Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 687

When he arrived at the Yamen, Cao Yong was still somewhat overwhelmed.

Even Xiao Man, Zhao Tong and the others felt a little melancholy.They have been friends with Zhang Yi for many years, and they both felt very uncomfortable when they separated for the first time.

Just as Cao Yong was sitting behind the desk, the master of the hall came over with a stack of documents.

Now it is the end of July, and many seasonal melons and fruits from Huangzhuang have arrived, and they are also divided into three, six, and nine grades.

It needs to be counted and stored in the warehouse, and then people are transported to the royal family outside the Great Wall, or distributed to various palaces and palaces.

Cao Yong read the documents and sent a doctor to follow them to count.

Cao Yong picked up the imperial palace newspaper on the desk and glanced at it twice.Shengjia set off from Rehe on July 26, and the accompanying princes were the third elder brother, the fifteenth elder brother, and the sixteenth elder brother.

A few days ago, I heard that the fourth elder brother was going back to Beijing.Judging from the mansion newspaper, it is true.

There is another piece of news that made Cao Yong look twice more, that is, Shandong governor Jiang Chenxi was promoted to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Li Shude, the chief military officer of Dengzhou, Shandong, was the governor of Shandong.

Li Shude came to Shandong in the 54th year of Kangxi, and Cao Yong didn't know him; Jiang Chenxi, speaking of it, was Cao Yong's old superior.

When Cao Yong was a guard in Yizhou in 51 years of Kangxi, Jiang Chenxi was already the governor of Shandong and Cao Yong's immediate boss.

There are many contacts in the officialdom, even the clan, the same family, the same township, the same year, teachers and students, and superiors and subordinates all talk.

Although Cao Yong has been back to Beijing for several years, he still has occasional contacts with the Jiang family.

Speaking of which, Jiang Chenxi is from Changshu, Jiangsu Province. When his father was alive, he had friendship with Cao Yong's ancestors, and the two families were quite friendly.

Although Jiang Chenxi was not in the capital, his younger brother Jiang Tingxi was an official in the capital. He was a Jinshi and entered the Imperial Academy.In his early years, he served as Zhan Shi, the head of Zhan Shifu.

Zhan Shifu is the yamen that assists the East Palace, and most of them are concurrently held by the Imperial Academy. After the prince was abolished in 51 years of Kangxi, Zhan Shifu stopped his errands and returned to the Hanlin Academy.

Although I don't know whether Jiang Chenxi has received the order to go to the Imperial Palace outside the Great Wall, but before going south, he was ordered to go back to Beijing to go through the formalities.

It seems that it is necessary to make people inquire and prepare a rich ceremony.

Being an official is half doing things and half being a person.

Next, some officials came up to report things, such as the dredging of the South Pond in Changchun Garden, and the Buddhist hall in Wanshan Temple in Zhongnanhai needs to be repaired.

Cao Yong asked clearly and gave instructions one by one.

It was almost noon, and after finishing the errands at hand, Cao Yong was worried about Elder Seventeen's side, so he paced towards Elder Brother's place.

When we got to the door, I just asked the servant to pass the news, when I heard that the fourth elder brother was visiting sick inside.

After Cao Yong heard this, he was still hesitating whether to come back in the next afternoon, and a servant came out to pass on the message, but the seventeenth elder brother invited him in.

When I entered the elder brother's office, I saw the fourth elder brother sitting on the edge of the kang in ordinary clothes, and the seventeenth elder brother sitting on the other side. His face was a little pale, but his eyes were bright, and he looked much more energetic.

"Greetings to the fourth master, and greetings to the seventeenth master." Cao Yong shook his sleeves and said with a thousand courtesy.

The fourth elder brother looked at Cao Yong, waved his hands, and said: "Get up and talk. I heard that your health is not very good. I missed you when I went to Rehe last time. How is your health?"

"Thank you for your concern, Fourth Master. It's all over." Cao Yong said with a bow.

Seeing this, the seventeenth elder brother smiled and said to the fourth elder brother: "Fourth elder brother, don't listen to him showing off his abilities. With his small body, he has been tossing a lot in the past few years. Now he is a lady with everyone, I am afraid that if the wind blows , about to run away."

Speaking of this, seeing Cao Yong was a little cautious, the seventeenth elder brother pointed to the chair on the ground and said, "what's the matter, can't you let the master support Fu Ruo to sit? Seeing the fourth brother, you will know that you are honest; usually In front of me, I have never seen you be so careful."

One is a little kid who grew up by himself, and the other is a cold-faced prince who grew up by himself. How can there be any comparison?
Perhaps it was because of the improvement of the seventeenth brother's illness, the fourth elder brother looked in a good mood, looked at Cao Yong and said: "The clan's mansion paid money from the household department, and I heard that it is still related to you. What's the matter? The Ministry of Internal Affairs is tired of waiting, do you still want to change the office?" At the end, he had already explored a bit, and his eyes became unpredictable.

This remark seemed to be a joke, but also an accusation, even the [-]th elder brother was a little uncomfortable, thinking about finding an excuse to help Cao Yong out of the siege.

Where can there be secrets in this capital?
On Cao Yong's side, he had to calm down and tell the reason why Yaerjiang A came to him frankly.

As for the lack of money in the clan's mansion, the fourth elder brother is also aware of it, otherwise he would not have borrowed money from the household department to make a living.

As far as the fourth elder brother is concerned, he doesn't like Yaerjiang's behavior, because there are too many places to use money, and the treasury of the household department is already in distress. The Ministry is also restrained.

But Yarjan'a represents not one person, but the interests of the clan kings.The fourth elder brother is a prince, so he is still afraid of those iron hats.

Regarding Yaerjiang's actions, the fourth elder brother is not ignorant, he just doesn't know what Cao Yong's position is.

Yaerjiang is arrogant and not easy to get along with. It is rare that he has a close relationship with Cao Yong.

In addition, the prince's "outside concubine" who was widely rumored in the capital seems to have something to do with the female shopkeeper of the Cao family.

As a result, the fourth elder brother was not sure about the extent of their friendship.

Seeing that Cao Yong didn't hide his intentions and was frank, the fourth elder brother felt much more at ease.

Seeing that Cao Yong finished speaking, Elder Seventeen smiled and said: "Fourth brother, my brother knows about this matter. A few days ago, Cao Yong made a special trip to find his brother to help him out. Who in Beijing doesn't know about Prince Jane's temper? Who dares to offend him? But Cao Yong is just Cao Yong, and he is not really a "good fortune boy", how could he know so much. Now it is a big tree attracting the wind, and everyone is thinking about letting him make money."

Hearing the words of the seventeenth elder brother, the fourth elder brother smiled lightly, glanced at Cao Yong, and said: "Prince Jian has been receiving money from the household department for a while, and you must have the same idea of ​​this method of making money. Let How about this king and your seventeenth master listening to each other and gaining insights?"

"Back to the fourth master, these days, because of this matter, I have also racked my brains. I really don't know how to make Prince Jian satisfied." At this point, he paused, and said: "Fortunately, I have a position My acquaintance went north to the capital and brought news from the south, which made me think a little absurdly, and I don’t know if it’s feasible or not.”

"Is that your brother from Jiang Ning, the one who married a foreign woman?" Elder Seventeen said with a bit of curiosity on his face, "I'm going to see and see if it's true as rumored. It's a female Rakshasa."

"Brother Seventeen, I'm afraid I won't see it anymore, they have already set off to the south today." Cao Yong thought of Wei Xin, Zhang Yi and others who had left, and his chest still felt congested.

"It's a pity." Elder Seventeen sighed and said.

When the Cao family came, who came, and what happened, the spies at the sticky pole had already written a report, which was on the case of the fourth elder brother.

Hearing Cao Yong's words, he didn't intend to hide the slightest bit, the fourth elder brother nodded, and asked: "What's your idea, let's hear it?"

"Returning to the fourth master, my family friend has settled in Guangzhou in recent years, so he knows the situation in Guangzhou very well. In Guangzhou, because of the cumbersome foreign goods, there are many foreigners doing business there. Nanyang and Western In the land boundary, gold is more expensive than silver, and one tael of gold can be exchanged for 15 taels of silver. The same is true in Guangzhou. Even if there is no one tael to 15 taels, there are thirteen and 14 taels. Since the beginning of the Kingdom, there has been a ratio of one to ten officials." Cao Yong said after a little thought.

This remark made the fourth elder brother look sideways, and even the seventeenth elder brother became interested, and said with his fingers: "In this way, the difference between one tael of gold and silver is three or four taels. Tens of thousands of taels of silver. This silver is too easy to come by, but it’s so far away, and it’s not easy to transport it. If all the gold is exchanged by foreigners, then won’t our Qing Dynasty be short of gold in the future?”

Today, the coins circulating on the market are still mainly copper coins, accompanied by a small amount of silver.Although gold can also be used as money, who would usually spend it, most of it is made into goldware or jewelry.

Cao Yong also regretted why he was short-sighted. If he had learned some mineral knowledge and the distribution of gold, silver and copper mines in his previous life, he wondered if it would save him a lot of energy.

The fourth elder brother thought he was interested, and when he heard the seventeenth elder brother's question, he nodded repeatedly and said, "That's right, things are rare and expensive. The reason why foreigners pay so much money is probably due to scarcity. If you are only greedy for small profits, Give all the gold to foreigners, and after a few years, there will be no gold to use, and you will have to suffer the consequences yourself."

Seeing that the fourth elder brother and the seventeenth elder brother questioned, Cao Yong swallowed the other words in his stomach and did not say it.

He originally wanted to draw out the Japanese from the Zhejiang governor's notes, and tell the story of Japan's gold, copper, and silver.In Japan, four taels of silver can be exchanged for one tael of gold.

Transport the silver to Japan, exchange it for gold, and then send the gold to Guangzhou to exchange it for silver. In this way, you can earn three times the profit.

Although those clan princes are distinguished and would not think about crossing the ocean, but the most important thing they need is servants.

In this way, it can not only solve the problem of lack of money in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also indirectly promote foreign exchanges and broaden horizons.

However, now, Cao Yong has changed his mind.

Even if the money was earned by the clan's mansion, it was just more pocket money for the various palaces, making them more extravagant and extravagant, which is not beneficial to the people and the country.

If you wait until the fourth elder brother ascends the throne, and then handle this matter, it will get twice the result with half the effort and benefit the moment.

Seeing that Cao Yong was silent, Elder Seventeen was afraid that he would be discouraged, so he smiled twice and said: "Maybe I am worrying unnecessarily, how much energy can foreigners have, and can they exchange all the gold of our Qing Dynasty? Come to think of it, Fu Ruo's idea is also a good idea to get money, and the clan's mansion will pay for it for a few years."

Cao Yong said embarrassingly: "This minister's thinking is too simple. If the fourth master and the seventeenth master hadn't thought of this, I'm afraid that the minister would become a sinner of the Qing Dynasty."

The fourth elder brother looked at Cao Yong, and said seriously: "Although you are young, you are already in the prominent position. You should think about it in the future, so as not to get into trouble with your tongue."

"Yes, Xie Siye taught, Cao Yong wrote it down." Hearing this, Cao Yong stood up and answered with hands down.

Seeing Cao Yong listening to the training respectfully, the fourth elder brother was satisfied, and said to the seventeenth elder brother: "The seventeenth brother is good to rest and recuperate. There are many things in the yamen. I will go and have a look first, and I will come to see the seventeenth brother some other day." .

When the seventeenth elder brother heard the words, he hurriedly got up and, together with Cao Yong, sent the fourth elder brother to the door.

It wasn't until the fourth elder brother walked away that the seventeenth elder brother breathed a sigh of relief, turned his head and glanced at Cao Yong, and said in a low voice: "Fu Ruo, not only you are afraid of him, but I am also afraid of him. A look that makes people frightened Trembling, it's really strange to say that, even before the second elder brother was abolished in the early years, I was never so afraid."

After Cao Yong heard this, he couldn't judge that person casually, so he could only vaguely say: "Perhaps it's because the fourth master looks serious."

"Really?" Elder Seventeen couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it and said to Cao Yong, "Furuo, although the idea of ​​exchanging gold for silver is flawed, it's already powerful enough. You don't have to be too demanding, Talk to Prince Jian, let him make up his own mind. Speaking of which, the gold outside is limited, only the silver treasuries of the various princes have some left. If they can take out the gold and make money for themselves For expenses, you don’t have to count on the court’s grace any more, which is considered a great good.”

Cao Yong nodded and said: "Understood, Prince Jane has been urged several times, I really have no other way..."

*
Qianmen, Daoxiang Village, Neitang.

Sitting behind the desk, Han Jiang looked at the purchase account for this month.

Because it was going to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, I purchased a lot of raw materials and spent a lot of money.Fortunately, because there are many pastry shops and the quantity needed is large, and each kind of food is bought at the place of production, without intermediate links, and there is still room for bargaining, the price of high-quality materials is not higher than that of ordinary materials. How expensive.

In this way, not only the quality of the pastry is guaranteed, but also the profit is guaranteed, which makes the business in the shop more and more prosperous.

According to the annual example, the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Chinese New Year are the best times for the business of the pastry shop.It is only half a month before the Dragon Boat Festival, and the money income in the shop is equivalent to the income in a few months after the New Year.

Now, the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, although the Han Jiang family didn't plan to make a big splash, but they also thought about taking the opportunity to earn more money.

She was looking at the account when she saw Xiaoxi, a close maid, come in to report: "Girl, Master Qu is here."

Han Jiang put down the account book and said, "Please come in."

Xiaoxi went out in response, and after a short while, a master chef in his 50s followed Xiaoxi, wearing a white coarse cloth collared scarf, holding an iron plate in his hand, and there were golden moon cakes baked in it.

This master was hired by the Han Jiang family from Suzhou at a high price before Daoxiang Village opened.He is the best dim sum chef in Suzhou City. In his early years, when Sheng Jia was on his tour to the south, he was summoned to worship pastries for the emperor.

The negotiated price is 300 taels of annual salary, plus year-end bonus.

This price is ten times that of other dim sum chefs.

But it's worth the money, the main masters in the other shops are mostly Master Qu's disciples and grandchildren.

It was also to win over Master Qu, and also to prevent other people from poaching people, so their whole family moved to the capital, and the envoys of the Cao Mansion gave them a banner registration, and became the servants of the Cao family.

Master Qu did not have a few children and grandchildren who inherited his craft, but they worked in Cao's house.Master Qu is also working hard, and many of the new cakes in Daoxiang Village are all figured out by him.

The Han Jiang family has long said that if the pastry chefs in each shop can figure out a new variety of pastry and sell it well, they will give a reward of two taels of silver to 20 taels of silver.

Just talking about this sum of money, Master Qu earns more than one hundred taels a year.

The room was filled with the smell of moon cakes for a while.

"Baked?" Han Jiangshi stood up and asked, looking at the mooncakes on the plate.

Master Qu put down the iron plate, and said: "Each set of eight mooncakes, one host and seven guests, each filling is different, just in line with the trend of seven stars holding the moon."

After listening, Han Jiang nodded to Xiaoxi.Xiao Xi has already taken out a sandalwood box from the closet next to her.

There was a copper lock hanging on it, Xiaoxi took out the key and opened the lock, inside was a set of silver plates, silver knives, silver chopsticks, silver forks and so on.

Xiaoxi came over with a silver plate, cut a piece of mooncake three times with a silver knife, then inserted a piece with a silver fork, and sent it to Han Jiangshi.

This is stuffed with roses, the roses inside are pleasantly fragrant, and the mooncake skin outside is also exquisite, it is really delicious in color and fragrance...

*
Cao Mansion, the school grounds.

Qiniang has already practiced several rounds of punches, sweat profusely on her forehead, but she has no intention of resting at all.

She went out in the morning, and didn't come back at noon, and Xiang Cao was a little worried, so she found it.

Seeing her basking in the sun, her whole body was hot, Xiangcao hurriedly took two steps forward and said, "Is this always here? Even though it's the beginning of autumn, the autumn tiger is also fierce, take a rest, don't get burned in the sun." .”

Qiniang's face was tense, not as lively as before.Although he stopped punching and kicking according to his words, he remained silent sadly.

"Who are you arguing with again?" Vanilla said while taking out a handkerchief to wipe her sweat.

Qiniang stretched out her hand, wrapped her arms around Xiangcao's waist, buried her small head in her arms, and said in a muffled voice: "Aunt Xiang, it's almost Qiniang's birthday, why hasn't daddy come back?"

Although usually lively, she was a child after all, but when it came to the end, she was crying.

Vanilla has been married for many years, and she has been looking forward to having a man and a half woman all these years, but luckily, she has never been able to achieve her wish.Ever since Qiniang came here, she treated her like a daughter.

Seeing Qiniang feeling uncomfortable now, she couldn't bear it, touched Qiniang's hair and said: "Didn't your father go on an errand? Auntie will arrange for Qiniang's birthday for you. If you want to eat something delicious, tell auntie , Auntie will buy and change for you."

Qiniang sniffled, choked up and said, "Why don't Qiniang accompany Aunt Xiang to burn incense, and bless Qiniang with a godbrother in the coming year."

After hearing this, Xiang Cao patted Qiniang's forehead, and said: "After all, it's a girl's house, she can say anything, and she doesn't feel ashamed, let's see who dares to ask for your wife."

Qiniang stuck out her tongue, made a grimace, and said: "Qiniang doesn't want to marry, it's so boring, I'd better practice boxing..."

*
Xiao Cao's spring is coming, begging for a monthly ticket and a recommendation ticket. . .

(End of this chapter)