All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 120 Jia She's Attack

The news that many provincial capitals in Jiangnan would be designated as tax-exclusive areas caused a huge uproar.

As for the reason, it is of course very simple, it's all for money.

Not to mention, the annual autumn grain output of Suzhou Prefecture alone is as high as more than 2 million shi.

At this time, the price of grain in the capital was about 800 wen per stone. Even if the price of grain in Jiangnan was cheap after the autumn harvest, after adding the transportation cost, storage cost, labor cost, etc., it was still a super business worth over one million taels of silver!

In the past, only the imperial court was qualified to engage in such large-scale business.

But now that the imperial court is willing to take it out, it has naturally attracted countless people's crazy peeping.

Chen Ran, the initiator of this incident, was severely impeached at this time!
The first wave of impeachment came from the old scholars. They impeached Chen Ran for treating the imperial court's famous treasures as his own personal property and selling them at will, which was a crime he should be punished with!

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that how could a mere Shuntian prefect sell the autumn grain from the Jiangnan prefectures? This was clearly the emperor's tacit approval.

They said they were impeaching Chen Ran, but in fact they were attacking the emperor for being promiscuous.

The emperor didn't even bother to refute these impeachments and simply drowned them out.

So many prefectures in Jiangnan cannot collect much autumn grain. Instead of letting the big families get a bargain, it is better to exchange it for money and grain.

Whether the emperor wants to be diligent in government affairs or wants to enjoy himself, money and food are indispensable.

The second wave of impeachment came mainly from the censors of the Censorate.

Their words were fierce, and they kept calling for fighting and killing, and even asked for Chen Zihou to be beheaded!
Everyone knows that the backers of these imperial censors are the wealthy families in Jiangnan.

How could they not take action when their interests were affected?

Regarding this matter, Chen Ran went to the Daming Palace and visited the retired emperor. Within a few days, the attacks and impeachments from the censors quickly disappeared.

The eldest prince, who was watching this, asked in confusion, "What did you say to Grandpa Huang?"

Chen Ran responded with a sigh, "I didn't say anything, I just mentioned money and food. After all, the emperor also needs money and food."

The emperor emeritus is also an emperor, and as long as he is an emperor, he needs money and food. Chen Ran sees this clearly.

Faced with the pressure from the retired emperor, the Zhen family in Jiangnan temporarily appeased the wealthy families in various places. After all, the knife was only raised and had not actually been cut on the body.

The last wave of impeachments was interesting, as they came from royal relatives and noble families.

The leader among them was naturally Prince Zhongshun, who should have gone south long ago but stayed behind specifically because of the tax-farming issue.

Their purpose was simple, which was to get rid of Chen Ran and take control of the tax farming affairs into their own hands.

What this means is to obtain the tax-raising rights of the most states at the lowest cost.

Both the emperor and the emperor emeritus saw this clearly.

Therefore, no matter how intense the impeachment was, or how extensive the connections were, it would all be drowned out when it came to the two of them who could actually make the decision.

Both emperors saw clearly that Chen Ran was making money for them, not for himself.

It is impossible for the emperor to go against his own wallet, even if it is a relative.

With these three moves, the matter was finally decided, and we just had to wait for the auction day to arrive. Interested parties would bid in the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.

The final moment is approaching, and those who want to make a fortune are starting to go crazy.

Rongguo Mansion, Rongxi Hall.

"I'm old." Sitting on the couch, Jia's mother sighed as she looked at Jia She and the others in front of her. "I only have some money for my old age, and I don't have any extra money to lend to you."

Jia She, Jia Zhen, Jia Rong, and Jia Lian, whose face was scratched by Wang Xifeng, were all there.

Jia Zheng, Jia Baoyu who was wrapped in a face scarf, as well as Jia Huan, Jia Lan and others were all there, sitting or standing by, watching the fun with complicated expressions.

In addition, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang, Wang Xifeng and others were watching.

Behind a screen not far away, a group of Jia family girls were eavesdropping quietly.

It is very rare that almost all members are present.

"Grandfather." Compared to Jia She, who couldn't even speak properly, Jia Zhen was obviously more eloquent. "This is a great opportunity. Apart from anything else, the autumn grain quota for Suzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan this year is 2.7 million dan! This is an income of at least more than one million taels of silver."

Hearing such a huge scale, Wang Xifeng twisted her waist unconsciously, and her eyes turned slightly red.

"I'm just old, but I'm not stupid."

After all, Grandmother Jia is the wife of Jia Daishan, a man of both civil and military talents, so she does have some knowledge and experience.

"Let's not talk about whether you have a way to collect the autumn grain. Let's say the court really offers Suzhou Prefecture to take over the tax. Can you afford it?"

"I'm here to ask for help, old ancestor." Jia Zhen said with a smile, "We have united several families to bid together, but there are still some discrepancies in the amount of money, so please help me, old ancestor."

"Mother~~~" Jia She followed what others had taught him and began to play the emotional card. "I have wasted my life and it is rare for me to want to do something serious. Please help me, mother!"

After saying that, he knelt down in public and paid his respects.

Suddenly, Jia Zheng and others stood up hurriedly, and no one dared to sit down again.

This is equivalent to setting Lady Jia up on a fire to warm herself.

You know, Grandmother Jia owes this eldest son.

According to the system of primogeniture, everything in Rongguo Mansion should belong to Jia She.

But because Grandmother Jia favored her youngest son, Jia She could only hang on to the title of an empty general and hide in the East Road Courtyard, living a life of drunkenness and dreams. If this happened in a big family with old people still alive, Grandmother Jia would be in trouble!
"Alas." Grandmother Jia looked at her eldest son with a complicated expression.

She knew that her eldest son was a fool, and someone must have taught him to force himself like this.

His eyes fell on Jia Zhen who was standing aside with his head lowered. It must be this bad guy with so many evil ideas!
There was nothing she could do about it. Since the matter had already come out, she had to respond.

Otherwise, if the news gets out, she will be laughed to death by the women in the wealthy families.

It’s okay to be partial, but you can’t be so blatant, and you certainly can’t treat the eldest son like this!
She rubbed her forehead hard, her headache was severe "Tell me, how much do you want?"

Jia She immediately showed a look of joy, turned his head and looked at Jia Zhen on the side, "You are really capable, this trick really works."

Jia Zhen rolled his eyes and said, "Stupid, why are you looking at me at this time? Are you afraid that the old lady doesn't know that I instigated you?"

"Well, another 100,000 taels would be nice."

"One hundred thousand taels?!" Grandmother Jia's tone suddenly became sharp. "You can chop up the old woman and sell her on the scales. Even if you squeeze out the oil from her bones, you still won't get one hundred thousand taels!"

Before getting married, Lady Jia was the eldest daughter of the Shi family and she came with a generous dowry.

Later, after taking charge of the Rongguo Mansion for many years, he naturally accumulated a large amount of wealth.

But even so, even if he sold her, he wouldn't be able to get such a high price as 100,000 taels.

"Let's talk about this." Jia Zhen quickly took over the conversation. "This time, several families have joined together to raise shares. The more silver you pay, the more shares you will naturally get. When the autumn grain is collected and sold, you will naturally get more when the silver is distributed. Of course, the more you pay, the better. If you can get another 50,000 taels of silver..."

"You guys are going to force me to death!"

Grandmother Jia got up in anger and walked to the back hall with her cane. "I only have 10,000 taels of silver. Take it or leave it!"

All her savings over the years, including her dowry, amounted to only a few tens of thousands of taels, and she had originally planned to leave it all to Jia Baoyu.

Now that we've been forced into this situation, borrowing 12,000 taels of silver is already a huge loss, so how could we possibly give more?

The old lady wanted to leave, and no one could stop her.

Moreover, he agreed to lend 10,000 taels of silver, which was a good deal, so no one could say anything more.

After Grandmother Jia left, Jia Zhen turned around and bowed to Jia Zheng, "Second Uncle!"

When Jia Zheng heard his second uncle calling him, his heart trembled.

He quickly stepped forward to help him up, "Brother Zhen, get up and talk quickly."

Mrs. Wang, who was standing by, also changed her expression. She changed her previous habit of not saying anything in front of others and frowned and said, "Brother Zhen, it's not that we don't want to help. It's just that such a high-priced business of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels is not something we can get involved in."

The couple thought they wanted to borrow money and were really panicked.

If it's just a few hundred dollars, then I'll lend it to you.

Even if you grit your teeth, three or five thousand taels is not a bad idea. After all, the East Palace is so big there.

But they just asked for a sky-high price of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels. This is too much of a compliment to them.

Mrs. Wang, who had previously cultivated herself to the point where she could not show her emotions, was really angry.

Suddenly, she felt a burning gaze staring at her from behind. She turned around in confusion and saw that it was the eldest master Jia She who was staring at her.

That look.
"Uncle!" Jia Zhen, who was helped up, forced a smile and explained, "It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. My nephew didn't want to borrow money."

Mrs. Wang retracted her gaze and looked at Jia Zhen. "What's the matter?"

"Let grandma know." Jia Rong, who was standing by, got the hint and stepped forward to explain, "Originally, the nobles of each family had already discussed it. Everyone joined together and equalized the price. No one would pay more money, which would benefit everyone."

The nobles were not stupid either. When Chen Ran adopted the bidding model, they privately discussed their respective goals and prices, all of which were at the lowest level, so they did not have to spend more money.

This is truly a win-win situation for everyone, except the court and the emperor.

But the problem is, the devil is one foot high, but the Tao is ten feet higher.

"That bad guy Chen Zihou," Jia Zhen gnashed his teeth and took over the conversation, "After hearing about this, he actually changed the bid and said he wanted to use a secret bid!!"

The so-called secret bidding means that those who intend to bid write down their own price in advance and submit it. When the time comes, whoever offers the highest price will get the property.

As a result, the private understanding between the royal family and the nobles was shattered in an instant.

This is also the reason why Jia Zhen and others had to rush to raise money everywhere.

After all, if the price is not high enough, then it will be a waste of time. You will have to watch others eat the meat while you can't even have a sip of soup!

If that were true, I would die of jealousy.

Jia Zheng understood what they meant. They were asking him to do Chen Ran a favor.

"No, no." He shook his head repeatedly. "Zihou is working for His Majesty. If he angers His Majesty by doing this behind the scenes, it will bring disaster to him."

"Second Uncle~~~" Jia Zhen used his eyes repeatedly, and Jia She, Jia Rong, Jia Lian and others immediately rushed forward, surrounded Jia Zheng and his wife, and cried for help together.

'ah! ! ! '

In the chaos, Mrs. Wang, whose face was as red as blood, suddenly screamed, attracting everyone's attention.

"Nothing." She gritted her teeth and blushed, "I stepped on your foot."

Jia She, who was intoxicated at the side, quietly put his hands behind his back and rubbed them gently, full of memories~~~
(End of this chapter)