The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

The Second Master Zheng was so embarrassed that he could only repeatedly say that he dared not.

Fortunately, Master She hadn't been to Rongqing Hall recently, and Madam Wang and Madam Xing had gone back to have their own dinners. As for the younger generation, they were all playing around in the back room, with only the head maid Yuanyang as a backdrop.

Otherwise, Master Zheng would really have been killed on the spot.

That evening, Master Zheng stayed at Aunt Zhao's place.

The next day arrived quickly, and the Rong family's main study soon became lively.

Several carriages were parked side by side in the open space near the gate.

Several strong servants used carrying poles and ropes to carry the extremely heavy boxes of silver onto the un-cab carriage.

Ahem, this was Jia Huan's special suggestion.

If it weren't for the Second Master's disapproval, he would have liked to remove the lid of the box completely and show off the neatly arranged silver inside, so that the officials and people of the capital could see what a pile of silver really looked like.

Once all 350,000 taels of silver were loaded onto the carriage, Master Zheng, surrounded by a group of guards from the mansion, left the mansion with Jia Lian and headed directly to the Ministry of Revenue.

At the gate of the Ning Mansion, they met up with the even more impressive Ning Mansion carriage procession, and Jia Rong and Jia Qiang joined them.

Then, the carriages of the Ning and Rong families met up with two much smaller carriages belonging to the Shi family on the main street, and then swaggered through the city, attracting countless astonished glances.

If it weren't for the fact that Master Zheng couldn't refuse, according to Jia Huan's idea, he would definitely have made the Ning and Rong mansions, as well as the Shi and Jia families' silver repayment team, circle around the inner city, causing a sensation throughout the capital. That's why they arrived at the Ministry of Revenue amidst the attention of everyone, or rather, the envy of everyone.

The Ministry of Revenue had been waiting anxiously for a long time.

Seeing the joint delegation from the Ning and Rong mansions and the Shi family returning the silver was like seeing their own father.

The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue greeted him with a beaming smile, practically begging his underlings to play drums and gongs.

Chapter 129 A Sense of Superiority Came from Paying Back the Money (Please Subscribe)

"My lords, this is the Rong family's repayment of the debt to the national treasury, 350,000 taels of pure silver, plus 50,000 taels of silver notes, the kind that can be cashed at any time!"

The person responsible for the specific handover with the officials of the Ministry of Revenue was naturally the quick-witted Jia Lian.

As for the friendly attitude previously displayed by the Ministry of Revenue, it was merely a gesture.

The Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue made an appearance, exchanged some official pleasantries with Jia Zheng, Jia Rong, and the two marquises of the Shi family, then chuckled and slipped away.

If he overdoes it, he could easily be seen by outsiders as an official supporting the current efforts to collect outstanding debts from the national treasury.

Although he secretly wished that all the debts owed to the national treasury would be recovered, he did not want to get involved in such a mess. Otherwise, the person who would have greeted him this time would have been the Minister of Revenue, a high-ranking official in the cabinet.

There was no other way; the imperial court was facing extremely serious financial difficulties. Since someone was willing to offer silver, they had to be proactive. The Minister still held silver in high regard.

"Here is 600,000 taels of silver owed by the Ning family to the national treasury. It is all pure silver. Please, esteemed officials of the Ministry of Revenue, carefully count it!"

Jia Rong appeared with a big smile, making a good appearance.

"This is where the Shi family repaid 150,000 taels of silver owed to the national treasury; it's all here!"

The two lords bowed in unison. Although the amount of silver they returned was not much, they still managed to steal the spotlight at this moment when everyone was watching.

Next, it was time for the officials of the Ministry of Revenue to count the silver.

It's no easy task to count over a million taels of pure silver in a short period of time.

The Second Master Zheng and his entourage were naturally not in a hurry; when it came to showing their faces, the longer the better.

At the same time, a list of debts owed to the national treasury was delivered to the emperor's desk immediately.

"The Rong family has 400,000 taels, the Ning family has 600,000 taels, and the Shi family has 150,000 taels. That adds up to 1,150,000 taels. Jia Cunzhou did a good job this time!"

"But the amount of money doesn't match the amount of debt, does it?"

He muttered to himself, glancing at Dai Quan beside him.

"Your Majesty, it is estimated that the Ning and Rong families cannot come up with two million taels of silver at once!"

Dai Quan bowed and replied, "Previously, Jia Zheng of the Rong Mansion had already started selling off his precious antiques, so it would be quite difficult to raise that 400,000 taels!"

"The Ning family was incredibly lucky. They were trying to get rid of the former head steward, but he refused, so they simply confiscated his entire house and seized 450,000 taels of silver in one go!"

"In addition, the Ning family has been doing grain business. In the past two months, they have earned a total of 90,000 taels of silver by selling military rations and grain to ordinary people, which has easily brought them up to 600,000 taels of silver!"

"Really? You're quite lucky!"

He nodded, but his eyes were slightly narrowed, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

Dai Quan broke out in a slight sweat and cursed inwardly for Lai Er's lack of discernment, asking if he knew the meaning of "a new emperor, a new court."

As a result, they were forcibly sent to a village outside the city, and their home was also confiscated.

What you shouldn't have done is that you didn't even understand the principle of having three burrows, and a full 450,000 taels of silver were confiscated from your company in one go. You really screwed over your competitors.

Based on his decades of experience serving the emperor, the emperor is probably thinking about whether he should follow the Ning family's example and ransack the homes of the chief stewards. Who knows, he might find a big surprise and a great harvest.

Damn it, I hope that bastard Lai Er doesn't fall into his hands, or he'll make him experience what it's like to be worse than dead!

"Anything else? How much is owed in the Shi family's national treasury?"

The sudden question startled Dai Quan, who was inwardly grumbling.

"Your Majesty, the Shi family's national treasury is only 150,000 taels of silver in debt!"

As the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace, Dai Quan naturally did his homework on the information the emperor wanted to know.

In a short period of time, he memorized almost all the information on the national treasury's debts, not even the debts of a few dozen taels.

Otherwise, how could he have become the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace? Besides luck, his own hard work was also indispensable. Even if a pie fell from the sky, you couldn't catch it if you didn't have the ability.

"Ha, those two from the Shi family really know how to seize an opportunity!"

Today, he saw through the two marquises' little scheme at a glance, but he was not disgusted by it.

Just as Jia Huan encouraged the two men, the current emperor, as the creditor, would at least not be too upset when dealing with borrowers who repay their debts.

That is the case now. A decision has indeed been made to give those who repay their debts for the first time sufficient dignity and to set them all up as role models.

There was no other way. The end of the drought in the north, the White Lotus Rebellion in Shandong, and the flood relief in the south all required a constant stream of money.

This time, led by Jia Zheng, the Ning Mansion and the Shi family jointly repaid the debt, raising 1.15 million taels of silver, which is estimated to barely last one to one and a half months.

There are still several months until the autumn harvest in various places and the tax payment time, so we simply can't wait.

To match the drama unfolding at the Ministry of Revenue, the Emperor even went so far as to lavish praise on Jia Zheng and others at a small court assembly, calling them loyal and devoted to the country, and hailed them as good ministers and virtuous individuals of the Great Qian Dynasty.

He completely ignored the sullen and displeased expressions on the faces of some court officials; he did it on purpose.

Over here, they were busy until noon when the Ministry of Revenue finally finished counting the silver and sent the pure silver to the treasury. As for the silver notes, they naturally had to be handed over to the emperor as soon as possible.

There's no way around it, this thing is too prone to malfunctions. Who will be responsible then?

"As you all should know, neither the Ning nor Rong families can come up with all the national treasury debts at the moment; they can only barely repay half!"

At this moment, Jia Lian appeared with a bitter smile and said dejectedly, "The remaining funds will be sent to the Ministry of Revenue in installments over the next six months to repay the Ministry's leniency!"

Not only did he look like that, but Jia Rong and Jia Qiang, who came with him, also looked guilty and uneasy.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue naturally felt quite sympathetic and moved by this.

Look at this, this is what you call a top-tier noble family!

The ancestors were not polite at all, resulting in a debt of several million taels of silver to the national treasury, which would have to be repaid by their descendants. Isn't this just blatantly harming future generations?

These mid-level officials in the Ministry of Revenue, who were not unlucky, were mostly from the imperial examination system. They had no idea of ​​the true wealth of the top nobles and assumed that it would be very difficult for the Ning and Rong families to come up with two million taels of silver in one go.

Fortunately, their superiors had already spoken with them, telling them not to make things too difficult once half of the national treasury debts of the Ning and Rong mansions had been repaid, otherwise it would easily discourage loyal officials.

That's right. At this time, what else could be more loyal than a minister who actively repays the national treasury's debts?

"No problem, no problem. We understand the difficulties you're facing, so let's leave it at that!"

The officials from the Ministry of Revenue naturally did not intend to make things difficult, but when they replaced the old IOU with a new one, they still noted a time limit for repayment on the new IOU.

This is only to be expected; if there are any problems with the subsequent repayments, they cannot afford the consequences.

That's a full million taels of silver! Even if you sold them all, it wouldn't be enough to cover a fraction of the debt!

As for the fact that the Shi family had paid off all their debts, they naturally received a lot of praise, and the emperor made it clear that he would report to the emperor immediately, which made the two Shi families very happy.

Judging from this situation, the national treasury is definitely going to repay its debts; it's just a matter of how long it will take.

They can use the money they're destined to have to pay back to gain a huge boost in popularity these days; that would be a huge win.

Who knows, just as that illegitimate son of the second branch of the Rong family said, they might be set up as role models by the current emperor and then quickly receive a wave of promotions!

Thinking of this, my heart is filled with excitement!

If that kid hadn't been there, I would have definitely praised him a lot.

Unexpectedly, after such a long period of silence, the Rong family has produced such a clever and mischievous young man.

Unfortunately, he was just an illegitimate son, so they couldn't be too overbearing. It wasn't that they looked down on him, but they were worried that being too close to him would harm him.

Their aunt was a complicated person, there's not much to say about her.

If there's a chance in the future, I'll help that kid out there. Right now, he's too young, so there's no need to do too much.

This incident made the two strategists of the Shi family realize very clearly how important it is to have a reliable strategist.

What has troubled the two brothers for years might just be a trivial matter in other people's eyes.

As for the possibility of offending certain big shots and powerful figures, who cares about that?