In the next few days, Jia Lian became even busier.

In addition to the large amount of property confiscated from the Zhao family and Wang family that needed to be sold for cash and registered, the homes of Wu Zhirong and other prisoners who were affiliated with the salt affairs system outside the government also needed to be inspected.

Just as Jia Lian expected, every one of the officials he ordered to capture was wealthy.

Although it cannot be compared with the big salt merchants, if word spreads, it will still make many officials all over the world stunned.

So much so that Jia Lian had to consider how to report it!

Too many reports can easily cause turmoil in the government and the opposition. After all, most officials in Beijing only get one or two hundred taels of silver a year plus some benefits, and there are only a few who are really profitable. This is why the ministers like to stretch their hands wherever they go.

Once they know that if they work abroad for a few years, they can earn money that they could not earn in several lifetimes or even dozens of lifetimes. Not to mention the injustice among people, I am afraid that many officials will be born. The idea of ​​making a fortune somewhere.

This is not good for the court or the country. After all, as far as Jia Lian knew, there were many people in the world who could rival Yangzhou Salt Service.

For example, several major weaving bureaus in Jiangnan, such as water transportation.

If all the princes in the imperial court want to dig into these places, people's hearts will wander, which is very bad.

But if the report is underreported, what will happen to the huge amount of money? It will not be returned to the people whose homes were confiscated by him, right?

Keep it in your own hands? Not very good either.

It seemed as if he was maliciously taking kickbacks from the emperor and was a corrupt official, which greatly hindered the justice of his trip.

Not too entangled, money is a good thing. Only in the hands of idiots who don’t know how to use it, it becomes a hot potato. And for him, the money will only become a tool for him to climb. Ladder construction materials on Qingyun Road.

In addition to sorting out wealth, Jia Lian will of course continue to investigate in detail the sharp reduction in salt taxes in Yangzhou in the past two years.

After all, he also has to write an "investigation report". Emperor Ningkang may only care about the results, but this specific and detailed summary of the results is for the ministers in the court to see, so that when they come to trouble him, he will not be able to say anything.

In the meantime, it was inevitable that another small salt merchant, the Feng family, would be robbed. It is said that he is a small salt merchant because he is compared with those big salt merchants. In fact, in terms of the scale of his business and the depth of his family background, he is no smaller than those of those business families.

The main reason for copying it was that the Feng family had a bad reputation in Jiangnan. There were several fatalities in the Yangzhou Prefecture’s official report alone. By Zou Tong et al.It was learned that almost all of the cases were due to unjust, false, and false accusations deliberately shielded by Wu Zhirong and others.

In this era, there are too many injustices, falsehoods and mistakes to count, and Jia Lian has seen and heard many of them, but this time it fell into his hands, so naturally he did not say anything. Copy those who deserve to be copied, kill those who deserve to be killed, and show no mercy.

This actually made all the salt merchants nervous again. It was only after seeing the reasons given by Jia Lian that I breathed a sigh of relief.

As a result, the remaining twenty or so salt merchants in Yangzhou City all formulated and declared urgent family rules, strictly ordering family members and servants to refrain from committing any crimes. , or act domineeringly.

Since the salt merchants who occupied half of Yangzhou City were like this, other families naturally followed immediately, for fear of harming Chiyu. …

Even the common people saw people killing people every day at Caishikou, which had been empty for a long time, and the people they killed were all the big shots in Yangzhou City in the past. Who didn’t know that they were imperial envoys from Yangzhou City? reason.

So the common people clapped their hands and applauded. Some people with grievances were still thinking about how to see Jia Lian and asked the imperial envoy to make the decision for him.

Even those who harbored evil intentions in their hearts, in this atmosphere, secretly gave up their thoughts of causing evil.

Suddenly, the security of the entire Yangzhou city was unprecedentedly good. And everyone who notices this change can quickly find the reason, because Jia Lian's reputation in Jiangnan is already astonishing, so this will naturally increase Jia Lian's reputation.

Jia Lian didn't care much about these small perspectives. On the third day after confiscating Wang's house, the salt merchants also came to invite him to a banquet as promised.

But Zhou Boru and others did not come to invite him personally.

"Pan'er pays homage to your lord. After not seeing you for several days, your lord has become more and more powerful."

"Why is it you?"

"Mr. Zhou The others know that you are busy with official duties and are worried that you will forget about today's dinner, so I specially asked Pan'er to come and invite you to the Wangjiang Tower for the banquet."

Shen Pan'er smiled lightly and stepped forward again. He bowed and said, "My lord, please."

Looking at Shen Pan'er, who was wearing a long apricot dress, Tingting Niaoniao, and was incomparably beautiful, Jia Lian shook his head and smiled.

These salt merchants are very good at understanding people's hearts. It is indeed more sincere to ask a beauty to invite him than to invite him in person.

Seeing her pointing at the BMW car with bare hands and looking at him expectantly, Jia Lian thought for a moment and was willing to give her this face, so he stepped forward and got into her carriage.

Sure enough, the beauty’s carriage is full of fragrance, like jasmine flowers, and like the fragrance of rosewood.

Before the beauty came in, Jia Lian took a good look at the decorations in the carriage, and probably made some judgments about the style and hobbies of this girl Pan'er.

It’s hard to say that it’s elegant, it can only be said that it’s not vulgar.

Sit down directly and look at the beauty who also bent over and came in.

There was still some joy on her face, perhaps because she was satisfied that Jia Lian was willing to give up his luxury car and board her car.

And she was dressed elegantly. She was wearing a lady's dress that did not conform to the dress style of everyone's ladies. She slightly exposed her shoulders. With her appearance, she was already sultry, not to mention her bending down. When he came in, the two layers of fabric on his chest hung low, and with Jia Lian's frontal view, it was easy to catch a glimpse of some stunning scenery.

"My lord, you~~"

After realizing that the beauty was leaked, Shen Pan'er belatedly reached out to cover her chest and stared at Jia Lian with a blushing face.

Jia Lian only gave her a confused look. He couldn't see anything, so he shifted his gaze and focused on the beauty's face.

This makes the beauty feel a little embarrassed.

Sitting on the stool on the side, she found that Jia Lian had been staring at her. Shen Pan'er finally couldn't help but raise her head, "What are you looking at, sir? What's wrong with Pan'er?"< br />
"There is nothing wrong. Miss Pan'er is very beautiful and I like her very much, so I take a second look."

"Liar..."

Xu was the woman changing the scene. She was relatively calm about such compliments. She even smiled deliberately and said: "If you really like Pan'er, you wouldn't have kicked Pan'er out of the house that night."…

Jia Lian did not respond to such words.

Shen Paner glanced at Jia Lian and said with a smile: "I heard that your Excellency has robbed many salt merchants these days, and also beheaded many salt merchants who committed crimes..."< br />
Jia Lian raised his eyebrows and asked, "Miss Pan'er also cares about such things?"

"Hehehe, the slave family doesn't care about these things, but other people in the workshop The sisters, as well as other famous sisters, are very concerned about the Lord. They were very happy and excited when they learned that the Lord went to Yangzhou.

I also heard that the slave family once performed at the palace of the Lord, They all came to Pan'er to inquire about the Lord."

Yangzhou is ranked among the most prosperous state capitals in several provinces south of the Yangtze River. If not for the golden signboard of Nanjiaofang, it would not be the same. Will be stationed in Yangzhou. Moreover, just because the salt merchants selected her and wanted to use her to please Jia Lian, Nanjiaofang was willing to let her go, butSee how powerful the salt merchants are in Jiangnan.

But these salt merchants, who were so powerful that they could be said to cover the sky with one hand in Yangzhou, were like dough in the hands of Jia Lian, who could be kneaded and kneaded at will, and killed whenever he wanted. But the other party Not only did he not dare to resist, but he could only turn around and try to please him even more.

This naturally shocked her, a Jiangnan oiran lady who prided herself on meeting big shots.

Looking at Jia Lian's demeanor, it seemed that he had killed a few salt merchants, and his reaction was as indifferent as killing a few chickens, which made her even more convinced.

Thinking about it, this is the power and magnanimity that only a real big man can have.

Thinking about it, the eyes looking at Jia Lian couldn't help but become more cautious, more eager, and a little resentful.

Facing such a beauty, Jia Lian coughed lightly and suddenly asked: "By the way, Miss Pan'er has been staying in Jiaofang these days? Didn't those salt merchants make things difficult for you?"

Jia Lian only remembered later that since those salt merchants were planning to give Shen Pan'er to him, they must have redeemed her life.

It would have been easier if he had taken it, but he didn't. The ownership of Shen Pan'er became a problem. The courtesans who are both beautiful and talented are carefully cultivated by such a workshop. They are worth a lot of money. If they are well packaged, the benefits they can bring to the Fengyue industry are incalculable.

Such a treasure, no matter whether it is a church or a salt merchant, will not ignore it.

"Hahaha, sir, do you really hope that those salt merchants will embarrass Pan'er?"

Shen Pan'er looked at Jia Lian with a smile.

"But don't worry, sir. Since those salt merchants have redeemed the slave family from the church and are ready to present it to you, it naturally means that the slave family is already your family. On that day, the slave family brought their own I signed the contract and am ready to serve you all the time.

Who knew you were so cruel and drove Pan'er out.

But Pan'er still has to thank you, now Pan'er's birth certificate belongs to me, and Pan'er can be regarded as a free person. It's just that Pan'er has no relatives and no place to go, so naturally he can only return to Jiaofang to settle down."

Shen Pan'er said it lightly, as if she was really free and could go wherever she wanted. In fact, if she hadn't been careful, she would have insisted that she was Jia Lian's woman after leaving the palace that day. It's doubtful whether her birth certificate could still remain with her. …

Now the Jiaofang treats her as a guest, and the salt merchants don’t have the energy, or dare not offend her, so even for today’s arrangement, they politely asked her to come and help.

This makes Shen Pan even more excitedI think it is better to enjoy the shade with my back against a big tree.

Shen Paner deliberately said that she was aggrieved, just to arouse Jia Lian's protective desire. Who knew that Jia Lian just replied: "That's very good."

Shen Pan'er kept her mouth shut and looked very unhappy, but it was only for a short time. She came closer to Jia Lian and said mysteriously: "Those salt merchants have spent a lot of money today to please you. What's on my mind.

"Hehe, there will be a surprise waiting for you later..."

Looking at the time she spoke, her expression was very cunning, and Jia Lian couldn't help but smile. , raised his hand to brush the hair in front of her forehead, looked at her face and smiled: "Surprise? Isn't Miss Pan'er the biggest surprise?"

Shen Pan'er tried every means to seduce Jia Lian, seriously Jia Lian moved his hands and feet, but she was still startled. She shrunk and realized that she shouldn't have done it. Her face turned red and she said a little embarrassedly: "The slave family is not a surprise..."

With a complicated expression He wanted to say something, but when he noticed the place where the boat was being changed, he immediately said: "Anyway, I will not be disappointed tonight."

After saying that, he asked Jia Lian to get off the carriage.

Jia Lian thought he had arrived at the place, but when he came down to take a look, he discovered that it was a small dock.

It was already dusk, and there were many large and small boats rippling on the river, which was not very wide. There are many boats and colorful lanterns and flower baskets, and there are actors and ladies singing and dancing. It is obviously the unique scenery of Jiangnan - the brothel industry carried by the river.

"Wangjiang Tower is in Beicheng. It only takes about a quarter of an hour to get there by boat. You can take advantage of this time to enjoy the scenery of the Little Qinhuai River in Yangzhou. By the way, Relax and relax."

Looking at the luxuriously decorated two-story boat in front of you, there were also some small boats waiting nearby, obviously prepared for the extra guards around Jia Lian.

The other party was so attentive, and Jia Lian also gave him face. He only took Zhang Yong and more than ten people on board the lucky boat, while the others followed in small boats.

Just as we set sail, we suddenly heard a whistle coming from outside.

This sound is melodious and far-reaching. It is very quiet in the ears, just like the ripples caused by willow branches brushing across the water in early spring.

Jia Lian, who had just stepped onto the second floor, couldn't help but stop, turned around and saw a small but beautifully decorated boat sailing past on the river not far away.

On the bow of the boat, surrounded by bamboo fences and lanterns, a graceful woman stands leisurely.

This woman is dressed in a white shirt, with her face half covered with gauze. She holds a jade flute in both hands in front of the veil, and makes a faint faint sound.It comes from this.

Although his appearance cannot be clearly seen at a glance due to the veil, it is not difficult to guess based on the figure and manner revealed by his song of dongxiao that this is another rare person. beauty.

On the small deck behind her, there were two beauties in cool clothes, dancing silently to her whisper. It is strange to say that the two dancing beauties are obviously of the highest quality in terms of figure and appearance. If they appeared alone at the grand party, they would probably be the beauties sought after by countless talented people. …

But at this moment, under the figure of the woman with the flute, the two dancing beauties seemed to be indifferent.

At this time, this place, appearing in this way, it is not difficult to guess that the woman on the bow of the boat will be a famous prostitute, and she should be quite famous.

The Xiao Qinhuai River is not very wide. The sudden appearance of this woman naturally attracted countless people who came out to have fun in the surrounding area to watch and speculate on her identity.

"With this figure, this kind of temperament, and this kind of accomplishments on the flute, could it be that the girl in Tsing Yi has come to our Yangzhou?"

"How is it possible, Tsing Yi What kind of status does the girl have? She is a beauty who has been the number one courtesan in Jiangnan for two consecutive years. According to rumors, she is also determined to win this oiran competition. If so, the girl in Tsing Yi is the number one courtesan in Jiangnan for three consecutive years.

This is rare in the history of oiran competitions. Compared with her, other oiran ladies in Jiangnan pale in comparison! I heard that even in major prefectures, When the magistrates held cultural gatherings, they wanted to invite girls in Tsing Yi to perform, but the girls in Tsing Yi might not agree.

You also don’t think about it, with the status of the girl in Tsing Yi, if she comes to Yangzhou, I'm afraid the whole city of Yangzhou has long been a sensation. How can we be allowed to listen to a Dongxiong song for free on such a small boat?"

"That is, there is a rumor that I want to hear a Dongxiao song from the girl in Tsing Yi. We must prepare at least five hundred gold. If this is really the girl in Tsing Yi, then we will make a lot of money today."

"I also know that it is unlikely, but it really seems like it. So what do you think? Said, apart from the girl in Tsing Yi, who else in the world can have such superb attainments in playing the flute? Anyway, I believe that there is no such number one oiran lady in our Yangzhou city..."

"... ..."

An excited voice suddenly sounded: "It seems to be a girl in Tsing Yi! Look, the dancer behind is not the top girl from Yichun Hospital in Yangzhou City? Xiaoxiao The girl is also a very famous oiran in our city of Yangzhou. Who else can she condescend to dance with, besides the girl in Tsing Yi?"

"Yes, yes, you are telling me that the other beauty accompanying the dancer seems to be Miss Wei Shishi from Suzhou City... I also met her at the Oiran Competition last year... Oh my God, this must be I'm just blinded, how could there be three oiran ladies on this little flower boat at the same time, performing music and dancing for us for free..."

Following the conversation of the scholars, The sound of Xiao and the spring breeze reached Jia Lian's ears.

The first courtesan again? This is the second time Jia Lian has heard this title. It was Jiang Yun who was given to Zhaoer by him before, saying that he had received this reputation before.

Although Jiang Yun has a stunning appearance and figure, she has already married a woman, and she has passed away at the age of three and is not in her youth, so Jia Lian has not been able to feel the full charm of this number one courtesan. .

At this time, hearing the comments of the people around him and looking at the half-covered woman wearing the flute, Jia Lian believed that it was necessary to have such a figure and temperament to be successful. She deserves to be known as the number one courtesan.

For a moment, Jia Lian even wanted to order the boat to pass by, forcing the other party to take off the veil and let him see the true face of Mount Lu, but he couldn't bear it. Let's not talk about whether doing this kind of thing will ruin the scenery. Let's just say that these flower boats and the scholars and scholars along both sides of the river will definitely turn into flower protectors and crush him mercilessly.

When faced with angry fans, it will be difficult to use any identity, and then he, the imperial envoy, will definitely be embarrassed.

Furthermore, Jia Lian also caught a glimpse of Shen Pan'er's scrutinizing eyes beside him, which seemed to be smiling but not serious, and he also realized that if that woman was really the number one oiran with such a reputation, and suddenly appeared here again, I'm afraid it was just what Shen Pan'er said, the surprise that the salt merchants had prepared for him.

Since the number one oiran is sought after by thousands of people, it is naturally expensive, but there is no doubt that the salt merchants have the power to dominate!

The flower boat carrying the beauty was traveling faster, and soon passed the lucky boat, and the whistle stopped.

Many people shouted across the river to play another song. Although they did not receive any response, many young men still ordered their flower boats to chase each other hard.

This kind of scene where a beautiful woman sings and causes everyone to chase is a common scene in the land of Jiangnan...