Jinghong Tower

Chapter 331: Broken muscles and bones
The information sent by He Hua finally reached the capital.

He Ran narrowed his eyes when he saw the content of the intelligence.

He Ran knew about the evil hobbies of the new emperor. After Yuan Xiaodong and Zeng Fu came to Beijing, He Ran made detailed inquiries and confirmed that the new emperor had been acting cautiously after moving the capital and had not done anything harmful to nature again.

Of course, just because he didn't do it again doesn't mean he has stopped.

But in this situation, even if he has ascended the throne as emperor, he cannot do whatever he wants.

He Ran gave him five years.

The new emperor could sit on that chair for five years. Not only did he look at the world, but he was able to sit firmly in his small court.

Once you settle down, all kinds of desires will arise.

Women like flowers, clothes and jewelry, men.
Only this time, He Ran had to admit that she underestimated the new emperor.

This was far less than five years, and he was able to regain his old ways amidst internal and external troubles.

He Ran could send people to tell the world about the new emperor's evil deeds, but it would not stir up trouble or shake his foundation. As for the whispers among the courtiers and the low voices in the streets, they would fall into silence in less than three days. .

But those families who have lost their girls will disappear, and their lives and deaths are uncertain.

Xiugu saved four children and four families, but what about the ones before that?
After those girls were ravaged, even if they were not dead at the time, those who worked for the new emperor would not spare their lives.

And once these crimes are exposed, in order to cover up the crimes, the first thing those people think of is to let the families of these girls disappear from the world.

Who said someone lost a child?

Where?
At the fourth watch, He Ran woke up. She put on her clothes and got out of bed and walked to the window.

When I opened the window, the cold wind hit my face. Winter in the capital could not wait to come.

He Ran looked at the sky in the dark night. There were no stars in the cold night, only a pale waning moon.

He Ran stood in front of the window with only one word in her mind.

money!
Yes, she is short of money now, very short of it. With money, she can raise more troops and build more sophisticated weapons. With money, she can cross the river and take Jinling directly!

Early the next morning, He Ran did not go to Wenxian Hall, but went directly to the Ministry of Revenue.

When Lao Guanghuai heard that she was coming, he went out to welcome her. Before he could reach the door, He Ran strolled in, holding an oil paper bag in his hand: "Grandpa, Hu Ji's door-nail meat pie, I remember you love it." Eat this."

Lao Guanghuai felt warm in his heart. When he was still in the capital, one of his attendants bought door-nail meat cakes. He came back and told him that he saw Miss He while queuing up. red.

Unexpectedly, a few years later, He Ran would still remember his preferences.

"Okay, okay, I just didn't have enough breakfast."

He Ran did not deliberately hide her relationship with Lao Guanghuai. After Lao Guanghuai landed in the Ministry of Household Affairs, people in the Ministry of Household Affairs already knew who Lao Guanghuai was.

Good guy, Mr. He is the grandfather of Mr. He, and he is also the only relative appointed by Mr. He so far.

Moreover, this person is still her elder.

However, Lao Guanghuai's previous resume was neat and tidy. He was the prefect of Yangzhou and the minister of the Ministry of Rites. Even without his relationship with He Ran, he could still be qualified for the position of Minister of Household Affairs based on his resume alone.

However, after Lao Guanghuai took charge of the Household Department, He Ran never treated him specially. Lao Guanghuai was diligent and conscientious. Therefore, over time, the people in the Household Department had almost forgotten that Lao Guanghuai was not only the leader of the Household Department Official, he is also the grandfather of He Da.

It was only at this moment, after hearing the exchange between grandfather and grandson, that everyone suddenly remembered, how could they forget that Mr. Lao had an amazing granddaughter.

Some people have been silently questioning themselves in their hearts, whether they have been rude to others these days.

But more people are worried, and they go to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. The boss comes early in the morning, and big things happen to the household department.

This was also the case. After He Ran left, Lao Guanghuai looked at the unfinished door-nail meatloaf on the table and shook his head with a smile.

This was the most expensive door-nail meatloaf he had ever eaten.

In the next few years, he would have to raise money. The more battles He Ran fought, the money gap would only get bigger and bigger.

Two days later, Lao Guanghuai got an official document from He Ran. Based on this official document, the Ministry of Household Affairs sent people to various places to investigate the properties of officials going south.

In fact, in the past few years, both He Ran, the generals, and the Jin Yiwei have confiscated the private property of many officials who went south, but what they confiscated was only on the surface, as anyone who has ever been an official knows. , these are only a small part of what is out there.

For example, a high-ranking official opened a restaurant, but the owner of the restaurant was neither the official nor his wife and children, but his servants.

Almost every high-ranking official has several servants like him who have a lot of wealth in their home.

They hold the slave's deed of sale, and no matter how many assets they put in the slave's name, they don't have to worry about betrayal.

There are also some businesses that invest in shares, which are even more difficult to check.

What the Ministry of Household Affairs is investigating now is the simplest kind of property, where assets are placed in the name of a slave or relative.

This is a big project, but the results are remarkable.

In the first month alone, the Ministry of Revenue found fifty-six such private properties, including luxury houses, shops, and even brothels and gambling houses.

Last time, Feng Zan inspected fifty-nine private properties in Liushan River, but this time, Lao Guanghuai set his sights on the number two figure next to the new emperor, Cheng Shunbo Qian Ruolin.

Qian Ruolin is different from Liushanhe, who was the old tribe of the new emperor when he was in Qingzhou. Therefore, the Liu family's assets are mainly concentrated in Qingzhou and Jinan Prefecture.

Although the Qian family was only an uncle's house, it had a queen, of course, a posthumous queen.

She was the biological mother of the new emperor, Concubine Qian Shu.

Qian Ruolin is the uncle of the new emperor. In addition to Cheng Shunbo, the Qian family also has the title of Marquis of Chengen, which is currently given to Qian Ruolin's younger brother Qian Ruowang.

In the capital, the children of Chengshunbo Mansion were very low-key, and because King Qi was adopted when he was young, both Emperor Taizong and the late Emperor took great care of Chengshunbo Mansion.

Brothers Qian Ruolin and Qian Ruowang, one in Guanglu Temple and the other in the Ministry of Industry, may seem like ordinary people, but in fact, they secretly make a lot of money.

The King of Qi is far away in Qingzhou, and the Qian brothers are the money grabbers of the King of Qi.

The Qian brothers purchased and managed all the properties of King Qi outside Lu.

After He Ran entered the capital, he only confiscated three houses and 800 acres of sacrificial land owned by Cheng Shunbo in the capital.

All three houses have been rewarded, and the 800 acres of sacrificial land are still in the household department. These sacrificial fields will not be sold until the end.

This time, out of the fifty-six properties that Lao Guanghuai investigated, thirty-five belonged to the Qian family. It is unknown how many of these thirty-five properties belonged to the new emperor.

Seeing the results of this month, He Ran was overjoyed and immediately ordered the nails in Jinling to spread the good news.

However, the Qian brothers already knew the news first.

Although separated by a river, the industries left in Jiangbei have always been under their control.

In the past few years, they have been disposing of the property, but with the war in chaos, it is not easy to dispose of the property. Even if someone wants to buy it, the price is kept high and low. In the past two years, the north has gradually become peaceful, and the prices of these properties have gradually recovered, but they no longer dare to sell in large quantities.

It was too dangerous, and it was easy to be targeted. If anyone found out that these properties belonged to the Qian family, or even to the New Emperor, they would lose all their money.

Therefore, in the past two years, they have been secretly selling off a small amount of property and things, but these are just the tip of the iceberg for the Qian family and Xinti's huge family property.

After the news that the Liu family's fifty-nine properties had been confiscated reached Jinling, the Qian brothers became anxious and worried that one day they would be targeted by He Ran. However, they did not expect that this day would come so quickly.

Of course, they had to rely on the emperor's nephew. If it hadn't been for the emperor's nephew's misbehavior, He Ran wouldn't be in a hurry to raise money, and Lao Guanghuai wouldn't have found out about them.

Of course, these thirty-five properties were not the only ones left by the Qian family in the north, but even so, it made them feel distressed.

What's more, the biggest ones among them actually belong to the New Emperor!
Over the years, the Qian brothers have watched their nephew walk from Qingzhou to the capital, and then from the capital to Jinling, changing from prince to regent, and from regent to emperor.

And the relationship between them has changed from uncle and nephew to monarch and minister.

Especially in the past two years, they have felt that their nephew is becoming more and more alienated from them.

The two concealed the news at first, but they forgot that there was not only one source of the news. They could know it, and of course the emperor could also know it.

The new emperor was furious.

The emperor's anger did not burn on He Ran (firstly, he was far away, and secondly, he did not dare).

The unlucky Qian brothers shouldered everything.

My dear nephew smashed the cup on the uncles' feet. They didn't dare to hide and let the hot tea seep into their boots.

"Tell me the truth, how many industries are left in Jiangbei?"

The Qian brothers understood that the new emperor was not asking about the Qian family's properties, but the properties that were given to the Qian family to make money.

Qian Ruolin said cautiously: "There are still sixty-five shops, as well as five restaurants, eight brothels, six rice shops, six pawn shops, four gambling houses, and Chengyuan Commercial House run by our people."

Qian Ruowang added in a low voice: "There are three more mines in Handan and Leting."

The new emperor felt his head buzzing, there were so many!

"Didn't I ask you to deal with it? Why are there so many?"

When the capital was moved, the new emperor asked the Qian family to dispose of everything they could and turn it into gold and transport it to Jinling. However, after a few years, there was still so much.

The heads of the Qian brothers are about to be stuck in the ground. Don't they want to deal with it?

You must have never heard of the price of one tael of silver for ten acres of land, right?
Yes, in these years of war and chaos, ten acres of fertile land could be bought for one tael of silver, and the prices of those shops were cut in half and then cut in half again.

Why are you willing to sell it!

The new emperor looked down at the two people in front of him with disdain. These two losers were more likely to fail than succeed.

It's a pity that I was just a vassal king back then. Let alone buying properties near the capital, I didn't dare to make a big splash even in Jinan Prefecture.

In those years, the only family he could use was Cheng Shunbo's house.

The Qian family did do a lot for him and made a lot of money for him, allowing him to recruit troops and make friends with important officials in the court.

But he also gave the Qian family a sweet spot. Half of the money the Qian family earned from his property was given to him, and the other half went into the Qian family's pockets.

He knew it well, but he turned a blind eye and refused to allow the Qian family to enjoy the benefits. How could he be so determined to make money for himself?

But now, these two are trying to destroy all his properties!

How can the new emperor endure it?
That night, the two masters Qian stayed in the palace.

The Qian family didn't see them returning, so they sent someone to inquire. After asking, they found out that they had been stayed by the emperor.

The Qian family didn't care, and were even a little proud. See, although their nephew was the emperor, he still treated his two uncles as always.

The Qian family were the closest people to the emperor.

But early the next morning, when the two Mr. Qian walked out of the temporary palace with ashen faces, someone smelled the unpleasant smell of urine on them.

These two peed their pants?

No one knows what happened that night, but these two Mr. Qian looked very bad.

driven to distraction?

Shocked?

Life is better than death?

He Ran soon found out what happened to the two Master Qian.

He Ran laughed. It seemed that the new emperor's muscles and bones were hurt this time.

But this is not enough. I haven’t collected enough money to beat you yet.

"Xiaodong, go to the household department and tell Mr. Lao to continue the investigation and keep investigating the Qian family!"

Half a month later, the household department raised the first sum of money, a total of two hundred thousand taels.

He Ran was very happy and transferred ten people from the Eagle Team to follow Lao Guanghuai. He ordered ten more people and sent them to Lao's Mansion.

These twenty people were both men and women. Those who followed Lao Guanghuai were all men, while those sent to Lao's mansion were mostly women.

When Lao Guanghuai returned home, he saw a new face coming next to his wife. She was very handsome and looked like an extraordinary woman at first sight.

Lao Guanghuai smiled at Mrs. Shangguan and joked: "We can be considered blessed with children and grandchildren."

Mrs. Shangguan also laughed: "I am an old woman, why am I still worried that someone will fail to assassinate me? That child just has endless worries."

Lao Guanghuai shook his head: "Madam, you can't think like this. The child values ​​us two old bones. For the sake of the child, we can't have any trouble. We can't be careless."

Mrs. Shangguan never gets involved in political affairs. Now she was startled and asked, "Did you offend someone outside? What did you do?"

Lao Guanghuai smiled bitterly: "Madam, don't worry, the person I offended is on the other side of the river."

Mrs. Shangguan understood immediately, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out to be the small court down south, so it would be fine. It was so far away, and those people couldn't stretch their hands so long.

But it turned out that Mrs. Shangguan's thinking was too simple.

A few days later, the eldest son of the Lao family, Sun Lao Fengyun, was kidnapped on his way back from the academy.

Lao Guang was pregnant with two sons and one daughter. The daughter was deceased. Although the two sons were brothers, they got married late. As a cousin, Lao Fengyun was only two years older than He Ran.