serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 357 Bad News 2
The sun was setting, and lanterns were hung under the eaves of various courtyards in the East Mansion. The lanterns clearly reflected the bold characters "Beining County Prince's Mansion".

Outside the palace, there were crowds of people watching the excitement, including men, women, old and young.

In the open space in front of the mansion, a dozen shirtless Xue family stewards were kneeling in a row.

Behind them stood a dozen young men from the Xue family holding leather whips.

Jia Rong walked out, accompanied by Lai Sheng, Lin Zhixiao and other stewards. Her eyes swept over the bodies of the Xue family stewards, and then looked at the brothers Xue Pan and Xue Biao standing aside.

Xue Biao looked at Jia Rong, then at the dozen or so Xue family stewards: "I have said what I need to say, and I have done what I need to do. Do you understand what I mean?"

A steward replied: "Second Master, there is no need to say anything. We have done something wrong and we are willing to be punished."

Xue Ban looked at Xue Pan.

Xue Pan nodded: "Then you will be punished."

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen whips were whipped upward towards the backs of the Xue family stewards.

The crowd of people suddenly became quiet, and all eyes looked at the Xue family stewards who were kneeling on the ground.

Jia Rong understood the Xue family's trick and stood there watching quietly without trying to dissuade or speak.

The onlookers watched quietly at first, but soon some idle people took the lead and shouted: "Ten! Eleven! Twelve!"

Then more people shouted: "Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen."

Xue Biao had stood beside Jia Rong at some point and was fanning him with a folding fan.

Seeing that Jia Rong didn't say a word, Xue Pan immediately winked at the Xue family boys who were executing the execution.

The young men of the Xue family were obviously prepared. At this time, they all rounded their arms and started to violently attack the stewards of the Xue family.

The crowd immediately became a commotion, and countless people were discussing it.

Jia Rong remained silent.

After a while, Lai Sheng said to Jia Rong: "Master, it's thirty lashes."

Jia Rong nodded, and then said to Xue Biao: "That's it!"

Xue Biao: "The Commander's Majesty has his destiny, that's all!"

The whip stopped.

Xue Pan: "I still haven't thanked Lord Ma!"

"Thank you, Lord Commander, sir."

The Xue family stewards kowtowed to Jia Rong, their bare backs streaked with whip marks and stained with blood.

"Carry them down and treat their injuries."

Xue Pan asked the boys to carry them out, then walked to Jia Rong and said with a smile: "It was only when I went to the Bujun Yamen to pick them up that I realized that these evil people were not only making unconscionable money behind the Xue family's back, , and even used their strength to fight against the infantry yamen. If it were not for the prince's face, these reckless people would have lost their heads long ago. It is my dereliction of duty after all, so I brought them to face punishment and apologize to the prince. "

"Brother also donated [-] shi of grain stored outside the city to the Ministry of Household Affairs." Xue Biao added.

Jia Rong was startled, looked at Xue Pan, and then looked at Xue Biao.

Xue Biao continued: "The Feng family of Marquis Zhongyi also sent heavy gifts."

Jia Rong just nodded.

"Hey, is what happened in Nanyang true? There are rumors that there are noses and eyes." Xue Pan came forward and asked in a low voice.

Jia Rong glanced at him sideways: "So what if it's true? So what if it's fake?"

"Why do you have the same temper as the prince?"

Xue Pan smiled and said, "Well, didn't I say I planned to make wine before? I failed twice in a row, and I wasted hundreds of stones and rice."

Jia Rong: "Are those Jiang Mi still there?"

Xue Pan: "Yes. There are still nearly [-] shi. Let's see if these grains can help the prince with some small favors?"

Jia Rong was silent and said for a moment: "You go back first. I will inform you if anything happens."

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

Xue Pan immediately bowed his hands to Jia Rong and led Xue Pan to the west.

After watching the Xue brothers leave, Jia Rong turned around and walked in.

All the lights in Jia Hu's study were lit, and it was as bright as day.

The doors and windows were closed tightly as before, but what was different from before was that the study, which had always been quiet, was now filled with the sound of abacus dialing beads.

There was a stack of account books on the desk. Lin Daiyu was sitting in Jia Hu's seat. Her eyes were staring at the account books in front of the abacus, her left hand was fiddling with the abacus beads quickly, and her right hand was recording the accounts and writing words at the same time. She still has the beautiful Zhongwang Xiaokai hand, but I don’t know how she developed this multi-purpose skill!

Jia Hu was pacing back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, stopping from time to time to look at Lin Daiyu who was settling accounts.

There were ice cubes placed in the room, and there were fine beads of sweat on Lin Daiyu's forehead.Jia Hu walked to the copper basin nearby, took out a wet towel and handed it over.

At this time, Lin Daiyu threw the calculated account book on the ground, took the towel and wiped her face, handed it over without looking back, and picked up another account book.

Picking up the account books on the ground and putting them back into the wooden box next to the desk, Jia Hu washed the face towel in the copper basin, wiped his own face, thought for a while, and gave Lin Daiyu a bowl of tea.

Lin Daiyu didn't even raise her head: "If you really have nothing to do, go out and don't bother me!"

Jia Hu was startled at first, then smiled, put down the tea bowl, picked up the palace fan on the table beside him, stepped forward and fanned her gently.

The pen in Lin Daiyu's hand stopped for a moment, and then she started writing with her hand waving non-stop.

Looking at the account books on the desk, Jia Hu sighed in his heart. The Zhou Dynasty was in a food crisis. He brought these account books back from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Of course, he asked for the order.

Only today did he know that the largest landowner in the Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Jianwu, was growing yellow leaves, cotton, tea and mulberry seedlings in his fields instead of grain.

This is not a few thousand acres, but tens of thousands of acres, but four to five million acres, and they are all top-grade farmland.

This is not the worst news. Jia Hu learned from Dai Quan that the silk of Dazhou sells well overseas and is still in short supply. The ability to produce more silk depends on whether the silk can be supplied in time, and the prerequisite for producing more silk is to have Plenty of mulberry leaves.

A piece of high-quality silk can earn five or six taels of silver more when exported to the sea, while one tael of silver can buy nearly two stones of grain in the mainland, and Nanyang rice is even cheaper.

In this way, almost all farmland in Zhejiang that was suitable for growing mulberry and producing silkworms was converted into mulberry field.

It will take another two or three years for the land in Shandong to produce grain, and Huguang has suffered another disaster. The grain from Gansu, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces has to supply the army in the northwest, and the grain from Sichuan and Jiangxi has to support the battlefield in Yunnan. After all, only Jiangsu and Jiangxi are left. Anhui, Shanxi and Zhili, by the way, the rice seedlings in the northern part of Zhili have not been planted, and there will be no harvest in the autumn, so they still have to count on the imperial government for help.

As the old saying goes, food is stored in good years to prepare for famine. After only two years of food, everyone in the court had forgotten the famine in the previous years and relied entirely on purchasing grain and rice from Southeast Asian countries.

It's fine now. If people don't sell food to you, what's the use of making so much money?

If Song Chengliang was still alive, he would never allow such a thing to happen.

"Okay." Lin Daiyu's voice whispered in his ears, and Jia Hu came back to his senses.

At this time, the desk was filled with bills. Lin Daiyu stood up, stretched her body, picked up the tea bowl and took a few sips, then walked to the chair under the window and sat down.

Jia Hu was standing alone in front of the bookcase, holding a lamp in his hand, his eyes reflecting the light, looking carefully at each one, his face became increasingly ugly.

Lin Daiyu spoke: "Let me do the math for you. Even if Liaodong can have a good harvest this year, as long as the court cannot buy food from Nanyang, there will still be famine in the north."

Jia Hu took a deep breath and sat down slowly.

Lin Daiyu: "There are two ways now, either a ceasefire or grabbing food back from Nanyang."

armistice?

An armistice is impossible.

Even if the imperial court agrees to a truce, the Rakshasa, Xiyi and Annan people, as well as the rebellious local people, will not agree.

Lin Daiyu continued: "Actually, there is another way, which is to recruit cattle and sheep from outside the customs."

Jia Hu thought for a moment, then shook his head. Nowadays, cattle and sheep grow naturally and take at least a year to grow up. Nearly a million cattle and sheep were recruited last autumn and winter. If they are recruited again this year, they will have to kill the chickens to collect the eggs.

You can't rob the herdsmen of their food rations.

Even if the emperor was willing, Jia Hu would not agree.

Lin Daiyu spoke again: "I have another idea." Seeing Jia Hu frowning and looking at her, she covered her mouth and smiled, "This is the last one."

Jia Hu asked deliberately: "Madam, please give me some advice."

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes at him: "Didn't the imperial court just accept two younger brothers and ask them to express their filial piety."

After hearing her words, Jia Hu was surprised. This girl could talk about robbery in such a grand and grand manner. This wonderful fairy girl was completely spoiled by him.

But this is a good idea. If you are a dead Taoist friend or a poor Taoist, I will use it to block the gun!
At this moment, Lin San's voice came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, Uncle Xiao Rong is here."

Jia Hu: "Come in."

After a while, Jia Rong opened the door and walked in. He saluted Lin Daiyu and said, "Aunt Lin." After saying that, he walked to the desk and told what happened outside, and finally mentioned the rice.

Jia Hu looked at Lin Daiyu subconsciously.

Lin Daiyu was about to laugh, but held back: "Xie Qiong and Yang Dayong are about to enter the border."

Jia Hu understood and said to Jia Rong: "According to the market price"

Lin Daiyu: "Our family is not short of this little money, so we can give him an extra [-]%."

Jia Rong quickly replied: "Yes." Without looking back, he ran out as fast as he could.

Jia Hu was startled for a moment and looked straight at Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu stood up calmly and said, "I'll go back if nothing happens." After saying that, she stood there and looked at Jia Hu.

Jia Hu smiled, put the bills into the wooden box, locked it, stepped forward and took her hand, "Let's go."

Lin Daiyu didn't lose her temper or speak. She said "Yeah" and followed Jia Hu out obediently.
(End of this chapter)