Tianliangyuan

Chapter 294 Leave professional tasks to those with a passion for them.

Actually, Emperor Yong'an also had a headache.

Prince Qing was his half-brother. They were both princes back then. Even though he didn't care much about his younger brother, he never thought of harming him.

After all, the royal family follows the principle of primogeniture, but Prince Qing is neither the eldest son nor the legitimate heir, so no matter how the order is determined, he will not be included.

It was precisely because of this that Emperor Yong'an of that time made an exception for his younger brother.

But unexpectedly, it still managed to whet people's appetites.

"Very well, let's investigate first. The external threats have only just been resolved, and the several governorates we've set up outside haven't even gained a firm foothold yet. The court is also in dire need of capable people. If there are any who are willing to abandon the darkness and embrace the light, I am willing to forgive them."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

When Xu Han came out of the palace, two eunuchs helped carry a small box.

The attendant stepped forward and took it; it was quite heavy.

"Master Hou?"

"After we get back, we'll put it in the little storeroom where we used to save up Zhaozhao's dowry. This was a gift from His Majesty. I'll keep it for her for now."

"Yes, my lord." The attendant was delighted to hear this.

It's highly likely that His Majesty tasted the wine and was very satisfied, which is why he bestowed the reward.

Upon returning to the Marquis's residence, Xu Han summoned Xu Jun'an and also had several of his trusted confidants wait outside the study.

"Father, let's put aside the truth of this matter for now, what about Sun Qian?"

“She is a daughter of the Sun family who married into the Jia family. From what your uncle said, he still wants to protect her. I don’t believe that Sun Qian was forced by the Jia family to come to Sun Qingyang for help. She cried and begged in front of your grandmother earlier, thinking of getting involved in the drinking. What I’m worried about is not the money, but that the Jia family has other intentions.”

Xu Junan thought for a moment and then guessed: "Are you worried that they might take this opportunity to plant people in the Hundred Fruit Garden?"

"It's not impossible. Everyone knows that His Majesty also drinks the Longevity Wine from the Hundred Fruit Garden. If something goes wrong, whose responsibility would it be?"

Xu Junan nodded. It seemed that the Jia family was quite cunning, and that cousin was probably a fool too!

"Since Uncle wants to protect Sun Qian, we can only pretend we don't know anything. As long as Sun Qian isn't the mastermind, then everything will be fine."

Xu Han's words were telling Xu Jun'an that as long as Sun Qian was not the mastermind, they could spare her this time. However, once evidence was found that she was involved in the whole thing, even if they were willing to spare Sun Qian, His Majesty would not agree.

Fortunately, at least the Sun family can be saved.

Xu Han arranged for someone to investigate, and within three days, relevant information about the Jia family was delivered to Xu Han's desk.

The Jia family has been in business for generations, and this is the fifth generation.

Going back further, those were the families of officials who had fallen on hard times during the previous dynasty.

Later, the descendants were not ambitious and had no hope of passing the imperial examinations, so they turned to commerce. The current fifth-generation head of the Jia family is still a merchant.

However, the merchants today are quite different from those of a few years ago.

Sun Qian did not marry the heir of the Jia family, but he was the son of the person in charge of the Jia family, so he must have had access to some family secrets.

The Jia family now mainly deals in tea and silk.

The profits from these two transactions were considerable.

They buy tea at low prices in Nanzhao, then hire people to process it, and finally sell it at high prices, so the profit is quite substantial.

Last year, due to the strong intervention of Xu Zhaozhao and Princess Leyang, a large amount of fine tea from Nanzhao flowed into the hands of these two. In addition, there were other noble sons or other large merchants who were also attracted by the news.

As a result, after they finished collecting the first batch of tea, the price of the second batch of tea rose.

However, the second wave of tea was just what merchants like the Jia family were looking for.

Then Xu Zhaozhao began to vigorously promote drinking clear tea, so the quality of the tea was no longer as muddled as before.

Especially after the Osmanthus Black Tea came out, it was devalued to nothing compared to the black tea with the same name sold by other merchants.

As a result, the Jia family's business suffered a major blow.

As for silk, it was originally a high-end item with low production volume, and not all silk was allowed to enter the market.

Therefore, the cloth shop run by the Jia family mainly dealt in ordinary cotton cloth, linen cloth, and kudzu cloth.

Silk was expensive, and only the powerful and wealthy could afford it. As for ordinary people, although there were many of them, they could only buy cheap cloth.

However, the new type of loom developed by Xu Junting and Wang Wenyuan severely impacted the livelihoods of those cloth merchants.

Some people are quick-witted or well-informed, and they manage to get rid of their inventory early or transport it to other places to sell, so they don't lose money.

Nowadays, ordinary cloth is very cheap in the capital, which is a topic of great interest among the people. Poems praising Your Majesty's wisdom are frequently circulated, which naturally pleases Your Majesty even more.

"idiot!"

After reading everything written there, Xu Junan felt even more disgusted with his cousin Sun Qian.

Sun Qian thought herself clever for scheming against the Jia family's son, but little did she know that it was all part of the Jia family's plan.

Given the Jia family's status and position, they had no right to approach the Marquis's residence, but they were unwilling to give up, so they set their sights on Sun Qian.

In other words, Sun Qian was foolish and naively thought that her scheme had succeeded, thus becoming a wife of the Jia family.

Sun Qian was, after all, the daughter of an official, while the Jia family was just a merchant family. Yet Sun Qian thought she had gotten a good deal and deliberately flaunted herself at home wearing gold and silver.

Xu Jun'an raised his hand to his forehead. Only now could he truly understand what his sister had said back then: she was suffering from a phobia of stupidity!

“Father, what we’ve found so far doesn’t point directly to the Prince Qing’s mansion. We need to continue.”

"Yes, I have already sent people to Prince Qing's fiefdom. Moreover, there are imperial censors there, so His Majesty cannot issue decrees arbitrarily, but our people can start moving now."

"clear."

“The Jia family are merchants, and we don’t really understand some of the intricacies of their business. Why don’t you ask Zhaozhao for advice and see if she has any good suggestions?”

"Yes, father."

Xu Jun'an understood his father's meaning. Before going to find Xu Zhaozhao, he naturally had to find a way to get the Jia family's account books first.

This might be difficult for ordinary people, but for the Xu family, it's actually quite easy.

Xu Jun'an simply had someone arrest one of the Jia family's accountants first, and then followed the clues to obtain two account books before going to find Xu Zhaozhao.

It wasn't that Xu Jun'an was lazy; it was just that the information on the document was too complicated to look at. Most importantly, he didn't own any of these two items, so he genuinely didn't understand their specific value or depreciation.

Therefore, he thought that his sister might be able to glean some insights from the accounts regarding the tea and silk.

Professional matters should be left to professionals.

No problem!