The Concubine Wushuang of Red Mansion

Chapter 96 Ning Guo’s title
"What are your conditions?" Jia Cong asked calmly.

Jia Jing finally raised his eyelids, a ray of light flashed through, and he looked towards Jia Cong.

Although he claims to be an outsider, he is still in control of the major events in the Jia family's two houses. Whether he interferes or not depends on his mood.

Of course, in these years, he has been obsessed with preaching and has not cared about anything else.

Jia Jingnai was a Jinshi of Yimao Branch. In "A Dream of Red Mansions", he died of swelling after eating secretly prepared cinnabar. After his death, he was posthumously awarded the rank of fifth rank. This shows that the palace favored him.

It's a pity that "Ji Qiu falls with respect, and family affairs are the first sin." Such a selfish and cold-blooded person did not care about his children, and did not care about the inheritance of his ancestors. He only cared about his own advancement, and finally fell. A violent end.

"What do you think our conditions are?" Jia Jing never expected that Jia Cong would ask such a question.

In his eyes, Jia Cong was just a concubine of the eldest son of Rongguo Duke. Unless Jia Lian was gone, the title would be passed to him, which was still not certain.

The old lady is still alive. If Jia Lian is gone, he will follow the old lady's will and say that Baoyu should not be allowed to attack the prince. This is not unprecedented.A few years ago, the old lady wanted to do this and let Jia Zheng seize the title. Otherwise, today's Rongguo Mansion would not have such a situation.

A child like Jia Cong is smart and knows the key points. When he suddenly heard that he could conquer the title, he was not only not happy at all, but also thought that there was a big pit in front of him and someone asked him to jump into it.

"I don't know what conditions you have, but I know that for a person like me, if my father doesn't love me or my grandmother doesn't love me, any great good thing will never happen to me. If it does, I'm afraid I can’t bear it with my life.”

"You are a sensible person!" Jia Jing actually felt a sense of appreciation for talents. He thought about the mortal world and simply said, "If you are a talentless person and the palace does not know your name, such a thing will naturally fall into place." Not on your head. It is said that it was because Xiong Bichen wanted to accept you as his apprentice that the Supreme Emperor had the idea to let you take the title. In my opinion, this is not the case."

Jia Cong listened quietly, and an outline gradually formed in his mind.

Back then, before the Qing Dynasty entered the country, Huang Taiji died of illness, and Dorgon and Hauge fought for the throne.Seeing that the good situation was about to be ruined by this internal fight, the two parties stopped and discussed a compromise, allowing Huang Taiji's ninth son Fulin to sit on the throne and become the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to enter the Pass. .

He ascended the throne at the age of six and only served as emperor for 18 years, but he was also called the ancestor.

In this incident of adultery, the emperor will definitely take the opportunity to severely attack the four princes and eight princes who support the Supreme Emperor's faction, and the Ningrong and Rongfus will be the first to bear the brunt. At worst, they will also seize the title of Ningguogongfu. , to serve as a warning to others.

If today, it is the Duke of Rongguo who wants to take the title away from Guo, I am afraid that the Supreme Emperor will not make a big effort, but because it is the Duke of Ningguo, and Jia Jing is his substitute for becoming a monk, if the title is taken away by Guo, where will the Emperor's face be?
How will everyone in the government and the public view the Supreme Emperor?
I'm afraid you may feel that the Supreme Emperor is old and cannot keep the power in his hands. He can't even keep his closeness. How can he not turn against him?

This is obviously not a situation that the Supreme Emperor wants to see. He wants to keep the Ningguo Palace.

But this time, the civil servants in the court also sided with the emperor. It was not that Gu Mingchen and others joined forces with the emperor, but that they had a common enemy - the Jia family.

If there was only one emperor, the Taiqi Emperor could use "filial piety" to suppress it. Just like even if the Ministry of Household Affairs only had 20 taels of Taicang silver, the Taiqi Emperor would not dare to give it away even if the Taiqi Emperor said he would take it away.

To keep the title of Duke Ning Guo, the Supreme Emperor had no choice but to make concessions.

It is a better solution to choose someone who is not objectionable to both palaces.

Jia Cong became the best candidate. He was a descendant of Duke Rong Guo. Basically, he was a member of the Supreme Emperor's faction. He also had good relations with Prince Zhongshun and was appreciated by the emperor. It can be said that he was a middleman.

But the middleman is never the one who pleases both sides, and is often the cannon fodder that dies the fastest.

Jia Jing did not know that the death of his children and grandchildren was inseparable from the eight-year-old child in front of him. Even if someone told him that Jia Cong was the culprit who killed Jia Zhen and his son, Jia Jing would not believe it.

Who cares what an eight-year-old is capable of?
How could an eight-year-old child be so destructive that he could carry all the military honors of the princes into his body and turn the court into a mess?
After all, he was a child of the Jia family. Jia Jing still hoped that Jia Cong would become filial for a while, so he wrote out the scripture and gave it to him, and decided to give him a few words of kindness.

"You are the grandson of Duke Rongguo. Counting up from the same ancestor as Duke Ningguo, you are also smart and talented. You are the best candidate to inherit the title."

Jia Jing said, "The Emperor is dedicated to cultivating Taoism. The Emperor is a hard-working person. You are in the middle. If it were someone else, life might be difficult and life or death is unpredictable. But fortunately, you are young and can't do big things. But you still have a few years to go. Let’s talk about it later!”

Jia Jing did not give enough information, but combined with Jia Cong's own analysis and summary, he was reassured. As Jia Jing said, he is young now and can plan for the future. If he can learn from Rong Guogong, For him, this alone was enough to make his heart flutter.

He became Jia Jing's heir. Just look at how Jia Jing treated Jia Zhen. He "didn't care at all and allowed his family to do whatever they wanted." An heir who didn't care about everything was an attractive thing to anyone. .

The most important thing is that he got rid of the Rongguo Palace and his mother-in-law was no longer above his head.

If not, even if he can one day get rid of Jia She, but Jia She is gone, and the Xing family is gone, and the Xing family is gone, and Jia Mu, Jia Mu is gone, and Jia Zheng and his wife are gone, he can't bring down Duke Rong Guo. The house is served in one pot.

"In other words, you have no conditions for the time being and choosing me is just the result of a compromise between the two parties?"

"What the conditions are, I don't know yet. What will happen in the future depends entirely on your destiny."

Jia Cong understood that what would happen in the future would all depend on the game between the two palaces, but as long as Jia Jing did not get involved to deal with him, the pressure would be reduced by half.

Jia Cong is not an ungrateful person. If a person does not distinguish between grudges and grudges, it will harm his moral character. He said, "As long as I am here, the title of Duke Ning will be there. If you have anything else to tell me, you can tell me." And make it clear!”

Jia Cong would still feel embarrassed no matter how thick-skinned he was, having harmed his descendants and inheriting his title.

Of course, what needs to be made clear is that the ending of Jia Zhen and his son was completely self-destructive.

For one Jin Rong, he made mistakes again and again, and ended up like this. I wonder if Jia Zhenquan knew better and would regret it?

"You only need to remember that Ning Rong and Ning Rong are inseparable. If anything goes wrong with either of the two houses, the Jia family's status in the court will plummet. When you inherit the title of Ning Guo Duke, you must listen to me. As our ancestors say, young and old men who serve a good house must not be arrogant!"

"Yes!" Jia Cong agreed. As for what to do next, it won't be too late to review the situation when the matter comes to a close.

In the Linjing Hall, Emperor Taiqi summoned King Zhongshun into the palace. Even Song Hong was not around to serve him. The two brothers exchanged a few words and got down to business.

"Jia Zhen was beaten to death by her son Jia Rong in prison. His son committed suicide out of fear of crime, which saved me a big thing." Emperor Tai Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

King Zhongshun knew that Emperor Taiqi had been under a lot of pressure recently, and the Supreme Emperor was still reluctant to let go. Although the civil servants in the court were supportive, the word "filial piety" could make the Emperor breathless.

And "favor" cannot be given casually. Who doesn't know that the four princes and eight princes support the Supreme Emperor. In the past two years, the father and son have been wrestling with each other, and the government and the public have watched it.

If he loses this round, how will Emperor Taiqi govern the world with his ministers in the future?
And winning is too difficult!

The price to pay is also huge!

The confrontation between the two sides cannot last too long. The longer it lasts, the worse the impact will be on the situation of the DPRK.

If there can be a step down, it will be beneficial to both parties.

"What did your father say?" King Zhongshun felt sorry for his brother and frowned when he mentioned the Supreme Emperor.

Emperor Taiqi saw this and felt very worried. At least there was someone who cared about him and said, "Keep the title of Duke Ning, order Jia Cong to inherit the Duke of Ning, and return the 20 taels of Taicang silver." , I agreed!"

King Zhongshun's voice choked up, "I have wronged my brother. I have worked so hard for the great fortune of Dashun. Even if the princes in the court cannot understand the emperor today, in the future, he will definitely make a fair note in the history."

Seeing this, Emperor Taiqi also had tears in his eyes, "I can also be an emperor who doesn't care about anything. I can enjoy myself in the harem and do whatever I can in the court. No one can care about me if I can't. But in the end, I still have to do it." I can't bear it!" "This is the country left by our ancestors, it cannot be ruined in my hands!"

"A while ago, I heard that the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs proposed to convert sundries into salary, and I was worried. If this is true, what should the world say about the emperor? How can the courtiers do things with their heart? With these 20 taels of silver , although it can only solve this urgent need, at least it won’t hurt your dignity too much.”

King Zhongshun was worried again, "Only, during the Holy Birthday Festival after the new year, where will the emperor go to raise a sum of money?"

This winter, there were two consecutive heavy snowfalls in Beijing, eleven provinces, and even the south of the Yangtze River. To the north of the Yellow River, there was continuous heavy snow. The weather was freezing and the ground was freezing. During the snow disaster, many houses collapsed and many people were crushed to death and froze to death. How many livestock were brought.

If disaster relief funds cannot be released in time to resettle the people and resume production, it is difficult to imagine what kind of chaos the world will be in.

Starving people are everywhere, and the people are in dire straits. In Kyoto, the Supreme Emperor is going to hold a grand holy birthday festival. King Zhongshun, the son of King Zhongshun, can't help but curse, not to mention the common people in the world.

"How do you know why the Supreme Emperor returned the 20 taels of silver? It was said to be for the people's livelihood and the national economy, but it was just because Zhao Zibi took a huge risk and transported 50 taels of silver from Yangzhou Come."

King Zhongshun gasped and closed his eyes, unable to speak a word.

Although Emperor Taiqi also felt that he was panicking, he had no money to make dragon robes in the past two years, and he had almost no money. He could not even send out the money for rouge and gouache to the concubines in the harem. Originally, according to the usual practice, the emperor ascended the throne. The following year, there was supposed to be a big draft of women to fill the harem, but because he had no money, he ignored all of them.

But it still doesn't help the situation.

Although he was not as good as Taizu and Chengzu, he was diligent and caring for the people, and he considered himself no worse than ordinary emperors. Unfortunately, neither the government nor the people's livelihood improved at all.

It is said that God rewards those who work hard. Every time Emperor Taiqi thought of it, his heart felt like it was fried, but he did not see God's understanding.

"Brother, don't be too anxious. Managing a big country is like cooking a small dish, and nothing can be done in a hurry." King Zhongshun was also afraid that Emperor Taiqi would be angry, so he had to give words of comfort.

"I ordered Lin Ruhai to patrol salt in Yangzhou, but to this day, there is no improvement at all. I just sent a letter. He didn't have half a tael of silver, but Zhao Zibi sent 50 taels of silver to Beijing in a blink of an eye. How can I sleep peacefully? "

"In the six provinces of Jiangnan, officials from top to bottom are intertwined, and their influence affects the whole body. It is also related to the taxation of the world. There cannot be any trouble. Although Lin Ruhai was born in a noble family, he is just a scholar. His character is best known to the emperor. However, even though we are courageous, we are surrounded by enemies on all sides, and we are afraid that we will throw a trap into a trap, so our hands and feet are tied.”

King Zhongshun said this not only for Lin Ruhai, but also for Emperor Antaiqi's heart. He said, "I heard that he just went to Yangzhou. His son died in infancy, and his wife also left in a short time. His only daughter was sent away." When I returned to the capital, I must have had the desire to repay the king with my body."

"How should we break this Jiangnan game?" Emperor Taiqi asked worriedly.

What King Zhongshun thought of was Lin Ruhai. He was originally the companion of Emperor Tai Qi. It was a good story that the monarch and his subjects were harmonious. Now, even if he is about to lose his life in Jiangnan, Emperor Tai Qi is still dissatisfied with him.

He has long realized that being with a king is like being with a tiger, but after all, he still feels sorry for his brother, and like Lin Ruhai, he has the heart to repay his kindness to the country.

"The game in Jiangnan is really difficult to break. On the Liaodong side, Nurhaci has become bigger. Brother Emperor, you must be on guard!" King Zhongshun reminded, "Li Qian was originally a general under Rongguo Gong, and he was very effective in marching and fighting. He can also kill enemies bravely, so he was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. After several years of deploying defenses, he must have rules and regulations. Who could have expected that his son would be so useless!"

In a short period of time, Li Haopu was forced to retreat step by step by Nurhachi, and lost the forts east of Fushun City to the Jin army.It is said that the Jin army still has ambitions to Fushun. Once the city of Fushun is lost, it will be a major event that shocks the government and the public.

As for Jiangnan, although the imperial order is not fulfilled at the moment, the meat is in the pot no matter what.

But the Kingdom of Jin is no longer plagued by scabies. Since they have ambitions to expand their territory, there must be a life-and-death struggle.

Emperor Taiqi must know this truth.

Fortunately, the case of gathering people for lewdness in Duke Ning's mansion came to an end with the death of Jia Zhen and his son.

Emperor Taiqi was now showing favor, placing all the charges on Jia Zhen and his son, exonerating other princes and nobles, and giving them small punishments and big warnings, and he also gained a reputation.

Gathering a crowd for sexual intercourse would not lead to execution, but it would be a crime of exile. But after Jia Zhen and his son died, Jia Jing had no heirs, and it would be ungrateful for Emperor Taiqi to refuse to let him go.

It is famous for retaining the title of Duke Ningguo.

Jia Cong gave birth to an heir. Whether an eight-year-old child will grow up to be a man in the future depends on God's will. He is also a person who is highly valued by Emperor Taiqi. For both the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor, he is undoubtedly the best candidate. They are all on the same level.

In the Rongqing Hall of Duke Rongguo's Mansion, Jia's mother has not let Sanchun move out because of the cold weather, so she still lives in a crowded place.

At this time, Baoyu, Daiyu and Sanchun were all in Xichun's room, sitting silently without speaking.

When the news came back that Jia Zhen and his son were dead, the old lady shed tears, felt dizzy, and asked a doctor to nurse her back to health. They didn't want to cause trouble there, so they just gathered together to talk.

Jia She and Jia Lian were still outside fighting for the title of Duke Ningguo. Jia Zheng was recuperating at home and preparing for the funeral in Dongfu.

Even so, in the past few days, there has been no peace in the family, especially in the East Mansion. Whether they are the direct descendants of Ning Gong or the concubines and collateral descendants, they all rush to Rongqing Hall. For what reason, people inside and outside, Knowing everything.

"Anyway, no matter who you are, it will have nothing to do with you in the future whether you will produce an heir or take over the title. You can still live here and don't have to worry about it." Tan Chun said carelessly.

Xichun has been raised here since she was a child. Jia Zhen is her brother from the same mother, and Youshi is also her sister-in-law, but they almost never ask about her.

The relationship between brother and sister is also limited, but after such a big thing happened over there, the brothers and sisters were still worried that Xichun would be sad, so they gathered together to comfort her.

"What happens to them is their business and has nothing to do with me. If they want to hurt me if they do such a thing, they can't. At worst, I will be a sister-in-law in the future. I have a way out." Keep those things in mind.

Daiyu smiled and said, "You are only a little older. You talk about being a aunt all day long. You don't even say it. You are a noble family and guarding the ancient Buddha with green lanterns. I can't think of when you will." Have such an idea!"

As she spoke, she shook her head slightly, thinking that Xichun had just said something crazy.

Just as he was talking, Jia Huan came in outside, took a deep breath of snot, and made a gurgling sound, interrupting everyone's speech, which immediately made Baoyu and the girls feel sick.

Baoyu glanced at him sideways and looked him up and down, "Your maid and mother-in-law are all dead? They didn't clean up for you and ran here in a hurry. How can you behave like that?"

Jia Men is a kind of younger brother who is always afraid of his elder brothers. Jia Huan is usually very afraid of Baoyu, but today, he got a big news and ran over impatiently, just to see Baoyu's performance.

"I heard that the title in Dongfu was saved, so I rushed here to tell you the good news, so that you don't have to worry!" Jia Huan said.

"Who is worried? The title in Dongfu has been kept, what does it have to do with us?" Baoyu was disgusted by the sound of Jia Huan sniffling, and did not want to look at him.

Daiyu glanced at Baoyu in surprise. She never expected that he would say these words. Seeing Baoyu's face full of disgust, she lowered her eyes and said nothing.

Tanchun felt sorry for his brother, and although he disliked it very much, he was not willing to show his face like this. In addition, Baoyu really shouldn't have said these words, so he followed his words and said, "Brother Zhen It’s gone, and Ronger is gone too. The title over there has been saved, and someone must be chosen as an heir. It’s no wonder that these days, those who are working hard are running this way!”

In the Rongqing Hall, the old lady had a severe headache. She didn't want to see anyone. No one from the Fanshi clan who came to show courtesy or inquire about news was allowed in. The only people around her were Aunt Lai, Mrs. Wang and Xifeng who were close to her. serve.

"Now that the two of them are gone, Your Majesty is so kind to me. Being able to keep my title is worthy of my ancestors!" Jia Mu said with her eyes closed.

　Thank you all for your votes!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)