Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 246 Who is the Winner

The sun was shining brightly, the sky was clear, and a horse-drawn carriage was traveling on the official road in the southern suburbs of Shenjing.

Sitting in the carriage were Jia Cong, Feng Shi and Yinglian.

Some time ago, the Ningguo Mansion's stripping of titles and confiscation of titles, as well as the case involving the Rongguo family's servants, have now been settled. After huge twists and turns, the two mansions have temporarily settled down.

However, among the servants of Rongguo Mansion, a large number of people in charge, such as Lai Da, were suddenly missing, which caused a period of chaos.

Wang Xifeng and Ping'er were busy day and night, and even Mrs. Wang couldn't sit idle, so she helped out for a few days.

Until a few reliable old servants like Lin Zhixiao were promoted from the family's slaves, and some new and suitable slaves were bought from outside.

Only then did the originally chaotic housework in the house gradually get in order.

In the past few days, Fengjie rechecked the accounts and found that since Lai Da and others were questioned and new people were appointed to work in the mansion, daily expenses have actually dropped by 30%.

After reporting to Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang, everyone realized that although old servants like Lai Da appeared respectful and filial on the surface, they had actually eroded the Jia family's profits behind the scenes.

After learning the truth, Jia's mother cursed the servant for being shameless.

Nanny Lai, who accompanied her into the Jia family and stayed with her all her life, knelt down in Rongqing Hall several times to beg Lady Jia to rescue her two sons who were imprisoned in the Dali Temple.

She was kicked out of the house by Jia's grandmother, and they never met again.

After Lai Da was arrested and taken to the Dali Temple, more evil deeds of the two Lai brothers were exposed, and the rest of the old servants of the Jia family were also found to have committed many evil deeds of abusing their power to harm the people.

When the news spread, everyone in the Jia family was horrified. If they hadn’t caught all these people in one fell swoop this time.

If this continues, disasters will accumulate and the Rongguo Mansion may end up like the Ningguo Mansion, with its property confiscated and its title stripped.

At Jia Cong's suggestion, Jia Zheng wrote a letter to the court to severely punish the family's evil servant. Because the servant deceived his master and did evil things outside, the Rong family was willing to compensate the victim.

This move cleared the Jia family's connection with the family and even earned them some good reputation.

However, these were also the things that Jia She and Wang Xifeng did against the rules on a daily basis, but they did not break out at this time.

After the Lai brothers were convicted, the court searched the Lai family compound and reportedly seized 170,000 taels of silver from the treasury alone.

In addition, a large amount of silver was also seized from the homes of Wu Xindeng, Dai Liang, Qian Hua, Zhou Rui and others, totaling nearly 300,000 taels of silver together with the silver in the Lai family treasury, causing an uproar in the court and the public.

When Lady Jia found out about this, she nearly fainted. When the Ningguo Mansion was searched, only 80,000 taels of silver were found.

From the Lai family alone, more than twice the amount of deposits were seized.

Most of these deposits were plundered from the resources of the master's family by various means by the Lai brothers, who were the stewards of the two mansions.

The Lai brothers were able to become the stewards of the East and West Palaces because of their mother, Grandmother Jia, who had been a daughter-in-law of the Jia family for fifty years and was very shrewd and made it happen.

Not to mention Wu Xindeng, Dai Liang, Qian Hua, Zhou Rui and others, who were all supported by Grandmother Jia and Mrs. Wang.

This incident soon became a laughing stock among the high-ranking families in the capital. Everyone was amazed at the "feat" of the head of the Jia family who was so stupid as to hang a portrait and keep slaves.

What made Grandmother Jia even more distressed was that the savings of these servants that had been embezzled were all confiscated by the court, and not a single ounce of money fell into the hands of the Jia family.

Later I heard that Emperor Jiazhao added an additional 1,000 musketeers to the Fifth Army's Firearms Battalion.

He also allocated sufficient money and food to the Firearms Supervisory Department so that it could quickly recruit talent and develop and manufacture firearms.

When Emperor Jia Zhao unexpectedly learned that the group of stubborn servants in Rongguo Mansion were captured by Jia Cong, he was said to be quite pleased.

Enrong named Xiuniang Incense Shop Xinchunhao and generously allocated 50,000 taels of silver as capital for Xinchunhao to open up trade routes.

The source of the 50,000 taels of silver was naturally the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that were confiscated from the homes of the Lai brothers and others and returned to the national treasury.

If Jia Cong had not just been promoted to the seventh rank and had only been observing government affairs in the Ministry of War for a few months, he might have been promoted.

In fact, it is not surprising. Jia Cong said that Xinchunhao spent three years to build trade routes and could make an annual profit of 500,000 taels of silver. Although it was fast enough, it still took three years.

This time, Jia Cong only spent a few days to add 300,000 taels of silver to the treasury. It was reasonable for Shancai to show some praise for his contribution.

As for whether Jia Cong did all this on purpose, only God knows.

Of course, Grandmother Jia would not know these inside stories. If she knew that, in the final analysis, the Jia family did not fatten up these unruly servants, but fattened up someone else, she would be furious to death immediately.

If we only calculate the amount of money, the loss of Rongguo Mansion is actually no less than that of Ningguo Mansion, whose entire family was confiscated. This is also a strange thing.

……

After half a month of treatment, Feng's whip wounds were basically healed, but his face was still a little pale.

Next to Feng was her daughter Yinglian. These days Yinglian had been taking care of her mother in Xinchun Street. Perhaps from all the hard work, her face had become a little thinner.

But her delicate and graceful demeanor is still charming and lovely.

The finger bones that were damaged by the clamps on Feng's hands have never healed. His hands are still bandaged and he is still unable to move normally.

After Zhang Youshi's treatment, the injury was temporarily under control, but Zhang Youshi had no special expertise in the art of healing bone injuries.

He recommended his brother Zhang Youchao to Jia Cong, and yesterday Zhang Youshi sent a message saying that his brother had returned to Beijing after his travels.

So early this morning, Jia Cong took Zhang Youshi's letter and went to Huaxi Village on the southern outskirts of the city to seek medical treatment from Zhang Youchao.

The reason why Jia Cong took Feng away from Gusu was only because she was Yinglian's mother, and he sympathized with the Zhen family's plight, so he was probably just doing a good deed.

Even when Feng was tortured in Zhen'an Prefecture, she refused to reveal the location of the perfume workshop.

Under that kind of torture, even a strong and sturdy man would find it difficult to endure.

A weak woman like Feng could show such courage at the critical moment, which made Jia Cong sincerely admire this woman who had suffered so much.

The carriage drove on the official road in the western suburbs of the city for half an hour. The scene before us became more and more desolate. There were weeds and withered grass everywhere, mosquitoes and flies breeding, and small animals such as foxes and rabbits roaming around.

After walking for a while and turning a bare rocky mountain, we suddenly saw a bright future ahead. A clear, rushing river came into view, and a cool breeze blew towards us.

On the other side of the stream, there was a village with houses and smoke rising from the sky. It was the Huaxi Village that Zhang Shiyou had pointed out.

Jia Cong and his entourage entered the village by carriage and saw that there were only a dozen households here, so it could only be considered a small village.

From time to time on the road, you can see farmers returning home with hoes on their backs, with strong bodies and fresh breaths.

The whole village is unusually neat and clean, without the clutter and dirt commonly seen in ordinary rural areas.

The roads in the village are not ordinary dirt roads, but stone roads paved with mountain rocks. Daylilies and various flowers are planted on both sides of the road, which adds to the elegance and interest.

The scene before him surprised Jia Cong a little. Huaxi Village really deserves its name.

When you walk to the east end of the village, you will see four or five uniquely styled houses, which are very different from the brick and tile farmhouses in the village.

Jia Cong explained his purpose to the medicine boy at the door and was then brought into the main hall.

After a while, an old man with silver hair came out. He looked about 60% similar to Zhang Youshi.

Although his expression and demeanor seemed much calmer and older than Zhang Youshi, his face was gentle, his skin was fair, his movements were light, and he did not look old at all.

As soon as the old man entered the hall, he noticed Jia Cong. His bright eyes were shining and he just looked at Jia Cong intently.

There was even a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Yinglian, who was standing by, felt strange when she saw this scene. She pouted her lips slightly and thought, "The young master is handsome, so there's no need for the old man to stare at him so intently."

(End of this chapter)