The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 50 Asking for Money
The next day, the whole city began to search house by house, and many people with illegal backgrounds were arrested.

In the evening, Jia Rong discussed things with Liu Xianglian and others.

Now that Jia Lian and Jia Zheng are not around, Jia Rong has the final say in the East and West Mansions.

Liu Xianglian said: "The situation has been very bad recently. Fortunately, Brother Rong donated a small official position to me, otherwise it would be difficult for me to stay."

Jia Rong nodded
Now that Liu Xianglian holds an official position and has a house, he naturally doesn't have to worry about being driven away.

This trouble has not yet been resolved.

Although everyone knows that there is a tyrant committing crimes in the capital, he has not been caught yet.

At present, all we know is that the man comes like a shadow and goes like the wind. He is so powerful that he can kick open the door with one foot, and even kick down the wall of the official's house.

The burning of the Imperial Household Department was a bad thing, but only a few rooms were burned. The real problem was that the assassin could now penetrate deep into the palace.

Both emperors issued orders hundreds of times, but he still couldn't be caught.

At this point, the emperor himself knew that he did not have the ability to arrest anyone, and he did not dare to force the man too much.

Otherwise, if something like an assassination attempt in the palace happened, it would be a huge deal.

Now, the new emperor has been governing the country with benevolence for two years since he took office. He has worked hard to promote the idea that he loves his people like his own children and is a good emperor.

Now I don't dare to provoke the assassin and just hope he leaves quickly. To this end, I have begun to vigorously clean up the low-end population, thinking of sending that person somewhere else first.

If you want to leave, I won't stop you!

At this time, in addition to the original people of the capital, a large part of the population of the capital also consisted of those who had followed the original emperor to establish the country, including military nobles and the original group of soldiers.

For example, the Jia family, a founding hero, not only settled down there themselves, but also brought in a large number of slaves and families of many soldiers stationed in the capital.

The Jia family has grown from the original two branches to the current eight branches, and the other meritorious nobles have also grown and multiplied a lot.

At present, there are more than 100,000 people in the capital who are neither scholars, farmers, merchants, or artisans, and are neither soldiers nor civilians. These people mainly eat the food of the nobles and rely on their family's power and connections to do whatever they want.

The solution is to drive them away, let them go back home, or even give them travel expenses and ask them to leave quickly.

Those without household registration will be exiled. In short, people with illegitimate backgrounds will not be allowed to continue causing trouble in the capital.

There are also many merchants who come to the capital to make a living, and some come to the capital to live with relatives and friends.

In order to cope with the pressure of "the population in the capital is increasing day by day, there are many people waiting for food, there is no extra money to provide them, and there is no extra land in the capital to accommodate them", the government began to focus on rectifying this problem a few years ago, especially the low-end population and military personnel.

The imperial court stipulated that each business could not have more than three operators and employees. Jia Rong had little influence because his family members were not considered workers.

Many shops are small and medium-sized shops and do not require so many people.

Liu Xianglian sighed, "A lot of people had to be driven away before the New Year, and every family was like this."

Jia Rong didn't believe it. "We can just drive some away. Can we drive all of them away? If that happens, the thieves will become even more rampant. Who will protect us?"

Jia Rong lectured Liu Xianglian, "Don't just listen to what the higher-ups say, but also look at what the people around you are doing. Now that the emperor has issued an order, I will send dozens of people back home tomorrow, but I can't really drive them all away. Otherwise, if I really follow the rules and keep more than a hundred people, will that be enough for the whole family?"

"Count the grooms, sedan chair bearers, cooks, guards, gatekeepers, errand runners, business people, concubines, wet nurses and maids, that's how many people there are."

The housekeeper asked, "Who should we let go?"

No one wants to leave.

This is the capital city!

Jia Rong said, "We can't let everyone down. I'll let the older ones go back, and you can just stay here and rest assured!"

Jia Rong said to the remaining six families: "I, Jia Rong of Ningguo Mansion, can't I protect you?"

If I can’t protect them, then I can’t protect them. The emperor let them go, and it’s none of my business.

Jia Rong did not intend to take full responsibility, but the elderly people present were relieved when they heard it.

There is no problem for the elderly to go back and retire, but the main thing is that some properties need young people to look after them here.

Without people, money cannot be kept.

The representative of Rongguo Mansion was Lai Da, who asked, "Will it be okay if some of the older people leave?"

Jia Rong looked at the man.

"In my opinion, we should first disperse the retainers of Rongguo Mansion. Now one retainer is worth dozens of slaves. Does His Majesty really want to drive away those slaves? In fact, it is those who have abilities but have not served the court!"

Lai Da said quickly: "This master will definitely not agree."

Jia Rong stood up and said, "Think about it. So many people came to the last funeral. How could others not know that the Jia family has so many people? I think you should go back and ask your wife to send all the guests away quickly to avoid trouble."

"She is a woman, she can come forward to chase them away. At worst, we can ask Master Zheng to invite them back later."

"I have a lot of things to do at home, so I'll go back and think about who to send back."

Everyone began to disperse and went back to arrange for the elderly to go home. The two governments had symbolically dismissed some people before. Now that the emperor was unable to sleep, the group of people below must be more low-key.

After returning home, Jia Rong called people to talk about recent events.

"Business in the capital is not going well. I guess we won't be able to make money. We need to expand our business to the south, or even overseas."

"We have people in Yangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Songjiang Prefecture. We will go back to Jinling first."

The housekeeper asked, "Master, will we be unable to do business in the capital in the future?"

Jia Rong said, "There are fewer people here, so who can we earn money from? I think there will be soldiers and bandits everywhere. Not only will we not be able to make money from business, but we will also be blackmailed by a group of soldiers and bandits. How can we do business?"

"Those who leave now are the ones who spend money, and those who stay are the ones who want money."

After hearing what Jia Rong said, everyone knew that they could no longer stay in the capital.

Jia Rong was just pretending. He was originally planning to send someone home to celebrate the New Year, and now is the perfect time for them to go back.

Places like the hometown and the south also need people to manage and develop. In the past, the Jia family refused to leave the capital, but now there is a good opportunity for them to return to their hometown or make a fortune in the south.

If the emperor doesn't take the blame for this kind of thing, Jia Rong, the clan leader, won't be able to get his say and will be blamed.

But now that the emperor is taking the blame, it is much easier to drive them away.

Jia Rong did not drive away any of the people in the backyard or the mansion, but instead drove away the people from the side branches and some temporary workers.

The Rongguo Mansion only drove away some guests, and the maids and servants in each room all had some relationship.

The same was true for several princes, nobles and wealthy families outside. Most of them did not want to bear the infamy and drive away their relatives and loyal servants.

Even if many people drive some people away, they are just hiding from the wind temporarily, and they will come back when everything is fine.

The emperor spent a few days in fear, and everything was fine.

However, the new emperor has never left the palace since he ascended the throne, and he knows more about the outside world from reports from his confidants and memorials from various places.

The retired emperor and the old empress dowager are still there.

The defense force of the capital and the palace guards have increased significantly.

Jia Rong has been very busy recently. His wife and concubine are pregnant again. In addition, Qin Keqing, You Second Sister and You Third Sister frequently ask for sex. He has no time to go out and play at night, so he can only vent his energy on women.

Wang Xifeng came to Jia Rong with a smile on her face that day.

"Master, when will you go back?"

She brought two maids, two women in their thirties, with her today, and it was obvious that they were not here for private matters.

Jia Rong raised his eyebrows, "Pregnant?"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "You guessed it right! I sent someone to send a letter to the Second Master early in the morning. It was about what happened a few days before Master was pardoned."

Jia She had not been dead for long, but Wang Xifeng and Jia Rong both knew whose child the child was, and they also knew that Wang Xifeng's words were meant for the two servants behind her.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Congratulations!"

Wang Xifeng walked over and sat on the empty chair in the study, and said elegantly, "Shouldn't the Master show some appreciation?"

Jia Rong knew that the child was his, and said, "Then I will give the child sixty-six taels to please him."

Wang Xifeng frowned, "This doesn't look like Master Rong's handiwork. I still remember that Qiaojie gave Master Lian eight hundred and eighty-eight taels and eight cents at that time~"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "You are such a calculating woman. Do you really think that my money came from the wind?"

Wang Xifeng sighed, "You don't know how difficult it is for me if you don't run the household. This year, there are banquets for the top candidates, birthdays for my brothers, sisters, grandfathers, grandmothers, and old ladies, and there are all kinds of social interactions. There are so many things to do at the end of the year that require money."

"Today, Madam gave a large sum of money to the dozen or so retainers that Master Zheng kept to send them off. Oh! This year, we spent 180,000 taels of silver!"

"The harvest in the farm and the business in the city are not good. When we came in, the soldiers guarding the gate took a lot of it. Life is hard!"

Jia Rong said angrily, "Don't complain about being poor. I don't have any money, but Yuanchun and her friends are going to spend the New Year there this year. I'll prepare the New Year's goods for the west. Just give me a list of what you want. Don't go too far. I'm not someone who wants to suffer a loss!"

Wang Xifeng got a reward of three or four thousand silver coins and said with a smile: "No, no, how dare I do that~"

Jia Rong didn't waste time talking to her and reminded her, "I'm not concerned about you, I'm just reminding you of something."

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm keeping my mouth shut!"

Jia Rong said coldly: "I'm not afraid of you telling others. I'm reminding you to mind your own business. You're not in good health. If you're too tired, your son will die in your stomach!"

"Which is more important, my son or this year's housekeeper? Think about it yourself!"

"If you have a miscarriage this time, you may never have children."

Wang Xifeng looked at Jia Rong's cold face and realized the seriousness of the problem.

(End of this chapter)