My Red Mansion Career

Chapter 216 Falling out

"Forget it, we won't argue with this dying man."

Lan Renxian and Luan Tili comforted themselves in their hearts. Just at this moment, the maid brought tea, and they picked up the tea and drank it.

After a while, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, a young man wearing a python robe strode in from outside.

When they saw the person coming, they knew that the rightful owner of the day was here. They quickly put down their teacups, bowed to the person and said, "I would like to lower my official position to the governor of Jiangsu, Lan Renxian, and the prefect of Yangzhou, Luan Ti, to pay homage to Uncle Dingyuan!"

Jia Yu looked at the two people who were saluting him, supported them with both hands, and said with a smile: "You two adults don't need to be polite.

You two are the parents of this place, responsible for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of hundreds of thousands of people. I have just arrived, and I should have been the first to pay a visit to the two adults, but unfortunately something delayed me.

It is a great pleasure to see two adults today. "

When the two of them heard this, they thought...this person was the one who picked the right one.

No matter which dynasty, only subordinates always pay homage to superiors. How can there be any reason for superiors to take the initiative to pay homage to subordinates? Jia Yu said this clearly to express dissatisfaction to them.

Luan Tili gritted his teeth and said, "Where is it... Your Excellency is an important minister of the imperial court. When you come to Yangzhou, your subordinates should be the first to pay their respects."

Lan Renxian smiled bitterly and said: "My lord, please forgive me. The number of refugees near Yangzhou has increased dramatically these days, which has disturbed the people in Yangzhou.

Xiaguan and other officials in Yangzhou were very busy with this matter, so they have not been able to come to see him. I hope your lordship will forgive me. "

"The surge in refugees has made the people of Yangzhou restless?"

A meaningful smile appeared on Jia Yu's lips, "Governor Lan, where do these increasing numbers of refugees come from?

What countermeasures have you and Yangzhou officials come up with? "

"This one……"

Lan Renxian was startled, and then replied: "For those refugees, it is nothing more than opening porridge shops and setting up tents to prevent these refugees from starving to death.

Wait until the famine is over, and then let these refugees return to their hometowns. This is the method that the imperial court has always used to resettle the refugees. "

"Well……"

Jia Yu said noncommittally: "Has Lord Nalan arranged everything properly?"

"This one……"

Lan Renxian became more and more depressed. What happened to Uncle Dingyuan?

Shouldn't you be asking questions about those salt merchants? Why are you suddenly interested in those lowly refugees?

Could it be that he wanted to use this as a breakthrough to deliberately cause trouble for me and Luan Tili?

I have to say that the thinking of an official is still very active compared to ordinary people.

Thinking of this, Lan Renxian became more and more cautious.

He thought for a while and then said: "Returning to Sir, due to the severe drought in Anhui this year, most of these refugees came from Xu Beng and Chuzhou.

However, there is not much food in Yangzhou, so it is quite difficult to cope with it. The following officials have sent a message to Jinling a few days ago, requesting that a batch of food be transferred from Jinling Changping Granary.

But to this day, Jinling has not replied, and the official is worried about this. "

Seeing Lan Renxian acting like he was very busy but couldn't do anything after working on it for a long time, Jia Yu felt bored.

He said bluntly: "Governor Lan, what you said is as if you didn't say it.

As a dignified governor, in charge of all matters of Jiangsu, but if you can't even deal with the affairs of the refugees, what use does the imperial court have for you? "

As soon as Jia Yu's words came out, the expressions of Lan Renxian and Luan Tili changed immediately, and they immediately knew that trouble was coming.

Sure enough, Jia Yu stared at him and said slowly: "If I remember correctly, there are three Changping warehouses in Yangzhou, and the grain stored in them should be no less than three to four million dan. How come they are connected to just a few warehouses? To the point where even a refugee wants to ask for help from Jinling?"

"This...this..."

Lan Renxian suddenly felt that he had made the biggest mistake by using the refugee as an excuse. Now he was fine... The other party followed suit and found him, right?

Just when Lan Renxian was breaking out in a cold sweat, Luan Tili spoke, "To tell you the truth, there are three changpingcang in Yangzhou, but the grain in these three changpingcang cannot be touched without the decree of the imperial court. Futai Your Excellency, it is a helpless act to ask for help from Jinling."

"Hey... what a helpless move." Now that he has caught the opponent's flaw, there is no reason for Jia Yu to let it go easily.

"Since the Chang Ping Cang in Yangzhou cannot be moved without decree, can the Chang Ping Cang in Jinling be opened at will? Magistrate Luan, your words make me very puzzled."

Now it was Luan Tili's turn to sweat, but Jia Yu seemed to know that now was not the time to lift the lid.

The topic changed, "That's all, I'm not a civil servant, so I can't care about these things.

But there is one thing that puzzles me.

Yangzhou is known as one of the richest places in the south of the Yangtze River. Why is food so tight? Moreover, Yangzhou is known as the capital of merchants.

There are merchants everywhere here, especially the salt merchants, who are said to be as rich as anyone in the country. Haven't these two adults ever thought of asking for alms from these salt merchants? "

"I'm coming……"

Hearing that Jia Yu finally mentioned the salt merchant, Lan Renxian and Luan Tili felt their hearts tighten, and at the same time they breathed a sigh of relief. After such a big circle, the two sides finally got to the point.

Lan Renxian quickly replied: "I hope the lord knows that the so-called Yangzhou salt merchants are so rich that they can rival the country is just a rumor.

Those salt merchants actually only earned some hard-earned money. On weekdays, they often built bridges, paved roads, and opened porridge shops, and they never fell behind others.

If the government squeezes them too much and the salt merchants are destroyed, it may cause a shock in the south of the Yangtze River. "

"Excessive oppression? Family ruin?"

Jia Yu was almost angry.

He said to Lan Renxian with a strange expression: "Master Lan, if I hadn't known that you were the governor of Jiangsu, I might have thought that your family was a salt dealer.

Could it be that all the sage books you have read over the years have ended up in the dog’s belly?

The people are the most important, the country is the second most important, and the king is the least important. Don’t you understand?

What are salt merchants? To put it bluntly, they are just a group of salt merchants. If my Daxia court can support them, it will naturally destroy them.

Do you still need me to teach you the principle of losing a dime and benefiting the world?

If you don't even understand this, I think you don't need to be an official anymore, and you can beg for His Majesty's bones as soon as possible. "

Jia Yu's words were like a sharp sword, piercing deeply into the chests of Lan Renxian and Luan Tili.

Thinking about the two of them, one is a fourth-grade prefect, and the other is a second-grade governor of a province. Wherever they go, they are not full of flattery?

But today, they were ridiculed one after another by a young man the same size as their son, who even told them to beg for their bones. This was undoubtedly a huge humiliation.

"You, you...I, I..."

"Master Jia!"

Lan Renxian couldn't help but said angrily: "As a governor of a province, I asked myself that I have been serving the court conscientiously for decades and never slackened off. Why did the Lord humiliate me for no reason? If I didn't give him a chance to , Don’t blame me for impeaching you!"

"As you wish!"

Facing the fierce-looking Lan Renxian and Luan Tili, Jia Yu showed no fear.

He looked at the two of them with a sneer, "You know how many bad things you two have done, don't put gold on your faces.

I am not afraid to talk openly today about the beginning of the founding of the Xia Dynasty.

Taizu made a policy of salt introduction and handed over most of the salt to the eight major salt merchants for their hard work and loyalty to the country.

And those salt merchants did live up to Taizu's trust at the beginning, and the salt tax paid every year was more than ten million taels of silver.

But as more than seventy years have passed, the number of people in Daxia has increased from more than 30 million at the beginning of the founding of the country to hundreds of millions today.

The population has increased several times since the founding of the People's Republic of China, but the salt tax has become less and less every year. Last year's salt tax was only a mere four million.

Come and tell me, what is going on? Could it be that all the people in Daxia no longer need to eat salt?

Come on...have you said it all? "

Lan Renxian and Luan Tili were speechless for a while.

No matter how eloquent and eloquent they are, when faced with the ironclad facts, they can't say anything in defense other than being speechless.

Yes, the population has increased several times, but the salt tax has been reduced several times. You can't say that the new people don't eat salt, can you?

If there are more people but less salt tax, then there is only one result, that is, the extra salt tax collected will be misappropriated.

Looking at the two people who were speechless, Jia Yu's eyes were as sharp as two cold lights, illuminating their two filthy hearts.

When Lin Ruhai on the hospital bed saw Jia Yu reprimanding Lan Renxian and Luan Tili unceremoniously, he did not stop them with words. Instead, he leaned on the bed and watched quietly, with a gleam in his eyes from time to time.

The two of them quickly recovered from their shock and shame. Seeing the angry look on Lan Renxian's face, Luan Tili quickly said loudly:

"Master Jia, although you have come to Yangzhou on errands under His Majesty's orders, you cannot arbitrarily frame the ministers of the imperial court.

The lower official asked himself whether he was worthy of the court and the people since he took office as the magistrate of Yangzhou.

There was nothing wrong with his duties. Mr. Lan worked hard for the local elders, but he never imagined that he would be framed like this by the lord.

Aren't you afraid that Yangzhou officials, big and small, will be disappointed when they find out? "

Jia Yu smiled contemptuously: "I don't know whether you are disappointed or not, but I can be sure that the people of Yangzhou will be very happy."

"I……"

Lan Renxian grabbed Luan Dili who was still talking, then stood up and cupped his hands towards Jia Yu and Lin Ruhai: "If you don't want to talk about it, Jia Jueji has a deep prejudice against Yangzhou officials. I have nothing to say." He said, let us each contribute to the court according to our own abilities."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Luan Tili on the side also quickly followed, but this guy snorted at Jia Yu before leaving.

After the two left, Lin Ruhai said leisurely: "Think twice...are you really going to fall out with them like this?"

Jia Yu nodded: "It's only a matter of time before we fall out with Lan Renxian, Luan Tili and the others. Those salt merchants have made a lot of money over the years relying on the salt issued to them by the court.

Without the support of local officials like Lan Renxian, how could they have the courage to act so boldly?

The reason why I forced them to fall out today is to see what kind of trouble they can make next. "

Lin Ruhai sighed softly: "But if this happens, you, the Yangzhou officialdom and the salt merchants will no longer have any room for maneuver."

"room?"

Jia Yu chuckled: "Father-in-law, do you think you have room for maneuver without falling out with them?"

Lin Ruhai smiled bitterly, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand, and shook his head helplessly: "The ancients said that a scholar is useless if he is useless. This is really true.

In my life, I have always wanted to leave room for others, so I have suffered many losses, and I have not even been able to save my wife and children.

Even you, a young man in your prime, can understand the truth, but I, an old man in my forties, cannot understand it. No wonder His Majesty always says that my heart is too soft and needs to be tempered. "

"No...father-in-law, what you said is wrong."

Jia Yu said seriously: "Everything has two sides, being soft-hearted is not necessarily a shortcoming, and being ruthless is not necessarily an advantage.

Take the son-in-law as an example. Nowadays, the son-in-law and the civil servants headed by Mr. Wang Ge are almost on equal terms in the court.

This is also the reason why His Majesty entrusts his son-in-law with important responsibilities. After all, for an emperor, a lonely minister is the best to control. "

"Think twice and speak carefully!"

As soon as the words came out, Lin Ruhai's expression immediately changed.

He looked around to make sure there was no one around, and this time he said sternly: "Can you say such treasonous words?

If someone overhears, saying less is also a crime of dismissal from office and loss of title. "

Jia Yu said helplessly: "Don't worry, father-in-law, my son-in-law has said this to you.

The private conversations between our father-in-law and son-in-law will naturally not be spread out. "

"Then you can't just talk nonsense." Lin Ruhai still looked serious, "As the saying goes, if the king is not secret, the ministers will be lost. If the ministers are not secret, if they are themselves, there will be harm.

This kind of thing would rather rot in your stomach than say it out casually. Do you understand? "

Although Lin Ruhai's tone was stern, Jia Yu knew that he was also concerned about her, and said sternly: "Thank you for your father-in-law's teaching. My son-in-law will keep it in mind."

"Well!"

Lin Ruhai's expression softened slightly, "Next, we should also discuss what to do next."

While Lin Hehe and Jia Yuweng were discussing how to deal with those salt merchants, dozens of well-known local merchants from Yangzhou also gathered in a large courtyard covering an area of ​​dozens of acres.

Five or six huge tables were filled with people, all dressed in fine silks and satins. The tables were also filled with sumptuous food and wine.

It's just that the people sitting there didn't even look at the delicious food on the table. They either focused their attention on Ding Shoudao sitting on the center table, or several people gathered together and whispered.

Unlike others who were wearing silk and satin, Ding Shoudao today only wore a plain gown, with a simple knot on his head, and an ebony hairpin passed through the middle.

Ding Shoudao coughed slightly, and all the noise immediately fell silent.

Then he opened his mouth and said: "Everyone, a message has been sent over there.

Today, Mr. Lan and Mr. Luan jointly visited Mr. Jia, but they were choked back by him.

That person has already said that he came to Yangzhou this time to mess with us.

I won't give up until we get rid of us. I wonder if you have any good ideas? "

(End of this chapter)