Li You knew that there were so many major cases in Yangzhou, and no matter how the imperial court operated, an imperial envoy would definitely be sent to Yangzhou. Master Li's attitude was naturally to welcome him warmly, and to come early and be born early...
However, before the imperial envoy arrived, he received a sudden visit from Mr. Geng, the Deputy Envoy who was an official in the same city and was patrolling Huaidong Road. Li You hurriedly welcomed him.
In the past year since Li You took office, the Feng Xianguan responsible for supervision has not acted vigorously and resolutely at all. Most of the time, he is just like a deaf person whose ears are just ornaments.
Of course, Mr. Li personally expressed that he liked Geng Xundao's quiet and inaction style, otherwise it would be very troublesome for a supervisor to rely on his supervisory power to find trouble. Therefore, in the few opportunities to get along, the relationship was pretty good.
Geng Xundao smiled bitterly after sitting down and said, "You have to be responsible for me."
"What does Lianshi mean by this?" Li You couldn't figure it out.
Geng Xundao half complained and half complained: "My term will be up in two months. I just wanted to live in peace and quiet. Now that such a big thing has happened in Yangzhou, the imperial court strongly blames me for my oversight oversight.
I was ordered to set off immediately to return to Beijing, and during the examination I became a clay Bodhisattva and crossed the river. Do you think you were involved?"
In the end, Geng Xundao extorted a few letters from Li You and left Yangzhou the next day. Mr. Li never expected that among the four major yamen of the governor, transportation department, government office, and inspection branch, he was the first to leave.
The chief officer who went was actually Geng Xundao.
After seeing Lord Geng off, Li You continued to wait eagerly. In early April, the imperial envoy sent by the imperial court arrived.
In fact, the imperial envoy arrived quite quickly. The governor and the transport envoy were dispatched respectively in mid-March, and the imperial envoy arrived in Yangzhou in early April. This was already extremely efficient.
But Mr. Li is in the state of "one day is like three autumns" and he always feels too slow.
This imperial envoy was an old acquaintance of Master Li. He was Xie Yan, the right envoy of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate. In December of the sixth year of Jinghe, Xie Zhongcheng, who was then the third-rank right and deputy envoy of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, was ordered to go to Suzhou.
Investigate the case of embezzling grain reserves. At that time, Li You was just a junior ninth-grade governor who provided clues. Xie Zhongcheng was the first high-ranking official that Li You had seen.
Now that such a shocking thing happened in Yangzhou, the imperial court quickly cut the trouble and sent Zhongcheng from Nanjing to rush to Yangzhou for investigation.
Under mutual attacks, the governor, the salt transport envoy, and the political and prefectural governor all became guilty. Geng Xundao resigned sadly. As a result, only Li You from Yangzhou came to welcome and receive the imperial envoy.
When Xie Zhongcheng saw Li You waiting at the dock, he smiled meaningfully, feeling like reincarnation, and history was repeating itself...
Back then, the Suzhou Prefectural Government, Wuxian County Government, and Changzhou County Government were under siege. In the huge city of Suzhou, only Wang Tongzhi and Governor Li Hu Lingling came forward to promote and run errands. This time, the officialdom of Yangzhou City will be under siege again.
, it is Li Youhu and Lingling who are here to assist.
Fast forward to the ninth year of Jinghe. Xie Zhongcheng said with a tone that has changed a lot, and he was envious of Li You's situation: "I was born early, and when I saw Mr. Li today, I know that people have changed, and what is the history of the past and the present."
Got it."
In two and a half years, Xie Zhongcheng also made progress. He dropped his subtitles and became a second-rank imperial envoy, but he was still just a leisurely Nanjing official.
But Li You was just a ninth-grade clerk back then, but he soared into the sky. In just two years, he jumped to the eighth level and fourth grade, and continuously crossed the gap between miscellaneous officials and second-ranking officials, and second-ranking officials and full-time officials.
Due to the huge gap, he has become a fifth-rank official in Yangzhou who holds several important errands, and has a hereditary and non-replaceable third-rank honorary title.
Xie Zhongcheng understood his responsibilities. He was not here to convict these second- and third-rank officials. He was not qualified enough. His task was to further verify the situation, confirm it, and report it to the court.
Therefore, in recent days, various witnesses have been summoned for questioning, including Yang Futai, Ding Yunshi, Luo Shenzheng, as well as Nanjing officers and soldiers, Jin Wanwan and some other candidates.
Li You couldn't do anything to help and didn't want to get involved and attract suspicion. He only handled government affairs in his own government office. After ten days of this, an uninvited guest came to his door... Also named Xie, Jin Baoer's mother, Jin Guozhang's first wife
Thank you, Mrs.
Looking at the slightly arrogant look on this middle-aged woman, Li You knew exactly what she was here to talk about. In the past, Mrs.
It's not easy to come here.
Now that she has a daughter who is a royal concubine, Mrs. Xie is very courageous... Lord Li secretly disdains her.
"I came here today to discuss with you the status of my sister Bao. My Jin family is different now..."
Mr. Li is angry and funny. This woman must have come here to talk with Jin Wanwan on her back, but she is really not easy to use force. Being stalked and beat up is a headache. Do you want to leave Yangzhou in the future to avoid her?
At this time, a petty official came to the court and reported: "I received news from Xie Zhongcheng that Yang Futai, Ding Yunshi, and Luo Shenzheng were all dismissed from office and ordered to go to the capital to wait for the occasion. Xie Zhongcheng personally escorted them."
The day has finally come! Li You stood up excitedly, caught a glimpse of Mrs.
Why don't you go home quickly and take a look? If you go late, you might not be able to see me!"
Mrs. Xie didn't know anything. After hearing Li You's words, she turned pale in panic. She hurriedly got up and walked away. Even though she was sent away, Li You sighed, "It's really hard for a scholar to meet a soldier with reason."
More than half an hour later, Jin Baiwan came to the door hurriedly. "What do you mean by a good son-in-law? You kept my Jin family safe at the beginning, and you can't go back on your word. According to your instructions, I have more than five hundred thousand taels."
All the salt and profits were donated to serve the imperial court.,,
If he was really concerned, he would be confused. Li You was in a good mood. He sat behind the public case and said with a smile: "I knew you were coming, so just listen to me. The five hundred thousand taels is just an excuse for the imperial umbrella to cover people's eyes.
You can say to the outside world that you took the initiative to reveal the stolen goods, but for the excuse to be effective and exempt from guilt, you still need some conditions. How many dens do you currently have?"
The nest number is the salt transportation license of the gang merchant, and the number of nests is the number in the nest registration, which represents how much salt can be claimed and how much salt can be trafficked each year.
Jin Wanwan had no need to hide it and answered truthfully: "Seventy-three thousand citations."
Li You waved his hand and said proudly, "Keep 20,000 yuan and give the rest to others!"
"You", Jin Wanwan couldn't help but his face changed. He thought of a word, "I don't feel bad for betraying my father."
Nests can be hereditary, and their significance to salt merchants is equivalent to the significance of land to landlords, and the number of nests represents the status of salt merchants.
The total number of salt areas is basically fixed. It has been divided up by three hundred merchants, so it is difficult for outsiders to enter. But he has worked hard for so many years to save up to seven million yuan.
With more than 10,000 followers, he became one of the seven giant businessmen. How could he be willing to give up overnight?
Seeing his son-in-law looking so rested, Jin Wanwan adjusted his attitude and said, "What are you planning on doing?"
Li You asked: "How many general merchants are there in Yangzhou now?"
"Twenty-four."
He asked again: "How many are there actually?"
A vague realization flashed through Jin Wanwan. The number of general merchants selected that day under the auspices of his son-in-law was twenty-three, which was still one short of the number of twenty-four he said. Could it be that it must be fulfilled now?
The general merchant must be a merchant with a strong foundation, and there are only 300 merchants in Yangzhou City, so the general merchant can only be selected from these 300 merchants.
Previously, everyone thought that Li You deliberately vacated a general merchant position in order to whet the appetite of the general merchant, or that he deliberately supported a chief merchant who was close to him to enter the general merchant lineup.
But Jin Wanwanyi didn't understand that asking him to transfer 50,000 yuan to others had anything to do with saving his own wealth and life.
Li You solved the mystery, "The last general merchant quota belongs to the Qian family!"
Qian family? Jin Wanwan was puzzled. He quickly went through the Yangzhou salt merchants in his mind. Someone with the surname Qian is good, but he has basically nothing to do with his son-in-law. Why did he inexplicably promote the Qian family to the top?
Li You knew that Jin Wanwan must have thought wrong again, so he pointed out: "You are not just an ordinary businessman now. You have a different identity. Broaden your horizons and set your sights higher! Don't always focus on this acre of Yangzhou.
Three points, this is not a family with the surname Qian like those from Yangzhou!"
After speaking, he pointed to the sky with his finger.
With some advice from his son-in-law, Jin Wanwan let his imagination run wild and finally came up with the correct answer. Qian family! Queen Mother Qian’s Qian family?
"Have you thought of it?" Li You smiled slightly and said: "The Empress Dowager Qian has a cousin who serves as an imperial merchant in Suzhou and supervises the production of gold bricks. He has a fortune of tens of millions and rich capital. He is very interested in the salt industry and has a relationship with me.
Not bad."
Of course, Qian Huangshang is interested in serving as a gang merchant! As the saying goes, a person can only be rich for three generations. All businesses have ups and downs, and there is no guarantee that they will make money for generations to come. Only salt industry gang merchants have a hereditary foundation and can survive for generations to come.
The profit is guaranteed and the profit is huge.
But the salt industry is a very closed circle, and all the nests have been divided up long ago. Unless a prodigal son transfers it, outsiders can only look forward to it. Another way is to rent the nest capital from the merchants for operation, and operate it like a tenant every year.
Usually the rent is paid.
Jin Wanwan was silent in thought. Fifty-three thousand Yin nests is a huge number. You must know that among the salt merchants in Yangzhou, there are only seven gang merchants with more than fifty thousand Yin nests, that is, the seven giant merchants.
.
After giving away 53,000 taels, with the remaining 20,000 taels on hand, his ranking may suddenly drop to more than 20 places. Half of his hard work has been ruined. The five hundred thousand taels have already been spent.
The cost of losing another 50,000 yuan in breeding nests is a bit heavy...
Li You lowered his head to drink tea and did not urge Jin Wanwan to make a decision. This was also a test for him.
After a long while, Jin Wanwan suddenly slapped the table hard and said in a fierce voice: "If the day doesn't go away and the new one doesn't come, if your good son-in-law has any other instructions, I will obey them!"
Li You laughed loudly and praised: "What a good character! I won't let you suffer!" (To be continued)