Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1013 Three Fires
The matter of the Li family being questioned was circulated in the elite circle for two days, and then it was replaced by two new incidents.After all, in the eyes of the rich and powerful in the capital, the Li family is really nothing.

Li Xu has been in Suzhou for 30 years, although it shows the favor of the former emperor, it also keeps the Li family away from the center of power.In addition, although there are many Li Xu brothers, there are no great talents to support each other, the descendants are withered, and there are few successful ones, which makes the Li family look weaker.

These two incidents are that Chen Menglei, a great scholar of Prince Cheng's family, was convicted and exiled to Heilongjiang;

This involved the powerful princes of the former emperor's period, and the two brothers of the new emperor, which naturally attracted the attention of the ruling and opposition parties, far beyond the reach of the Li family's influence.

The reactions of the third elder brother and the ninth elder brother are different.

Chen Menglei is nominally a disciple of Prince Cheng, but in fact he served Prince Cheng to study in his early years, and he was actually a teacher of the prince.

He became famous at a young age. He was a scholar at the age of 12, a scholar at the age of 19, and a scholar at the age of 20. He was the same year as Li Guangdi, the famous prime minister of the Kangxi Dynasty, and the two entered the Imperial Academy together.

After entering the Imperial Academy, he went back to his hometown in Fujian to visit his relatives. He caught up with Jingnan Wang Geng Jingzhong who raised troops against the Qing Dynasty in Fuzhou, recruited scholars, and forced them into the Fuzhou army tent.

Because his father was arrested, Chen Menglei had no choice but to enter the scene, but he was unwilling to follow the thief.

He said that he had an appointment with Li Guangdi who was also forced into Fuzhou. One of them was inside and the other was outside. He planned to ask the imperial court to send troops to suppress the rebellion.He also drafted a note asking the court to send troops.

Afterwards, Li Guangdi played the table alone, so he became famous in front of the imperial court, and started the road to fame; Chen Menglei was attacked by the Gunn rebellion after the San Francisco was pacified, and was imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Chen Menglei asked Li Guangdi to testify for him, but Li Guangdi refused.The lawsuit between the two went to the imperial court, and it became a mystery which was right and which was wrong.

Kangxi valued Li Guangdi's talent, and he was a courtier who defended himself; among the scholars, there were more people who sympathized with Chen Menglei.

Chen Menglei stayed in prison for two years. Xu Qianxue, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Justice at the time, was his same year.

He stayed in Fengtian for nearly 20 years, and he wrote a lot of books.

In the 37th year of Kangxi, when Kangxi visited the north, he loved his talent and called him to Beijing.

In the 25 years since he came to Beijing, apart from serving Prince Cheng to study, he has been repairing books at the book repairing place, away from the government.

It is really unkind for the new emperor to take this unlucky guy under the knife; Prince Cheng's performance in dealing with it is even more chilling.

For such a great Confucian who has no name as a teacher and a student, but has the reality of a teacher and a student, it is not difficult for Prince Cheng, as the emperor's brother, to come forward to ask for a favor.

No, not only did he not help, but he was also afraid of involving himself. He cooperated with the investigation of the Ministry of Criminal Justice and charged Chen Menglei with several crimes, calling Chen Menglei a "heinous" sinner.

Poor Prince Cheng, the good reputation he had accumulated among scholars after decades of study has disappeared.

Not only were the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Justice astonished, but even Yongzheng couldn't see it. He crossed off several serious charges, exempted Chen Menglei from the death penalty, and only sentenced him to exile in Heilongjiang.

Poor Chen Menglei, in his seventies, he started to go into exile again.

Everyone said that most of them felt sorry for Chen Menglei, and they were not ashamed of what Prince Cheng did.

Those who have a clear mind, think about the embarrassing situation of Prince Cheng, and understand why he is so careful, like a frightened bird.

Different from Prince Cheng's caution, Jiu Beizi showed no intention of restraining his temper at all.

Even if the new emperor ordered him to go to Xining, he would not delay, only saying that he would wait until the first emperor's hundred days of filial piety.

There is a word "filial piety" on it, which is justified. After the hundred days, will he go to Xining?
Now everyone is waiting, wanting to see if Jiu Beizi will be ordered to leave Beijing in February.

There are boring people who have secretly set up a game to bet on the result of the game between the new emperor and Jiu Beizi.

I believe that Jiu Beizi can win, and I feel that no matter how unbearable Jiu Beizi is, there is still a concubine's mother and a prince's brother; if the new emperor doesn't like it, he has to leave some room.

Those who are sure that the new emperor will win, feel that the current situation corresponds to the old saying, "A new official takes office with three fires".

Years ago, when the new emperor first came to the throne, he had to take care of the funeral of the former emperor, and the clan officials needed to be appeased, so it was natural to give him generous rewards.

Now, more than two months have passed, the new emperor has calmed down the situation, and some actions are normal.

Since it is an imperial decree, golden words, how can it be easily changed, can it be tolerated by Jiu Beizi once, and can it be tolerated by him to evade again?
Unexpectedly, the new emperor agreed to delay Jiu Beizi's departure from Beijing, and ordered Jiu Beizi's close attendant eunuch He Yuzhu to be arrested; at the same time, Zhang Qiyong, the chief eunuch of Yifei Palace, and 11 other people were arrested.

There are many crimes involved, such as going to the northeast to dig ginseng privately, colluding with foreign ministers, and seeking profit.

In the end, the twelve eunuchs had no family property and were exiled outside the pass.

No one among the rich and powerful in the capital will pay attention to the fate of a few eunuchs who have lost their power.In their view, this is the lesson the new emperor taught Jiubeizi to resist.

In addition to the dozen or so eunuchs, Qin Daoran, the chief steward of the Jiubeizi Mansion, was also questioned. Yongzheng ordered the governor of Liangjiang to investigate Qin Daoran's family property in Jiangnan, and to recover 10 taels of silver as military expenses for the Northwest.

In Yongzheng's eyes, apart from Jiu Beizi's disrespect, what he saw was the wealth of Beizi Mansion.He Yuzhu is just a lowly eunuch, with hundreds of thousands of property under his name, which can be seen from the wealth of Jiubeizi Mansion.

Those who are waiting to see the excitement of Jiubeizi will be disappointed.

Just as Prince Cheng didn't come forward to protect Chen Menglei, Jiu Beizi didn't come forward to protect Qin Daoran either. He just "sick" at home and didn't make trouble like Prince Cheng did.

On this day, Brother Nine was holding a jug in his hand, looking at the empty yard with drunken eyes.

Following He Yuzhu's questioning, Qin Daoran was arrested, and the atmosphere in Beizi Mansion became depressed.

The masters had no smiles on their faces, and the slaves were naturally cautious.

Brother Jiu sat on the steps in front of the porch, looked at the two naked pomegranate trees in front of him, sprinkled some of the wine pot in his hand on the ground, and murmured: "Huang Ama, Xiao Jiu is only now I can be a turtle!" After that, he lifted the jug and poured half of it into his mouth.

Some of the wine flowed onto his front, immediately adding a water stain, while some flowed down the corner of his mouth and into his neck, but he didn't realize it.

Looking at this desolate look, there is still no stubbornness and arrogance half a month ago.

The fifth elder brother stood a few steps away, looking at his appearance, he couldn't help but get red circles.

When Brother Nine heard the movement, he raised his head, feeling that the sun was dazzling.

He raised his arms to cover the sunlight, squinted his eyes at Fifth Elder Brother, stood up and said, "So it's Fifth Brother, I thought it was Tenth Brother... Yes, Tenth Brother has already gone to Mongolia, not in Beijing..."

Fifth elder brother saw that he was full of alcohol and could not stand still, stepped forward a few steps, held his arm, frowned and said: "Why do you eat cold wine outside, what is it to ruin your stature like this?"

Brother Jiu laughed at himself twice, and said in a low voice: "I really don't want to live like this. If I just go like this, it's mine..."

"Ninth brother!" Seeing that his words became more and more out of order, the fifth elder brother interrupted him sharply: "Mother and concubine will leave the house next month, you don't want to be happy, but instead say such ominous words, how decent!"

Ninth elder brother raised his head and looked at fifth elder brother fixedly, his face was already solemn: "Why should fifth elder brother deceive himself, the new emperor exiled me to Xining, is there any room for me not to go?" Evil, everything is rich. If you don’t want to go away, you will kill yourself. The escort will report to the local officials to inspect and burn it, and still send the bones to the place where they are dispatched. Who are these words spoken to? Brother Wu still doesn’t know Is it?"

After hearing this, Fifth Elder Brother turned pale and sighed faintly, as if he was more than ten years old, and said: "Since I let you go, you can go. After two years, when he calms down, I will ask for an order to bring you back." ..."

Looking at the loyal and slightly cowardly elder brother, Brother Jiu felt his throat was salty.

Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, he knew that he would not end well.He was not afraid, he was ready to not lose the prince's dignity, even if he was going to die, he would vent his anger and make Yongzheng feel bad.

However, just when Yongzheng couldn't wait to clean him up, his stupid brother ran to the emperor and knelt for a whole day.

Brother Jiu knew that he would not die.

Even if life is more difficult than death, for the sake of his brother and Er Niang, he is not qualified to die willfully...

*
Compared with the gloom and gloom of the Nine Princes' Mansion, the life of Cao's Mansion is calm.

Chu Yu received Cao Yong's instructions, and paid more and more attention to Li's diet and daily life.

After asking Xiuhe privately, knowing that Li Shi has been worrying about sleepiness and has no appetite recently, Chu Yu arranges medicinal meals for every meal and personally serves Li Shi to eat.

Seeing his daughter-in-law like this, Mrs. Li knew that he was worrying her son and daughter-in-law. Apart from eating all the food, she also took the initiative to ask the imperial physician to prescribe a sleeping prescription.

I don't know if it's really relieved, or caused by the medicine, Li Shi slept for a few times, and his spirit gradually eased up.

Even Mrs. Gao feels relieved when she sees her.

She thought that Li's haggardness before was caused by hard work, and advised her not to be too pampered, and don't always think about tying her little grandson Tianbao in front of her eyes.

Mrs. Li was also mentally exhausted. After listening to Gao Taijun's words, she told Chuyu to take Tianbao back to Wutong Garden to raise her, and asked her to pick out an empty yard for Changsheng to move there.

Chu Yu's heart was full of joy and surprise, but on second thought, there was no time for her mother-in-law to think wildly with the children in front of her; if the children all moved out, and her mother-in-law became sick with worries in the desert, it would be bad.

Thinking in this way, Chu Yu suppressed the idea of ​​bringing her son to her side, and said, "Uncle Qi has been talking about wanting his own yard since last year. Now that the old lady is speaking, I might be very happy. Tianbao, there is Please take good care of your daughter-in-law, the old lady, and take care of her for a while. Our eldest girl is starting to learn how to be a housekeeper these days, and she follows her like a little tail. It is necessary to take care of her, for fear that Tianbao will not be taken care of..."

In Li's heart, she was also reluctant to part with Tianbao.

When people get old, they are afraid of being deserted.

This big empty room, with the movement of the baby, also added life.

Therefore, after ordering the daughter-in-law, she regretted it a little.

Hearing Chuyu's words, he hurriedly said: "In that case, let Tianbao stay in my house... The eldest girl is ten years old, and she should also learn to know the world..." Speaking of this, I got excited: "What has she been studying these days?"

"I'm learning to recognize clothes materials and various embroidery patterns. Her eyesight is bad, so she can't handle a needle and thread, but it's not good that she doesn't know anything about female reds." Chu Yu said with a bit of distress.

Mrs. Li knew that she was worried about her daughter's future, so she comforted her: "With you and the master in pain, the eldest girl will definitely be blessed."

"According to the old lady's auspicious words." Chu Yu said: "The master has drawn up a teaching list and asked the daughter-in-law to follow the list. He has thought carefully and drawn up a lot of rules. If the eldest girl has learned everything according to the list, You won't suffer for the rest of your life."

"Oh?" After hearing this, Mrs. Li was a little curious: "It's the mother's responsibility to raise a daughter. Why does he think of mixing it up as an old man? What did he write?"

Chu Yu smiled and said: "There are many kinds of them. My daughter-in-law brought them specially, and asked the old lady to look at them." While speaking, she took out a folded paper from her sleeve and brought it to Mrs. Li with both hands.

Mrs. Li opened it, looked at it, and nodded with a smile, but then her expression became strange, she pointed to one place, and said, "Tell the girls to read "Hulu" from "Great Qing Law"...how should I say it?"

"Master said, girls from people like us who go out are all knowledgeable about books and etiquette, and they have their own rules for doing things. National laws and family rules come first, and family rules come last. Let the girls know the laws of the country so that they can act with restraint. In the inner courtyard, you can also have more vision." Chu Yu replied.

Because there is a set of "Laws of the Qing Dynasty" in the study room in Wutong Garden, which is a book that Cao Yong often reads.

So after Chuyu read this article, she specifically inquired about the content of "Hulu".

The contents of "House Law" are complex, and they are all laws and regulations related to life.From population and household registration, to land taxation, to marriage business, they are all mentioned.

If a girl who is married out of the house reads the "Law of the Household" familiarly, not to mention increasing her knowledge, she will not be easily deceived by her servants in the future when she is in charge of the house.

Mrs. Li nodded after listening to Chu Yu's words, and continued to read.

Although there are a lot of things to learn in this booklet, reading each of them clearly shows Cao Yong's love for his daughter.For example, the method of keeping accounts and checking accounts, the art of health preservation, and the tricks of keeping slaves.

"It's hard for him, there are many things in the yamen, but he can still think about the eldest girl's affairs so carefully." Li closed the booklet and said.

Chu Yu smiled and agreed: "Yes, compared with the master, the daughter-in-law's homework for the eldest girl seems petty. The master said that in the future, the daughters of the Cao family will teach them this way, and they will be raised to be self-respecting and self-improving. Don't let them suffer at the husband's house."

Speaking of this, she paused, and said: "There are several girls in the Dongfu, but now that the family is separated, it is hard to say anything. Look, old lady, do you want to give this booklet to Dongfu?" Send me a copy?"

Mrs. Li thought for a while, and said: "Fourth sister and fifth son, your aunt is determined to send her to the general election, and now she has specially invited the teaching mother, if we are troublesome, it will cause your aunt to make trouble... but two Girl and the third girl, you copy a copy for Jinghui, and you will definitely accept your affection..."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking when they saw Cao Yong pick up the curtain, with a bit of joy on his face: "Mother, there is good news today!"

Mrs. Li stopped talking, and said with some expectation: "What news?"

"The emperor formally decreed that the sixteenth prince will be crowned Prince Heshuozhuang!" Cao Yong said with a smile.

The sixteenth elder brother, mother and son have a close relationship with the Cao family. When Mrs. Li heard the news, she was really happy for it, and said with a smile: "Amitabha, this is really a happy event. After half a month of turmoil, the dust has finally settled..."

*
Historically, Zhang and He were convicted in December of Kangxi's 61st year, and Yongzheng also ordered the nine princes to go to Xining in the same month.

Khan, fell to sixth, three days of work, third to sixth, Xiao Jiu was sluggish.

(End of this chapter)