serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 61 Disappointment and Anger (Two in One)

Outside Ning An Hall.

Amber walked over to Jia Hu with a lantern.

From a distance, Lin San was already standing outside the door.

Seeing Jia Hu, Lin San hastily greeted him and saluted, "General, this is an urgent letter just delivered." As he spoke, he took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Jia Hu.

Jia Hu took the letter and tore it open, looked at it against the light, and sneered after reading it.

This is a personal letter from the Chief Assistant Song Chengliang, which said two things: First, the cabinet drew up a list of rewards according to the emperor's wishes. Shi Nai, the Marquis of Baoling, and Jiang Zining, a hereditary second-class male from the Marquis of Yuanyuan, had the highest official positions. Both were awarded the rank of guerrilla general, and the remaining 15 were general officers.

As for the other nobles who have paid off their debts, they were awarded Wusan official positions. From the fourth-rank general Xuanwu to the fourth-rank general Mingwei, the annual salary of more than 100 taels of silver, plus Lumi, can barely support their families. Those nobles who pawned off their ancestral property really suffered a lot!
The second thing is ridiculous. Those civil servants who shouted to sell their sons and daughters to repay the national debt have already discussed it. Tomorrow, they will go to the seller on Zhengyangmen Street to repay the debt.

At this moment, Jia Hu remembered the well-known saying of later generations: I have never seen such a brazen person!
Lin San: "General?"

Jia Hu came back to his senses: "Yeah." Then he smiled: "Tomorrow, you and Lai Sheng will bring more people to Zhengyangmen Street, bring knives, and buy all the things that the civil servants are hawking, even if they sell them. They are children, and they are also bought."

After a pause, "Tell Lai Sheng, as long as the price is not too outrageous, that's fine. Also, don't compete with others, just make sure they sell their stuff."

Lin San: "Yes."

Beijing Prince's Mansion, the outer study room.

Under the dimly lit lamp, Shui Rong took a deep breath and said, "Tell me below, don't meddle in this matter! As long as we don't meddle, the Supreme Emperor will intervene, and nobles and civil servants will quarrel.

Let them make a fuss and mess up the whole court, so that we can get away from what happened last time.do you understand? "

The chief historian and the butler nodded.

Shui Rong: "Of course, we can't just watch the fun." Having said that, he said to the housekeeper: "Spread out the matter of those pawnshops with civil servants, especially those of the imperial historian Pei Yanpei's family."

Butler: "Yes."

April 28th in the second year of Jianwu.

"It was spectacular!"

Lin San stood under the Zhengyang Gate, looking into the distance, the street was bustling with people, both sides were full of stalls, hawkers, bargainers, chattering, very lively.

Lai Sheng was also very emotional: "I didn't expect these civil officials to be so shameless. What they did would tarnish the reputation of today."

Lin San nodded: "They don't need the honor of the imperial court, but the palace can't! As long as there are people from the palace, they don't have to pay back the money they owe." He sneered, and then shouted loudly: "Go, follow me!" I'm going to slap my face!"

All the soldiers and servants responded loudly: "Yes!"

Cabinet value.

Seeing Emperor Jianwu come in, Song Chengliang, Zhang Shangwen and Zhao Zixun stood up immediately.

Emperor Jianwu's eyes fell on the account book on the desk.

Zhao Zixun hurriedly walked over and said, "Your Majesty Qizuo, I'm counting the money owed by the officials."

Emperor Jianwu: "How many more are there?"

Zhao Zixun: "2708 million taels, this is just the account book put into storage yesterday, and there are more"

Emperor Jianwu interrupted him, and said lightly: "Which civil servants have paid back?" He said, went straight to the chair in the middle and sat down.

Zhang Shangwen interjected: "Your Majesty, this is only the second day, and there are more."

Emperor Jianwu: "That is to say, so far no civil servant has voluntarily paid back the owed money!"

There was silence.

Emperor Jianwu sighed, and then said: "I'm waiting here. They can sell the house as a property, or sell their sons and daughters. In short, they must pay back part of the owed money today. The cabinet drafted an official document to tell those who are in Qianmen Street As for the hawking officials, since they don't need the dignity of the court, I don't care about the so-called reputation.

Don't think that I will back down and compromise.The Zhenfu Division has already handed over a detailed list, no matter how many officials he is, he must pay off the money owed before the end of the month.If you don't pay it back, then ransack the house! "

As soon as these words came out, the three of them were shocked!

At this moment, Dai Quan walked to the door and said, "Your Majesty, there is news from the Zhenfu Division that people from the Ningguo Mansion are buying the belongings sold by officials on Qianmen Street. They have already spent tens of thousands of taels of silver. Yes, the stewards of Nan'an County Prince's Mansion, Beijing Prince's Mansion and Zhongjinghou's Mansion also rushed over with their servants."

Without saying a word, the chief eunuch of the Criminal Division arrived panting, held up the note in his hand, "News from Xi, Xicheng"

Dai Quan snatched the paper and hurriedly looked at it. His eyes straightened, and he didn't care about the ancestral precept that internal officials should not enter the cabinet to be on duty. He went straight in and presented the paper to the emperor.

Emperor Jianwu was also surprised when he saw it, and hurriedly asked: "When did it spread?"

Chief eunuch: "It is estimated that everyone knows about it."

Emperor Jianwu was stunned there.

Zhao Zixun couldn't bear it anymore, and asked tentatively, "Your Majesty."

Emperor Jianwu came back to his senses and handed him the note.

Zhao Zixun took the paper, and both Song Chengliang and Zhang Shangwen moved their heads closer.

The three of them showed expressions of astonishment. They didn't expect that almost all the pawnshops on the street outside Di'anmen were civil servants. What surprised them most was that Pei's family opened a pawnshop on Gulou West Street.

That is to say, the nobles were not only deceived by these civil servants for their official careers, but also their family property. The pawnshop on Gulou West Street is the darkest, and the market has been reduced to 20%. This is tens of thousands, even more than [-] Two silver!

Song Chengliang trembled slightly, and then murmured: "The emperor's list has been posted, and the appointment documents have also been issued. It's over. It's over."

Zhao Zixun was startled, and immediately became uneasy: "Is nothing wrong?"

Zhang Shangwen: "Some people want to provoke civil and military confrontation."

Emperor Jianwu seemed to understand something, his face was ashen, and his eyes gleamed coldly.

Song Chengliang: "The minister thinks that the best way now is to grant military ranks to all the nobles who have paid off their debts, even if it is a little lower."

Zhang Shangwen shook his head: "If you change it again, it will become a joke."

Zhao Zixun was shocked again, although the cabinet could bear the crime of dereliction of duty, but the face of the court would be completely swept away.

All three looked at Emperor Jianwu.

Emperor Jianwu didn't look at them, but looked at the sky outside the house, and said, "I originally had good intentions, and wanted the nobles to regain their ancestral business and open up the territory for the Great Zhou. How could it be like this?"

Zhao Zixun knelt down: "The responsibility for this matter lies with the cabinet. Asking the emperor to punish the cabinet for the crime of dereliction of duty is also an explanation to the government and the public."

Song Chengliang and Zhang Shangwen looked at each other, then knelt down.

At this moment, the deputy head of the Qianqing Palace hurried over, and was stunned when he saw such a formation.

Emperor Jianwu: "What's the matter?"

Deputy Manager: "Your Majesty, the Supreme Emperor allocated 27 taels of his own money from the internal treasury to subsidize the families of those nobles who have lost their ancestral property."

There was silence.

There was a sound of footsteps, Dai Quan looked up, and mentioned that the chief eunuch of the Criminal Division came in a hurry, glanced at Emperor Jianwu, and walked over quickly, "What's the matter?"

The Chief Eunuch of the Criminal Division: "Yizhong County Prince's Mansion sent [-] silver to Nanyang Bo's Mansion, asking them to redeem the sacrificial land."

Everyone present was shocked, Nanyang Bo's Mansion pawned the sacrifice field!
Hearing this, Emperor Jianwu became a little disturbed. Nanyang uncle's mansion was the home of the abolished concubine, and all the men in the mansion were exiled to the army. The young Chen Yejun survived under the protection of Jia Daishan, and his father, brother and uncle all He died at Shanhaiguan Pass, and after the war, the Supreme Emperor pardoned all those who survived.

Now only Chen Yejun and an old servant are left in Nanyang Bofu.

The existence of Nanyang Bofu is a kind of symbolic meaning, showing the generosity and tolerance of the royal family, so as to divide the nobles.

Emperor Jianwu stood up abruptly, pacing back and forth in the room anxiously, if he said that the Supreme Emperor was sympathizing with the veterans, then the Yizhong County King was fighting with himself, and he was adding fuel to the fire.

After a long while, he finally stopped in his tracks. He swallowed a mouthful of bitter and astringent saliva, and said in a sad tone: "I don't understand why they do this. People's hearts."

Zhengyangmen Street.

The street was full of spectators, crowded with people, laughing and laughing watching the excitement.

An official stood at the booth, protecting his son, and said to Lin San: "The "Law of the Great Zhou" states: Abducting and selling children, regardless of master or servant, is a capital offense!"

Then he yelled at the soldiers and horses: "Don't take them yet!"

The soldiers and horses didn't even look at him.

Lin San spat: "I spit! How shameless, if you sell your son, I won't let me buy it!" Speaking of this, he looked at him with a smile, and then said: "Sold my son, since I can pay off your debt , and find him a place to eat. What's wrong with that!"

There was a burst of laughter from the crowd.

The official was furious: "Let's go!" He pulled his son and led the servants away in a hurry.

Lin Sanyi pressed the handle of the knife and said loudly: "I have plenty of money, no matter what you sell, as long as the price is not too outrageous, even your parents, I will buy it too. Can you be ashamed?"

The crowd cheered loudly.

Several officials looked at each other, then walked out with a wave of their hands.

Among the crowd, the person in charge of the punishment department smiled and got out.

The steward of the Beijing Prince's Mansion said to the steward behind him: "Go ahead and buy it. After spending the 5 taels, let's go back."

The study room of the Beijing Prince's Mansion.

Shui Rong unexpectedly fell asleep while sitting on the chair.

Chang Shi hurried in and asked cautiously, "My lord?"

Shui Rong slowly opened his eyes: "What's the matter?"

Chang Shi smiled: "My lord, there is a good show to watch! The hereditary first-class Hou Xiaokang of Xiu Guogong's mansion, the hereditary second-class man Qi Jianhui of Xiangyang Hou's mansion, Lin Anbo and others are discussing to smash the pawnshop opened by civil servants .”

The corner of Shui Rong's mouth twitched, and he smiled strangely: "Come on, the louder the noise, the better."

He reached out and pointed to a letter on the desk, "King Zhongshun went to Baoying County, and asked to send this letter to the Salt Gang."

Chang Shi: "Yes." Picking up the letter, he turned and walked out.

Nanyang Bofu, ancestral hall.

On the altar are the memorial tablets of everyone in the Chen family!
Chen Yejun placed the tray containing the uniforms of General Xuanwu from the fourth rank on the incense table.

Cleaned the altar and incense table, took three sticks of incense and lit them on the candle, bowed, inserted them into the incense burner, and then knelt down.

Looking at the official uniform on the incense table, Chen Yejun's eyes were wet, and he lowered his head.

The old housekeeper ran in with a gray face, and said angrily: "Master, that pawn shop is the capital of Pei Yanpei's family, the imperial envoy doctor. The output has all belonged to their Pei family, and the land deed will not be returned to our family until this time next year, and said... also said"

Chen Yejun: "What else?"

The old butler: "I also said that within this year, the grass that grew on the grave and the grass seed that fell belonged to their Pei family. They said that they would cut down all the trees, flowers and plants. If none were left, they would all be destroyed." Burn it into charcoal, pull it to the market and sell it. The old slave passed Wanning Bridge, and really wanted to jump off and die."

As he spoke, tears welled up.

Chen Yejun shuddered and wanted to get up, but he still knelt and did not move.

The old housekeeper: "Master, why don't you go and ask the old man, or the Jia family!"

Chen Yejun was silent for a moment, then said: "You take the 5000 taels given by the Supreme Emperor."

The old housekeeper: "Yes." Wiping away tears, he walked out.

Chen Yejun kowtowed three times respectfully, stood up, then straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and then held up the treasured sword placed under the tablet with both hands, with golden tassels and a gilded scabbard. Gold dragon pattern.

This sword was given to the ancestors of the Chen family by Honghua Emperor Wu Shifan in the reward ceremony.

There was a crisp sound of "Zheng", the sword was out of its sheath, and the cold light was shining, caressing the sword body, the cold light flashed in the eyes, took a deep breath, and then turned his eyes to the pillar on the other side, where a broken knife was hanging , "噗", returned the sword to its sheath, put the sword back on the altar, and walked towards the broken knife.

Ning'an hall, outer study room.

Jia Hu was sitting on a chair by the window at this moment.

Jia Rong came back and stood there timidly.

After a silence, Jia Hu spoke first: "What are your plans for the future?"

Jia Rong swallowed her saliva, glanced at Jia Hu, cleared her throat, and said, "It's all up to uncle!"

Jia Hu is a little disappointed, but he also knows that because of Jia Zhen's violent education, Jia Rong is cowardly and has been submissively living in Jia Zhen's shadow. Fortunately, he has not learned Jia Zhen's shamelessness. It is still useful to cultivate it well. of.

Thinking of this, he smiled and said to him: "You are the eldest grandson of Jia's family, and you are married to the princess of the dynasty. It stands to reason that you should live separately. However, our family's situation is a bit special. I am the leader of the army. Maybe you stayed in the mansion all the time, and your fourth aunt stayed in the West mansion. If you and your wife move out again, only your mother will be left in this mansion. In this way, you will learn more from your second uncle Lian and help your mother manage the house. Especially things outside, um. I will donate a doctor of the fifth rank to you in the Ministry of Industry, so it will be more convenient to go out and do errands."

Jia Rong felt relieved when she heard the words, knelt down and kowtowed respectfully: "Yes."

Jia Hu nodded, and continued: "I've heard what your mother said about you and the Qin family. I know what happened that day better than you, so don't think about it, and live in a down-to-earth way from now on. Don't learn from you. If I find out what my father did, I will send you to the border. Do you understand?"

Jia Rong: "Yes."

Jia Hu nodded in satisfaction: "Get up."

Jia Rong kowtowed again, then stood up and stood by Jia Hu's side.

At this moment, Jiao Da came over in a hurry and said, "Second Master, there is news from the Bing Ma Si that Chen Yejun, a third-class male in Nanyang Bo's residence, has killed the eldest son and two grandsons of the imperial envoy Pei Yan."

Jia Hu was surprised: "Oh? Where is he now?"

Jiao Da: "He chopped off the head of Pei Yan's eldest son in front of everyone, and then carried him back to the house."

Jia Hu's face turned serious: "What's the reason?"

Jiao Da: "In order to pay off the national debt, Nanyang uncle mortgaged the sacrificial land to the Pei family's pawnshop. The eldest son of the Pei family collected the principal and interest but did not return the land deed. Chen Yejun went to the pawnshop himself and gave the Pei family another 5000 yuan. Two, Mr. Pei was fascinated by ghosts, so he wanted to step on the Nanyang uncle's mansion, and said in front of the onlookers that he would cut down all the trees in the Chen family's cemetery, and burn them into charcoal. It was sold at the market. If you are not sincere, you will die. Hey, what is this called!"

As soon as the words fell, the steward of the front yard rushed in like a gust of wind, panting: "Master Qiu Liangqiu from the Bing, Bingma Division sent someone to send a message. Please, please go to the imperial city immediately, and said Nanyang uncle's mansion Chen Yejun is on his way to the imperial city, and he is still carrying the sword bestowed by Emperor Honghua."

Jia Hu stood up abruptly: "Not good! Something will happen."

(End of this chapter)