Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 259: Planning to Join the Army

The ferry crossing on the west side of the Liuyang River in the capital.

Some time ago, Jia Cong saw off Qu Hongxiu and Qin Keqing here.

Today he has to see Zhou Guangcheng off here again.

Zhou Guangcheng was one of the five orphans taken in by Qu Hongxiu back then.

In recent years, he and another young man named Wang Dequan have been responsible for running a perfume workshop outside the city.

The clerk in Xiuniang's perfume shop was called Liu Ping, the servant beside Jia Cong was called Jiang Liu, and the other one was Keqing's maid Baozhu.

Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu originally opened the Xiuniang Incense Shop with the intention of finding a way to make a living for these orphans.

The construction of Xiuniang Incense Shop from scratch was the result of several years of hard work by people like them. To Jia Cong, they are the most trustworthy people.

Zhou Guangcheng was only one year younger than Jia Cong. He was very careful and smart, and also very courageous.

Otherwise, Jia Cong would not have let him do such a thing.

Jia Cong asked, "Have you finished all the work on hand?"

"Brother Cong, don't worry. I have destroyed all the clothes used by the peddler."

"The waiter who served food at Chunhualou was knocked unconscious by me from behind. He didn't see my face."

"Brother Cong, there is one thing I'm very curious about. How did you know that Prince Beijing has such a habit? He loves to eat the Longjiang Eight Treasures Stew from Chunhualou, and he always asks Chunhualou to deliver the dishes to his door when he serves a banquet."

Jia Cong laughed and said, "All these nobles are very particular about food, so it is normal for them to be particularly particular about this.

I have a friend who often goes to Chunhualou for banquets. He heard about this from the waiter there. My friend is a famous scholar in the capital, and happened to be invited to this poetry banquet. "

Jia Cong did not tell Zhou Guangcheng that his friend was He Jizhen, who was famous in the capital for his bamboo painting and was known as He Qingzhu.

He Jizhen also inadvertently mentioned that there were many people from Wuzhou among the people invited this time. This was not surprising, as Wuzhou was a major province for imperial examinations and had always produced many famous scholars.

Zhou Guangcheng suddenly realized, "No wonder you asked me to keep an eye on Chunhua Tower that day. After I entered the palace, the guards looked at my food box and let me into the Poetry Banquet Hall."

"I was delivering something, so I paid attention to the clerk you mentioned. I pretended to have taken the wrong path, passed by him, and deliberately knocked over the manuscript on the table."

When Jia Cong participated in the Nanxi Literary Gathering, he served as a recorder. Naturally, he was very familiar with this kind of literary gatherings and poetry banquets. All the poetry manuscripts were copied and collected by the recorder.

"I helped him pick up the manuscripts of poems on the ground and mixed your poem in. The clerk was only concerned with complaining about me and didn't notice it at all..."

In fact, this is not surprising. In that situation, who would care about a reckless restaurant errand boy, let alone think that he could do such a thing.

Jia Cong smiled and said, "I just asked you to give it a try that day, but I didn't expect you to actually do it."

"Although the matter was done in secret, you have shown your face in Prince Beijing's Palace after all. To be on the safe side, you should leave Shenjing for a while."

"Sister Xiu is in charge of all matters related to Xinchunhao in Jinling. Xinchunhao needs to establish a solid foundation in Jiangnan and is in need of capable personnel..."

……

Watching Zhou Guangcheng's boat gradually sailing out of the dock, the last connection with the presumptuous short poem also disappeared in the Shenjing City.

As for that presumptuous poem, it involves a king of a different surname. Given the suspicious nature of that supreme ruler, the spies from the Imperial Chariot Division must get to the bottom of it.

But the most they could find out was that the Qingke who was in charge of recording things could not have been aware of Zhou Guangcheng's existence.

Now that Zhou Guangcheng has left Shenjing, there is even less trace to be found.

Of course, there is also the guy who was knocked unconscious in Chunhualou. He will realize that something is wrong.

However, the dishes ordered by Prince Beijing’s Palace were lost, and no one from the palace came to investigate.

The owner of the restaurant is a businessman, and reputation is very important to him. Since the victim did not come to him, he naturally kept his mouth shut and pretended nothing had happened.

At most, you can scold the unlucky guy.

Such mundane matters are more likely to be ignored and covered up by all kinds of strange reasons.

In this way, the last flaw in this matter disappeared. When Jia Cong went to the Ministry of War yesterday, he heard that Minister Gu was summoned to the palace by the emperor to discuss the handling of the Liaodong border crisis.

I also heard that Prince Beijing was prevented from entering the palace to defend himself.

In Jia Cong's view, this was a very obvious signal.

This means that everything he has done has taken effect, and the expected situation may occur soon.

……

After a period of trial and error, the firearms workshop produced the first batch of 200 qualified porcelain bomb shells.

All specifications are even better than those of the first batch of fifty sample porcelain mine shells.

Operational standards have also been established for other steps such as dispensing, filling, twisting, and packaging.

By the end of September, the first batch of 200 qualified finished porcelain mines were finally produced. After testing, they were found to be 20% more powerful than the 50 sample mines.

Once the specifications from test mines to cost mines are determined, the subsequent processes will be much smoother, and it will be no problem to complete 3,000 qualified porcelain mines before the end of December.

……

Jia Cong's petition to purchase ten new Portuguese cannons was approved by Emperor Jiazhao on the third day after it was submitted.

The Fire Inspectorate was in charge of all matters related to the purchase of the artillery, and the place of entry and delivery of the artillery was the Maritime Customs Port.

Ten steel cannons were purchased, two of which were transported to the Shenjing Firearms Department for the purpose of simulation and imitation.

The remaining eight Portuguese cannons were transported by the Jinling Water Conservancy Administration along the coastal route to Dengzhou Port, and then transported to the Liaodong border town for installation.

Almost at the same time, after being recommended by various ministries in court, the cabinet drafted an edict, and the emperor approved it with his own hand, the Minister of War Gu Yankui was appointed as the commander of nine provinces, and he would soon inspect the nine borders.

Although Prince Beijing Shui Rong was frustrated, Emperor Jia Zhao did not make things difficult for him.

The presumptuous poem at the Qiu Ju Poetry Banquet provided the emperor with an opportunity, but after it played its role, it seemed to be quickly forgotten.

But after Shui Rong, he could only continue to drink and chat, and seek a sense of existence among the famous people on the sea.

I'm afraid that in the Jiazhao Dynasty, it would be unlikely for him to become a rising star among the four kings and eight dukes, or to be involved in military and national affairs.

Shortly after the imperial edict appointing Gu Yankui as the commander-in-chief of nine provinces was issued.

Among the Five Military Camps and Three Thousand Camps in Shenjing, several old generals from the Beijing King's faction were transferred to serve as officials in various garrisons for various reasons.

It is said that the instigator was not Emperor Jiazhao, but the nobles who served as the chief officers in various camps. They saw that Prince Beijing would never be able to rise again because of his usurpation of the poem.

One was to show his loyalty to Emperor Jiazhao, and at the same time to take advantage of the decline of Prince Beijing's royal favor and occupy his original power space in the army.

This was the unexpected gain when Jia Cong wrote that presumptuous poem.

……

After Gu Yankui was appointed as the commander-in-chief of nine provinces, he had a discussion with Jia Cong, the minister of war, on the reorganization of military equipment and the deployment of firearms in border towns.

Soon after the incident, Gu Yankui recommended Jia Cong to Emperor Jiazhao as the counselor of the nine-province border patrol, to participate in the deployment of firearms in the nine important border towns.

After completing the production of the scheduled firearms at the Firearms Workshop, he accompanied the Nine Provincial Commanders to inspect the nine important border towns.

Jia Cong refused to participate in Prince Beijing's invitation to win him over, and also refused to submit a memorial about the purchase of Portuguese cannons, which left a good impression on the emperor that he was concerned about state affairs.

The original wait-and-see attitude and concerns about him have been greatly reduced.

Gu Yankui's recommendation was quickly approved by the emperor.

The so-called border patrol counselor is just a secretary and assistant to the nine provincial border patrol entourage.

But for a newcomer who had just entered the officialdom, it was already a great respect and achievement, equivalent to stepping into the threshold of military and national affairs.

(End of this chapter)