When the Sinus Bureau sent people to the palace, Jiang Changning was reading a storybook and eating the cakes made for her by Madam Cui.
"Princess, the Slave House has sent over twenty slaves." Shu Fei came in to report.
Jiang Changning frowned, "I didn't ask Chunlai to ask for another servant, did I?"
There are too many slaves in the palace, with more than a thousand on the list, not counting the prince's personal soldiers, the concubine dowager, her, and Princess Kangren's guards of honor.
But how many masters are there in the palace
This is no longer just one step making eight steps, but one step making almost eighty steps.
Jiang Changning intended to streamline the staff in the palace, so after sending the people back to the Slave House, he did not ask for any more slaves.
The people from the Slave House took the initiative to send slaves over, probably to please King Jin, so Jiang Changning didn't think much about it.
"Give each eunuch who sent the messenger a red envelope, thank them politely, and tell them that they have made the journey and that I will not keep them. Let them take the money back."
Shu Fei went out and did what Jiang Changning told her to do.
The Prince of Jin's mansion would not keep anyone there, and the chief eunuch did not instruct them to find a way to keep the people. So the eunuchs took the red envelopes and took the twenty or so slaves back to the Slave House.
The chief eunuch knew that the servant was not sent to Prince Jin's mansion, and wanted to conceal it. However, he was afraid that the emperor would ask about the situation of Prince Jin's wife in the future, and he would not be able to answer, so he had to tell the emperor the matter.
After hearing this, the emperor was so angry that he threw the jade ruyi he was playing with away, "Is she so unwilling to accept my kindness?"
The jade ruyi fell on the gold brick and broke into two pieces.
Looking at the furious emperor, the chief eunuch hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Princess Chun'an didn't know that there were people here that the emperor had arranged to protect her. It's not that she doesn't accept your majesty's kindness."
The emperor thought this was a good idea and sat back on the throne. "How can I meet the Princess of Chun'an?"
Jiang Changning's resistance made the emperor more interested in her.
"Your Majesty, with Concubine Dao's passing, Princess Chun'an will be closed to visitors for three months according to etiquette. After three months, Your Majesty can ask the Empress Dowager to summon the Princess to the palace. Then, Your Majesty will be able to have sex with her."
The emperor smiled and leaned back on the throne. "I will wait another three months."
He has no lack of patience for people and things that he is determined to obtain.
Jiang Changning, who was being remembered by the Emperor, looked at the account books sorted out by Fang Ju, and his expression became uglier and uglier the more he looked.
Mrs. Qiao really enriched herself. After managing the palace for so many years, she had accumulated a lot of private property for herself.
There is a farm outside the city with three hundred acres of fertile land.
In a county town not far from the capital, he bought two farms, each with 500 acres of fertile land.
There are shops on many streets in Beijing, and not just one.
Qiao also opened two restaurants and made a lot of profit.
The Qiao family had deposited silver in the three silver shops in the city. Fangju asked Shufei to check the specific amount.
"What a big rat!" Jiang Changning sneered.
"Princess, this is the dowry list for Concubine Dao when she marries into the palace." Fang Ju paused, "It's less than 30,000 taels of silver."
"The Qiao family isn't well-off, and they can only prepare a dowry of more than 20,000 yuan for her, which is already the limit." Jiang Changning took the list and looked at it casually. There really weren't many good things.
"Take your men to count the things, open a small yard, seal up the things, and give the list to Kang Ren." Jiang Changning would not be greedy for Qiao's things.
But after Qiao married into the palace, Jiang Changning had to ask the Queen of Jin about the private property she acquired and give some to Princess Kangren out of consideration. It was impossible to give all of it to her.
One family had 120,000 taels, one family had 70,000 taels, and another family had 60,000 taels, totaling 250,000 taels.
Jiang Changning played with the seal for withdrawing silver, "Qiao is really an expert at amassing wealth."
If Qiao hadn't died suddenly, if she had sorted out these account books before handing them over, it would have been quite a bit of work for Jiang Changning to check the accounts.
"Fangju, sort out the bank's accounts. I want to send them to the Dowager Concubine for review." Jiang Changning had to make the Dowager Concubine completely fed up with the Qiao family.
Twenty-five thousand silver coins would hurt even the wealthy Prince Jin's Mansion. The Qiao family was really too greedy.
Jiang Changning took the account book and seal and went to Liuxuan Courtyard, dismissed the maid, and said, "Mother, please take a look at this."
"What is that?" The concubine took it and looked at it. Her face suddenly turned pale. "Damn it, this damn thing. She betrayed my trust in her."
Although the concubine was a bit snobbish, she had the pride of a girl from an aristocratic family. She delegated power as she said, and gave Qiao her full trust in the matter of housekeeper.
"Mother, this is normal. She was born in a low family and her dowry is not much. If she does not occupy the things in the palace, how can she buy a generous dowry for Kang Ren in the future? How can she support herself in her old age? After all, this palace is not hers. My son, your grandson, will be the head of the family in the future."
Jiang Changning didn't want the concubine to interfere in the housekeeper's affairs because she no longer trusted her because of Qiao.
"You're right, her position as housekeeper is not legitimate to begin with." The concubine sighed, "I felt sorry for her as a widow and unemployed, so I let her be the housekeeper, and you suffered."
"I'm not wronged. Not taking care of the family has its advantages. I'm not a hard-working person, so I'd love to be lazy."
"The mansion needs to be rectified, and you are not allowed to be lazy anymore." The concubine said seriously.
"Then mother has to motivate me." Jiang Changning said.
The concubine was stunned. "You girl, you are the Princess of Jin. The affairs of this mansion are originally under your jurisdiction. You still want me to motivate you. Oh my, that's not right."
"From now on, I have been doing this. In the future, when it is my daughter-in-law's turn to manage the household, I will also encourage her. If I don't do it, my mother can help her scold me."
Jiang Changning's words imply a wish for the Concubine Dowager to live a long life. Who wouldn't like having four generations living under one roof
The concubine laughed loudly, "Okay, okay, I'll encourage you. You've always liked jade, so I'll give you the daffodil ornaments carved from green and white jade, okay?"
"Thank you, mother." Jiang Changning smiled sweetly.
Carrying the narcissus ornament given by the concubine, Jiang Changning returned to Rujingyuan.
Jiang Changning did not make any major changes to the people in the mansion. He thought it was better to use familiar people than new ones. As long as these people were obedient and did their job honestly, it would be fine.
Now that the second butler was gone, Jiang Changning promoted the third butler to the second butler, and the fourth butler to the third butler. After asking Chunlai's opinion, he let Dongzang be the fourth butler.
The accounting office has two cashiers, two accountants and one supervisor.
One group is responsible for internal accounts, and the other group is responsible for external accounts, and the supervisor is responsible for the review.
The things in the warehouse should be re-registered, and valuable items should be looked after by a dedicated person. If they are lost, only this person will be held responsible.
Some adjustments were made to the big kitchen and the small kitchen so that they could each perform their respective duties and management was no longer chaotic, especially for purchasing.
The five purchasing agents supervised each other and conducted secret inspections at any time to prevent them from colluding to report false accounts.
Jiang Changning treated the Prince Jin's Mansion as a company and arranged the palace's personnel according to the company's structure.
(End of this chapter)