Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 246 Fishing is Better than Fish
The total amount was nearly 320,000 silver coins, which were piled up in front of Xia Lin. Among them were countless antiques and curios, which were basically copied from the homes of the King of Lingnan, various rebellious nobles, and their related wealthy people.

But there are still some families in this place that have not been cleansed after the rebellion was suppressed, and it is quite simple to deal with them. Just pick one family on the list and raid it overnight, and someone will naturally come to smooth out the relationship the next morning.

Alas, none of these people are innocent. All the innocent ones had been cleared by him before the Lingnan King rebelled. The rest are just reused ones, and no one is more innocent than anyone else.

Even without Xia Lin showing up, all the powerful people in Guang Z City had already started to curry favor with him, stuffing all kinds of rare things into his hands, and Xia Lin's meaning was "If you confess voluntarily, I will forgive you for your past mistakes."

In the few days after arriving in Guangz, Xia Lin checked one house every day, no more, no less, and they were all small fish and shrimps.

Oh, some things don't weigh more than 10 grams if they are not weighed, but if they are weighed, they weigh more than 1,000 kilograms.

You were ordered to quell the rebellion and track down the remnants. If they say you are a remnant, then you are a remnant; if they say you are a good citizen, then you are a good citizen. Whether you are a remnant or a good citizen is not something you can decide with your words, but depends on whether you are sincere in your heart. After all, as for everything in this world, sincerity is the key.

What local tyrants and aristocratic families, without military power they are all dogs. Why are the northern tyrants so powerful? Isn't it because they have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of private soldiers under their command? On weekdays, they work as farmers and grow crops and mulberry trees. If something really happens, they can easily mobilize tens of thousands of soldiers. What's more, these aristocratic families are all connected back and forth. Today you marry my daughter, and tomorrow my niece will marry into your family. This is why the imperial power is like flowing water, but the aristocratic families have been like this for thousands of years.

But the South... there is no such thing as aristocratic families in the South. There are only powerful people who have risen up with the favorable conditions of the past few decades and some nouveau riche with some dirty money.

How many upstarts can withstand the trampling of that armored warhorse?
On the seventh day after arriving in Guangz, even wealthy businessmen from other states and counties rushed over, not for anything else but to spend money to buy peace. There was no fixed amount of money to spend, anyway, as long as you were sincere, your wish would come true.

During this period, Xia Lin stayed at the back of the original palace for seven days without showing any signs of sight. Every day he played with mandarin ducks in the water in the luxurious backyard.

It is no exaggeration to say that any prince who is planning a rebellion must have a comfortable and luxurious residence because they need to hide.

Well, you are a prince, and you control the power of taxation in an area. After deducting the fixed quota paid to the capital every year, there are only two or three million taels of silver left. You live in a three-room tiled house and fish in the river for your own meals. Who else should we investigate if not you?

Therefore, even a prince who was a close confidant of Prince Teng had to spend money suddenly. Buying garbage and sending things to girls would result in the princess coming to arrest him. It is conceivable what means this remote prince would use to protect himself.

Xia Lin confiscated the palace, and found a cellar inside. In addition to a dragon robe, there were countless treasures in the cellar, including a golden Buddha cast from melted gold, a 20-meter dragon boat made of silver sheets, and even a purple gold dragon chair.

These things certainly cannot be moved, but there are many other bits and pieces, just like the dragon's cave in mythology, full and densely packed.

That day, Xia Lin brought his people to the treasure house. They left the big items behind and sorted out the remaining odds and ends. The gold and silver were confiscated, and the remaining handicrafts, such as the nine-treasure glazed cups and the strange things like the gold-threaded mats, were put aside.

"Captain Qin, please excuse me."

Qin Guanghuai immediately bowed and said, "Master Xia, please give me your instructions."

His respect was not fake. In just a few days, Xia Lin had earned more money here than he had ever seen in his entire life. More importantly, he could get 30% of it, because he had to make up for the military pay and embezzlement that the rebels had withheld.

The previous account books had been burned to ashes when the King of Lingnan was about to be defeated, including the land registration books. Now the chaos in Guangzhou had reached its peak.

After getting the more than one million taels, Xia Lin also gave him 150,000 taels of silver and a few small golden Buddhas. These were not put on account, which meant that these things went into Qin Guanghuai's pocket.

Now, let alone a garrison officer of the fourth rank calling Xia Lin, a fifth rank officer, "Sir", he would be happy to learn to bark like a dog even if they were alone.

"Send someone to spread the word tomorrow that I want to hold an auction to sell some handicrafts. Can you see if you can get a few people to show some support?"

"I understand."

"Hey! Guard Qin, you are several levels older than me."

Qin Guanghuai was not a fool. After hearing Xia Lin's words, he quickly thought: "Meeting the imperial envoy is like meeting His Majesty in person."

"Okay, okay." Xia Lin nodded: "Then I'll trouble Captain Qin." And once this matter is notified, how can we neglect the wealthy businessmen in Guangzhou and the surrounding areas who are still under investigation? What's more, we can't even give them some face... Those who don't give them some face will have their heads pickled with lime.

So early the next morning, the front yard of the palace was bustling with activity, as nearly two hundred merchants and wealthy families, large and small, came.

It is an important logistics center. Even with all this trouble, it can still attract so many rich people. Xia Lin looked at the people below with a smile on his face.

The moment he appeared, more than half of the people breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't know who was in charge of this matter before, but now they saw that it was the magistrate of Fuliang County.
They didn't know what to do with the other imperial envoys, but everyone was familiar with this guy, and some of them had even chatted with him a few months ago.

"I came here today by imperial order, not to embarrass you. It's just that the court is in financial difficulties, so I took out a batch of stolen goods to share with you. Many of you here are old acquaintances, and we have all met before, so I won't say much about this scene."

Xia Lin patted the table lightly and said, "The imperial court will not compete with the people for profits. The prices of these things are fair to everyone. However, there are too many of these things. It will probably take three to five days. Everyone should be more enthusiastic."

After he finished speaking, a fat shopkeeper came out and first took out a box, which contained a set of Fuliang's unique tea set. The market price of this thing is about two thousand taels, and the starting price is not high, only fifty taels.

However, as soon as it appeared, it attracted a rush of buyers, and the price soared from fifty taels to one thousand eight hundred taels, and then was sold for three thousand two hundred taels.

With this as a starting point, the following things will be much smoother. Although the merchants below knew who Xia Lin was, they did not dare to neglect him at all, because he was not the same person as the county magistrate who suppressed the bandits.

They all registered their names when they came in, so if they didn't buy anything, everyone would know it.

Things were selling very quickly, and everyone had a tacit understanding that no matter what was taken out, the boss would quote an estimated price, which was usually fair, but the people below would buy it for about 50% more than the estimated price.

Just accept it, what else can I do? Are you really going to point at Xia Lin and curse her?

The auction lasted from morning to evening. Xia Lin was quite kind and provided meals and water during the auction, but he did not allow us to go out at will.

The weather today is not bad, with a little wind but not too hot. But for these merchants, it is not just not hot, but even a little cool...

Today alone, the value of the items sold has exceeded one million taels of silver, and it’s not over yet. People have said that there will be three to five days...

Sure enough, something happened that night. Not long after a fool who did not buy anything at the auction returned home, a group of soldiers rushed into his house and said that they had found evidence from the palace that he was in contact with the rebels, and that his house was harboring rebels.

They went in and searched his house, taking away anything of value. Although they didn't find the rebels, the loss was no less than ten thousand taels of silver. His wife sat in the empty lobby and cried and complained, saying that if he hadn't been so stingy, things wouldn't have come to this.

After being robbed, he went to Xia Lin the next day to thank him, but Xia Lin warned him seriously, "Considering that this is your first offense and you were forced to do so and were bewitched by the bandits, I will show you mercy this time, but it will not happen again next time."

The auction lasted for three days. Even the wild dog that had crawled into the dog hole of the prince's house was sold by Xia Lin for 1,800 taels, and the red lacquer gate of the prince's mansion was sold for 3,900 taels...

Then there are the trees in the prince’s house, the grass in the prince’s house, the glazed tiles in the prince’s house, and the floor tiles in the prince’s house.

Basically, everything that could be taken away except the house was sold, leaving nothing behind.

After all this trouble, he got nearly four million taels of silver. He took out five hundred thousand taels and gave them to Qin Guanghuai. Then he mixed it with the previous two million taels, totaling six million taels of silver. Xia Lin loaded it all into a car and ordered his men to drive to the capital.

They traveled by sea, and just the silver, treasures, and some genuine antique paintings and calligraphy filled twelve ships. Xia Lin remained silent for a long time, perhaps half a month, saying that he was ill, and he closed the door and refused to see anyone.

After more than half a month's journey, the silver finally arrived in the capital. The silver had been sealed and could not be touched, but the antique calligraphy and paintings were given to everyone in the court. They were given according to their official positions, from the ninth-rank copyist to the first-rank grand tutor. Everyone received one, without missing a single one.

Are there any who are too proud to accept it? Yes. Not only did they refuse to accept it, but they also went to the crown prince to complain about Xia Lin. However, the young prince didn't like the memorial, and Gao Shilian rejected it...

(End of this chapter)