Chapter 24 Organizing the Estate
Chapter 24: Reorganizing the Residence
Into the night.
Lights are everywhere in the residence.
Gu-Chensha sits in the Taiji chair, Little-Yizi stands beside her, and everywhere slaves dangle their hands, some standing under the eaves, some by the corridor, some with scissors cutting wicks, and others cleaning the courtyard, all silent, each with their own agendas, looking surrept.i.tiously at the two in the main house.
“Master, here"s the list, the entire mansion used to have five hundred people.” Little-Yizi gave the list.
“Five hundred people, that many?” Gu-Chensha frowned: “This residence and the surrounding good orchards I"ve looked at can only support two hundred people at most.”
“Not bad, my lord is discerning.” Little-Yizi said, “The original steward of this manor pretended to be selfish and let in a lot of idle people, all the seven times removed aunts and eight times removed uncles stuffed into it, in fact, the inside of the mansion is already empty of any valuables, there is no money saved. In addition, there are tens of thousands of foreign debts. I have gathered the people to lecture, dismissed four hundred people, leaving behind a hundred honest ones, and will gradually replaced them with my own people later.”
“Yes, that"s the way to do it, is there any disobedience to the trouble?” Gu-Chensha knows that ruling a family is like ruling a country and should never be taken lightly.
“Who dares, the prince"s law is strict, if it was before, they would still dare to be disrespectful to the lord, but the lord has been rewarded by the emperor, and still does not know how to do things, there is only one way to die, using slaves to bully the lord is a big crime, we can directly execute them in the mansion.” Little-Yizi"s tone had ruthlessness in it: “But the old man Xia who is in charge of our manor is difficult to deal with, he was directly sent over by the Department of Internal Services.”
“You just go ahead and let go of this matter, I"d rather have no one doing anything than an outsider infiltrating it.” Gu-Chensha Dao.
“This is natural, Master, in a few days, we still have to hold a big banquet, after all, the opening of the Master"s house is a big event, the officials, even the princes and n.o.bles will send congratulatory gifts according to the etiquette, we also have to send gifts back, we can"t be too shabby, otherwise it will damage the majesty.” .Little-Yizi wrestled his fingers to calculate: “In addition to that, the master has a complement of fifty armor soldiers, and he has to recruit and pay his own salaries. This is also a lot of money, and our country residence runs on money for everything. Although the emperor bestowed three hundred thousand, but I see that it will be exhausted in a year, the first thing right now is to open up sources of income and cut down on expenditure, the lord is not like other princes, he has the support of his mother clan.”
Other princes, mother clan powerful, even born, mother clan began to build power for him, early construction of mansions, weaving talent, such as Eighteenth Prince Gu-Hongsha, do not live in the rewarding mansions at all, but build their own, thousands of servants under them, experts like clouds, spend money like running water, such power, naturally, can go across the court, do things like this.
And Gu-Chensha will just have to work hard.
“Yes, money is needed everywhere, but I have a way to obtain it, don"t worry about that.” Gu-Chensha pondered, and that"s when you can slay Tiger Wolf and refine Tiger Wolf Pill to sell it through secret channels.
Tiger Wolf Pill is an ancient chakra pil, once it"s out in the world, it"s sure to attract countless people and of course trouble, if Gu-Chensha was an ordinary person, that would be a big concern, but he"s a prince, he"s underneath everyone, but he"s not afraid of being investigated, as long as the emperor doesn"t deal with him, no one can take action against him from the level of the state law.
A Tiger Wolf Pill, if it did sell, would probably be worth tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, and a slight sale of a hundred or ten pills would totally solve the financial crisis.
“Can my lord ask to sell the kind of pills I take?” The Little-Yizi Way: “But how do you explain the origin of the pills to someone?”
“No harm done, let"s say I occasionally get a jar of pills left over from the ancient past, who would dare to check me out?” Gu-Chensha doesn"t move a muscle.
“Indeed, if an ordinary large family were to obtain such pills, they would only have to offer them to the court, otherwise it would be the razing and extermination of the family, but the ident.i.ty of the lord would not matter.” Little-Yizi rea.s.sured: “But lord has been too much in the limelight lately, I think it will have to be silent for a while, and that pill should also be sold to someone reliable, if another prince takes it in, it will be tantamount to a capital enemy.”
“Good, I already have a buyer.” Gu-Chensha said.
“Long Yuyun?” Little-Yizi is a little transparent.
“Little-Yizi, it seems like you"ve really had a successful experience, Long Yuyun"s side is a good channel, but I actually want to sell to the House of Lou, Father intends for Luo Baiyue to be close to me, so I will naturally have to use the House of Lou"s influence.” Gu-Chensha smiled: “Of course, the House of Lou is unpredictable and has to be guarded against.”
“That"s natural, the House has always been hostile to the Master, this time Tiger Wolf Pill was sold to the House, they couldn"t stand the temptation, so they had to swallow it, once they swallowed it, the House"s strength will definitely multiply, now the House is already the House half dynasty, if they swell up, their merits will end miserably!” Little-Yizi sneered: “That Luo Baiyue compelled Tenth Prince to beat up my lord back then, this debt should also be settled, and besides, if something happens to the House of Lou, my lord can then figure out a way to take over the House of Lou"s power, and he can plan for great things.”
“That doesn"t have to be so conspiratorial.” Gu-Chensha differed with a glance at Little-Yizi, never expecting this kid to think so deeply, “It"s only a matter of preventing people from harming others.”
“The Lord is open and aboveboard, and the scenery is clear, so let the little dark things and sins be done well.” Little-Yizi face does not move a muscle.
“Hey...” Gu Chensha sighed and said, “You tell this manor steward, Old Man Xia, come see me.”
An old man stood in front of Gu-Chensha.
He was dressed in brocade, with a hat, on which was inlaid a piece of jade the size of a thumb, half of which was the color of emerald green, half of which was the color of flames, and on his hands was a jade trigger finger, which was the color of white, with a vague holy light, and on his feet were boots of fine leather, inlaid with precious stones.
“Cold and warm jade?” Gu-Chensha recognizes out, that half green half flame jade, is rare cold and warm jade, after wearing summer can absorb heat to winter on the release, winter can absorb cold summer release, yin and yang qi cycle, not only for the human body has great benefits, but also can make practice with half the effort.
The jade wrench was also vaguely precious and worth a lot of money.
The little estate steward is actually wealthy to this extent.
This outfit is worth at least thirty to fifty thousand taels.
This Skyseal Dynasty sits on the four seas, affluent, folk extravagant wind is rising, rich families dressed up like this is not surprising, but right now this old man is the steward of the manor, according to avoid suspicion are to be a little more simple, and now lack of no avoidance, that is unrestrained, there is a huge backstage.
“Humble man Xia Huang has seen and greets the Nineteenth Lord.” When this old man saw Gu-Chensha, he just bowed slightly and did not kneel.
“Be bold, and kneel down!” Little-Yizi scolded heavily.
“No harm is done.” Gu-Chensha stopped Little-Yizi"s movement, “Xia Huang, are you the steward of this manor of mine?”
“Yes, this humble servant manages hundreds of acres of orchards around this mansion, as well as thousands of acres of good land, to maintain the expenses and repair and refurbish this mansion.” Xia Huang: “This mansion originally belonged to the Department of Internal Services, which the Emperor gave to the Nineteenth Lord, and I will naturally manage the property for the Nineteenth Lord in the future.”
“So that"s how it is.” Gu-Chensha doesn"t move: “Then I ask you, why is there no money deposited in the residence"s accounts? Instead, there"s foreign debt? How do you run your business?”
“Nineteenth Lord doesn"t know the difficulties of being in charge, this mansion is so big, the expenses of the staff up and down are quite a lot, and the places have to be frequently repaired to prevent decay over the years, and the income from a few fruit groves and a few fields can"t even top it, so they can"t make ends meet.” Xia Huang doesn"t panic.
“Xia Huang, I know you"re full of money, now I"m giving you a choice, spit out the swallowed property and monies, be good and get lost, and I"ll be able to spare your life.” Little-Yizi snorted coldly.
“Why did the Righteous Eunuch say that?” Xia Huang was not at all surprised: “This humble servant, though humble, but he is not something to be falsely accused lightly, Nineteenth Lord understand.”
“Yes?” Little-Yizi sneered, bringing up a half-dead man from behind, covered in blood: “this is the bookkeeper, who has confessed everything after my severe torture, and he has brought out a lot of books, which are with me. As soon as I hand them over to the Imperial family Affairs Court, you will not only have your house confiscated, but your entire family will be exiled to the border to do hard labor and build the Great Wall of Monoliths. Think about it.”
The accountant was splashed with water by Little-Yizi and sobered up, “Master Xia, I couldn"t help it, I was beaten to death...”
“What do you have to say now that the human and physical evidence is there and presented, Xia Huang? I also don"t want more, I want you to hand over the money you have embezzled over the years, a total of 200,000, and I won"t make it difficult for you.” Little-Yizi was the one presiding here, and Gu-Chensha is just watching.
“Nineteenth Lord, don"t get ahead of yourself.” Xia Huang"s eyes sharpened: “I am Prince of Fan"s man, the entire the Department of Internal Services is also managed by Prince of Fan relative, to touch me is to go against Prince of Fan, you better watch your steps lest you fall into dirty waters, Nineteenth Lord, I will continue to manage this residence, how about you do your thing and settling down as the Duke of Chen?”
“Third Brother"s man?”
Prince of Fan is Third Lao Gu-Fansha.
In control of the entire the Department of Internal Services, the old Prince, who stepped into the Dao Realm early, commanded the majors, fought on the borders and against the barbarians, and had a strong hand at the moment, the general the Department of Internal Services, cabinet minister Fan Ruhai is his older male cousin via female line.
Gu-Chensha, though temporarily valued by the emperor, is still shallowly rooted and far from the four princes of the prince, which is why Xia Huang doesn"t care at all.
Gu-Chensha stands up, walks slowly to Xia Huang, and suddenly strikes, slapping like electricity.
Snap!
Xia Huang"s face was slapped raw and his entire body was knocked out of the way, hitting the temple pillar and rolling back down, wailing in pain.
“What are you thinking threatening me with Third Brother name?” Gu-Chensha smirked: “Your martial arts skills are not bad, you actually managed to get slapped by me without fainting, Little-Yizi, tie him up and inform his family that they will hand over all the embezzled money for ransom, if not, I will throw him out after chopping off his hands and feet with the same means I used to dispose of my household slaves.”
“Yes.” Little-Yizi dragged Xia Huang out, depriving him of all his gems in pa.s.sing, and after tying him up, he returned to resume his orders: “Master, did we offend the Third Master by doing this, that"s not nice to mess with.”
“It can"t be helped, if we don"t get rid of this thorn, the family business can"t be rectified, how can we do great things if we can"t even heal the family, leaving this Xia Huang behind is the same as having more family thieves, day and night defense is useless, anything we do will be spread to others on the same day.” Gu-Chensha understood in his heart: “Removing this nail will make things easier, of course there are quite a few nails in this residence, let"s remove them one by one and replace them with trustworthy people, the matter of identifying reliable people will be left to you, these days, I"ll close the door to cultivate, and make a hundred foot pole fly further.”
Anything is false, only strength is true.
If Gu-Chensha gets to the Dao Realm, then anyone should give him three points of respect.