Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1104
In late October, Cao Yong's life became more and more busy.

Preparing gifts for the Longevity Festival, finishing the errands of the household department, and welcoming and sending off in the officialdom.

Don't talk about other people, just say that Yiduli is here, which is the capital that came out on October [-].

He has always been very popular, and he placed wine several times before leaving Beijing.Cao Yong, the newly released governor, had to be dragged to accompany him twice.

On October [-]th, Cao Yong went out of the city to see him off again.

Although the Yiduli family is a rich family, after his father died, the family gradually declined.When the new emperor came to the throne, he would rise to the top, and more relatives would come to visit him.

Yi Duli doesn't like to hold grudges, and doesn't worry about the past.For these relatives who come to the door, help as much as you can.

In this way, when he left Beijing, many of the more than 30 people who followed him were from the downcast tribe.

At this time, the family patriarchal system is emphasized, and these "one person attains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven" are also worldly conditions, but no one thinks it is strange, but they want to praise Yidu for benevolence and righteousness.

When Cao Yong saw this, he remembered the list of followers he had made. There was only one surnamed Cao, but he recognized himself as Shishu, but in fact he had nothing to do with the Cao family. , the ancestors began to use "Cao" as the Han surname.

He also wanted to bring more sons and nephews by his side, sometimes it was not easy to show up in person in the officialdom, and it would be cheaper for the younger generation to show up.If there is anything inappropriate, it is nothing more than "lax discipline".

But who made Cao's nephews and nephews all young, not yet old enough to serve as servants; Fengrun has a lot of clansmen, but since Cao Yin moved his grave and branched out, there has been less contact with the capital.

Here in the capital, the eldest son Cao Qi is now working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Because of his meticulous handling of the job, he was praised by the emperor and bestowed an official house.

But maybe because his official position is not high, not many clansmen came to Beijing with him.

On the contrary, the clansmen who stayed in Jiangning received a lot of kindness from Cao's father and son in the early years, and they often sent letters of greetings, and they did not cut off communication because of the branch of Cao's family.

Two days after Yiduli left Beijing, Cao Xiang's family arrived in Beijing.

Before he left Beijing, he was a servant of the fifth-rank Imperial Academy, and after two years as a scholar, he was promoted to a bachelor of the fourth-rank Imperial Academy, and he was quite proud of it.

It's just because there are too many governors and governors who have traveled to and from the capital in the past two months, Cao Xiang, a student of politics, seems to be insignificant.

Everyone in the Cao family is happy and sad.

In addition to the legitimate son born a few years ago, Cao Xiang also had a legitimate daughter last year.Seeing that the four sons and daughters are all complete, Jing Hui and Tong Suxin have a smile on their faces, but their hearts are not without sadness.

As for Mrs. Zhao Jia, even if he was uncomfortable, he still knew how to leave some leeway, and said a few hard words to Chunhua.Next, he had to talk about his grandson in front of his son and daughter-in-law.

On the other hand, in Xifu, the whole family is very happy that Cao Xiang's family came to Beijing.

Mrs. Li hugged Cao Xiang's son-in-law Tianyu, put him together with Tianbao, and said with a smile: "The two brothers are about the same age, so we will have a companion in the future." Then, he took the baby girl to tease him After a while, he said: "This is our fourth girl, she looks really handsome."

Because they are clan relatives, Chu Yu and Chun Hua had a good relationship in the early years. Although they haven't seen each other for several years, they still feel close when they get together.

Although Chuyu followed her husband in the early years and let go of foreign posts, because Cao Yong was only a Taoist platform, and the guard was far away from the provincial capital, Chuyu had limited entertainment in foreign official circles.

It's just a festive occasion, and it doesn't take her much effort to entertain a few magistrates' wives in Daotai Mansion.

This time I went to Zhili, but it was different.

There are many subordinates and complex forces, even if the husband and wife don't arrange "madam's socializing", there will be many outsiders who have this idea.

How to deal with monsters and ghosts, how to become a good wife, Chuyu, as a sister-in-law, is not ashamed to ask, and she must ask Chunhua for advice.

Although Cao Xiang's academic and political rank is not high, he is valuable because he is pure and noble, and he is not under the jurisdiction of local officials.Even in the face of the governor, it's just an ordinary meeting.Therefore, Cao Xiang, the top and bottom officials in the Henan officialdom, had time to socialize.

Chunhua thought for a while, and said: "Women in official circles are no different from men outside. Which two masters are on good terms, have close contacts, and order them to be closer, and they have to stay together when eating and drinking; If the two families have feuds, the female relatives will respect each other and stay away from each other. It's the same everywhere, but there are too many mortals, and there will be infighting. The governor and chief envoy rarely deal with it. There is no conflict of interest between the military officer and the civilian officer, but there is no peace inside. The admiral and the chief soldier, who are stationed in the Eight Banners and the local green camp, have a lot of fun. However, as uncle and sister-in-law You don’t need to deliberately make friends with each other, just watch the excitement, don’t let the villain take advantage of the loopholes. In the officialdom, there is that villain who has no face and no skin to stick to it, which is the most annoying. If If you care about it, you will lose your status; if you don't care about it, the screwer will stick his nose in his face and catch him even more."

Chu Yu could hear the fear in Chunhua's mouth, and asked curiously: "In an official career, you always have to have some face, and someone has come down to this?"

Chunhua laughed and said: "Uncle has been an official in the capital for a long time, and most of his contacts are nobles. My sister-in-law has never seen the methods of those villains. It makes me laugh to death. There is a disciplining wife, and the daughters in the family have to leave the court , just because her maiden name is Cao, every time she came to pay her respects, she would just say 'aunt', and she couldn't stop her. His family's rich young master dared to pretend to be the grandson of Xuezheng when he went out, which made the fourth master very angry. For others, there are plenty of people who recognize father and mother, and want to get married with children."

Chu Yu has seen these clinging methods before, and listened to them with a smile...

*
Front yard, living room.

Two brothers, Cao Yong and Cao Xiang, talked about their farewell.

Cao Xiang was both happy and worried about his cousin's release to the governor of Zhili.Among the three brothers in Dongfu, he is the only one who has been a foreign official and knows the difficulties of foreign officials.

To be a Beijing official is to make connections, and it is very easy to rely on a family; to be a foreign official is also to make connections, but it is local connections.

Although the support from the DPRK and China can be relied on, the locality has its own pattern.How to sort out the relationship, you have to worry about it yourself.

Lord's son, there are many people who can't make it out and return to Beijing in despair.

The governor of Zhili, where Cao Yong is located, is the most prominent foreign vacancies, but it is the most vulnerable to criticism.

Seeing that his cousin was really worried about himself, Cao Yong felt very relieved, and said: "If you don't trust me, the fourth brother will work hard and join the cabinet as soon as possible, so that I can help my brother in Beijing."

What Cao Yong said was the truth, but Cao Xiang thought that his cousin was just exhorting himself, so he hurriedly said: "My younger brother was promoted to the fourth rank when he was not yet [-] years old. This is already borrowing the shadow of the family, how dare you ask for extravagance?"

In his opinion, if his cousin encounters difficulties, he is not the official of Hanlin who can help him.

Outside, there are two in-laws in Prince Ping's Mansion and Prince Chun's Mansion, as well as two best friends, Lord Sixteen and Lord Seventeen, who are all strong supporters; there is also a second elder brother in the family who is the first-class bodyguard in front of the imperial court. to come forward.

Although Cao Xiang is not in Beijing, Cao Yong has always been paying attention to this cousin.It cannot be said that Henan knows all the details, and is also very clear about Cao Xiang's official actions in the past few years.

This cousin, in his early years, devoted himself to official career for the sake of his biological mother.But after entering the officialdom, I don't know if he stayed in the Imperial Academy, but his temper is much more peaceful, and he doesn't have too much ambition.

Or rather, he felt satisfied.

After all, at his age, he was lucky enough to be a fourth-rank official.

But Cao Yong couldn't be satisfied with watching him. There were some things Cao Song and Cao Fu couldn't say, but Cao Yong wanted to say: "Think about Xiao Wu. Mr. Qian said that with Xiao Wu's aptitude, he would stay in The Imperial Academy was not a problem at all, but Xiaowu passed the middle school exam and went to the Sixth Department to be an officer. You should know that he loved reading since he was a child. The job of compiling books in the Imperial Academy is decent and leisurely. If it wasn’t for your brother, why would he Don't you stay in the Hanlin Academy?"

When Cao Xiang heard about this for the first time, he couldn't help being stunned. After a while, he turned pale and said: "In the letter from the fifth younger brother, it is only said that there are so many talented scholars in this hall. It is a fluke that he got the second class in the exam."

Cao Yong let out a long sigh, and said: "He also said the same thing to us. If Mr. Qian hadn't mentioned something, I wouldn't have known that this kid was so clumsy. I think so, when the master was alive, he once praised Xiao Wu, saying His aptitude is the best among my brothers."

Cao Xiang was very confused in his heart, holding his forehead, his eyes were a little straight.

Seeing him like this, Cao Yong was embarrassed to force him too much, and said: "No one expects you to be appointed as the prime minister immediately, and you don't need to be too impatient. Just remember in your heart that there will always be a day when I step down, and the family will be burdened by that time. Maybe it will fall on your head."

Hearing this, Cao Xiang immediately turned his head and looked at his cousin, feeling unbelievable: "The elder brother is in his prime, even if he is raised one day, the nephew will grow up, so it's my turn..."

Before he finished speaking, Cao Yong stopped him with a sentence: "Is it true that I have to survive to sixty years, so I can't enjoy the happiness? After another seven or eight years at most, I will retire. The first half of my life was for the family. Well, when I get older, I have to live as I like for a few days. At that time, in my rich life, I still have to rely on you guys to support me, so don't try to be lazy."

When Cao Xiang returned to Dongfu, he was still in a daze.

He couldn't believe it. In order to fulfill himself, his younger brother avoided the errands of the Imperial Academy; his cousin's words revealed the meaning of letting him take over the family's important responsibilities.

Cao Xiang touched his purse, and then remembered that he had forgotten something, which was to return the silver that his cousin had given him over the past few years.

The cousin's move was out of good intentions, because he was afraid that if he was in distress, he would be easily tempted by foreign objects, and he would miss the job.As an adult younger brother, Cao Xiang couldn't be thick enough to take advantage of his cousin.

Fortunately, I married a virtuous wife and managed the family diligently, which reduced a lot of throwing expenses.On the Dongfu side, people send another 1000 taels of silver every year.Therefore, the money Cao Yong gave was not used.

Cao Xiang felt that his heart was in a mess, so he didn't go back to his yard, but shut himself in the study, and sat there for a while...

(End of this chapter)