Chapter 315: Catching a Turtle in a Jar
In prison, Zhu Changning accused the Chen family and Xie Zhan, saying that they were the ones who sold Xiaozhuya Island to the Zhu family, and that they might have secretly dug the gold mine before. He hoped that the imperial envoy would investigate the matter thoroughly.
Ultimately, Zuo Anmin dismissed his theory as unnatural, arguing that no matter whose family knew of the gold mine on their territory, they would never sell it to someone else. He also argued that the Zhu family's accusations were motivated by personal vendettas and were unacceptable.
This made Zhu Changning so angry that he fell backwards.
After the Zhu family members were imprisoned, the Gu family made some arrangements, and the young master of the Gu family, Gu Huaisheng, personally went to the prison to meet Zhu Changnian.
After a conversation, he left with a heavy heart.
After coming out of the prison, he looked up at the sky in the south and sighed in his heart, "The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop."
At this time, the Zhu family's property was being confiscated by the government.
Not long after, the list of confiscated property came into Xie Zhan's hands.
Xie Zhan flipped open the list and saw the following: Confiscated from the Zhu family were 113 shops, 1,000 hectares of land, 700,000 taels of silver, and 300,000 dan of grain from six granaries...
Xie Zhan frowned more and more as he looked at it. According to his estimation, the Zhu family's wealth was probably between three and four million taels.
Putting aside other things, the amount of food is wrong.
"Chief, what's wrong?" Xie Nan asked.
Xie Zhan replied, "Before, the Zhu family had ten warehouses with 500,000 dan of grain. After taking two warehouses with 100,000 dan of grain and using Ji Wuyin as collateral, they should have 400,000 dan of grain left. But now, the Zhu family only has six warehouses with 300,000 dan of grain left."
In addition, Xie Zhan felt that the Zhu family should have some grain secretly, at least 200,000 to 300,000 shi.
The Xie family used to be a big family, and he knew the family's nature very well. The property that was visible should be visible, and the property that was hidden should be at least one-third of the visible property, anyway, it was between one-third and one-half.
But, they didn’t even seize this part of the property from the Zhu family?
Xie Zhan was very concerned about the grain hidden by the Zhu family.
All the Zhu family’s apparent wealth belongs to the emperor, and he cannot possibly touch it.
Xie Zhan had gone to so much trouble to plot, naturally because he wanted to eat the meat of the Zhu family secretly. Therefore, when investigating, he did not use the government, but his own people to investigate secretly.
The problem now is that after searching the Zhu family, not only did he fail to find the grain hidden by the Zhu family, but the grain on the surface was also not as expected.
The Zhu family has quite a bit of silver in their accounts, but to resolve the crisis in the south, food is more useful than silver.
Xie Zhan knew that these grains would definitely stay in the south. The emperor was also well aware that the Zhu family had a huge amount of grain. If it was transported back to Chang'an, the long journey would cause nearly half of it to be lost on the way, which was not cost-effective.
He had originally thought that with the Zhu family's food, half of the problems in the South would be solved. Unfortunately, something went wrong.
Xie Zhan flipped through the information again and found relevant records. It turned out that two of the eight remaining granaries of the Zhu family's grain were taken by Zhu Changnian as collateral with Ji Wuyin the day before the Zhu family was besieged?
Two warehouses of grain, 100,000 dan, were mortgaged for 180,000 taels. What's the difference between this grain and selling it at a low price?
He sensed something was wrong and told Xie Nan, "Let Zuo Anmin ask Ji Wuyin for the contract."
Xie Nan took the order and left.
When he saw that the contract was only valid for one day, he laughed out loud.
Xie Zhan stood up expressionlessly, walked to the window, and looked at the mountains in the distance, but his mind was constantly working, organizing his thoughts.
The fruit he had worked so hard to harvest was not as big as he had imagined.
He didn't believe that the Zhu family didn't have any hidden food.
The more he reviewed it, the weirder the expression on Xie Zhan's face became.
This incident is similar to the way the Qin family was exiled, where two or three percent of their property was lost.
But this matter is related to Ji Wuyin, Ji Wuyin - Xue Guangxian - Liaodong County...
Xie Zhan narrowed his eyes slightly. A thief came in and stole the fruits of his hard work.
Now that they were in the Zhu family, they had taken away most of his fruits. The remaining half belonged to the emperor, and he could not touch it.
In other words, he used a trick to bring down the Zhu family, but gained nothing? How could this be possible?
Before setting off for the South, Lü Songli and Xue Xu had deduced Xie Zhan's reaction and discussed what to do if he were exposed. After all, as the mastermind, Xie Zhan probably had a good idea of the fish in his target pond.
If they steal too much, Xie Zhan will definitely notice.
What Xie Zhan didn't know was that Xue Xu and his men could still find a way to steal the Zhu family's money. However, they didn't do anything because they were worried that the Zhu family's apparent wealth was already under the Emperor's scrutiny.
They thought very clearly that it was okay for them to pick peaches, but they had to at least ensure that the emperor had enough to eat.
Under this premise, they could only rob Xie Zhan of his spoils. As for what would happen to Xie Zhan after he was robbed, they didn't care, and if that didn't work, they would just let him starve.
Xie Zhan always remembered the lesson he learned after helping Song Mo win the throne last time. After a heavy blow, he must return to provide support.
This time he had a backup plan to prevent those from disrupting the situation and competing with him for interests.
He just didn't expect the peach pickers to come so quickly.
Lu Songli, ah Lu Songli, you are worthy of being like this. Before others can react, you have already reached out.
Xie Zhan began to issue orders one after another.
"Come here! Send someone to secretly monitor the Ji Mansion!"
He wanted to see who was coming this time!
Xie Zhan felt that Lv Songli would not come in person, and even if she wanted to, she would be stopped. Lv Songli was obviously the wise man of the Liaodong County power. It was a consensus that the son of a wealthy family should not sit in the hall.
But he felt that the person who came could gain Zhu Changnian's trust, so he must not be a small figure!
"Have Zuo Anmin give orders to the county governor to seal off all the major city gates and docks!"
"Also, send someone to the dock to inquire if there has been any large shipments of goods in the past two days?"
"yes!"
Not long after, the person who inquired for the news came back. Based on the information reported, Xie Zhan judged that the grain should not have been all moved away.
Xie Zhan sneered, "Lü Songli, so what if your people took advantage of it? So what if they grabbed a piece of fat meat?"
He wanted to catch the turtle in the jar, he wanted to let this piece of meat rot in the South. In addition, it would be best if the people coming to the South were not from the Qin family, otherwise he would make them die here!
On this day, Ji Wuyin returned to Ji Mansion from Xue Xu.
One of his subordinates whispered to him, "Master, someone is watching the Ji Mansion."
"Um?"
Later, when he received the news that the city gates and docks were blocked, Ji Wuyin subconsciously thought that Xie Zhan reacted really quickly!
Thinking of Xue Xu, who had already moved out of the Ji Mansion and lived in a secluded place, Ji Wuyin thought to himself, that old immortal was right. Xie Zhan was too smart, he must have realized something.
It seems that he has to be more cautious the next time he goes to see them to avoid being followed.
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