The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

If you have a capable fighter under your command, the local thugs will naturally look up to you.

Xue Pan thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention, not to mention the thrill of participating in such battles in the martial arts world, which also made his family business more convenient.

When it comes to the Xue family's business in the capital, no one expected it to be so surprisingly good!

It's not that there aren't shopkeepers with ulterior motives; in fact, their numbers are definitely not small!

Jia Yucun, an outsider, would try to take advantage of the Xue family whenever he had the chance, not to mention the shopkeepers who were very familiar with the Xue family. Few of them respected Xue Pan and his mother, Aunt Xue.

Xue Baochai was indeed shrewd, but she couldn't go out freely, and she wasn't very familiar with or knowledgeable about the ins and outs of doing business.

Honestly, some accountants' bookkeeping skills are so poor that unless professional staff from the government investigate, Xue Baochai, with her current abilities, wouldn't be able to detect anything amiss.

But ever since Xue Pan instructed the shopkeepers in the capital to connect with the Ningrong Street branch, these Xue family shopkeepers have become much more obedient and well-behaved.

The logic is actually quite simple: the Xue family managers can bully Xue Pan because he is young, but they don't have the guts to embezzle the money from the thugs in Ningrong Street. Wouldn't that be courting death?

As a result, the Xue family's business in the capital not only did not encounter any problems, but also flourished.

This matter left Xue Baochai completely baffled.

When Aunt Xue found out, she was quite pleased with herself, thinking that all the managers in the Xue family were honest people!

Jia Huan noticed something amiss, and naturally wouldn't tell Xue Pan without reason.

Regardless of the circumstances, it is an undeniable fact that as the Ningrong Street branch grows stronger, the Xue family's business in the capital is steadily increasing!

The intricacies involved are not worth elaborating on; they are closely related to transportation costs.

Xue Pan enjoyed the exciting life of expanding his territory with his brothers in the gang.

Recently, he has been staying in the Tongzhou area, living a very carefree life.

Without Jia Huan keeping an eye on him, the thugs around him only ensured that he didn't completely fall into depravity, and he lived a rather comfortable and carefree life.

In addition, Jia Huan had declared early on that whoever performed best during the territorial disputes would be in charge of managing the newly conquered territories, which further motivated the brothers in the gang to strive for the top.

Recently, the canal gang's forces in Tongzhou have been defeated one after another and will soon be completely wiped out. At this time, how could Xue Pan have the mind to pay attention to the Rong Mansion?

Despite being severely reprimanded by Jia Yucun's affair.

But now that everything's fine, he plans to continue his life of wandering around Tongzhou.

As for the Rong family's affairs, with Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai around, there's no way anything unexpected could happen. Xue Pan mainly has a lot of confidence in his younger sister!

Chapter 142 Lin Ruhai is coming (Please subscribe)

The Xue family's affair did not cause much of a stir in the Rong family mansion.

To put it bluntly, the Xue family were, after all, outsiders to everyone in the Rong family.

They were just relatives staying at Pear Fragrance Courtyard; expecting the Rong family to empathize with the Xue family's plight was asking too much.

At least until now, no one has dared to defecate or urinate on the Rong family's head.

Meanwhile, Master Zheng Er stopped paying attention to the Xue family's affairs. After all, the Xue family wasn't powerful enough, and they would have to work hard to gain the respect they deserved.

He then submitted a secret memorial to the emperor, requesting Lin Ruhai and Jia Yucun to be his assistants.

In order to get the emperor to give in quickly, the second master of the government, at Jia Huan's urging, made a rare drastic decision.

The secret memorial stated that within six months, in addition to Ning and Rong prefectures having to repay one million taels of silver owed to the treasuries of both countries, at least one million taels of silver would also be recovered from other major debtors!

In just six months, he managed to raise two million taels of silver for the national treasury, demonstrating his strong determination.

Therefore, at a time when money was a major concern, the matter was quickly approved.

However, it was easier to transfer Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling, since he had no influence in the imperial court and his performance in the local government was mediocre.

He could be transferred back to the capital and given the position of Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

However, mobilizing Lin Ruhai is not so simple.

After all, the salt tax from Yangzhou was related to the national treasury revenue, and it was no joke.

Lin Ruhai did an excellent job. During his tenure as the Salt Commissioner of Yangzhou, the annual salt tax revenue met the current expectations. He was definitely a capable minister.

He wasn't worried that Yangzhou's salt tax would be in trouble if Lin Ruhai left office.

If that's the case, we wouldn't hesitate to crack down on the officials and merchants in Yangzhou.

However, to mobilize Lin Ruhai, the Emperor Emeritus's approval is required.

After all, Lin Ruhai, to be honest, was one of the people implicated by the retired emperor.

As for whether Lin Ruhai, who has been serving as the Salt Commissioner, might run into trouble while in office, the current emperor doesn't seem to care much, and might even be hoping for it.

Even the retired emperor doesn't care, so why should he care?

This time, however, Jia Zheng has made a solemn pledge, so the emperor has no choice but to take it seriously.

If at least two million taels of silver can be recovered within six months, it would be a very rare and good thing for the present and for the imperial court.

This sum of money isn't particularly staggering, but it's still extra income.

This year's national treasury revenue has been almost entirely divided up before it even reached the capital.

That two million taels of silver is the reserve silver held by the Ministry of Revenue and the current government. It can play an important role in critical moments, and that's what makes it so precious.

For the sake of money, people are still willing to make the trip.

Fortunately, the retired emperor had no intention of making trouble over the debt, so the current emperor easily achieved his goal.

Then, when discussing the matter with the cabinet ministers at a small court meeting, they encountered a minor obstacle.

Neither the placement of Lin Ruhai nor the arrangement for Jia Yucun satisfied the Grand Secretaries!

Lin Ruhai has made meritorious contributions and returned to the capital. He should at least be promoted one rank, right?

If he were to be promoted again, he would become a second-rank official, a powerful figure in the court, someone who could even establish his own faction. How could Lin Ruhai possibly obtain that position so easily?

As for Jia Yucun, it wasn't an easy thing for him to be transferred to the Censorate and become a high-ranking official, the Vice Censor-in-Chief. There was considerable opposition to his request.

The Censorate is a prestigious and respectable government office; as long as you are willing to work hard, it is easy to get promoted!

If Jia Yucun performs well, he will probably be officially promoted to a third-rank official in the imperial court within two years!

Such a third-rank official position is far more valuable than the current third-rank official position of the Prefect of Jinling!

How could the Grand Secretaries easily agree to give up two key positions all at once?

If there are no available spaces, there's no need to force it now.

Master Kezheng was truly lucky; when he requested that Lin Ruhai and Jia Yucun be transferred to the capital, there were indeed suitable vacant positions for them.

Because of Ma Yuan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, the position of Right Vice Minister naturally became vacant.

Just recently, after a period of political maneuvering in the court, the former Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites was transferred to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, leaving a vacancy in the Ministry of Rites.

Meanwhile, the Left and Right Vice Censors-in-Chief of the Censorate were all recently transferred to local positions, becoming the Provincial Administration Commissioner and Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Shandong, leaving their positions vacant.

In fact, not only were there vacancies in the Ministry of Rites and the Censorate, but there were also vacancies in the other departments of the Six Ministries. However, it was impossible for Lin Ruhai and Jia Yucun to give up their positions, including the current Grand Secretary and the Grand Secretary.

After much discussion, they decided to appoint Lin Ruhai as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

As for Jia Yucun, he also benefited greatly, becoming the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

The transfer order was confirmed by the cabinet and then delivered to Lin Ruhai and Jia Yucun as quickly as possible.

When Lord Zheng received the news, he was naturally overjoyed. He even forgot all about the unpleasantness of being scolded by several colleagues in the bureaucracy earlier that day.

After returning to his residence, he immediately summoned Jia Huan and explained the matter to him, then chuckled and said, "Once those two arrive, things will be much easier for us in the court!"

At this point, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Should we send them a letter first, so they can prepare in advance?"

"What preparations are you making?"

Jia Huan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with amusement, "Anyway, we're just going to the capital to help collect debts. Does that mean that being prepared now will make collecting debts easier?"

Upon hearing this, the Second Master Zheng chuckled softly, "Isn't that the truth?"

It's still uncertain which people's homes we need to visit to collect debts, so how can we prepare?

"Master, should we inform the old lady in advance about Uncle Lin's upcoming trip to the capital?"

Jia Huan reminded her, "If the old lady finds out later that Uncle Lin or Master Lin brought him to the capital, she might be unhappy!"

"You're right to remind me!"

The Second Master Zheng was taken aback at first, but then quickly realized what he meant and nodded to indicate that he understood.

It wasn't that he suddenly became smarter, but rather that he was too familiar with the old lady's way of doing things.

Don't be fooled by her cheerful demeanor; she has to be well-informed about everything that happens in the manor. Otherwise, why would Rongqing Hall need so many head maids?

Do you really think they're just for looks? These head maids are all the old lady's eyes and ears.

In addition, we should also know in advance what Master Zheng and Master She are doing.

Otherwise, when the old lady finds out later, she won't give the two brothers a good look.

To put it bluntly, they won't easily loosen their control over the Rong family.

Especially since it's such a major matter as transferring Lin Ruhai to Beijing, the decision wasn't discussed with the old lady beforehand. Now that the cabinet's transfer document has been sent out, if we don't inform her, will the Second Master Zheng ever think he can have a peaceful life? He can only dream about it.

Sure enough, when the old lady learned that the Second Master Zheng had tried to transfer Lin Ruhai to the capital, her expression remained unpleasant.