Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1014

In a blink of an eye, it's February.

The willows by the moat sprouted new buds, and the spring cold receded.Since Cao Jia received the news of her husband's return to Beijing, she had been counting the days, it was about to arrive, and sent people out of the city to greet her every day.

After more than a month's long journey, Naersu, king of Riping County, arrived in Beijing.

After meeting with the stewards of the palace, Neersu asked them to bring their soldiers and luggage back to the palace, while he himself got out of the carriage and rode a horse to pass a sign outside the palace to ask His Majesty to see him.

The steward who came to welcome the Marquis was surprised to see that apart from the prince's carriage, the other carts were loaded with luggage.

When Na Ersu left, the steward looked for his own nephew, a long follower that Na Ersu was used to, and asked in a low voice: "Didn't you say that you have two aunts by your side?"

The long follower said: "Second uncle, she is just a girl who waits on the master's daily life, how can she be called an aunt? Let alone bring it back, let Fujin listen carefully, and feel uncomfortable."

After hearing this, the steward asked doubtfully, "Didn't you say that a little Gege was added?"

The long follower shook his head and said: "It's just Miss Qingxia's niece, let me see it, and it's rare to stay by my side for a few days."

After hearing this, the steward couldn't help being stunned.

Since Fujin got the news, he made a special trip to send a lot of things to Xining.This time when he heard that the prince was back, he also cleaned up Xiao Gege's house.

Then listen to the Chang Sui laughing and saying: "My lord has always loved Fujin, why didn't he save some face for Fujin, and brought people from outside back to Beijing? That girl Qingxia has served the lord for several years, she is gentle and obedient, there is no fault at all; Hongxia The girl is very beautiful, and she is a delicate beauty. I heard that the master sent them home. Miss Qingxia was going to twist her hair to be a sister-in-law, and Miss Hongxia was crying, making trouble and hanging herself. It was so lively. Guess what happened to the master? They asked someone to find an aunt to come to the door and let Miss Qingxia take care of herself; they also asked someone to pass on Miss Hongxia's parents, who directly gave 500 taels of silver, saying that it was for Miss Hongxia's funeral. As a result, both girls Be honest, obediently go home with your parents and relatives."

The steward listened, stroked his beard, didn't say much, just felt that the prince treated Fujin so kindly, and it was not in vain for Fujin to work so hard to manage the internal and external affairs of the palace...

*
Forbidden City, Hall of Mental Cultivation, Dongnuan Pavilion.

Hearing the servant's report, Emperor Yongzheng was in a good mood when King Naersu of Pingjun asked His Majesty to see him.

Today, he formally invited the Empress Dowager to "Yizhi" to make his concubine Nala the Empress of the Central Palace, and he has already ordered the Ministry of Rites to prepare for the establishment of the Empress.

On the auspicious day, when the queen is formally established, the female family members of Prince Yong's mansion will move to live in the palace, and the concubines will be divided.

Whether it's Nala, the wife he respects in his heart, or Nian, who has loved Zheng deeply in recent years, Yongzheng is happy to let his women share his honor.

"Xuan!" He said loudly after reading Naersu's excerpt.

After a while, Na Ersu came in with the servant, and Yongzheng suppressed the smile on his face.

"Slave Naersu respectfully welcomes the emperor's blessing!" Naersu came in and saluted respectfully.

Yongzheng raised his eyebrows, but didn't call out immediately: "When will you arrive in Beijing? Is this journey going to be peaceful?"

"If you want to go back to the emperor, the slave didn't enter the city at the beginning of the afternoon (one o'clock in the afternoon), so he went directly to the palace to ask for an audience. The journey was fine, but when passing through Taiyuan, the road was blocked by heavy snow, and the road was delayed for a few days." Naersu replied.

Yongzheng nodded, asked a few more questions about military affairs in the Northwest, and ordered Naersu to kneel down for one month's leave.

Naersu thanked him for his grace and withdrew.

From the small table at hand, Yongzheng picked up a thick booklet, which densely recorded the movements of Naersu in the northwest for seven years.

The reason why he was able to summon Naersu calmly was because of the secret document in his hand.

In this notebook, there are a few words written, "The king and the general are not at peace", and there are also the causes and consequences of Naersu's friction with the fourteenth elder brother in the northwest for several years.

After putting down this notebook, he picked up another one, which was to record the movement in the capital.

The relationship between Pingjun Wang Fujin and Fourteen Fujin gradually ceased contact with their husbands in the Northwest due to the tense relationship.Even the relationship between Fu Peng and Hong Ming has changed from close to distant.

It is for this reason that when Yongzheng summoned the fourteenth elder brother to return to Beijing for the funeral, he was relieved to hand over the military affairs of the Northwest to Naersu; now that he is called back to Beijing, it is not because of doubting him, but because he has decided to negotiate peace and end the war in the Northwest .

"I hope that Nian Gengyao will clear up the Northwest military affairs soon!" Yongzheng said in his heart.

He has already decreed that the old and weak soldiers in the northwest should return to their original camps, and only elite soldiers can guard them.

The people sent to the Zhungeer peace talks set off from the capital as early as years ago, and after calculating the itinerary, they should also arrive in front of the Northwest Army.

"There is no money in the imperial court..." Yongzheng was silent for a long time, pointing to the crispy cheese on the kang table, and said to Chen Fu who was standing beside him: "I will pass on my will, Brother Sixteen has worked hard, and I will give you a bowl of crispy cheese .”

"Hey!" Chen Fu bowed to accept the order, and went down holding the crispy cheese.

Retreating to the outside room, Chen Fu called a little eunuch in a low voice, took the food box and yellow silk, put the crispy cheese away, and asked someone to carry it out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

*
To the west of the Forbidden City, Prince Zhuang's Mansion, West Road Garden.

Looking at the pavilions, towers, lakes, stones and rockery in front of him, Cao Yong sighed: "The royal palace in the capital city has such a big garden. Master Sixteen is the only one!"

Brother Sixteen said proudly, "What is this? Come with me, there are good things here."

Cao Yong followed him, bypassing the rockery in front of him, and walked through a shallow lake to the south of the garden.

Before I got there, there was a faint fragrance of flowers coming with the wind, and I saw two blooming magnolias.Now is the blooming period. On each magnolia tree, there are hundreds of magnolia flowers blooming. The flowers are purple with white and very delicate.

"What a big magnolia tree, it looks like it has been around for some years." Cao Yong raised his head and said.

Magnolia is a spring flower, and it is a common flower in the capital. The orchid courtyard of Cao Mansion planted one.It's just that trees of this age and color are rare.

Brother Sixteen nodded and said, "It was transplanted from Tanzhe Temple in Xishan when the palace was first built. I heard that it was planted in the previous dynasty, and the tree is over a hundred years old."

"With these two magnolias, the spring scenery of this garden is enough to see." Cao Yong said with some envy.

Cao's mansion also has a garden, but because of the limited space in the house, it is only half an mu of land, so some common plants and trees can be planted.

The sixteenth elder brother supported the tree trunk, looked up at the gorgeous magnolia, and said with a bit of melancholy: "Er Niang loves magnolia the most. As a son, I am not qualified to invite her to enjoy it."

"It's hard to have both in the world, Master Sixteen should take it easy. The empress is still young, there is always a chance to descend to Master Sixteen, and reunite mother and child." Cao Yong persuaded.

Elder Sixteen turned around, looked around, saw no one, Fang whispered: "These days my conscience is broken, and I also hope... hope that Lao Fujin will be earlier... It's really a bad idea, so unfilial and disrespectful." Righteousness, it will damage the fortune. In the future, I should find opportunities to enter the palace a few more times, and the rest can only go with the flow... "

Seeing that the sixteenth elder brother understood in his heart, Cao Yong didn't say any more, but said: "What the empress is looking forward to is that the sixteenth master will live a good life. As long as the sixteenth master is at ease, the empress is also at ease in the palace. "

Brother Sixteen nodded and said: "By the way, a few days ago, Er Niang gave me some of his body, and asked me to exchange it into silver and save it in three parts. One part is for Brother Fifteen, and one part is for me. , and the other one is for the Li family. In Eriang's heart, she is thinking of the Li family's favor."

After hearing this, Cao Yong remembered something and said, "Master Sixteen, have you checked all the treasury?"

"After checking, it can't be said that the wealth is incomparable to the country, and it is also the first part of the capital's palace. Not counting antique jewelry, just talking about gold and silver money, there are 12 taels of gold, 1201 million taels of silver, and more than [-] copper coins." The sixteenth elder brother said.

For this figure, Cao Yong is not surprised.

Prince Zhuang's Mansion was originally Prince Chengze's Mansion. The first king was Shuosai, the father of Bo Guoduo and the fifth son of Emperor Taizong.He once followed Duoduo, Azig and others to the south of the Central Plains to open up territories for the Qing Dynasty.

The wealth accumulated at that time was not spent in time, and Shuo Sai died young.

Then Bo Guoduo inherited the throne and changed his title to "Prince Zhuang" in charge of the palace for more than 60 years.

For more than 70 years, two generations of princes, the wealth accumulated by this prince's mansion, one can imagine how rich it must be.

"How to be filial to the palace, how much filial piety, have you made up your mind?" Cao Yong asked.

The reason why Yongzheng let the sixteenth elder brother inherit the title, apart from Jia En, is probably because he is also staring at this large amount of wealth of the palace.

Speaking of this, Brother Sixteen hesitated, and said: "I'm not greedy for anything, I just want to leave some money for Lao Fujin's private house, as well as money for Lao Fujin's important affairs... The nephew and grandnephew of the old prince, also It’s not good to let them lose both silver and noble titles..."

Elder Sixteen is a kind person, he only feels that even though he is a nobleman, he is somewhat sorry for the old prince's nephews and grandnephews, and wants to make up for it.

Seeing him like this, Cao Yong shook his head and said: "No, it's okay to talk about other things. It's better for the Sixteenth Lord not to be self-confident about money. Even if he wants to grant favors, he should not be the Sixteenth Master. "

Elder Sixteen is also thoughtful, after listening to Cao Yong, he realized that he was thinking left, patted his forehead, and said: "Yes, everything is up to the emperor, why should I fill it with big cloves of garlic? The emperor wants Yes, he is an obedient little brother, not a popular Prince Zhuang." Speaking of this, he looked at Cao Yong with some gratitude and said, "Thank you Furuo for waking me up, or I will offend the emperor! "

Cao Yong waved his hand and said: "The sixteenth master cares about it, and it's all chaos. Don't thank me, just don't think I'm long-winded."

The two were talking when they heard a voice from a distance: "Master!"

It was Zhao Feng who trotted over, seeing Brother Sixteen, he couldn't help frowning: "What are you in a hurry for?"

"Master, someone is coming from the palace. It is Eunuch Chen Fu who is beside the emperor." Zhao Feng approached, hurriedly bowed to Cao Yong, and then said to the sixteenth elder brother.

After listening to the sixteenth elder brother, he looked at Cao Yong, and both of them thought of the Fuzhong Kuyinshang just mentioned.

Brother Sixteen cleared his throat and said, "I'll go to the front yard to have a look, Fu Ruo waits for me first."

Cao Yong said, "Please go ahead, Lord Sixteen."

The sixteenth elder brother asked Zhao Feng to lead Cao Yong to the tea room where he usually sat and slept for a while, and went to the front yard to meet Chen Fu.

Hearing that it was food, Elder Sixteen knelt down facing the direction of the Forbidden City, then took the cheese from Chen Fu with both hands, ate it clean in front of Chen Fu, and then stood up.

He took out a bank note of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, stuffed it into Chen Fu's hand, and said, "I've troubled my father-in-law these days, it's a small matter, please treat my father-in-law to tea."

Chen Fu thanked him and accepted it with a smile.

"I was thinking of handing over a sign to greet the emperor. I wonder if the emperor has any leisure these two days?" Elder Sixteen said, lowering his volume: "How do you feel?"

Chen Fu replied with a smile: "Today, the emperor made the decree to establish a queen, and he is in a good mood. The sixteenth master wants to hand over the plaque, so just hand it over. The emperor still talked about the sixteenth master with the thirteenth master yesterday. If you don't miss the sixteenth master , and will not ask the slaves to bring the pastry over."

Bring the words that should be brought, and Chen Fu goes back to the palace to reply to the decree.

The sixteenth elder brother looked solemn and went to the tea room to find Cao Yong.

Cao Yong is holding a glass, watching the delicate tea core inside the ups and downs in the water.This glass looks not much different from the glasses of the later generations, but the transparency is not as good as that of the later generations, and it is slightly greenish.

"Hey, what are you doing with this?" Elder Sixteen sat down and asked.

"This doesn't look like a glass from overseas. It's from the Palace Glass Department?" Cao Yong asked.

He worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and knew that there was a palace glass office in the Forbidden City, which was built in the 36th year of Kangxi, specializing in the development of various glass objects.

"Well, that's right. Although there is a lot of glass burned over there, most of them are colored and blown bottles. Although this thing is not worth a few dollars, but because of the small production, only a few palaces have it." Sixteenth elder brother said.

Cao Yong recalled those novels of later generations, who made money by burning glass, and said to Brother Sixteen: "Master Sixteen, how about promoting this glass object to the people?"

Brother Sixteen shook his head and said: "These are fragile things, and they are not cheap. Ordinary people, who use this? Merchants and wealthy households, the conditions are better, and those who want luxurious things will also choose gold and silver utensils." , will not use this."

Cao Yong held the cup and said: "In this way, there is no way to make money from this glass?"

Elder Sixteen said: "It's just made in fine detail, snuff bottles, vases, glass mirrors, glass screens and so on. All the best craftsmen are used in the palace. Even if the glassware made in these years can't catch up with the ones imported by Europa. , and there is no shortage of fine products.”

The sixteen elder brothers said that they are exquisite, but the production is limited, and they don't go to the market at all. They are only for the emperor and concubine's own use or reward.

Cao Yong was a little unwilling to give up, he looked up and saw the window, and blurted out: "What about making glass windows?"

Brother Sixteen followed his gaze and said, "Big pieces of glass are hard to burn."

Cao Yong pointed to the window lattice and said: "It's just the size of a palm, not a big one."

Brother Sixteen stood up, looked at the window for a while, then turned around and said: "I heard Huang Ama said in the early years that if transparent glass is fired in the future, all the palaces will be replaced with glass windows. , the color is not good, so it has not been changed. What Fu Ruo said is a way to make money. Especially since changing from the palace, it has become popular among the rich and powerful in the capital."

At the end, he couldn't help but beam with joy.

Seeing this, Cao Yong breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, hoping that this business opportunity can be carried out, and that Yongzheng's internal treasury will be enriched, so that he, the emperor, always thinks about foreign money.

Under the name of the Li family of the Cao family, but still holding a windfall...

*
There was a difference of [-] tickets between the sixth and the third, Xiao Jiu bowed and asked for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)