Chapter 86: Cleverly Obtaining the Recommendation Letter (Part 2)

  East Factory, Secret Room.

  "That's right, these are them..." Liu Jin carefully compared some documents in his hand with Zhang Yong's, and finally confirmed that the several copper mine deeds brought by Jiang Xia were indeed the ones owned by Zhang Yong.

  Looking at the land deed in his hand, Liu Jin was very excited.

  He had been investigating this lead for almost a year, during which he also sent many East Factory spies and moles to steal the deeds from Zhang Yong, but all of them disappeared without exception, it was clear that they had all met with misfortune.

  Liu Jin did not expect that Jiang Xia would get the deed in just three days. This thing is absolutely Zhang Yong's fatal weakness, no matter how close the person is, Zhang Yong will definitely not hand over these few things, he looked at Jiang Xia with interest and asked.

  "I'm curious now, how did you manage to get all this stuff in just three days..."

  Jiang Xia smiled slightly and said with an air of mystery: "Can I say that the mountain people have their own wonderful plan?"

  Liu Jin was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said: "We only look at the results of what people do, never at the process. If you don't want to say it, I won't force you."

  "Everyone has their own way of doing things, and I can get things done with my method. That's what makes me valuable," said Jiang Xia with a smile. "If I were to reveal my methods, it would be equivalent to giving up my own value, so please forgive me, sir."

  Liu Jin smiled slightly, took out a token from a wooden box on the table and handed it to Jiang Xiaodao: "From now on, you are my man in the East Factory. Do well, I believe that with your ability, it won't take long for you to occupy one of the eighteen major positions."

  "Thank you, sir." Jiang Xia pretended to be excited as he took the copper token from Liu Jin's hand. On it was written "East Factory Secret Agent" and below that a number: 2015. Jiang Xia secretly wondered if this meant there were already two thousand fifteen secret agents in the East Factory.

  But thinking about the historical records of later generations regarding Dongchang, Jiang Xia also secretly let go. For an intelligence network that spans the world, more than 2,000 people are not many after all.

  In fact, Jiang Xia was not clear that this copper token in the East Factory was already a relatively high-end one. The identity tokens of the secret agents also included iron and wooden ones wrapped in iron. And the secret agents with wooden tokens wrapped in iron could develop other unrecorded spies, so the entire intelligence network of the East Factory had actually expanded to an extent that Jiang Xia could not imagine.

  After Jiang Xia carefully put away the copper plate, he couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency, now that we have obtained the evidence, is the next step to go and tell His Majesty, so that His Majesty can mete out his punishment?"

  Liu Jin smiled slightly and said faintly, "From now on, you don't need to worry about anything else. At this stage, your only task is to continue pretending not to know the emperor's identity and stay close to him. Every word the emperor says to you must be remembered and reported back to me without missing a single word.

  If you can smoothly pass the imperial examination and become an official in the court, I will give you a position as a first-rank official. If you can gain the emperor's favor and become one of his close ministers, I will give you a position as a high-ranking official.

  "Thank you for your cultivation, Jiang Xia will definitely go all out to serve the public." Jiang Xia said excitedly.

  At noon, Jiang Xia had just come out of the East Factory, and Liu Jin followed closely behind. He got into his horse-drawn carriage and headed straight for the Leopard House.

  On the side of the leopard house, Zhu Houzhao was playing with a tiger in his beast-raising room. This tiger was a male tiger, about two meters long, with a huge body. However, possibly due to being raised for too long, the tiger looked listless and lacked any majesty of the king of beasts.

  Zhu Houzhao was poking a tiger's nose with a bamboo stick about one meter long, while his two most favored adopted sons, Qian Ning and Jiang Bin, who had just returned from Xuanfu, stood by and watched Zhu Houzhao playing.

  The tiger had been domesticated for too long and no matter how Zhu Houzhao poked its nose with a bamboo stick, it didn't budge.

  Zhu Houzhao played with it for half a day and felt bored. He turned his head to Qian Ning and said, "Ning'er, take off its chain."

  "Your Majesty... this might be a bit too dangerous." Qian Ning glanced at the tiger, her eyes filled with three parts apprehension.

  Zhu Houzhao slightly furrowed his brow and said displeased: "It's just a mere tiger, would I be afraid of it? Go quickly!"

  "Yes!" Qian Ning responded with a quiver, and carefully went to remove the iron chain from the tiger's neck. Throughout the entire process, the tiger remained motionless on the ground.

  After the iron chain on the tiger's neck came down, Zhu Houzhao poked its nose with a bamboo stick again. The tiger still had no reaction.

  Zhu Houzhao was somewhat angry and said displeased: "Without tiger prestige, how can it be called a tiger?"

  After finishing speaking, Zhu Houzhao took the bamboo pole and hit the top of the tiger's head with force.

  The tiger was suddenly enraged by Zhu Houzhao, it stood up and let out a long roar at Zhu Houzhao, who was slightly startled and subconsciously took a few steps back.

  "Your Majesty, danger!" Qian Ning cried out loudly.

  The tiger suddenly jumped up and pounced on Zhu Houzhao. Zhu Houzhao dodged it, shouting loudly: "Qian Ning, save the emperor!"

  Qian Ning wanted to rush over and block Zhu Houzhao, but his feet couldn't move. At this moment, Jiang Bin jumped forward and blocked Zhu Houzhao.

  The tiger pounced over, Jiang Bin jumped up and kicked the tiger's face with one foot. The tiger, which weighed nearly three hundred pounds, was actually kicked flying back by him. Jiang Bin took two steps forward and rode on the tiger's body, then took a deep breath and used his thousand-pound drop, swinging his fists with both hands to hit the tiger's head.

  The tiger finally understood that it could not contend with the man riding on its back, so it lay down on the ground and remained motionless as before.

  Jiang Bin reached out and grabbed the tiger's neck, pulling it over, then locked it up again with an iron chain. After making sure everything was okay, Jiang Bin went to help Zhu Houzhao, who was leaning against the wall in a daze, and said: "Letting Your Majesty be frightened, this child deserves to die ten thousand times."

  "I can handle it myself, what use is there for you?"

  Everyone knew that Zhu Houzhao was forcing it, but Jiang Bin didn't expose him and instead said very respectfully: "The child is meddling, I hope the emperor will forgive me."

  "Enough, enough!" Zhu Houzhao waved his hand impatiently, then picked up the bamboo pole and struck the tiger's head fiercely, cursing: "Useless thing, what use is it to me?"

  After finishing speaking, Zhu Houzhao threw away the bamboo pole in his hand and turned to look at Qian Ning. A cold light flashed in his eyes, but a low hum came out of his nostrils.

  Qian Ning did not dare to look at Zhu Houzhao, and Zhu Houzhao walked out of the room directly.

  After taking a bath and changing his clothes, Zhu Houzhao walked out with several eunuchs. He called over a small eunuch beside him and said: "Remember to have someone prepare 1,000 taels of gold to be sent to Jiang Bin's residence later."

  "Yes, your humble servant has received the imperial edict." The little eunuch replied.

  At this moment, a leopard guard walked in and saluted Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, Liu Gonggong from the East Factory requests an audience."

  Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly and said, "Bring him to the Imperial Study to see me."

  "Yes!" The leopard guard responded and stepped down.

  In the imperial study of the Leopard House, Liu Jin first knelt down and saluted Zhu Houzhao: "Your humble servant pays homage to Your Majesty, may you live for ten thousand years."

  "Don't be polite." Zhu Houzhao said as he picked up a cup of ginseng tea in front of him and took a sip.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty."

  Liu Jin had just stood up when Zhu Houzhao put down his teacup and asked: "What brings you to see me?"

  "Your Majesty, I have come today to report that Zhang Yong, who holds the imperial pen, has privately operated a copper mine and minted copper coins for personal gain. This man has deeply received imperial favor yet committed such a heinous crime of stealing national interests, which is truly deserving of severe punishment."

  After finishing, Liu Jin took out the several deeds from his bosom and handed them over to Zhu Houzhao. He then said: "These several deeds were obtained by the Eastern Depot spies under my command from Zhang Yong's residence. The handwriting and seals on the deeds have all been carefully verified by me, and it is confirmed that they are undoubtedly written by Zhang Yong. This time, the evidence is as solid as a mountain, and Zhang Yong will certainly have no place to quibble."

  Zhu Houzhao took the deeds and looked at them, then sighed and said: "Liu Jin, when I was still a prince, you and Zhang Yong were my attendants. After I ascended to the throne, one of you became the head of the Imperial Censorate and the other became the imperial secretary. It can be said that in terms of power, there are few people in the court who can compare with you two. Are you still not satisfied?

  "This……" Liu Jin was stunned, this was far beyond what he had imagined. He had originally thought that Zhu Houzhao would immediately fly into a rage upon hearing the news, then order him to capture Zhang Yong for interrogation, and finally, in the face of ironclad evidence, Zhang Yong would be forced to confess, after which he would request that the Emperor hand Zhang Yong over to him for punishment. At that time, his grievances with Zhang Yong would also be resolved.

  But now...

  Liu Jin hastily knelt down and said in a panic: "Your Majesty, I am aware that I have received your imperial grace, and my heart is devoted to serving you. As for fame, wealth, and power, I have never thought about them. I hope Your Majesty will understand."

  After finishing speaking, Liu Jin's body began to tremble violently.

  Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said to Liu Jin: "I have long been aware of Zhang Yong's private ownership of copper mines in Jiangnan. From now on, you don't need to mention this matter to me again. I let you take charge of the East Factory to clean up the government and make my wise decisions clear. You just do your own job well, and don't interfere with other things. If I find out that your hands are too long, I will cut them off. Do you understand?"

  "I understand, I understand." Liu Jin kept knocking his head and said: "Your humble servant deserves to die ten thousand times, deserves to die ten thousand times..."

  "All right, withdraw." Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said.

  "Yes, your humble servant will withdraw..." Liu Jin got up from the ground in a fluster and then respectfully retreated from Zhu Houzhao's study.

  After locking up Zhu Houzhao's study, Liu Jin let out a slight sigh of relief. Zhu Houzhao's words had almost scared him to death just now. Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Yong suddenly walked over from the direction of the imperial study, smiling at Liu Jin and saying: "Hey, isn't that Minister Liu? Why do you look like you're not feeling well, have you caught a cold?"

  Liu Jin looked at Zhang Yong and coldly snorted: "There are only the two of us here, no need to put on an act anymore."

  Zhang Yong smiled faintly and shook his head, saying: "The world has been spreading rumors that the Eastern Depot's Liu Gonggong is so formidable, but in my opinion, it's nothing more than some petty tricks of stealing chickens and dogs. Unfortunately, in the end, he didn't even succeed in stealing the chicken and ended up losing the rice instead. How ridiculous..."

  Liu Jin looked at Zhang Yong coldly and smiled, saying: "Zhang Yong, this time you are one move ahead of me. Let's wait and see what the future holds."

  Zhang Yong did not speak again, but shook his head and knocked on the door of the imperial study. He then raised his voice and said: "Your Majesty, your servant Zhang Yong requests an audience."

  "Come in." A voice from inside the room, belonging to Zhu Houzhao, rang out.

  Zhang Yong pushed open the door of the imperial study and walked in. As he turned to close the door, Zhang Yong smiled at Liu Jin.

  "Bang!" The door of the imperial study closed, and Liu Jin couldn't figure out why Zhang Yong was able to dodge such a deadly move with ease, but instead he was scolded by Zhu Houzhao.

  Liu Jin shook his head and turned around to walk out.

  In the imperial study, Zhu Houzhao handed over the deed on the table to Zhang Yong: "I have ordered someone to draft an imperial edict. Later, you go find Qian Ning to receive the imperial edict and then hand it over to Zhang Shou, let him go to the Ministry of Personnel to receive his official seal and other items before heading to Jiangnan to take office."

  "Yes, your humble servant thanks Your Majesty's benevolence." Zhang Yong said with a bow to Zhu Houzhao.

  Zhu Houzhao raised his right hand slightly and said, "Relax. You are loyal to me, thinking for me, I won't treat you unfairly. By the way, I'd like to ask you, how much will be produced?"

  Zhang Yong thought for a moment and replied: "Although I also can't estimate it accurately, but there should be around 300,000 to 400,000 taels of silver per year."

  "Three to four hundred thousand taels?" Zhu Houzhao took a slight breath, visibly excited. He nodded and said: "You've done very well with this matter. If the next thing goes as planned, I will surely give you a heavy reward."

  "Thank Your Majesty for the great kindness, it is a blessing for me to be able to serve Your Majesty, I dare not accept the reward." As she knelt down to thank him, Zhang Yong's mind suddenly flashed back to what Jiang Xia had said to him that day in his treasure pavilion.

  At that time, Jiang Xia said he would not only spare his life but also give him a merit and a wider road to wealth.

  Jiang Xia's plan was to have Zhang Yong first take the land deed to present to the Emperor, and then hand it over to himself. When presenting it to the Emperor, Jiang Xia had Zhang Yong make an excuse that someone wanted to bribe him with this thing, and he took it over in order to fill the imperial treasury for the Emperor. In this way, the Emperor would naturally not blame him.

  Then he let Zhang Yong propose, since Jiangnan is rich in copper mines, the copper mine he presented was in Jiangnan, and Jiangnan is not the only one with private mines, but many people have them.

  Zhang Yong proposed to set up a mining administration in Jiangnan to investigate all private copper mines and then take them over as state-owned, so that all the copper produced by the copper mines could be used to fill the emperor's private treasury.

  This proposal was immediately agreed upon by Zhu Houzhao, who nodded his head in delight. The proposal was made by Zhang Yong, so the person in charge of the mining industry was also chosen to be Zhang Yong's nephew, Zhang Shou.

  When Zhang Shou went to Jiangnan to take charge of all the copper mines, he would make more money even if he was a little greedy than Zhang Yong's current private copper mines. Moreover, he also had to thoroughly investigate all private copper mines, and at that time those who mixed in would not be able to come to him Zhang Yong for help. Zhang Yong seemed to have already seen a large sum of silver rushing towards himself.