Chapter 465 Four million?

"I understand everything Mr. Wang said. After returning to Beijing, I will definitely report everything to the princes and His Majesty.

Just in time. , before leaving the capital, His Majesty still doubted your loyalty and ability to serve the imperial court. If he knew this, he might understand that you have suffered for so many years, and if you are merciful, let other royal merchants take the pain. , it’s still unknown.”

Jia Lian’s light words immediately made Wang Shanxiang’s sincere smile freeze on his face.

The other salt merchants were even more shocked.

From Jia Lian’s words, two key pieces of information were revealed.

First, the emperor was indeed suspicious of them. He sent Jia Lian down this time, probably to collect evidence.

Secondly, Jia Lian is obviously dissatisfied with Wang Shanxiang’s answer. After returning to Beijing, he may advise the emperor to eliminate all salt merchants like them!

The first point is good that they were mentally prepared, but the second point is intolerable to all the salt merchants present.

Although their self-restraint was deeply rooted in the Lianghuai Salt Administration and they had many backgrounds in the court, it was absolutely impossible for them to oppose the emperor.

If the emperor was determined to abolish them and keep the big men in the court, he would immediately abandon them as abandoned sons.

After all, the interests of the salt bank are here, so who will collect them?

For the imperial treasury, it may still experience the pain of blood exchange, but for the princes of the imperial court, it will have no impact at all.

Zhou Boru immediately raised his hand to stop Wang Shanxiang from continuing to speak, then clasped his fists and said to Jia Lian: "I hope you will be honest, Vice President Wang is just because the brothers below complained about the donation. Many, the reason why I express my gratitude to you is not because I have any dissatisfaction with the imperial court.

In fact, all the salt merchants including Vice Chairman Wang and I are loyal to the imperial court. Geng Geng, and very happy to run a salt store for the imperial court.

This time we paid less national taxes, all because we did not do things well and failed to live up to the high expectations of the imperial court.

I also ask your Excellency, for the sake of us serving the imperial court for so many years, to give us a clear path. If you, Your Excellency, can help us get through this difficulty smoothly, we will definitely regard you as our reborn parents. Filial piety in the years..."

Zhou Boru knew that everything in the world is for profit. For a mere one or two million in tax money, it is unlikely that the imperial court would wipe out all the salt merchants in one go, because that would have a huge impact on the world's salt politics.

Not to mention, the backs of each of their familiesFinally, there are people in authority.

Therefore, as long as Jia Lian is appeased and won over, and they can speak well to them in front of the emperor, it will be the best choice for both parties to get this matter over with.

Of course Jia Lian could hear the filial piety in Zhou Boru's words. He smiled and seemed much more satisfied with Zhou Boru.

"I am loyal to the emperor because of my deprivation of the emperor's salary. Before I went to the south of the Yangtze River, I also made up my mind to investigate and report all the shortcomings of the salt administration for your majesty.

But after arriving in Yangzhou, I saw that Yangzhou was so prosperous because of the concentration of salt shops. I couldn’t bear to break the peace of this town. Speaking of which, my ancestral home is also Jiangnan. Unlike most of the people here, They can be regarded as fellow countrymen.

That’s all. Today, I have been warmly entertained by Chairman Zhou. I might as well reveal some news to Chairman Zhou.

This time the salt tax has been greatly reduced, and the imperial court Shocked, His Majesty Long Yan was furious. If you want to quell His Majesty's anger and the dissatisfaction of the princes in the court, you must first show enough sincerity."

Zhou Boru's eyes moved, "Also Please make it clear."

"First, what the court and His Majesty are most dissatisfied about is that the salt tax revenue has dropped too much. Compared with a few years ago, there is a difference of more than two million taels.

Let’s calculate it as a whole, three million taels. You must replenish these three million taels to the national treasury, otherwise, you will be so angry that it will be hard to get rid of your anger.”

Hearing this, Zhou Boru and others looked embarrassed, and many people looked at Jia Lian with complicated eyes.

Speaking of Yangzhou’s salt tax last year, it was only one million taels less than the year before. Even compared to the peak a few years ago, the difference is only more than 2.5 million.

Jia Lian asked them to collect three million yuan. They are all smart people. Among them, Jia Lian still doesn’t know how much of the traffic will be intercepted...

"Secondly, someone in the court has long proposed that the salt industry is making huge profits, and the salt merchants are competing with each other and extravagantly. This has become a common practice and has made many noble people in the court dissatisfied.

Now that I have come down, many honest ministers have taken the opportunity to attack the entire salt industry. Yangzhou is just the first stop, there will be more in the future Salt roads such as Hedong and Changlu will also be criticized by them one after another.

Therefore, if you want to appease the dissatisfaction of these ministers, you need to take measures.

If you can trust me I will add another one million. I may be able to help you settle this matter. Otherwise, you will have to make up for the three million treasury arrears. Even if your Majesty's anger subsides, I am afraid that the princes in the court will not be satisfied. It’s hard to get through.”

Originally, everyone thought that three million was enough for a lion to open its mouth, which was outrageous enough. Who knew that Jia Lian was not satisfied yet and wanted to add another one million!

This Jia Lian is too greedy.

At this moment, the salt merchants looked at Jia Lian with eyes that were no longer complicated, but dissatisfied and resentful. Are they treating them like pigs and slaughtering them at will?

Even the prime minister, minister, and princes of the clan were not as greedy as Jia Lian!

The prefect Wu Zhirong and others opened their eyes even more, feeling that it was an eye-opener.

Originally, they felt that they had received enough benefits from the salt merchants, to the point where they were embarrassed not to help others.

Sure enough, their eyesight is still too shallow. Compared with Jia Lian, they are nothing.

Zhou Boru’s eyelids were also twitching wildly. If it weren’t for the years of experience in the city, he might have lost his composure.

Even so, I still couldn’t help but ask: "Four million? Isn’t this too much? I’ll be honest, I’m sorry, but with such an amount of money, no one in the world except the treasury can I can get it.

Even though I work in the Salt Bank, I can’t get so much money.

Sir, please be accommodating..."< br />
Zhou Boru shook his head and felt distant from Jia Lian. This person is really greedy!

You must know that although the salt shop is making huge profits, there are more than just a few of them sharing the pie. There are twenty or thirty stores in Yangzhou alone!

And no matter how huge the profit is, it still takes one and a half kilograms of salt to be shipped out and sold. Underneath this, there are countless men and thugs to feed.

In addition, and most importantly, they still have a large number of big figures behind them who need to pay filial piety. Those are the ones who have the most benefits.

Therefore, there is only so much profit that can be retained in their hands every year.

Jia Lian wants to take away four million at once? Then all of them will basically have worked in vain for several years...

"Well, I don't think it is much. Okay, everyone should think about it carefully.

I am the first official We have a lot of things to do when we get to Yangzhou, so I won’t accompany you all and take my leave.”

Jia Lian stood up, bowed to Wu Zhirong and others, then gathered his own people and left.

Wu Zhirong and other officials could not persuade him to stay, so they quickly got up to escort him.

However, Zhou Boru and all the salt merchants, after getting up to see him off, unanimously did not leave the table.

Zhou Boru sighed slightly and called to everyone: "Everyone, please sit down. There is no one else here. If you have any ideas, feel free to tell us."

The emotions that the salt merchants could not suppress immediately burst out.

"This is too much!"

"This Jia Lian really treats us as fish that can be slaughtered at will. I am so angry."

/> "Exactly, these dignitaries from Beijing are all greedy. They are really hateful and deserve to be killed!"

"..."

Zhou Boru allowed them to finish their complaints. After consciously calming down, he looked at the table next to him and asked with a smile: "Why don't you see Mr. Bai for such an important event today?"

Someone at the table stood up hurriedly and said: "Yes. Sir, please forgive me. My master is not feeling well today and is really not suitable to go out, so I ordered my old servant to come and take a look on his behalf. But don’t worry, Chairman Zhou, our master said that as long as it is for the good of the entire Yangzhou Salt Industry, we will The Bai family will definitely give their full support and cooperation. The president will make up his mind on everything and just inform him in the end."

Zhou Boru shook his head and said nothing. The Bai family has been proud of the Queen Mother's family for a long time, so it's not surprising at all.

Even he himself felt that if this matter could not be properly resolved, everyone present might be in trouble, except for the Bai family, which was unlikely to be in trouble.

No matter how rampant Jia Lian is, he is unlikely to dare to touch the Bai family, right?

This was also the reason why he first thought of the Bai family after realizing the difficulty of winning over Jia Lian. If the Bai family is willing to contribute, they will have some confidence in dealing with Jia Lian.

Unfortunately, that old fox Bai Yi was obviously not prepared to interfere in this matter.

“Do you think we should give you the four million taels of silver that the imperial envoy mentioned?”

We are all our own people here, so there is no need to pay more Pack. Therefore, what Zhou Boru asked was whether to give it to others, not whether everyone could take it out.

　“No!”

　“Absolutely not.”

　“That is, this Jia Lian has such a false reputation, but he turns out to be nothing more than He is a greedy and lustful person, and he is also greedy.

Besides, even if we give the money, he may not be able to help us solve this trouble."

Everyone's reaction was as expected by Zhou Boru. He shook his head and said: "Although giving it to him may not help us solve the problem completely, if we don't give it to him, I'm afraid he will turn around and turn his back.
< br />With his status as a close minister of the Emperor, if he is determined to deal with us, it will be really troublesome.

Everyone, think about it carefully and if you have any good suggestions, feel free to say them."

Four million is too much, and it is impossible to give everyone a unified opinion. But when it comes to how to deal with Jia Lian, they are all at a loss.

Just because Jia Lian’s identity is too special and his holy family is too prosperous.

If it were another civil servant, even if the minister, prime minister, and fu were present, they might not be so confused.

Simply because most of their backgrounds are also from powerful families in Beijing. Using the powerful and the princes to suppress civil servants still has a certain chance of winning.

However, Jia Lian himself was a powerful person, and he was also from the founding government. Not only did he have the title of marquis, he also had a sister who was a concubine, and finally, he also had holy family members with him. No matter how rich they were, salt merchants could not think of a strategy to control and balance Jia Lian.

Seeing that Jia Lian was so overwhelming that everyone was helpless, Wang Shanxiang, who was sitting next to Zhou Boru, suddenly had a hard look in his eyes: "We must not let this person manipulate us, otherwise we don't know how greedy he will be and bully me in the future. Wait.

In my opinion, if this person really doesn’t know how to advance or retreat, he might as well be like Ellsworth..."

Wang Shanxiang made a gesture of wiping his neck, and everyone Everyone understands what he means.

In fact, more than one person had similar thoughts in the short period of time before. Because in the past, they would choose to do this when they encountered people who were a big threat to their interests.

It was just Jia Lian’s identity that made them dare not say that for a while.

The death of An Siyuan had already alerted the court. If another imperial envoy with a big background dies, I'm afraid the court will explode immediately.

By then, it may be a situation where both sides suffer losses.

Zhou Boru narrowed his eyes and saw Wu Zhirong and others coming back in the distance, so he said calmly: "Mr. Wang, please be careful what you say."

Wang Shanxiang glanced at Zhou Boru who was pretending He glanced at him and sneered, but didn't say anything further.