Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 231: Collecting Money
Wei Xuezhong thought for a long time about how to give a gift to Jia Lian, and finally chose a simple and crude method: giving him gold bars!
The gold bars, each weighing one hundred taels, were packed in boxes, and it was difficult for one person to carry them. Wei Xuezhong's follower was strong and powerful, and it looked like he was doing it very easily. However, when he put them down, there was a slight sound, bang!
Jia Lian knew that this guy did it on purpose, and maybe Wei Xuezhong instructed him to do it, so Jia Lian was very calm and didn't even look at it.

It's like [Is Mr. Lian short of money? ]

Wei Xuezhong was an extremely interesting person. When he saw Jia Lian's reaction, he was not disturbed at all. Instead, he asked with a smile, "There are many women from Korea and Japan in Sun Ming's farm. They were all bought recently. If Lord Jia is interested, why not take a few back with you?"

You're telling me this? Haha, let me give you some experience so that you don't get too arrogant.

Jia Lian smiled and shook his head, "Do you know about the French delegation?"

Wei Xuezhong nodded: "Of course I know."

Jia Lian said, "There is a foreign woman in the delegation. She is wearing an evening gown with a neckline that is open to reveal two large buns that are half exposed. It is so immoral that one cannot bear to look at it. Korean women have a long history in the Central Plains. They were called Silla maids during the Tang Dynasty. Japanese women came more frequently during the Song Dynasty for vaccination. They all come from small places and are not presentable. Unless they are extremely beautiful, they are unlikely to be accepted by the upper class. Western noble women are proud of being promiscuous, while common women are more conservative. However, they all have the following disadvantages: they have a lot of body hair. They look attractive when they are dressed, but it is difficult to see them closely when they are naked. They also have a strong body odor. If they do not take a bath for a day or two, the odor is so strong that it is unbearable to smell. That is why they have to spray perfume to cover it up."

It’s not that Wei Xuezhong had never seen foreign women before, but he had only seen them from afar and didn’t know these details.

Jia Lian looked like he had eaten and used a lot of things, which naturally intimidated Wei Xuezhong.

The two chatted for a while, and Wei Xuezhong did not stay long. Jia Lian brought the teacup and he said goodbye.

In just a cup of tea's time, Prefect Lin arrived, not empty-handed. After a few polite words, he took out an envelope.

Compared with Wei Xuezhong's simplicity and roughness, Prefect Lin was much more elegant and said with a smile: "It's not easy for Lord Jia to come to Tianjin. I hope you will accept some local specialties."

Jia Lian was not so polite to Prefect Lin. He raised his hand to hold the envelope that he pushed over and said, "Master Lin, I dare not make any promises." Prefect Lin was not angry when he heard this. Instead, he was very happy and gave a thumbs up: "That's nice! Master Jia, don't worry, it's just a little token of my appreciation. I have no other intentions."

Jia Lian meant that you want to seek a good position, so I cannot accept this money. Prefect Lin meant that you want to make friends.

Prefect Lin did not stay long and left soon. He left a large sum of money, ten thousand yuan in Liangjiang Bank bills.

Looking at the banknotes, Jia Lian could not help but be slightly dazed. Speaking of private banks, there are three major banks: the Shanxi Merchants Bank, the Jinling Bank, and the Nanyang Bank, which is located in Guangzhou.

If these banks want to issue silver bills, they must pay a deposit. The central bank collects the deposit, first collects a management fee, and then uses the deposit to mint coins, making another profit. This is why the emergence of the central bank greatly improved the court's finances, and Emperor Chenghui also had the confidence to deal with the gentry in Jiangnan. If you don't pay your taxes, do you still have the right?

It seems that private banks are developing very fast now. Huitong Tianxia cannot do it for the time being, but Huitong has done it in every provincial capital. Cities like Dengzhou, Tianjin, are the main battlefields for banks to compete for.

Jia Lian has always been a cold-eyed bystander, not expressing any opinions, but he will immediately report anything wrong if he finds anything wrong.

Once financial deregulation occurs, disaster is bound to happen.

As the host, Sun Ming was in a miserable situation. He was the last one to come in. Jia Lian didn't give him a good look and asked directly, "How is the case going?" Sun Ming was a capable man. Although it didn't take long, only half a day, he had already made some progress.

"After my on-site inspection, I found that the thieves were probably not pirates, but were acting under the guise of pirates. Otherwise, they would not have only collected a few small boats and had almost no firearms."

Jia Lian really didn't expect that my intention to make things difficult for him would result in an unexpected surprise.

"Oh, what's your suspicion?" Jia Lian put away his thoughts and started talking about the matter at hand.

Sun Ming hesitated for a moment, and seemed to be struggling a bit, before he finally said, "I suspect it was the work of the salt smugglers."

Jia Lian, who was sitting upright, leaned back. This was a big news. The salt smuggler was the leader of a large private salt gang.

Official salt is expensive and of poor quality, while private salt is cheap and of high quality.

This is the current situation of the Zhou Dynasty.

When he was in Yunyang, Jia Lian saw that the official salt contained sand and stones. Using this as an excuse, Jia Lian asked Zhang Tingen to order the execution of two minor officials in order to win the hearts of the people. Otherwise, why would this guy be hated by the people?

This matter really had nothing to do with Jia Lian. Not only was a pound of salt sold for three hundred coins, but it was also mixed with sand. How could Jia Lian suppress his anger? At that time, Yunyang was a powder keg. A single spark would lead to a raging fire. No one dared to risk their life.

There is a Changlu Salt Field near Tianjin. It is normal for private salt dealers to have large-scale gangs. There are too many people who cannot survive. Especially the people in coastal areas have a hard time making a living. The key point is that private salt does not need to pay taxes. It can be said that the private salt of the Zhou Dynasty, the powerful, salt merchants, and private salt dealers joined together to expand the scale.

"In that case, this is the responsibility of Tianjin Prefecture?" Jia Lian had no intention of eradicating smuggled salt, and he was not the inspector of the salt road.

"Indeed, I have already written it and will deliver it tomorrow. This is the first draft!"

As Sun Ming spoke, he held a manuscript in both hands and handed it to Jia Lian. After Jia Lian took it, he opened it and fell silent.

The large-denomination silver note of 1,000 yuan is the largest-denomination silver note of the Shanxi Merchants Bank. Let's put it this way, if the central bank had not disapproved, they would have dared to issue a note of 10,000 taels. Of course, merchants in this era had a low social status, so reputation was very important. Especially for money houses, many Shanxi merchants would fill the holes they made even if they went bankrupt, hoping to revive in the future.

Once a businessman's reputation is ruined, he can no longer survive in his home town. If he commits a crime, he can only hide his identity.

It’s not that there are no scams, but nowadays, most of the scams are backed by someone in the government.

At any time, don't overestimate the integrity of businessmen. Once people are only interested in profit, they basically have no moral bottom line.

I'm not talking about the squid, I'll stack armor first.

It is said that we should build social consensus. What is social consensus? Morality!

Morality is the greatest common denominator of a society. Some things may not be illegal, and the police may not have enough evidence to intervene, but the human heart is a ruler. Even if it is a voluntary gift, can you accept it with peace of mind? He is your boyfriend, not your father.

Even with such a clear incident, there are still people trying to find ways to whitewash it. A life was lost in vain. If the woman had clearly refused, this would not have happened. Do they still have the nerve to wash it away? The more I think about it, the angrier I get. What would a society without moral bottom line look like? Can you imagine it?

Pulling away, get back to business.

Thirty silver bills, stacked together, were quite thick.

Jia Lian closed the manuscript unceremoniously and said, "I'll take it. I'll read it slowly tonight."

Sun Ming was overjoyed. When he stood up to leave, Jia Lian raised his hand to signal him to sit down and continued, "The case needs to be investigated thoroughly, but, not for me, but..." Jia Lian raised his hand and pointed to the sky. Although Sun Shaozu was hateful, Sun Ming was a talent. It would not be too late to deal with him after Sun died. Talents should be used first.

Sun Ming was just as Jia Lian expected, an ambitious man. After seeing Jia Lian's actions, he immediately stood up, knelt down in front of Jia Lian and said, "Thank you very much for your support, sir."

Jia Lian had no intention of deceiving him, so he accepted the salute with a clear conscience, raised his hand and said, "Stand up. Your Majesty is determined to become a great navy, so I am here. You should keep it to yourself. Tianjin is the gateway to the capital, and your Majesty attaches great importance to it."

Sun Ming stood up and said, "I saved it."

Jia Lian then picked up the teacup and said, "Have some tea!" Sun Ming immediately stood up and said goodbye, for he was afraid that Jia Lian would refuse, otherwise Zhuangzi would have dared to send him off.

Putting down the unfinished teacup, Jia Lian looked up and sighed, these people are really rich.

The next day, Jia Lian went to the dock to check on the navy. Because he had received money, Jia Lian showed no attitude.

There are ten large warships on the list, but none of them are in the port. No one knows whether they are there or not. There are twenty medium-sized warships, which means a displacement of more than 200 tons, and the sails are hard sails. For ships with this displacement, there is no room for soft sails. As for small boats, there is no need to pay attention to them. This kind of boat is too small even for fishing. Moreover, there are many types of small boats, with various names, such as patrol, messenger, etc., and it is impossible to distinguish them.

There was also the number of people. There were 8,000 people on the roster, but only 3,000 people on the parade ground. Jia Lian, who had received the money, nodded against his conscience and said, "It's correct, not a single cent off." As for signing and confirming, he had to pay extra money. He didn't make any trouble verbally, but he was paid to do the job.

Wei Xuezhong and Prefect Lin looked at each other and smiled, thinking that money can make anything possible.

After inspecting the Tianjin Navy, Jia Lian rested for two days, staying quietly in the manor, not even going out to sea. He really just rested, and at most went fishing at the seaside every day, and he always went after the sun went down.

Out of curiosity, Jia Lian found the Korean women and asked them a question, which was the so-called national costumes.

Soon, the two Korean women changed their clothes and came over, looking at Jia Lian eagerly, hoping to be kept or taken away by him.

When Jia Lian saw the clothes she was wearing, he shook his head in disappointment. They were very similar to those of the Ming Dynasty. No wonder some people said that before modern times, Korea was the country that learned the most from the Ming Dynasty.

One of the women suddenly remembered something and asked directly, "My lord, you are talking about the short collars worn by prostitutes, right?"

Jia Lian smiled at her and said, "I don't know that. I just heard it from someone else."

The woman said, "The short collar also reached halfway up the chest. When customers went to the brothel, they sat on the floor. Many people lay down, and when the women walked around, the customers could barely see through them. Later, it spread to the common people, and over the years, it has become shorter and shorter."

Jia Lian thought of the photos he had seen and nodded: "Maybe in the future, it might be exposed directly." (Dangda supplementary picture)

Well, people are still very reserved now. Even the girls in brothels are just pursuing a visual effect.

Seeing that the two Korean women spoke Chinese well, Jia Lian stayed to chat with them. After asking, he found out that they were sold by their parents when they were three or five years old. The traffickers spent money to feed them and hired people to teach them Chinese, just to sell them for a good price when they grew up. Like the two in front of him, one was fourteen years old and the other was fifteen years old. For them, Sun Ming spent one thousand taels of silver.

Speaking of these women, Sun Ming never touched them after buying them. His original intention was to give them to Shangguan. Isn't this a dead end?

Despite the two women's disappointed looks, Jia Lian still let them leave.

Before leaving for Dengzhou, Sun Ming came again, this time with a secret report, plus a land deed for the manor and the indentures of the maids. Jia Lian politely declined, saying, "Why would I want the manor in Tianjin? Just give me a discount!"

Sun Ming almost vomited blood when he heard this. He had seen greedy people, but he had never seen anyone as greedy as this.

In the end, Sun Ming paid an additional 5,000 taels of silver. The local farm was worthless, and the people were worthless too.

Jia Lian left like that, calmly, but on the way to Dengzhou, when he stayed overnight in Cangzhou, Jia Lian opened Sun Ming's secret report. After investigation, it was found that the two sides in the fierce battle that day were Liu Laoqi, a salt smuggler, and Su Tong of the Haihe Gang.

The reason for the war between the two sides was very simple. The Haihe Gang was too greedy. They ate the food of the Grand Canal, the food of the Haihe and Baihe rivers, and the food of the sea trade. In business, everyone does their own thing, which is not a big deal. However, the Haihe Gang relied on the support of the navy and pretended to be pirates at sea, robbing Liu Laoqi's ship not once, but several times.

The most important thing for a gangster is his face. Liu Laoqi couldn't bear it, so after careful investigation and thorough preparation, he robbed the ship carrying silver from the Haihe Gang on the Baihe River. The ship was carrying not only silver, but also something that made Jia Lian want to kill Wei Xuezhong when he saw it - opium!
Sun Ming is a very hardworking guy. He wrote down everything he knew in the secret report.

It's not that he has no moral integrity, otherwise Jia Lian would not dare to use him, but Sun Ming has been in the position of lieutenant general for ten years and has not had the opportunity to be promoted. If you want to make progress, you have to have a way. Wei Xuezhong didn't have the opportunity to make progress, so how could he have the opportunity?
Sun Ming fought against pirates at the risk of his life and was well-known in the nearby seas, but most of the military merits fell on Wei Xuezhong. Old Wei's idea was also very simple, to maintain the title, at least for his generation, so that the title would not be reduced to nothing by the inheritance system.

Another key point is that in order to control Sun Ming, Wei Xuezhong has never given him the opportunity to go to the capital. The big pie you drew is that after I am transferred, this position will be yours.

Sun Ming is not stupid. You are of the third rank and I am of the fifth rank. You want me to take your place?

Jia Lian, who had received so much money along the way, was very moved and asked someone to load the money and secret reports onto a car and send them back to the capital overnight. Attached was a recently prepared detailed report. As the emperor's eyes and ears, the emperor must be clearly informed of the situation at the grassroots level.

Emperor Chenghui, who was far away in the capital, looked at the account book instead of the secret report after receiving the things sent by Jia Lian. The account book of Jia Lian's receipt of money clearly showed who sent how much. When mentioning Sun Ming, he even spoke well of him, saying that this brave general had no one to help him and had wasted ten years without making any progress.

Emperor Chenghui spent an entire night reading two secret reports and couldn't help but smash a cup.

(End of this chapter)