Qing Yao

Chapter 447 Doing it myself

The old master was his biological father, and the middle-aged man was his godfather.

But without a godfather, there is no biological father!
Zhao An could clearly distinguish between cause and effect, who gave him his first pot of gold, and who led him down the path of tracing his ancestry.

Therefore, no matter how much his biological father dotes on him, the son must first keep his godfather's little hobbies in mind.

My godfather's greatest hobby was appreciating material things, including studying these rare little stones.

If a father has a certain preference, how can a son not grant it?
"Divide the treasures confiscated from the Marquis's residence into three categories: the best first-class, the second-best second-class, and the third-best third-class. Organize them separately for me."

Zhao An made the above arrangements.

The term "treasure" is a very broad one. Antiques and jade are considered treasures, as are calligraphy and paintings by famous people. What standards are used to classify them?
Of course, the standard is based on the "exchange rate".

Items valued at over 10,000 taels are classified as first-class, those between 5,000 and 10,000 taels are classified as second-class, and those below 5,000 taels are classified as third-class.

A group of guards and soldiers from the Shanpu Camp certainly couldn't handle such a professional split personality task, so two experts from a pawnshop in the outer city, who were sound asleep at home, were urgently "invited" over.

The two experts were brought over in a state of shock and fear, thinking they had done something wrong. However, when they heard that it was to grade the treasures of the Marquis of Jinghai's mansion, the two experts calmed down and quickly began their work without any delay.

There was no other way; only Zhao An, a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, could withstand the oppressive aura emanating from the yellow jacket. No one else, not even the Marquis's wife, could bear it.

To boost the morale of the guards and the soldiers of the poker battalion, Zhao An instructed Ming Antai to relay a message to the guards that each of them would be rewarded with thirty taels of silver after the task was completed. He also instructed the captain of the poker battalion to relay a message to his soldiers that each of them would be rewarded with ten taels of silver after the task was completed.

The guards and soldiers who participated in the ransacking of the house dared not keep any money for themselves, because after the raid, they would have to be inspected one by one, just like factory workers leaving get off work in later generations.

If someone is found to be hoarding items, the consequences range from losing one's job to execution.

It's a standard preventative measure; otherwise, everyone would be hiding things on their person, and that would be terrible.

Upon hearing about the reward, everyone's enthusiasm soared. Many experienced elders led people around, tapping on the floor. If the sound was off, they immediately started digging, turning the once-grand mansion into a construction site.

Who can blame them when burying silver in the ground is a timeless practice for high-ranking officials and nobles?

The servants in the Hou Mansion's kitchen were temporarily released from their duties and tasked with providing a sumptuous late-night snack for the guards and soldiers who participated in the ransacking of the mansion.

Although Zhao An hated Shi Lang to the core, and his great-grandson Shi Bingren caused him trouble, which led to the downfall of the entire Shi family, it does not mean that he was a murderous maniac who would bite anyone he could get his hands on.

Servants don't need to be buried with their masters. After dawn, Zhao An planned to dismiss these servants to avoid them becoming innocent victims.

But if anyone is determined to travel to Ningguta with their master, Zhao An doesn't mind providing them with a one-way ticket.

After a busy night, the harvest was enormous.

Thirteen jars containing gold were unearthed from under several houses, totaling over three thousand taels of gold. More than eighty silver jars were also unearthed, containing over forty thousand taels of silver. Many of the silver ingots were riddled with holes, indicating they had been stored there for at least fifty years; they looked rather eerie.

Including the gold, silver, and banknotes previously confiscated, the "cash" amounted to over 730,000 taels. In addition, there were six shops under the Marquis's name and 3,600 mu of fertile land outside the city, with a total value of approximately 300,000 taels.

In addition, there were large quantities of Jiangning woven tribute satin, exquisite rosewood furniture, official kiln porcelain, and precious medicinal materials such as top-quality ginseng and deer antler.

These are quite valuable, but they are still relatively common.

As for ordinary jewelry, common leather, local specialties, and heavy hardwood furniture, Zhao An registered them all. Except for the reward money given to everyone, all of them were handed over to the Imperial Household Department. Zhao An did not take a single penny, truly embodying the virtues of integrity, competence, and unwavering loyalty.

Deep down, he probably wanted to help out, but this was his first time acting as the old man's henchman, and he was doing the work of confiscating property. It wouldn't be right not to show it off to the old man.

After a busy night, the two experts hired by the pawnshop gave a preliminary estimate that the market value of the Jinghai Marquis's collection was about 450,000 taels of silver. They had already divided the collection into three grades and sorted them according to Zhao An's request.

Among the top-quality items that were sorted out were many genuine works of calligraphy and painting by famous artists from previous dynasties, mutton fat jade carvings, and thousand-year-old agarwood. Any one of these items alone would be enough for an ordinary person to live on for more than ten lifetimes.

"Sir, would you like some?"

Qingyao, a member of the imperial family, was well aware of the inside story of the confiscation of property, so he suggested taking a few items out of the property and wiping them off as a reward for Lord Zhao's hard work.

Zhao An smiled and shook his head: "You should personally arrange for people to load these onto the carts and personally deliver them to He Zhongtang's residence."

Seeing that Zhao An refused to take it, Qing Yao didn't know what to say and nodded in agreement.

Zhao An then pointed to the pile of second-class items and summoned Xu Lin, instructing him to take men to load the goods onto carts and send them to Fu Chang'an's residence. The last three-class items, along with the previously registered items, were transferred to the Imperial Household Department. According to custom, these items had to be reviewed and selected by Heshen before being presented to the Old Master for inspection.

After looking around, Zhao An's gaze was drawn to a dozen or so pistol-like objects in three boxes.

"Sir, these are short-handled guns made by the Imperial Workshop to imitate those of Westerners."

Seeing that Zhao An was interested in these short pistols made by Emperor Qianlong, Ming Antai explained that these pistols were made by the Imperial Household Department's workshop in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and that more than a thousand of them were made in total, most of which were given as rewards to princes and ministers.

Because its power was inferior to that of a musket, it was always used as a decoration and was never promoted in the military.

"Oh."

Zhao An casually picked up a short pistol and aimed it into the distance. He found that the pistol was quite cleverly designed, and loading it was much more convenient and faster than that of a matchlock gun. The only drawback was that it could only fire one shot at a time, and its range was only fifty paces.

According to Ming Antai, the effective killing range is at most ten meters.

Zhao An had no intention of playing a prank by using the Ming guards to test their guns; he simply asked if he could remove the short pistols from the account book and take them with him.

He wanted the people at the Anqing Ordnance Bureau to improve the handguns and see if they could be fitted with a revolver or something.

Even if the effective killing range is still ten meters, as long as several shots can be fired in succession, it is definitely possible to "resist arrest".

If the improved version were provided to each officer, it would greatly enhance their survivability.

"It's just a mere handgun; if you like it, sir, you may take it."

Ming Antai was very good at dealing with people. He quietly had someone take the three boxes away and deliver them directly to the Anhui Examination Hall.

Zhao An left the remaining cleanup work to Ming Antai, while he himself planned to go to the Manchu Governor's Office of the Bordered Yellow Banner to take a nap. After giving a few instructions, he went there first.

Upon arriving at the main hall of the yamen, before he could even ask where his deputy commander's office was, Commander Fan, who had been in charge of the household registration transfer yesterday, slapped his sleeves and gave him a deep bow: "This humble servant greets Commander!"

No wonder he's a descendant of Fan Wencheng; he doesn't even deserve the title of deputy!

"Please rise, Lord Fan."

Zhao An smiled and gestured for the other party to stand up. He was about to ask about the office and what his main responsibilities as the deputy commander were when Commander Fan respectfully presented the leather bag in his hand.

What does that mean?

Yesterday, the household registration transfer process was suspended due to unforeseen circumstances, but it can resume now.

A captain in charge of the printing room presented the seal of the governor-general that he was in charge of.

The seal theoretically belonged to Heshen, but Heshen held too many concurrent positions and it was impossible for him to take the seal of each of his concurrent positions back to his own home. Therefore, the seals of each unit were kept by the seal office of that unit.

For example, the old master's imperial seal was under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Seal Bureau and the Inner Secretariat, and the old master couldn't possibly carry the imperial seal with him every day.

That thing is so heavy, so tiring.

Why give the official seal to Zhao An?
Use a stamp!
You criticize yourself.

Then, in front of a group of subordinates, Deputy Commander Zhao, who was in charge of household registration transfers, personally stamped his household registration book.

The relocation was approved after the earthquake assessment.

After finishing, Zhao An stuffed the relevant materials into a leather bag and handed it to the waiting Fan Canling, saying somewhat wearily, "Take this and file it."

"Whoo!"

Commander Fan dared not be negligent in the slightest, and bowed slightly as he took three steps back to go to the archives of the household registration office to handle the filing matters.

The entire process was unsupervised and no one raised any objections.

Zhao An simply wrote "Aisin Gioro Hongli" in the father's column, and nobody cared.

(End of this chapter)