Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 335 Slander
……

"Are you sure? Is Prince Yi Zhong really dead?" Jia Jing's eyes widened in disbelief.

Not long ago, he received a secret letter saying that Prince Yizhong was planning to cooperate with him. He was still hesitating whether to take advantage of the situation.

"Dead, with thousands of arrows piercing his heart. He cannot be deader." Jia Rong said in a faint voice.

Jia Jing looked at Jia Rong and fell into deep thought.

His grandson was obviously a scholar and a top scholar in the imperial examination, but he was so brave and decisive in killing that he directly sent the old fox Prince Yi Zhong to death.

This is... a tyrant!

As expected, she is the descendant of Lord Ning!
"But I only found the prince's token on him, and I can't be absolutely sure that he is Prince Yi Zhong." Jia Rong added.

After all, Bai Caier’s words cannot be completely trusted, and the master needs to make his own judgment.

"With the prince's token, it must be true!" Jia Jing smiled and said, "Recently, there are rumors that Prince Yi Zhong is the leader of the White Lotus Sect and is planning a rebellion. That's why the emperor is anxious to find Lin Ruhai to help quell the rebellion... It seems there is another hidden story."

Jia Rong said, "I have also heard about this matter. Maybe someone deliberately spread the rumor in order to fish in troubled waters?"

"Probably." Jia Jing said.

The end of the world is approaching, and he is certainly not the only one who has other thoughts.

For example, the famous Prince Beijing.

"Oh, sir, there is one more thing."

"what?"

"Jiao Da has already occupied the gold mines on Luzon Island, but he is short of manpower. I want to hire people from the White Lotus Sect to mine gold on the island. Anyway, they can't make a big difference here. Instead, they make the place miserable and miserable."

Jia Jing immediately saw Jia Rong's intention and only warned him: "The White Lotus Sect is a double-edged sword. If used well, it can be a help, but you must be sensible and not hurt yourself."

"Don't worry, Master. I know."

……

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

There were several consecutive gunshots and the air was filled with smoke.

The target in the distance was smashed to pieces.

Several old men came galloping over on horseback, laughing, "Old Liu is still very accurate, and he is getting more stable as he gets older."

Old Liu chuckled and said, "Don't flatter me. I'm not as good as I was when I was young. Back then, every shot hit the bull's eye. It was really accurate."

Several people rode back to the stage, dismounted and bowed to Jia Rong: "Master, we are here to show our ugliness!"

Jia Rong said with a smile: "This is not a show of ugliness, it's a perfect shot. The coquettish big foreign horse is waiting for you in Luzon. When the time comes, you must show your true ability and don't be defeated."

Several people couldn't help but blush.

The eldest son is indeed a scholar, he has a lot of tricks when it comes to talking nonsense.

"Hehe, young master, you are joking. We can only ride ordinary horses and shoot ordinary guns. We can't do anything else." Old Liu said seriously.

"…What kind of horse is the Flirty Ocean Horse? Is it easy to ride?" Lao Wang asked doubtfully.
"The thief is easy to ride!" said Lao Liu.

Lao Wang: "How about comparing it to a Ferghana horse?"

Lao Liu: "It's much more comfortable than that thing..."

Lao Liu: "..."

With this group of elite old soldiers, Jia Rong had more confidence in taking Luzon, and he was naturally in a very good mood. Two days later, he arranged for them to board the ship and took some war horses with him, and they sailed to Southeast Asia in a mighty manner.

Such a big event naturally could not be hidden from many interested people, and the spies of the Jinyiwei hurriedly sent the news back to Kyoto over a distance of 800 miles.

Although Emperor Anping was shocked and angry when he saw it, he didn't care much about it.

Instead, I felt much more relieved.

There was no other reason. Nanyang was too far away and had no impact on his rule. If Jia Jing arranged people to move to Kyoto, he would really be unable to sleep or eat, fearing that Jia Jing would seize power and usurp the throne.

"Your Majesty," Zhao Quan said worriedly, "The four great families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue are deeply rooted in Jinling Province. Now the Jia family is the only one in power. The other three families follow the Jia family's lead. I heard that..."

Zhao Quan hesitated to speak.

Emperor Anping frowned and asked, "What did you hear?"

Zhao Quan glanced at Emperor Anping cautiously and said calmly, "I heard that when Lord Jia returned to Jinling this time, he received a lot of support. The people of Jinling even only knew the Jia Mansion but not the emperor..."

Emperor Anping's expression changed immediately.

"Jia Jing will issue an imperial decree immediately, asking him to return to the capital without delay."

Of course he knew that transferring Jia Jing back now might cause the commercial tax reform to be abandoned halfway, but the Jia family had such a strong foundation in Jinling that he did not dare to continue letting Jia Jing develop there.

"According to the order!"

Xia Shouzhong hurried down to prepare.

He had a feeling that the Jia family had already aroused the emperor's suspicion and was doomed.

Go and get some profit for yourself first.

It is said that Ningguo Mansion is rich enough to rival a country.

"How is Lin Ruhai? Did he follow orders?" Emperor Anping looked at the memorial and suddenly asked another question.

Zhao Quan knew that Lin Ruhai and Jia Jing were relatives by marriage and the two families had close contacts. Since the emperor did not trust the Jia family, he naturally did not trust Lin Ruhai, so he hurriedly said, "After receiving the emperor's order, Lord Lin assembled a large army and marched north to Xuzhou, but the marching speed was a little slow... There is suspicion of procrastination and delay."

This is pure fabrication, but how would the emperor know what procrastination is? It all depends on his mouth.

Sure enough, Emperor Anping looked even more gloomy after hearing this. He wanted to replace Lin Ruhai, but was worried about the tragedy of replacing generals at the last minute, so he could only endure it temporarily.

"Give the Governor of Shandong a secret order: if Lin Ruhai makes any unusual moves during the suppression of the rebellion, he can be executed first and reported later."

"The minister obeys the order."

Emperor Anping had just recovered from a headache when a eunuch rushed in, "Your Majesty! Urgent news from the northwest."

Emperor Anping's mind buzzed.

There is not a single piece of good news in the urgent news coming from the northwest.

……

After arranging the veterans, Jia Rong began to send the White Lotus thieves to Luzon to mine. The first group consisted of 3,000 people, including Bai Caier, a protector, a hall master, and three helmsmen.

Jia Rong arranged five large ships with cannons to escort them. Everyone was obviously very curious about the person behind Bai Cai'er. The head of the Wu Hall asked with a smile, "Saintess, who is so generous that they can get such a thing?"

"hehe."

Bai Caier smiled slightly, thinking about Jia Rong's words, and said without hesitation: "It is a noble prince."

Everyone felt confident when they heard this.

"No wonder, he is actually a prince."

"Isn't overseas the domain of the Xue family? Is it of use to you, Your Majesty?"

"Don't worry, a lean camel is bigger than a horse and will definitely be more useful than us."

The ship sailed very fast, day and night, and in just half a month, it reached the waters near Luzon Island. From time to time, there were Daxia naval ships patrolling here, and occasionally foreign ships were seen coming and going.

While everyone was trembling, they found that Daxia's navy did not interfere with them much. They couldn't help but have a better understanding of the power of the person behind Bai Caier.

Bai Caier took the monocular and squinted one eye to observe for half a day. Then she said confidently: "According to the plan, we will land on Luzon Island from Jinzhou Wharf tomorrow morning. Our people are in control over there. It is very safe. You don't have to worry too much."

"The Saint has always been prudent in her work, so of course we are relieved. The only thing is, where is this gold mine? How big is it? Now that we are here, can you tell us something?" The right protector Bai Hui said with some excitement in his eyes.

Everyone became excited.

A gold mine! I have never seen such a thing in my life.

Daxia did have a few of them, but they were treated like treasures by the imperial court, and even had a hundred thousand troops stationed there.

Bai Cai'er had never seen a gold mine, but she believed that Master Jia would not deceive her for no reason, so she said confidently, "You'll know when you go there. It will open your eyes anyway!"

"Haha, I'll wait and see."

Everyone sailed anxiously for another day, and finally arrived at Jinzhou Wharf on the second day with smooth sailing.

Everyone got off the boat with excitement, and the first thing they saw was a big flag fluttering in the wind at the highest point of the dock.

A big "Jia" was written on it.

Teams of guards armed with muskets patrolled the dock in neat rows, looking very majestic.

"The Jia family's personal troops!" The guardian Bai Lian exclaimed and subconsciously prepared to run.

The others were also terrified.

The Jia family’s personal troops were the elite among the elite. Killing this motley crowd was as easy as chopping melons and vegetables. All five thousand people would have to feed the fish in the lake.

"Saint, what's going on?" Guardian Bai Hui stared at Bai Cai'er with a sinister look. The rest of the people also looked at Bai Cai'er with unkind eyes.

Did the Saint betray the White Lotus?

Bai Cai'er was not panicked at all. She smiled and said, "What's wrong with the Jia family's personal soldiers? We are here to mine gold, not to fight. They still have to protect us."

"What do you mean?" Bai Hui asked suspiciously.

Bai Caier explained seriously, "There are only Daxia people and Westerners here. There are no White Lotus Sect members and no Jia family soldiers."

"Miss Bai said it well!"

An old man came over and said with a chuckle, "I guess this must be Miss Bai Cai'er, right? I'm Jiao Da from the Ning Mansion, nice to meet Miss Bai."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Bai Hui was startled when he saw the newcomer, and trembled as he said, "It turned out to be Master Jiao who was beside the old master. The Northeastern Tartars that you and the old master killed back then were terrified. I admire you."

"Oh?"

Jiao Da looked at him and asked suspiciously, "You look familiar?"

Bai Hui hurriedly said, "I am from Heiwu Village. When the old master led his army to the north, he was stationed in our village. You also taught me a few moves..."

"It seems like that." Jiao Da couldn't remember it anymore, so he patted Bai Hui on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid, you are my brother now, let's kill the Western Yellow Hair together."

Bai Hui hurriedly said, "All according to Master Jiao's orders!"

Bai Caier: “…”

"Okay, okay, don't stand here, let's go to the camp and have a good meal first." Jiao Da laughed and led the way.

……

Jinling Xue family, second branch.

Xue Li, who is in his fifties, has a ruddy complexion and seems to be more than ten years younger than in previous years.

"Father-in-law, you are getting younger and younger." Jia Rong said with a smile.

Xue Li was very happy to hear Jia Rong call him father-in-law. After all, he was not worthy of being Jia Rong's father-in-law.

How could he be qualified to be compared with Lin Ruhai?

Lin Daiyu is the legal wife. The reason Baoqin was able to marry into the Xue family was because Jia Jing saw that she was of some use to the Xue family and wanted to win her over. She was thankful to be made the second wife.

"My dear son-in-law, you are joking. Please come in."

"Father-in-law, please go first."

The two of them arrived at the garden at the back, where a banquet was set up under the pavilion and several young maids were standing by waiting to serve them.

"They are just home-cooked dishes, please don't be surprised, my dear son-in-law." Xue Li said modestly.

"Home-cooked food is better. I like home-cooked food." Jia Rong sat down and said with a smile, "Grandpa often said that my father-in-law has made great contributions in Jiangnan in recent years. The prosperity of Jinling Chamber of Commerce is inseparable from you."

"Thank you for your compliment, Lord." Xue Li took a sip of wine and said with a proud smile, "Thanks to your kindness, I have served as the president of Jinling Chamber of Commerce for a few years. I was also walking on thin ice, fearing that I could not do a good job. Fortunately, with the support of Lord, I can barely be considered lucky enough to fulfill my mission."

"..."

Little Snail in the backyard ran to Baoqin's room, laughing and jumping, and said with a smile, "Girl, guess who's here?"

"Who's here? Sister Bao is here?" Baoqin said casually while looking at the book.

"no no!"

Little Snail kept shaking his head.

Baoqin saw her excited look and immediately understood something. She blushed slightly and said, "Look at you jumping up and down. Hurry up and be more graceful."

"oh oh."

Xiaoluo was busy and quiet, and whispered: "People outside said that the son-in-law is here, and the master has set up a banquet in the back garden... Shall we go and take a look?"

Baoqin said unhappily, "How can you see it? The master is over there!"

Little Snail covered her mouth and whispered, "Let's watch quietly from behind the willow tree on the other side of the pond."

Baoqin poked Xiaoluo's forehead and said with a smile: "I think you are really crazy. If you want to go, go ahead. Anyway, I won't go!"

"Really?"

The little snail blinked its eyes and smiled, its eyes curved into crescent shapes.

"I don't believe it."

"You, you deserve a beating!"

"Oh, girl, spare me."

The little snail stood up and ran away.

"Stand still!"

Baoqin chased after him, lifting her skirt.

After a while, the two arrived at the back garden.

"Shh!"

Xiao Luo blinked in front of her, and Baoqin immediately understood. She quietly went up to take a look, and saw that the two people in the pavilion above were still chatting and laughing, and seemed to be having a very happy chat.

Jia Rong's gentle and elegant appearance with great literary talent had already been deeply imprinted in the girl's heart. Now when she met him again at her home, he still came as a son-in-law, and the girl felt a different kind of shyness in her heart.

"Hey, girl, don't stay."

Xiao Luo gently pushed Bao Qin.

"You are the one who is stupid!"

Baoqin turned around and said something unhappily.

Xiaoluo sneered and said, "The girl is still talking, didn't you notice that the person has left?"

"what?"

Baoqin looked up and saw that the pavilion was indeed empty. Jia Rong was walking in the corridor not far away, fanning himself, as if he was waiting for someone.

"Hehe, girl, go quickly. I'll watch over here." Xiao Luo pushed Baoqin forward.

"Damn girl."

Baoqin murmured a word of reproach, and seeing Jia Rong looking over here, she quickly acted like a lady, walked forward gracefully, and called softly, "Brother Rong, you're here."

"Ah, let me see you. You are more beautiful again." Jia Rong said with a smile.

Baoqin blushed and lowered her head, saying, "Brother, you are making fun of me again. You obviously came here to discuss something with Daddy, not to see me."

"I came to see you mainly, and to talk to my father-in-law about something."

This was actually true. Xue Li had already reported everything he did to Jia Jing long ago, so there was no need for him to add to the drama. His role was only to serve as a bridge between the two families... a marriage alliance.

Make the relationship between the two families closer.

"Brother, you are putting personal interests above public interest. How can I be as important as your affairs?" Baoqin looked up at Jia Rong and said seriously.

Jia Rong said, "You think too highly of me. How can I get involved in such a big thing? I am just running errands. By the way, I will be going to Southeast Asia in a few days. Don't stay at home all day. Remember to go and play with your sister Lin when you have time."

Sisters will have a good relationship only if they talk to each other more.

"Yes, I know. I went there once that day, but Brother Rong was busy with the master's affairs and didn't pay attention to me."

"Oh, is this the case?"

"Ok!"

"Okay, how about I hug you as punishment?"

Jia Rong held Baoqin's hand and said with a smile.

"Brother Rong, you are so bad!"

Baoqin scolded him but did not break free of Jia Rong's hand. She let Jia Rong pull her into his arms. She tilted her head slightly and fell on Jia Rong's chest: "Brother Rong, you must be careful when you go to Nanyang. It's not like home outside... Sister Lin and I are waiting for you at home. Come back."

(End of this chapter)