But he said that Jia Lian had come down to the boat, and that the personal guards and the officers and soldiers stationed last night had already collected their troops.
"Did you have a good rest last night, sir?"
When Zhao'er, Zhao Sheng and other generals saw Jia Lian approaching, they all stepped forward to greet him and asked with a smile.
Looking at their expressions, how could Jia Lian not know what they were thinking, so he put on airs, nodded slightly and said, "It's not very good. After listening to the music all night, I found it a bit boring."
All the soldiers and other young generals laughed.
Although they had never been to the second floor of the building last night and did not know the specific scene above, the sound of singing, dancing and music continued almost all night, and it stopped for a short while just before dawn.
This made them envious of their master's good fortune, but also secretly admired Jia Lian's physique.
Good guy, you won’t really have a romantic affair all night long, right?
Zhaoer was the closest to Jia Lian. When he saw Aqi and Aqin going to pack the carriage, he came up to him and said flatteringly: "Second Master listened to the music all night and still felt bored. We played on the river all night last night."
There’s a cool breeze.”
Hearing this, Jia Lian looked at the soldiers. Although everyone could see that they were a little tired after staying up late, everyone's face was filled with joking and sincere smiles, and no one had any resentment.
.
Although as a military leader, it was normal for him to enjoy the hardships of his subordinates, Jia Lian still felt a little embarrassed.
Then he waved his arms and said, "Everyone has worked hard. In this way, all the brothers who were on duty last night will be rewarded with two months' monthly salary. The monthly money will be paid out of my own pocket."
In addition, from now on, the salt merchants will probably be more honest, and we will be much more relaxed.
Therefore, in the next three days, you all give the brothers below you a day off in turn, so that they can have time to take a stroll in this prosperous Jiangnan water town."
As soon as Jia Lian said this, the people around him, both generals and soldiers, showed joy.
Even if you just reward them with money, why don't you give them a day off?
We are all men, so we naturally understand Jia Lian's good intentions. What is the most famous thing in Yangzhou City? Not the ten-mile Yangzhou Road, nor the rich salt merchants in the world, but the famous "Skinny Horse".
Forget it in the past, now all of them have a lot of money in their hands, enough for each of them to go to a higher-end brothel and live in style!
Sure enough, it is good to hang out with such an adult. Not only will you give them money, but you will also take care of their physical and mental health. Knowing that they have been hungry all night, you will immediately give them the opportunity to find wild food on your own...
What I didn’t say is that it’s worth following such a commander and working for him.
"However, you must explain that you are only allowed to wear plain clothes when you go out, and you are not allowed to cause trouble. If anyone causes trouble and comes to me, I will only question you who are the boss!"
"Don't worry, sir. You are so considerate of the brothers below. If anyone dares to go out and cause trouble for you, I will cut off his mother's dog skin because of your humble position!"
Jia Lian smiled and asked because he didn't see Liu Xianglian.
Zhao'er smiled and said: "Brother Liu was worried that something would go wrong if there were not enough manpower at the cabin, so after the adults got on the boat, he took some people back."
Jia Lian nodded after hearing this. Liu Xianglian was indeed working more and more attentively.
Nowadays, there are mountains of property piled up in the palace, and they are still being counted and packaged day and night. It is better to pay more attention to them.
After all, the things contained in any box are valuable.
So he said with a smile: "When you go out, if you want to drink wine and can't find a way, you can call Liu Erlang. That boy is a frequent visitor to the brothel. He knows the doorways inside very well, so call him.
You won’t suffer easily.”
At this, all the soldiers laughed.
…
In the days that followed, Yangzhou City Gate became quiet indeed.
After Jia Lian noticed that the salt merchants were relatively peaceful and actively raising money, he paid no attention to them and made a special trip to deal with possible troubles from above.
Before coming down from the capital, Jia Lian had already made up his mind to break the law with force, which is why he asked for the right of life and death in front of the emperor.
However, it is easy to use force to deal with those below, but it is different to deal with those above.
It is conceivable that the news that he ransacked the Zhao family, Wang family and others and beheaded them has almost reached the capital.
Those behind them, or those who don't like the way they behave, will be restless and will find ways to cause trouble for them.
However, he was not unprepared.
The Prince's Mansion in Beijing.
"What are you talking about? He really ransacked the Wang family and even beheaded Wang Shanxiang in public!"
The prince was a little angry when he heard his staff's reply.
A member of the Wang family is nothing. What he cares about is that he has clearly greeted Jia Lian in advance. Even if Jia Lian does not look at the monk's face and the Buddha's face, he should not do so.
"Besides the Wang family, what else did he copy?"
"There is also a small salt merchant from the Zhao family. In addition, the Yangzhou magistrate, the salt transportation envoy of the Yangzhou Salt Transportation Department, and others were also captured by him..."
The prince became even more angry after hearing this, and actually ransacked two or three families, including the Wang family!
Someone expressed his feelings on behalf of the prince: "This Jia Lian is too arrogant and domineering. There are so many salt merchants who do not deal with it, but they use the Wang family as a raft. The Wang family pays filial piety to the Prince's Mansion every year, although they are not the disciples of His Highness the Prince.
, but at least it has some incense.
Jia Lian actually killed someone like this, he clearly didn't take His Highness into consideration."
"Is it possible that Jia Lian doesn't know that the Wang family has connections with the Prince's Mansion behind the scenes?"
"If you were Wang Shanxiang and someone was trying to kill you, would you still hide your trump card?"
"Well……"
Taking the right direction, all the aides of the Prince's Palace immediately pointed their guns at Jia Lian and criticized Jia Lian, every sentence of which made Jia Lian pay the price for his arrogance.
The prince did not express his position, because he always felt that Jia Lian was a smart man and would not do anything to deliberately provoke him.
Especially after talking with Jia Lian in front of the Daming Palace that day, he felt that Jia Lian, even if it was difficult to conquer, would not become a stumbling block for him.
Of course, in fact, he felt in his heart that if he added Jia Lian to the enemy list because of such a trivial matter, it would be a weakening and a waste of his strength. Because Jia Lian is not the little minion he was when they first met and can be easily eliminated. Already.
Today, Jia Lian is liked and trusted by his father. Touching him at this time will easily arouse his father's suspicion or even hostility.
Whether it is worth it for the salt merchant Wang family is a question.
"Your Highness, the eldest princess's palace sent someone to deliver a letter."
"Well, why did the imperial sister send me a letter?"
The prince felt a little strange. He and Princess Zhaoyang had been on good terms since they were young. Princess Zhaoyang also had an out-of-the-box temperament. If she had anything to do with him, she would most likely ride straight to his house.
When the message came in, I opened the letter and saw that only the first few sentences were wrong. It didn't sound like Princess Zhaoyang's tone at all.
But slowly, his unconsciously frowned brows opened up, and a smile even appeared on his face.
"Why is Your Highness so happy?"
"Happy, do I have it?"
The prince lit the letter casually, and a eunuch brought the brazier and took it.
The others also laughed.
No matter what the reason is, if the master is happy, that is a good thing.
"Okay, let's stop talking about Jia Lian, and don't mention it again."
Hearing what the prince said, he was finally surprised and asked why.
"Hmph, a little salt merchant not only assassinated the imperial envoy, but also went out of his way to ruin the reputation of my prince's palace. It's really not a pity to die!
Next, you should think carefully about how to deal with the criticism of the Qingliu people when the evidence of the salt merchants' crimes is presented.
Haha, my Third Emperor brother is not easy to deal with."
The prince said, a coldness flashed in his eyes.
He is already the prince and is clearly orthodox. If there are still people who want to compete with him for the position, no matter who they are, they will be resentful.
But something came to mind, and he suddenly curiously asked the eunuch beside him: "You know a lot about the news in the palace, but do you know what the eldest princess's attitude towards Jia Lian has been since the queen mother granted her a marriage?"
"This servant is not very clear about this. However, there are rumors in the palace that the eldest princess got married last year. The post of Jia Lian's wedding envoy was personally requested by the eldest princess from Your Majesty."
"Hahaha, it's true. I'm afraid that my imperial sister will still have lingering feelings for this Jia Lian... uh."
Halfway through, the prince felt something was inappropriate and stopped talking, but he still felt strange in his heart.
He thought he knew very well about his imperial sister, what a proud and arrogant person she was, but she still didn't give up after being rejected, and now she was still delivering a message for someone. Really...
It has to be said that since ancient times, beauties have had a hard time with heroes, so he was a little envious of Jia Lian.
The letter just now was indeed sent to him by Jia Lian by asking Princess Zhaoyang. There was not much in it. However, after Jia Lian copied the Wang family, he actually heard that the Wang family seemed to have contacts with people in the prince's palace, so he was "frightened" , hurriedly sent a letter asking for instructions to accuse him, and focused on how Wang Shanxiang's character was so public, and he went so far as to publicize his relationship with the Prince's Mansion.
Therefore, in order to prevent such villains from wantonly ruining the reputation of the Prince's Mansion, Jia Lian had to sentence him to death as a warning to others.
Regardless of how true or false what Jia Lian said in his letter was, the prince, who had never wanted to embarrass Jia Lian because of a small salt merchant, immediately felt relieved.
What he cared about was not the Wang family, but whether Jia Lian had any intention of going against him.
Now that Jia Lian had made a special trip to Beijing to explain to him, he was naturally happy to put this aside.
After all, a small salt merchant only paid him tens of thousands of taels of silver every year! In fact, it was not more than that. It was just because the Wang family did not come to him directly, so that much came into his hands.
Although tens of thousands taels of silver is a lot of money, which allows him to cultivate many confidants, he also takes a lot of risks!
Now that the third prince was using him as a lever to cause trouble for him, he couldn't wait to abandon him.