Chapter 455 The Seven Major Salt Merchants

“Oh, since Erlang knows the power of these salt merchants? Why not tell us.”

Jia Lian sat at the top, casually He smiled at Liu Xianglian.

Liu Xianglian clasped her fists and accepted the order, "To say that these seven salt merchants are famous throughout Jiangnan. It is speculated that each of them has at least one million or even millions of taels. It is not an exaggeration to describe the wealth of the seven families together as being as rich as the country.

Moreover, this is only the wealth they have accumulated. In fact, all powerful people in Yangzhou Most of the salt merchants are just puppets of the powerful families and powerful people in the court, and they are even directly the slaves of those wealthy families.

Take the most famous family among them, the Bai family. Said. Although the Bai family, one of the seven major salt merchants, is not necessarily the largest salt merchant in Jiangnan, it is certainly the most famous.

Because it is rumored that Bai Yi, the master of the Bai family, is Yang. The next-door brother of Wuhou Bai Qi! Bai Qi, the Marquis of Wu of Yang, as the Marquis must also know, is the nephew of the Queen Mother of the dynasty. Now he is serving as the governor of Anxi and is the real frontier official of the dynasty.

Think about it, Lord Marquis, with such a background, in the entire Jiangnan salt administration, who dares not to give some face to the Bai family?

In addition to the Bai family, the other six families also have their own backgrounds. , and none of them should be underestimated, otherwise, it is impossible to get a share of the salt industry."

"The Bai family is actually related to the Queen Mother?"

Jia Lian looked slightly surprised and glanced at Lin Youquan next to him.

Lin Youquan hurriedly apologized and said: "Master Hou, please forgive me, because I have explained before, regarding the true background of those salt merchants, I want my slave to explain it clearly to Master Hou after arriving in Yangzhou. So..."

Jia Lian glanced at him and felt speechless.

Of course he could understand what Lin Youquan meant. Perhaps Lin Ruhai was afraid that letting him know the background of all the salt merchants in advance would scare him into retreating. Therefore, although Lin Youquan and others had told him many things about the salt merchants in Yangzhou before, they even mentioned to him the backgrounds of most of the salt merchants, including the prime ministers, ministers, princes and clans. , except that the Bai family was not mentioned much.

Speaking of which, he and the Bai family are kind of destined.

Let’s not talk about the beautiful Empress Dowager Bai who he saved in the Prince’s Courtyard. He also dealt with Bai Qi, the Marquis of Yangwu, when he was in Anxi Mansion. Although they had never met him, he had his cheap brother-in-law's legs broken.

Later, Bai Qi even wrote a special letter to him to express his apology. Although Jia Lian knows that people are bigIt was probably for the sake of Princess Zhaoyang that she was polite to him. Otherwise, even if it was easier for her brother-in-law to be beaten, she would not take the initiative to make friends with him.

I didn’t expect that this Bai Qi would not only have such great power in Anxi Mansion, but also extend his tentacles to the Central Plains, and he would also be the richest salt government.

He has territory and military power, but he still needs so much money? Is he really not worried that the emperor will have any suspicions about him?

Or, relying on the power of Queen Mother Bai, you have nothing to worry about?

It seems that when dealing with this Bai Qi in the future, you have to be more careful not to be tricked by him.

I understand Lin Ruhai’s worries. No matter how powerful and complicated their backgrounds are, other salt merchants are, in the final analysis, nothing more than tools for the rich and powerful in Beijing to make money. But this Bai Yi was Bai Qi's cousin, and he could also be regarded as the Queen Mother's maternal nephew. Lin Ruhai was worried that he would get into trouble, so it was unusual for him not to tell him in advance.

Then he glared at Lin Youquan and said, "Since it was my uncle who told me, that's all. But now that I have arrived in Jiangnan, it's time for you to tell me everything you haven't said. Right?"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Lin Youquan also felt a little apologetic, and after repeatedly handing over his hands, he said: "Except for the Bai family that Mr. Liu said, What the Marquis should pay the most attention to is the Wang family of the seven major salt merchants. The Wang family, before our master took office, was not prominent among the salt merchants, but later it suddenly became more powerful. According to our master's understanding It is speculated that the Wang family is related to the crown prince in Beijing..."

It turns out to be the crown prince!

Jia Lian felt a little surprised and a little surprised.

No wonder, the famous officials in the court were determined to stick to An Siyuan's case, and they had to ask Emperor Ningkang to send people to Jiangnan to investigate the case. No wonder, the prince paid close attention to this matter and even went so far as to negotiate with him personally...

As expected, no one could get a share of the salt policy.

If it were any other civil servant who came here, how could he not be afraid when faced with such a huge network of relationships? Even if you are not afraid, how can you dare to take action and where to start?

No wonder Emperor Ning Kang had so many choices to choose from, but he still chose himself to do this.

Thinking about it this way, one can’t help but feel that Emperor Ning Kang was using him as a knife. But having said that, doesn't being able to make blades for the emperor show his ability?

Moreover, the more smoothly Emperor Ning Kang uses him, the more power he will have. Isn't this what he has always longed for?

Anyway, he is not a civil servant and does not hang out in the court, so he does not have to worry too much about those people's treatment of him.Retaliation.

Therefore, he did not have any fear in his heart. He just asked Lin Youquan to complete the information about other companies that he had not revealed before.

…

From Yangzhou to Suzhou, it is only a one-day flight.

Abandoning the boat and landing, approaching the city gate, the prefect of Suzhou and other major officials from the entire Suzhou Prefecture came to greet him and pay homage, which aroused great momentum.

But it was not the officials of Suzhou Prefecture who had good ears and eyes, but Jia Lian who had someone inform him of the itinerary in advance.

As for why this is so, it is not that he deliberately made it public. It involves a very important rule of the era.

Any large city strictly prohibits the dead from entering the city, because it means that it will bring unforeseen events to the city.

Therefore, even if you are a person in the city, as long as you die outside, even if it is on the outskirts of the city, your body or coffin will not be allowed to enter the city. This is a custom that has been passed down for thousands of years, regardless of officials or gentry, it is no exception.

Of course, the official here refers to a low-ranking official. As for those who reach Lin Ruhai's level, they naturally have privileges.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be desolate if those officials who served as officials in the court and died of old age in the capital and wanted to return home for burial could not even enter the city of their hometown?

Therefore, there are laws in the Wei Dynasty that only officials of second rank and above can enter the capital to attend funerals. Only those with a third rank or above can enter the local capital city to attend funerals.

Those below the third rank are not allowed to enter the city unless they seek favor from the emperor.

That is to say, in the original book of Red Mansions, Jia Jing died in Xuanzhen Temple outside the city. After the emperor knew the news, he would specially posthumously grant Jia Jing a fifth-rank official position, and authorize Jia Zhen and his son to carry his father's coffin to the capital for funeral arrangements. , and the reason why Jia Zhen and his son were so grateful to the emperor.

After all, if the emperor did not grant the favor, the former head of the Ningguo Mansion would have no choice but to attend funerals outside the city.

As for Lin Ruhai, a second-rank official, she was fully qualified to return to her old residence in Suzhou City to attend funerals. Therefore, knowing that he was returning to his hometown for burial, the Ministry of Rites had already notified the Suzhou government, asking the local officials to welcome Lin Ruhai's coffin into the city in accordance with the etiquette of a second-rank official.

In fact, there is no need for orders from the Ministry of Rites. As a native of Suzhou, Lin Ruhai, who is an official in the central government, can be said to be the pride of Suzhou people.

Now that Master Lin has returned to his hometown, it is a major event for the entire Suzhou city.

The prefect of Suzhou had already informed the people below that road festivals were set up along the street from the city gate to Lin's mansion, and people were asked to publicize anecdotes about Lin Ruhai's life.

If Jia Lian had not informed him too soon, the Suzhou government would not have had time to do more.Be prepared, even if there will be bigger disturbances, it may not be possible.

Even so, it took half a day to enter the Lin family’s old residence from Suzhou City.

Daiyu has been sitting in the sedan chair, watching the whole city of Suzhou shake by the return of her father, and her mood is inexplicably complicated.

Perhaps, this is the reputation that my father has been pursuing all his life, and now he can be regarded as benevolent.

Occasionally, through the curtains of the carriage, I secretly observed Jia Lian, who was riding on a horse to help deal with the officials. He saw that the officials were well-behaved, obedient, and obedient in front of Jia Lian. The look made me feel a little happy.

Without the second brother Lian, she would not be able to deal with these common people.

The Lin family members also learned of Lin Ruhai’s death and came to the ancestral home early to wait for the funeral.

Although I had expected that as Lin Ruhai, it would be dignified to return to his hometown for funerals, but seeing the Suzhou magistrate, Suzhou garrison, tongzhi, Suzhou weaving and other major officials in Suzhou personally escort Lin Ruhai there The ancestral home, even after setting up the mourning hall and paying tribute, still left the Lin family shocked and surprised.

Isn’t it said that death is like a lamp going out, and the tea is cold when someone leaves?

Why are these Suzhou officials so attentive and polite to the Lin family?

Later I found out that the person who personally escorted their clan leader back was the famous young marquis of Rongguo Mansion in the middle of the capital, and this time he came down to the south of the Yangtze River as an imperial envoy.

Those Suzhou officials may not be fawning over the Lin family, but the upstart of the country, the dignified Marquis Zhenyuan.

Although there is a bit of a gap in knowing the truth, fortunately, many of them know Jia Lian. After all, when the clan mother Jia Min passed away, the Marquis of Zhenyuan came to pay homage in person. Some members of the Lin family even had dealings with Jia Lian.

It’s just that at that time, Jia Lian was just a young man from the Rongguo Mansion in the middle of the capital, and he did not have such a famous name as he does now.

Now that the Lin family has died, its decline is irreversible. But if we can win over the relatives in Rongguofu, we will have a backer in the future...

This is the idea that some Lin family members came up with after briefly understanding some realities.

However, some people have the opposite worry.

As Jia Lian, why would he condescend to escort the patriarch back to his hometown in person? Could it be that he is thinking about my Lin family's property and wants to take this opportunity to expropriate it?

Such cases of powerful relatives occupying family property are common in this era.Something happened.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Lin family members are so speculative. After all, there are not many Lin family members left, and everyone knows everything.

After Lin Ruhai's death, they each had their own plans and reasons for how to elect the clan leader and how to distribute the clan's property.

But if they faced Jia Lian, an extremely powerful in-law, they would not be able to resist. At that time, even if the family property is taken away, I am afraid that there will be grievances and no recourse.

If nothing else, just look at the officers and soldiers who "guarded" the important roads of the Lin family as soon as they arrived at the Lin family, wearing golden armor and equipped with golden swords, they could only be in awe. And dare not have any resistance.

After all, even if you don’t know them, you have heard about them from others. Those are the legendary Imperial Guards. Apart from the emperor, only the imperial envoys who are out of Beijing on missions are qualified to call upon the legendary imperial guards temporarily!

Jia Lian didn’t know the plans of the Lin family. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t care. After he finally sent away the officials of Suzhou Prefecture and people from all walks of life who came to worship, it was already dawn. It's almost dark.

I went to see Daiyu, but found that Daiyu was not in a good mood.

"Why, someone is robbing your house again?"

When Daiyu heard Jia Lian teasing her again, she shook her head in embarrassment.

Jia Lian looked at Zijuan, who smiled and said: "Second Master, don't worry, no one bullies the girl. It's just that before, the aunts and uncles in the girl's tribe paid tribute to the girl one by one. He gave us toys, clothes, and even wanted to take our girl as his daughter. She was a little tired of it."

Zicuckoo is indeed a model of understanding, and can easily see through Daiyu. When Daiyu told Jia Lian the reason for her unhappiness, she couldn't help but feel even more embarrassed and rolled her eyes at Zicuckoo.

Jia Lian understood.

What is it about being attentive and trying to accept Daiyu as a daughter, but it’s all just to get the upper hand.

That’s right, the Lin family didn’t know Lin Ruhai’s arrangements before his death. They all thought that Lin Ruhai had died and left a huge family fortune, so someone must inherit it. At this time, whoever wins Daiyu's favor first will naturally have the upper hand.

Although he was already worried about it, Jia Lian just smiled at Daiyu and said, "Aren't you happy that your elders take the initiative to cherish you?"

Daiyu couldn't help but curl her lips. , frowned.

If those elders really loved her, she would certainly not be unhappy. But Daiyu could see the real reason why those people did this, because some people's behavior was too exaggerated and obviously inconsistent.

　Daiyu has a keen mind, so she can't see through their plans.

She even felt a little sad. She felt that the dignity and class of her relatives were far inferior to those she saw in Rongguo Mansion.

Compared with Aunt Xue, Aunt Wang and other relatives in the Rongguo Mansion, these relatives in her Lin family are really not much different from some country women.

How could this make Daiyu happy?

Seeing that Daiyu was silent, Jia Lian couldn't help but pick up one of her little hands and comforted her with a smile: "Sister Lin, you don't have to look at them with harsh requirements. In this world, everyone has their own needs. Personal encounters lead to different insights.

With different insights, it is inevitable that there will be distinctions between high and low.

If Sister Lin likes her, she will get close to her. , if you don’t like them, don’t worry about them, let alone offend them, just stay away from them.

Later I will ask the housekeeper to call you Lin family members together and give them Announce my uncle's will. I believe that after they know about my uncle's arrangements, they will no longer disturb my sister."

When Daiyu heard that Jia Lian was going to announce Lin Ruhai's will to the Lin family, she naturally included , announced the engagement to her, which made Daiyu feel a little shy and wanted to withdraw her little hand.

Then I thought that Jia Lian was still the same as before. As long as he saw any difficulty in her, he would try to help her solve it as quickly as possible. I was very touched and grateful, and couldn't help but open my eyes again. Eyes filled with tears slightly looked at Jia Lian.

“Look, it’s fine, why are you crying?” Facing Daiyu’s gaze, Jia Lian felt extremely satisfied.

He couldn't help but raise a hand to wipe Daiyu's tears.

"Who is crying..."

Daiyu didn't want to admit it, so she avoided Jia Lian's hand and sat to the side, her face red.

After a while, Daiyu asked: "Have you taken care of everything outside?"

"Well, it's almost done. Next, sister All you need to do is to go to your uncle's grave every day according to the time of day to worship and keep vigil. When the time comes, you will take your uncle's coffin to the ancestral grave outside the city and bury it with your mother."

Daiyu listened. Nodding silently, Jia Lian had already told her these, and she had no objections.

"Then, are you going back to Yangzhou..."

"Hmm..."

Seeing Jia Lian nodding, Daiyu His little face couldn't help but slump a little, and he sat silently, not knowing what to say.

Although Jia Lian was pleased with Daiyu's reaction, he did not want Daiyu to fall into such negative emotions for a long time, so he deliberately smiled and asked: "Sister Lin, are you reluctant to let me go?"

"Who would hate to see you go..."

Daiyu just felt embarrassed that her thoughts had been read. When she caught a glimpse of Jia Lian's smile, she immediately realized that Jia Lian did it on purpose.

So he frowned and immediately replied: "I wish you could leave early! It's best to leave tonight, so as not to keep you here bullying others."

Daiyu does not consider herself to be a stupid person. Among the sisters in Rongguo Mansion, no one usually talks about her.

But she always suffered in front of Jia Lian, so she repeatedly said that Jia Lian bullied her. Of course, maybe there is also the reason why Jia Lian often holds her little hand and takes advantage of her.

Seeing Daiyu’s reaction like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, Jia Lian was greatly relieved.

Just when Zijuan and others saw him coaxing Daiyu, they all wisely left the room. Jia Lian raised his big hand, gently hugged Daiyu into his arms, and said comfortingly: "Sister Lin, don't worry. I won't leave until tomorrow afternoon. Before I leave, I will arrange all the things here.

In addition, after I arrive in Yangzhou, I will arrange everything as soon as possible. Finish the things over there. Even if it's not finished, I will rush back before my uncle's burial date.

Anyway, the two sides are close. If we speed up the boat quickly, it will only take half a day. It will be there with just a little effort."

When Daiyu was taken into Jia Lian's arms, she quickly took a look at the room. She felt relieved when she noticed that there was no one else around, and gently snuggled into Jia Lian's chest. .

She listened to Jia Lian's words quietly, and after a while she said: "You told me not to worry, but in fact you have always been worried about me. In fact, second brother, you don't have to work so hard.< br />
You have already done so many things for me, and I can do the rest by myself. Even if I can’t do it well, I still have the housekeeper and Mother Wang who can help me. That’s enough.

So, if you are busy with things over there, don’t rush back.

The two sides are neither far nor close, second brother It's better to be busy with your business."

Daiyu knew that Jia Lian came to Jiangnan to investigate a case, and it was a big case. Even from the drama, we know that whenever a major case is involved, there must be some interests connected.

She also didn’t want Jia Lian to be distracted by her and her father’s affairs when he was doing big things.

Just as Jia Lian was worried about her, she was also worried about Jia Lian, fearing that anything unexpected would happen to Jia Lian.

When Jia Lian heard Daiyu's words, he felt infinitely satisfied and couldn't help but hug Daiyu tighter.

At this time, he didn't have much thought at all to feel the softness and beauty of Daiyu's delicate body. He was filled with love for the person in his arms.

As expected, this girl has learned to grow up and care about others. It is not in vain to hurt her.