My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 237 A Surprise Arises from the Confiscation of Property; Hongli Makes a Huge Profit!

So Fu Peng obeyed and pulled Cao Shun out of the crowd.

Cao Shun hurriedly shouted, "Fourth Master, have mercy!"

"show mercy?"

"What mercy? It's one thing for you to be useless, but you've even committed illegal and disorderly acts, disgracing this king!"

"Then why should I keep you around!"

As he spoke, Hongli ordered, "Arrest them immediately and send them to the Infantry Commander's Office in the capital for legal processing!"

As bondservants of Hongli, the Cao family members were essentially his private property. Therefore, when these people committed crimes, the government could not directly arrest and prosecute them through the formal judicial procedures of the Qing Dynasty. Hongli had to hand them over to the government first.

Then, Hongli ordered, "There's another one named Cao Lu. Seize him too and send him to the Infantry Commander's Office for punishment according to the law!"

"It's one thing to be unambitious, but to resort to incest and bribery has disgraced your family for generations. You have no right to be my retainer!"

At this moment, the man named Cao Lu collapsed to the ground.

"Furthermore, arrest Changde, the clerk, and Fang San, the household servant, and send them to the Infantry Commander's office for punishment according to the law! Who gave you the audacity to harass the local area and extort money from the people?"

When Hongli asked this question, he closed his folding fan and said, "The rest of the people will not be put in shackles or detained for the time being. They will be guarded by the Imperial Guard in the family temple of the Imperial Textile Bureau. I will return to the capital with them later."

Then, Hongli looked down at the women present and said, "Women, raise your heads."

The Cao family women, who were kneeling in the hall with Madam Li and others, all raised their heads.

Everyone was terrified.

When Hongli saw these women of the Cao family, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

The main reason is that these women of the Cao family were indeed of very high quality!
Especially the young women kneeling behind them.

Now, apart from the Jin family woman, they have all become bondservants of the royal palace whom he can arbitrarily assign.

Even though Hongli was already surrounded by a large group of beautiful women, he couldn't help but feel excited and secretly thought he had really hit the jackpot.

However, because Hongli had abundant sexual resources, he did not lose control too much and was not so hungry as to take the married women of the Cao family for himself, which caused the Cao family to turn their fear into resentment towards him.

He wanted the Cao family to be his princely servants so that they could participate in internal affairs. He wanted to use the Cao family's special status as bondservants to ensure internal security, not to treat them as slaves without dignity and trample on them at will. On the contrary, in fact, they had to be treated as human beings even more than ordinary people.

Therefore, Hongli instructed: "The wives and concubines of each household who are already engaged shall continue to follow Madam Li and await the arrangements of the Fujin after we arrive in the capital; those who are not engaged shall first follow Princess Jin and learn the rules of the household. After three months, we will decide whether to release them from the household for marriage or keep them in the household for important purposes."

"Of course, those who cause trouble and commit heinous crimes will not only not be released from the manor, but will also be punished. At the very least, they will be flogged and exiled, and at worst, they will be exiled or executed. You should all remember this."

"We will remember this!"

Madam Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that her master, the Fourth Master, was not too greedy and lustful after all. He was willing to separate his nephews and their wives and even release those who did not perform well from the manor for marriage. In this way, her Cao family would not be too miserable and might still have a chance to rise again.

After making arrangements for everyone in the Cao family, Hongli officially began to order Fu Peng and Sui Hede to lead the guards to confiscate their property.

Since the Cao family had been granted to Hongli as bondservants of the Prince's Palace, all of the Cao family's private property belonged to Hongli himself.

The official property of the Weaving Bureau belonged to the Weaving Bureau.

Fu Peng represented Hongli in receiving and verifying private property, while Sui Hede, as the newly appointed textile commissioner, was responsible for collecting official property.

Over the years, the head of the Cao family has not been stupid. Basically, the number of official and private properties registered on the official records is not much, and the official properties are even insufficient to cover the debts.

In reality, the Cao family owned quite a lot of private property in each of their houses.

In fact, some of the household servants with management power have accumulated wealth over the years through various acts of self-interest that are detrimental to the public good, a wealth that even many of the masters of the Cao family cannot match.

Therefore, when Fu Peng and Sui Hede led the guards to search and confiscate the property of the Cao family, many members of the Cao family and their servants turned pale on the spot, and some even fainted. They simply could not accept that the wealth they had accumulated over most of their lives had vanished overnight.

Even Madam Li couldn't help but shed tears.

But faced with the overwhelming imperial power, she dared not utter a single complaint.

If she dared to complain or even roar at this moment, the situation would be even more serious.

At least for now, the Cao family remains bondservants, a status higher than ordinary households. They enjoy privileges in areas such as the judiciary, taxation, and education, and because they continue to serve as close associates of princes and nobles, they possess advantages that ordinary families do not have for rising to power.

Cao Zhaoye also began to sob. The confiscation of his family property did not only pain him, but also made him regret not listening to Hongli's advice and not seriously making up for the deficit, instead always harboring wishful thinking.

"Report! A pair of gilded lions have been discovered in hiding. The lions themselves, including their stands, are five feet six inches tall!"

"Report! We've uncovered over a thousand pawn tickets and loan agreements, most of which were privately held by various departments. Only a hundred or so pawn tickets were actually held in the public treasury! The loan agreements privately held by various departments were mostly for illegal profiteering!"

"Report: We have discovered approximately 30,000 bolts of silk, all of excellent quality; approximately 20,000 bolts of brocade, also of excellent quality; over 1,000 catties of ginseng; over 10,000 sheets of stationery; over 1,000 Huzhou brushes; and over 1,000 brocade fans... These are likely imperial items registered as substandard and sold!"

At this time, guards came one after another to report to Hongli the important valuables that had been confiscated.

The reason why the five-foot-six-inch gilded lion is mentioned is because the Cao family's private casting of a gilded lion of this size was already beyond the permitted size.

It should be noted that even stone lions were only available to the residences of royal princes and high-ranking officials, and high-standard stone lions could only be provided to the residences of princes such as the Prince of the Second Rank and the Prince of the First Rank.

Therefore, the fact that the Cao family privately cast the golden lion is something that needs to be thoroughly investigated.

As for profiting illegally, it is only natural that it was reported because it was suspected of violating national laws.

The discovery of a large quantity of silk and brocade woven by the Imperial Textile Bureau was also immediately reported because it was suspected of being stolen imperial property.

After all, according to regulations, the Textile Bureau could only sell defective products that occurred during the production process, while high-quality silk fabrics could only be handed over to the Imperial Household Department and registered.

As a result, the Cao family now hoards many high-quality items that should have been handed over to the Imperial Household Department, which naturally raises the possibility of them stealing and selling imperial property.

In short, even Fu Peng couldn't hide these things from the Cao family.

At this point, Hongli let Cao Zhaoye explain himself.

Cao Zhaoye dared not conceal the truth and answered honestly:
"The Golden Lion was originally cast in Jiangning by Ninth Prince Changde, who was sent by him in the 55th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign. However, because the casting was not good, it was handed over to me and ordered to be stored in the family temple. I dare not conceal this. Fourth Prince, you can ask Changde. I also have a letter written by Ninth Prince in my study as evidence. Fourth Prince, you can send someone to investigate."

"As for the loan agreements that illegally profit from the loan, this servant is not used to household affairs. Most of them are managed by the head steward and the old servants. I was unaware that there were so many loan agreements that illegally profit from the loan. I beg Your Highness to investigate thoroughly."

"The silk and brocade were also managed by my younger brother and the steward Fang Santong. I had no idea that so many fine silks and brocades would be secretly kept at home."

Hongli was speechless after hearing this, thinking to himself that Cao Zhaoye was a real-life version of Jia Zheng, with extremely low political acumen and unable to even control his own servants.

"You were deceived and implicated by your servants, and you were foolish and negligent in not investigating the matter, which is why you didn't report the Golden Lion incident in time?"

Hongli inquired about Cao Zhaoye.

Cao Zhaoye said, "This servant thought that since the Ninth Prince was also the son of the late Emperor, this servant should conceal the matter if possible, so I did not report it in the true sense."

"Do you know that your Cao family, as bondservants of the Imperial Household Department, only has one cloud hanging over your head?"

"When the late emperor was on the throne, I was the late emperor; when Khan Ama first ascended the throne, I became the current emperor; and now I am the king."

"Who told you to cover for Uncle Jiu? As for whether Uncle Jiu will be punished for this, that's not something a servant like you should be concerned about!"

At this point, Hongli's tone became serious, and he raised his arm and pointed at him, shouting: "Trying to bet on multiple fronts, offend no one, and play both sides, relying on relationships and disregarding loyalty, as a bondservant, you will only harm yourself and others by doing this!"

(End of this chapter)