtaining an official position was enough, with his current status, doing these things was just a piece of cake for him.

Long Jinwei, a fifth-rank military officer and palace guard.

This official position is mostly used to gild the descendants of officials. After transitioning from palace guards to other military forces, they will be reused.

Jin Dong wrote down Li Qiang's instructions and thought to himself that he should pay more attention to the Xue family in the future.

Li Qiang put down the information and was in a good mood.

Since Lin Ruhai entered the cabinet, he has confidently handed over many government affairs to the cabinet.

This decentralization saved him a lot of time and saved him from spending a lot of time handling government affairs.

Regarding how to manage Daqian, he had the same idea as the retired emperor in his old age. He would hold the military power in his hands, focus only on major government affairs, and also have the financial power in his hands. Then Daqian would be completely under his control.

Li Qiang didn't want to be like Emperor Jingwen. Think about it, Emperor Jingwen was busy with government affairs until midnight every day.

Emperor Jingwen ultimately did not become a good emperor. Instead, he became a rare emperor in history who was impeached and removed from office by his ministers.

Li Qiang waved to Jin Dong. Jin Dong knew that he wanted to rest, so he bowed and left.

A Buddhist robe suddenly appeared on Li Qiang's body. He gently twisted the 108 Buddhist beads in his hand, and his temperament changed drastically.

He practices Buddhism for at least an hour every day, using some spare time, and has currently practiced the 34th Buddhist scripture.

The Buddhism that Li Qiang had learned from Master Bai Nian was too different from the Buddhism in the bald monk's Buddhist beads. She needed to start over from the beginning. This was related to a Buddhist supernatural power and no mistakes could be allowed.

Not long after they started practicing, Jin Dong's voice was heard outside the hall.

"What's the matter?" Li Qiang put away his Buddhist robe and beads, and the Buddhist spirit on his body disappeared. He asked lightly.

"The head manager of Datong Money House is here!" Jin Dongtong announced.

"Let him in!" Li Qiang ordered.

Since entering the palace, Manager Tan has kept his head down and dared not look around.

Although Datong Money House managed a huge amount of wealth, its status was just that of a merchant, not to mention him as the chief manager.

When Crown Prince Li Qiang went to Datong Money House to exchange a huge amount of silver bills, he was received by the manager Tan. Manager Tan thought that after Datong Money House changed hands, he would be retaliated by Crown Prince Li Qiang.

But Tan, the chief treasurer, never imagined that he would actually keep his original position and still serve as the chief treasurer of Datong Money House.

And on the day when Datong Money House was taken back by Crown Prince Li Qiang, Manager Tan met Crown Prince Li Qiang again.

During that meeting, Manager Tan was filled with gratitude towards Crown Prince Li Qiang, and vowed in his heart that he would repay Crown Prince Li Qiang's kindness with all his heart.

Of course, Manager Tan didn't know that his inner gratitude and loyalty all came from the magical object "Feng Yue Bao Jian".

Manager Tan walked towards the main hall, came before Crown Prince Li Qiang, and knelt on the ground.

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" said the shopkeeper Tan in an extremely humble voice.

"Please stand up, Jin Dong, and take a seat!" Li Qiang waved her hand.

When Manager Tan heard that he was offered a seat, he was so excited that he was dazed for a moment. Fortunately, Jin Dong was used to this situation and came forward to help him up.

Manager Tan carefully sat on the lower half of the stool. He looked up at Crown Prince Li Qiang, with a flash of fanaticism in his eyes.

"Your Highness, Datong Money House has now stabilized. Previously, many people wanted to exchange the issued silver notes for cash. After hearing that Your Highness took over Datong Money House, most of them stopped exchanging the silver notes, and it did not cause any trouble to Datong Money House!" Manager Tan reported respectfully.

Li Qiang knew about this matter. For some time before, there was a rumor that the silver notes of Datong Money House could not be exchanged for cash, which almost caused Datong Money House to have a credit crisis.

It was Li Qiang's decisive action that almost on the same day when the six major merchants sent out their assassination squads and failed, she took over Datong Money House and informed the outside world, which led to the stability of Datong Money House today.

Besides, Datong Money House still has 10 million taels of silver in deposits, which were transferred from various places by the six major merchants. Even if some people really want to exchange them for cash, it is enough.

"Datong Money House must be managed well. I am of great use to it!" Li Qiang instructed.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Datong Money House is still run by the old friends. With Your Highness's reputation, it will only get better and better!" assured the manager Tan.

"I plan to merge all the businesses of the six major merchants into Datong Money House. In addition, the silver confiscated from the ancestral homes of the six major merchants will arrive in these two months. You must use this silver well!" Li Qiang ordered again.

Speaking of the ancestral homes of the six major merchants, that is where Li Qiang focuses his attention.

He called in the most professional house-raiding veterans in the army, and personally used the "Mirror of Wind and Moon" to bind the loyalty of a group of important managers of the six major merchants, and only then was he able to confiscate all the assets of the ancestral homes of the six major merchants.

These big families divided the silver into portions, and each portion was worth 1,000 taels, which they melted into a huge silver ball and named "Mei Nai He".

If you keep this kind of "helplessness" at home, even if a thief wants to steal it, he can't steal it.

The homes of the six major merchants are all filled with this kind of "helpless" silver balls, and the cash seized so far exceeds 100 million taels.

In other words, the soldiers transferred this time were all 100% loyal to Li Qiang. Otherwise, such a huge wealth would be embezzled a lot even if the army went to confiscate it.

Li Qiang had no intention of handing over the cash to the national treasury, and did not even let the Ministry of Revenue know about the existence of the cash.

In fact, in the Daqian court, there were still strong objections to Li Qiang taking over the businesses of the six major merchants.

However, the terrifying strength Li Qiang displayed on the day of the martial arts performance made the officials in the court dare not say anything. At least they had to wait until these officials had passed the period of greatest fear, and only then would some officials dare to raise objections.

But by that time, the property had already been swallowed up by Li Qiang, and it was too late to make any demands.

With 100 million taels of silver in cash, Li Qiang wanted to invest Datong Money House into business to make Daqian's business more prosperous.

"Your Highness, do you mean to lend out all this money?" asked the shopkeeper Tan with some uncertainty.

Although he didn't know how much money this was, considering the wealth of the six major merchants, it must be a lot.

"I want to use this money to help small and medium-sized businesses and even individuals across Daqian to support their operations!" Li Qiang explained.

Manager Tan nodded. He understood what Li Qiang wanted to do, but he didn't understand why Li Qiang did it. However, he only needed to follow orders and didn't need to understand the reasons.

Li Qiang had some ideas. The "helpless" things he dug out from the ancestral homes of the six major merchants made him see the real situation of Daqian's economy.

Not only these six major merchants, but also other big families are the same. They keep large amounts of silver at home.

This resulted in less and less silver circulating outside Daqian, and the wealth was concentrated in the hands of these big families. These big families kept their wealth at home, which made Daqian's economic development even slower.

Li Qiang's idea was to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses by lending 100 million taels of silver in cash, so as to make the Daqian economy more active.

He holds the economic weapon of Datong Bank in his hands, and there are many things he can do. As long as he is given time, he can expand Daqian's business.

As for merging the industries of the six major merchants into Datong Money House, it is just a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other. It is just to increase the size of Datong Money House. Through the addition of the industries of the six major merchants, Datong Money House can secure its position as the number one money house in Daqian.

A few days later, Xue Baochai went to see her parents with a serious expression.

"Baochai, is there something wrong? You look so bad? Did Baoyu do something again?" Mrs. Xue asked with concern.

When she saw that her daughter was in trouble, the first thing she thought of was whether Jia Baoyu had treated her daughter badly.

The two have not yet married, and she has been suppressing this matter.

What she meant was to delay it as long as possible. She thought that when Jia Baoyu got an official title, or at least had the status of a scholar, he could marry Xue Baochai.

Xue Baochai had no objection to this point.

In Xue Baochai's previous opinion, Jia Baoyu was extremely intelligent, and as long as Jia Baoyu worked hard, it would not be difficult for him to become a scholar.

"You go out first and don't let anyone near!" Xue Baochai did not answer her mother's question, but instructed the maid in the room.

The maid bowed and left, closing the door behind her.

When Xue Tong saw this situation, his expression suddenly became serious and he looked at Xue Baochai.

"What happened?" Mrs. Xue became even more nervous and asked quickly.

"Dad, Mom, there's something I don't know how to tell you." Xue Baochai said hesitantly.

"Just tell me if you have anything to say. Dad will take care of it for you!" Xue Tong said in a deep voice.

"Dad!" Xue Baochai felt the father's love and called out softly with emotion.

She calmed herself down and decided to speak out her guess.

"I feel like Baoyu seems to have become a different person. He is no longer the same Baoyu as before!" she said softly.

She spoke so softly that even if someone outside was eavesdropping, they would not be able to hear what she said.

"Is Baoyu in a bad mood recently, making you feel like he has become a different person?" Mrs. Xue shook her head and said.

She had seen Jia Baoyu before, and that was Jia Baoyu, there was no change of person at all.

"Let Baochai explain it in detail!" Xue Tong stopped Mrs. Xue and said in a deep voice.

"On the day my brother came back, I noticed something was wrong when Baoyu came home. His speaking habits and the way he looked at people were completely different from before," Xue Baochai explained.

Xue Tong and Mrs. Xue looked at each other. The couple knew that Xue Baochai and Jia Baoyu had been together since childhood, so it was highly likely that they were not wrong to have such a feeling.

"Any other discoveries?" Xue Tong asked solemnly.

"I asked my brother. Baoyu has been with you these days. He has suggested many times that you go to thank the prince, and said it would be best to invite the prince and the princess to dinner to express your gratitude!" Xue Baochai showed a worried look.

Although she has feelings for Jia Baoyu, she is a particularly rational woman.

This has something to do with her training since childhood. She was trained to enter the palace, to deal with the intrigues in the palace, and to pay more attention to everything.

From a young age, the Xue family was more important than anything else. Even if she wanted to enter the palace, it was for the Xue family.

Jia Baoyu's behavior seemed to show that he wanted to get close to the Prince and Princess. If he really got in touch with them through the matter of Xue Pan and did something bad, the Xue family would not be able to bear the consequences.

At that time, the entire Xue family will be buried with Jia Baoyu, but Xue Baochai cannot accept this.

"You mean Jia Baoyu has suddenly changed his mind and wants to see the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess?" Xue Tong's face was terribly gloomy at the moment, and he asked for confirmation.

"Well, in these few days alone, Baoyu has mentioned it to brother five times. Although they were all mentioned unintentionally, brother is no longer the same person he used to be. He has discovered Baoyu's intention and has written it all down." When Xue Baochai said this, she was still very pleased with her brother.

"Baoyu has forgotten that he has nowhere to go and it was the Xue family who took him in. How could he do such a thing!" Mrs. Xue said angrily.

Thinking that Jia Baoyu had been in prison, the Xue family had to use a lot of favors to allow Jia Baoyu to take the scholar examination.

Not to mention that Jia Baoyu's current food, daily necessities and accommodation all come from the Xue family, but they are ungrateful and are preparing to plunge the Xue family into irretrievable disaster.

Everyone in the world knows what will happen if you offend Crown Prince Li Qiang.

One by one, the powerful and influential people taught the world with bloody lessons that one must not offend Crown Prince Li Qiang.

Lin Daiyu is the Achilles' heel of Crown Prince Li Qiang. If Jia Baoyu really takes any action against Lin Daiyu, regardless of whether it succeeds or not, Crown Prince Li Qiang will hate him.

In the past, in the Rongguo Mansion, it was because Jia Baoyu tried many times to get close to Lin Daiyu that Li Qiang got angry and severed ties with the Rongguo Mansion.

Regarding this matter, the Xue family who lived in Rongguo Mansion at that time were the most clear about it.

"No, I'll kick him out of the Xue family right now!" Mrs. Xue stood up and was about to kick him out.

"Stop first, we need to be cautious about this matter!" Xue Tong called out to Mrs. Xue.

Mrs. Xue sat back heavily in her chair, waiting for Xue Tong to give a reason.

"The Xue family has been implicated in this matter. We can only report it to the Crown Prince first and wait for his decision!" Xue Tong explained. He then looked at Xue Baochai and said, "Don't show any abnormality recently. Tell Pan'er and Baoyu to pretend to be nice to each other!"

"Okay!" Xue Baochai nodded in response.

"What about me?" asked Mrs. Xue.

"You will be the same in the future as you were before. There is no need to do anything special. Anyway, you have always been dissatisfied with Baoyu!" Xue Tong instructed.

(End of this chapter)