Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 120 Hidden Trend

After three days of sailing, the official ship was about to arrive at Huai'an, then pass through Baoying, Gaoyou, Yangzhou Guazhou Port, then go southeast to Zhenjiang, and then go down the river to Jinling Longtan Port.

Wu'er and Qingwen had rarely traveled far, let alone such a long voyage, so they were both very excited and excited.

The official ship they were on was a navigable ship, different from ordinary government cargo ships and warships. Apart from the officials' families on board, there were no other outsiders walking on the deck of the ship.

In the first two days, the two maids, in order to see the novelty, followed Jia Cong on the deck to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the river. Wu'er was more delicate after all, and after viewing the scenery for half a day, she felt a little seasick, so she stayed in the cabin and refused to go out.

Qingwen, on the other hand, had no taboos and was a straightforward and unrestrained person. Once on the boat, she was like a bird out of a cage, and she would stroll on the deck with Jia Cong every day.

"Third Master, how wide do you think this river must be? You can't even see the other side from this end. Only birds in the sky can fly across."

"The Yangtze River is several times wider than here, Qingwen. In many, many years, we will be able to build a huge bridge over it.

This type of bridge can span across the two banks and is divided into two levels, with horse-drawn carriages running on the bottom level and pedestrians on the top level.

"Third Master, there are such magical things in this world. Are they the strange stories you told Wu'er?"

Jia Cong said meaningfully: "Many things in this world are just stories at first, but they will become true stories after a long time."

Qingwen looked unconvinced: "Third Master, you are deceiving me again."

Jia Cong was surprised and asked, "When have I ever deceived you?"

Qingwen's pretty face turned red. Seeing that there was no one around, she said, "Last time you said that you could relax by leaning on me while combing your hair. I have heard the dirty talk of the maids in the garden. You said this with bad intentions."

Jia Cong suppressed his laughter and said, "Qingwen, why don't you learn something good? Why don't you eavesdrop on those dirty talk of the old women? In the future, follow me and read more books and write more. You are no better than them."

The window on the second floor of the ship was pushed open, revealing a pretty face as beautiful as a rose, and next to it was a little maid with lively eyes.

"Miss, look, that's the Rongguo Mansion Fengyilang that has been rumored recently. Look how handsome he is."

The young lady covered her mouth and laughed, "What are you talking about, girl? You are not ashamed of talking about handsomeness or not."

The maid Ruizhu didn't care and said, "Look at him. He's on a mission for the Emperor, but he brings two pretty girls with him. They chat and laugh on the deck every day. How frivolous."

"Young Master of the Duke's Mansion, it's normal to have some pomp and circumstance. When I follow my mother to my grandparents' home in Jinling, don't I take you with me? No, you are so sour when you say this. Do you wish you were that maid?"

"Miss, you are making fun of me again."

Even with the windows on the second floor closed, one could still vaguely hear the young lady's sweet laughter and the maid's embarrassed and angry voice.

Although there were these relaxing episodes during the sailing days, most of the time was dull. After looking at the river view for a few days, even Qingwen began to feel a little bored.

That day, Qin Ye asked the maid to invite Jia Cong to talk. This time, both of them came to Jinling because of the matter of Da Ci'en Temple, so they could be considered colleagues.

But after hearing these words, Jia Cong felt that compared with his position as an eighth-rank Fengyilang, Qin Ye cared more about his identity as a son of Rongguo Mansion.

In the original timeline, Qin Ye not only married his daughter to the Ningguo Mansion, but also did everything he could to get his son to study at Jia Family Charity School.

Jia Family Charity School is not a place for studying at all. What can Jia Dairu, that poor old student, teach? He can only provide him with enough food and clothing.

That charity school hadn't produced any students for decades. Back then, Jia Zhu and Jia Jing didn't study in the charity school, but studied at the Imperial Academy under the supervision of the imperial tutor.

With Qin Ye's identity, he could find out all these things clearly as long as he asked a little.

He even forced his son into the Jia family school to study. An official who had passed both the imperial examinations and the imperial examinations scraped together twenty-four taels of silver and asked an old student to accept his son as an apprentice.

It seems so absurd no matter how you look at it, but the reason is nothing more than wanting to curry favor with the powerful.

Qin Zhong entered the Jia family charity school, but unexpectedly, he learned the bad habits of a playboy from Baoyu and Jia Rong, and eventually died of illness due to his debauchery with Zhineng.

Besides, with Qin Ye's status, it was impossible for him to be completely unaware of the debauched nature of the Ningguo Mansion, yet he still sent his beautiful daughter there.

He was so tired that his two children were killed by this luxurious mansion, and he himself died of illness. It was all his own fault.

Now, all these have not happened yet. There are many kinds of people in this world, and it has nothing to do with Jia Cong. He just felt a lot of sympathy for Qin Keqing. In the past, she was only described in words, but the glimpse of her in the dock was too stunning to see her in person. Such an outstanding woman had to step into the dirty.

……

However, Jia Cong still learned a lot of useful information from the conversation with Qin Ye.

What he was most concerned about these days was the chaos caused by the Japanese fleet in Nanjing. Qu Hongxiu came to inform him before he set off, which showed that this matter had a significant impact.

It just so happened that Qin Ye knew about this matter in detail, because he went to Jinling to coordinate the construction of Da Ci'en Temple. Such a major event in Jinling city might affect the construction period of the temple.

Therefore, before he set out, Li Dekang, the Vice Minister of Works, had reported the matter in detail to the emperor and explained to him the actions taken in the court, so that he would have a clear idea of ​​what to do in Nanjing.

Jia Zheng, who was also in the Ministry of Works, knew very little about the matter because he could not attend court and had no official business to deal with. Therefore, Jia Cong had no idea about this matter until Qu Hongxiu reminded him.

According to Qin Ye, Emperor Jiazhao was furious after receiving the urgent report from the Jinling Guard.

We have dispatched 800-li-long swift cavalry to order the Jinling Jinling Jinyiwei Qianhu Division to arrest the eunuch Wang En, who was in charge of the Maritime Customs and who had accepted bribes and instigated the trade dispute, and put him in prison pending investigation and conviction.

He also issued an edict ordering the second prince, Prince Ning Li Chongrui, to go to Nanjing to handle the matter with full authority.

Prince Ning and his entourage had set out for Nanjing two days earlier than them.

This incident caused a huge uproar in the court, and conservative ministers wrote to the court one after another, saying that the Japanese barbarians were poorly clothed, their clothes were no taller than a bamboo stool, and they were so poor that they could hardly make a living.

The imperial court allowed them to trade and provided them with food and necessities, which was already a great favor from heaven. Yet they were ungrateful and killed court officials and massacred innocent people. If they are not brought to justice, where will the dignity of the imperial court be?

He also asked the emperor to return to the ancestral system, abolish the Maritime Customs Office, and re-seal the border seas to ensure the safety of the 3,000-mile sea border and the safety of millions of people in several states.

The dispute over the expansion and confinement of borders in the court once again became more and more heated, with the new and old factions chattering endlessly, making the emperor very annoyed.

In order to gather detailed information and prevent the emperor from being deaf to the rumors, it is said that the emperor has secretly sent spies from the Imperial Chariot Division to the south of the Yangtze River.

Two years ago, Jia Cong heard from his teacher Liu Jing'an that natural disasters had occurred frequently in the Great Zhou in recent years, the climate had become increasingly abnormal, grain harvests in Huguang and Liangzhe had been declining year after year, and people's lives were becoming increasingly difficult.

In order to ease the pressure of governing the country, the emperor went against the opposition of many people, reopened the sea borders, and promoted trade with the white barbarians in the distant seas, so as to bring wealth to the people and improve people's livelihood.

The Maritime Customs Offices were also opened in Jinling, Ningbo and Fuzhou. In the past two years, the people's livelihood in the five coastal areas has been greatly improved due to the huge profits brought by the expansion of borders.

Although the troubles caused by pirates and Japanese pirates increased as the trade in the sea grew, Emperor Jiazhao viewed it as just a minor incident and should not stop the plan to open up the sea.

However, in the court, there were only a few ministers who shared the same ideas as Emperor Jiazhao, and most of them were still supporters of the ancestral system of banning the sea.

This time, the rebellion caused by the Japanese in the Nanjing Maritime Customs Office cast a shadow over the policy of opening up the sea, which had just begun to improve, and made it precarious again.

The emperor sent a prince to handle the matter openly, and secretly sent spies from the Imperial Chariot Division to collect intelligence.

The battle between the two new and old ideas is about to begin again.

In Jia Cong's later understanding, Emperor Jia Zhao's understanding of maritime affairs was quite forward-looking.

In the previous life of Zhu Ming, the sea borders were always in a fluctuating state of being opened and closed from time to time.

In the early Qing Dynasty, out of caution against Zheng's family in Taiwan, the maritime ban policy became increasingly stringent, and there was even a saying that no sail was allowed to go to sea. For nearly a hundred years thereafter, the maritime policy was in a rigid and conservative state.

This prevented the budding handicraft industry in China from fully developing, and it lost the opportunity to integrate with Western scientific knowledge and technology, leading to China's backwardness and humiliation for more than a hundred years.

Let those barbarians from the outer seas have a chance to shout that the truth is only within the range of cannons.

Now, in this branch of time, history seems to be beginning to follow a similar track. Will millions of Chinese people have to enter the same vortex of suffering in the next few hundred years?

Jia Cong discovered that this trip to Jinling had exposed him to huge changes hidden and unknown in this world.

(End of this chapter)