Due to Jia Min and Lin Lang's physical reasons, Lin Ruhai was not worried about their mother and son, so he did not rush back to Yangzhou to start writing, planning to leave back to Yangzhou after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, if Jia Min's body was stable, he would set off back to Yangzhou. Fortunately, the affairs of the salt administration yamen under his charge are not very urgent, that is, at the beginning of February every year, the yamen distributes salt to salt merchants according to the estimated salt production of each salt farm at the end of last year. In fact, the busiest part of the salt administration is the month of February, and the rest is to regularly or irregularly inspect the salt farms. The work on the books is managed by special officials, and Lin Ruhai only needs to check the accounts in person at the end of each month.

Although the official position of the salt transport envoy is not of high grade, it is fortunate that it is easy to have real power and it is convenient to make money, so it is a fat shortage that everyone wants. But the salt policy is also very easy to get into trouble, salt is the people's plan, but also a major source of tax revenue for the imperial court, a large amount of gold and silver from the hands, the emperor must not be a cronies, and in order to avoid officials in the position of the salt envoy for a long time, and be confused by those huge interests, do what corruption and bribery, thus damaging the emperor's trust and reuse, so the salt envoy used to be changed every two years. For so many years, only Zhen Yingjia was ordered to receive the holy driver because of the emperor's southern tour, and the emperor made him work in the position of salt transport envoy for nearly ten years in order to compensate him. This also directly led to the entire salt transportation yamen being controlled by Zhen Yingjia, even if he was dismissed later, and the salt transportation envoys who came for several terms failed to really get in touch with the core part of the salt administration, and every year they distributed salt quotations according to the previous practice. As for whether the actual amount of salt produced by the salt factory each year is consistent with the salt introduction, the former salt transport envoys are not aware of it at all.

Lin Ruhai had long known that he would go to Yangzhou to manage the salt administration, and when he first arrived in Jiangnan, he asked people to check all the salt merchants in Yangzhou, and also made people secretly stare at those large salt farms, which can be said to be clear about the things here. also knew that Zhen Yingjia relied on a small amount of salt to increase the amount of private salt, so as to make a large amount of gold and silver.

The reason why he rushed to Yangzhou after receiving the holy decree last year was that he planned to take over as the salt transport envoy before the salt farm reported the expected salt output for the coming year, so as to control the overall situation of this year. At this time, he was not in a hurry to return to Yangzhou, in addition to worrying about his wife and children, he also wanted to make those rats jump out in a hurry, only if they were in chaos, Lin Ruhai would be able to deal with them.

Sure enough, Lin Ruhai's side was as immobile as a mountain, and the big salt merchants in Yangzhou, who were mainly from the Fang family, couldn't sit still for many years. The Fang family sent a letter to Zhen Yingjia a year ago, asking what to do this year, but at that time, Zhen Yingjia was in a state of anxiety due to the expenses of private soldiers and the threat of Lord He, so how could he have the time to pay attention to these. But now that the salt is about to be distributed, if there is no countermeasure, what should be done with the extra salt? If you still go through the channel of illegal salt, once you are caught by Lin Ruhai, who will be responsible?

Everyone knows that Lin Ruhai is not only a salt envoy, but also a doctor of Lantai Temple, who can play to the sky. He is also a real confidant of the emperor, and there is basically no chance to be in the same stream with them, and no one dares to risk the lives of his whole family to take a fluke!

Zhen Yingjia looked at the letter that Yangzhou had just sent, this was the third letter sent by the Fang family, and he had also received letters from several other big salt merchants, all of whom were interested in asking him how to deal with his salt this year.

"How to deal with it, how to deal with it! How do I know what to do! They all came and asked me what to do! Knowing why Lin Ruhai didn't change the reported quantity in time when he was a salt transportation envoy, now it's good, all blame me, this group of white-eyed wolves who only know how to make money! Zhen Yingjia angrily slapped the letter on the desk.

Uncle Zhen stood there with low eyebrows, not daring to speak when Zhen Yingjia was angry. Recently, Zhen Yingjia's temper is getting bigger and bigger, since the fifth day of the new year, Lin Lang had an accident in the Zhen family, and the Zhen family lost face in front of all the guests, although the relationship was barely cleared up after that, but Lin Ruhai said in public that he had cut off contact with the Zhen family, and the reputation of the Zhen family was completely rotten. Zhen Yingjia was angry and killed many servants in the house, and because Zhen Han's housekeeper was unfavorable, he took away her housekeeping rights and forcibly sent her to the family temple to be grounded. None of the four sons dared to come forward to intercede for Zhen Han's family, but complained that Zhen Han's family would only be cronyistic, and the house was a mess for her. Zhen Han left the Zhen Mansion heartbroken, and only one of her close elders followed her to the family temple to serve her. Grandma Zhen got the housekeeping as she wished, and let the other three concubines hate her, but there is nothing she can do, who makes the family the daughter-in-law of the big house!

"Boss! Tell me about it! Zhen Yingjia suddenly asked.

Uncle Zhen didn't expect his father to ask him a question, he glanced up at Zhen Yingjia, then lowered his head and whispered, "What does the father want his son to say?" ”

"Tell me what you think of this year's batch of salt?"

"This ...... Son is dull ......"

Zhen Yingjia looked at the submissive appearance of the eldest son in front of him, and felt powerless for no reason. He Zhen Yingjia has been strong all his life, but none of his four sons is as shrewd and capable as him. Although this eldest son is not very smart, he is still down-to-earth, but how can he rest assured that he will put a piece of the foundation he has worked hard into his hands? There are one or two wise grandchildren, but they have been taught badly by their own mothers and wives, and each of them is a person who only knows how to enjoy himself, and none of them can become a weapon. Zhen Yingjia was thinking, even if he finally got the world, he was old and could sit for a few days, and no descendant of him would be able to provoke this beam after a hundred years!

"Father! Father! Uncle Zhen called Zhen Yingjia softly a few times, and finally pulled Zhen Yingjia's thoughts back.

"Forget it! I'm going to give up the benefits of salt transportation completely! ”

"No! Father! That's more than a million taels of silver a year! We have lost such a large amount of input, where do we need to fill it? Uncle Zhen immediately spoke out to stop him.

"Now that the Xue family's business is in my hands, how much is it up to me? Every year, 100,000 taels of silver are left, which is enough for their orphans and widows. There is no need to take risks to get money from salt shipments! ”

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