Yangzhou Yanzheng Yamen main hall.

The loyal prince with a tired face sat in the hall, looking at the pledge book in his hand with a strong spirit, and his face gradually sank.

Jia Yun, who was standing on the side, was also tired, but he had a duty on his shoulder, so he could only stand behind King Zhongshun and wait for orders.

Jia Yun and his entourage set off from the capital, rode horses all the way, spent ten days, and finally arrived in Yangzhou.

Since he came to Jiangnan to raise funds, he was naturally looking for great wealth, and those who were rich in Jiangnan were only salt merchants.

The salt tax accounts for half of all taxes in the whole world, and these salt merchants are not rich.

And the one who can manage these salt merchants is naturally the salt government yamen.

Don't underestimate the salt administration yamen, the chief official here is the two Huai patrol salt history, and he is a civil official from the five grades.

Compared with the second grade of the governor of Liangjiang and the second grade of the governor of Jiangsu, the grade of the fifth grade is really not enough, but this is the history of the two Huai patrols.

The two Huai refer to Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou. Salt patrol refers to the inspection of salt administration, the imperial history is to supervise the imperial history, the scope of responsibility includes the two Huai regions, these places are rich places, and the salt tax is much higher than other regions.

The total amount of the two Huai salt taxes was basically maintained at 2.5 million taels of silver, accounting for more than half of the imperial court.

It can be seen that the importance of salt transportation in the two Huai Huai.

Because of this, the positions of the two Huai patrol salt imperial history are generally filled by people who are deeply trusted by the emperor.

And there is a special task for the salt patrol imperial history, that is, to supervise the local officials, to put it bluntly, it is the emperor's eyeliner, and the two Huai patrol salt imperial history can directly report to the emperor, so the local governor can only turn a blind eye to the salt patrol imperial history, and he can't afford to provoke it.

"How can this be done, who will be sent with this silver?"

King Zhongshun threw the pledge book on several cases and cursed.

Jia Yun on the side saw that King Zhongshun was indignant, and he already knew in his heart that it was not easy to let these salt merchants pay for the money willingly.

After relieving himself, Zhongshun Wang Fu picked up the pledge book again, threw it directly into Jia Yun's hand, and said gloomily: "Come and see how generous these salt merchants are." ”

Jia Yun understood, opened the pledge book and took a look, I don't know if I don't know, I was shocked when I saw it, these rich people are really generous, the silver donated by the salt merchants in the land of Lianghuai is not enough to give a bowl of porridge to every victim, let alone two million taels to make up for the shortfall, it is not even a fraction.

As the saying goes, "rich and stingy", this is really reasonable, so Jia Yun doesn't know what to say, even if he is a façade, he doesn't do it like this.

Jia Yun was silent, if this matter was easy to do, Emperor Chongming would not need to send a prince to handle the errand.

It stands to reason that this matter is also easy to do, as long as Emperor Chongming makes a holy decree, I don't believe that these salt merchants dare to play tricks, but if it is ordered by the emperor, this is not forced? Where to put the face of the imperial court.....

After thinking for a while, Jia Yun said: "Lord Wang, first send a letter to the Qin, and summon the two Huai salt officials to bring those salt merchants to the salt government yamen, I believe that with the weight of the prince's Qincha, these salt merchants will give some face." ”

Hearing this, the prince of Zhongshun pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "It's also true, it's better than waiting." ”

After saying that, King Zhongshun instructed Xiao Shi of the salt government yamen below: "Go to the next line, and order the salt transportation history of the two Huai and Huai to bring their subordinate salt merchants to discuss donations in the salt government yamen." ”

In addition to patrolling the salt imperial history, the salt administration yamen did not set up subordinate officials, and the rest were clerical officials.

At this time, the chief official of the Yanzheng Yamen was Lin Ruhai, the father of Lin Daiyu, but Lin Ruhai had a sudden illness a month ago and was no longer in charge, so there was no serious official in the Yanzheng Yamen.

A month ago, Jia Yun knew that Lin Ruhai had a sudden illness, and Emperor Chongming also sent the imperial doctor in the palace to Yangzhou to treat Lin Ruhai's illness, and his grace was not very good.

Originally, Qin sent to Jiangnan to run errands, and salt officials from all over the country should wait at the salt administration yamen.

It's just that Jia Yun and his party traveled lightly and simply, all the way along the Yellow Flood Area, except for the necessary rest, they did not rest for a moment, and they arrived several days earlier than the scheduled arrival time.

Naturally, it was the King of Loyalty who made such a decision, and Jia Yun was not qualified to criticize it.

I have to say that in the Red Mansion that Jia Yun knew in the past, King Zhongshun described very little, so he didn't know much about it, but this contact made him know that King Wen, who was loyal to Shun, was able to manage the household department, and Wu was able to control a good horse.

This way is fast, even Jia Yun, a person who has lived in the army for a long time, can't bear it, and the prince of Zhongshun, who is the prince, is not left behind at all, which is really surprising.

Thinking about it carefully, although the Red Mansion has little description of the prince of Zhongshun, he can become a prince in just a few years, and he is by no means just a compatriot of Emperor Chongming, and his ability cannot be ignored.

When the little official heard this, he hurriedly went down to make arrangements, and the king of Zhongshun was also exhausted at this time, and he was afraid that this errand would be difficult to handle.

The matter came to an end for the time being, and King Zhongshun seemed to remember something, and turned his head to Jia Yun and said, "Lin Ruhai of the Yanzheng Yamen is your ancestor, right?"

Jia Yun was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Lord Wang, exactly." ”

In terms of generation, Lin Ruhai's wife Jia Min is Jia Yun's aunt, and Lin Ruhai is Jia Yun's aunt, and Lin Daiyu is Jia Yun's aunt.

King Zhongshun nodded, and then sighed: "I haven't seen him for a few years, I just went to see how his body is today, Jia Yun, you can go with him!" ”

Since Lin Ruhai can sit on the history of the two Huai patrols, it shows that he is the confidant of Emperor Chongming, and it is natural for King Zhongshun to know him, maybe he was still a close friend before!

After saying that, King Zhongshun got up and walked towards the inner hall, and Jia Yun followed without saying a word.

In the second courtyard of the Yanzheng Yamen, they are all modeled after the Yamen, and it can be seen that the middle hall and the left and right two wings are the places for various departments to work and deal with salt affairs.

Passing through the atrium is the third entrance, which is the back house.

This is the residence of the salt patrol and his family, and there are salt soldiers everywhere, and foreign men are not allowed to enter.

The Yanzheng Yamen is not an ordinary yamen, there are 300 salt soldiers in the Yanzheng Yamen, specializing in smuggling salt.

Salt is a necessity for the people, but the price of salt is extremely high, and it is not affordable for ordinary poor families.

Therefore, there is a saying that "the grain of the peasants for the whole year is less than the price of salt".

Compared with official salt, private salt is several times cheaper.

In the face of unattainable salt prices, the poor have to eat less salt, or even no salt, or buy private salt.

Moreover, the cost of making illicit salt is relatively low, and the benefits are huge, so naturally there are many lawbreakers who are opportunistic and sell illicit salt.

The "Great Cadre Law" strictly prohibits the sale and purchase of illicit salt, and stipulates that both buyers and sellers must be severely punished: "Those who sell illicit salt are allocated 2,000 li to fill the army, and those who buy illicit salt have 100 rods." ”

A hundred boards, this is the rhythm of beating people to death.

Those who dare to smuggle smuggled salt are outlaws who pin their heads to the waistbands of their trousers.

Therefore, the salt soldiers have all seen the blood, and they are naturally brave.

At the third entrance, several salt soldiers were guarding the door, and another person who seemed to be a housekeeper, Jia Yun stepped forward and greeted: "Go and report it, and say that Jia Yunte of the Ningguo Mansion has come to visit Lin Guzu." ”

The housekeeper was stunned when he heard this, his face improved slightly, and he hurriedly said: "It turned out to be the young master of the Jia family, and the old slave will go to tell him." ”

…………

The east chamber of the inner house, the forest is like the sea room.

For the past half month, the room has always been filled with dull sadness.

Lin Ruhai was lying on the bed with a pale face, and on the edge of the bed sat a thin girl who was crying silently, her slightly red and swollen eyes were full of sorrow.

This girl is naturally Lin Daiyu, the daughter of Lin Ruhai, the salt government of Yangzhou, Lin Ruhai is seriously ill and knows that time is short, so he sent someone to pick up his daughter back.

According to the rules, if you have no children to serve before you die, you will become a lonely ghost after death......

Recently, Lin Ruhai's health has been getting worse and worse, and seeing that there are only a few days left, how can Daiyu not be sad?

She now grieves all day long, and washes her face with tears......

Lin Daiyu was enduring her grief to serve Lin Ruhai taking medicine, only to hear the sound of "squeak", a maid pushed the door in, only to see that she was wearing a thin cotton jacket with elastic ink, and only wearing a green satin vest outside, looking at the lovely person, this person is Lin Daiyu's personal maid Zijuan.

Zijuan walked in, her expression was a little happy, and she hurriedly said, "Girl, Steward Lin said that Uncle Fu from Dongfu has come to see the master." ”

Lin Daiyu was stunned for a long time when she heard this, and immediately understood who the person who came over.

She frowned slightly, and wondered, "It's him, why is he here?" ”

Zijuan said happily: "Girl, don't you know, it turns out that the old man who came to the yamen before has Uncle Li, listening to Steward Lin, it seems that he came to see the master after finishing his work, and now he is waiting at the gate of the courtyard!"

Qin sent to Yanzheng Yamen on an errand, and they also heard about it, but Lin Ruhai was seriously ill, and they were female dependents, so they naturally couldn't care about these things, they thought that they would leave after finishing their errands, but they never thought that there were "acquaintances" among these people.

Zijuan stepped forward to help Lin Daiyu and coaxed: "Girl, don't cry, the old man is auspicious, sooner or later, it will be fine, then Uncle Lu in Dongfu is his own family, and he has to be seen, but he can't lose his courtesy."

Lin Daiyu nodded when she heard this, if it is a foreign man, it is not easy to see each other, but if it is "your own family", you really have to entertain one or two.

Zijuan picked up the silk handkerchief and helped Lin Daiyu wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"It's pitiful, since the girl went back to Yangzhou, she hasn't cried less, and her body has become thinner and thinner, I hope this uncle from Dongfu can explain the girl well."

When Zijuan helped Lin Daiyu tidy up her appearance, she thought distressedly.