Chapter 104: Aunt Xue's Invitation
On the second day of the court, a group of people from the Yuanping lineage, led by Shoushan Bo, reported that Jia Cong had killed innocent people indiscriminately. On his first day in office, he killed more than a hundred people for no reason, and also confiscated Diao Shan's property and exterminated his clan.
The Xiuguogong Mansion and the historians were naturally unwilling to be outdone. The two sides had a big argument. At the critical moment, the Right Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate asked the emperor to punish Diao Shan, and stated Diao Shan's crimes, admitting the Metropolitan Procuratorate's fault for failing to supervise.
This step of retreating to advance directly selected Jia Cong, and made Shoushan Bo have no choice but to accept it. After all, the Censorate was Diao Shan's immediate superior. Even if Jia Cong's killing Diao Shan was somewhat beyond his authority, it was reasonable for the Censorate to do so.
Emperor Longxing did not say much, but just reprimanded both sides with a few words, and then let the matter go. As for Hou Jing and his group reported by Jia Cong, it only took a few days to complete the procedures in the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel, and the word "temporary" was also removed.
A new official has three things to do when he takes office. The first one of Jia Cong's was to kill Diao Shan and hundreds of people. Although Jia Cong did not rush to check on other military departments, all the military departments changed their attitudes. Those who were short of staff quickly filled the gaps, those with messy accounts quickly found people to straighten out the accounts, and they took turns to report for duty and conduct inspections on weekdays, and did not dare to be negligent at all.
The shops and restaurants in the city felt this the most. These old men who usually took bribes and demanded money not only stopped coming casually, but even when they came, they took the initiative to pay the bills, which became a great spectacle in the city.
Including Yang Sheng, several commanders also worked diligently to punch in for work, and at the same time used all kinds of connections to get out of the military department. They did it for the sake of being transferred out as soon as possible. Before, the commanders were in charge of one or two thousand soldiers, and they were well paid and free, so they were naturally happy. But now, their boss is a killer who would confiscate their property and kill people at will, and the deputy who was inserted in is also keeping a close eye on them.
Not only do they not dare to embezzle a tael of silver, but they also have to work hard all day long. What's the point? Just give way.
As a result, Jia Cong had only been in office for more than two months when Zhao Guanglu and Yang Sheng both applied for transfers , and Ma Chuang took over Zhao Guanglu's job in the West City Military Department. Xie Yun and Shi Si served as the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the East City Military Department respectively. In addition to some other military lieutenants who were taken down, except for Qian Huai and Yun Mingliang, the other three military departments were almost completely replaced.
As Jia Cong joined the Bingmasi, all the young men from various mansions were appointed to official positions of varying degrees. However, Jia Cong was not in a hurry to promote several people from the Jia Mansion.
It’s not that there are no positions, but these people lack the ability and courage, so they need to gain some experience first.
Don't look at the children of other families as they were playboys in the past, most of them know a lot about the ways of the world, while these children in the Jia family are all children of side branches, and are no different from ordinary people. If they are promoted too high easily, it will corrupt their character.
After the duties of the Five Cities Military Department were sorted out, Jia Cong became much more relaxed. He no longer had to report for duty all day, so he just visited each military department randomly. Specific matters were handled and managed by the commanders of each city.
On this day, Jia Cong left the government office early. As soon as he entered the courtyard, Xiao Jixiang and the other two rushed out from the side room, opened the curtain for Jia Cong, and saluted, "The Third Master is back!"
Looking at these two little ones wearing red coats and wrapped up like a ball, with those two sky-high braids, one can feel much better at first sight!
Xiao Que'er, Qingwen, and Xiangling hurried out to greet them. Jia Cong said with a smile, "Go and ask your sister Qingwen for a reward! Xiao Que'er, why didn't you take your two generals out to play today?"
"You two little devils, are you just waiting for me to come back?" Qingwen tapped the foreheads of the two little maids and took out two silver beans as rewards.
Xiao Que'er pouted and said, "Sister Qingwen said that I am the master's maid and I am not allowed to run around all day!"
"How dare you say that!" Qingwen glared. "Today you took the fourth young lady and the two little ones to the East Mansion, and you even destroyed a wintersweet plant that was being tended by the eldest lady of the East Mansion in the courtyard. The East Mansion's lady couldn't bear to scold you, so she asked the second young lady to go and apologize for you! If you dare to mess around again next time, I'll give you a beating!"
"I just can't bear to let her go!" Xiao Que'er hid behind Jia Cong and made faces at Qingwen. Qingwen was furious and couldn't catch him, so she could only complain to Jia Cong, "Just spoil her!"
Jia Cong laughed loudly, "Which one does the master love the most? Doesn't Qingwen know?"
Qingwen suddenly lost her energy, spat softly and quickly ran back into the house.
"Master, the mistress came today and said she wants to treat you to a dinner tonight!"
Xiangling is a nostalgic person, and Aunt Xue treated her well in the Xue family. Although it was more for the purpose of controlling Xue Pan, Xiangling was still grateful, so until now, she directly called Aunt Xue "Madam".
"Oh?" Jia Cong was stunned, then nodded.
To talk about this matter, we have to start from a few days ago. Because it was near the end of the year, Jia Cong, the commander of the Five Cities Military Department, was also summoned to attend the court.
There are no other matters, just that at the end of the year, we need to be careful about fire, theft and other miscellaneous matters.
After the court session, he saw Dai Quan, the eunuch in Daming Palace, waiting for him, saying that the emperor had summoned him! Jia Cong had heard a lot about the emperor, but this was his first meeting. Unlike what Jia Cong had imagined, the emperor was not a mighty emperor, but more like an amiable old man.
The conversation between him and Jia Cong was just pure chit-chat. He even asked about his relationship with Baochai for fun, but never mentioned anything serious.
After chatting for a long time, until the emperor was tired, Jia Cong left Daming Palace, and he did not understand the purpose of this conversation. However, Dai Quan, who sent him out, asked him to pass on a message to the Xue family, saying that the share of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be increased by half next year.
Don't underestimate this half. There are at least dozens of imperial merchants, large and small, affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Even during the heyday of the Xue family, they only accounted for about 15% of the total. Now, under the pressure of other imperial merchants, only scattered shares are left. It is a question whether they can account for half of the total.
Now, with this extra half, even if it is not a lucrative job, it is a great joy for the Xue family. After all, this half represents at least 200,000 or 300,000 yuan in profit every year.
After Aunt Xue found out, she had always wanted to invite Jia Cong to be the host, but Jia Cong had been busy in the past few days and came back from the government office late, so it was delayed until today.
"Okay, let's go eat together later!"
