Chapter 1180 Rushing to Jinling to Rectify the Jia Mansion

When Lin Ruhai heard that Master Wang of Nanjing was coming to visit, he immediately sent someone to invite him.

Master Prince of Jinling is one of the most powerful men in the army after Duke Rong.

Not long after, a hunchbacked old man with gray hair and beard and wearing a clerk's hat followed the housekeeper into the backyard and ran into Lin Ruhai, who had hurriedly changed into formal clothes.

As soon as Lin Ruhai saw the old man, he recognized his identity as the King of Jinling. He immediately bowed and said:
"Ru Hai greets the old general. I didn't know the old general was coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming him. I hope you can forgive me!"

"It is my fault for coming to visit you unexpectedly. I would like to ask for your forgiveness, Brother Ru Hai!"

The Grand Commandant Wang smiled and stepped forward to help Lin Ruhai up, then said with a smile:
"Also, brother Ru Hai, please don't call me 'General'. I am now a criminal at home. If you don't mind and call me elder brother, I will be very happy!"

"You are too modest, old lieutenant."

Lin Ruhai did not dare to be arrogant in front of the old man, and respectfully invited him to the inner hall for tea.

This General Wang was born into the Wang family of Jinling and was the leading figure of the third generation of the Jinling Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue clans.

The reason why the four major families of Jinling, Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue, have been able to stand till this day is that there is a leading figure in each generation.

Among them, the first generation produced many talents, with the two Lords Rong and Ning as the main ones.

By the second generation, although the talent was slightly declining, it was still able to maintain its dignity, and the leading figure was the second generation Rongguo Duke Jia Daishan.

By the third generation, talented people were scarce, and only General Wang could carry the banner. He was eventually appointed Minister of War. Unfortunately, he stood on the wrong side, and was dismissed and returned home ten years ago.

Wang Ziteng, the current leader of the four major families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue, is the brother of General Wang.

Although Lin Ruhai was highly regarded by the emperor, he did not dare to neglect a court giant like Wang Taiwei.

Fortunately, Commandant Wang was smiling all the time and did not hide his thoughts. He said frankly that he came here at the request of the old lady of the Jia family to act as a matchmaker for the new number one scholar, Su Mingzhe.

Lin Ruhai had already agreed to this marriage, and now seeing that General Wang was personally acting as the matchmaker, he immediately nodded in agreement, and then sent someone to call Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu back.

Su Mingzhe, who was playing, couldn't help but shudder when he heard the servant say that General Wang was here to propose marriage to him. His face suddenly turned embarrassed.

Sister Lin looked at it curiously and immediately said jokingly:
"Second brother, who is this Wang Taiwei? How could he scare you like this?"

"How could I be scared?"

Su Mingzhe cursed his original body for being cowardly before answering:

"Sister Lin, you don't know that this Wang Taiwei is none other than Sister Feng's father, and also my great uncle. He used to be the Minister of War, and after my grandfather passed away, he took over the command of the three armies and guarded the nine borders."

"If he hadn't supported Prince Yi Zhong eight or nine years ago, angering the emperor, and was dismissed from office and ordered to return to his hometown to reflect on his actions, he would definitely be able to join the cabinet and become a cabinet elder now!"

Upon learning that it was his uncle who came, Su Mingzhe felt uneasy but had no choice but to return quickly.

As soon as he entered the mansion, Su Mingzhe tidied himself up a little and went to meet his uncle.

General Wang had already discussed the marriage with Lin Ruhai, and when he saw his nephew, he was also very friendly. He asked about the health of his family and then chatted about some family matters.

Seeing his uncle's friendly attitude, Su Mingzhe guessed that he didn't know about him and Sister Feng, so he felt relieved.

The uncle and nephew chatted for a while.

Wang Taiwei looked kind, and suddenly smiled and said:

"Do you know that your aunt once wrote to you, hoping to match you with her daughter Baochai? I have met your cousin, she is not only beautiful, but also very smart, and she is capable of managing a household."

Su Mingzhe was silent for a moment before replying:

"Uncle, Sister Bao is naturally smart and clever, talented and ambitious, like a god, but I am just an ordinary person, I am not worthy of her at all!"

Wang Taiwei heard the tone and realized that this nephew was interested in that niece, so he laughed and said:

"You guys are just too concerned about worldly rules! However, I won't care about your young people's affairs! Baoyu, I will go back to Jinling tomorrow. You should have a drink with me tonight and let me see how much you can drink!"

"My uncle wants to drink, so I, the nephew, should accompany him!"

Su Mingzhe called the Lin residence's steward and asked him to arrange a banquet.

By the time Lin Ruhai got the news and rushed over, Su Mingzhe and Wang Taiwei were already drunk.

On the second day, Wang Taiwei left on horseback, and Su Mingzhe accompanied him.

This was because during the banquet last night, Su Mingzhe promised General Wang to go back to Nanjing with him as a guest, and he had to go with him today.

It is not far from Yangzhou to Jinling. You can set out in the morning, cross the ferry, pass Zhenjiang, and arrive the next day.

At the request of General Wang, Su Mingzhe first lived in the Wang family.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe then sent business cards to the Zhen family, the Shi family, the Xue family, and the Jinling government, preparing to visit them one by one.

Among them, Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling, has a more casual relationship.

That night, Su Mingzhe went to the government office and "unified" his thoughts with Jia Yucun.

One day passed.

Su Mingzhe went to visit the Zhen family again.

People all say that the four major families in Jinling are the local "guardians of officials".

In fact, the largest family in Jinling is not the Jia family, nor the Wang family, but the Zhen family, the president of Jinling Provincial Tiren Academy.

The official title of the head of the Zhen family is "President of the Jinling Provincial Tiren Academy", and there is also a bureau commonly known as the "Jiangning Weaving Bureau".

In name, the Jiangning Weaving Bureau was an institution sent by the Imperial Household Department to Jiangnan to manage imperial merchants.

In fact, the Zhen family was responsible for all of the emperor’s secret intelligence departments in the Jiangnan area.

In addition, the Jiangning Weaving Bureau, which was in charge of the Zhen family, had an annual revenue of more than 10 million taels, which belonged to the purse of the retired emperor.

It can be said that when compared with the Zhen family, the Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue families are far inferior.

Fortunately, the Zhen family has a good relationship with the four families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue.

When Su Mingzhe came to visit the Zhen family, the old lady of the Zhen family, also known as the "Mrs. Cisheng", insisted on betrothing her third daughter to Su Mingzhe as his wife.

The Zhen family now also has three girls.

The eldest girl married Prince Beijing Shui Rong some years ago and is now the Princess of Beijing.

The second girl took part in the beauty pageant this year and became the concubine of the eldest prince, Prince Cheng.

Now there is still a third girl who is waiting to be married.

When Su Mingzhe heard that the old lady wanted to introduce him to a man, he quickly explained that he was already engaged to the Lin family. Only then did the old lady give up.

After finally saying goodbye to the hospitable Zhen family, Su Mingzhe returned to the old house of the Jia family.

On the first day in Jinling, Su Mingzhe had already summoned the Jia family members through General Wang.

As the direct descendant of Duke Rong and the number one scholar, the old people in the Jia family did not dare to neglect him.

When Su Mingzhe rushed to the mansion, all the twelve relatives of the Jia family who stayed in Jinling had arrived.

Su Mingzhe had no feelings for these tribesmen, so he didn't need to be polite and directly used the "Soul-stealing Technique" to find some troublemakers and identify some talents, and temporarily put them all aside.

Su Mingzhe first rewarded the mediocre members of the tribe with land and silver for each household, used the "soul-stealing technique" to persuade them to learn, and told them not to cause trouble.

After the mediocre people left, Su Mingzhe made some plans for those talents.

As a person who is determined to rebel, he cannot be without talented people under his command.

Su Mingzhe won over these talents and assigned them tasks one by one.

Finally, Su Mingzhe cast a spell on those troublemakers and let them go to the Jia family mine to fend for themselves.

After sorting out the Jia family and returning to the Wang family, Su Mingzhe received news from Baoling Hou, saying that Baoling Hou himself had gone on an inspection trip out of town and would not be back for the time being. Su Mingzhe would visit the Shi family and would be received by Baoling Hou's wife.

(End of this chapter)