Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 159 Prosperity
Prince Yong's check of the accounts was unequivocal, and soon the money difference on the sea tax account was found out. There was a difference of 1000 taels between the Fujian Division and the Zhejiang Division, but only the two principals of the Zhejiang Division were found out.For the Fujian Division, as expected by Cao Yong and others, all the responsibilities were pushed to Li Qichang.

Although Li Qichang's subordinates made inconsistent statements in several written accounts, and there were quite evasive words, but in this case, it cannot be confirmed that Li Qichang had nothing to do with the false accounts.

I don't know if Kangxi is well aware of the tricks, or because the Longevity Festival is just around the corner, and it just so happened that the Ministry of Criminal Affairs reported to Governor Gali of Jiangnan, and Governor Fan Shichong of Fujian and Zhejiang reported the seizure of the pirate Zheng Jinxin and his henchmen, which aroused Long Yan's joy. Kangxi did not pursue Li Qichang deeply. Responsibility.However, he also failed to stay in Kyoto, but was flatly transferred to Yunnan as an inspector and secretary, and was promoted to study politics.

The remaining principals involved in the case were undoubtedly dismissed and ordered to make up for the shortfall. Although Zhejiang Secretary Mu Kexun was not involved in the case, he was guilty of negligence and was ordered to share part of the shortfall.

As for Shi Wengui, the treatment of him is really intriguing.He was promoted to be the deputy governor of Zhengbai Banner.On the face of it, he was promoted to one level, but in fact, this deputy governor is basically an idle job, far less powerful than the six ministers.This appointment is tantamount to Mingsheng's real drop.

The Fujian Division cannot be without a chief officer. I don't know what kind of contest the ministers and ministers have gone through in private. Those who originally wanted to send people over also turned off their movements, and finally pushed Cao Yong out.

Cao Yong had been in Yuanwailang's position for less than half a year, and was promoted to a fifth-rank doctor. Because he had been in charge of him for more than a month, he was not in a hurry.

With the arrival of Wu Yifei, the new right servant of the household department, a new round of standing in the household department has begun.Cao Yong had no intention of being involved, and most of his attention was on the drought that was gradually revealed.

The day after He Maocai's arrival, he went to the Palace of Chunjun Wang, and then went to Qintian Supervisor with Chunjun Wang to check the rain and sunshine records, and the more he checked, the heavier his heart became. "Since the beginning of spring, there has been a lot of rain and no wind". Although there have been two cloudy days recently, "clouds have just risen, followed by wind". Compared with the records of previous years, such no rain has continued, only one The conclusion is that "summer must be drought".

Although the King of Chunjun did not go to Tongzhou with his retinue last month, he did hear from those who came back that because there was no snow last winter, the water level in the river was much lower than in previous years, and the emperor personally ordered several dams to be repaired and built. There will be no floods in Zhili this year.Last year, there was a lot of rain, which caused floods and flooded several counties in Zhili.Right now, everyone is guarding against floods, who would think of a severe drought.

Starting from the Cao family and Chunjun Wangfu, Pingjun Wangfu, Jueluo, Zhaojia, Ningchun and Yongqing, more and more families are looking for someone to dig wells.Although it costs some money to dig a well, compared with the harvest in the same year, everyone knows which is more important.In the land of Gyeonggi, in addition to those under the name of these dignitaries, there are also many small households of ordinary people. How can they spend money to dig wells?
A few days later, the king of Chunjun gave Kangxi an account of digging wells to prevent drought with little rain in winter and spring.Kangxi asked the officials of Qin Tianjian, but he still couldn't come to any useful conclusions.

Although the drought is beginning to appear, but the Longevity Festival is coming, and it will be 50 years since Kangxi ascended the throne. The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty are busy "praying for the birth and honoring the title", and they are grateful and eulogizing. Who would pay attention to people's livelihood at this juncture? The disaster from Lao Shizi is not a disaster.

Although Cao Yong still came home every day from the household department, he always looked up at the sky unconsciously, and then looked at the brothers of the Wei family, thinking about their origins.Their brothers were from farming households. They fled famine with their parents because of a natural disaster. Later, their parents starved to death.If they hadn't met their master, they probably would have reunited with their parents.Think about the maidservants in the family. Except for the family who gave birth to children, most of the others were sold by the family because of disasters.

Although Cao Yong did not witness the tragedy of the victims, he heard about it when he was in Jiangning.

Jiangning is prosperous, but there are many refugees who come to beg because of drought and flood every year.Because they were afraid that these people would bring diseases and epidemics around them, previous prefects usually placed them in a special place.The old lady and Mrs. Li both believed in Buddhism. Every autumn and winter, when the refugees came to the city, they would set up porridge sheds to serve porridge.There are many other wealthy families in the city who are like this.Taoist temples in various temples are even more inevitable.

Cao Yong was young at that time, walking, sitting and lying down, followed by people. He had no chance to see those victims, let alone contact them, so he didn't feel anything special.At that time, due to the sequelae of being kidnapped, he focused all his attention on strengthening his body and ignored all external affairs.

Cao Yong's original goal was only two, that is to avoid the fate of premature death and to restore the decline of the Cao family.Now, the deficit problem has been solved, and his body has been checked by the old doctor several times.He couldn't be healthier, except for the wound on his leg that itched a bit in the cloudy and rainy weather.If this still cannot avoid the fate of early death, then he has no other choice.

He had his family's safety in mind, and even planned to escape from the capital before the second waste.Right now, he wants to do something down-to-earth, not for family honor, nor for personal rights.

This is an indescribable feeling, as if a man should set a goal for himself, and then work hard towards this goal.But what can he do?Facing the account book every day, listening to his colleagues talking about the right and wrong in the officialdom, or going in front of Kangxi and the fourth elder brother, wagging his tail and being a submissive slave, neither of them is what he wants.He thinks about drilling wells every day, how can he drill more wells?

For a while, but there is no proper way, you can't use the money to fight by yourself, right?That's death. If you have the hat of "Shi En", you can smash him to death.Thinking of later, Cao Yong couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. The endless strife of personnel and the corrupt officialdom, this is the "prosperous age" that was whitewashed and praised!
After dinner that day, because they thought the room was stuffy, Cao Yong and Chu Yu asked someone to bring out two reclining chairs and sat on the porch.Xiyun took two servant girls to water the two sycamore trees in the yard, and retreated.

Because Cao Yong has been a little taciturn in recent days, Chu Yu couldn't help but feel a little worried, and asked tentatively: "Is the forehead uncomfortable? Do you need to ask the imperial doctor to come and take a look?"

Cao Yong looked at Chu Yu's slightly worried face, smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, maybe it's because I spent a lot of energy reconciling the accounts a few days ago, and I'm a little tired, and I'll be fine after two days!"

"Since this is the case, even if you don't invite the imperial physician, let's use some ginseng and bird's nest to make up for it!" Chu Yu was still worried.

Seeing Chuyu's sullen face, she spoke seriously, Cao Yong nodded her nose, and said in a low voice: "It's just that I lack energy, do I need to make up, others don't know, don't you know? "

Chu Yu blushed immediately, looked around secretly, but there was no one else, so Fang lightly punched Cao Yong twice.

Cao Yong took Chuyu's hand and put it on his chest, closed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.

"The forehead is thinking about Chu Yu?" Chu Yu asked, she didn't know why she would ask such a question, but she just looked at Cao Yong and felt that it was so.

Cao Yong opened his eyes, looked at Chu Yu, and nodded: "I am not only thinking of Chu Yu, but also of my mother. My mother has been thinking about my marriage for a long time. If she sees Chu Yu, she will definitely like it!"

Similar words, what Cao Yong had said before, Chu Yu thought it was to reassure her at the time, but listening to it now, for some reason, there is a trace of sentimentality.

Cao Yong shook Chu Yu's hand: "What are you thinking about? It's just that I haven't seen my father and mother for more than half a year, and I miss them a little. My father's health is not very good, and he is getting old. As a son, I can't be around Waiting, it's really unfilial!"

Chu Yu was puzzled: "A few days ago, didn't the parents-in-law and mother-in-law came to write a family letter? It's better not to read the family letter, and it also said that the second uncle had a daughter in the first month, and now she is taking it with her grandmother."

Cao Yong shook his head: "Parents are like this. Because they don't want their children to worry about it, they always report the good news and not the bad news. Last spring, my father was seriously ill, and he never sent me a letter without telling me. Later, other officials mentioned it in the booklet. Now, the emperor knows, and ordered me to go back to serve the sick, so I know!"

Chu Yu couldn't help worrying: "Then what should we do? How about we go back to the south after the Longevity Festival!" Seeing that Cao Yong didn't answer, he thought it was because of an errand: "Let's ask Ama to plead with Huang Mafa and send you back to the south!" If we are sent to Jiangning to work as errands, we can be filial to our parents-in-law and mother-in-law, so as not to worry about our son-in-law!"

What a fool, if only it was that simple?In order to gradually eliminate the influence of the Cao family in Jiangnan, so that the Cao family would not be so obtrusive, he, the eldest son of the direct line, can be released anywhere, but he cannot return to Jiangnan.On the other hand, for the sake of Kangxi's good looks, Jiang Ning cannot be separated from the parents, otherwise, Kangxi's "graciousness" will not be shown.If I want to take the two of them to my side for the elderly, I am afraid that I will have to wait for the Yongzheng Dynasty, which will take another 11 years.

Cao Yong was thinking about what he would look like in 11 years. He was afraid that he would have several children, so a little maid would come to report, saying that there was a guest in the front yard, and the housekeeper sent someone to the second gate to pass the message, please come over .

At this time, when he came to visit, Cao Yong looked at the setting sun and couldn't guess which one it was.Could it be that Ning Chun is here? This kid, because he has been going to Qiuniang's place all these days, and he wants to keep it from his family, so he came out with a raft to have a drink with his friends. Of course, Cao Yong is indispensable.

It was Elder Sixteen who came, sitting in the living room with a sullen face, eyes full of irrepressible anger.Seeing Cao Yong, he didn't respond, turned his head away, and snorted coldly, not as if he was angry at Cao Yong.

What's wrong with this kid, he's always joking and joking, how could he be so angry?Cao Yong looked suspiciously at Zhao Feng, the little eunuch who came with Brother Sixteen.

Zhao Feng bowed and said, "Uncle Cao, our master just came out of Mr. Nengte's house!"

Cao Yong sat opposite Elder Sixteen and asked, "I went to see my future father-in-law, and I couldn't do it after a closed-door banquet, so annoyed?"

As mentioned by Moon Moon Palace just now, Guo Luoluo, the daughter of the third-rank sensuality, is the sixteenth elder brother's son-in-law Fujin.Speaking of which, the Nengte family had "acquaintances" with Cao Yong. The dandy Guishan he met when he first came to Beijing the year before last belonged to the Guo Luoluo family.Nengte is Guishan's uncle, and he is very low-key.Naturally, Cao Yong will not forget that Guishan still has an aunt in the palace, who is Concubine Yi, the biological mother of fifth elder brother and ninth elder brother.

Elder Sixteen's anger calmed down quite a bit now, and he frowned and complained to Cao Yong: "The forest is really big, and there are all kinds of birds! Originally, I thought that Nengte would always do his duty, so I have nothing to say. What do you see me doing? It’s Lang Tu and Gui Shan.”

Lang Tu is the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Guishan's father-in-law, and a daughter who is the concubine of Brother Jiu.

"Isn't it just the idea of ​​those tea gardens? Is it worth being so angry in front of you?" The Cao family's tea garden was officially handed over after the year, and the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs all had their own ideas. The jurisdiction of this tea garden is in full swing.Although it belongs to the royal family in name, as long as the management rights are in hand, the oil and water in it will naturally not be less.

"They bite dogs, let's just watch the excitement, I'm so angry that they can't wait to plot against me!" Elder Sixteen sneered: "It must be my Ninth Brother who came up with the idea. They want to drag me into the water! They fought back and forth, but they didn't come to a conclusion, so they wanted to push me out as a cover."

"You want to take care of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Cao Yong shook his head: "This is really too trivial, do you have that kind of patience?"

Brother Sixteen smiled and said: "You still know me, where is my material? Although it's nothing for elder brother to also be in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and ninth brother has also done it before, but I really don't have that interest. Even if I want to learn to be an errand , I'm also optimistic about Seventh Brother's side!"

Thinking about the endless accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Cao Yong couldn't help but envy Elder Sixteen. If it wasn't for his father-in-law, Elder Seven, who was in the Ministry of Rites, he really wanted to be active and follow Sixteen to the Ministry of Rites.

Thinking about it, Lang Tu and the others had been grinding their mouths around Elder Sixteen a lot, which made him wary.In addition to being annoyed by those guys for plotting against him, he was also annoyed at the eighth and ninth elder brothers.He knew in his heart that Brother Jiu and Concubine Yi were indispensable in this marriage.Do you think that you can hug him like this, it's just wishful thinking.

It is well known that the Crown Prince's reserve position is not stable, but even so, Elder Sixteen has no intention of participating.Standing honestly behind the emperor's father and being a dutiful elder brother is what he wants.

Thinking that Cao Yong is now in the officialdom, afraid that he might be involved at some point, Elder Sixteen couldn't help but warn: "Whether it's coercion or temptation, you must never go into this muddy water, it's not a joke! Even the fourth brother, you have to stay away. If they dare to press hard, and Huang Ama and I will definitely not let you suffer!" After finishing speaking, he laughed himself: "I am too worried , with your lazy nature, I'm afraid I'll give you a favor, and you don't even bother to pick it up!"

The two of them talked about the Longevity Day ten days later. Elder Sixteen was worrying about what kind of birthday gift to offer. Unlike those elder brothers who opened the mansion and entrusted them with titles, he didn't have much money, and he didn't have any disciples to collect it.

Cao Yong's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile: "I have a way here. It doesn't cost much money, and it can earn a bit of dignity!"
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(End of this chapter)