As long as the old lady is suspicious, she will naturally send her confidants, or directly send letters to inquire about the Jincai couple staying at the old house.
After confirming the authenticity of the matter, will the old lady look good to the Jinling clan?
It's hard for Jia Cong to completely fall out with the elders of the Jinling clan. The old lady doesn't have such a problem. She can make the Jinling clan miserable by doing whatever she wants.
When he returned to his temporary residence, Xue Family Manor, to visit Lin Ruhai, he told Jia Cong some confusing news: "Zhen Yingjia has been here before!"
"What is he here for?"
Frowning his brows, Jia Cong was full of curiosity. He glanced at Lin Ruhai, who looked normal, and said with a smile: "Maybe you are here to ridicule your uncle!"
"You kid, what are you talking about?"
Lin Ruhai burst into laughter, pointed at Jia Cong and said angrily: "Zhen Yingjia is a member of the officialdom after all, but he knows much better than the Yangzhou salt merchants. He is here to ask me what I think about Yangzhou's salt policy!"
laugh……
Hearing this, Jia Cong couldn't help but sneered, and without concealing his disdain, he sneered: "You think you have a chance to get back into the official position of Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor. I don't know where you get the confidence?"
Lin Ruhai smiled but said nothing, and the look on his face was quite subtle.
Just kidding, who doesn’t know that the Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor is a fat bastard?
According to Lin Ruhai, an official who has a bottom line and is not greedy for money can earn at least nearly 100,000 taels through normal annual filial piety.
If you are a little greedy, or collude with salt merchants, your annual income can easily reach hundreds of thousands or even millions.
This was Lin Ruhai's previous Yangzhou salt censor. Seventy percent of them were unlucky because of greed. The other thirty percent who were unwilling to join in the crime were sent to prison by the Yangzhou salt merchants and ended up quite badly.
.
By the way, Lin Ruhai also got involved in the fight between the Emperor and the present, otherwise no matter how powerful his skills were, he would inevitably cause a scandal in his position as Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor.
This position is so fertile that no matter which emperor is in power, no official will be allowed to sit there for a long time.
The only exception is the Jinling Zhen family. In order to make up for the huge financial deficit caused by the Emperor's four southern tours, the Emperor specifically asked the Zhen family to be in charge of the salt administration for decades. This is simply corruption.
dirty.
In these years alone, the income that the Zhen family has received overtly and covertly can be calculated in units of at least tens of millions of taels.
As time went by, the Zhen family even regarded the official position of Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor as a family inheritance. As a result, it was directly taken over more than ten years ago. How could they be willing to accept it?
Later Yangzhou salt inspectors, including Lin Ruhai, encountered at least half or even nearly half of the troubles they encountered were attributable to the Zhen family.
Lin Ruhai knew this well. He had communicated with Jia Cong before, and his relationship with the Zhen family was definitely not good.
No one expected that the current head of the Zhen family, Zhen Yingjia, would visit Lin Ruhai at this time and ask about Yangzhou's salt administration.
Could it be that he thought there was still a possibility of getting involved in the Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor?
Go ahead and dream!
As long as you are in power for one day, the Zhen family will not have such a possibility!
Not to mention, Suzhou Weaving, which is a big fat company like Yangzhou Salt Administration, is controlled by the Zhen family. Even if the emperor is on the throne, it is impossible for them to be in charge of salt administration and weaving at the same time. Could it be that they want to cultivate the most powerful people in Jiangnan?
"Forget it! Don't worry about it!"
Lin Ruhai waved his hand and said disapprovingly: "Let him do whatever he wants, it has nothing to do with us!"
After he "smoothly" escaped from Yangzhou's salt administration, he was unwilling to bring up any topics related to the salt administration, and his psychological shadow was not small.
Jia Cong, however, had no intention of letting it go easily. He did not pester Zhen Yingjia, the hidden leader of Jinling, but kept asking Lin Ruhai some inside information about salt affairs.
For example, there are salt fields that are tightly controlled by merchants and the related situation of salt farmers.
Another example is the complete set of procedures used by salt merchants to sell official salt, as well as the means they can operate, even the matter of illicit salt.
Lin Ruhai was helpless and had no choice but to explain in detail one by one.
After all, he had served as the salt inspector for five full terms, so he basically knew the methods of salt merchants, and he knew the secrets inside.
If you explain it in detail, a few days will fly by in the blink of an eye.
…
On this day, Lin Ruhai dragged his sick body to the Jinling Pier again under the protection of Jia Cong and Xue Pan, as well as a group of Lin family and Xue family guards.
Today is the time when the investigation team arrives. No matter whether we parted ways a few days ago or not, the respect that should be given cannot be less.
This time, Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling, also came. When they met, they just said hello lightly, without much enthusiasm and no intention of communicating.
It's easy to understand. With Jia Yucun's character, when he met Lin Ruhai, his benefactor back then, he must have been full of dissatisfaction at this time. How could he still have the thought to come forward and greet him warmly?
Not to mention that he is also a dignified third-grade official, just because Lin Ruhai is evil now, there is no need to expect much success in the future, so Jia Yucun naturally has no intention of making friends with him.
That is to say, Lin Ruhai is still the right minister of the third-rank ceremony department. Otherwise, Jia Yucun may be tempted to add insult to injury. Don't think that he can't do it.
When the official ship of the investigation team arrived, the group hurriedly greeted them.
However, the expressions on the faces of everyone in the investigation team were not good, and the atmosphere on the pier was not very lively. They exchanged greetings for a while and then left in a hurry.
"Brother Ruhai, after we return to Beijing, we must not make friends with others!"
Lin Ruhai was invited to go with him to the post house. In private, the right servant of the Criminal Department, who was in charge of the investigation team, complained helplessly: "The water over there in Yangzhou is too deep!"
When he said this, he did not shy away from Jia Cong next to him.
Lin Ruhai remained silent. Since he had jumped out of the fire pit of Yangzhou Yanzheng, he naturally did not want to continue to participate.
As for Jia Cong, he couldn't help but secretly curl his lips, expressing great disdain for the officials of the investigation team headed by the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment.
Damn it, it would be fine if these guys really come forward to investigate, but these guys are just pretending to be messing around, saying that it is difficult to explain to superiors is too pretentious.
Nothing has been done to begin with, what do I need to explain to my superiors?
Tell me how to travel around the mountains and rivers, and how to enjoy the various flavors of the rich and gentle countryside in the south of the Yangtze River?
Now he actually has the nerve to say something that is hard to explain, which is shameless in capital letters.
"Then when will we leave Jinling and return to the capital?"
Lin Ruhai didn't answer the call at all, and directly asked the question of concern: "Jinling is not very peaceful here. Previously, President Zhen, the head of the Zhen family, asked me to find out about the reality of Yangzhou's salt administration. Apparently, he also wanted to get involved. It would be better to leave as soon as possible.
!”
"Is this happening?"
The right minister of the Ministry of Justice and the other two leading officials of the investigation team were suddenly surprised...