"I understand everything Mr. Wang said. After returning to the capital, I will definitely report it to all the princes in the court and His Majesty.
It just so happens that before leaving the capital, His Majesty still doubted your loyalty and ability to serve the imperial court. If he knew this, he might understand that you have suffered for so many years and, if you are merciful, let other royal merchants eat this.
Bitterness is also unknown."
Jia Lian's light words immediately put Wang Shanxiang's sincere smile on his face.
The other salt merchants were even more horrified.
From Jia Lian's words, two key pieces of information were revealed.
First, the emperor was indeed suspicious of them. He sent Jia Lian down this time, probably to collect evidence.
Second, Jia Lian is obviously dissatisfied with Wang Shanxiang's answer. After returning to Beijing, he may advise the emperor to eliminate all salt merchants like them!
It was good that they had been mentally prepared for the first point, but this second point was intolerable to all the salt merchants present.
Although their self-restraint was deeply rooted in the Lianghuai salt policy and they had many backgrounds in the court, they were absolutely impossible to oppose the emperor.
If the emperor is really determined to abolish them and keep the big shots in the court, he will immediately abandon them as abandoned sons.
After all, the interests of the salt industry are here, so who will collect them?
For the imperial treasury, it may still experience the pain of blood exchange, but for the princes of the imperial court, it will have no impact at all.
Zhou Boru immediately raised his hand to stop Wang Shanxiang from continuing to speak, and then clasped his fists and said to Jia Lian: "I hope your lord Haihan, Vice President Wang only promised to your lord like this because the brothers below him complained a lot about the donation.
It is not because of any dissatisfaction with the imperial court.
In fact, all of us salt merchants, including Vice President Wang, are loyal to the imperial court and are very happy to run salt shops for the imperial court.
This time we paid less national taxes, all due to our poor performance and failed to live up to the high expectations of the imperial court.
I also ask you, sir, for the sake of our service to the imperial court for so many years, to give us a clear path. If you can help us get through this difficulty smoothly, we will definitely regard you as our reborn parents, and we will live with you every year in the future.
Filial piety..."
Zhou Boru knew that everything in the world was for profit. For a mere one or two million in tax money, it was unlikely that the imperial court would wipe out all the salt merchants in one go, because that would have a huge impact on the world's salt politics.
Not to mention, there are powerful figures behind each of their families.
Therefore, as long as Jia Lian is appeased, won over, and put in good words for them in front of the emperor, it will be the best choice for both parties to get this matter over with.
Of course Jia Lian could hear the filial piety in Zhou Boru's words. He smiled and seemed much more satisfied with Zhou Boru.
"I am loyal to the emperor because I can eat the emperor's salary. Before I went to the south of the Yangtze River, I also made up my mind to investigate and report all the shortcomings of the salt administration for your majesty.
However, after arriving in Yangzhou, I saw that Yangzhou was so prosperous due to the gathering of salt shops. I couldn’t bear to break the peace of this town. Speaking of which, my ancestral home is also Jiangnan, and most of the people here can be considered
Fellow countryman.
That's all. I have been warmly entertained by President Zhou today. I might as well reveal some news to President Zhou.
This time the salt tax is greatly reduced, the court is shocked, and His Majesty Longyan is furious. If you want to calm down His Majesty's anger and the dissatisfaction of the court princes, first of all, your lords, you must show enough sincerity."
Zhou Boru's eyes moved, "Please let me know clearly."
"First, what the imperial court and His Majesty are most dissatisfied about is that the salt tax revenue has dropped too much. Compared with a few years ago, there is a difference of more than two million taels.
Calculate the total, let's say three million taels. You must make up for these three million taels to the national treasury, otherwise, you will be so angry that it will be hard to get rid of your anger."
Hearing this, Zhou Boru and others looked embarrassed, and many people looked at Jia Lian with complicated eyes.
As for the Yangzhou salt tax last year, it was only one million taels less than the year before. Even if it was compared to the peak a few years ago, the difference was only more than 2.5 million.
Jia Lian asked them to collect three million yuan. They were all smart people. Among them, Jia Lian didn't know how much he would intercept...
"Secondly, someone in the court has long proposed that the salt industry is making huge profits, and salt merchants are competing with each other in local areas, and their extravagance has become a common practice, which has made many people in the court dissatisfied.
This time when I came down, many honest ministers took the opportunity to attack the entire salt industry. Yangzhou was just the first stop. In the future, Hedong, Changlu and other salt roads would also be attacked by them one after another.
Therefore, if you want to appease the dissatisfaction of these ministers, you need to take measures.
If you can trust me, add another one million, and I may be able to help you settle this matter. Otherwise, you will have to make up for the three million treasury arrears. Even if His Majesty's anger subsides, I am afraid that all the princes in the court will
It’s also difficult to pass there.”
Originally, everyone thought that three million was enough for a lion to open its mouth, which was outrageous. Who knew that Jia Lian was not satisfied yet and wanted to add another one million!
This Jia Lian is too greedy.
At this moment, the salt merchants looked at Jia Lian with eyes that were no longer complex, but dissatisfied and resentful. Are they treating them like pigs and slaughtering them at will?
Even the current prime minister, minister, and princes of the clan were not as greedy as Jia Lian!
The magistrate Wu Zhirong and others were even more eye-opening.
Originally, they felt that they had received enough benefits from the salt merchants, to the point where they were embarrassed not to help others.
Sure enough, their eyesight is still too shallow. Compared with Jia Lian, they are nothing.
Zhou Boru's eyelids were also twitching wildly. If it weren't for the years of experience in the city, he might have lost his composure.
Even so, I still couldn't help but ask: "Four million? Isn't this too much? I'll be honest, I'm afraid no one in the world can take out such a large amount of money except the national treasury."
Even though the villain works in the salt store, he can't afford so much money.
Sir, please be accommodating..."
Zhou Boru shook his head and felt distant from Jia Lian. This person is really too greedy!
You know, although the salt shop has huge profits, there are more than just a few of them sharing the pie. There are twenty or thirty shops in Yangzhou alone!
And no matter how huge the profits are, it still takes one and a half pounds of salt to be transported and sold. Under this, countless clerks and thugs have to be fed.
In addition, and most importantly, they still have a large number of big figures behind them who need to pay filial piety. Those are the people who have the most benefits.
Therefore, there is only so much profit that can be retained in their hands every year.
Jia Lian wants to take away four million at once? Then all of them will basically have worked in vain for a few years...
"Well, I don't think it's much. Okay, everyone, please think about it carefully.
I have just arrived in Yangzhou, and there are still many things to do, so I will not accompany you all and take my leave."
Jia Lian stood up, bowed to Wu Zhirong and others, then gathered his men and left.
Wu Zhirong and other officials were unable to persuade him to stay and quickly got up to escort him.
However, Zhou Boru and all the salt merchants, after getting up to see him off, unanimously did not leave the table.
Zhou Boru sighed slightly and called to everyone: "Everyone, please sit down. There is no one else here. If you have any ideas, feel free to tell us."
The salt merchants' uncontrollable emotions immediately burst out.
"That's too much!"
"This Jia Lian really treats us as fish and meat that can be slaughtered at will. This makes me angry."
"Exactly, these dignitaries from Beijing are all greedy. They are really hateful and should be killed!"
"..."
Zhou Boru allowed them to finish their complaints and calmed down consciously. Then he looked at the table next to him and asked with a smile: "Why don't you see Mr. Bai for such an important event today?"
Someone at the table hurriedly stood up and said: "President, please forgive me, my master is not feeling well today and is really not suitable to go out, so I ordered my slave to come and have a look on my behalf. But President Zhou, don't worry, our master said, as long as it is for
We, the Bai family, will definitely support and cooperate with all the good things done by the Yangzhou Salt Industry. The president will make up his mind and finally inform him."
Zhou Boru shook his head and said nothing. The Bai family has been proud of the Queen Mother's family for a long time, so it is not surprising at all.
Even he himself felt that if this matter could not be resolved properly, everyone present might be in trouble, except the Bai family, which was unlikely to be in trouble.
No matter how rampant Jia Lian is, he is unlikely to dare to touch the Bai family, right?
This was also the reason why he first thought of the Bai family after realizing the difficulty of winning over Jia Lian. If the Bai family was willing to contribute to deal with Jia Lian, he would have some confidence.
It's a pity that Bai Yi, that old fox, is obviously not prepared to interfere in this matter.
"Do you think we should give you the four million taels of silver that the imperial envoy mentioned?"
We are all our own people here, and there is no need to pretend. Therefore, what Zhou Boru asked was whether to give it to others, not whether everyone could take it.
"No!"
"Absolutely not."
"That is, this Jia Lian has such a false reputation, but it turns out that he is just a greedy and lustful person, and he is also greedy.
Besides, even if we give him money, he may not be able to help us solve this trouble."
Everyone's reaction was as expected by Zhou Boru, who shook his head and said: "Although giving it to him may not help us completely solve the problem, if we don't give it to him, I'm afraid he will turn around and turn his back.
As a close minister of the Emperor, if he is determined to deal with us, it will be really troublesome.
Everyone, think about it carefully and if you have any good suggestions, feel free to say them."
Four million is too much, and it is impossible to give everyone a unified opinion. But when it comes to how to deal with Jia Lian, everyone is at a loss.
Just because Jia Lian's status is too special and his holy family is too long.
If it were another civil servant, even if the minister, prime minister, and assistant minister came in person, they might not be so confused.
Simply because most of their backers are from powerful families in Beijing. Using powerful people and princes to suppress civil servants still has a certain chance of winning.
However, Jia Lian himself is a powerful person, and he was born in the founding government of the country. Not only does he have the title of marquis, but he also has a sister who is a noble concubine. Finally, he also has holy family members with him. No matter how rich they are as salt merchants, they will not be able to survive for a while.
I can't think of any strategy to check and balance Jia Lian.
Seeing that one Jia Lian was overwhelming everyone, Wang Shanxiang, who was sitting next to Zhou Boru, suddenly had a hard look in his eyes: "We must not let this person manipulate us, otherwise we don't know how greedy he will be and oppress us in the future.
In my opinion, if this person really doesn’t know how to advance or retreat, it would be better to be like Ellsworth..."
Wang Shanxiang made a gesture of wiping his neck, and everyone understood what he meant.
In fact, more than one person had similar thoughts in a short period of time before. This is because they would choose to do this when they encountered someone who was a big threat to their interests.
It was just Jia Lian's identity that made them afraid to say that for a while.
The death of An Siyuan has already alerted the court. If another imperial envoy with a big background dies, the court will be in trouble immediately.
At that time, it may be a situation where both sides suffer losses.
Zhou Boru narrowed his eyes and saw Wu Zhirong and others coming back in the distance, so he said calmly: "Mr. Wang, please be careful what you say."
Wang Shanxiang glanced at the pretentious Zhou Boru and sneered, but did not say anything further.