Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1778 Returning to Beijing Today!

Although Ye Mingsheng hadn't visited Jiang Yuyan for a while, Jiang Yuyan still considered herself to have Ye Mingsheng as her powerful backer, so she was quite confident and didn't take these ordinary county magistrates and prefects too seriously.

So when these people came to her for help, although she spoke gently and kindly, she ultimately refused them without giving them face.

She could do that with others, but when Tan Guangqing brought up his teacher Cui Shao, Jiang Yuyan had to take it very seriously.

Although Cui Shao has intentionally kept a low profile in the court in recent years, no one can underestimate the enormous political power of this first founding hero of the Great Qian Dynasty.

In fact, the reason why Cui Shao deliberately kept a low profile was because his political influence was too great. His protégés and former associates were spread throughout the middle-level positions of the court, and many of his cronies were also in key positions. Therefore, in order not to arouse Ye Mingsheng's suspicion, he deliberately kept a low profile.

When Cui Shao was middle-aged, he served as a professor at Dongning Prefectural School for five years, which is an important reason why he had so many students. However, most of them were nominal disciples, meaning that Cui Shao had taught them, but he probably didn't even remember who they were. After all, during his five years at the prefectural school, Cui Shao taught hundreds or even thousands of students.

However, as Cui Shao's reputation rose and he ascended to a high position in recent years, these people all began to use his name...

If Tan Guangqing is in this situation, Jiang Yuyan doesn't really need to care too much about him. After all, Cui Shao has too many nominal disciples, and he won't care too much about these nominal disciples.

However, Tan Guangqing was not like that. Like the current Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Zhu Xiaowen, he was a top student in Dongning Prefectural School who excelled in both character and academics. He was highly appreciated and trusted by Cui Shao and was Cui Shao's personal disciple.

It was precisely because of his relationship with Cui Shao that Tan Guangqing was able to rise to a high position at a young age and become the prefect of Yecheng, the second largest city in Hebei and Henan provinces.

So at that time, Jiang Yuyan knew that she had Ye Mingsheng as her backer, so she could disregard the magistrates and prefects and treat their pleas as nothing. But she knew that she could not disregard Tan Guangqing or Cui Shao.
So in the end she agreed to Tan Guangqing’s request, lending 20,000 taels of silver to the Yecheng government and 10,000 taels of silver to the Yecheng merchants. However, the Yecheng merchants later said that 10,000 taels of silver was not enough and that the merchants could not make a living. They needed at least 20,000 taels of silver to maintain the normal operation of the merchants.

Although Jiang Yuyan had no choice, in order to get back the silver she had previously lent out, she had to grit her teeth and lend out another 20,000 taels of silver to those businesses for working capital, bringing the total to 50,000 taels of silver.

Although the money was indeed borrowed, Jiang Yuyan had consistently used various excuses to avoid lending money to other county magistrates or prefects. Therefore, if word got out that she had lent money to the Yecheng government and businesses, she would easily become the target of public criticism. To prevent leaks, Jiang Yuyan had the money deposited into the account of another business under her name and asked Tan Guangqing not to reveal the matter…

Tan Guangqing still agreed to all of Jiang Yuyan's requests. Things had been going smoothly until now. Jiang Yuyan thought that no one knew about this matter. However, Zhao Wanxian brought it up again, which caught Jiang Yuyan completely off guard.

At this moment, Zhao Wanxian looked at Jiang Yuyan, who seemed embarrassed and even somewhat at a loss, and coldly said:

"Madam Wang, there are no secrets in this world. If you don't want people to know, then don't do it in the first place!"

Seeing Zhao Wanxian's attitude, Jiang Yuyan felt even more that today's matter was unlikely to end well. After a quick mental search, she made up her mind, took a deep breath, and said:
“Sir, if you need to borrow tens of thousands of taels of silver, I can temporarily put the formalities aside and lend the silver to the yamen. But two hundred thousand taels of silver is not an option; that amount is far too much!” Hearing Jiang Yuyan say this, Zhao Wanxian looked deeply at the beautiful married woman. Feeling the coldness in Zhao Wanxian's eyes, Jiang Yuyan became somewhat nervous. However, she knew in her heart that she could not back down at this moment. Therefore, she could only meet Zhao Wanxian's gaze and make eye contact with him to express her attitude.

Although Zhang Wanxian remained expressionless, he was extremely disappointed. As Ye Mingsheng's trusted general, he hoped that Ye Mingsheng could help him with some of the funding, but he didn't have high expectations. After all, he knew the financial situation of the court. Chaoyang's annual income was limited, but its expenses were huge.

So his plan was for the Provincial Administration Commission to cover part of the cost, Rishengchang Exchange House to cover part, and the imperial court to provide additional subsidies. With everyone working together, they could raise the 500,000 taels of silver. But he never expected Jiang Yuyan to be so disrespectful…

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next morning
Ye Mingsheng slowly woke up from his dream. The cold air around him made him frown. Although Hebei and Henan in December were not as cold as his hometown of Liaoyang, they were still icy cold. What's more, there was no heated brick bed here, so Ye Mingsheng could only rely on his own righteousness to resist the cold.

After resting in bed for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ye Mingsheng got out of bed, washed his face briefly, and prepared to have breakfast. However, at this moment, Zhang Hu walked over quickly and handed him a letter with a special mark.

Ye Mingsheng, who had been calm, became serious after seeing the special mark on the letter. He immediately took the letter, opened the envelope, and began to read its contents.

The letter contained only a dozen or so words, so Ye Mingsheng quickly read it. After pondering for a moment, he put the letter in his pocket and asked:

"Is breakfast ready?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu immediately replied:

"Already prepared!"

"Ok!"

Soon Ye Mingsheng began his breakfast. Although this place was considered a remote and impoverished area in Hebei and Henan, Ye Mingsheng was, after all, the emperor. So, some delicious food was prepared for him, including his favorite braised beef, salt and pepper peanuts, and so on.

However, at this moment, the food was like chewing wax to Ye Mingsheng. His mind was filled with the letter he had just received. Finally, after finishing a bowl of plain porridge, Ye Mingsheng made a decision and immediately gave the order:

"Get ready, we're heading back to Beijing today..."

(End of this chapter)