I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Sir, the price increase of... 10,000 taels is too high. How about 9,500 taels?" Zhao Li said, bending over.

"You bastard, you dare to bargain with the government. If you don't buy, there are plenty of people who will."

The person who spoke was Master Guo next to him.

"Master, please pay attention to your manners. We are all civilized people."

Jiang Zuo stopped talking immediately.

After all, Chen Qingyun and Qiuyue are next to him, so he must pay attention to his image.

Little did he know that in Chen Qingyun's heart, Jiang Zuo no longer had any image to speak of, but was just a talking mummy...

Master Guo said quickly, "Yes, sir, I made a mistake."

Zhao Li's face was grim, and he gritted his teeth: "Then let's set a price, ten thousand taels!"

"Okay, then it's a deal. Go sign the contract with Master Guo."

Jiang Zuo ordered.

Chen Qingyun saw it and was furious.

When other corrupt officials accept stolen money, at least they know to do it in secret.

You, Jiang Zuo, are so blatant!

Chen Qingyun was furious, but he couldn't get angry in front of him, so as not to alert the enemy and lose more evidence and clues from Jiang Zuo. After thinking for a while, he just said, "I heard that the current emperor hates collusion between officials and businessmen and corruption the most. Aren't you afraid of committing a capital crime, Lord Jiang?"

Jiang Zuo smiled slightly: "What are you afraid of? This place is far away from the emperor. I don't believe that mother... the emperor will find out about this place."

A hint of murderous intent appeared in Chen Qingyun's eyes.

"Lord Jiang, please be careful with your words and actions." The head palace maid Qiuyue hurriedly spoke out to advise.

After all, Qiuyue had seen how cruel the empress was.

This lowly county magistrate in front of me really thinks his life is too long.

Fortunately, the emperor did not get angry on the spot...

"Don't get me wrong, this is not corruption, this is normal business." Jiang Zuo explained.

You call this normal business?

"A house worth ten thousand taels and a piece of cloth worth ten taels, that's not reasonable, is it?" Chen Qingyun questioned.

"It's okay. I only cheat rich people."

Haha, you are quite principled.

Chen Qingyun sneered in his heart: "Then I will send you to the execution ground and allow you to choose a way of death you like."

"Besides, this money is not going into my pocket. It is used to fill the public treasury. Miss Chen, please don't misunderstand." Jiang Zuo said.

Chen Qingyun naturally didn't believe it. She was already tired of these high-sounding words.

Jiang Zuo added, "And these are high-end properties, sold exclusively to the gentry. They have plenty of money, so it would be a waste not to make some money."

High-end real estate?

What is this stuff?

Chen Qingyun was completely confused and said, "These noble families are quite powerful. Aren't you afraid of offending them, Lord Jiang?"

"I have someone to look after me at the imperial court, so I don't need to worry about these nobles and gentry."

as predicted!

For a county magistrate to dare to embezzle money so blatantly, there must be someone backing him up.

Maybe this person is in the court, holding a high position of power!

Chen Qingyun's purpose of this trip is to catch them all.

When one Zhang Zhi falls, there will be thousands and thousands more...

"After all, there are more poor people in this world. How can there be so much money from the rich for Lord Jiang to earn?"

Chen Qingyun said.

Chen Qingyun didn't believe a single word of the nonsense about only making money from the rich.

On weekdays, Chen Qingyun knew best how these corrupt officials exploited the people.

"Do you know who is the biggest customer in this county?"

Jiang Zuo deliberately kept the secret.

"I'd like to hear the details." Chen Qingyun said.

Jiang Zuo said slowly: "The Jiangnan family, they are the richest people in the Great Yan Kingdom."

"Jiangnan family!"

Qiuyue said in surprise, then covered her mouth, knowing that she had lost her composure.

Not to mention Qiuyue, even Chen Qingyun was deeply shocked.

The power of the Jiangnan family is so great that even the empress cannot shake it.

The imperial court used every possible means to collect taxes, but only received a small amount of tax silver from the Jiangnan families.

The Jiangnan forces have long been deeply rooted, and their involvement in a wide range of areas has not yet been fully investigated by the empress. Unless they are all eliminated, it will be a stubborn disease that is difficult to eradicate.

If it was like the "Empty Seal Case", the death toll would not be just a thousand, but millions.

"I have also heard of the Jiangnan family. I wonder how Lord Jiang was able to make money from them."

The Jiangnan family is a well-known business clan with businesses spread all over Dayan. It is extremely difficult to make a penny from them.

The commercial tax in Dayan is extremely low precisely because of the interference of the Jiangnan families.

In order to protect their interests, court officials have intricate ties with the Jiangnan families.

"The Jiangnan family is the biggest customer of Anding County's silk. Whether it's Guanzhong or the states in Jiangnan, we have customers." Jiang Zuo talked freely. "For a person of such noble status as Miss Chen, it's natural that she will use the top-quality silk from Anding County."

The implication is that you nobles are all using these fine fabrics, so why don't you buy more?

That’s strange, aren’t they here to buy fabric?

How come the conversation suddenly turned to national affairs...

Yes, why?

Who cares? As long as he can make money, Jiang Zuo doesn’t mind talking a little more.

"There are so many good fabrics in the world, why do we have to go to Anding County to buy them?"

Chen Qingyun didn't understand this.

"Because our Anding County has things that are not available anywhere else." Jiang Zuo was quite confident.

Chen Qingyun thought about it carefully and recalled the scenes he saw when he first entered Anding County. There were indeed things that were not found anywhere else.

For example, the smooth roads, solid cities, and bustling street scenes can indeed prove that Jiang Zuo is a capable person.

"It's not that we don't believe it. Lord Jiang, could it be that you made up this story just to get me to buy the fabric?"

Chen Qingyun remained unmoved by Jiang Zuo's smooth talk.

After all, everyone can talk nonsense, so Chen Qingyun didn't believe it easily.

Seeing that Chen Qingyun didn't believe him, Jiang Zuo shouted loudly: "Master, bring the contract with the Jiangnan family."

In order to get some money from Chen Qingyun, Jiang Zuo tried every possible means.

In less than a moment, Master Guo took out a stack of papers and asked in confusion, "Sir, what do you want these contracts for?"

"Bring it to this lady to have a look." Jiang Zuo said.

Chen Qingyun took it and read it carefully.

Chen Qingyun did not understand the specific contents of these contracts, but it was obvious that in the customer column, almost all of them were children of Jiangnan families.

Adding up all these contracts, Jiang Zuo earned at least hundreds of thousands of taels from the Jiangnan families, and this is most likely not all!

Even if Jiang Zuo was a corrupt official, the fact that he could earn so much money from the Jiangnan families was enough to prove his ability.

"This person must either die or be used by me!"

Chen Qingyun said in his heart.

If the imperial court could obtain more taxes from the Jiangnan families, what a huge income it would be...