Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 572 Your son, nicknamed Jade Prince, truly is as gentle and refined as jade.
"Master~"

"I hope I don't have to go back home this time?"

Chief Constable Qin's wife kept complaining, "Don't make us run back and forth like last time!"

"Back in my hometown, only the house remains; all the fields have been sold off."

"Master, Master?"

The lady looked over in confusion, only to see her husband staring blankly at the official road.

"Master, what's wrong?"

At this moment, Chief Constable Qin finally recovered from his shock.

His once spirited face was now filled with bitterness.

He shook his head. "There's no going back."

"Huh?" The lady was dumbfounded. "What are you saying, sir?"

"I said, we won't be able to go back to our hometown in the county this time." Chief Constable Qin stood up and slowly walked to the shop entrance.

His gaze fell upon the Zijing Pass not far away.

Standing on the wall were all armored soldiers!
Chief Constable Qin travels the world, chasing suspects everywhere. His understanding of the various regions of the Great Zhou is a hundred times better than that of those bookish gentlemen.

He knew that the only task of a pass like Zijing Pass, an inland pass, was to collect taxes.

Let alone armored soldiers, you can hardly find any real soldiers.

More importantly, this massive movement of people would have been impossible in the Great Zhou Dynasty, where household registration was strictly controlled.

The Great Zhou Dynasty largely followed the practices of the Great Ming Dynasty, and it maintained very strict control over the movement of its people.

The movement of tens of thousands of people, even carrying weapons, is normally an absolutely impossible event.

But that's exactly what happened.

There's only one explanation: they're rebels!

Everywhere they went has been captured!

"Why haven't we heard anything at all?"

Chief Constable Qin's voice trembled, "Are all the officials in charge of the Shanxi Provincial Administration Commission dead?!"

A rebel force of this size numbered well over a few thousand.

But the imperial court didn't let a word of it out.

He simply couldn't understand how they did it.

Chief Constable Qin looked toward the notice board outside the checkpoint.

The largest one on top is a wanted poster for the traitor Wei Xiaobao.

At this moment, the real Wei Xiaobao was standing on horseback to one side of the notice board.

The wind blew, and the wanted posters whistled through the air.

Lin Dao, on horseback, waved to Chief Constable Qin.

With a blank expression, Chief Constable Qin walked over and asked, "Should I address him as King Wei or Young Master Lin?"

Just call me Lin Dao.

"Is Chief Constable Qin heading back to his hometown in Jie County?"

Qin An's heart skipped a beat. "I am but a lowly nobody, yet Young Master Lin takes notice of me. I am truly flattered!"

"Don't think too much."

Lin Dao, on horseback, waved his hand and said, "The entire capital city is under my surveillance."

“I knew about your escape, but I didn’t pay attention. After all, I reviewed your case files, and you’ve never handled a wrongful conviction.”

Otherwise~

"Do you think your whole family can leave Beijing alive?"

Chief Constable Qin, who was already shocked, was now even more shocked than before.

Monitoring the entire capital city?!
The imperial court hasn't even realized how much power this has!

In comparison, flipping through one's own case file is a trivial matter.

If anyone else had said this, even if it were the Prince of Zhongshun, Chief Constable Qin would have thought they were crazy.

But the one in front of me~
It must be the truth.

"The Great Zhou Dynasty is about to undergo a major change."

Lin Dao glanced at the time. "Do you want to go back to your hometown to farm, or come with me and investigate all the wrongful cases in the world?"

Is there even a choice?

If the late emperor hadn't died, he naturally wouldn't have gone with Lin Dao.

After all, although the Great Zhou Dynasty had countless internal and external conflicts, the late emperor was still capable, at least on the surface, he could keep them under control.

But now, almost all of the twelve battalions of the Beijing Garrison have collapsed.

This is the best-treated and most elite army in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

As for the border troops~
When the founding emperor established the country, in order to prevent separatism, he enfeoffed the leaders of local rebel armies with titles, and selected the elite troops of the rebel armies to be reorganized into the Beijing Garrison.

The border army was formed based on the troops of Emperor Taizu.

It must be said that the founding emperor was extremely decisive and charismatic.

However, these border troops have long been suppressed by the nobles in the capital, and their military spending is insufficient and their weapons are not maintained.

They gradually followed the path of becoming household servants of the Ming Dynasty's border troops.

They do have elite troops, but their numbers are not large.

Moreover, he had previously served the late emperor and had no real relationship with the retired emperor or even the crown prince.

Now, the imperial court not only refuses to bestow any rewards, but has also repeatedly ordered the border troops to return to their respective towns immediately.

Chief Constable Qin knew that once the border troops were stirred up, something big was bound to happen.

Only then did they hurriedly seize the opportunity to escape.

The entire Great Zhou Dynasty is in such a state of chaos that it seems an uprising is about to erupt in the capital.

At this moment, Lin Dao, the young master who seemed to have descended from heaven, actually brought out a powerful army, and did so without any prior warning to the court.

Any normal person knows how to choose.

Chief Constable Qin took three steps back and straightened his back.

He took a deep breath and bowed deeply to Lin Dao.

"I am willing to die for you, my lord!"

Capital, Rongguo Mansion.

"My son, what will become of you?"

Lying on the bed, Grandmother Jia looked haggard. Holding the hand of the weeping Shi Xiangyun, she sighed, "What will become of the Shi family?"

The Shi family was implicated in the Iron Net Mountain incident, and their entire household was raided.

Only Shi Xiangyun, who was a guest at the Rongguo Mansion at the time, escaped this calamity.

After Grandmother Jia collapsed from anger, she clearly sensed the approach of death.

Now they also want to find a way out for their descendants.

"Mother," Jia Zheng couldn't help but say, "why don't we go and ask the Crown Princess?"

"Now, we can only ask the Crown Princess for help."

The Jia family's network of connections was essentially destroyed.

The nobles were almost all wiped out, and the emperor was even declared the former emperor.

The Shi family was raided, the Wang family lost power, and the Xue family was even less worth mentioning.

The four great families were now in decline.

The situation outside is getting increasingly tense; it's estimated that the Jia family's turn to be raided will be coming soon.

In a state of panic, one really wants to grasp at any straw they see.

"Ah~"

Grandmother Jia sighed, "Ru Hai is still angry; it's no use."

The people in the manor knew perfectly well who was responsible for sending Lin Daiyu the poisoned sachet.

What kind of grudge was this? Lin Ruhai, in Yangzhou, wiped out all his enemies.

Now that his only child has been nearly killed, the fact that he didn't immediately bring troops to ransack the house is already a favor to Jia Min.

Ask him to plead for mercy?

The look in Grandmother Jia’s eyes when she looked at Jia Zheng was one of undisguised disappointment and frustration.

"You unfilial son!"

"This family is in misfortune; they can't even control their daughter-in-law."

"Now they just spout nonsense and have no real skills whatsoever."

"Where is your wife? Why isn't she here to serve you?"

"Useless!"

"Get out of here!"

Dusty and disheveled, Jia Zheng could only hurriedly pack his bags and run away.

Back in his own courtyard, he felt increasingly frustrated.

He berated the maids, "Where is your mistress?!"

According to custom, when Grandmother Jia was ill, her daughters-in-law, such as Lady Wang and Lady Xing, were expected to attend to her at her bedside and serve her medicine.

Madam Xing stayed put, but Madam Wang was nowhere to be found.

Jia Zheng, who had become foolish from reading too much, was truly seething with anger.

"Madam~ Madam has gone to visit Master Bao~"

"Bah!" Jia Zheng roared in anger, slamming his hand on the table.

"Rebel!"

"Shrew!"

"If it weren't for those two causing trouble, my Jia family would not have fallen to its current state!"

If Jia Baoyu hadn't smashed the jade in front of Lin Ruhai...

If it weren't for Lady Wang poisoning Lin Daiyu...

Even though the Jia family lost Jia Yuanchun, they still had a granddaughter who became the Crown Princess and Empress.

With such a background, no storm can reach their home.

But now~
The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

"Master~"

A servant came to report, "Hanlin Mei has come to visit!"

Jia Zheng then remembered that a few days ago, the Mei family, who were Hanlin scholars, sent a visiting card and arranged to visit them today.

He hurriedly got up and instructed the servants to go and invite his elder brother.

Jia She was the rightful heir to the Rongguo Mansion title, and he was the one who had to handle official matters.

When Jia She arrived, Jia Zheng and a group of his guests were having tea with Mei Hanlin.

After exchanging greetings and pleasantries, they began to discuss business.

"I have come here today to discuss my son's marriage."

Mei Hanlin had an outstanding appearance and an air of scholarly refinement.

At first glance, he appears to be a learned scholar.

One of his sons was engaged to Xue Baoqin of the Xue family.

At this time, the Xue family no longer had any male members who could make decisions, and Xue Ke was still busy running around to various shops.

Moreover, since the Xue family was staying with the Jia family, they directly approached the Jia family about this matter.

Jia Zheng nodded repeatedly. "I wonder what arrangements Elder Crane has in mind?"

Mei Hanlin appeared dignified and spoke calmly, but his words caused people to frown deeply.

"I did not approve of this marriage."

"The Xue family came from humble beginnings, and they were orphans."

"But since there was a prior agreement, I have no choice but to accept it reluctantly."

"If you want to marry into the Mei family, you must abide by the rules of the Mei family."

The Jia brothers had also heard about the Mei family's affairs.

They claimed to be a scholarly family, with generations of family members passing the imperial examinations and writing essays, and they were known for their poverty.

In reality, the Mei family's expenses were not small.

As the saying goes, "a poor scholar, a poor scholar."

Although the position of Hanlin Academician was prestigious, the income was not high.

The reason the Mei family could maintain such a luxurious lifestyle was that all their expenses came from the dowries of their daughters-in-law.

This is why the marriage alliance with the Xue family was formed.

Mei Hanlin held up three fingers. "If the dowry is not this amount, then it's better to just drop this matter."

"Thirty thousand taels?" Jia She frowned. "Isn't that a bit too much?"

"Brother Enhou, you flatter me."

Mei Hanlin waved his hand, "It's three hundred thousand taels."

The room fell silent immediately upon hearing this.

Demanding a dowry of 300,000 taels?!

Are you crazy about money?

If Xue Pan hadn't died, the four great families wouldn't have fallen into decline.

Mei Hanlin would not make such an outrageous demand.

After all, influence and connections are more important than money.

But now that the four major families are on the verge of collapse, they can no longer rely on any connections or networks of kinship, so all they can do is desperately demand money.

First, bring the people and the money to the mansion.

Once the four great families fall, they can simply swallow the dowry, deal with the people, and remarry.

Xue Baoqin is said to be exceptionally beautiful, and Hanlin Mei is very satisfied with her, finding her extremely useful.

The Mei family has done this kind of thing many times; they're very experienced.

"Old Crane".

Jia Zheng cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "This is far too much; I'm afraid the Xue family won't allow it."

“That’s fine.” Mei Hanlin was well aware of the current situation and knew that they wanted to take advantage of the situation to cut their losses. He immediately pressed, “Then return the marriage certificate and let’s call it a day.”

Jia Zheng sighed and glanced at his elder brother.

Seeing that he didn't intend to speak, I could only bite the bullet and deal with it.

“Old Crane, we should inform the Xue family about this matter and let them make their own decision.”

"it is good."

Mei Hanlin put down his teacup and stood up. "In that case, I will wait for news."

"If you do not agree within three days, then I will return the marriage certificate."

"Farewell."

Jia Zheng hurriedly got up to see him off.

As he stepped out the door and was about to board the carriage, Mei Hanlin stopped and looked at Jia Zheng with a half-smile.

"Brother Cunzhou, your son is known as Young Master Yu, and he truly is as gentle and refined as jade!"

Jia Zheng was stunned and didn't understand what he meant, so he quickly said a few polite words.

"Brother Cunzhou."

Mei Hanlin's smile widened. "Your wife is also virtuous and kind, truly virtuous and kind—I have the utmost respect for her!"

"Hahahahaha~~~"

Mei Hanlin laughed loudly as he boarded his carriage and left, leaving Jia Zheng bewildered and stunned.

(End of this chapter)