manynovel Chapter 826: I'm afraid of being a private king
Chapter 826: I'm afraid of being a private king
"Ms. Liao, please speak!" Jiang Youzhen was a little curious.
"My father often went to Lord Lu's house before. Because my mother was a superior, she was on good terms with Madam Lu, so I was taken to the Lu's house to attend banquets several times."
Miss Liao recalled carefully, "Last October, the Lu Mansion held a chrysanthemum appreciation banquet. Due to an accident, I got lost in a courtyard. At that time, I heard a man with a Yunnan accent talking to another person. They mentioned the salt field and salt warehouse, saying that the Yunnan people had begun to urge them."
When Jiang Youzhen heard the word Yun Province, he immediately looked at Li Dongsheng.
"The other voice was very familiar, because my father took me to visit Lord Lu, so I immediately recognized it as his. He said that the salt field was not peaceful and we should not be too blatant."
"How do you know that the other person has a Yunnan accent? I remember that Lord Liao is from Shandong Province, right?" Jiang Youzhen asked suspiciously.
"Because my nanny is from Yunnan Province, I have often heard her speak Yunnan dialect since I can remember. Her Mandarin also has some local accents, and you can tell the difference after you get used to it.
My accent happened to be similar to this person's, but I only heard a few words. I felt it was inappropriate to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, so I left. "
Miss Liao saw that Jiang Youzhen was a little skeptical. She didn't know whether these words would be helpful to Jiang Youzhen and the others, so she just regarded it as a reminder. Maybe it would be useful?
"Thank you, Miss Liao. You didn't tell anyone else about this, right?" Jiang Youzhen asked.
Miss Liao shook her head, "No, because when I heard it was about the salt field, I was not interested in it. I didn't take it to heart. But recently I was upset and couldn't help but think about it again. Things related to the salt field, I suddenly wondered if the person behind the scenes was related to Yun Province? That's why I told you, sir."
Jiang Youzhen nodded, "Okay, thank you Miss Liao, but please keep this matter confidential. When I return to Beijing, I will send someone to inform Miss Liao. Please pack your belongings and make proper arrangements at home in the next few days. If there is any inconvenience, please send someone to tell me, and I will do my best to help you solve it."
"Thank you, sir. I will take my leave now." Miss Liao thought about the affairs in the mansion, so she suppressed her heartache and planned to go back and make some arrangements.
The servants at home need to be dismissed, and they can just take a few loyal servants with them. It is not known whether this house can be sold in a short time. Although they will go to live with their uncle after returning to Beijing, they will still need some money to survive.
Watching Miss Liao leave the study, Jiang Youzhen couldn't help but sigh.
"This is truly a sudden disaster. The daughter of an official family has become an orphan."
Thinking of Mrs. Liao, Jiang Youzhen couldn't help but feel that he still owed her a favor. If Miss Liao lived in the capital in the future, she would help her in any way she could!
"Jiang Chun, you should stay with Miss Liao for the next two days to see if she needs any help. She is not in a position to show up in public, so you should help her more."
"Yes! Sir."
"Do you think what Miss Liao said is true?" After Li Dongsheng and others left, he couldn't help but feel doubtful.
"It's not that Miss Liao lied, but maybe she heard it wrongly? When speaking Mandarin, there is a local accent, but some places have similar accents."
"Didn't he also say that the Yunnan Province was urging us to do this?" Jiang Youzhen glanced at him. You didn't listen to him at all!
Li Dongsheng still couldn't connect the ambition with Prince Chun. He had always heard his grandfather talk about the affairs of the court, especially during the time of the previous emperor.
At that time, several princes were fighting for power, and only Prince Chun was able to stay in a corner. When he was born, due to improper delivery, one of his legs was stuck in his abdomen, causing him to be lame from birth.
Since ancient times, emperors have never had obvious physical defects, so the late emperor was very sympathetic to him, but he also made him a prince since he was a child. When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he set up a mansion in the capital and lived separately, completely eliminating his imperial position.
Prince Chun has always been law-abiding and has been making friends with scholars every day. He is very open-minded and is the least threatening of all the princes.
It's just that before the current emperor ascended the throne, Prince Chun had been offering advice and suggestions, and even led troops to encircle and suppress the rebels at the time, so his contribution can be said to be indispensable.
This is the kind of person who, if you say he has the intention of treason, he always seems untrustworthy.
"As you said, the emperor is grateful to him. Then why did he send him to Yun Province when he ascended the throne? There are so many rich places in the court, but he gave him to a poor and remote place where unrest often occurs."
"Because the emperor said that Yun Province was in turmoil, he didn't trust anyone else, so he sent Prince Chun. He felt relieved to let Prince Chun govern Yun Province. That's what the emperor said at the time, and Prince Chun was happy to go."
You are the only one who believes this kind of nonsense, Jiang Youzhen complained in his heart.
"In fact, it is not difficult to find out whether Prince Chun has the intention of treason. To treason, one needs to recruit soldiers. As long as we check whether Yun Province has recruited a large number of soldiers in the past two years, we will find something."
Li Dongsheng frowned, "But the power in Yun Province is divided, and even local families or tribes have the habit of raising private soldiers, so their traces are very difficult to find."
"As long as you are interested, you can find out. Families and tribes must have fixed channels to raise private soldiers. But Prince Chun is not sure. How dare he buy from fixed merchants? It must be a matter of accumulating a little bit to make a lot."
"Recruiting soldiers and buying horses requires money. Lu Shengyuan must have sent the huge profits from the salt to Yun Province, because he didn't receive much money in his mansion."
Jiang Youzhen thought, "Hundreds of thousands of taels is not a lot for a local official with real power, and it doesn't match the money he has in his mansion. There must be an explanation for where the rest of the money went. How could he spend so much money by himself?"
Li Dongsheng nodded, that’s true!
"Just go to the bank and check the amount of money he deposited each time, and then check how many times he withdrew it and how much he withdrew each time. I have already asked the bank to sort out these. Then you will be able to see the specific amount.
If the amount is too large or it is inconvenient, he will definitely send someone to escort the silver to Yun Province. He doesn't dare to withdraw the government forces, so he will send his trusted people to find the local escort agency. You can go to the local escort agency later to see if there is a task entrusted by him. "
"Okay, I'll go right away." Li Dongsheng agreed and left.
Jiang Youzhen started to think again. If there were only two years to prepare, then it would definitely be in time to stop it.
After all, Prince Chun did not dare to recruit soldiers and horses on a large scale, and the economy of Yun Province was controlled by local forces. Even if he was a prince, it was not easy for him to make huge wealth.
The money earned from selling private salt is not enough to support so many private soldiers. The conspiracy would require at least 300,000 or 400,000 soldiers, right? So many soldiers would cost a lot every day.
However, Jiang Youzhen was afraid that Prince Chun would cooperate with local forces, merge the small streams into a river, gather everyone's strength, and promise them benefits, so that it would be easy for him to establish himself as king.