The content of Lin Ruhai’s letter was almost as expected by Jia Lian.
First, Lin Ruhai received a letter from the emperor in Suzhou.
Although this letter from Beijing is delivered immediately by air, traveling three hundred miles a day, and it is not expedited for six hundred or eight hundred miles, but based on the date, it is already almost expedited.<
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But there were only two contents in the imperial mail that came so quickly, one was about salt affairs, and the second was about Jia Lian.
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Regarding Jia Lian, it’s just that his request for leave was approved.
Originally, it was said that Jia Lian would be granted three months' leave during this trip to Yangzhou, but Jia Lian had already made up his mind: three months was certainly not enough to avoid the construction of the Grand View Garden, and an extension was inevitable.
In Chapter 42 of the original text of "A Dream of Red Mansions", the specific construction time of the Grand View Garden is mentioned: "It took a year to build the garden."
In fact, Jia Lian carefully asked Shan Ziye, the technical director of the "Jia Clan Provincial Family House Project Department", and he clearly stated:
The civil construction part of the building and garden will take about seven or eight months, the planting of garden flowers and trees will take two or three months, and the subsequent indoor layout and other minor works will take about two months.
And only more than two months have passed since the start of the project. The problems that should be exposed have not yet been exposed, and the people who should have troubles have not yet had troubles. Go back now? It’s too early.
Jia Lian wanted to stay out for a while, so in addition to cracking down on the salt administration Zhen Huan that day in Yangzhou, he also forced the salt merchants to pay more than 10 million taels of silver. Then he discussed with his uncle Lin Ruhai and wanted to use the salt merchants to pay
I have to spend a little more time in the south to pay the bill.
Lin Ruhai didn't know that Jia Lian had many long-term plans in mind, but when he heard that Jia Lian talked about inviting famous teachers from "Heshan Academy" for the Jia family, and planned to take advantage of this rare opportunity to study under Mr. Shuyou for several months, he was naturally very excited.
Agree.
After all, elders like to see juniors learn from others with humility.
Jia Lian didn't like studying before, but now he doesn't want to be an official. He has to take leave to study at Mr. Shuyou's academy. Lin Ruhai must do his best to support him.
So, while Jia Lian handed over the brochure to the emperor, Lin Ruhai also handed over the brochure, repeatedly stating that Yangzhou salt merchants needed Jia Lian's help here to pay back taxes and stabilize salt prices, and implored Jia Lian to return to Beijing.
The date is postponed for another three months.
Judging from the imperial approval on the fold, it was approved on that day. You can imagine how happy the emperor was at that time.
After all, a hole was opened in the ground in Jiangnan that the Emperor had controlled for many years, and the big hole in the emperor's own money bag was finally blocked. These two items alone were enough for the emperor to be so happy that he couldn't sleep that night.
Sleeping.
What's more, in addition to this, he actually received an unexpected fortune of more than 10 million taels of silver, which relieved the emperor's urgent need for money. Who could not be extremely happy about it?
As for whether Jia Lian's move offended the Supreme Emperor, the emperor didn't care.
Anyway, if the Supreme Emperor gets angry like this, the emperor will naturally not take responsibility and not be scolded. At worst, the "ignorant" Jia Lian will be caught and take the blame.
The rabbit dies and the dog cooks it, the bird disappears and its bow is hidden, this is the way of heaven.
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As for the salt affairs, the emperor immediately took action against Zhen Huan and Jiang Chun.
However, the emperor did not order Zhen Huan and Jiang Chun to go to Beijing to "hand it over to the Ministry for discussion." Instead, he just ordered Zhen Huan to return to Beijing immediately to report on his duties, and temporarily handed over the official affairs of the Lianghuai Salt Administration to Lin Ruhai.
In addition, the people sent by the imperial court to issue the decree also took Jiang Chun and others away.
This is a bit strange.
If we talk about pursuing it, how can we not conduct a thorough investigation?
If you say let it go, why should you take it away?
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The second thing is about the price of salt.
Lin Ruhai followed Jia Lian's suggestion and after being ordered to take charge of the Lianghuai salt administration, he directly sold the sales rights of 30,000 yuan of imported salt to Xin Shuanghe, the owner of the "Lianhe Salt Store".
After that, the "Lianhe Salt Store" took the lead in reducing prices. The seven salt stores in Yangzhou City controlled by the salt gang immediately followed suit and lowered their prices. The other salt merchants held on for a few days and saw no return, so they eventually had to follow suit and lower their prices.
Sales.
Today, the price of salt on the market in Yangzhou has dropped to five cents, and sometimes even to four cents, which is almost half of the previous price.
The people of Yangzhou all applauded and applauded. Someone had already sent the "Umbrella of Ten Thousand People" to the Yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy where Lin Ruhai had a temporary office. The gentry from all townships and towns were also preparing to jointly submit a petition to the court, begging Mr. Lin to stay as the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy.
Politics.
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The third thing was that Lin Ruhai was worried that the words in her last letter to Mr. Shuyou were not sincere enough, and that Mr. Shuyou would not want to go to the capital to open an academy, so he wrote another letter detailing what Jia Lian had done in Yangzhou.
He also wrote a big book and asked Jia Lian to pass it on to Mr. Shuyou again.
At the end of the letter, Lin Ruhai also added something that puzzled Jia Lian, that is, he hoped that Jia Lian would make a trip to Suzhou on his way back to Beijing, "tens of millions, tens of millions."
A trip to Suzhou on the way is not a big deal at first, but the two "tens of millions" at the end are a bit confusing.
With so many warnings, it is obvious that this matter is of great importance.
But what major event could make my uncle pay so much attention to it at this time? Could it be that my uncle has encountered some trouble again?
If it was an official trouble, why couldn't my uncle state it clearly in the letter?
As smart as Jia Lian, he lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and finally came up with a preliminary guess:
This matter should be related to Sister Lin.
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The other letter is a letter from home.
This was something Jia Lian didn't expect.
Because Wang Xifeng cannot write, she never writes letters.
This letter was obviously dictated by Wang Xifeng and written by Caiming. The letter is written in plain language and the meaning is easy to understand:
I said a few heart-warming words at the beginning.
It is said that Wang Xifeng spent every day peacefully under the lamp, holding his sleeves and counting his fingers tiredly to calculate where to go. He was worried about whether it was safe on the road, whether he had added or removed clothes, and whether his diet was appropriate.
When Jia Lian saw this, he couldn't help but smile:
With Wang Xifeng’s personality, she never engages in loss-making business in every word, deed, and smile.
If she is willing to show some tenderness, she must be used as bait.
Don’t worry, there must be a fishhook behind it!
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Wang Xifeng’s biggest problem is that she always feels that everyone except her is a fool.
Especially in her eyes, her husband Jia Lian is the biggest fool.
It cannot be said that she has no feelings for Jia Lian, but for a woman who is too utilitarian, every step and every emotion is calculated.
She believed that she could completely control Jia Lian in the palm of her hand. It was easier for her to manipulate Jia Lian than to deceive her children.
Therefore, she did not tell Jia Lian about major matters, such as "taking the monthly money from the house to settle accounts", such as "pretending to be Jia Lian's name and writing a letter to Yun Shoubei to force him to break off the engagement". She made up her mind secretly.
He resorted to tricks and got benefits, and it was nothing to do with Jia Lian.
She only consulted Jia Lian in a weak manner on trivial matters that were of no benefit to herself, such as "How to celebrate Sister Xue's birthday", such as "How many clothes should I bring to send Sister Lin on this trip?" The purpose was just
It just makes Jia Lian feel like "being an uncle".
Look!
Look!
Did I guess it right?
Sure enough, in the second half of this letter, Wang Xifeng came to complain to Jia Lian and asked Jia Lian for money.
Damn! Are you crazy? Wang Xifeng asks Jia Lian for money?