The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

He didn't actually like such an uncontrolled scene, but deep down he felt a little excited and expectant.

He was also quite dissatisfied with the cabinet and certain factions.

What's wrong with you? He, the emperor, wants to raise money to replenish the national treasury, and you're not happy about it?

Right now, officials under the royal family are stirring up trouble, and he's naturally happy to watch the show.

The grand court assembly that day was nothing short of a joke.

The courtiers were making a ruckus and losing all decorum. If it weren't for the emperor watching over them, some of the more enraged men would probably have started a full-blown brawl.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the capital, causing a sensation throughout the city.

The officials and common people of the capital were well-informed and naturally not surprised by the lively atmosphere of the grand court assembly.

What shocked them was that there were actually officials who dared to propose such outrageous policies as "returning the fire tax to the public" and "officials and gentry paying taxes together."

Even though the majority of court officials agreed with the statement, there was no one-sided opposition!

This is quite astonishing; it seems that another bloody storm is about to break out in the imperial court.

that's the truth!

Apart from the second-in-command, the other bigwigs and most of the ministers of the six ministries would absolutely not stand idly by and watch those two major policies be promulgated. Wouldn't that be uprooting the very foundation of their gentry power?

What a joke! It's absurd that an official would propose such a terrible policy and even receive support from some of his colleagues!

They absolutely will not allow this matter to escalate further, and they certainly will not allow the current situation to be used as an excuse to cause trouble!

Then, a fierce argument broke out in the imperial court!

Officials and forces supporting and opposing those two policies argued fiercely for their own interests.

The entire court was in a state of chaos and disorder, but the current emperor acted as if nothing was wrong, completely ignoring the situation and showing no intention of intervening.

As a result, the debate intensified, eventually escalating from a simple debate about the merits of the policy to a pattern of personal attacks.

Enraged, he immediately pressed the pause button!

Although I want to continue watching the drama unfold, I will not allow the debates in the court to turn into factional strife, as that would not be the outcome I want to see today.

In short, the court became quite lively afterward, with constant noise and commotion that was annoying.

At this time, Jia Huan was also qualified to participate in the small court assembly, and he saw all of these things.

He had no intention of getting involved and knew that such noise wouldn't last long.

Sure enough, no one knows how the cabinet ministers negotiated with the current emperor, but the commotion in the court was quickly stopped by the current emperor, as if the previous disturbance had never happened.

how can that be possible?

On the same day, news came from Prince Chungshun that the salt production was no longer a problem.

Hey, this exchange of benefits must have made some guys so frustrated they'd want to vomit blood.

However, now that the current emperor has taken the lead, the matter of tax reform will certainly not be left unresolved.

It's just that the royal family members are no longer giving their full support.

Without the huge uproar they stirred up, relying solely on the emperor's trusted ministers would still be far from enough.

Not to mention, not all of his trusted advisors agree with his reform ideas.

There's no rush right now, since he's in the prime of his life anyway.

Once the salt-making incident is over and my trusted advisors have seen the benefits, I believe things will change in the future. I am quite confident about this.

In fact, a group of court officials, including cabinet ministers, were also thinking about the future.

Although he is currently in the prime of his life, no one knows how long he will live.

Emperors throughout history have not lived long lives, and it is extremely rare for someone like the retired emperor to live to such an age.

Unless the next emperor has the same level of control as the current one, it is virtually impossible to reform the tax system.

Not every emperor has the courage to oppose all the gentry and landlords in the land.

As an observer, Jia Huan saw all of this very clearly, but he didn't say much, nor did he have any intention of getting involved.

It's already quite good that the salt production has been successfully achieved.

Soon, two million taels of silver appeared in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury.

Soon after, large quantities of sun-dried sea salt were unloaded at Tianjin Port and other ports in Shandong Province, and then quickly transported to all parts of the country by water and land.

The interests of the salt merchants in Lianghuai were directly impacted, and their profits from smuggled salt production plummeted.

Although sun-dried sea salt doesn't look very good and tastes a bit bitter, it's cheap.

If you ship in large quantities, the price is even cheaper than smuggled salt, and it doesn't contain even half of the grass roots and stones, which makes it much better than smuggled salt.

In short, by the time the New Year came, the salt merchants of Lianghuai were utterly defeated, and almost half of their private salt holdings were seized, resulting in heavy losses.

Prince Zhongshun, however, happily announced that the profits from just half a year had easily recouped the two million taels of silver, with a substantial surplus.

Sure enough, the profits from salt were astonishing. I wonder how much profit those salt merchants from Lianghuai had made before.

Jia Huan didn't respond, thinking to himself that other people share the lion's share of the profits, unlike you royal relatives who can swallow most of the profits.

It must be said that the power of these royal relatives is quite astonishing!

Without the support of salt merchants or the availability of established sales channels, they managed to sell massive quantities of sun-dried sea salt across the country by relying solely on their extensive network of personal connections and influence.

Of course, many imperial merchants contributed greatly to this!

Imperial merchant families like the Xue family and the Guihua Xia family used their vast sales networks to directly distribute massive amounts of sea salt to the most rural areas.

In any case, based on the information Jia Huan knew, the salt merchants of Lianghuai and related interest groups had practically worked for nothing this year, and would enter a state of complete loss starting next year!

With something this big happening, things are bound to get very turbulent.

Whether it's the salt merchants of Lianghuai, the salt gangs that rely on them for survival, the numerous smugglers of salt, or the local tyrants and powerful figures, they certainly wouldn't agree to it easily.

Destroying someone's financial path is like killing one's parents!

In short, ever since massive amounts of sea salt flooded into Daqian's salt market, the underhanded battles and bloodshed have never ceased.

The most extreme incident involved a massive brawl involving thousands of people, which required the deployment of local troops to quickly quell the unrest; it was a truly significant event.

However, the authorities remain indifferent to this issue, adhering to the practice of punishing local officials wherever disorder arises, and have taken the opportunity to thoroughly rectify the local officialdom.

Chapter 397 A Grand Wedding (Please Subscribe)

Jia Huan did not participate in the power struggles at court.

Some officials tried to implicate him, but they were unsuccessful.

After the New Year, Jia Huan began preparing for his marriage to Daiyu.

It's been dragging on for far too long; Lin Daiyu is already eighteen. If this continues, she'll truly become an old maid. Although Jia Huan doesn't care, Lin Ruhai won't allow it.

This matter is difficult to put down no matter how you look at it.

Since Lin Ruhai was unwilling, Jia Huan naturally had no choice but to speed up the wedding process.

Although it was still the mourning period for Master She, he and Daiyu had already passed the period of intense mourning, so as long as they didn't make too much of a fuss, it would be fine.

So, after communicating with Lin Ruhai through letters, he decided to marry Lin Daiyu properly before her nineteenth birthday.

As everyone knows, Lin Daiyu's birthday falls during the Flower Festival!

Therefore, once New Year's Eve had passed, his wedding date with Daiyu was not far off.

Lin Daiyu returned to Beijing ahead of schedule and stayed at home with Lin Ruhai, who had taken a long leave of absence.

Upon returning, the father and daughter simply followed tradition and did not meet with Jia Huan, but they met with all the other relatives and received their blessings.

Of course, in urgent situations, one must act expediently. Lin Ruhai and Jia Huan had never lost contact, exchanging information through letters, and this time was no exception.

Lin Ruhai briefly summarized his experiences in the Central Plains, and concluded that he did a good job.

He already knew in his heart that it was unlikely he could continue to serve as a high-ranking official in a remote region.

There was no other reason than the issue of balancing the various factions within the imperial court.

Of course, it is also inevitably affected by the recent political situation at court.

No one knows for sure when or how the royal family members developed such an ambiguous relationship with Jia Huan. What exactly is going on here? We must be on guard against this.

As the representative of the interests of Ning and Rong Prefectures, Lin Ruhai could continue to govern local areas, but it absolutely could not be a crucial place like the Central Plains, nor was it likely to be placed in the prime region of Jiangnan.

In short, he was implicated, and from now on he either had to stay quietly in the capital or take charge of the overall situation in a remote place; he had no other choice.

Jia Huan maintained a fairly close relationship with Lin Ruhai through letters.

He didn't hide anything and told Lin Ruhai all his thoughts and the changes in the court.

I reckon that because of the bad advice he gave behind my back, he's not very popular now, and it will also implicate Lin Ruhai.

He had explained all of these things to Lin Ruhai in advance.

Lin Ruhai did not blame him; in fact, he made it clear that he had little interest in officialdom anymore.

At this time, he was over fifty years old and clearly felt his body becoming less agile.

But before he could even see his own daughter Lin Daiyu get married and have children, how could he possibly have any interest in so-called politics? He just wanted to live out his days in peace and tranquility!