The Red Mansions

Chapter 1006 General Tax Department of Customs

Grand View Garden, Qichiyuan

The sisters of the Zhen family were talking about what happened in the future when they suddenly heard the door of the Qichi Courtyard creaking.

In fact, the door bolt is usually put on, because Jia Heng said that she would come to rest in the next few days, so Zhen Lan didn't let the maid close the courtyard door.

Zhen Lan's thoughts moved slightly, and she said pleasantly, "Brother Heng is back, let's go to meet him."

As he spoke, he opened the bamboo curtain, only to see that young man had come over with a lantern.

Jia Heng put down the lantern, and there was some strangeness in his expression.

Just now I had a quarrel with Xiaoxiao for a while, and when I was about to untie my clothes to serve, I didn't want Xiaoxiao to suddenly say that she was inconvenient.

Jia Heng was speechless for a while, secretly thinking that relatives came and said earlier, fortunately, Chen Xiao, who felt that she had played tricks on Jia Heng a little, felt a little bit reluctant to see Jia Heng deflated, so she proposed to serve Jia Heng.

But after all, Jia Heng couldn't bear to bully Xiaoxiao too much, and told her to drink more brown sugar water, and after taking an early rest, she returned to Qichi Courtyard with a lantern.

It's a hot day, but it's full of anger.

Jia Heng put the lantern aside, looked at Zhen Lan and Zhen Xi who came out of the house to greet them, and asked with a smile: "Sister Lan and Sister Xi'er are still asleep at this late hour?"

"Brother Heng didn't mean to come back tonight, but just wanted to wait for a while." Zhen Lan approached and took the lantern in Jia Heng's hand, and said with a light smile.

The girl smiled and whispered, she didn't see the previous depression at all, but the reddish eye circles seemed to be telling what happened just now.

Jia Heng walked into the room, and said in a gentle voice: "I have something to do today, I came back a bit late, if you are sleepy next time, you can go to sleep first."

"It's such a hot day, my sister and I can't sleep, it's okay to wait for Brother Heng." Zhen Lan said softly.

Entering the house, Zhen Xi went to pour tea at this moment, brought over the teacup, with tranquil eyes: "Brother Heng, drink tea, I'll fetch a basin of cold water for Brother Heng, so that he can wash his face."

Although the girl is young, she has the gentle charm of Zhen Xue's married wife since she was a child. Not to mention the oval face, it is this charm and temperament, which is also the youthful version of Zhen Xue.

Jia Heng looked at Zhen Xi, with concern on his face, and said in a low voice: "Sister Xi'er, let the servant girls take care of it, sit here, let's talk."

The two girls of the Zhen family are usually served by a nanny and a maid, both of whom are brought from the Zhen family. Although the Zhen family is down and out, the emaciated camel is bigger than a horse.

Zhen Xi let out a "huh", and then sat down, like a quiet cat, with a dignified demeanor, a docile temperament, and an even more tranquil demeanor.

At this moment, Zhen Lan walked up behind Jia Heng, helped hold Zhen Xi's shoulder, and said in a low voice: "Just now I was discussing with my sister the Bingchen Branch fraud case that is raging in Beijing, isn't Brother Heng going to the Metropolitan Procuratorate today?" Did you investigate?"

Jia Heng took a sip of Zhenxi's old lady's eyebrows, and said in a warm voice: "I went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate today, Xu Zongxian took sick leave, and then went to the palace to meet the emperor, and met two university scholars from the north. Come back, let's have a small feast together."

Since I planned to train Zhen Lan yesterday, I naturally wanted to reveal some news to see Zhen Lan's deduction ability.

Recently, Tanchun, Li Wan and Baochai, the housekeepers, have not seen Tanchun.

"Leave?" Zhen Lan raised her eyebrows and said softly.

The two great scholars should be Qi and Li. The report of the mansion yesterday said that the two great scholars were going to return to Beijing from northern Xinjiang after recovering from the aftermath in Hebei. It seems to be today.

Jia Heng said: "Yes, this case is almost over."

Zhen Lan's eyes flickered, various thoughts welled up in her heart, and she murmured, "Didn't this happen yesterday?"

Suddenly paused, and said: "Brother Heng, is it about Jiangnan?"

When Jia Heng heard this, she pretended to be surprised and said, "How did Sister Lan know?"

"A whipping law that has been widely circulated in the Dibao recently has been criticized by many Jiangnan officials, and it is regarded as an evil government. Recently, the imperial examination fraud case is about to rise. According to Brother Heng, it was originally intended to be thoroughly investigated and dealt with. And suddenly, there should be some tricks in it?" Zhen Lan was slightly happy, and said softly, a little uncertain.

She didn't know whether her guess was accurate, but she vaguely felt that there should be some faint connection between these two things.

Of course, no matter what, she wanted to show her tricks in front of Brother Heng anyway, even if she said something wrong, just let him correct her.

Jia Heng stretched out his hand and pulled the jade hand on his shoulder. The girl's jade hand was as slender as a catkin, and she felt a little cool, and said: "Sister Lan'er, you can know the direction of the government from some clues, and you are worthy of being a famous official."

Being able to draw these inferences from some public information, although some subjective speculation, is also enough for Zhen Lan's vision.

As she spoke, she pulled Zhen Lan over her jade hand, and looked at the two-to-three-point cold brows and eyes, and there seemed to be subtle tears in the corners of the eyes.

Zhen Lan raised her eyes to look at the young man, she suddenly felt something, she was slightly happy, and said, "Brother Heng, did I hit the mark?"

She just had a good heart, no, it was because she was thinking about Brother Heng's situation after returning to Beijing these days. Reminiscent of a whip method in the mansion newspaper I just read.

Jia Heng looked at the girl with crooked eyebrows and saw a little bit of joy, took the delicate and soft jade hand, pulled it into his arms, and said softly: "Sister Lan'er, this guess is relatively close."

Zhen Lanfang was overjoyed, her bright eyes sparkled and she said, "Brother Heng went to the palace to consecrate, but he also took over these things?"

Jia Heng gently lifted the girl's white and clean chin, met the somewhat narrow eyes, and said, "It's about the same. After you get to the south of the Yangtze River, you can make up your own mind."

Before long, Zhen Lan, who often looks for the mansion newspaper, should be able to see the four new policies he mentioned, and they will finally be confirmed.

How should I put it, the Zhen family is close to the core of power, and Zhen Lan's political acumen is also very comparable.

Zhen Xi looked at the two of them, and there was a hint of envy in her bright eyes under her beautiful eyebrows.

The third sister said to help Brother Heng, maybe it will be possible in the future, but she can't.

Zhen Lan stared at the young man with bright eyes, and said, "Brother Heng, will the civil servants who were originally hostile to Brother Heng take this opportunity to make trouble? The imperial examination scandal should have suppressed their arrogance. Looking through the past mansion newspapers for a long time, those civil servants often slandered Brother Heng in the old mansion newspapers."

This is the reason for the gradual improvement of the political level of the girls, and not only read the old news from the mansion, but also studied Jia Heng's "Ci Jue Biao" and "Ping Lu Ce" word by word.

It can be said that the reason why Jia Heng is so convinced of being the king of the county is not unrelated to understanding Jia Heng's level of political intrigue, except that Jia Heng is an ever-victorious general.

Jia Heng said: "This is inevitable, but this time the New Deal is imperative."

"But I told my sister just now that although the new policy of whipping laws has the effect of eliminating the old and reforming and reducing the collection of taxes and floating fees, if the local officials are not righteous, they will also have arbitrage and silver exchange. The people are embarrassed." Zhen Lan thought for a while and said softly.

Jia Heng looked at the girl with slightly parted pink lips, caught the shyness in the girl's bright eyes, smiled lightly, and said, "Sister Lan'er knows quite a lot."

"I'm talking nonsense too... um~" Zhen Lan said shyly when she heard the words, and suddenly saw the warm breath approaching, and then it was familiar softness.

Jia Heng looked at the girl with pink and tender skin, and couldn't help kissing those two cherry lips, but she was as good as her name, eloquent like blue, and her fragrance was slightly sweet.

Zhen Lan's crooked eyelashes cast shadows, feeling the tenderness on her lips, bursts of joy welled up deep in her heart.

She likes him to be intimate with her the most, it feels like being pampered and cherished by him.

It can be said that no matter how high-spirited Zhen Lan is at her age, she still has fantasies about love. Jia Heng has indeed fulfilled all the fantasies of a young girl.

Even a trace of tenderness like a factory assembly line missing from the fingertips makes a young girl in love feel like licking caramel, sweet and unspeakable.

But Jia Heng naturally also knows that this kind of woman who loves herself more than others may say something when she is a little bit unsatisfactory, and after all, she still pays wrongly.

Therefore, this in itself is a strategy similar to the five arts of controlling the people. It is like breaking your leg and giving you a pair of crutches. You still have to thank him.

It's a process of lowering expectations and then raising them.

Otherwise, you will not be motivated if you have no money, and you will not accompany her if you have money, such as Puxin, Xiatou... In fact, all of them coincide with the humiliating technique in the five techniques of controlling the people, and suppress your core values ​​through words to achieve Better parasitism and crushing.

So the first step is to disenchant.

Seeing Zhen Xi's clear and beautiful jade cheeks blushing like a cloud, her pink lips pursed, and her handkerchief tightly clenched, she felt a little envious.

The third sister and brother Heng became intimate again as if no one was around.

After a while, Jia Heng stared at the girl who was slightly smoky and misty with bright eyes, and a faint fragrance of orchids floated gently under her nose, and said: "Sister Lan, I just wrote the memorandum and proposed a fire to the court." National policies such as returning consumption to the public and abolishing the two reforms to the yuan should be dealt with."

Zhen Lan does have some political literacy, which can be cultivated as a helper.

When Zhen Lan heard this, she was inexplicably delighted, she blinked her bright eyes, and said softly: "Brother Heng, what kind of fire is going to be returned to the public?"

She knew that Big Brother Heng had something to do, and she could deduce something from these four words, which was to overcome the disadvantage of a whip method.

"Talk on the bed later." Jia Heng paused, and said in a gentle voice, "Take a rest later."

As he said that, he also took Zhen Xi's hand, and asked with a serious face: "Sister Xi'er, has Nan Bian'er sent any letters these days?"

It was too stupid for Xi'er to let Zhen Lan steal the letter from Zhen Qing without paying attention.

At this moment, the two servant girls came over with a basin of hot water, blushing, and said softly, "Grandpa, girl, wash your feet."

Zhen Xi said in surprise: "Ah, Brother Heng, I have a letter for you."

As he spoke, he glanced at the girl who had squatted down to help Jia Heng take off his boots from the corner of the eye.

Apparently Zhen Xi didn't know that the letter had been stolen by Zhen Lan, and it happened last night.

Jia Heng looked at the girl with picturesque eyebrows and said, "Sister Xi'er, go and get the letter, I'll take a look."

When Zhen Xi went to her own room, Jia Heng happened to meet Zhen Lan's shy eyes and said, "Why didn't Brother Heng tell the truth to my sister?"

In fact, from the bottom of my heart, I wanted to ask what the relationship between Eldest Sister and Brother Heng was, but after thinking about it, this matter was extremely sensitive and dangerous, and Brother Heng would not tell her easily.

"Also remind her that Xi'er is so-so." Jia Heng put her feet into the copper basin, and said in a warm voice, "Sister Lan, I washed my feet in the afternoon, just soak for a while, you should wash them too."

Zhen Lan responded with "Yes", and the maid at the side also helped the girl remove her shoes and socks. After a short while, a pair of feet as tender and white as bamboo shoots appeared, which looked like glass under the light of the candle, and they were put into the water basin .

As if worried that the young man was staring at her, the girl felt a little shy, curled up her feet with the vermilion kodan on her toes, and said without words: "Brother Heng, after you go to Jiangnan, you will also preside over the New Deal, right? "

Jia Heng took the book on the side and flipped through it, and said: "That's what the palace means. After the big wedding, I will take a boat trip to the south of the Yangtze River to help implement the New Deal. Maybe I will stay longer, maybe I will be here for the next six months. Jiangnan."

Of course, I will also accompany Jinyang and Mopan to wait for the next six months.

Zhen Lan's eyes were as bright as water, and she asked: "Didn't Brother Heng say earlier that he would ask the Jiangnan Navy Commander to wipe out the pirates? Can you spare your energy?"

Jia Heng said: "There is less fighting with people in military affairs, but it is more relaxed, and political affairs have to be more thoughtful."

Zhen Lan held the boy's hand, with curiosity on her pink face, she said in a coquettish voice, "Brother Heng, if you feel bored in your heart, why don't you tell me, so that you can resolve it."

Jia Heng looked at the girl warmly, and said, "Actually, there is nothing to say. What does Sister Lan'er want to know?"

As he spoke, he held the girl's shoulders.

"I've been looking at the mansion newspaper recently. Would you like to talk to me, brother Heng?" Zhen Lan leaned her head on the young man's shoulder, pursed her pink lips, and said softly, "It was said in the mansion newspaper that the officials of the household department reported , to bring the Guangzhou Customs into the household department. I remember that Brother Heng proposed to open the sea when he went to Guangzhou to reorganize the navy last year, and then added the Guangzhou Customs. It has been almost a year now. The newspaper said that a lot of Guanyin was collected .”

Jia Heng said: "The imperial court has seen that the opening of the customs has achieved great results. Afterwards, more customs will be added one after another. I will also take care of this matter when I go south. The customs and Haiphong are in each other's muscles. Only with Haiphong can there be customs."

Zhen Lan said softly: "After the opening of the sea, the sea trade business has indeed improved a lot. If the fourth uncle has been doing business and has been busy for 20 years, he should be able to pay back the shortfall of the court."

At the beginning, the Zhen family was an official son of the Ministry of Communications, and he was exiled to the army, that is, he was exiled to Guizhou. Because Zhen Xuan, the fourth master of the Zhen family, was engaged in the farming of merchants in the Zhen family in the south of the Yangtze River, he was not exiled to the army in the end, but Also imprisoned for one year as an accessory.

Jia Heng thought for a while, then said with concern: "Your third uncle is coming out soon, right?"

Zhen Lan said: "I don't know what's going on yet. Let's wait for the third uncle to come out and see how the family's reputation recovers. Uncle and dad don't know what's going on in Guizhou?"

When it came to the end, the girl had a look of regret on her face.

Jia Heng looked at the girl with gloomy eyebrows, and said with relief: "If Sister Lan was a man, maybe the Zhen family would not end up in the building that is about to collapse."

Zhen Lan raised her eyes to look at the young man, with a hint of self-mockery on her jade face, she said in a low voice: "If I am a man, maybe I will be exiled to Guizhou too, not everyone can come to Qing in common clothes like Brother Heng Compatible."

As she spoke, she seemed to realize that the atmosphere was too gloomy, and the girl's eyes brightened, and she asked, "Brother Heng, please tell me about Kaihai."

Jia Heng nodded and said: "Guangzhou and Zhangquan were the first to open the sea. In the past year, they have paid huge sums of money to the Guanyin. Officials in the DPRK and China are inevitably excited. In the spring and February of this year, Jinling and Shanghai opened and closed successively. In the second half of this year, the plan is to open customs in several provinces in the southeast, and add a general taxation department of the customs in the center, which is semi-independent from the household department. For defense, if there is no defense, the customs probably won’t be here soon.”

In the history of Wanqing, there was an Englishman Hurd who served as the general taxation department of the customs. This official who was called a clean and honest official by later generations had raised the annual income of 500 million taels of Guanyin in the late Xianfeng period for the Qing government customs to 3000 million taels in the Guangxu period. .

In fact, there are also reasons why the opium trade prospered in the late Qing Dynasty and the establishment of treaty ports.

However, a set of auditing, accounting, and quarantine systems established by Hurd is worth learning.

Of course, it can also explain the high profits of overseas trade. If the Chen Han court can import 800 million taels of Guanyin a year, it will undoubtedly greatly transfuse the treasury.

Zhen Lan leaned her head on Jia Heng's shoulder, and was held back by the young man's bare hand. A sense of peace surged in her heart, and she said, "Brother Heng is planning to build the General Tax Department of the Customs, and there are probably many people who want to get involved. After all Wealth touches people's hearts."

Customs, a yamen that is making money every day, still needs to be firmly in control. With money and food, military power can be independent.

Jia Heng said: "In the early stage, I will determine the scripture system first, and I will talk about the rest later."

In this trip to Jiangnan, in addition to rectifying the Jiangnan navy, he also needs to reorganize the customs affairs and take the lead.

After a while, the two were talking, and after a brief wash, they dried off the water stains on their feet and went to bed.

At this moment, with the sound of hurried footsteps, Zhen Xi walked quickly, her pretty face was as pale as paper, and she said in fear: "Brother Heng, the letter... the letter is gone."

If this letter falls into the hands of outsiders, once it is spread, it will definitely bring a lot of trouble to Big Brother Heng.

She obviously put the letter under the pillow, it was the same this morning, why did she forget to show Brother Heng to read it.

Jia Heng looked at the girl whose cheeks were flushed from anxiety, and asked calmly, "Why did the letter disappear?"

Zhen Xi's face turned pale, and she was almost crying out of anxiety, and said: "Brother Heng, I remember that it was clearly placed under the pillow, and it disappeared for some reason. It was a letter written by my eldest sister."

Zhen Lan looked at the anxious Zhen Xi, pursed her lips, and stopped talking.

Seeing the girl panicked and almost paralyzed with fright, Jia Heng couldn't stop teasing her and explained. "I read the letter yesterday and burned it."

Hearing the words, Zhen Xi's originally flustered expression gradually became happy, and said softly: "Brother Heng, that's good, that's good, I thought I lost the letter."

Jia Heng looked at Zhen Xi warmly, smiled lightly, and said, "Last night, I got the letter from your sister Lan."

Zhen Xi: "..."

Dazed for a moment, his soft and watery eyes suddenly turned to his sister, but met a familiar look, and said softly: "Sister Xi'er is too careless, how can such a confidential letter be placed under the pillow casually? How can a maid tidy up the bed?" , I accidentally saw it, and if it leaked out with just a few words, it would cause trouble for Big Brother Heng."

When Zhen Xi heard this, her face became puffy, she glared at Zhen Lan, and said in embarrassment: "My sister stole it last night? Why didn't you tell me?"

How could my sister do this?She said why the two of them had breakfast together this morning, the older sister must have been peeking at the envelope and Brother Heng found out, and then... had to comfort the older sister.

If the envelope is lost, what should Brother Heng think of her?

Zhen Lan said softly: "My sister was placed under the pillow, I saw it right away, so it can't be considered stealing."

As he said that, his expression was a little unnatural. Last night, he had been beating her for a long time because of this matter, and today her younger sister asked her to blame her again.

Jia Heng said with relief: "Xi'er, your elder sister made an unintentional mistake, and sister Xi'er should be more careful in the future."

In fact, Zhen Qing shouldn't write letters, and of course she can't demand that a woman who is pregnant and will give birth to him write letters longing for lovesickness.

It is estimated that Zhen Qing is also very lonely in Jiangnan at the moment, if Zhen Xue is not with her, she may be driven crazy.

The second is later.