In the morning, Jia Yun left the Lin family's Sanjin Residence and led a group of cavalrymen in brocade to the Shen Mansion!
Shen Mansion is both a mansion and a garden!
There is a saying in the Qing Dynasty: Hangzhou is better than lakes and mountains, Suzhou is better than cities and restaurants, and Yangzhou is better than gardens and pavilions.
The eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou all live in luxurious garden-style mansions, the most luxurious of which is Shen's Mansion, which is currently the most luxurious residence in Yangzhou.
Shen Mansion is the residence of President Shen Yuanwen!
The so-called Shouzong is the head of the eight general salt merchants.
Among the eight chief salt merchants in Yangzhou, there were Shanxi merchants, Shaanxi merchants, and the main ones were Hui merchants. Four of them were Hui merchants, including the chief executive Shen Yuanwen.
It can be said that Huizhou merchants owe much of Yangzhou’s current prosperity.
When Emperor Kangxing was in power, he visited Yangzhou twice during his southern tours, both of which were arranged by the Shen family.
As mentioned earlier, a salt merchant once introduced his daughter to Emperor Kangxing, who favored him and was later promoted to a noble concubine. This salt merchant was Shen Yuanwen's father, Shen Yuansi. Then The imperial concubine is Shen Yuanwen's biological sister.
Today, the imperial concubine is still alive and her identity is the imperial concubine.
In addition, there are several members of the Shen family who serve as officials in the imperial court. Among them, Shen Yuandao, Shen Yuanwen's younger brother, is still a second-grade civil official!
Such Shen family is undoubtedly very awesome.
So this time, after discussing with Emperor Tianzhi, Jia Yun decided to give special treatment to the Shen family...
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As the most luxurious residence in Yangzhou and a garden-style mansion, Shen Mansion is really grand.
Let alone Jia Yun's mansion in Shenjing City, even the Rongguo Mansion is much worse than the Shen Mansion.
At this time, Jia Yun rode to Shen Mansion, escorted by a group of cavalry in brocade robes.
The main entrance of Shen's mansion was closed and only the east and west corner doors were open. There were ten servants guarding outside each corner door.
Different from the slacker disciples of Rongguo Mansion, the servants in Shen Mansion who are the gatekeepers are all the guards of the mansion, and almost all of them have high military value, comparable to the soldiers of Jia Yun Mansion.
After Jia Yun led a group of cavalry in brocade to the door, she learned from the guards that Shen Yuanwen was not in the house at the moment. After the guards entered the house to spread the message, Shen Yuanwen's eldest son Shen Liuchuan welcomed Jia Yun into the house. Shen Liuchuan also sent Go and ask Shen Yuanwen to come back.
In the hall of Shen Mansion, Jia Yun chatted with Shen Liuchuan and waited for Shen Yuanwen's arrival. During this period, she also admired the many antiques and cultural relics arranged in the hall.
These antiques and cultural relics alone are worth a lot of money.
About three quarters of an hour later, Shen Yuanwen rushed back.
"Master Jia, I went to the Salt Merchant Guild Hall this morning and kept you waiting for a long time. I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were coming this morning. Otherwise, I would have been waiting for you at home anyway."
As soon as Shen Yuanwen entered the hall, he held his hands in front of Jia Yun and smiled.
Jia Yun smiled slightly and said politely: "Young Master Shen is being polite."
Jia Yun then said: "Mr. Shen, find a quiet place where you and I can talk alone?"
Shen Yuanwen nodded: "That's exactly what I meant."
Immediately, under the leadership of Shen Yuanwen, Jia Yun left the hall and walked into Shen Yuanwen's outer study. Along the way, Jia Yun admired the unique garden scenery with winding paths.
You know, this is just the front house of Shen Mansion. Even the front house has such a garden scenery. The garden scenery of the inner house and the back garden will undoubtedly be even more beautiful.
Shen Yuanwen's outer study room is also decorated with many antiques and cultural relics.
However, Jia Yun had no intention of admiring these antiques and cultural relics. After following Shen Yuanwen into the outer study, Shen Yuanwen asked two beautiful maids to pour tea. Jia Yun took a sip of tea and got to the point: "The so-called nothing happened. Instead of going to the Three Treasures Hall, I suddenly came to your mansion today to ask for something."
Shen Yuanwen smiled and said: "Master Jia is too polite. I wonder what Master Jia is doing?"
Jia Yun put down her tea cup: "To be honest with Mr. Shen, I came to Yangzhou this time with the emperor's order. The emperor's order is to urge the eight general salt merchants in Yangzhou, headed by Mr. Shen, for donations. I hope that Mr. Shen will Don’t make things difficult for me, let alone make the emperor dissatisfied, take the lead in donating the silver you owe, and at the same time help me persuade the other seven chief salt merchants to donate.”
Shen Yuanwen looked embarrassed: "Mr. Jia, I will tell you the truth. The Yangzhou salt merchants and I did not deliberately neglect the donation. The donation was really too much. I can't come up with that much silver in a while." !”
Jia Yun said: "I also know that the emperor made a large donation to you eight salt merchants last year. He asked for a donation of two million taels of silver. But when you divided it equally among the eight salt merchants, each of you only received two hundred and fifty thousand taels." Two taels of silver, I thought, with Mr. Shen’s wealth, it’s unlikely that he won’t be able to get even this amount of money.”
"As far as I know, the eight general salt merchants among you have donated 450,000 taels of silver the year before last. Later, under the urging of Mr. Lin Ruhailin, the eight of you donated another 200,000 taels of silver. We already have 650,000 taels of silver, but we are still short of 1,350,000 taels."
"One, three hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, if divided equally, each of you only needs to donate more than one hundred thousand taels of silver, which is enough. Why do you bother to make the emperor dissatisfied for this money?"
"To tell you the truth, because you have been defaulting on donations for more than a year, the emperor is already very dissatisfied with this. If you continue to anger the emperor, the consequences will be disastrous."
Shen Yuanwen said: "Mr. Jia, the donation is really not a deliberate neglect by us and the Yangzhou salt merchants. It is because the amount of silver donated is so much that we are unable to do anything..."
This time, Shen Yuanwen said a lot at once, the main content of which was to call poverty...
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Jia Yun and Shen Yuanwen chatted alone for half an hour.
Half an hour later, Jia Yun declined Shen Yuanwen's kindness to stay for lunch and led the cavalry in brocade clothes to leave Shen's mansion.
Next, Jia Yun went to meet other general salt merchants, also with the purpose of urging donations.
From morning to evening, Jia Yun worked non-stop and met with five general salt merchants, including Shen Yuanwen.
As a result, the attitude of the five general salt merchants was almost the same. They all complained about poverty in front of Jia Yun, saying that they did not deliberately neglect the donation and that they were really powerless...
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Jia Yun said "haha" about this.
In fact, Jia Yun knew that it would not have any effect if he personally visited the salt merchants today to urge them to donate.
You must know that Lin Ruhai served as the salt censor of the Huaihe River for several years. In this capacity, he urged the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou for donations for a year, but he only managed to collect 200,000 taels of silver.
How could he, Jia Yun, be able to urge donations of 1,350,000 taels of silver just by speaking?
Jia Yun had no doubt that if he could just rely on his words, even if he stayed in Yangzhou for a year and went to the general salt merchants every day to urge donations, he would never be able to complete the imperial order to urge donations after a year.
Knowing this clearly, Jia Yun still came to see the chief salt merchants today.
Not only are we looking for him today, but there are also three general salt merchants who have not been seen today, including Li Danbai, and Jia Yun will also be looking for him tomorrow.
Because he wanted to meet the chief salt merchants individually through this method.
Because he also wanted to paralyze these general salt merchants and make them think that his main purpose of coming to Yangzhou this time was to urge donations.
Also because he was setting the stage for meeting Li Danbai.
Jia Yun attaches great importance to her meeting with Li Danbai, and the content of this meeting will be very confidential. If Jia Yun does not meet the other seven general salt merchants alone this time, but only goes to meet Li Danbai alone, people will inevitably suspect him and Li Danbai.
relationship, which will then affect the confidential matters he wants to discuss with Li Danbai...
Why did the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou default on their donations, and why were they willing to make Emperor Tianzhi dissatisfied for the money?
Regarding this issue, Jia Yun actually knows it well.
The reason is not that the eight major salt merchants cannot afford to donate the money, but three other points.
First, when Emperor Kangxing was in power, he never asked Yangzhou's chief salt merchant to donate money, but after Emperor Tianzhi ascended the throne, he began to ask Yangzhou's chief salt merchant to donate money.
In the fifth year of the Red Mansion, shortly after Emperor Tianzhi ascended the throne, he asked the chief salt merchant of Yangzhou to donate 400,000 silver.
In the seventh year of the Red Mansion, Emperor Tianzhi once again asked the general salt merchant of Yangzhou to donate 400,000 taels of silver.
In the ninth year of Honglou, Emperor Tianzhi asked Yangzhou's chief salt merchant to donate two million taels of silver.
As a result, the chief salt merchants in Yangzhou were all afraid and thought that if they lost the two million taels of silver this time, Emperor Tianzhi would ask them to donate huge amounts of silver every two years in the future.
In addition, once they honestly complete the donation of two million taels of silver, the official circles involved in the Lianghuai Salt Industry will probably increase their exploitation of them.
As a result, no matter how much their family property is, they can't bear it, and they, the general salt merchants, will collapse one after another.
Secondly, the so-called donation means donating money. This kind of thing is not like taxation. Failure to complete the taxation is a crime, and failure to complete the donation is not a crime. Emperor Tianzhi cannot punish them for this.
Thirdly, the chief salt merchants of Yangzhou each have a strong backing, including the Supreme Emperor and Concubine Shen Gui. These strong backings gave them the confidence not to complete the donation.
Therefore, Jia Yun knew that if she wanted to fulfill the emperor's order to urge donations, she could not do it with just her mouth, and she could not do it without using resolute and powerful means!
In this regard, Jia Yun already has her own plan, and this plan has also been supported by Emperor Tianzhi!
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In the evening, Jia Yun, who had been running around all day, returned to the Lin family's Sanjin Residence, escorted by a group of cavalry in brocade.
Jia Lian has prepared good wine and food and is waiting.
However, when Jia Yun came back, she didn't bother to eat first, but met Zhao Xiuyuan first.
Zhao Xiuyuan did not disappoint Jia Yun this time. In just one day, under Zhao Xiuyuan's personal "interrogation", almost all the concubines of the Lin family confessed.
As Jia Yun expected, the people in these concubines are indeed greedy and enrich themselves, and the situation is very serious!
Several concubines, except Aunt Jiang, all took property from the Lin family and sent it to their parents' family.
Aunt Jiang is indeed a good person. The total belongings in her room are only worth a few hundred taels of silver. After following Lin Ruhai for so many years, the belongings she sent to her parents' family are only worth a few hundred taels of silver.
As for Aunt Zhang, not only was the property in her room worth more than four thousand taels, but she had only been Lin Ruhai's concubine for a few years, and she had already sent property worth thousands of taels to her parents' house.
In addition to a few concubines, the servants of the Lin family are also very greedy.
Especially one old housekeeper, who had been working for the Lin family for many years. Over the years, the value of the property he had embezzled was estimated to be tens of thousands of taels.
All the concubines and servants together, the property that needs to be compensated is worth more than 20,000 taels of silver!
Moreover, this was only "interrogated" by Zhao Xiuyuan during the day. It should not be complete. There are still some stolen property that could not be "interrogated".
However, Jia Yun no longer cares about this matter. Finding out Lin Ruhai's concubines is just a small matter for him now. He came to Yangzhou this time to fulfill a heavy imperial mission.
Jia Yun was already satisfied that Lin Daiyu could gain more than 20,000 taels of silver and property, and Lin Daiyu would not be dissatisfied with it either.
However, Jia Yun also knew that it was said that the concubine's servants were asked to compensate for the property of more than 20,000 taels of silver, but it would be great to be able to compensate for the property of 20,000 taels of silver in the end.
In other words, it would be great if Lin Daiyu could finally own a ladder worth thirty thousand taels of silver.
Immediately, following Jia Yun's order, Zhao Xiuyuan led the cavalry in brocade and escorted the concubine's servants one after another to the door to pay compensation...
Some of the concubines’ natal families are in Yangzhou City, including Aunt Zhang.
Zhao Xiuyuan took the confessions of these people and escorted them to their natal homes or homes, asking them to make amends. If they did not cooperate, their homes would be ransacked!
There are also several concubines whose natal families or families are not in Yangzhou City but in Shenjing City. It doesn't matter. These people will continue to be detained until Jia Yun returns to Shenjing City.
However, Aunt Jiang was released by Jia Yun. Not only was she released, but Jia Yun also did not ask Aunt Jiang to make amends. Jia Yun also gave Aunt Jiang all the property worth several hundred taels of silver in Aunt Jiang's room.
Not only that, Jia Yun also has special arrangements for Aunt Jiang...
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It's night.
In the main hall of the third house, Jia Yun, Jia Lian, and Lin Daiyu were sitting together and eating dinner. Jia Yun was telling them about the results of today's investigation of the concubine's servants, and that he had sent Jinyi to the concubine's servants' natal homes.
Or things that need to be compensated at home...
Lin Daiyu kept her head slightly lowered, her face always rosy, not only because she drank wine with Jia Yun tonight, but also because she felt awkward.
She has lived in Rongguo Mansion for more than three years, but it was not until tonight that she sat at the same table with Jia Yun for dinner and wine for the first time, and she felt really awkward.
Although she felt awkward, she was more happy in her heart.
Although she had never been in love with Jia Yun before, she already had some respect and affection for him.
This time Jia Yun cared for her so much in Yangzhou, which not only prevented her property from being taken away by her aunt and servants at home, but also gave her an extra twenty thousand taels of property, which means that in the future she can own three thousand taels of silver.
The ladder of ten thousand taels of silver is gone...
This really moved Lin Daiyu.
She was not a money addict, and she had never cared much about financial matters, but she also knew that it was a good thing for her to have a large sum of money around her as an orphan.
More importantly, Jia Yun's care for her this time made her feel a deep warmth.
This warmth is different from the warmth that Jia's mother dotes on her, and it is also different from the warmth that Jia Baoyu brings to her...
This warmth made her feel that it would be great if she was not Xue Baochai but Xue Baochai who was going to marry Jia Yun this year...