King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 680 New Year's Gift
"Brother Jia, the court will not punish people for their words, but many things are not governed by the rules!" Feng Yuan said with emotion.

What happened back then taught him a lot of things and gave him a more realistic understanding of the world.

"Do you think King Xiang would kill people in anger?" Jia Baoyu said with disdain.

Looking at his naive look, Feng Yuan just found it funny, and thought to himself that if his sister had not been the Crown Princess, he, the young master of a declining Duke's Mansion, would have died countless times.

But can the identity of the Crown Princess protect this person? Feng Yuan expressed his doubts.

He stayed in the capital for two years, not only studying in the Imperial Academy, but also gaining a deep understanding of the current affairs of the court.

In his opinion, the question now is not who the Crown Princess can protect, but that the Eastern Palace itself is in danger.

Of course, even though Feng Yuan was a good friend of Jia Baoyu, he could not express these thoughts directly. After all, he was no longer the ignorant boy he used to be.

Feng Yuan sighed and said, "Brother Jia, if the King of Xiang wants to kill someone, why does he have to do it himself?"

"Look around you, who doesn't praise King Xiang and call him the pillar of the country!"

"If everyone knew what you just said, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave this restaurant today!"

This is still among ordinary people. It would be even more dangerous if it happened in the capital.

According to Feng Yuan's understanding of the nobles in the capital, the emperor's old ministers, headed by the Jia family, have been "released" one after another in the past two years, which makes the Donghuamen heroes who hold real power very dissatisfied.

Only the emperor's unparalleled authority made the situation stable and controllable. If Jia Baoyu took the initiative to provoke Zhu Jinghong, the heroes of Donghua Gate would have the excuse to kill Jia Baoyu.

As far as Feng Yuan knew, Jia Zhen's death two years ago was involved in this kind of thing, so what did it matter if Jia Baoyu died now?

As for the face of the Eastern Palace, it has to be earned by oneself, not given by ministers.

Feng Yuan couldn't say these words either.

Of course, Jia Baoyu could not refute what Feng Yuangang said, so he drank two glasses of wine.

"Brother Jia, you have been staying in Jinling for a long time. Since you want to travel and study... why don't you go and have a look at other places!"

"The Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources. You can also go and have a look at other places, so that you will not regret your trip to this world!"

Feng Yuan said this with the original intention of sending Jia Baoyu away.

In his opinion, Zhu Jinghong had won the battle and was about to return in triumph. If he knew that Jia Baoyu was entangled with Daiyu, it would be a disaster for Jia Baoyu.

For the safety of his friend, Feng Yuan felt that he needed to help him.

"You know my feelings. Although there are countless beautiful scenery in the world, there is only Sister Lin in my heart!"

Feng Yuan immediately held his forehead with his hand. At this moment he felt a sense of powerlessness and understood Jia Zheng's feelings about teaching his son.

Seeing that Jia Baoyu was not fooled, Feng Yuan suggested: "You have nothing to do in Jinling anyway... If you don't mind, you can stay at my house for a while. We can recite poems and paint together. Wouldn't it be fun?"

After a few breaths of silence, Jia Baoyu finally replied, "Okay!"

He was indeed feeling bored staying in the city, so it would be better for him to live in the countryside with Feng Yuan for a while, so that he could relax.

Here, Feng Yuan and the other person were chatting about something else. Hundreds of miles away outside the city of Suzhou, Daiyu was sitting at the window of her thatched cottage, quietly copying Buddhist scriptures with a pen in her hand.

Not far from her thatched cottage is Lin Ruhai's grave, and she is keeping vigil for her old father.

"Sister, I have burned Buddhist scriptures for father today, and also offered incense and candles as offerings!"

A boy of about twelve or thirteen appeared in front of Daiyu's window.

Thanks to Zhu Jinghong's support, when the report of Lin Ruhai's death reached Beijing, the emperor issued a special decree to the Lin family.

The imperial edict contained two contents. One was to posthumously confer the title of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue on Lin Ruhai, and to posthumously award him the title of Second Rank Zishan Doctor, raising his status to a level close to that of a prime minister.

In fact, with Lin Ruhai's ability and resume, normally all of this could have been achieved during his lifetime. However, because he was too honest, he was caught and manipulated by the emperor, so his official career remained stagnant.

The posthumous title he received now is the emperor’s compensation to him.

The second content of the decree was that the emperor could not bear to see Lin Ruhai die without an heir, so he ordered the Lin family to select a suitable male from among the clansmen and adopt him as Lin Ruhai to continue the family line.

The task of selecting an heir was clearly stated in the imperial edict, and it was entirely up to Daiyu to decide.

When the imperial edict was issued that day, all branches of the Lin family tried their best to recommend their own offspring, which made Daiyu very annoyed, but after choosing and choosing, she didn't like any of them.

After all, according to her wishes, if she wanted to choose an heir for her father, she should choose a filial and sincere person, rather than someone who was extremely utilitarian.

For four or five days in a row, Daiyu "interviewed" more than twenty children, but in the end she didn't like any of them.

As the saying goes, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Just as she was worried about this matter, she found a little child in the outer courtyard, holding incense and kneeling down meticulously.

Just by looking at him, Daiyu could roughly determine that this was a good child.

Later, after asking around, Daiyu found out that the child had a miserable life. He lost his mother at the age of three and his father at the age of eight. Seeing that he was helpless, his old father took him in and had the servants in the house take care of him and raise him.

Seeing that the child was grateful, Daiyu immediately made the decision to adopt the child under his father's name as his adopted son.

His decision caused an uproar in the Lin family, because the child belonged to the distant branch of the Lin family and generally speaking could not inherit the family business beyond the close branch.

These people wanted to make trouble, but Daiyu suppressed them with an imperial edict, and finally they were suppressed.

But everyone in the Lin family cares about the family business, so how could they let it go?

So these people started to cause trouble. After all, the Lin family members were responsible for various tasks related to Lin Ruhai's death.

Yan Jia and his clansmen made all kinds of trouble at her father's funeral, and Daiyu was so angry that she wanted to kill someone.

She was not a weak person, but an extremely smart woman. She still used the emperor's decree to directly announce that anyone who failed to observe the funeral rites would be expelled from the clan.

Of course, to do this, she also borrowed the name of the new owner, Lin Yao.

Lin Yao was the adopted son that Daiyu adopted for her father, and she also changed his name on behalf of her father.

Through a series of struggles and setbacks, the entire funeral was completed smoothly and orderly, and Daiyu also grew a lot in the process.

"You've been guarding for several hours, go and have a rest!" Daiyu said with a smile.

"Yes!"

Lin Yao was a down-to-earth man. He didn't say any polite words at this time and left consciously.

After Lin Yao left, Daiyu continued to copy the Buddhist scriptures. After a while, Zijuan came trotting over.

"Girl, good news..."

Daiyu looked up, puzzled, and asked, "What good news?"

"Miss, you have been worried recently. I can guarantee that this news can relieve your worries!" Zijuan said half-jokingly.

Although they are nominally master and servant, they are actually as close as sisters, so they can joke and joke so casually.

Seeing that Daiyu was unmoved, Zijuan leaned against the window, looked up and asked, "Miss, why don't you ask what's going on?"

"If you don't want to tell me... I won't ask!"

Seeing Daiyu so calm, Zijuan became anxious instead.

"Even if the girl doesn't ask, I will tell her anyway!" Zijuan propped herself up and said.

"It's news about Master Thirteen..."

While speaking, Zijuan carefully observed Daiyu's reaction, and noticed all the changes in her expression. Daiyu pretended to be fine, and Zijuan didn't want to point it out, but she waited a little longer.

Seeing Daiyu frowning slightly, Zijuan smiled and said, "Today, the servant came back from the city with shopping and said that the news about the Thirteenth Master was spreading everywhere..."

"This time, Master Thirteen led his troops to defeat the Spanish at sea, and completely annihilated the enemy!"

Seeing Daiyu's frown relax, Zijuan smiled and said, "Then you can rest assured, young lady!"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Daiyu raised her head with an unfriendly look.

Zijuan covered her mouth and laughed, "I thought the young lady didn't listen to me, it seems I was wrong... With the young lady's feelings for the Thirteenth Master, how could she not care!"

It has been nearly five months since Lin Ruhai passed away, and Daiyu has basically gotten over her grief, so Zijuan dared to joke like this.

Of course, Zijuan said all this in order to make Daiyu happier. She felt sorry for the latter because she was always frowning.

Daiyu knew Zijuan's good intentions and did not blame her at this time.

"If you have nothing to do, go and work. If you have nothing to do, don't disturb me while I'm copying scriptures!" Daiyu lowered her head and went back to her own business.

Zijuan replied: "It's my job to chat with the young lady. I'm just working!"

"You're so funny!" At this moment, Daiyu finally couldn't help laughing.

Seeing the opportunity, Zijuan hurriedly asked, "Miss, if Thirteenth Master comes back and wants to take you back to Beijing, will you go?"

Knowing that Zhu Jinghong would definitely do this, Zijuan asked in advance, fearing that Daiyu would be unable to get over it.

"He is he, and I am me!" Daiyu replied.

"Miss, aren't you going?" Zijuan asked boldly.

Daiyu was about to refuse, but then she felt it was inappropriate, so she pretended to be angry and scolded: "If you dare to talk too much again, I will punish you to be a maid who sweeps the floor!"

Having said that, Daiyu was also struggling at the moment. If Zhu Jinghong really wanted to take her away, should she go or not?

She couldn't bear to refuse, but she felt unfilial if she agreed. After all, her father had passed away not long ago, and it would be unreasonable for her to just leave.

While Daiyu was struggling, the news of the great victory in the naval battle continued to spread as time passed.

There was no need to keep good news like victory news secret, so the postmen basically shouted to pass on information, and all the towns they passed by learned of the victory news.

Like most people, the people along the way were not surprised to hear about the victory in the naval battle. After all, how could King Xiang's troops fail!

The news spread to the capital at a very fast speed. Naturally, the sooner this news was delivered, the better, preferably before the end of the twelfth lunar month, so that it could be regarded as a New Year's gift.

For this reason, the soldiers at the post stations along the way were really trying their best to hurry on their way.

On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month in the fourteenth year of the Zhengtong reign, a postman arrived at the Tongzhengsi in the morning and delivered Zhu Jinghong's memorial to the palace.

It has been two months since the death of the retired emperor. The flags and banners in the mourning hall have been removed, and the retired emperor's coffin has been moved to the Guande Hall north of the palace, but he can only be buried after the imperial mausoleum is ready.

At present, Emperor Zhu Xianming's main energy is focused on the wars in the southeast and northwest, and he is very busy with these matters.

The Northwest still had its share of wins and losses, and neither side could do anything to the other, which gave Zhu Xianming a headache.

When reviewing the memorials, Zhu Xianming couldn't help but write a few more words of admonition to put pressure on the generals on the front line.

After finishing writing, Zhu Xianming looked up at the left side of the desk, where there were two sand tables, showing the situation in the northwest and southeast respectively.

"There has been no news from Old Thirteen for a long time!" Zhu Xianming said with emotion.

"I haven't heard back in such a long time, I hope nothing has happened!"

The latter thought made Zhu Xianming particularly frightened. If something really happened to Zhu Jinghong, he didn't know how to face the queen.

Just as he was thinking about these messy things, a young eunuch entered the hall.

"Your Majesty, a great naval victory, a great naval victory!"

Great victory in the naval battle… Upon hearing these four words, Zhu Xianming's eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't help but stand up.

"A great naval victory?"

"Your Majesty, this is the report sent back by His Royal Highness Prince Xiang!" The young eunuch hurriedly presented it with both hands.

Cheng Ying immediately went forward to take it, then carefully removed the "seal", took out the letter and handed it to the emperor.

Zhu Xianming grabbed it and quickly opened it to read.

After a few breaths, Zhu Xianming smiled, and half a minute later he burst into laughter.

"My son is unstoppable, a general who always wins. He is a blessing to the country... and the Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Xianming praised him generously.

The Spaniards came with great force, killing soldiers and civilians and blocking the sea borders, causing great losses to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Xianming originally wanted to use war to promote talks.

As a military emperor, Zhu Xianming knew very well how difficult it was to develop combat effectiveness from a navy that had only been trained for one or two years.

Therefore, after the war started, Zhu Xianming expected that the coastal defense would cooperate with the navy to keep the Spaniards out of the country, and then wait for an opportunity to restart negotiations to gain benefits.

Among them, Zhu Xianming's biggest hope was to defeat the Spaniards.

He never expected that his youngest son could wipe out the Spanish main fleet, but it all happened.

After reading the situation report, Zhu Xianming read the second half of the report.

Upon learning that Zhu Jinghong was going to drive the Spaniards away completely, Zhu Xianming had to admit once again that he might not be as capable as his youngest son.

From this we can see how terrible PUA is. Even the emperor would become so unconfident after being talked about like this for a long time.

Zhu Xianming certainly approved of Zhu Jinghong's garrison plan.

A few minutes later, Zhu Xianming put away the report and told Cheng Ying, "It is New Year's Day, and the great victory in the southeast should be advertised to the world so that the military and civilians can enjoy it together!"

"Yes!" Cheng Ying responded quickly.

"As for the Spanish prisoners of war, we will hand them over to the local authorities for interrogation and conviction according to Old Thirteen's wishes!"

Cheng Ying was about to respond when Zhu Xianming continued, "This case will be tried by four provinces: Taiwan, Nanjing, Zhejiang, and Fujian. Divide the captured prisoners of war equally among these four provinces and let them each choose a government office to interrogate them!"

The four provinces mentioned by Zhu Xianming all suffered heavy casualties among the military and civilians, so he ordered the captives to be divided equally.

These people caused great public indignation, and Zhu Xianming thought it was extremely reasonable to use these Spaniards to ease the public indignation.

The fact that only the government level was allowed to try the case was a sign of Zhu Xianming's contempt for Spain. In his opinion, it was too much of an honor for these people to have the Censorate try the case.

"Yes!" Cheng Ying responded again.

Seeing that the emperor had no intention of giving further instructions, Cheng Ying went downstairs to make the arrangements.

After reading the victory report again, Zhu Xianming walked to a sand table, which showed the war situation in the northwest.

"Should we send Old Thirteen to the northwest?" Zhu Xianming thought.

Zhu Jinghong has won victory after victory. If he is really sent to the northwest, the war may end soon.

But Zhu Xianming was still very conflicted about whether to send Zhu Jinghong, so he stared at the sand table for a long time.

"It's been almost four years, it's time to end the war!" Zhu Xianming sighed in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)