Daiyu's wife in the Red Chamber

Chapter 118

After so many years, Chen Qi is still in charge of the household department. Of course, he is not only the minister of the household department, but also the first-rank cabinet scholar. The following six ministers have to come to him for advice on many things. He is very busy every day. Today is the national funeral , who is sitting in the household department, directing the subordinates to take care of the expenses needed to send the spirit, but never thought that officials and eunuchs would come to pay off the owed money.

Those who can borrow money and food from the treasury are mostly honorable families. Leaving aside the few families that have already paid back, the remaining families clearly have money to squander. More and more unscrupulously not mentioning a word.

In addition, the families who have not repaid up to now owe too much silver and cannot afford it, and have been pretending to be deaf and dumb all the time.

It has been 51 days since the promulgation of the decree, and the silver taels paid by the household department due to the national funeral have flowed out like running water, but no family has come to pay the debt. Suddenly hearing that Jia She and his son came to pay the deficit and silver owed by the ancestors, Chen Qi couldn't help but stay for a while.

The last time when Jia Amnesty repaid the properties copied by the Lai family, Chen Qi sent people to check and rewrite the accounts. The national government's internal funds were exhausted early, and it was all relying on the housekeeper's grandma to pawn things secretly to support the shelf. Just when they thought that the Rongguo Mansion might not be able to pay it back, they brought a large group of people to carry the money.

Chen Qi hurriedly welcomed Jia She in. As soon as they met, Jia She cupped his hands and said straight to the point: "Grand scholar, ever since I got the sage's decree to urge money and food, I think of the bad debt left by my ancestors, my heart is broken." I was up and down, uneasy, and worked hard for forty or fifty days, selling things and people, shops and houses, and two aunts who left the court each sent 1 taels of silver back, so I pieced together I managed to gather more than 70 taels of silver, please check it with the Grand Scholar."

Not only Chen Qi, but also the servants and other officials who were working in the household department were shocked. They secretly thought that the emaciated camels were bigger than horses. How can I not know what is going on inside the Rongguo Mansion, how can I not know the amount of the two ledgers.

Chen Qixi smiled, ordered someone to open and count, and at the same time invited Jia She to take a seat, saying: "General Jia is so loyal, he shames many people. When I report back to the saint, the saint will definitely reward him."

Jia Amnesty waved his hand and said, "The debts have been accumulated for many years, and they are only paid off today. It is a reward for a saint not to blame."

His first-class general is actually first rank, but it is not comparable to Chen Qi's real power. Besides, his niece Daiyu is married to Chen Qi's nephew Wei Ruolan. The two families can barely be regarded as relatives, and they are not alienated .

Chen Qi watched everyone counting the gold and silver, and used all the large scales and scales in the household department, and wrote down each stroke after weighing, so as not to miss anything. Hearing Jia She's words, he smiled and said: "The sage So far, no family has come to pay back the decree, General Jia is the first one, and it is a one-time payment, the saint should be happy, how can he blame the general?"

Jia She sighed: "Whether it is a deficit or a debt, after decades, I don't know how much it will be if the interest is counted. We only paid back the principal but not the interest. I am really sorry. But the family has gone bankrupt. It is really a pity that we still have to pay back the money." Great."

When Jia Lian was gathering things together, he happened to think of the interest, and spent half a day with the abacus. The interest was so frightening that Jia Amnesty didn't eat that day.

Chen Qi smiled when he heard the words, and said: "General, don't think so. The general thinks of interest when paying back the money. Others don't even come to pay back the principal. Compared with them, the general's loyalty can be seen in the sun and the moon."

Jia She smiled shyly, thinking that he was waiting for this sentence, but no matter how good Chen Qi's words were, it would be useless, it had to be said by Emperor Changtai, and it would be reassuring to get back the financial difficulties of the ancestors and write off the deficits of the ancestors, otherwise he would be relieved. The money has been paid back, but the account has not been cleared, and the money and food will be called for in the future. Wouldn't my family be wronged?

The place is busy counting the gold and silver. Emperor Tai, the head of the Daming Palace, has seen Jia She's papers. After reading it, he smiled at Dai Quan and said, "Rongguo Mansion is indeed very rich. It took only forty or fifty days to collect so much money." For silver, other people’s families might not have the power to do so.”

Dai Quan hurriedly replied: "The members of the Jia family have always been generous, and it has not been a day."

Emperor Changtai approved the paper, put it on the case, and said: "You will send it over in person in a while, and after Jia She comes home, you will order the Ministry of Rites to reward Jia She with gold, jade, and emerald Ruyi according to my will. handles, four gold cups, and four makeup pythons."

Dai Quan bowed in response, knowing that it was Emperor Changtai's reward to Jia Amnesty, and suddenly heard Emperor Changtai say: "I remember that when Concubine Xiande was visiting relatives, when the Dragon Boat Festival was rewarded, there will be no Jia Amnesty couple in every festival from now on." And his son? It was the first Dragon Boat Festival that others got Xiangruyi and agate pillows. Unfortunately, the others were not in season, and even if they were old, he would give him two Xiangruyi pillows and a pair of agate pillows. "

Dai Quan followed Emperor Changtai for a long time, and he had no taboos in speaking at ordinary times. He said with a smile: "Since your majesty is wronged by General Jia, why don't you give him some other kindness? Or give him a job vacancy."

Emperor Changtai shook his head and said: "Both of them father and son are not good at being officials, and now they have false titles enough."

Dai Quan understood and went down to cook according to the order.

Jia Amnesty received the papers that had already been approved by Lan, and listened respectfully to Dai Quan's whispered laugh: "So that my lord understands, His Majesty is very pleased with his appearance, and ordered me to deliver the decree to the Ministry of Rites. It is for the benefit of my lord."

Jia She knew that the so-called benefits were some silk things, which were not worth much, but they were rare decency, especially since his family was going from bad to worse, and now that he had grown up with Taidi Long En, it was not good for himself, but also good for his children and grandchildren. Therefore, After listening, he hurriedly thanked Dai Quan, and quietly stuffed a light purse into his sleeve when holding hands.

Dai Quan squinted his eyes and smiled, thinking that Jia Amnesty was really sensible, and said a few more words to Chen Qi, Fang supported the little eunuch's hand and walked to the Ministry of Rites, telling Emperor Changtai's previous will.

But he said that the officials of the household department had already found out the amount of all the gold and silver, and converted it into silver, a total of 73 seven taels, which was 560 seven taels more than the amount owed by Rongguo Mansion. The owed silver together with the shortfall is not less than 320 million taels. The last time it was repaid was 100 taels.

Chen Qi wanted to return the excess to Jia She, but unexpectedly he heard Jia She say: "The returned gold and silver vessels must be melted and cast into official silver. There must be some wear and tear. The extra few liang of silver is this amount of silver. There is no need to return it. Moreover, I offended a lot of people when I pooled the money, so it would be hard to divide it back.” The 70 taels of silver were returned, and the lost money was given together, showing even more loyalty.

Chen Qi glanced at him quietly, then smiled suddenly, and said: "Since Enhou said so, then I will accept all of it, and I will report all of it to the sage, and remember Enhou's merits." Qi then called him by the dialect.

This remark is exactly what Jia Amnesty meant, and Fang left with his son as a pretense of refusal.

Not long after arriving home, they received something from the Ministry of Rites by order. The whole family was grateful and overjoyed beyond words.

Although the families in the capital joked that the Rongguo Mansion went bankrupt and sold things in order to pay off the debts, paying off the debts was a good thing, not for squandering, and many people praised it very much, but those who laughed were those who refused to pay back the money.

Jia Lian and Sister Feng didn't take it seriously at all. They just felt that the big stone in their hearts had been removed, and they were refreshed. Owing to money, the little things left will not affect anything. Lack of strict family management and overreach are trivial things. After all, Jia She lives in the East Courtyard and opened another door.

Feeling happy, Sister Feng couldn't help having a few glasses of wine with Jia Lian, and said drunkenly: "Don't say anything else, our sons and daughters will be fine. I think of the fourth sister, why don't you come to our house, and Ningguo Mansion Get rid of it."

Jia Lian was surprised: "How did you think of this?"

Sister Feng blushed and leaned on the pillow and said: "Since the master planned to pay back the money, I have been thinking about it in my heart. The four girls have tried their best but failed to convince Big Brother Zhen and Sister-in-law Zhen to pay back the money together. There are so many, there is no room for manoeuvre, just like the second master has one room, why bother to let a clean girl of the fourth girl be implicated by them? Anyway, the fourth girl was brought to our house after birth, just like the girls in our family , on the contrary, it looks like an outsider there."

Jia Lian lowered his head and thought about it, and he felt that it was reasonable. Xichun adopted her own house, even if she didn't leave the pavilion or leave the house, she would be fine.After getting along with each other for so many days, he also thinks that Xichun is very good, smarter than Yingchun.However, since Xichun is Jia Zhen's younger sister, Jia Zhen may not be willing to agree to adopt Xichun, and Jia Amnesty must agree to the adoption.

Sister Feng heard Jia Lian's worry and said with a smile: "What's the problem? If the East Mansion values ​​Si Yatou, how can they ignore it for so many years? Besides, they don't have to worry about Si Yatou's life, and they don't have to worry about Si Yatou's life. No need for a dowry."

Jia Lian said: "The population in the East Mansion is small, so why can't we even give up a dowry? We have a bad reputation after all."

Sister Feng sneered, and said: "Don't talk about reputation, what's the reputation in the mansion? You go outside to visit, and no one will say that only the two stone lions at the entrance of their mansion are clean, even the fourth girl knows it, so these years I always refuse to go there. I have done so many unscrupulous things, and are you still afraid of such a trivial thing as adoption? We just need to say to the outside world that the fourth girl's fate is compatible with our mansion. Da, by chance, I met a monk who said that only after adoption can we be safe in the future, so I thought about adopting her. Brother Zhen and sister-in-law Zhen heard this, do you have any reason to disagree?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "So what if they agree? The master and the fourth sister must agree, and all three parties agree. Just as you said, there is no need to pay for the dowry in the East Mansion, but when we come to our house, the master and wife are willing to pay this price." Pen? The master said that I don’t even think about those things, only for Brother Xuan.”

Sister Feng got hot all over from drinking and eating. She unbuttoned the two buttons on her skirt, but she couldn't dissipate the heat from her face. She heard the voice and said, "Go and persuade the master, and I'll ask the fourth younger sister. The fourth younger sister has been with us since childhood. I don't know the voices of my parents, even though I have brothers and sisters-in-law, it seems like I don't have them. After hearing this, I must be willing. As for the dowry, I don't have to worry about it. It's not good for a girl like the fourth sister to marry into a rich family. Naturally, there is no need for a large dowry, it can be equal to the dowry. Second, we have income every year, and it is nothing to pay a few thousand taels of silver. Third, Sister Lin joked in the past that she will prepare a dowry for the fourth sister when she leaves the court. You Tell the master and wife these words, and if the master and wife hear that they don’t spend their own money, there is no reason why they don’t want to.”

After Daiyu came out of the cabinet, Sister Feng became more and more friendly with Xichun, and couldn't bear her to be implicated by the Ningguo Mansion, and in the first month when she served Jiamu and others to accompany the sacrifices, she ran into a few families. Xiangqi, the second-ranked brother in their family is 16 years old this year, and has already been selected as a scholar. Sister Feng had inquired about it earlier when she wanted to marry Xichun, and she felt that she was very suitable.

In order to persuade Jia Amnesty, Sister Feng told Jia Lian the benefits again, saying: "The second master told the master that our family will have one more in-law when the fourth younger sister leaves the cabinet tomorrow. A family like the Zhang family will be interested in Brother Xuan's future in school." Excellent."

The matter was settled, Sister Feng didn't want to rely on Xichun's marriage to gain benefits, and this marriage was not sure if it would work out, but it was enough to convince Jia Amnesty.

Jia Lian nodded and smiled, and said: "Grandma was also mistaken. The fourth younger sister came to our house as the adoptive daughter. She is the daughter of a first-class general. She is more valuable than the second younger sister. Even though the dowry is insufficient, her reputation is several times stronger than before. Our family But I paid back the money, so what you said is not appropriate, but I can find a second son or third or fourth son from a rich family with a quiet personality for the fourth younger sister."

After hearing this, Sister Feng thought deeply: "Second Master is right. Go and talk to Master. We adopted Fourth Younger Sister to our family earlier, so she will be our real younger sister. It will be justifiable to say we are married to Fourth Younger Sister in the future."

Seeing that Sister Feng insisted on adopting Xichun as a sister-in-law, and that the two children also liked playing with Xichun in painting, Jia Lian had to report back to Jia She before sending off the spirit. It's my daughter. When our family collected money, the second girl and Lin girl both gave back the money. I kept their benefits in mind. The fourth girl, like the girls in our family, has always been raised by us. I have another son-in-law, who is a hundred times closer than my niece and son-in-law. As long as Zhen'er in the house is willing, I have no objection here, and when I send the spirit back, I can directly adopt him."

Jia Lian breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly asked Jia Zhen.Jia Zhen and Xichun had no brother-sister relationship, they hesitated for a while, and when they heard Jia Lian's reasons to the outside world, they were very polite, so they agreed half-heartedly.

As for Xichun, I heard that Jia Amnesty and Jia Zhen did not object, so naturally they were willing.

Mother Jia and others sent the spirit back to find out about this. Seeing that both Jia Amnesty and Jia Zhen were willing, they refused to listen to a few words of persuasion, so they let go. When Xichun was adopted under Jia She's name, although they couldn't hold a banquet to celebrate, Yingchun, Daiyu and others all brought gifts over, and they were all happy for Xichun.

Daiyu is far away in Ping'an Prefecture, and Wei Ruolan's brochure came to Beijing with her gift.

This is a secret book, all relying on Emperor Changtai and Wei Ruolan to escort back and forth with the most powerful confidantes, Jiang Hua and others took him into the palace, they did not rely on others, and did not go through the cabinet. After arriving in the capital, they went to the Daming Palace .

Emperor Changtai ordered Jiang Hua to come to him, took out a key, opened the brocade box with his own hands, and took out the booklet for a closer look. Wei Ruolan has a key, once someone breaks it with external force, all the contents in the box will be shredded by the mechanism installed.

All such boxes were carefully manufactured by Emperor Changtai, and there are only five of them so far.

Emperor Changtai had just finished reading the first paragraph of the brochure, and he was already delighted. It turned out that Wei Ruolan had been secretly spying on the two bandit chiefs' homes of Miao Bai for several months, and finally found a chance to catch them all.

Wei Ruolan didn't go into details in the excerpts, but only said that she followed Miao and Bai secretly by relying on lightness skills, probably because after he came to Ping'an Prefecture, he only knew how to drill soldiers and did not take any action. Vigilant, and started to move back and forth again, Wei Ruolan took the opportunity to find out where the two families hid their belongings, and got other evidence, led troops to raid, and successfully confiscated the Miao and Bai families.

Wei Ruolan once said that he would expose the Miao family before taking action, so as not to arouse public anger, but he did not do so when the matter came to an end. In the first lunar month, when the people were busy with their old age, after he took down the two bandit leaders, he did not make any noise, but interrogated them overnight. Quietly arrested the servants who were hiding the identity of the gangsters, and did not give the other seven families a chance to find out. At the same time, they quickly captured the other seven heads.After the confiscation of his family property, the evidence of the crime was conclusive, and then the arrested servants of the nursing home were killed on the spot. The bandit leader was killed immediately after the trial, lest he be rescued by his village master, and the innocent servants were being taken into custody. .

Wei Ruolan is not a bloodthirsty person, this time he only killed these heinous gangsters, and did not harm his family members and innocent servants, although the crimes of these gangsters have already affected his family members.

As for the nine small bosses under the head of the family, except for one or two who are housekeepers in the head's house, the rest are not house slaves, but have other families. Wan Zhiju, Wei Ruolan ordered [-] of the [-] troops to go out together, and sealed the gates of each state city, and finally prevented them from escaping.

It is worth mentioning that Ma Guangqing, the prefect of Ping'an Prefecture, is one of the masters. He is known as the second master. The soldiers under him are as many gangsters as his servants. There are also a dozen officials colluding with the bandits. These officials do not know that the second master is Ma Guangqing.

As a result, the entanglement was extremely extensive, Wei Ruolan did not show mercy and executed them all.

In this battle, nine bandits were killed, 47 small bosses, 120 bandits, and a total of 19 officials colluded with bandits. It is estimated that the amount of gold and silver is clear, but there are a few 96 taels of gold, more than 7000 million taels of silver, and nine very inconspicuous villages with hidden weapons and armor piled up like mountains, and the food stored is enough for safety inside and outside the state All the people use it for ten years!

Emperor Changtai was very happy when he saw Wei Ruolan made this achievement at first, then he was surprised and angry, it turned out that Wei Ruolan said in the booklet that those accumulated armors and weapons seemed to be made by the imperial court, and they were as insignificant as those owned by the soldiers in the camp Second, when I asked the veterans in the battalion, I found out that they have often been short of these things in the past 20 years. I have never heard of being robbed by bandits.

If Wei Ruolan hadn't been sent to Ping'an Prefecture early, would these gangsters have rebelled?So well-trained, able to advance and retreat freely, and behave rigorously, I am afraid that these people are not bandits, but are raising private soldiers in the name of bandits.

With this in mind, Emperor Changtai was eager to know the identity of the village master of Jiuhuan Village, and continued to look down, only to see Wei Ruolan said in the booklet that the village master had not been caught yet, but he had a clue, and the remaining bandits about There are [-] people, and they have already found out where they are, but this time they have beheaded the bandit leader and the big and small gangsters one after another.

However, the nine masters and the gangsters under him were all lost. It is expected that even if the village master is not alone, the threat is already very weak. If the village master is killed again, the remaining gangsters will be scattered and easy to deal with.

At that time, the inside and outside of Ping'an Prefecture had been cleared, so there was no need to worry about someone intercepting the zhezi, and the zhezi, the brocade box, and the escorts were all tightly guarded, so Wei Ruolan asked Emperor Changtai in the zhezi to allow him to cut first and then play, probably because of the Jiuhuanzhai The identity of the village master is unusual, interrogating the nine masters, all of them pointed to one person, and that is Zhang Kuang, the current governor of Ping'an Prefecture.

It is a pity that Zhang Kuang acted cautiously. Although local dignitaries and officials often visited him, he did not leave any conclusive evidence. Ruolan didn't dare to act rashly.

Emperor Changtai was very angry, but he didn't comment on the paper, but wrote another hand letter, put it in a box and sent it to Ping'an Prefecture.

He only had one sentence in the handbook, that is to capture the thief first and capture the king first. Regardless of whether the owner of Jiuhuan Village is Zhang Kuang or not, he will ask Wei Ruolan to kill him. With Wei Ruolan's martial arts, it is completely unknown. Get rid of him without knowing it.In addition to not knowing whether Zhang Kuang is the leader of the bandits, Zhang Kuang and his wife have been accused of crimes over the years. The son quite made some noise, and now he doesn't know what he is plotting.

After Wei Ruolan received the handbook, she fell in love with it. After quietly burning the handbook, she sneaked back to Ping'anzhou City at night. During the time between sending the booklet back to Beijing and receiving the handbook, he had already confirmed that Zhang Kuang was the owner of Jiuhuanzhai, and In private, he has contact with the current Prince Yizhong.

Emperor Changtai clearly knew it well when he issued this decree.

Once Zhang Kuang died, his family would be easier to take care of, and Zhang Kuang was afraid of being discovered, so his private soldiers and property were placed elsewhere, and even Mrs. Zhang didn't know about it, let alone his children.

Daiyu covered up for Wei Ruolan in the villa, she was really worried and didn't dare to sleep peacefully.In the past few months, the inside and outside of Ping'an Prefecture and the nearby cities can be described as bloody. Zhuangzi has been attacked several times. Fortunately, the guards at home are very skilled. Only then did the bandits who attacked at night succeed.