Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 1256 became the defendant
Yuanmingyuan, Qinzheng Hall, East Pavilion.

Chen Shouchuang, governor of Shuntian Prefecture, knelt in front of the imperial court and wrote the booklet.

The emperor's confidant, who was promoted from the work of the Ministry of Industry, is not acting like a stern imperial censor, but is very obedient.

Yongzheng's servant took his note, waved his hand and called out.

The Thirteenth Lord happened to be discussing government affairs in front of the imperial court. He sat on the side, looked at Chen Shouchuang, and thought about his reason for coming.

As the magistrate of the capital, Chen Shouchuang not only ranks as the third grade, but also has the right to directly hand over the brand to the emperor.

What's wrong in town?

The thirteenth elder brother was thinking, and from the corner of his eye, he glanced at the emperor behind the case.

The emperor looked at Zhezi with a strange expression, not worried, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, showing a bit of sarcasm.

At this moment, the emperor had finished reading the paper, and said to the thirteenth elder brother: "Someone handed a paper to Shuntian Mansion to sue Cao Yong for embezzling people's property!" The third elder brother sent it.

The thirteenth elder brother felt weird when he heard the words. He took the booklet, read it quickly, and then looked at the attached paper at the back, and then he was sure that he had heard correctly. Someone had indeed sued Cao Yong.

Embezzling people's property? !
The thirteenth elder brother didn't even have the idea of ​​defending Cao Yong, because the crime was too outrageous.

Cao Yong has a good reputation in the officialdom, and the emperor is pleasing to his eyes when he looks at him. Apart from his hard work and respectful behavior, another reason is that he is rich and not greedy.

He does not flatter, does not suppress, and guards the most lucrative yamen of the Ministry of Revenue, and never stretches out his hand.

Others don't know, but the well-informed Thirteenth Brother knows the source of the Cao family's income.

In addition to Zhuangzitong "Daoxiang Village", there are also dividends from Guangzhou shops.The Cao family even has a hidden business, which is also hugely profitable.

That is "Western beauty cream".

Brother Thirteen's mansion also used a few bottles, jade-colored glazed bottles, filled with miniature Western beauty heads.

In foreign stores in the capital, such a bottle of beauty cream would cost four to five taels of silver a bottle.

In fact, these things are all produced in Macau, and they are secretly traded by the Cao family.

Even if it is a bottle of four or five taels of silver, if the effect is not good, it will not be popularized.Since this thing can occupy a place in the capital within a few years, it can be seen that the effect is quite good.

Although Brother Thirteen doesn't know the formula of this "beautifying cream", he knows that pearl powder is used as the main ingredient.

In the rouge shops in the capital, the most indispensable thing is pearl cream, pearl powder and so on. They can be ordered, and the price is not as good as "beauty cream".

Cao Yong, who has several ways to make money in his hands, has only heard of spreading money in his daily life, so the charge of embezzling other people's property is a bit ridiculous?
Chen Shouchuang knew Cao Yong. The two were officials in the same dynasty, but they were nodding acquaintances.

Chen Shouchuang would not naively think that with a certificate in hand, he could play the role of the stern censor and lead people to crusade against the Hubu Shangshu who held real power.

It is true that he himself is a highly valued courtier of the emperor, and Cao Yong's favor may not be under him.

Besides, he is no longer the censor.

The governor of the capital, at the foot of the emperor, requires stability first in dealing with affairs.

When he saw the pleadings, his first reaction was not to explore the authenticity of the matter, but to pay attention to whether there were any officials behind the pleadings, which would cause political shocks.

It was related to the second-rank Jingtang, whether or not to file a case, and how to file a case was not up to him, the governor of Jingzhao Mansion, to decide.

Therefore, there was an imperial request.

"What do you think?" The emperor asked the thirteenth elder brother.

Elder Brother Thirteen shook his head with a smile, and replied: "This pleading paper seems to be convincing, but it lacks confidence. In the front, it is biting the Cao family's encroachment on the property of the Zhuang family, but later it cites Zhuang's dowry property to testify .Since the Zhuang family’s houses and fields belong to the Zhuang family’s dowry, the previous statement that the Cao family embezzled the people’s property is somewhat inaccurate.”

Chen Shouchuang was listening and heaved a sigh of relief.

Even though everyone said that Cao Yong was kind-hearted, Chen Shouchuang was unwilling to offend him for nothing.

Although he is older than Cao Yong, he is far behind Cao Yong in terms of official qualifications.

He had done a good job as Fu Yin, and most of the time he was promoted to Minister; at that time, Cao Yong might go one step further, and became a minister.

Today is his unlucky day, because the emperor continued to speak, asking him to file a case for trial...

*
Household Department, Shang Study Room.

Seeing the documents sent by the Ministry of Punishment, Cao Yong could not help frowning.

The Zha Siting case was finally settled. Zha Siting and his son Chuck died in prison, and the other sons were under the age of 15 and were slaves to the family of heroes.

Among the two brothers, the eldest brother is old and at home, and has no way of knowing what he has done. He will pardon both Zha Shenxing and his son, and release him back to his hometown.

Brother Zha Sizhen and nephew Zha Ji were spared death for three thousand miles.Under the name of Zha Siting, the family property should be pursued, and the price should be changed, and it should be kept in Zhejiang to be used for the seawall project.

Because the thirteenth elder brother was entrusted in advance, the Cao family was also added to the list of "The Family of Heroes".

Zha Sizhen's two sons, Cha Kai and Cha Xue, who are under the age of 15, will serve in the Cao Mansion as official slaves.

Such a result can be regarded as an explanation for Cao Xiang, but Cao Yong is not happy.

Because from Jiang Jian's side, he also heard another news about the Cha family.

Both Zha Siting's wife and daughter-in-law committed suicide, and the other female members of the Zha family will follow their adult father and nephew for three thousand miles.

Not confiscating the women of the Cha family as slaves, leaving some leeway for the Cha family in the south of the Yangtze River; enslaving all the young men of the Cha family, it cut off their imperial examination path for generations.

In the final analysis, the Cha family's limelight is too much, and they are already in charge of the top scholars.

Because it is not good to go too far, Cao Yong only asked Cao Man to take his name card to the Ministry of Punishment to lead people.

Regarding the resettlement of the two brothers, Cha Kai and Cha Xue, Cao Yong was only indifferent on the surface, and asked them to take them to the servant's room for resettlement, and did not treat them differently.

The turmoil in the Cha family's case had just ended, and he didn't want to draw the emperor's anger because of this.

There are two brothers, one is fourteen and the other is nine years old. The older one, Chakai, has already passed the examination of scholar.

Cao Yong thought for a while, then ordered Cao Yuan to arrange the two brothers to be book boys beside Changsheng and Tianbao.

Compared with the Six Departments, the news of the Imperial Academy lagged behind, but after all, the Cha family was a big family in the Imperial Academy, and many people paid attention to it, so Cao Xiang was also exiled by his mentor, and the Cao family rewarded the news of "official slaves".

He was so anxious that he wished to go home immediately to see what was going on, but the Imperial Academy was busy today, and several newly appointed editors and editors came to him to ask for leave to study, and they had to deal with it for a while before they escaped.

When he came out of the yamen, Cao Xiang didn't go back to the East Mansion, but went directly to the West Mansion.

He was sad that his teacher was about to go into exile in his seventies, and rejoiced that his two sons entered Cao's mansion.

Although they were all fined and confiscated into official slaves, it is different in Cao's family from other families.

However, when he heard that Cao Yong placed their brothers in the servant's room and asked them to be Tianyou's accompanying readers, Cao Xiang's expression became entangled.

When Cao Yong saw this, he couldn't laugh or cry, and said: "Since the emperor let them be official slaves, does the fourth brother still want to see them as young masters?"

Cao Xiang hesitated and said: "The family is not short of these two children. The eldest brother and sister-in-law are always kind, even if the family has a son, isn't it only when they are more than ten years old that they start to take care of them?"

Cao Yong said with a stern face, "What do you want to do? Take it and raise it?"

Cao Xiang also knew that was inappropriate, so he lowered his head and said, "It's always good to take care of him more."

Cao Yong shook his head. A few years ago, he saw that Cao Xiang had already opened his mind. Why did he stay in the Imperial Academy for a few years?

"You are Zha Sizhen's disciple. If someone wants to find out this news, you can't hide it from others. If they are sent to you, how will you deal with it? If you treat them kindly, you will hit the emperor in the face; if you treat them poorly, you will be cast aside by the world. Let's stay here in Xifu." Cao Yong said.

This is also the most appropriate way, Cao Xiang's mind is much clearer, and he thanked his cousin again.

For dinner that day, Cao Xiang stayed in the West Mansion, and the two brothers exchanged cups and cups, but they were a little less cautious and more intimate than usual.

"Teacher is an old man after all, I'm afraid it will be hard to go back to Heilongjiang." Cao Xiang drank a glass of wine and said.

"You don't have to worry about it too much. General Fu of Heilongjiang is just old with me. I will write a letter to him and ask him to take care of me." Cao Yong said.

The reason why he puts so much effort into being nice to others is partly because of the affection of Mr. Jin Yong.

I am more or less willing to help a group, but what I can do is only a group, any more will not conform to Cao Yong's temperament.

To everyone in Cao's mansion, the entry of the Cha brothers into the mansion is nothing more than two more servants; the only ones who know the real identity of their brothers are Cao Yong and his wife and the housekeeper Cao Yuan.

When Zhuang Yanping heard that Cao Yong was back, he came to say goodbye. Tomorrow morning, he will go to Tongzhou Wharf to board a ship and head south.

Chai Xiucai and his wife found an excuse and moved out of the Cao Mansion yesterday. Looking at the situation, they decided to stay in the capital for a few more days.

Although Zhuang Yanping was somewhat dissatisfied with them, he never expected that these two had already started to sue the Cao family for money.

After talking with Zhuang Yanping, Cao Yong went back to the inner house.

After asking for peace for Mrs. Li, Cao Yong returned to Wutong Garden.

"Niu Niu's marriage is over. The old lady is afraid of the heat and misses returning to Haidian Zhuangzi. The day after tomorrow will be the Qianqiu Festival. How about moving to the garden to escape the summer heat after the Qianqiu Festival?" Chuyu said.

Cao Yong waved his hand and said: "If it's about the same, you can move there earlier. You don't have to wait for the Qianqiu Festival... The Ministry of Rites issued an official document today. This year's Qianqiu Festival is exempt from court congratulations..."

When Chu Yu heard this, she couldn't help being shocked.

The "Thousand Autumn Festival" has been exempted from court congratulations for two consecutive years, and the rumors of the harmony between the emperor and the empress are easily broken.

"Why does the emperor not wait to see the queen so much, and doesn't even give him face?" Chu Yu asked curiously in a low voice.

Cao Yong thought for a while and replied in a low voice: "The emperor attaches great importance to power. Even in the deep palace, he doesn't want two saints to be equal. This is one of them; Regarding the matter, the empress has made a lot of noise, causing the emperor to be unhappy, and it is likely that the anger has not calmed down..."

(End of this chapter)