Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1221
"Later, there was no news about Cui Jinzhu. When I first arrived in Changsha County, I was busy with errands, so I forgot about it. I didn't expect to hear about her again after many years..." Speaking of this, Ma Junfang thought of Cao Cao just now. When Yong talked about "daughter" or something, he couldn't help being surprised: "Could it be that Furuo met Cui Shi? She has a daughter...she said it was mine..."

Seeing him so late, Cao Yong couldn't help laughing, shook his head and said: "The one I met was not Cui Shi, but Cui Shi's daughter. According to her own words, she has been living with her mother since she can remember. Her mother named her Chengyuan, and told her that her father was an official in the capital, and his name was Ma Jun. When she was ten years old, her mother was seriously ill, so she sold herself and bought it for her mother. Medicine. As a result, her mother didn’t last long before she passed away.”

Hearing this, Ma Jun couldn't help being dumbfounded, and said, "How could this happen?"

Cao Yong has restrained his smile and said: "Although she is not your flesh and blood, but in this girl's heart, she regards you as her father. She grew up in that kind of dirty place, but her temper is quite resolute. She never forgets the mission of going to Beijing to find her father. Another smart one, who has only been in Beijing for a few months, not only found out about your family, but also found out who your best friend is. In the empty house where my wife is dowry." Having said this, he took out the Tiaoniang body certificate from his sleeve, and pushed it in front of Ma Jun.

Ma Jun took it and read it. It said words such as selling one's body because of poverty and being an adopted daughter, and there was a somewhat immature signature at the end.

Ma Jun's career has been ups and downs for more than ten years, of course he knows what Cao Yong said "dare not".

He stared at the deed for a while, and said: "Since you know how to sell yourself to save your mother, you can see that you are a filial person. Although I don't know why her mother lied to her, but since I found her, I must help."

He said it easily, but how can a lonely woman be so easy to live in the world, where she just needs to help.

Cao Yong saw that his heart was soft, and said: "If it's cheap, you'd better make it clear to her as soon as possible, so as to save her from thinking that you don't recognize your blood, and there is resentment in your heart."

Ma Jun nodded, smiled bitterly and said, "That's right."

Left and right Tiao Niang has already settled down, and Ma Jun will bother the rest, and Cao Yong leaves without incident.

Ma Jun sat on the chair for a long time. At that time, his heart softened for a moment, and he said to Cui that the person who came to find him if he couldn't make it through was sincere. After all, he was a girl who was a friend of his sister and almost became his wife.

Unexpectedly, after 18 years, Cui's daughter came...

*
Household Department, Zhongtang.

Cao Yong handed the written bidding documents for sea trade to Elder Thirteen.

In the next year, there will be bidding for everything from seagoing ships to goods.If it goes well, the household department can prop up the fleet without paying a penny.In addition to the money from the merchants' bidding, they can also pay [-]% of the transaction tax when the fleet returns to the voyage.

Given the size of the current budget, that is by no means a small number.

Elder Brother Thirteen looked at it and said with a smile, "I thought I would have to wait until the day to come out, but I didn't expect it to be so soon."

Cao Yong said: "If the bidding is held in February, the time will be a bit tight after all, and the time will be more generous if the bidding documents are sent to the provinces a year ago."

Elder Brother Thirteen nodded, deeply agreeing.

After finishing this, Cao Yong said that Heshan and others wanted to intervene in the maritime trade due to their limited life.

The thirteenth elder brother was silent for a while after hearing this, and said: "Although the rise of 'raising honesty and silver' in the past two years only benefits foreign officials, Beijing officials still mainly use 'entitlement' and 'double salary'. Civil officials still have Both ice and charcoal are respectful, and military officers can only rely on empty pay. Now that the emperor is rectifying the administration of officials, they know to be careful, and it is considered obedient to seek other plans."

When mentioning this, Cao Yong had to add a sentence: "Master Thirteen, not only the military officers in the capital complained about their salaries, but even the military officers outside also felt dissatisfied."

It was the first time for Brother Thirteen to hear such words, and he couldn't help wondering: "Why is this? There is no distinction between civil servants and military officials in other provinces."

Temporarily mentioning this topic, Cao Yong is not familiar with the situation in other provinces, so he took Zhili's distribution of money for raising integrity as an example: "Although civil servants and military officials all have money for raising integrity, the number is very different. Let's say that Zhili , the governor and the vice-general are both the second grade, the governor raises 5000 taels of honest silver every year, and the vice-dutong 1000 taels a year, a difference of fifteen times; It is only 9000 taels, a difference of ten times. Even if they are both military officers, there is a difference in the amount of money for raising integrity in the Eight Banners and the local green battalion. It's 900 taels."

The thirteenth elder brother was silent when he heard the words.

Although the money for raising honesty in other provinces is set by the Ministry of Households, it is based on the proportion of Henan Province.Brother Thirteen used to only know that there are some differences between civil servants and military officials, but he didn't expect such a big difference.

After Cao Yong finished speaking, he stopped talking.How to appease the capital and local military officials so that the reform of the government can go smoothly, naturally the emperor and the thirteenth elder brother are worried.

Because there are a lot of official documents in the file, this busy one day passed.

When Cao Yong was busy with the matter at hand, it was time to go to the Yamen.

Outside the yamen, there is Sixteen elder brother's carriage waiting.

Seeing Cao Yong coming out, someone greeted him early, please Cao Yong go over.

In the carriage, Elder Sixteen's eyes were bright, holding a silver wine jug in his hand, he was eating wine "chiliu", "chiliu".

Seeing that he was full of joy, Cao Yong couldn't help feeling better, and said: "But the imperial decree of marriage has been issued..."

Elder Sixteen nodded, "haha" laughed twice, and said, "I finally look forward to this day, and now the Ministry of Internal Affairs can prepare for the princess's marriage."

Although this marriage has already been announced, there is no will after all, and it is understandable that Brother Sixteen is worried about gains and losses.

I heard Elder Sixteen go on to say: "It's cheaper than Hang Seng... that boy Monk, if he dares to treat the third princess badly, I won't indulge him in your face..."

Cao Yong said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Sixteen, that child has a honest heart and a solid heart. As long as the young couple speculate, they will be happy as husband and wife..."

The sixteenth elder brother listened to Cao Yong's words and gave half of what he said. He gave him a very dissatisfied look and said, "I just looked at that kid because of your face. If there is anything wrong with him, it is naturally you." I'm not well-bred, I'm going to have to settle accounts with you!"

This "prospective father-in-law" mentality, which is concerned about gains and losses, made Cao Yong dumbfounded: "OK, OK, OK, all according to the sixteenth master..."

In the end it was joy, Brother Sixteen said a few words with Cao Yong, and then returned home with a smile.

Watching the sixteenth elder brother's carriage leave, the smile on Cao Yong's face was concentrated.

He himself has a daughter, so of course he can understand Brother Sixteen's loving father.Tianhui is the same age as the third princess, even if she wants to stay for a few more years, how long can she stay?
As early as a few years ago, Brother Sixteen had been eyeing Hang Seng for these years; it seems that he should open his eyes and look around for son-in-law candidates...

Back at the gate of Cao's mansion, the porter came forward to report that Ma Jun had come and was waiting in the living room.

Cao Yong nodded, got off his horse, entered the yard, and went directly to the living room.

Ma Jun sat there quietly, frowning tightly, wondering what he was thinking.

Cao Yong's footsteps were heavy, and Ma Juncai woke up.

"Fu Ruo..." Ma Jun got up and said.

Cao Yong waved his hand and asked him to sit down, Fang said: "Tian Cheng, have you been to Qingfeng Hutong?"

"En." Ma Jun rubbed the center of his brows, and said: "Although this girl is not like her mother, she is exactly like Mrs. Cui Fucheng, she should be Cui's daughter."

"Since she is the daughter of an old man, what exactly does Tian Cheng think?" Cao Yong saw that he was troubled and asked.

Ma Jun spread his hands and said, "Which is my turn to think? When the girl saw me, she began to cry loudly, until she passed out from crying... These years, she has really suffered a lot... If she hadn't found her father Supported by her thoughts, I'm afraid she won't be able to make it through..."

For this result, Cao Yong is not surprised.

Among the young friends of Yongqing and Ma Jun, the one with the softest heart is Ma Jun.

If he hadn't been the only child in the family and was stopped by his parents, he would have given up his studies and pursued medicine long ago.

"It's not good to be so vague. Even if you want to take care of her, you should always make it clear." Cao Yong said.

Ma Jun nodded and said: "I thought the same way, and I planned to send someone to go to Hunan. I remember clearly that the two relatives of the Cui family wanted to take her to Xiangtan. Since they were married and gave birth to a daughter, they could always inquire Find out something. As long as you find Tiao Niang's relatives, she will not misunderstand that I am her biological father, and she will have someone to rely on for the rest of her life."

Cao Yong waved his hand and said: "If you go to Xiangtan to inquire about the news, you don't need to make a special trip. Zhao Tong was promoted to the Hengyang government a few days ago. Hengyang is next to Xiangtan. I will write to him and ask him to inquire about it."

Hearing this, Ma Jun quickly thanked her, and then said: "Whether you can find the relatives of Tiao Niang or not, she will have to stay in Beijing for a while, so I don't want to bother the princess. My family also has an empty house, but it's just in Nancheng , I have been idle for too many years, and it will take a few days to clean it up before I can live in it, and I will send someone to pick it up after a few days after cleaning it up."

Cao Yong had no objection, but then Ma Jun took out a few banknotes to replenish Cao Yong.

Seeing this, Cao Yong hurriedly said: "Don't do this to me, it's boring."

After Ma Jun heard this, he didn't force it, he just said: "Although Tiao Niang is not my daughter, but Furuo made all kinds of arrangements, showing his love for me, I will accept it."

It's rare for him to come over, and it's time for dinner again. Cao Yong wants to stay with guests.

Because Ma Jun had something on his mind and wanted to talk to Cao Yong, he was not in a hurry to leave.

In the severe cold of Sanjiu, Cao Yong really wanted to eat wine, so he sent people back to Wutong Garden to order wine and vegetables.

The hot sauerkraut and mutton pot, the warm sweet-scented osmanthus white, make people appetite.

Ma Jun ate wine one cup after another. Seeing this, Cao Yong guessed very unkindly, could it be that he really had something to do with Cui Shi, otherwise how could he be so distressed.

For them, it is troublesome for a girl who calls themselves "father" to appear.But that was under the watchful eyes of the public, when someone with a heart spread the news, like now, Tiao Niang was already in their hands, so there was nothing to worry about.

Sure enough, after drinking for three rounds, Ma Jun couldn't help talking about old things: "Speaking of which, the Cui family's questioning of the crime was still father's handiwork. Back then, because of the failure of the marriage, the two families turned against each other, and the Cui family was not reconciled. , so he wanted to plot against his father. Father got the news and acted first, so the Cui family questioned him..." In the end, Ma Jun blushed, and said: "Who is cleaner than whom... "

It was the first time Cao Yong heard the inside story of this matter, and suddenly he understood why Ma Jun was uneasy.

Jiangning was originally a rich place, and Ma Jun's father served as the magistrate of Jiangning for two or six years, which shows that it is not easy.If it is not clear from top to bottom, even relying on the elder brother who is the servant in the court, he may not be able to gain a foothold in the complicated Jiangnan officialdom.

The Cui family's fate is of course self-inflicted, but it is also due to the Ma family's contribution to the flames.

The Cui family is sure to plot against the Ma family, but the Ma family will not be clean from head to toe.

Ma Jun has the nobility and integrity of a literati in his bones, and it is normal to feel guilty and embarrassed because of the past.

"The fate of the Cui family was mostly caused by Cui Fucheng himself. Tian Cheng should not think too much about it. If I remember correctly, he was not only involved in corruption, but also committed other lawsuits. Otherwise, he would not have been punished by death and affected his wife and daughter. "Cao Yong comforted him.

Ma Jun let out a long breath, and said: "I only regret that I didn't help Cui Jinzhu back then. Because I knew about my family affairs, I was a little guilty after all, and I couldn't lie to my conscience."

Looking at the old friend, Cao Yong was a little powerless.

It's hard for him, he still retains a pure heart in his thirties.

Then Ma Jun ate the wine, his face was flushed, and he was already drunk, he slapped the wine cup on the table vigorously, and said: "There is a sequence of cause and effect, every drink and peck, there is a definite number, God really has eyes. If Tiao Niang has no relatives, so I recognize this girl..."

This is not like saying it, Cao Yong could not help frowning.

He remembered that when Ma Jun was a teenager, he hated stereotyped official careers, even if he passed the imperial examination and became an official, he was not as happy as others.

It seems that the Jiangning, Ma and Cui families fought back then, and there was another story behind it.

In official circles, unless one blow is fatal, it is rare to tear one's face apart.

However, the Cui family suffered a crushing defeat, and their family was ruined. It seems that they have torn faces with the Ma family.

The officialdom is dangerous, if he hadn't passed through, the Cao family's fate might not be better than the Cui family's...

Unknowingly, Cao Yong ate a lot of wine.

Ma Jun was also very drunk, and the night was frosty. Cao Yong didn't dare to ask anyone to toss him, so he asked someone to help him to the guest room, and sent a letter to Ma's house.

After Ma Jun was settled, Cao Yong returned to the inner house.

It turned out to be nothing, but when the wind blew, his footsteps swayed a little.

The upper room of Lan Yuan was already pitch black, only the annexe in the west wing where the maid on duty at night was still lit.

Cao Yong supported the gate of Orchid Court, took a few glances, and then returned to Wutong Court.

Seeing that Cao Yong was very drunk and drank more than when he was a guest yesterday, Chu Yu was taken aback: "Is this to accompany Mr. Ma?"

Cao Yong nodded, forced himself to wipe his face, then undressed and lay on the kang...''

(End of this chapter)