Chapter 160
Speaking of this gift, because the Great Empire is too far from the capital, Xue Jin'an originally wanted Helian Cheng to take it back with him when he returned to Qizhou, and then send it to the capital via the post station in Qizhou.
After learning about this, Helian Cheng told Xue Jin'an that he could contact the Jiangnan Merchant Caravan of Magistrate An, who handled this kind of express delivery business and could pick up the packages directly from the door.
It just so happens that Helian City had built a grain route in Luocheng and relocated the "cold-resistant" former Rongdi people of Luocheng to his own territory. The Northwest Army's supplies had to prioritize the army, and then a portion had to be reserved for unforeseen circumstances. The merchants doing business in Qizhou were the ones who supported these immigrant people.
As a poor border prefecture where even basic safety could not be guaranteed due to constant warfare, Qizhou's local wealthy merchants, no matter how rich they were, could not compare to the caravans from the prosperous Jiangnan region. Therefore, half of the relief supplies for the people of Luocheng came from Jiangnan caravans.
Of course, the caravan wasn't just there to do charity; they also had their eyes on this newly incorporated territory of Daqi. Magistrate Du had said that this area would be governed by Huazhou, replacing Qizhou as the new border prefecture. Qizhou, connecting Xinzhou to the north and Yanzhou to the south, would become the commercial center of the northwest!
Magistrate Du's words were mainly about looking towards the future of Qizhou, giving a strong pep talk to the merchants who were left in Qizhou to seek development, so that they would stay and work on Qizhou's development. He had already invested so much money in it, and he had to build the cinder road and open up the trade route. If the merchants saw that things were not going well and ran away, all his plans would be ruined. How could he face His Highness the Seventh Prince then?
Du Yin could only try his best, offering various incentives to keep these caravans.
Other caravans might hesitate, but the caravans from Jiangnan had no choice but to stay, because their presence here was itself involved in a transaction.
—To be honest, this matter is related to Xue Jin'an. It all stems from the "Infrastructure Handbook" that he compiled from various novels in the database.
When Du Yin told Liu Zheng about the express delivery mentioned in the book, he thanked Liu Zheng for helping him solve a problem. Liu Zheng thought this matter was very promising, and that very night he wrote a letter to his father, who is now the head of the Liu family.
Mr. Liu thought it sounded unreliable. He hadn't read any books and didn't know what this "express delivery" thing meant. He just thought it sounded a bit like the work of a bodyguard. The difference was that bodyguards charged high fees and only worked with wealthy families, while this express delivery was for all the common people, charged by weight, and the price wasn't set too high, since it was business for ordinary people.
Upon hearing this, Liu's father suddenly understood and realized that Liu Zheng was planning to do charity to improve his reputation.
It's understandable. After all, they are a merchant family. Even though Liu Zheng is now an official, people still have some reservations when they mention him. Liu's father feels it's worthwhile to spend some money to improve his reputation.
Seeing that he had his own set of self-consistent logic, Liu Zheng simply let him continue to misunderstand. For the sake of his son's future, Liu's father took over the matter very actively. However, being a businessman, once he took over the matter, even if it was destined that he would not be able to make money, he would still try to lose as little as possible.
So Liu's father simply selected two small caravans under his name and asked them to operate according to this model for one round. Unexpectedly, they actually made a profit of one string of cash.
If this string of cash were used in any other business, Mr. Liu would have started to worry that the shop was not far from closing down. But in a project that he had long thought would result in losses, it was a pleasant surprise.
"This courier service is promising!" Mr. Liu's eyes lit up, and he immediately contacted Liu Zheng to inquire about the details of the courier service. When he heard that the ultimate goal was to have stations all over the country, Mr. Liu was extremely excited.
There's a classic old saying: if a country has hundreds of millions of people, and each of them gives you one coin of silver, that's one hundred million coins, which is tens of millions of taels! Keep in mind that even in the most prosperous years of the Great Qi Dynasty, the tax revenue was only about that much.
Although Mr. Liu was very greedy, he was also very clear-headed about the situation. This involved a major national project, which he absolutely could not afford to handle alone. Jiangnan was a wealthy and prosperous place, and its cost of living was no lower than that of the capital. Precisely because of this, merchants in Jiangnan had a much higher social status than those in other places. For a family of Liu's size, sensible people would call Mr. Liu "Master Liu" when they saw him.
Unfortunately, this only applies to Jiangnan. Outside of Jiangnan, there are many things that money cannot buy, especially since he was originally a merchant.
In order to save costs in all aspects, it was necessary to build post stations in various places or cooperate with local post stations. However, officials would not listen to the words of a merchant, would not make things convenient for a merchant, and even directly suppressed the merchant, seized his property, and took his things for themselves. Even if it was so excessive, if the merchant wanted to live a peaceful life for the rest of his life, he could only swallow his anger.
"Our Liu family can't accept this." Compared to making a lot of money, Mr. Liu valued his life more, and he rejected the project with great remorse.
Unexpectedly, Liu Zheng had already been thinking about these very things that he was worried about, and he had already come up with a solution. He contacted the other members of the five-person group, and they helped persuade the prefect. As a result, the project quickly became a huge undertaking jointly undertaken by the Xiang'e Prefecture, Jiangnan Prefecture, Huaibei Prefecture, Jinyang Prefecture, and Yuzhong Prefecture.
Of the five, Liu Gu was a renowned scholar. Not only did he have favor with the prefect, but even in the capital, there were many officials and nobles who were fond of refined pursuits and would be willing to associate with him. It would not be difficult for him to persuade the prefect of Xiang'e Prefecture to participate.
Although Du Yin held a low-ranking official position and was serving as a poor county magistrate in a remote area, the Du family was a prominent clan in Huaibei. They were mutually supportive of the Du family in the capital (in the eyes of others). Whenever the Du family wanted to take the lead in something, they didn't need to specifically notify the prefect; once the news spread, others would come to visit them eagerly.
Tan Lingyue's father was the head of the Jinyang Prefectural School. All the students who had studied at the prefectural school were considered Tan Qinghui's students. His status was extraordinary, and the prefect was very willing to listen to his opinions.
Jiangnan, needless to say, is Liu Zheng's stronghold.
The one in the most predicament among them was Tian Chengmin. He was a poor scholar with no background or money. He only managed to get a third-class ranking in the imperial examination and became a secretary to the county magistrate in a remote place. In modern terms, he worked in a public institution but didn't get a permanent position. How could someone like him persuade a prefect?
Originally, the four of them had tacitly skipped Yuzhong Prefecture, not intending to make things difficult for Tian Chengmin. However, he volunteered and wrote a letter of over a thousand words to the prefect of Yuzhong Prefecture. When he waited for a long time without receiving any news, he even went back to personally request an audience with the prefect. He talked until his lips were dry after two months. In the end, Tian Chengmin was forced to take out his power and used the name of the Seventh Prince to intimidate the prefect, which finally got the prefect to agree to participate.
Tian Chengmin's active efforts to help and lobby were not only for the sake of completing this project, but also for the sake of Yuzhong. Although he did not understand business matters, he still had the brains to see that the prefects were persuaded to agree because the project had value that could move them, and this was an opportunity for Yuzhong to seek development.
Tian Chengmin wanted to improve the lives of the people in his hometown.
After the express delivery service was jointly developed by five localities, setting up stations became much easier, saving a lot of trouble. Many officials from other prefectures also expressed interest in participating, but Liu Zheng politely declined.
However, even with five parties sharing the risk, the initial investment in setting up stations is still considerable. Although they are optimistic about the project, they are also afraid that if they expand too much, they will not be able to recoup their investment. So they will operate the project for the time being and then use the profits to continue to invest in developing other business routes and stations.
By the way, when they first started operating, they were worried that they wouldn't be able to recoup their costs, so they had everyone load half a load of local specialties into their trucks. Even if the courier service didn't take off, they were at least not going to lose money.
It turned out they were overthinking it. The courier service started making a profit in just six months, but the money was reinvested after passing through the hands of the company, leaving only emergency funds in the accounts.
Originally, according to the plan, Anzhi County, a remote border town, was supposed to be among the last to have its express delivery station built. However, Du Yin was there, and his efforts to persuade Master Du were partly motivated by a desire to exchange favors. He wanted to develop Anzhi County and needed merchant caravans to revitalize the local economy.
Liu Zheng readily agreed and personally ordered his family's best caravan to head north. Du Yin also lived up to expectations, building a cinder road that made the entire Qizhou look much more vibrant.
In short, Helian Cheng made direct contact with the Jiangnan merchant caravan, and Du Yin, in return for the coal ash Helian Cheng had provided him, paid close attention to the shipment. In the end, it only took a few days to reach the capital, and then Cui Zui brought it into the palace.
Xue Jin'an opened the package and found that it contained an oil painting. The painting depicted a man and a woman, who appeared to be a couple. The man had rather delicate features, with a pair of slender phoenix eyes and light-colored amber pupils. Even when he smiled, there was an inexplicable coldness in them. The woman, on the other hand, had very strong and heroic features. She was dressed in a close-fitting outfit and held a long knife. She was clearly a woman who roamed the martial arts world. They were quite a good match.
Xue Jin'an immediately noticed that the woman's features in the painting looked very familiar. He had seen a face that was about 50% similar on a man before.
The difference is that the woman's expression and temperament are cheerful and pure, and her smile is as warm as the sun. Even just looking at the painting, you can almost see the joy around her. But the person Xue Jin'an had seen before always had a mocking smile. His light-colored eyes were filled with gloom and ruthlessness, and he looked at people as if he were carrying a sharp knife.
It was more like a combination of the couple in the painting. Xue Jin'an seemed to be deep in thought.
"Wow, what school of painting is this? I've never seen anything like it before!" Cui Zui exclaimed in surprise, showing his lack of knowledge. The others were no better off, all staring intently at the painting.
Xue Jin'an was probably the only one who didn't show any reaction to such a novel painting. After all, Western painting hasn't formed an orthodox school yet. Everyone is learning on their own, carrying the unique characteristics of this era. For example, the two people in this painting look remarkably like the jok cards in a deck of cards.
Fortunately, it's just a matter of style.
Besides the oil painting, there was a small bag in the package containing some scraps of paper with individual facial features drawn on them, as well as an unsealed letter written by Irina. The letter was short and mainly explained why she was sending the gift.
It turned out that after hearing a few stories about Zhang Jinghua, Irina felt that Rongdi was really crazy. No one knew what kind of trouble these guys could cause. So Irina decided to purge the missionaries in the southern border region from her jurisdiction.
While cleaning up, Irina also made good use of the waste. She hired several artists to draw pictures of Zhang Jinghua and his family based on their descriptions. Then she had them identify the pictures and make further changes. Finally, she kept the one that looked the most like the real person. To prevent any mistakes, she also kept other pictures of different facial features drawn by the artists. If Xue Jin'an felt that something was wrong, he could choose to replace it.
Yes, that's right, the people in this painting are Zhang Jinghua and his wife, Ms. He.
Xue Jin'an entered the facial features data from the painting, then took out a piece of paper and began to piece it together, creating a portrait of Consort Hui based on everyone's descriptions of her appearance.
This is a very meticulous task, as it requires constant adjustments to make it more closely resemble the description. Even Xue Jin'an spent some time adjusting the data.
Xia Zi entered at this moment. After hearing Xuan Shiyi's words, he hesitated for many days, unable to eat or sleep well, and became much more haggard. He finally made up his mind, but unexpectedly, he saw the oil painting as soon as he entered. The Seventh Prince was handing the painting to Shou Quan and asking him to hang it up.
Xia Zi didn't recognize the person in the oil painting; he only glanced at it before looking away. However, he recognized the painting in the Seventh Prince's hand at a glance: "Consort Hui!"
Later, Xue Jin'an took the painting to the Empress Dowager for evaluation. The Empress Dowager said that the facial features were not particularly similar, but the temperament of the person in the painting made it instantly recognizable.
Having recognized Consort Hui, Xia Xiazi realized that Xue Jin'an already knew and that she was no longer of any use to him. With a pale face, Xia Xiazi knelt down with a "plop".
"Your Highness, Your Highness, I will answer whatever you want to know to the best of my ability. Please give me another chance—"
Xia Zi's trembling voice was interrupted when Xuan Shiyi appeared silently behind him, expressionlessly reaching out to press down on his shoulder. "I told you long ago, don't wait until it's too late to say some things."
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed his neck, as if to strangle him.
Xia Zi was probably truly terrified. He burst into tears, clutching Xuan Shiyi's hand tightly, and pleaded, choking back sobs, "I didn't want to either, I had no choice, I really had no choice, please give me another chance... My life is not worth losing, but I have an older brother. If I die, he won't live either, and the Xia family line will be completely extinguished, I..."
It turns out that Xia Zi was originally a happy family of four (without servants). Her parents were both young masters and ladies from a distinguished family. However, the family was large and they were from collateral branches. When the family divided the property, they received a limited amount of assets. By the time they had their assets, they were already very poor. Neither of them was good at business. In less than three years, they lost five shops. At that time, Xia Zi was worried every night before going to bed that she might wake up one day to find herself destitute and homeless.
Later, his older brother, who had always been good at studying, couldn't stand it anymore and took back the power to manage the household. Just then, his childhood sweetheart and fiancée cousin came to stay at their home, so he temporarily handed over the power to manage the household to her.
Xiazi didn't know what happened after that. He was the youngest child in the family and the one who resembled his parents the most. He was not good at studying or running a business, and he only had a little talent in martial arts. Unfortunately, he was also lazy and only practiced martial arts sporadically. In the end, he only learned a little bit of light-body skills.
Seeing that his family was no longer in danger of ruin, Xiaxiazi's restless heart began to stir, and he went off to roam the martial arts world. He didn't make a name for himself, and when he turned around, he found that his entire family had been wiped out. Everyone said that his elder brother had fallen in love with a woman from the martial arts world and abandoned his childhood sweetheart and fiancée, and as a result, he suffered retribution...
He rambled on incoherently, not even knowing what he was saying. He didn't notice that Xuan Shiyi's grip on his neck loosened, allowing him to speak clearly.
Xue Jin'an took in all of Xuan Shiyi's subtle movements. From the moment he suddenly appeared as if he wanted to kill Xia Xiazi, Xue Jin'an knew that Xuan Shiyi was saving him.
The story Xia Xiazi told sounded familiar, and Xue Jin'an quickly recalled it: "Consort Zhuang, Xie Hongying."
"What Consort Zhuang?" When Xia Zi was caught by Xue Jin'an, Consort Zhuang hadn't even entered the palace yet. Since arriving at Zhaoyang Palace, he hadn't had much contact with anyone. Let alone hearing news, he had almost forgotten how to speak.
His mind slowly raced, as if he understood something. His eyes widened, and he suddenly sprang to his feet. "Xie Hongying, the young lady of the Marquis of Linyuan's mansion, Xie Hongying! She entered the palace as a concubine?! She actually entered the palace as a concubine?!"
Xiaxia's expression twisted, as if she had finally figured it out. With a pale face, she forced a bitter smile and said, "They're all in cahoots! Xie Hongying and Prince An are in cahoots!"
"Xie Hongying must have entered the palace for the position of Empress. Only the position of Empress can grant entry into Weiyang Palace, where the late Emperor's decree of succession is hidden—a decree to pass the throne to Consort Hui's son, Prince An, Xue Xian!" he said emphatically.
Upon hearing this, Xue Jin'an suddenly raised an eyebrow and looked at the couple leaning against each other in the oil painting.
"You mean, Prince An is the child that Consort Hui was supposed to miscarry?" But how come the one who looks more like Zhang Jinghua and his wife is the heir of Prince Ping?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
