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

"Sir, let's set off. Our colleagues from the Thousand Cavalry Division are already at the Li Mansion."

Master Guo said again.

But Jiang Zuo's mind was not completely on the confiscation of the house at the moment. He turned around and asked, "Where is Liu Sheng? Has he been caught?"

"He's been caught and thrown into prison, and is being guarded by the Thousand Cavalry Division." Master Guo replied.

Jiang Zuo nodded with satisfaction.

After defeating Li Yang, Liu Sheng felt that it was impossible for him to escape.

Liu Sheng’s name was on that list.

As the head of the Liu family in Jiangnan, Liu Sheng bribed an official of the imperial court, which was a serious taboo and an absolute capital crime.

What's more, Yecheng is the base camp of the Liu family. Only after defeating Liu Sheng can the people of Yecheng truly stand up.

"Let's go, raid Li Yang's house first, then raid Liu Sheng's!"

Jiang Zuo suddenly stood up, and felt excited when he thought about having to deal with so much silver.

When they arrived at Li's Mansion, the Thousand Cavalry Guards were busy moving boxes of treasures.

Seeing Jiang Zuo coming, one of the Qianqi officers came to report: "Your Excellency, all the people in the Li Mansion have been arrested and imprisoned, awaiting your decision. The Qianqi officers are currently counting Li Yang's property."

"No need to rush, take your time and make sure you have a clear inventory."

Jiang Zuo ordered.

"Yes, my lord."

Li Yang's wealth was beyond everyone's imagination.

The Qianqi Division had been searching for quite some time before they had finally moved all of the Li Mansion's valuables into the courtyard. Looking around, the courtyard was almost completely filled with people.

"Sir, according to statistics, the following valuables were found in total: silver bills and ingots totaling 2.94 million taels of silver, 290,000 taels of gold, 11 boxes of jewelry, and about 20 boxes of other miscellaneous items."

This number really surprised Jiang Zuo.

"Li Yang, this big profiteer, has squeezed so much of the people's hard-earned money..."

Looking at the boxes of gold, silver and jewelry, Jiang Zuo couldn't help but sigh: "As expected of a Jiangnan family, they are truly rich enough to rival a country!"

You know, the annual fiscal revenue of the Great Yan Kingdom was only more than 6 million taels of silver, while the treasures collected in Li Yang's mansion could support the entire country's finances.

This is just Li Yang's wealth in Yecheng. If his property in Jiangnan is included, it will definitely be a terrifying number.

Over the years, the taxes contributed by the Jiangnan Li family to the imperial court were not even a fraction of their value.

The richest family in the Great Yan State is undoubtedly the most greedy blood-sucking parasites.

Jiang Zuo opened one of the treasure chests, flipped through it, and was soon attracted by a treasure. He picked it up and looked at it carefully.

"Master, this piece of jade seems to be the authentic Tian family jade, of good quality, one in a million. Why don't you take it back to the Anding County government office..."

He whispered, his eyes fixed on Baoyu in front of him.

"Sir, I suggest you don't do this. When the time comes, His Majesty will find something and blame you."

Master Guo is an upright person and doesn't like to engage in these little tricks, but the most important reason is that Master Guo is afraid of death...

"Uh...Master is right."

Jiang Zuo scratched his head, feeling itchy inside.

If all this silver became his personal treasury, he would no longer be the governor of Zhenbei, and would go directly south to Chen State to become a landlord. If possible, he would also go to Guanzhong to propose to Miss Chen Siyue...

But then he thought again, all this money was obtained by Li Yang through exploiting the people, it was the blood and sweat of others. Jiang Zuo felt uneasy about taking this money.

A gentleman loves money but he gets it in a proper way. Jiang Zuo should wait until he returns to Anding County before doing business slowly.

The goods sold in Yecheng City are actually produced in Anding County, which means that some of the income comes from Jiangzuo...

"My lord, these valuables?"

Master Guo asked.

"Of course, all of them will be confiscated. Write down the amount truthfully, without missing a single one. You should know that the current emperor hates evil and has zero tolerance for corrupt officials..."

Jiang Zuo said calmly.

I heard that the emperor had killed quite a few corrupt officials recently, and most of them were even hanged in public on the city walls. Thinking of this, Jiang Zuo suddenly lost his greed for money.

After raiding the Li family's house, Jiang Zuo rushed to Liu Sheng's mansion without stopping.

Liu Sheng's mansion was even more luxurious than Li Yang's, perhaps because Yecheng was Liu Sheng's base camp, and the treasures stored there were even more than Li Yang's.

The Qianqi Division, which was in charge of the confiscation of property, was too busy to handle the task at the moment and could only ask the Longwu and Huwei armies to join in the confiscation of property and count the assets of the Jiangnan families.

Without thousands of soldiers and horses to escort these boxes of valuables, I really don’t know how to escort them back to the capital.

In addition to the property of Li Yang and Liu Sheng's families, the shops and real estate owned by the two families in Yecheng were an even greater asset.

"Master Jiang, there are hundreds of shops in Yecheng. What should we do with these two?"

Master Guo asked.

Jiang Zuo thought for a moment and said, "Merge them into the market run by the government, and confiscate most of them. If the government cannot take them all, they will be resold to other merchants."

After all, these industries are still too large to be controlled by the government alone.

Jiang Zuo wanted to let other businessmen take over the business of these families, but the number would not be too large to prevent the emergence of new oppressors.

After slaughtering these two fat sheep, Jiangzuo provided a large amount of financial revenue to the imperial court.

"Let's go and inspect it." Jiang Zuo left Liu's house and came to the shops. He counted the accounts and found that it was another huge amount of financial revenue.

Because of the monopoly position of the Jiangnan family, they made a lot of money.

The two important supplies, salt and grain, are now in the hands of the government.

The Jiangnan families have oppressed the people for a long time.

And now, these aristocratic families who exploited the people have all been defeated by Jiang Zuo.

When walking on the street, I could hear the people cheering from time to time: "Li Yang and Liu Sheng have both had their homes confiscated by the government! Lord Jiang is so wise!"

"Lord Jiang is a rare and capable minister. Since he came to Yecheng, the lives of our common people have been getting better and better."

These praises all come from the heart.

Jiang Zuo heard it and felt happy in his heart. After all, who doesn’t want to be a good official loved by everyone?

I heard that some people have spontaneously raised funds to build a temple on the mountain outside the city, specifically to thank Lord Jiang.

This scared Jiang Zuo so much that he immediately stopped them.

Two months later, Jiang Zuo successfully completed His Majesty's mission.

By defeating the Li and Liu families in Jiangnan, the power of the Jiangnan aristocratic families can be declared to retreat from Jiangbei to Jiangnan.

Even though they remain wealthy, their influence is waning.

At least in the eyes of the people of Yecheng, the Jiangnan families are no longer the high and mighty masters.

Jiang Zuo doesn't care about the final fate of the Li and Liu families in Jiangnan.

Jiang Zuo was quite curious about how the emperor would react after the secret letter was sent back to the capital...