Red Mansion Soldiers

Chapter 172 Major Corruption Case
No, this kind of errand that can be done with eyes closed can also be done?

It's not like digging a canal from scratch, it's repairing it, it's dredging the river channel!

You don't even have to do it yourself, just go to the local gang that runs the dock and give them the money, and they can handle the matter safely by themselves.

Through Mr. Lu's words, Jia Hui probably clarified the matter.

Regarding this matter with little technical content, Jia Zheng felt that the court was undermining his talents by doing this kind of thing, so he wanted to make it more difficult for himself so that the officials and the emperor could see what he was capable of!

Combined with the 10 taels of silver given by the imperial court, after much deliberation, Jia Zheng decided to save as much money as possible for the imperial court!

Things that could have been handled by local craftsmen or gangs in Beiping, Jia Zheng had to make some mistakes.

He felt that the craftsmen and gangs in these government-run workshops would embezzle a large amount of special funds, and then only keep the money to build projects of barely acceptable quality, and then they would be broken down within a few years, so that they could eat another round of money.
Humph, the people who came to supervise the work before were all corrupt officials, and I was ashamed to be associated with them!
This time, I, Jia Zheng, will use all the funds on the project to ensure that it will be completed once and for all. There will be no problems for at least a hundred years!
For this reason, Jia Zheng decided to form an engineering team himself!

But that being said, Jia Zheng was puzzled by such mundane matters as how to recruit workers, who was considered a qualified craftsman, and what plans to repair the canals.
Just when Jia Zheng was very busy but didn't know what to do, and was a little discouraged and ready to give up, at the critical moment, his buyer Shan Pinren appeared in front of him, patting his chest and promising to take care of this matter. Done properly.

Jia Zheng believed it!
"Then your second uncle, Qingke named Shan, went to have a meal with the gang and officials."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Lu, people from gangs and officials?" Jia Hui looked strange.

Aren’t they not allowed to be repaired by gangs and officials?Why did this wind up and come back again?

"No, think about it. Who are the people who have the ability to dredge rivers and build canals? Those are all talented people. They either joined the yamen of the Ministry of Industry or joined the gangs and worked as bosses. The rest will soon be left. Two knives!

The man surnamed Shan is not stupid. He knows this truth. If he really finds those two swords to repair, it will be fine. But if something happens if the repair is not done well, the chief officer will be dead. He is actually involved in making suggestions. Can the construction workers still run away?That means beheading! "

"Tsk tsk, this Shan Pinren is also a talent."

"No, later on he asked officials and gang members to form a construction team to work together."

Originally they wanted to refuse, but making money and business are not shabby!
The two parties also reluctantly gathered a construction team.

Everything went smoothly up to this point, and Jia Zheng was very satisfied during the inspection. After all, he had only seen the leaders of gangs and officials, but not the people below him. He couldn't tell them apart, so he started doing it with a wave of his hand.

In fact, that official team is not necessarily official. To be precise, it is affiliated to the Ministry of Works. They have been granted official status to facilitate their work. It is precisely because of the official status that they behave very well on weekdays. arrogant.

And who are the gangs?How could the Lord, who was always so brave and fierce, lose his prestige in front of these officials and their families?
In addition, there are always many contradictions in fighting for business, so these people got together and naturally started fighting.

However, under the intimidation of Jia Zheng as a minister of the Ministry of Works, the two parties seemed to have reconciled on the surface.
But the fight in private is getting worse!

This open and covert struggle also quickly affected the finances.
"Ah, I understand. Those gangs think that they can avoid conflict with you. No problem. I can even obey your orders completely, but I want more money!"

"Yes, that's the truth! But the officials and their families didn't think so. The officials and their families felt that you should have listened to us professionals, and we were the ones who should get more money. Then the two groups started fighting openly and secretly. "

Today I cut off some food expenses, but tomorrow I accidentally knock over the bracket and injure the professional standing on it.
The two groups started making more and more small moves, and as they were fighting, they suddenly remembered the cause of all conflicts - wages.

So under the negotiation between the leaders of the two groups, they got their hands deep into the finances.
"Then where is Shan Pinren? Logically speaking, being beaten like this must have delayed the progress of the project, right?"

"It's natural. Shan also wanted to take care of it, but the group of people suddenly stopped, and then started to build the canal honestly. Shan thought they were hurting Lao Lao, so he I just ignored it and continued to have fun and have a good time."

After the project had been going on for a month and it was time to pay next month's payment, something happened.
The remaining project funds are not enough!

Shan Pinren's heart suddenly went cold when he saw that after all calculations, he was owed 10 taels in the account book.
Shan Pinren embezzled 10 taels of the 5000 taels of silver used for the project, and used another 5000 taels to seal the silence of his colleagues who were also Jia Zhengqingke and the servants of the Jia family who came with them. The 7 taels paid are the money to repair the canal!

Last month, 5 taels of silver were given to the project. With this 5 taels of silver, I could barely build a water channel that could cope with the work and be guaranteed to be in good condition for a year and a half. It depends on luck in two years. But this time It's different this time. Although Shan Pinren is a bit greedy this time, he also wants to achieve some real results and let Ming Gong see his ability, so that he can be recommended to work in the Sixth Department.
Therefore, he planned to use 7 taels to repair the canal. He could not only save some of the money, but also build a good canal that would not be damaged for seven or eight years or even ten years. But
The canal in front of me barely cost 5 taels to repair, with just over 8% of it repaired. There are two people standing together who are as close as brothers, squeezing their necks and saying that the remaining [-]% of the canal needs [-] taels to repair. Man, Shan Pinren's face was extremely pale.
Those 5000 taels that were given as filial gifts to other Qing Dynasty guests and servants will definitely not come back. As for the 5000 taels that I left behind, I bought a thin horse from Yangzhou with 3000 taels, and 5000 taels have been sent back to my family in my hometown. I went to buy land and buy a house, and then I spent almost 2000 taels on the debauchery in Beiping City, and I only had 5000 taels of silver left on my hands!

The panicked Shan Pinren's first thought was to go back to Jia Zheng and beg him for help, but these two groups of people knew that he had embezzled project funds. If they were to tell him, let alone him, it would be Jia Zheng will be stabbed.
As for why you didn’t tell Jia Zheng that the canals were being built very well, so the money was not enough.
The 10 taels of silver was an amount calculated by the Ministry of Industry after repeated calculations. Even if there were errors or local price increases, the difference would be a few thousand taels of less than 1 taels of silver.

And not only the officials of the Ministry of Industry would not believe this amount exceeding 10 taels, but also his unofficial Ming Gong would not believe it!
Shan Pinren, who had not yet become an old man, suddenly panicked. He promised that he would definitely send another 10 taels, then he got on his horse and ran to his residence in the city. He took the remaining silver notes and left the city from the north. Ran around south
"Then, the two groups who had waited for two whole days but still had no money panicked. Since they accepted the job, they would be responsible for repairing the canal. They were so frightened that they hurried into the city to find the buyer. Hiring Ren, only then realized that he had run away
You said that these people are also stupid. It is related to the responsibility of building canals. Why don't they send people to keep an eye on the man named Shan? "

In the private house, Jia Hui twirled the noodles over and over again and told the gossip he heard from Lu Xiujie to Li Wan and Jia She who were stunned and the noodles fell out of their mouths.
The old lady didn't want to stay with the big house, so she took Baoyu to find Jia Min for dinner.
"You bastard, how can you still smile when such a big thing happened!" Jia She became anxious all of a sudden.

Although he doesn't like his second brother Jia Zheng very much, embezzling project funds, especially those related to water conservancy, belongs to the Yi tribe!
He is within the three clans!
"Hey, it's okay. Isn't it just a matter of being embezzled? It's a trivial matter. According to the law, you can get away with it by paying twice the original amount of money."

"But how can he have the money to pay the atonement? You are targeting the old lady's private house!" When encountering such a life-threatening matter, Jia She will become extremely smart and wise. "Yes, the business of the public school, the Wang family, and the second house's property were all messed up before. But I didn't expect that the old lady and the second house had quite a solid foundation. So far, they are still the same as those before the division. Their living standards are the same, and you can tell at a glance that they are quite greedy." Jia Hui took all the remaining noodles in the bowl into his mouth, took the wet handkerchief handed over by Li Wan and wiped his mouth.

"Brother Hui, the old lady only has this little dignity left. After all, she is your grandmother and my biological mother. There is no need to be so cruel, right?" The filial piety in his heart towards Jia Mu made Jia She sit up and down. Uneasy.

"You don't want the old lady to pay? No problem, but my county government won't pay for it. You, my second wife, and the old lady can collect the atonement money yourself."

Jia Hui said indifferently, picked up the teacup again, drank the tea soup and rinsed his mouth.

"That's it, forget it." Jia She thought about his private room, and his face suddenly changed from a good brother who was worried about his brother's safety to a hard-hearted one.
Jia Hui pursed his lips and smiled.

He had found out a long time ago how many private houses Jia She had.

The first generation Rong Guogong and his wife, the private house left by Jia She's grandparents, should have had more than 500 and nearly 600 million taels of silver, including real estate, Zhuangzi, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc. The total cash and silver value was 300 About ten thousand taels.

Over the years, I have spent about 120 million taels of silver one after another. There is no shortage of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and many more.
In other words, he still has less than 200 million taels of cash left. If he really pays the 20 taels of atonement silver for Jia Zheng, his cash amount will instantly shrink by more than one-tenth.
Forget it, what can Mr. Zheng do to help? If the second wife has money herself, the old lady will definitely contribute money to subsidize it. The worst thing is that there is also the princess Jia Yuanchun.
As for the two brothers’ father, where is Jia Daishan’s private house?
Jia Daishan's private houses were all left to his favorite grandson Jia Hui.

"That's right, Dad, we all have our own share of the property with the second house, so don't worry about them." Jia Hui looked at Jia She seriously and said.

"But just in case, old lady."

"Then let the old lady come to me directly and let her talk to me! Oh, thank you madam!"

Jia Hun was speaking domineeringly, and Li Wan, who was silent on the side, handed Jia Hun a large bowl of noodles that had been remixed with marinade.
. . . . . .

Nameless view.

"What did you say? The bastard and that old guy are here in Guanzhong!"

"Master Sun, what my disciple said is absolutely true! The ceremonial guard is almost five miles long, it must be the emperor."

"You bastard, that's not the emperor, that's a bastard who eats shit to survive!"

"Yes! That must be the honor guard of that bastard who survived by eating shit!"

The spy was shocked and quickly changed his story. He actually called that bitch Emperor, bah bah bah!
Just when he was about to slap himself thirty more times, he was stopped by the old Taoist priest.

"Master Sun, what are you doing? I actually called that bitch. Alas, I'm sorry to the late Emperor, so let me punish myself thirty times!"

"You bastard, I accidentally called that bastard a dog emperor just now. Bah, bah, bah, late emperor, I can't help you. Come on, my master and disciple, let's open our mouths to each other for thirty years to serve as a warning!"

"Yes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the spy slapped the old Taoist priest on the face, knocking him off the futon and falling to the ground.
Looking at the two people who were slapping each other and encouraging each other to try harder, the little prince, with his left arm bandaged and hanging around his neck, huddled in the corner and tried his best to reduce his presence, for fear of being discovered by them.

He was already a little numb to this scene.

You hit me and I hit you. After finally slapping each other thirty times, the master and the apprentice stopped.

The spy was not strong enough and could only cover his cheek to endure the pain, while the old Taoist priest burst out laughing.
"Old Sun, why are you smiling so happily?"

A middle-aged man with a gaping mouth walked in. The spy quickly knelt down on the ground and said he was in command, while the young man huddled in the corner also walked over while holding back his fear.

Although Wei Ci was not as crazy as Sun Laodao, he was not much better, and the beating was extremely painful.

Moreover, his own mother was killed with a single blow by this open-mouthed man!
"Disciple pays homage to Master Wei."

"Oh, Prince, you really upset this old minister!" Wei Ci quickly helped him up. For a moment, master and apprentice were in harmony, causing Sun Laodao to stroke his beard and nod happily.
"Hey, Lao Sun, you haven't answered me yet. What made you smile so happily?"

"Hehehehe, hahahaha, Old Wei, Old Wei, do you know? The opportunity we have been waiting for for nearly ten years has finally come. That bastard and the old thing came to Guanzhong together!"

(End of this chapter)