I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 216: The Lianghuai Salt Administration Case Gets More and More Involved

Hai Rui thought for a while, then ordered his attendant: "Go find Lao Shu and ask him to give him ten taels of silver and send it over immediately."

Old Shu is Shu Youliang, an old servant who has followed Hai Rui for more than 20 years.

"Yes."

Hai Rui walked into a room, asked for a pen, some ink, and two sheets of paper, and quickly wrote a letter of eight lines.

Just after he finished writing, Shu Youliang came over in a hurry and asked, "Master, you want ten taels of silver?"

"Is it sealed?"

"It's sealed, but sir, if you seal and send these ten taels of silver out, you and I will be starving."

Hai Rui frowned, "Is there no money at home so soon? Didn't the Crown Prince give Cheng Yi 500 taels of silver last time?"

"My Lord, the last time His Highness sent Cheng Yi was when he summoned you back to the capital. After helping this colleague and that relative, there were less than two hundred taels left last month.

The mansion in Jingli left fifty taels of silver. Then when the master passed by Huai'an, he felt sorry for the migrant workers on Gaosu Dike and gave them one hundred and twenty taels of silver to buy winter clothes.

If you give away these ten taels of silver, the master and I will be without food, and we can only get food when the master's salary is paid next month."

After listening to Shu Youliang's words, Hai Rui asked, "Do you have enough rice and oil at home?"

"Just bought, enough for you and me to eat until next month."

"Can I survive this winter if I am well dressed?"

"Master, I brought two sets of winter clothes for each of us, which is enough."

"That's all. There's money and food left in the capital, so there's no need to worry about them starving. In this camp, the other people have their own salaries and official expenses, and I just need to take care of my mouth and yours. As long as there's rice and oil to eat and winter clothes to wear, that's all.

Take this letter, along with the ten taels of silver, to the outside of the government office, to the second son of Lord Nanlin.

Shu Youliang sighed, took the letter, and left in a hurry.

After a while, shouting and cursing were heard outside the yamen.

Faintly one could hear words like ungrateful and ungrateful.

The attendants and clerks who were passing by did not dare to say a word. They lowered their heads and hurriedly walked past Hai Rui with a sullen face.

Shu Youliang hurried in from outside and stood beside Hai Rui.

"master."

"The Second Young Master is scolding me?"

"Yes. I scolded you for being ungrateful, a white-eyed wolf, and for completely forgetting the teachings of Lord Nanlin."

"Of course I remember the teachings of Nanlin Gong. When he selected me as a juren, at the Luming Banquet, he earnestly told me to be an upright, honest, and self-disciplined person.

Hai Mo will never forget it for a moment! Let him scold me if he wants to."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back, turned around and left.

Shu Youliang followed beside him, muttering softly, "Master, this second young master is really something. He scolded you harshly, but he stuffed the ten taels of silver into his arms without showing any disgust at all.

This is the first time I have seen someone so greedy and mean. "

Hai Rui sighed and said, "The dragon gave birth to nine sons, each of them is different. If he had remembered the teachings of Nanlin Gong, he would not have come from Jiangyin to Yangzhou."

After inspecting the river defense camps in Jiangyin, Jingjiang, Longtan and other places along the Yangtze River, Wang Yi'e came to the prison in Jiangdu City and met Wu Shilai who was imprisoned there.

"Mr. Wu, I just received an imperial edict from the cabinet. You are dismissed from your post and sent back to your hometown."

Sitting on the haystack, Wu Shilai, who was wearing prisoner uniform, couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, stood up, and said with a salutation, "Thank you, Governor Wang, for your careful protection."

"Old Wu, why are you doing this?" Wang Yi'e said, shaking his head.

"When the Yan Party was in power, I was dragged into it and got too deeply involved. I finally got help from Ruzhen and escaped to Nanjing to avoid disaster, but God still wouldn't let me go." "Why? Are you involved in the Lianghuai Salt Administration?"

"In the 41st year of Jiajing, Yan Maoqing was ordered to inspect the Lianghuai salt administration, and I was one of the deputy envoys. I remember clearly how Yan Maoqing forced the Yangzhou salt merchants and the people behind them to cough up five million taels of silver.

The waters of Lianghuai are too deep. I am the governor of Caojiang, and one of my duties is to inspect the smuggled salt. Although I have not been involved in the case in the past two years, I cannot escape the charge of dereliction of duty.

This crime can be either light or heavy. A light one can be punished by a salary deduction, but a heavy one will implicate the entire family. My eldest son and nephew are both talented writers and have the potential to pass the imperial examinations. I cannot end the Wu family's hope because of myself.

So I plucked up the courage to write a letter to Hu Ruzhen."

"No wonder Mr. Ruzhen asked me to take good care of you." Wang Yi'e smiled, turned his head and looked around. He found that all the strangers around, including the prisoners, were driven away, and continued in a low voice.

"The one who asked you to lead the troops to kill the bandits and the Tian family was Xu Bangrui or Xu Shaohu?"

"Xu Bangrui? Haha, Duke Wei's words may not work on me. He is just Duke Wei's eldest son. How can I listen to him?

Xu Shaohu? He did ask me to do this, but he just wanted me to let the bandits plunder Jiangdu City and create an excuse. But I don't really believe what he said.

He is known as the officialdom's unshakable figure and the cabinet's glass ball. There is a world of difference between him and me. I did what he said, but he turned his face and denied it. How can I bite him? "

Wu Shilai came up to Wang Yi'e and whispered, "I did this because of Yang Jinshui's advice. He also selected and bribed the Jiang bandits. He also designated the Han family."

Wang Yi'e's expression changed slightly, with a dangerous light in his eyes, "Yang Jinshui? Do you know who he is?"

Wu Shilai smiled faintly, "Hu Ruzhen and I are close friends, so of course I know who Yang Jinshui is. When Hu Ruzhen was fighting against the Japanese in the southeast, the one he was most afraid of was Yang Jinshui.

He is loyal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and is in charge of the lifeline of the Southeastern Anti-Japanese Army. He is not the military supervisor in name, but he is the real supervisor. The Commercial Investigation Department in his hands, Governor Wang must have heard of its great name. In the Southeast, Guangdong and Guangxi, and overseas vassal states, it is more powerful than the East Factory Jinyiwei. "

Wang Yi'e stared at Wu Shilai: "So he told you to do this, and you did it?"

Wu Shilai nodded, "Yes. People say that Hu Ruzhen helped His Royal Highness conquer half of the southeast, but I know that Yang Jinshui also helped His Royal Highness conquer half of the southeast, and it was also Yang Jinshui who helped His Royal Highness maintain and manage this half of the country over the years.

Wang Du, how dare I disobey his words? "

Wang Yi'e continued to stare at Wu Shilai and asked, "When he came to see you, did he have the talisman with him?"

Wu Shilai smiled and said, "Wang Du, what do you think?"

Wang Yi'e's eyes were sinister and fierce, flashing in the candlelight, which was terrifying.

Suddenly he smiled and said, "I knew that you, a remnant of the Yan Party, are no ordinary person to have survived to this day. Now I am appointed as the governor of the grain transport system, and the burden on my shoulders is not light. Moreover, the situation in Jiangbei is much more complicated than that in Jiangxi.

Please give me a heads up, I will remember your favor."

Wu Shilai was stunned and asked, "When Governor Wang left the capital, didn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tell you anything?"

"Of course His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has given instructions. But as I was doing this, I became a little confused. There are some things that the Lord cannot explain clearly, and we, as subjects, have to understand them. I don't want to make any mistakes. I want to be the next Hu Ruzhen or Zhang Taiyue. Do you understand?"

Wu Shilai nodded. A third-rank official in his thirties, a confidant of the Crown Prince, he would definitely have a bright future as long as he didn't die suddenly. His favor would be of great benefit to his children and nephews.

Wu Shilai thought for a moment and said cryptically, "According to my guess, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is playing a big game in the southeast, but as to how big it is, I am not talented enough to guess.

Besides, Eunuch Yang said something to me."

"What?"

"It's almost time to finish the Lianghuai issue."

"What's the same?"

"His godfather, Eunuch Huang, is going to retire, so he has to go back to Beijing to serve him."

Wang Yi'e's eyes lit up, "Eunuch Yang is going back to Beijing."

He understood a little.

(End of this chapter)