Chapter 22: Wealth Attracts Envy

  Dongcheng District Taizi Chang Liangbi Fu.

  Lao Jiu's face turned green with rage, "Eighth brother, what do you think Lao Shi is thinking in his heart? He gave away 2 million taels to the Crown Prince for nothing! 2 million! We've worked so hard for so many years and only earned a little over 100 million. He's good at giving away money, isn't he? This is aiding the enemy!"

  Lao Ba hadn't even opened his mouth, when Lao Shi said indignantly: "Exactly! His own brother, and he only gave one share. I really can't understand him."

  "Stop being so anxious, calm down." Yan Qi's face was stern, his tone unusually severe. "Although I don't know what the Old Fourteenth is thinking, one thing is clear: the current Fourteenth won't do anything foolish."

  "Eight Brother, at this time, you're still protecting him. He's so reckless because of your indulgence. Look at him now, he doesn't even consult with us when doing things. I think he doesn't take us seriously at all."

  "Ah!" Yun Tian suddenly stood up, "Next time I hear such nonsense, don't call me Eighth Brother again."

  "Eight Ge, I'm doing this for your own good." Yun Chen said with a hint of grievance.

  Lao Shi hurriedly helped Lao Jiu to speak well, "Eighth brother, calm down, Ninth brother was also angry and spoke thoughtlessly, just forgive him this time."

  "Hey, don't say I didn't warn you." Yi Xun sighed lightly. "Fourteen has been with us for many years, and we still don't know if this matter is right or wrong. Even if it's wrong, we have to tolerate it. If we can't even tolerate this little bit, how can we achieve great things?" He paused for a moment before continuing: "But let's put that aside. You only see that he gave the opponent 2 million, but he also gave us 1.5 million, and he still has over 10 million in his hands. How come you can't see that? Are you excluding Fourteen?"

  Looking at the unnatural faces of Old Nine and Old Eleven, Yin continued: "Ninth brother, it's not me saying this to you, but you should reflect on yourself well. Old Ten is the same, don't blindly cause trouble for no reason, think more when things happen. I'll say it again today, there are no brothers closer than us four. The more capable Fourteen becomes, the more you should be proud of him, not jealous. If we can't even tolerate our own brothers, then I, Yin, don't need such brothers."

  Yinxiang's words were extremely severe, and Lao Jiu and Lao Shi saw that Ba Ge had truly become angry. They hastily stood up to apologize, "I don't want your verbal apologies, but I want you to remember it in your hearts." Yinxiang slowed down his tone and said: "Everyone has calmed down, let's analyze this together. If the Fourteenth doesn't give each of the brothers a share without any conditions, what kind of situation would that be?"

  Lao Jiu hesitated and said: "Eighth brother, you mean that Shi Qi is avoiding suspicion?"

  "Let's get to the point." Yinxiang smiled and said, "The 14th shared eleven parts with his brothers and left four parts for himself. He still has a total of 12 million taels in his hands. What concept is this? The national treasury doesn't even have as much silver as he does now. How will the Emperor think?"

  Lao Shixiong said with a smile: "What can Emperor Ama think of? He took more, 250 million!"

  He gently patted his forehead and patiently explained, "Tenth brother, even if the Emperor's wealth is vast, it doesn't matter. He is the Emperor after all. But when a minister's wealth rivals that of the national treasury, what will the Emperor think? What's even more frightening is that this minister also has ambitions to seize the throne. Tell me, what will the Emperor think?"

  Not just Lao Jiu and Lao Shi, but even Yong himself, when it comes to this, not only is he stunned, if it were him, what would he do? What should he do?

  Xi Chun Garden

  Xi Chun Garden was bestowed upon Xin Xiang Wang Yunqi by Kangxi two years ago. The scenery here is beautiful, the landscape is pleasant to people, and what's more rare is that it's very quiet. However, the arrival of Crown Prince Yinzhen and Fourth Brother Yin Zhen, Thirteenth Brother Yinxiang broke this tranquility.

  Yongji led the three into the Qingxin Studio, and before they could sit down, Yongzheng said: "You've all heard, right? The old fourteenth has sold his shares for 12.5 million taels."

  Although he didn't say much on ordinary days, he took over the conversation with a worried look, "This is a huge sum of money that is 30 million more than the national treasury's silver reserve. With Old Eight's way of buying people's hearts, I don't know how many more people will turn to them now."

  Although it's already autumn, Lao San is still fiddling with the folding fan in his hand. He was born handsome and the thick literary air around him makes him even more elegant. All he said was: "I don't think so. What can be bought, what should be bought, Lao Ba has already bought it long ago. What's left is either worthless or cannot be bought. Instead, we need to guard against them using this silver for other things."

  "That's not necessarily true." Xiangxiang had been close to the fourth elder since childhood, and now seeing the third brother subtly mocking the fourth brother, he immediately stood up, "The eighth brother may not be able to buy off civil officials and ministers, but with so much money, he can completely go and buy off troops, or even build a troop, which is more than enough."

  Several people had a hint of rivalry, Yin Reng was quite annoyed. After experiencing the restoration after being abolished, he had learned to restrain himself. However, the words of Old Thirteen were piercing his heart, and he was now busy buying the hearts of the troops. Those rascals only recognized silver in their eyes, and the title of Crown Prince was of little use to them.

  Yin Zhen after all has been in the position of Crown Prince for a long time, looking at problems and thinking about them from an angle that is different from his younger brothers. He pondered for a moment before speaking: "You can rest assured, this huge sum of money will not be ignored by the Emperor, nor will he turn a deaf ear to it. The most pressing matter is to think of a way to get some of this silver into our hands before the Emperor speaks up."

  As soon as this sentence came out, the other three people fell silent. This is a clear fact: Old Fourteen is not only not one of us, but also our opponent. How can we get the silver from his hands? Borrowing is out of the question, and there's no way to do it. Cheating or deceiving him won't work either - he's more cunning than a monkey, and no one has seen him make a move without gaining millions. Stealing or robbing him also won't work: all he needs to do is give a shout to the 'Four Great Heng' bank, and those silver notes will be worthless. The 'Four Great Heng' bank does have a lot of silver, but even if you were allowed to rob it, with too few people, you wouldn't be able to move much in one night; and with too many people, do you think the soldiers from the Five Cities Military Command are just for show?

  After a long wait, seeing that no one could come up with a good solution, Yongzheng became even more depressed. If he had such a financial expert, it would be so reassuring. After some thought, Yongzheng said: "Let's do this, everyone lend me the shares in your hands, just to cope with the emergency for now, and I'll compensate you double later."

  Lao San and Lao Si nodded silently, while Lao Thirteen smiled and said, "Second Brother, I'm really sorry. You know that Thirteen doesn't have a title, and we've always been in the habit of eating from the next year's harvest. But as soon as those creditors heard that my shares were worth silver, they came knocking on my door one after another. In the end, I had to sell them at 400,000 taels to pay off debts. Now I still have 60,000 left, you can take it all."

  Yin Ruo's heart was burning with anger, but thinking of what Lao Shisan said was also true. Among the brothers in the branch house, his days were indeed the most difficult. Not only did he not have much income, but he was also generous and righteous, spending lavishly without owing anyone money. Thinking of this, Yin Ruo waved his hand and said: "Since your income is small, just keep it on hand to meet unexpected needs. Second brother will think of another way."

  Xiangxiang bowed his hands and said, "Thank you, Second Brother, for your understanding."