Chapter 255

Jia Cong was born into a noble family and occupied an innate advantage; Qin Ye felt that this was the root of unfairness.

So he could only rely on his own methods to eliminate this unfairness and would never let go of such a heaven-sent opportunity; anyway, selling his daughter was not the first time he had done it.

Qin Ye told his daughter about this, and Keqing cried and made a scene several times, refusing to follow to the death.

How could Qin Ye let her have her way? Since she had divorced and returned to the boudoir, it was naturally according to the usual rules; the orders of parents and the words of matchmakers, where did she have a say?

So he simply locked his daughter in her room and called the only two young loyal servants in the family to guard her strictly.

He also called his daughter's two personal maids and strictly ordered them not to release the young lady for personal gain, otherwise, they would be sold together.

It was just that at the time, he only found Ruizhu; the maid Baozhu, whom his daughter had bought herself, did not know where she had run off to go crazy.

He also disregarded his wife's opposition and set the date for the wedding with the Chief Steward of the Beijing Prince's Mansion.

The Prince's Mansion even set up a sumptuous banquet to express their intentions, and even the Prince of Beijing personally came out to entertain, which really made him feel a bit flattered.

After Qin Ye asked about the ins and outs, he was panicked; he had already set the date for the wedding with the Beijing Prince's Mansion, and now how should this end?

He asked the steward in the house who was scared to death; according to him, the young lady's maid Baozhu, taking advantage of the afternoon when the lady went to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings, suddenly returned home to take the young lady away.

From this, it can be seen that Jia Cong's placement of Baozhu by Keqing's side was a very wise decision.

The little girl had very strong execution ability; hitting people with clubs from behind, breaking limbs face-to-face, retaliating, and running away from home, she was proficient in everything.

And his own daughter and the two personal maids were nowhere to be seen.

The two servants guarding tried to stop them, but they didn't expect that the seemingly weak little maid was so fierce; she crippled the two servants in just a few moves.

Secondly, it is said that he invented a magical firearm, which was highly appreciated by the Emperor, and the imperial favor was at its peak.

The two loyal servants guarding his daughter's room, one had his ribs kicked and broken, and the other had his leg broken; the shape was very miserable.

Then she took the young lady and Ruizhu and left, and there was already a carriage waiting outside the mansion to pick them up.

Currently, he is stepping up the supervision of the construction of this firearm; the Emperor wants to equip the Liaodong border army with this item before the spring of the coming year.

So the Qinian Prefecture dispatched a large number of yamen runners to search within the Love Shenjing.

Because he had just been appointed by the Emperor as the Grade 6 Firearm Division Supervisor, he was busy every day with firearm research and collection, gathering Western missionary talent, and cultivating firearm craftsmen.

So he hurriedly reported the case to the Qinian Prefecture; the daughter of a dignified Ministry of Works construction official was snatched away in broad daylight; this matter was not small.

But there was absolutely no trace to be found; the three living people seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

It was impossible for it to be related to his daughter's matter, and even if it were related, Qin Ye had no way to do anything to him; first of all, there was no proof.

As for what kind of firearm this was, very few people knew, and the imperial court also listed it as highly confidential.

The Qinian Prefecture even received a note from the Beijing Prince's Mansion, giving this matter the greatest attention.

Qin Ye never dreamed of suspecting Jia Cong of his daughter's disappearance.

It was just that when Qin Ye returned to the mansion leisurely, he was stunned by the scene in the house.

At the ferry of the Liuyang River in the west of the Love Shenjing, many merchant ships preparing to head south were docked.

Among them, a brand-new double-decker single-sail merchant ship had been docked here for two days, and the three characters "Xinchun Firm" on the hull were bright and new.

In front of the label, there was also a badge of a fish head and dragon body; knowledgeable merchants could recognize that it was the badge of the Imperial Household Department.

That is to say, this brand-new double-decker merchant ship was the flagship of an imperial merchant of the Imperial Household Department.

Among the many civilian merchant ships at the ferry, it appeared somewhat different.

Things with imperial marks always made the common people feel an inexplicable awe; the nearby merchant ships would deliberately keep their distance from it.

A few days ago, a young lady of an official family in the Love Shenjing went missing, and the government yamen runners searched the whole city and also searched this southern ferry.

The leading yamen runner did see the silhouette of a woman on this ship.

However, many people knew that the head of the Xinchun Firm, Qu, was a woman, and now the only female imperial merchant of the Imperial Household Department.

So what was strange about a woman appearing on the Xinchun Firm's merchant ship?

And behind the Xinchun Firm stood the top noble Rongguo Jia family; the yamen runners of the Qinian Prefecture naturally would not touch bad luck.

This day, as the sun set in the west, a young man with a clear spirit and elegant bones walked off the Xinchun Firm's merchant ship and stood quietly at the ferry.

Watching the brand-new double-decker merchant ship weigh anchor, cut through the blue waves, and sail out of the ferry.

Standing at the bow was a beautiful and heroic young woman; the river wind blew her brocade-red cloak, her demeanor was heroic and refreshing, very eye-catching, and she kept waving goodbye to him.

And in the cabin, there was another woman, but it was inconvenient for her to show her face; for a long time to come, her name would disappear.

Jia Cong remembered what Qu Hongxiu said, those words full of sourness: "This beauty of yours, I originally thought she was just good-looking, but I didn't expect her to have a crystal heart."

"I saw that she handled things meticulously and properly, and I was just lacking a capable helper by my side, so I showed her the accounts of the Xinchun Firm for these two months."

"She only flipped through them for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and pointed out three errors, and they were not wrong at all; she is a first-class steward talent, and you can rest assured using her..."

In fact, Keqing having such a performance did not make Jia Cong feel strange; when Jia Zhen and his son were imprisoned and Lady You was ill in bed, Keqing had managed the Ningguo Prefecture for a period of time.

And she won the praise of everyone in Ningguo, saying that she was meticulous, knew how to handle things, not a single ditch could be hidden from her, and she pitied the poor and cherished the lowly, having both grace and prestige.

And she had only been married to the Jia family for a few months when she was considered by the Grand Lady of Jia to be the most satisfactory person among the great-granddaughters-in-law; how could such a person's character just be decent in appearance?

Jia Cong was even a little grateful to Qin Ye; if it weren't for this old scoundrel's sycophancy and forcing her to the extreme, Keqing would not have been able to resolutely break free from the shackles of the Qin family.

And the Xinchun Firm would not have such a reliable and usable talent.

Currently, what Jia Cong cares about most is another matter.

The Emperor has issued a secret decree, asking him to complete the construction of 3,000 porcelain mines within three months and coordinate other usable firearms before the end of the year.

When the imperial court determines the candidates for the Nine Provinces Commander and inspects the Nine Border military towns by imperial order, these firearms will be sent to the border towns for equipment along with the Nine Provinces Commander, with the focus on the Liaodong Town.

The Nine Provinces Commander inspects the Nine Border military towns by imperial order and has the power to supervise and restrain the various military towns; it is a high-ranking military official position with great authority and has always been watched by all parties in the imperial court.

Wang Ziteng, who was the Commander of the Capital Camp, once wanted to use the Jia family's connections in the military to seek the position of Nine Provinces Commander.

Later, because Wang Ziteng's wife instigated others to falsely accuse Jia Cong, after the matter was exposed, the Emperor took advantage of the situation to completely sever the relationship between Wang Ziteng and the Jia family.

Since then, the official position of Nine Provinces Commander has been vacant.

Nowadays, the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the nobles of the imperial court have proposed two candidates for the Nine Provinces Commander.

One is the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, who comes from a family of military nobles, and the other is the Minister of War, Gu Yankui.

Among them, the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, has a higher voice, and there are people in the Cabinet and among the nobles who propose that he inspect the border by imperial order.

It is actually not strange that such a situation would appear.

Shui Rong has always had the reputation of being polite to others, holds a high princely title, but has no arrogance or extravagance, and has always had a reputation in the court and the public.

The Minister of War, Gu Yankui, is an old official who came from a border general, is pragmatic and upright, and is strict and rigid in his conduct, so his popularity is much worse.

And Shui Rong heard that he was recommended as the Nine Provinces Commander, and even submitted a memorial to decline, which won the praise of many court officials.

In contrast, Gu Yankui showed no indication of this and submitted memorials several times to explain the training of military equipment in the nine major military towns, with an air of not letting others take the lead.

And because of this, he was attacked by the censor for being old and a thief, greedy for power.

What is strange is that Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao is indecisive about the matter, and no one can guess the Emperor's thoughts.

Most people think that although Shui Rong holds a high position, he is humble and cautious, young and virtuous, and is a candidate worthy of trust.

But Jia Cong does not think so.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao has been on the throne for more than ten years, his political decrees have penetrated the world, and his prestige has grown day by day, but he cannot completely control the military power.

In recent years, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao has promoted the strengthening of the army with firearms and vigorously established firearm camps in the Five Military Camps.

Among them is the idea of using the prosperity of firearms to reshuffle the old, intertwined forces in the military.

The importance of strengthening the army with firearms to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao is self-evident.

But from the earliest three-stage shooting drills, the establishment of the firearm camp, to the later modification and test firing of the Luming musket, the test explosion of the porcelain mine, and other important confidential matters of firearms.

Jia Cong, as the first person to launch them, naturally participated in all of them, and the Minister of War, Gu Yankui, also participated without missing a single one.

But the Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, has never participated once, and now he doesn't even know what a porcelain mine is.

Perhaps many people are outside the game and don't realize this, but Jia Cong, as a participant, can feel it.

Isn't the closeness and weight in the Emperor's heart already very clear?

The Prince of Beijing's various shows, in the eyes of others, are virtuous and cautious, but in the heart of Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, who has always been deep and suspicious, it might become a crime worthy of death.

It is just that for a ruler, the holy heart is like an abyss and cannot be guessed; even if there is a holy decision early on, in order to balance all parties, a suitable opportunity is needed.

(End of chapter)