Chapter 458: Its easy to get on the ship but hard to get off the ship
Jia Lian's personal guards, including the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Guards, totaled more than two hundred people.
With these manpower, it is enough to control the entire Salt Patrol Yushi Yamen, and drive out the idlers and others who should be kicked out. Even the Yamen and miscellaneous servants necessary to maintain the operation of the government office have a prescribed scope of activities and are not allowed to move around.
Those who violate strict orders will be punished directly as if they were trying to assassinate the imperial envoys, and the law will be rectified on the spot.
Therefore, soon the entire Salt Patrol Yamen became austere.
Jia Lian also relaxed a little.
Although with his status, it is unlikely that these officials and squires in Yangzhou would dare to take action against him. But since he decided to help the emperor with some serious matters, he naturally had to guard against the other party jumping over the wall in a hurry.
Jia Lian always likes to make plans before taking action. He doesn't want to have his boat capsize in the ditch. This is why he will detour to Nanjing to deploy troops when he returns from Suzhou.
There were also many garrison troops and government officials in Yangzhou, but he was worried about using them.
"Second Master..."
Walking into the main inner courtyard, Zhao'er, Xing'er and others came up. Jia Lian nodded, and they took the initiative to say: "We have changed the things in the second master's house, and the second master can sleep peacefully."
.
In addition, the wife and young lady of the An family were also placed in the house by the second master, and Aunt Aqi and the others were watching over them.
The second master must be careful, the An family lady is very stubborn. The slaves had arranged for them to bathe and change clothes first, but they refused to do so. The slaves did not dare to hurt them, so they had to let them go...
…”
Zhao'er and Xing'er were originally insignificant servants in Jia's family, but because of their good fortune, they were among the first batch of people to follow Jia Lian, so now they can be regarded as high-ranking servants in Jia's family.
Especially Zhao'er, Jia Lian has taken him with him wherever he goes these years, which has resulted in him not only improving a lot in his knowledge and conversation, but also doing things more and more in line with Jia Lian's wishes.
Jia Lian stopped walking towards the main room, seeming curious: "Bath and changing clothes? I just want to ask them something, what are you doing for bathing and changing clothes?"
"Yes, yes, the second master really just wants to ask them questions... but the slaves are thinking that they have to discuss things with the second master face to face. The second master likes to be clean, and a man has died in their family, so it is inevitable that they will have bad luck.
I was afraid that it would be passed on to the second master, so I wanted to ask them to clean it up."
Zhao'er and Xing'er all nodded and bowed, smiling as if whatever the second master said was right, but we all understood in our hearts.
Jia Lian didn't bother to pay attention to them and walked into the house.
There were three people and three women in the main room. Ah Qin was dressed in light clothes and bent down to make the bed. At the table next to him, Mrs. Xu and her daughter were standing in white clothes and filial piety.
They were leaning against each other, looking uneasy, but after seeing Jia Lian come in, they all looked at him with resentment.
"Master is back."
When Ah Qin saw Jia Lian, she turned around and went to the tea room to get a cup of hot tea.
Jia Lian sat down, turned to look at the mother and daughter in the corner, and then said to Aqin: "They have been standing like this, why don't they sit and wait for me?"
Ah Qin glanced at the mother and daughter who had wary looks on their faces, with a trace of amusement and disdain flashing in his eyes, and then said softly: "I have wronged this person to death. I asked them to sit down, but they refused and even scolded me."
, so the slaves can only be left to them.
However, they don’t dare to go out, hehe, my sister is guarding the door!”
Jia Lian asked Ah Qin casually to ease the atmosphere, and asked Ah Qin to step back.
"Yes, I will not disturb my pleasure. I hope you have a good time tonight..."
Xu Shi still held a grudge. Before Ah Qin went out, he took a special look at Mrs. Xu and said this.
This naturally made the expressions of the mother and daughter change again, and Mrs. Xu even directly pulled her daughter behind her to block them.
Her eyes were angry and helpless. She knew that she would inevitably end up being humiliated tonight, and she was mentally prepared. She just wanted to protect her daughter from harm.
I originally thought that Jia Lian would tease her and force her to submit as he did in the mourning hall before, but until A Qin left for a long time, Jia Lian did not see any action or speak, just holding the teacup in his hand, sipping lightly one by one.
Sigh, seems to be thinking about something.
After soothing her restless daughter, Mrs. Xu finally spoke first: "I am a humble concubine with the appearance of Pu Liu, and I am a member of the family of a criminal official, so my status is low. But you are an imperial envoy, and I heard that you also have the status of a marquis. How noble is your status?"
Therefore, Sir, why are you embarrassing us? Please show your respect."
Mrs. Xu was afraid of offending Jia Lian, so she tried to look at Jia Lian with a calm expression.
When Jia Lian heard the sound, she turned her head and faced Jia Lian's appearance again. Even though she despised and hated Jia Lian in her heart at this time, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart. It was a pity that such a good person was given to such a dog official by God.
"When did I say that I would make things difficult for you?"
Seeing that Jia Lian was so busy and even looking at her with a smile, Mrs. Xu frowned and said, "Since you don't mean to make things difficult, please let my mother and daughter leave..."
"I'm not busy. Didn't I agree that I have something to ask you two? After I finish asking, I will let you two leave."
"Sir, do you really mean what you say?"
Even though she suspected that Jia Lian was teasing her deliberately, Mrs. Xu couldn't help but have some hopes.
Jia Lian then smiled and said: "Of course, if you are willing to recommend yourself to the pillow after asking questions, I would not mind letting you stay."
As soon as Jia Lian said this, before Mrs. Xu could say anything, Miss An, who was hiding behind her, couldn't help but poked her head and cursed angrily: "Bah, dog officer, you are not allowed to insult my mother!"
It can be seen that this girl's resentment towards Jia Lian has been pent-up for a long time. Just cursing like this at this time is already the result of hard work to suppress it.
Jia Lian smiled, glanced at the little girl, and then said to Mrs. Xu: "Your love is so shameless in her words and deeds. Aren't you afraid of offending me? When the time comes, you will deliberately convict Mr. An of a serious crime and let all the female members of the An family suffer."
The suffering of being an official?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Mrs. Xu’s face changed drastically, she knew this would happen!
Jia Lian was ordered to go to Jiangnan to investigate the salt administration case. Once the court determined that there was a serious flaw in the salt administration, his husband would be the number one criminal. Even if his husband was dead, as long as the court believed that he had committed a serious crime, he would naturally
An Jia will still be punished.
As for whether there were any mistakes in the salt administration, and whether her husband An Siyuan was innocent or guilty, it was obvious that Jia Lian, the imperial envoy, had the final say.
Sure enough, Jia Lian still wanted to use this to threaten her and make her submit.
But what could she do? She had expected and prepared for this since the day her husband was escorted back to Beijing by the emperor's order.
Her husband is a royal official, and if nothing happens, she will be a noble official wife, a royal wife.
If something happens to your husband, everyone in the family will be implicated.
As for the family members of criminal officials, the most common and frightening punishment is what Jia Lian just said was dismissal from office.
What does it mean to be transferred to an official position? To be detained and brought to justice, to be used as an official prostitute. In the Jiaofang Division, there are countless such women.
As for Mrs. Xu, she would do it herself, but letting her daughter suffer this punishment was absolutely unacceptable to her.
So almost instantly, she accepted her fate and no longer had any luck or resistance.
He quickly stopped his daughter, and then apologized to Jia Lian: "My little girl is rude, and I hope you, for the sake of her youth and ignorance, don't argue with her.
As long as you are willing to be merciful and let me live a safe life, I am a sinful woman and I am willing to listen to your orders..."
At this point, Mrs. Xu felt extremely ashamed. After all, she was a serious official wife, not a prostitute. If she didn't still care about a pair of children, even if she died, she would not say such self-degrading words.
His daughter An Cai'er felt her mother holding her hand tightly, and couldn't help but glance at her mother. She saw the shame in her mother's eyes, and her little face was covered with tears.
But she is no longer an ignorant child. She understands what her father's death means to the family. She was also frightened by the word "replacement" in Jia Lian's mouth just now and turned pale. So at this moment, besides shedding tears, she did not dare to cry anymore.
What to do, what to say.
Seeing the two of them looking like this, even Jia Lian, who was only planning to do a simple scene, couldn't help but wipe his nose and felt that he must look like the villain dog officer in the TV series.
So he coughed lightly, finally put away his joking mentality, and said seriously: "Okay, it was just a joke.
I have always been upright, strict and self-disciplined. How could I deliberately frame my colleagues?
If Mr. An is not guilty, I will naturally not maliciously frame him.
But I would like to ask Madam again, Mr. An, is it true that he died of illness, and not even Madam noticed any doubt?"
This is the second time Jia Lian has asked this question, and this time, Jia Lian's face is serious, as if he has any bad intentions.
Mrs. Xu thought for a while and replied: "The magistrate sent someone to return my husband's body that day, saying that he died of an illness due to the severe cold on the road. He also ordered me to put my husband's body in a safe place and not to bury it.
, waiting for the court to come down and check.
Since your Excellency still has doubts about the death of my late husband, why did you not open the coffin for an autopsy, but instead kept asking me about my identity?"
Mrs. Xu looked at Jia Lian quite seriously.
Seeing Mrs. Xu like this, Jia Lian smiled. Just open your mouth.
"Of course I can open the coffin and conduct an autopsy, but thinking about it, even if Mr. An died of murder, since the person behind it dared to kill an official of the imperial court, he was not afraid of the imperial court sending people to come down to investigate, so he was naturally fully prepared.
In this case, I'm afraid that even if I open the coffin and examine it, I won't be able to find anything.
However, if Madam here can provide me with some clues and information, perhaps I will be able to find another way."
Jia Lian said it naturally, and Mrs. Xu also put away her shameful attitude and looked at Jia Lian without blinking.
After all, she shook her head, "Since you have said so, why bother asking me? When the prefect sent my husband's body back, I also checked it and found that my husband indeed died of the cold.
Therefore, it should be that adults are worrying too much."
Wind and cold? It seems that someone was frozen to death.
Jia Lian and Lin Ruhai absolutely did not believe that An Siyuan died of natural illness. There must be something fishy in Jiangnan's salt administration. Those people were afraid that An Siyuan would be exposed in front of the court after he went to Beijing, so they had no choice but to silence him.
Even what the matter is, based on Lin Ruhai's experience in leading the salt administration for many years, he can probably guess it, and Jia Lian also believes that Lin Ruhai's guess is reasonable.
It's just that since Mrs. Xu lives with An Siyuan in the Yanyan Censor's Yamen, it's impossible for her to know anything about her husband.
Why did she insist that her man died in a normal way?
"Madam and Mr. An's son are not in his maternal ancestral home."
Jia Lian suddenly laughed.
Mrs. Xu was stunned for a moment, "Sir, why do you say this?"
"If my guess is correct, Young Master Ling should be in Yangzhou now. Moreover, as long as I don't leave Yangzhou for a day, Madam will not be able to see Young Master Ling. And Madam, the only way to ensure Young Master Ling's safety is to
In front of my boss, I pretended not to know anything.
I don’t know, is my guess correct?”
As soon as Jia Lian said these words, Mrs. Xu looked calm. An Cai'er, who was only shoulder height beside her, looked shocked and looked at Jia Lian as if he was an inhuman being.
"Madam, there is no need to deny it in a hurry. If I want to verify this conjecture, it is very simple.
There are so many people in the Salt Patrol Yamen. As long as I send people to arrest them all and interrogate them one by one, I don't believe that every one of them can be as tight-lipped as Madam.
As long as any one of them has seen Mr. Ling in the past four or five years, I will know that the lady is lying.
However, if I really do this, I will inevitably alert the enemy. For me, it is not a big deal, but for Mr. Ling, I am afraid it is not a good thing.
Therefore, I advise my wife to think carefully about whether to tell the truth to the officer while there is no one else around, or whether to continue to pretend that she knows nothing and join forces with the thieves who murdered her husband.
I will not hide it from my wife, but I have already obtained a lot of evidence that the major salt merchants in Yangzhou are selling illegal salt. When I go to Jiangnan this time, I am determined to straighten out the salt policy for the imperial court and kill those who are becoming more and more greedy.
The arrogance of the salt merchants.
Therefore, Madam chooses to assist me, and I may be able to help you. If you continue to work for the tiger, I am afraid that the An family will not be far away from having their property confiscated and exterminated."
After all, Jia Lian was someone who had fought in the wind and snow, and was able to deal with the emperor with ease.
Talking to Mrs. Xu seriously at this time brought with it a sense of authority.
Mrs. Xu's face turned a little pale. She didn't know why Jia Lian, who used to look like a greedy and lustful dog official, was able to transform into an incarnation of justice! He even said that she was a wolf and a villain, as if she was already a
She is like a vicious and evil woman!
She was silent. People grow up in hardships. She used to be a wealthy and honorable lady. Once something happened to her husband, she had to shoulder the burden of the family and worry about the future of the family and her children.
Her power is too weak, so she can only be controlled by others.
If the seemingly powerful man in front of her is really as just and selfless as he says, then can she really take this opportunity to win a chance for her family and children?
"Sir, you actually know about smuggling?"
"Don't underestimate the imperial court. If you are not sure, why would you send me down?
Since I dare to come, I am confident that I can clean up this mess. If Madam can't even trust me, she is destined to be wronged and humiliated."
Being wronged and humiliated!
Yes, she has reached the point where she is being humiliated, so why not take a gamble? Even if Jia Lian deceived her, the An family would just lose more completely.
"Bang~"
Suddenly, Mrs. Xu took a step forward, her legs naturally knelt down, and she made a loud noise on the ground.
"I also ask the imperial envoy, for the sake of being an official in the same court as my late husband, please save my son.
If the imperial envoy can rescue my son safely, I will call you my concubine and work as an ox or a horse for you for the rest of my life, and I am willing to do so!"
Mrs. Xu nodded several times at Jia Lian, her voice was sad, as if she was grasping at the last straw.
Jia Lian bent down to help her up and said in a deep voice: "Madam, please tell me in detail."
"Yes, that's the case... That day, my husband was scolded by the court for not doing things well, and was then escorted to Beijing by the Yamen. I and my two children were in fear all day long, fearing that something might happen.
Who would have known that before my husband's accident happened, my son suddenly disappeared.
He went out to offer incense and pray for his father, but who knows, someone kidnapped him halfway there. We mobilized everyone to search for him, but we couldn't find him.
Later, Wu Zhirong sent his late husband's body back, saying that he died of a cold due to an accident on the road, but I didn't want to believe it.
Unexpectedly, Wu Zhirong sent someone to threaten us, saying that an imperial envoy from the imperial court would come to Jiangnan in the near future. If the imperial envoy asked questions, let us reply according to his wishes.
Anyone who dares to disobey him or cause trouble will never see my son again...
Please have mercy on me and save my son. Even if his father made a mistake and the child is innocent, please have mercy on me and save my son. I kowtow to you..."
Mrs. Xu cried and explained everything in detail.
Jia Lian was not too surprised. He had previously felt that it was unreasonable for the An family to send their only son to his father-in-law's house, so he put it to the test.
On the contrary, as Mrs. Xu and others are close relatives of Ellsworth, if there is really something fishy about Ellsworth, Mrs. Xu and others will know something about it.
For those behind the scenes, silencing An Siyuan was already braving the world's disapproval and would not be able to calm down the situation easily.
If Mrs. Xu and others are silenced... Anyone with a sane mind in the court will know that there is a big problem!
Therefore, Mrs. Xu and others cannot be killed. But how to make them obedient and not become the ones who leak the news?
Controlling the An family's only bloodline and forcing Mrs. Xu to submit is indeed the simplest and most effective move.
If Jia Lian hadn't made up his mind to fight the Yangzhou gang and had the patience to slowly break through Mrs. Xu's defense, he probably wouldn't have gotten this news.
It seems that Mrs. Xu really knows something about the situation.
Without rushing to ask about the salt administration, Jia Lian asked first: "How are you sure that it was Wu Zhirong who kidnapped your son and that he said it himself?"
"It's not that he said it himself. It's just that he threatened me verbally that day. Those who kidnapped my son that night sent letters threatening me. Combined with some of their affairs with my late husband, I still can't guess that it was him.
Kidnapped my son!
Please sir, this Wu Zhirong must be brought to justice.
A large part of the reason why Yangzhou's salt administration collapsed was caused by Wu Zhirong."
In order to win Jia Lian's trust, Mrs. Xu took the initiative to explain without waiting for Jia Lian to ask: "As your Excellency said, the reason why the Lianghuai salt tax was reduced so much last year was because those salt merchants secretly
Selling large amounts of private salt!
In fact, my late husband had already noticed it. On the one hand, the salt merchants were very thorough and concealed. Secondly, every time my husband wanted to summon the salt messengers from the Yushi Yamen and the Salt Transportation Department to arrest him, either the salt merchants would do it in advance.
After getting the news, they withdrew, or they were tried to favor and hinder them by the prefect Wu Zhirong and others.
The most serious one was when those people threatened the lives of my An family and my family. Therefore, my husband had no choice but to submit and did not dare to investigate the illegal activities again...
When there is more private salt, official salt will naturally be squeezed, and the salt tax will be greatly reduced.
It was not until the final accounting last year that the salt tax was found to have dropped sharply by 30%. My husband knew that the matter was not going to work out, and he began to panic. Before being escorted back to Beijing by the imperial court, my husband made a lot of preparations, saying that if he came to Beijing this time, he would not be able to hide it.
In the past, in order to protect An Jia, he would expose everything to the court one by one to make amends for his mistakes, and to beg the court's forgiveness for An Jia's death.
Who knew that those people would be so cruel and cruel that they would kill my late husband on the way..."
Mrs. Xu said with a sad and indignant look.
Jia Lian listened quietly. He believed that Mrs. Xu was not lying. Because Lin Ruhai also said that the court's new policy required salt merchants to help the court transport grain and grass to the border in exchange for more salt.
The advantage of doing this is that the court can save a lot of expenses, but accordingly, the interests of the salt merchants will be squeezed.
In order to make more profits, it makes sense that salt merchants would choose to smuggle private salt to avoid salt taxes.
"Oh, if Madam says it this way, Mr. An is actually a good and upright official. Was he completely coerced by Wu Zhirong and others?
I'm just curious, Mr. An has been in charge of the salt administration for two years, why didn't he report it to the court when he discovered the clues? Why did he decide to expose the salt merchants' massive smuggling to the editor at the last moment?"
"This... maybe my husband didn't expect the matter to become such a big deal at first."
Seeing the pretty woman kneeling on the ground in front of her, trying to cover up her beautiful appearance, Jia Lian shook his head and smiled, but he didn't expose her.
Why didn't you expose it at the beginning? Naturally, the salt merchants gave you enough benefits!
It was just that the appetite of the salt merchants was getting bigger and bigger, making Mr. An more and more uneasy. When he wanted to find a way out, he realized that the pirate ship was in trouble.
It's a pity that it's hard to be an upright official, especially for a fat official like the Salt Patrol Censor.
This also further illustrates Lin Ruhai's ability. After working in Yanzheng for so many years, he has never made any major mistakes, and he can still maintain his clean image...
My uncle must have some skills. It's a pity that it's not a holiday, otherwise he would need another backer and help.