serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 418 Make the first move

After seeing off Aunt Wang, Aunt Xue returned to the inner room. At this time, Xue Baochai was sitting on a chair, holding a book in her hand, looking at it intently or not.

The table is filled with brocade gift boxes.

There are many boxes and cages piled on the ground. The lids of two large mahogany boxes have been opened. One box of gold and one box of jewelry are sparkling and eye-catching!
This is what Lin Daiyu asked Grandma Wang to send. The property sent to the in-law's family when marrying a wife is called "bride price", while the property given to the family when taking a concubine is called "concubine capital".

While counting the piles of "betrothal gifts", Aunt Xue said: "After all, she is a rich lady from a scholarly family. Looking at these gifts, this is a huge honor to the heavens. If we tell it, our family will not be disgraced." ." He said and took out a string of red musk beads from the gift box.

Xue Baochai stared at the book: "When will brother come back?"

Aunt Xue sighed: "What evil did I do in my previous life? I met these two evil obstacles! When I closed my eyes and breathed my last, I couldn't see or worry anymore."

Xue Baochai: "Where did it get into this? It's all because of my brother's own failure. After all, he is a sixth-grade imperial official, but he was manipulated by a shrew. He only used some serious means to scare her. Now it's better to just give in. , all I know is to hide outside and leave my mother to suffer at home."

Aunt Xue: "What else can I do?"

Xue Baochai put the book in his hand on the coffee table: "Let her be arrogant for a while. After the New Year, it will be the third year. Then, she will be divorced on the grounds of childlessness, and her brother will be remarried to a girl from a family of poets and writers. .”

Aunt Xue hesitated for a moment and asked, "What about your brother Guoxiao taking a concubine?"

However, Xue Baochai stood up and gave Aunt Xue a bowl of tea: "The Youdu Censor of the Ducha Yuan is a disciple of the prince."

"That's fine, that's fine."

Aunt Xue took the tea bowl and took a sip, and suddenly remembered: "Aunt Wang didn't say what identity you came in as?"

After hearing this, Xue Baochai's face turned gloomy. There were only three levels of titled concubines in the Zhou Dynasty: the first level was the princess, the second level was the concubine, the third level was the wife, and the rest were all concubines without titles. .

Needless to say, princess, that is the title of the head wife.

Concubine is the highest title for the concubine of the prince, and the prince can only have three concubines, one less than the prince.

There are generally three situations when a concubine wants to be granted the title of concubine: one is that the emperor decrees a marriage, the other is that she is favored by her husband and is invited to be concubine, and the third situation is more complicated, and the son born by the concubine inherits the royal title.

The third-class wives are relatively simple. As long as their husbands love them or they give birth to children, they can be granted the title. There is no limit to the number of wives.

Amber is now the wife's title, and I heard that Zicuckoo will also get the title of the wife in the future.

As for how she entered the house, almost seven years later, Xue Baochai knew Lin Daiyu so well that he made sure to let her enter as a concubine. He would not embarrass her when he kowtowed and served tea. The next day, when he established the rules, he would give her the title of madam. Well, as for the concubine's title, we have to wait.

However, Xue Baochai is confident of getting this title.

Aunt Xue looked at her: "How about I ask the old lady?"

Xue Baochai heard this and sneered: "The old lady only has one mouth left now. She can't be the princess's master, and she doesn't dare to speak. The relationship between the east and west mansions is not as good as outsiders think, old lady The wife still expects the princess to speak for Xifu, how dare she offend her!"

After hearing this, Aunt Xue became a little anxious and put the tea bowl on the coffee table.

Xue Baochai smiled: "Don't worry, Mom, as long as the princess doesn't deliberately make things difficult for me, everything will be fine."

Aunt Xue nodded, and suddenly remembered: "I will ask Xue Biao to find your brother right now." After saying that, she hurriedly walked out.

At this time, in the living room of Ning'an Hall, Jia Hu was sitting there neatly dressed.

Montemu walked in carrying a dusty baggage. The baggage had angular corners and obviously contained a box.

As soon as he entered the door, Montemu knelt down and said loudly: "General, please give your regards to the commander-in-chief!"

Jia Hu stretched out his hand to help him: "Get up. You suffered in Beiting, and you will suffer again this time when you return to Beijing. These false courtesy will be dispensed with in the future."

"Thank you, Marshal, for your grace!"

Montemu kowtowed again, then stood up, unpacked his baggage, put it on the table with both hands, and took out the key from his arms and presented it to Jia Hu.

Jia Hu took the key and put it down, waving to Montemu: "Sit down, sit down."

The soldier came in holding tea.

Montemu took the tea and sat down on the guest chair beside him, and said to Jia Hu: "Commander, we raided Central Asia according to the commander's order and seized the grain-producing areas from the Rakshasa people. From now on, there will be grain in Beiting." ”

Jia Hu nodded and asked: "How is it over there in Mobei?" Montemu replied: "Everything is fine. It's just that General Li Si has complained recently that many soldiers miss their relatives in their hometown."

Jia Hu: "Keep insisting. When the conditions are ripe, we will transfer them to the customs."

Montemu's eyes lit up: "Brothers have been waiting for a long time. As soon as the commander gives the order, we will immediately kill those dog officers sent by the cabinet and raise the troops to go south and enter the customs!"

Jia Hu looked out the door: "Lin San."

Lin San responded and walked in.

Jia Hu: "Take Montemu down for dinner."

Lin San: "Yes."

Montemu knelt down and kowtowed again, then stood up and followed Lin San out.

Looking at Montemu's disappearing back, Jia Hu untied the bundle, revealing a brass box with two seals crossed on the lid.

After tearing off the seal, Jia Hu picked up the key, unlocked the door, and opened the lid.

Pick up the cowhide envelope, tear open the seal, take out the letter inside and read it.

After reading Li Si's letter, Jia Hu smiled. The situation in Mobei was better than he imagined. All work was being carried out in an orderly manner. Thousands of skilled craftsmen were working day and night to build fire engines. The only drawback of guns and artillery is that the ammunition cannot keep up. There is no saltpeter in Mobei. In order not to attract the attention of the court, large quantities cannot be smuggled.

At this moment, Jia Hu thought of Turpan again, where there were a large number of high-quality saltpeter mines, and Khovd's garrison could reach there by crossing the mountain pass.

Jia Hu picked up the account book in the box again, opened the first page, and read it carefully, then the second page, and the third page.
After reading the last page, Jia Hu was stunned. In just over half a year, Mobei had built more than [-] breech-loading muskets and [-] six-pound artillery pieces. After all, Mobei had about [-] breech-loading guns. There are more than a thousand breech-loaded muskets and more than fifty six-pound artillery pieces.

As there are more and more skilled craftsmen, Mobei will create more and more breech-loaded muskets and artillery!

This strength has exceeded that of the Yongwei Camp.

Putting down the account book, Jia Hu stood up and walked back and forth as usual with his hands behind his back. As he walked, he thought, it wasn't that he didn't believe Li Si, but that strong strength would breed ambition. Jia Hu walked to the door and slammed He stood still, and Montemu's words rang in his ears again. The soldier missed his hometown, Jia Hu's eyes lit up, and he realized that this was what Li Si deliberately asked Montemu to tell him.

Thinking of this, Jia Hu made up his mind, transferred his troops and changed defenses, and brought those breech-loaded muskets into the pass!
At this moment, Lin San walked in again: "Your Majesty, Wang Zhong is back."

Jia Hu was startled for a moment, then smiled: "Let him in."

After a while, Lin San led a middle-aged man over. This man was Grandma Liu's son-in-law and Ban'er's father, Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong stepped in. Without saying a word, he knelt down and kowtowed respectfully, "Your Majesty!"

Jia Hu smiled: "Get up quickly."

Wang Zhong: "Yes." He answered and stood up.

Jia Hu pointed at the guest chair: "What is Grandma Liu busy with at home? Why can't she come here these days? The princess was still studying just now."

Wang Zhong stood up again: "To tell you the truth, Ban'er has been ill these past few days."

Jia Hu: "Oh? Ban'er is sick?" Then he looked at Lin San: "Tell Lai Sheng to ask Mr. Wang to treat Ban'er and get any medicine from Wangfu Pharmacy."

Lin San: "Yes." He answered and walked out quickly.

Wang Zhong quickly knelt down again: "Your Majesty, this little family will never be able to repay you in this lifetime!"

Jia Hu waved his hand: "Get up quickly. Sit down and talk if you have anything to say."

Wang Zhong: "Yes." He kowtowed again, then stood up and said to Jia Hu: "There is something minor that I only realized was wrong today. The number of people patrolling the night of the Soldiers and Horses Division is gradually decreasing, even here in the West City It is unreasonable that some streets and alleys do not have night patrol teams for most of the day."

After hearing this, Jia Hu was shocked and understood what Ma Shun meant when he said he wanted to take action.

Understanding the old concubine's plan, Jia Hu thought for a moment and then waved.

Wang Zhong leaned his head over.

Jia Hu whispered a few words into Wang Zhong's ear.

Wang Zhong nodded vigorously
(End of this chapter)