Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 256, I am a merchant

Inside the Juxian Pavilion, a team of Imperial Guards was conducting a thorough search.

Due to the special nature of Juxian Pavilion, many powerful and influential people frequented it. Therefore, Jia Rong, Feng Ziying, and Liu Xianglian all personally attended the search.

Soon, based on intelligence, the Imperial Guards dragged a monk out of the room.

"I...I'm not a monk, I'm a merchant from out of town!"

The monk tried to argue his case.

"A merchant? He's bald, he must be a monk!"

Jia Rong concluded.

"I just shaved my head, I really am a customer!"

The monk continued to argue his way out of things.

Feng Ziying stepped forward, pressed down the monk's head, and said:

"You have these ordination scars, and you still dare to say you're not a monk?"

The monk argued sophistry:

"This is a birthmark I was born with, I'm not a monk!"

At this moment, the Imperial Guards under his command searched the monk's belongings and found them.

The package was extremely heavy, and even the two Imperial Guards struggled to carry it. With a shake, a golden Buddha statue fell out and smashed into the ground with a thud, creating a large crater.

Jia Rong's eyes lit up when he saw it, and he said:

"Well, you dare to say you're not a monk! What is this?"

Seeing that he could no longer hide the truth, the monk broke free from the imperial guards on either side of him and quickly reached for the golden Buddha.

He was originally a monk at Huguo Temple.

Because of the rebellion of Fang, who seized control of the government, arrested monks without cause, destroyed Buddhist temples, and ruined the centuries-old foundation of Huguo Temple.

In the face of great calamity, the old abbot sacrificed his own life to buy time, ordering his disciples to take away the 365 pure gold Buddha statues that had been cast by countless devout men and women of Huguo Temple over the centuries, in order to wait for a chance to rise again in the future.

However, the Fang bandits were powerful, and the whole city was arresting monks. Most of the fellow disciples who escaped were captured by the Huaiyin army. He had a sudden inspiration and remembered that he had once come to Juxian Pavilion with his master to perform the ritual of releasing hungry ghosts, so he fled here.

Who would have thought that after hiding for several days, he would still be caught by the Embroidered Uniform Guard today.

The monk possessed some martial arts skills. He broke free from the restraints of the two Imperial Guards and swiftly reached out to grab the Buddha statue.

Jia Rong and Feng Ziying were not skilled in martial arts, and as soon as the battle began, they hid behind their subordinates.

Liu Xianglian raised his embroidered spring knife and, still in its sheath, thrust it straight at the monk's ribs.

The monk used a "Buddha-worshipping palm technique" to firmly clamp down on Liu Xianglian's embroidered spring knife.

At this moment, the Imperial Guards attacked from behind. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the monk kicked the man with a spring kick, and then quickly used the momentum to pounce on the Buddha statue.

Two imperial guards intercepted the Buddha statue.

Seeing this, the monk used a finger-picking technique with his right hand to strike the waist of one of the Imperial Guards, causing him to fall to the ground in pain; with his left hand, he used a Vajra Palm to strike the Imperial Guard's fish-scale armor, causing him to stagger back several steps.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the monk snatched the Buddha statue, but the statue was too heavy. It was 6.6 inches wide and 9 inches high. Although it didn't look big, it was made of pure gold and was extremely heavy, weighing at least two or three hundred pounds.

Although the monk possessed some martial arts skills, they were not superhuman. After obtaining the Buddha statue, his body suddenly felt incredibly heavy, and his movements became visibly slow.

At this moment, Liu Xianglian pulled out a long whip, lashed it out, wrapped it around the monk's leg, and pulled him back forcefully, causing the monk to fall to the ground.

The two Imperial Guards who had been hit earlier stepped forward again and held the monk down tightly.

Although they were hit and injured by the monk, they were wearing fish scale armor, so their injuries were not serious and they quickly regained their fighting ability.

The monk struggled violently; he was incredibly strong, and two or three people couldn't hold him down.

Seeing this, the other Imperial Guards took out their iron chains and shackles, rushed forward, and together they pinned the monk down.

With so many people piled up, the monk was held down firmly and unable to move.

"take away!"

When Jia Rong saw that the monk had been captured, he immediately stepped forward again and ordered his men to take the monk away in a dignified manner.

The Imperial Guards under his command all respectfully replied:

"Yes, Master Qianhu!"

The group then took the monk away and sent him to the Zhaoyu prison.

Perhaps they could even learn the whereabouts of the other monks from them. Jia Rong was in a very good mood at this moment.

According to regulations, they could receive 10% of the recovered stolen goods as compensation for losses. This was a rule set by Fang Yong and kept in writing, which was the legitimate income of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Don't underestimate this one percent.

This is the third monk carrying a golden Buddha that Jia Rong has caught.

Those golden Buddhas are similar in size. Although they are slightly different in shape, their weights are all about the same, around two or three hundred catties. This one-tenth is twenty or thirty catties!

As a commander of a thousand households, he could receive a very substantial sum.

Before long, the group returned to the Zhenfu Division.

As per regulations, Jia Rong handed over the stolen goods to the authorities, and soon his share of the profits was delivered to him by a special envoy.

Jia Rong divided these profits into several portions according to custom, including those for his superiors, his own, and those for his subordinates.

Feng Ziying and Liu Xianglian also had their own income, but since they were only deputy commanders, the money they received was far less than that of Jia Rong.

Jia Rong reached out and patted Feng Ziying and Liu Xianglian beside him, saying magnanimously:

"My treat tonight, at Drunken Immortal Pavilion!"

The two naturally agreed.

However, there was one question in Feng Ziying's mind that he didn't quite understand.

All three of them were originally officials in the Land Administration Bureau. Although Jia Rong entered the Land Administration Bureau a while earlier, they were not much later, and all three had the same official rank and grade.

In terms of social skills, Feng Ziying became familiar with all the officials, big and small, of the Land Bureau within a month.

In terms of personal ability, Liu Xianglian was a man of strong sense of justice and led a team to plunder and destroy several wealthy households.

But why, after being transferred to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, did he and Liu Xianglian only get promoted by one rank, from sixth-rank land official clerk to fifth-rank deputy commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while the unremarkable Jia Rong got promoted by two ranks, becoming a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and their superior?

Of course, Level 1 is more than enough; it's not that he thinks the position is too low.

At his age, he was appointed as a deputy commander of a thousand households, a rank equivalent to that of a top scholar.

He just doesn't understand.

Jia Rong, why should he?

It's really hard to understand...

On the other side, the Shuntian Prefecture government office.

Jia She, now in his new post, was poised to make his mark.

Just then, Li Chou suddenly appeared and led his men over.

Jia She had met Li Chou before, so he naturally dared not be negligent and hurriedly stepped forward.

Li Chou was always efficient. Upon seeing Jia She, he didn't say much, but directly ordered his men to bring in a disheveled man, saying:

"This man blocked the road to plead his case, and the prince ordered me to hand him over to the Shuntian Prefecture for disposal!"

Having said that, Li Chou turned and left without any hesitation.

Upon hearing that it was Fang Yong's order, Jia She immediately stood up and began the interrogation.

The man recounted his ordeal with tears streaming down his face.

His name was Tian Yuquan, a native of Shijingshan, Wanping County, and a scholar who passed the imperial examination in the twelfth year of the Longqing reign.

At the end of the year before last, when the Longqing Emperor was still in power, Liu Congli, the magistrate of Wanping County, suddenly issued a donation order called the Spring Sprout Donation.

The county was asked to donate 17,000 taels of silver as a donation.

The people were already quite poor at the time, and after a thorough search, they still couldn't raise enough silver. Therefore, the remaining donations had to be distributed to those who had a little money but no power.

Tian Yuquan was clueless about practical matters and lived a very poor life, relying entirely on his stipend. In addition, he didn't even own any land, so why should he contribute to the Qingya Donation?
Tian Yuquan was unwilling to pay the money, and coupled with his straightforward personality, he inevitably had several conflicts with the county government over this matter.

One day later, Tian Yuquan went to the grain store to buy grain.

The grain store owner suddenly accused Tian Yuquan of theft, and then, without any regard for the facts, ordered his henchmen to break Tian Yuquan's left leg.

Afterwards, Magistrate Liu Congli held a trial, but deliberately delayed the proceedings, causing Tian Yuquan's injuries to go untreated and ultimately leaving him disabled.

In Da Xi, disabled people were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, let alone become officials. Tian Yuquan's future was completely ruined.

(End of this chapter)