Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 307 Inheritance and Marriage

Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall.

Daiyu, Tanchun, Xichun and other sisters came over to pay their respects to Lady Jia and were chatting with her.

The maid outside came to report that Master Jing from the East Palace and his brothers were outside the second gate asking to see the old lady.

Daiyu and other sisters left the hall to avoid the situation. Only Tanchun was quick-witted and vaguely knew that the matter was related to her third brother, so she hid behind a screen to listen to the noise.

Ever since it was widely rumored in the capital that Jia Cong had made great contributions in Liaodong.

Jia Jing and Jia Xiao, who were trying to get Jia Cong to inherit Ningguo, were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

Because of rumors outside, Jia Cong's military achievements this time are much greater than the last time, and the emperor is very likely to reward him with a title.

Originally, since Jia Cong was a fifth-rank official, it was somewhat difficult for him to inherit Ningguo. If he had a title, it would be even more impossible.

Even if Lady Jia agreed, even the palace would not agree. It would be a disgrace to the royal family for a nobleman to inherit another clan.

The best plan for now is to let Jia Cong inherit the throne of Ningguo before he is granted the title, so as to avoid any further complications.

Jia Jing had been troubled by the fact that his son had lost the title of Ningguo. He was eager like a madman for Jia Cong to inherit the title and regain it, and he did not want to miss this last opportunity.

In the past few days, he had long thrown away his reserved attitude as a hermit and went to Rongguo Mansion almost every day to lobby Lady Jia.

……

Grandmother Jia now gets a headache whenever she sees Jia Jing. She had originally agreed to let Jia Cong inherit Ningguo. After all, this was the only way to restore Ningguo's title.

But as news came from outside, it was said that Jia Cong would most likely be granted a title for his contribution this time, and in addition, so many strange people came to congratulate him these days.

Even the Empress Dowager gave gifts to Jia Cong, which was almost a precursor to his enthronement. Grandmother Jia began to regret having agreed to the inheritance too early.

If Jia Cong is conferred a title this time, the Rongguo Mansion will have two titles in one family. That is an honor that one cannot wait for in several lifetimes. How honorable it would be!
Although according to Jia's grandmother's estimation, Jia Cong was only fourteen years old, even if he was awarded a title for his meritorious service, he would only be a viscount.

But even if he was a viscount, he was still a nobleman in the imperial court. It was the first time for such a young age to be a viscount since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, so he was still extremely precious.

Although Grandmother Jia was not close to Jia Cong, she knew that this boy was a treasure trove and she was reluctant to throw him away.

But Jia Jing was a man in his fifties and he kept nagging her every day, which almost drove Grandmother Jia mentally crazy.

She thought that the Ning and Rong mansions had been closely connected for nearly a hundred years, and now was the only chance for the Ningguo mansion to regain its title. If she agreed and then went back on her word, she would lose face.

I was afraid that I would be criticized by the relatives of the Eight Houses of Shenjing and the Twelve Houses of Jinling until my death, so I compromised in my heart.

Grandmother Jia said to Jia Jing in a bad mood, "Brother Jing, you know what I'm thinking. Forget it, forget it. I'll have someone write the document and send it to the clan house tomorrow.

Report to the clan officials that Cong Ge'er will inherit the throne. When he returns to the capital, I will allow him to enter the ancestral temple to worship the ancestors, and the matter will be settled. You will be satisfied now, right?"

Jia Jing was delighted when he heard this: "If the old lady says so, there is nothing better. But now Cong is becoming more and more outstanding, and I am afraid he may not be willing to do it."

When Grandmother Jia heard this, her eyes widened and she said, "What are you talking about? Even if he is made a duke, I am still his grandmother. Filial piety and etiquette are there, and he cannot disobey me!"

Tanchun, who was behind the screen, turned pale when she heard this. Her third brother was the most capable son of the Rongguo Mansion. It was not easy for him to fight for his life at the border and win military exploits.

Why should it be treated like an object and given away to be inherited by others at their discretion? This is too unfair!
She stamped her feet in anger, and hurriedly left Rongqing Hall to discuss the matter with her sisters in the garden.

……

Rongguo Mansion, East Courtyard, Yingsong Hall.

Recently, Sun Shaozu's visits to the Jia Mansion have suddenly become more frequent.

In fact, Jia She now has a headache seeing him, because he had accepted five thousand taels of silver and originally wanted to help him find a real position in the Ministry of War in Shenjing.

Relying on the Jia family's connections in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, it should not be a problem to help him get a minor official of the sixth or seventh rank in the capital.

Unexpectedly, with the frequent reports of victory in the Liaodong war, the number of candidates for promotion vacancies reported to the Ministry of War has suddenly increased.

The number of vacancies controlled by the Ministry of War is limited, and most of the candidates reported this time are people who have participated in actual combat or even made meritorious contributions.

In addition, after the predecessor is promoted, the selection of successors is basically from among the officers in office.

Now that Liaodong has won a great victory, the promotions and transfers of relevant officers are matters of public attention. No one cares about corruption or bribery at this juncture, otherwise they will be courting death.

People like Sun Shaozu who had vacant positions and no qualifications or achievements were excluded first.

Moreover, the Minister of War Gu Yankui was inspecting the nine frontiers and found fraud and illegal activities in the army in Datong Town, and also seized evidence and criminals in the army. At present, in the eyes of the Ministry of War, people related to the Datong military are taboo. Sun Shaozu is not only an empty position, but also a hereditary descendant of Datong.

The people that Jia She had made friends with did not want to run into such bad luck, so they naturally declined Jia She's request for a favor.

Therefore, Jia She was destined to be unable to do what Sun Shaozu asked him to do. Under such circumstances, it would be better for him to see the other party less often to avoid embarrassment.

Moreover, he received five thousand taels of silver from the other party. In the past two years, he sold contraband items to the north. Although he made a lot of money, it was not the kind of situation where he made a fortune every day.

At least compared with Jia Cong's incense shop with an annual income of 50,000 taels of silver, it is far inferior.

Besides, Jia She has had some money in the past two years, and he has been spending it without restraint. He even married several concubines. In fact, he doesn't have much savings.

Therefore, the five thousand taels of silver from Sun Shaozu was not a small sum for Jia She.

Now that the task had not been completed, Jia She originally wanted to return the silver to the owner, but he was a greedy person who always took in money and never spent it, so he was reluctant to return the silver.

He thought he could just avoid him if they didn't meet more often, but this guy came to his house frequently recently. Jia She privately believed that Sun Shaozu must have known that his chance of getting the position was hopeless and wanted to come and ask for the money back.

……

However, this was Jia She's excessive speculation. Although Sun Shaozu had learned from other channels that Jia She had no hope of helping him find a job, he still felt a little sorry for the five thousand taels of silver.

But he has been coming to the house frequently recently, not to ask for the money back, but for other reasons.

Ever since the news came from Liaodong that Jia Cong had wiped out the Jurchens in one battle, word spread everywhere in the capital that Jia Cong had made such a great contribution this time that the emperor would definitely issue an edict to confer him a title.

This news made Sun Shaozu's heart burn with excitement. He knew that the title of Rongguo Mansion was inherited by Jia She, and now Jia She was a first-class general.

Originally, Sun Shaozu still looked down on Jia She in his heart, because he knew that although Jia She inherited the title, he did not inherit the family business, and he could not get much of the Jia family's property.

But now that he has a son like Jia Cong, things are very different.

If Jia Cong was also awarded a title for his merits, then his family would have two titles, with father and son equally noble. There would be no other family like this in the entire Great Zhou. What an honor that would be.

Moreover, it is said that Jia Cong is only fourteen or fifteen years old, but he has already passed the imperial examination and won the top prize, and is also very outstanding in literary affairs.

Now he has made military achievements and is a man of both civil and military skills. He is truly an extraordinary person. He can be granted a title at such a young age. If he gets older, I'm afraid he can reach even higher levels.

If he could have a relationship with such a person, Sun Shaozu would have a strong backer in Shenjing in the future.

From that day on, he had been racking his brains to figure out how to get involved with Jia She and Jia Cong, so his recent frequent visits to Jia She were just trying to find an opportunity.

When he went in and out of the Jia family, he also spent a lot of money to make friends with Qin Xian, the manager of the East Courtyard. As a result, he actually got some useful information for him in the past two days.

According to Qin Xian, Jia She has a concubine daughter, the second daughter of Rongguo Mansion. She is now over the age of marriage and is currently discussing marriage.

Originally, Sun Shaozu was the legitimate son of a hereditary military family, and logically he would not marry a concubine's daughter as his wife.

However, on the one hand, the Jia family was of higher status than their Sun family, and secondly, he wanted to curry favor with the Jia family and Jia Cong's wealth and power, so he did not care so much.

The most important point, according to Qin Xian, is that Jia Cong and the second young lady are brothers from the same father and have a very deep sister-brother relationship. Jia Cong cherishes and values ​​this sister the most.

Now that he could marry the second young lady, his relationship with Jia Cong would be the closest. It would not be difficult for him to gain a foothold and serve as an official in the capital in the future.

When Jia She saw Sun Shaozu coming again today, he knew he could not escape.

He gritted his teeth and said, "My dear nephew, I'm afraid that your job search in the Ministry of War may be a little difficult to handle recently..."

Sun Shaozu smiled and said, "Don't worry, uncle. I heard that Liaodong won a great victory recently, and the Ministry of War gave away a lot of vacancies. This is also unavoidable, but you can't blame me, uncle."

Seeing Sun Shaozu so sensible, Jia She was happy: "It's good that my nephew is so understanding. After this difficult period, I will help my nephew to make plans."

Sun Shaozu smiled and said, "There is no rush to seek a position. I have been in the capital for many days and there are many people praising the Rong family. I admire the noble family of Rong."

Seeing Sun Shaozu hesitate to speak, Jia She frowned slightly and asked, "My dear nephew, if you have anything to say, just speak frankly. The Sun and Jia families are old friends, so there is no need to be polite."

"In that case, I will speak frankly. I am currently unmarried and I admire your second daughter very much and would like to marry her.

If you can help me, I will ask a good matchmaker to marry you, and I will go through the three ceremonies and six certificates to marry you as my principal wife."

Jia She was stunned when he heard this. He never thought that Sun Shaozu actually wanted to marry Yingchun...

(End of this chapter)