Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 743 Killing Chickens
On the fifth day of March, Changchun Garden, the Great Court Meeting.

As the Longevity Festival is approaching, the governors, governors, admirals, chief soldiers and other civil and military officials from other provinces who came to Beijing to meet were also listed above the court.Cao Yong's position in the six subjects of the fourth grade has been squeezed to the back.

The consequences of the Meng Guangzu case were revealed at this court meeting.In the past, not all courtiers had the right to report on the secret papers, but now Kangxi has an oral order, and the scholars, bachelors, Jiuqing, etc. of the Beijing Central University, the governors, admirals, and general soldiers from other places can all play the secret papers.

In this way, no matter what troubles are happening in the place, Kangxi can know first-hand.

You must know that the excerpts of this secret book were sent directly to the imperial court without going through the cabinet.

Because someone "impersonated" the three Cheng princes to go on tour, Kangxi also made a special trip to mention that he would never do "changing clothes and doing little things", which can be considered as a precautionary measure.

However, Cao Yong thought of "Kangxi's Private Interview" which was filmed in the first sequel and then the second and third sequels hundreds of years later. Compared with his eyes, he felt extremely ridiculous.

His eyes fell on several censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Two days have passed since the "bloody case" at Cao's gate.Two days, no matter how long or short it is, has been able to make more conversation material in the teahouse in the capital, and also enables Cao Yin and his son to check things out.

Next, look at the Metropolitan Procuratorate.Emperor Kangxi was full, and wanted to take the opportunity to "beat" the Cao family?

Cao Yong sneered in his heart, it was ridiculous.I am not a material for being a "loyal minister". The reason why I live in my position and do what I do is to live in the world according to this social norm.

Finally, Kangxi was not foolish, and nothing happened to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.Otherwise, Cao Yong, an official of science and Taoism, would have to suffer impeachment.

Cao Yong's gaze shifted from the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the clan's side, and finally fixed on Baylor Hongxi.

In the past two days, Hongxi Baylor has been in the limelight. I heard that when Kangxi received the North Korean entourage Zheng Zailun yesterday, it was Hongxi who accompanied him.

It has been less than a hundred years since the Manchus entered the customs, and the Sinicization is already very serious.From the royal family to the prince's mansion, Baylor's mansion, to ordinary people's homes, all follow the eldest son inheritance system.

Even if there is a law, "equal distribution among all sons" is implemented when dividing the family, but in fact the treatment of the legitimate son and the concubine son is very different.

In the Lee Dynasty of North Korea, Confucian scholars ruled the country. In their eyes, even if the crown prince was abolished, Hong Xi, the eldest grandson of the emperor, had more inheritance rights than other concubine princes.

Some old Confucians in the imperial court also treated it in the same way.In addition, after Kangxi was abolished as the prince, he was still very affectionate to the eldest grandson of the emperor, and stayed in the elder brother's house in the palace, which further confirmed this rumor.

However, he didn't know how much grievances this Young Master Hongxi had with the Cao family. At this moment, he used unscrupulous means to plot against the Cao family.

Cao Yong recalled how Nalan Chengping plotted against him many years ago, it seems that there is a reason why this Hongxi Baylor cannot be in the reserve position.Even the [-]th elder brother who thought he was humiliated by Cao Yong could let go of the grievances in front of him and put on a smiling face to win over the Cao family. Why is he still at the critical moment of seizing the heir, and he is still at the critical moment of seizing the heir, and he always feels that there seems to be something to say? Not sure.

At the end of the court meeting, Cao Yong came out with the civil and military officials.

At the gate of the garden, I happened to meet Elder Sixteen.Brother Sixteen is also going back to the city, so the two will go together.

"What's going on? I don't believe you are rich and unkind. I don't know that you are the most benevolent woman, and my aunt and He Rui often do good deeds." asked.

"Who knows, I'm afraid people are kind and deceived." Cao Yong glanced at the scenery along the way and replied with self-deprecation.

Seeing Cao Yong like this, Elder Sixteen lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry, Fu Ruo, Huang Ama knows it well. Yesterday there was an excerpt from the royal history, which was retained by Huang Ama."

It turned out that there were really kittens and puppies stretching their paws. Cao Yong took a look at Elder Sixteen.

Just like when we first met many years ago, Elder Sixteen's eyes were jet-black, and there was an undisguised concern inside.

Cao Yong's heart warmed up. Over the years, everyone seems to have changed, but there is always something that hasn't changed.

"All the errands for the Longevity Festival are arranged?" Cao Yong asked with a smile.

"Well, this year is not a whole birthday, plus the Northwest War, it's just a formality." Elder Sixteen replied: "On the other hand, Old Yi is having a lot of fun with Brother Ninth, but after a few days of work, the money is like running water Yes. If things go on like this, it won’t be long before the price of silver in the capital will become expensive.”

Ninth brother's gold store, Cao Yong thought of the iceberg face of fourth brother.Even if there is no eighth elder brother, in the eyes of the fourth elder brother, the ninth elder brother must be cleaned up.

Buying officials and selling nobles is a silverfish in the court.

As for who issued the decree, the face of the royal family and the court must be well-groomed, and that's not the case.

Thinking of this, Cao Yong's fear of Kangxi and the fourth elder brother has been reduced a lot... In his heart, he suddenly thought of a sentence, "All opposition parties are paper tigers"...

*
Elder Brother's residence, Hongxi Baylor's residence.

The first wife, Tana Borzigit, sat on the main seat and listened to the doctor's reply.Among the female family members in the inner house, one is about to give birth, and one is pregnant.

The imperial physician came here today to feel the pulse of the two of you.

As a descendant of the Aixinjueluo family, it is Hongxi's responsibility to reproduce.Tana, who married from Horqin to the court, is becoming more and more like a "good wife".

In the past few years, she still felt jealous of the rookies assigned after each draft, but after all these years, she was able to deal with it calmly.

Before she married, Hongxi had a concubine around her, but it was not until she had nothing to do for three years that someone gave birth to her husband's eldest son.

This girl who grew up on the prairie was originally a bit spoiled, but she was not a fool who didn't understand the world.Based on this alone, she is grateful to her husband's cousin.

Coupled with the second elder brother's "second waste", the situation here is also embarrassing. Tana does not want her husband to be distracted by the affairs of the inner house, and she is becoming more and more like a "good wife".

Although there is a mother-in-law above, she is imprisoned in Xian'an Palace together with her father-in-law, and she does not need to serve him day and night; other concubines in the harem rarely communicate with this side; only a few princes Fujin who have not yet divided the government.

Now that it's here, Tana's life is much more leisurely and leisurely.

After sending the imperial physician away, she walked to the door and looked at several pots of plantains and oleanders in the yard.The palace is fire-proof and anti-theft, so there are no big trees.

It is already March, and the ice and snow on the grassland have melted, and there should be some spring.

Thinking of this, the expression on her face became much softer, revealing a bit of loneliness.Although she knows that once she enters the palace gate, she will go all over the world, but the yearning for the prairie that makes her dream come true has been deeply imprinted in her bones.

She really wanted to be a swan goose on the grassland, soaring freely, instead of slowly withering inside this red wall.

When Hong Xi stepped into the courtyard, he happened to see this scene.From the flattered eldest grandson of the emperor, the future prince, to the son of a sinner, this huge gap has changed this ostentatious young man a lot.

"Ma'am." Hong Xi smiled a little, and said, "This is for viewing flowers, how about some people get some flowers from outside tomorrow?" While speaking, he looked at his wife's expression.

"Master is back." Tana had put away her thoughts, her face was full of grace.

Carrying the blood of the Golden Family and Aixinjueluo on her body, she also has her own pride and will not show her vulnerable side to others.

Seeing this, Hong Xi secretly frowned.

The human heart is like this, fragile and fragile, but where the seeds of doubt are planted, ugly jealousy can be born.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Zhang is pregnant, and Mrs. Qiang's pregnancy is stable. I hope they can give birth to two little brothers this time." Tana congratulated her husband calmly while calling for someone to change her husband's clothes.

She would never call her husband's concubine "sister" like the main house of other families, and no one dared to call her "sister".

Seeing her so calm, Hong Xi couldn't be happy at all, but became more and more jealous of the imaginary enemy in his heart.

He couldn't help but want to ask his wife if he looked down on him because he was no longer the prince's son, otherwise why he was so calm, was it "magnanimous", or was it because he had no heart.

"Ah..." Tana whispered, "What's wrong, Master?"

It turned out that Hongxi had already grasped Tana's arm with both hands in a daze, and the strength was a little stronger, which made Tana frown.

"It's okay, thank you Ma'am." Hongxi regained his composure, quickly put down his hands, and forced a smile.

"If you have time, go and see Qiang and Zhang. Especially Zhang, who is the first child, seems to be terrified, and looks pitiful." Tana said.

Hongxi nodded confusedly, walked to the door, stopped again, turned around and said, "Madam, do you still remember the horse race that spring? Gege from Pingjun Wangfu found many students with red flags... still lost to you..."

"Baoya..." Tana heard the words and fell into memory: "That happened in 48... Baoya complained at the beginning, saying Mongolia was useless. Unexpectedly, now that I am in Beijing, she has gone to Mongolia... ...Why do you think of this..." At the end, she raised her head and looked at her husband.

Hong Xi didn't know why he thought of this, long before the two of them formally mentioned their marriage, he knew that the sturdy little cousin from the third aunt's family was his fiancée.

At that time, he still looked down on this Mongolian Gege who was ignorant of the world, and only thought that his first wife should be as graceful and luxurious as his aunt Guerjia, so that he was worthy of him and worthy of the words "Mother Yitianxia".

As the years went by, seeing this woman transform little by little before his eyes, he actually felt a sense of loss.

The husband and wife looked at each other like this, and the atmosphere was a bit weird, but fortunately, a servant came to report, saying that the third elder brother had come.

The "third elder brother" here is of course not the third prince of Prince Defeng Cheng, but Hong Xi's half-brother Hong Jin.

When the "Second Waste" prince, Hong Jin also got married and lived in elder brother's house, so he was not imprisoned with his parents.He is two years younger than Hongxi, and has a lower maternal status. He has been Hongxi's little follower since he was a child; when he grew up, he lost his father's protection, and he became more and more dependent on his elder brother.

Hong Xi went to see her younger brother, Tana felt tired and went back to her room to take a rest.Two husband and wife, back to back, gradually drifting away.

Hong Jin's complexion was a little ugly. Seeing his brother, he stood up and looked at the little eunuch standing by the door.

Seeing this, Hongxi knew that his younger brother had something to say, so he waved his hand to send him off, leading his younger brother to turn around the screen and talk in the quiet room.

"Brother, there is news from outside the palace that there is something wrong with Laojunguan. There are many strange faces outside the temple in the past two days. I don't know which mansion they are from." Hong Jin said with a little eagerness.

At any time, there is no shortage of gamblers, especially in the field of power.

Although the crown prince was abolished, the princeling party seemed to have vanished, but at some point, around Hongxi, there was also a "royal grandson party".

That high palace wall can't cut off the gamers' heart.Just as the fourteenth elder brother started to have his own influence outside the palace, Hongxi's real scope of activities will not be determined by this little elder brother.

Daojun Temple in the western suburbs is a stronghold of forces outside Hongxi Palace.

When Hongxi heard this, her heart sank, and she asked, "Over there at the Dutong Yamen..."

"Du Tian originally had a son and a daughter, and they sold them last winter. The son was young and died of illness in the first month of this year. This time, it is his daughter Du Mei who came forward to be the one to suffer." Hong Jin replied in one breath when he heard his brother's question. road.

Hong Xi raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.He had a good idea of ​​what happened to Du Tian's family, that's why he made people push the flames and lured Du Tian to sue the Cao family.

Who would have thought that this Du Tian is a dead-headed person who would actually come to "redress his grievances" with a dead body.But in this way, it seems that the effect is better.

Hongxi did not dare to neglect his younger brother's statement about Laojun's view.After all, he was in a place of suspicion, and he didn't dare to expand his power like other princes these years. The manpower under his sect was really limited, and he couldn't afford to lose it.

"Let that boy Li Heng be more careful, and see where the manpower is. If it really doesn't work, he will think about taking people out of the western suburbs." Hong Xi said after contemplating it.

Hong Jin complied, and went out to make people spread the word outside the palace...

*
In a blink of an eye, it was sunset.

Cao Yong had dinner, but felt that the night was very long.He said a few words with his wife, and taught Tianhui to recite two long poems, still feeling a little uneasy.

In this world, who deserves to die and who is truly innocent.

Cao Yong needn't worry about the so-called "lawsuit".What happened this time was that the reputation of the Cao family was damaged. According to the law, the Cao family did not violate the law. The Cao family's steward came forward to take care of the matter.

Chuyu saw that her husband was absent-minded, so she called the nurse, and carried Tianhui to the east room to resettle.

"Forehead, tired of errands?" She asked with some concern.

Cao Yong raised his head and looked at his wife, but he was speechless.I don't want to scare her by telling the truth, and I don't want to lie to deceive her.He rubbed the center of his brows, and said: "Maybe I got up early in the morning, and I'm a little tired, let's settle down."

When Chu Yu heard this, she ordered someone to fetch water for washing her feet.

At this time, I heard someone from the corridor saying: "Master, the master sent the servants to pass the message, please come to the study in the front yard to talk."

Cao Yong was taken aback when he heard the words, and got up from the kang.

"Forehead son-in-law... drink two sips of tea to refresh yourself." Although she didn't know why her father-in-law was looking for Cao Yong, but thinking of her husband's exhaustion, Chu Yu hurriedly poured half a cup of strong tea and delivered it to her husband.

Cao Yong sent it to his mouth and drank it. Although it tasted bitter, it did make people sober.

It was the beginning of the month, and there was only a shallow crescent in the sky.

When he arrived at the study, Cao Yong saw Cao Yin sitting cross-legged on the kang, with a chessboard in front of him. It was not the chess he often played, but chess.

"Father." Cao Yong bowed.

Cao Yin pointed to his eyes and said, "Come on, let's kill one."

Seeing that his father had no intention of speaking, Cao Yong sat opposite him.The father and son were silent and focused on the chessboard.

If it is about Go, Cao Yong can try his best; for Chess, he is an authentic "stinky chess basket".

In my previous life, when I occasionally played with my classmates in the dormitory, it was the one who couldn’t win with a set of chariots and cannons; in this life, this wealthy family is arty, and they mainly play Go, and their exposure to chess is even more limited, and their level is not good at all. .

Speaking of it, the father and son have played countless games of Go, but this is the first time they have played chess.

Compared with Go, Xiangqi has much more killing intent and gives the opponent more time to prepare.Although Cao Yong didn't care about winning or losing, but since his father wanted to play chess, he concentrated on fighting, trying to make himself lose more slowly, so as to save his father's interest.

Although he is not good at attacking, he is superior in his careful thinking and strict defense.If Cao Yin wanted to win, he would have to entangle for a while.

Unexpectedly, Cao Yin looked pretty at the beginning, but after half a round, he made a foolish move, revealing a big flaw.

Cao Yong stared at the chessboard, took a comprehensive look at the overall situation, and saw that it was indeed not a trap. He shot past and took down the red horse.The situation on the chessboard has been reversed. With Cao Yin's successive defeats, Cao Yong is approaching step by step.

After one round, Cao Yong actually won.

Cao Yong put down the chess pieces and stared at the chessboard, feeling incredible.

Cao Yin had already raised his head, looked at his son, and said after a while: "Cao Jia and Cao Yi are available, I have told them to go with Wei Hei."

Cao Yong was taken aback when he heard the words, but he really didn't know why his father knew about it.

"It's rare for you to take the initiative to take action. You feel itchy for your father, and you can't help but want to fight for you. Yong'er will not dislike being troublesome for your father." Cao Yin looked at his increasingly mature son, and felt a little proud in his heart.

"Father won't blame his son for being reckless, right?" Cao Yong asked a little nervously when his father knew about his arrangement.

Cao Yin shook his head and said with a smile: "It would be great to think of leading the people from San Age's Mansion to the western suburbs as a cover first. Even if something happens there, Hongxi suspects you, and he can't make up his mind. He will definitely be trembling, and he will be everywhere."

Cao Yong smiled bitterly, he never wanted to be happy with enmity.

Such twists and turns were not for Meng Hongxi, but for the one on the dragon chair.Even if the Cao family was bullied, since Hong Xi was the emperor's grandson, it would be a dishonorable act for Hongxi to take revenge on the other party.

"Although you are not good at attacking, you are good at defending. In the future, you should calm down and think about it. Whether it is a chess game or a battlefield, sometimes it is not about winning or losing, but who has good concentration. Good concentration, Waiting for the opponent to have an opening is your chance to win. This time Hongxi used this move." Cao Yin looked at his son and said, "Have you learned a lesson?"

Seeing his father teaching, Cao Yong stood up, listened carefully, and nodded heavily.

Sometimes, if you don't want to be peaceful and comfortable, you can be peaceful and comfortable, and if you don't keep it all, accidents will happen.But there's nothing to be annoyed about, because when the opponent makes a move, it's when the flaw is revealed.

This night, the sky in the western suburbs was illuminated red by the flames...

(End of this chapter)