Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 875 Performing Martial Arts

Mrs. Sun came down with her maid, still a little worried brother.At this moment, she realized that her younger brother was not dressed properly.

Thinking of this, she couldn't sit still, and ordered someone to look ahead, and when her husband returned to the inner house, she asked someone to come over.

"Why did he come back to the south at this time? But something happened at home?" Seeing her husband coming in, Sun waved her hand, sent the maid out, and asked.

Li Nai drank wine with his brother-in-law for a while, his mouth was a little dry, he asked his wife for a cup of tea, and then said: "Do you have any silver in your hand, and you are ready to give 200 taels."

"Silver?" Seeing her husband answering the wrong question, Mrs. Sun frowned and said, "Now my wife is in charge of the house. Where can I have any money here? Brother Cheng wrote a letter saying that he may not be able to come back a year ago. I still want to discuss with the master whether I can talk to the master. Let someone send some money to the capital, so that brother Cheng and his brothers won't be tight."

Li Nai waved his hand and said: "Housework, just talk to your wife, why bother the master? Didn't I hear you mention it a few days ago? Why do you want to send money to Beijing?"

Mentioning this matter, Mrs. Sun couldn't help complaining a little more in her heart, saying: "Since the uncle brought back those two little ones, the wife has changed her old temper, holding all the money in her hand, and wishing to break a penny into cash. Spend two halves. This year, I dug out a lot of old clothes to reward people, saving money for cutting new cotton clothes, and I don’t even want to look decent.”

Li Nai knew the current situation of the family, so he didn't think much about it, and said: "The income of the mansion has been short in the past few years, so it is right for the wife to save some flowers."

Mrs. Sun was choked up, and she couldn't complain more about Mrs. Wang's stinginess with her husband, so she could only say in a friendly way: "If the uncle wants to make money, just tell the master directly, it's cheaper to pay from the account than to talk to the wife. "

Li Nai was a little drunk, pressed his temples with his hands, and said: "It's not easy to pay from the account, it's for my brother-in-law. You pay from your private money first, and I'll find a way to replenish it for you in a few days."

Seeing that her husband was not feeling well, Mrs. Sun walked up behind him, stretched out her hand, helped him press his head, and asked, "Okay, why did you think of borrowing money from our house?"

Because there were too many things involved, Li Nai didn't want to talk more with his wife, so he said: "Perhaps it's not cheap at the moment, since he came to the door and opened his mouth, it's not easy to let him go away empty-handed."

Mrs. Sun pursed her lips, although she was a bit reluctant, she didn't say much because he was her natal brother after all.

But Li Nai thought of his two nephews, who were raised at his brother-in-law's house earlier, it would be embarrassing if they bumped into each other accidentally.It seems that it is better to send the money early and send the brother-in-law out of Suzhou to be serious...

The next day, when Sun Jue saw the 200 taels of silver handed over by his brother-in-law, his expression was not good.He originally asked to borrow 500 taels, but he only got 200 taels.

He snorted coldly, and said, "Brother-in-law, is this a beggar? I came all the way here, and my brother-in-law just took out 200 taels of silver. Is it embarrassing?" When you begged me last year?"

Last year Li Nai begged him because of the twins.

This is not a glorious thing, Sun Jue still brought it up and said, Li Nai felt a headache, said: "Now our house is not living well, and we still owe the Ministry of Households a shortfall of hundreds of thousands, up and down It’s also a matter of tightening your trousers to live. These are your elder sisters, who acted as their heads, and put them together for you.”

This is not an excuse. Most of the money the Li family got from the salt tax in the past few years was to make up for the shortfall when they picked up the driver back then.

Sun Jue blushed, full of indignation.

Li Nai was afraid that he would hold on to the twins' words and lose the dignity of the two families, so he changed the conversation and said, "It's not good to live outside all the time. When the father-in-law's anger subsides, Yushu should go back to Hangzhou to live as soon as possible. It really can't, It’s okay to be nearby in Hangzhou, it’s better than Xuzhou.”

Sun Jue was displeased when he heard this, and said, "If I go back to Hangzhou, with my father's temper, he can kill me directly. Although it's tough outside, I'm finally embracing this rotten life."

Hearing his pitiful words, Li Nai lowered his head, hid the guilt in his eyes, and sighed in his heart, already thinking about whether he should come forward to persuade his father-in-law...

*
Capital, Changping, Caojiazhuangzi.

In the afternoon of this day, the weather was fine, and the Ren family brothers took the children to practice archery in the school grounds.Cao Yong had nothing to do, so he walked over to join in the fun, and happened to see the Li family brothers also there.

Li Cheng was afraid of the cold, so he wore cotton clothes and a lynx leather vest, and he looked weak.

Seeing this, Cao Yong frowned secretly.

Before Li's family wanted to bring the Li family brothers to Zhuangzi, Cao Yong asked the imperial physician who treated Li Cheng, and said that Li Cheng's cold symptoms had recovered, and he would not pass on his illness to others.

However, these days, seeing that Li Cheng's symptoms are gone, except that he still coughs occasionally, Cao Yong is worried that he has pneumonia.

His symptoms are not obvious, he does not have a high fever, and the adults are fine, and he is not afraid of infection; after all, the children are weak, and Cao Yong does not want him to get too close to the children.

Seeing Cao Yong coming, the Ren family brothers put down their bows and arrows, and brought the children over to salute.The Li brothers also walked over and met Cao Yong.

Cao Yong waved his hand and asked the children to continue, then turned his head and said to Li Cheng: "It's winter after all, and the weather is warm, but the wind is also hard. You'd better take a rest, and it will be safe to come out after recovering your body."

"Nephew has done his best. He was really bored in the house, so he came out to bask in the sun. He will go back now." Li Cheng looked very obedient and replied politely.

"If you are very bored, read more books, and then I will send someone to send you more books. You can also go to Zheng Xie for academic matters." Cao Yong said.

Li Cheng bowed and agreed, and the two brothers left together.

Cao Yong looked at their brother's back, and his heart pondered endlessly.

According to the knowledge of later generations, the decline of the Li family was at the beginning of the Yongzheng Dynasty.Because of the presence of the Li family, the relationship between the Cao family and the Li family will never be completely broken.

Regardless of Li's true identity, in the eyes of the world, the Li family is Li's natal family and Cao Yong's mother family.

When the Li family was in trouble, others could watch with cold eyes, but Cao Yong, the "nephew" of the Li family, could not. Otherwise, he would be regarded as a "mean and ruthless" person by the world.

Instead of taking care of the defeated Li family by the Cao family, Cao Yong sincerely hopes that there are people who can support the family among the Li family children.

In the earlier history, the decline of the Cao family was due to the short life of Cao Yin.Although they were all ransacked homes, Yongzheng's attitude towards the Cao and Li families was completely different, otherwise the Cao family would not have been allowed to continue to the Qianlong Dynasty and ransacked the house a second time.

Now, the Cao family has Cao Yong, as long as there are no major changes in history, his life is still stable.As for the Li family, they were defeated by Li Xu's "longevity".

Cao Yong thought very disrespectfully, if Li Xu's life was over early, with Li Nai's honest nature, he took over the Li family and fulfilled his responsibilities as a courtier, maybe the fate of the Li family would not be so miserable.

Li Cheng has a bad heart, but Li Yu has a restrained temper.

Cao Yong squinted his eyes, if the mud of the Li family couldn't be thrown out, he might as well support a Li family's younger brother to take over.

Just as he was thinking, he felt his sleeve move, and someone said, "Father, father..."

It was Hang Seng who came over, with admiration all over his face, he held up the small bow in his hand, and said: "Father is the most powerful, let's show the child how to shoot arrows..."

His own son is pleasing to the eye no matter how he looks at it. Cao Yong's expression softened when he heard the childish words.

At this moment, God Bless and the others also came over and surrounded Cao Yong.

The Ren brothers competed with Cao Yong in archery in the early years. Although they are better than Cao Yong in skill and serious in riding and archery, they are not as good as Cao Yong.

Seeing that Cao Yong was in a good mood, the two brothers also joined in the fun, and came over with the bow and quiver in their hands, and said: "Since the uncle is here, let me show you both hands."

The one said: "Yes, yes, I haven't seen the uncle shoot an arrow for a long time, and I just opened my eyes today."

Cao Yong took the bow and straightened his back.

If there are other people in the family who sit in the court, he would like to be a military officer.Rather than intrigue among the six yamen, being a military officer is the way to be at ease.

After all, the few who can lead troops to the battlefield to experience dangers, most of the military officers are just leading troops to train and so on.

Seeing his father holding the bow, Tianyou took the quiver from Ren Jiyong and followed behind his father.

Cao Yong entered the school field, looked at the target in front of him, made a visual inspection, and stood still eighty steps away from the target.Then, he lowered his head and drew a feathered arrow from the quiver.

Others are alright, they have all seen Cao Yong shoot arrows, Sun Li and Sun Chu saw it for the first time, and even looked at it eagerly.Especially Sun Chu, he was still surprised.

In his mind, uncle Cao Yong is a civil servant, just like his father, Sun Jue.
He shot nine shots in a row, except for one, which missed the target and fell to the ground because of the broken arrow feather. The remaining eight shots all hit the target, and some of them even hit the red heart.

The children leaned forward and cheered.

Now they just use small bows to shoot arrows ten steps away; Cao Yong stands still at eighty steps, in their opinion, he is the most powerful person.

Cao Yong's thumb hurts from being strangled by the bowstring without wearing a finger puller.He handed the bow back to the Ren brothers, and was quite satisfied with his results.

Eighty steps is the distance in martial arts exams, and it is considered suitable if you hit three out of nine arrows.

Cao Yong thought of Li Cheng who had failed, and also thought of the children of the Wei family in Jiangning. He said to the Ren brothers: "Prepare a few more stone blocks and give them strength training. It can't be just a show."

In martial arts, in addition to riding and shooting, there are also three items of "skills and bravery", all of which are based on strength.

Cao Yong hopes that the children will learn both civil and martial arts, so that when they grow up, if they don't want to rely on the family to take care of them, if they want to take the imperial examination to become an official, they can have multiple choices.

Ren Jiyong heard Cao Yong mention Shidunzi, and said: "I just want to discuss with the uncle, whether to ask someone to buy some unsharpened swords for the young men, or wooden swords are also acceptable. In addition to archery, I have taught the young men in recent years. A few sets of long fists. It is enough to strengthen the body. If it is self-defense, it is better to learn a weapon or two, which is serious."

Cao Yong nodded and said: "Then tell the housekeeper, go and arrange for them. It's just that they are still young, if they learn weapons, I will trouble you brothers to keep an eye on them. Otherwise, the wife will know, I'm afraid It's not."

Having said that, he paused for a moment, and said: "Even if I buy it once, I will also buy some hard bows and big knives back."

After listening to Cao Yong's words, the Ren brothers looked at each other, feeling quite agitated in their hearts.They have already heard that this is what martial arts "skills and bravery" require.

They left their hometowns and went to Cao's family, first as long followers, and then as martial arts masters for the young masters.

Two years ago, when the imperial court opened donations, Cao Yong asked what their brothers meant, whether they wanted to become officials.The two brothers were used to being rich and powerful in Cao's mansion, so they were not keen on being a small official outside.

It's just that people in the world value literature over martial arts, and these two martial arts masters are not as confident as Master Wen in the family.

Now after listening to Cao Yong's words, it is to let the little masters learn both civil and martial arts, and they also have some hope in their hearts.If there are young men who take the martial arts and become an official, they can be regarded as making some real contributions, and their status in the Cao Mansion will be different in the future.

God bless them, after all, they are young. Compared with the boring Four Books and Five Classics, they prefer the martial arts on the school grounds. When they heard that they would add weapons, they were all very excited.

With only Sun Li by his side, he was a little confused.

I only have half a day of class every day, and the rest is playing in the school grounds. Is this considered "doing nothing"?
Why is uncle still so indulgent and join in the fun?
Leaving the school grounds, Cao Yong thought of the martial arts and sent people to look for Wu Sheng.

A few days ago, he ordered Wu Sheng to find a martial arts master in Beijing for the Wei family in Jiangning.

It's been half a month now, and I don't know if I found it?

"My lord, I asked people to inquire about these days, and there were a few good ones, but they didn't succeed when we went to meet each other." Wu Sheng replied.

After hearing this, Cao Yong frowned and said, "Why not? If you are really good at riding and shooting, you can add more money."

This time looking for a martial arts master is based on good riding and shooting as the standard.A big gentry family like the Wei family has no shortage of family guards, "skills and bravery", and strength training. They don't have to worry about a master. The main thing is to pick someone who is proficient in both riding and archery.

"The silver is enough, but no one is willing to go when they hear that they are leaving Beijing. Sir, it is not easy to find it in the bannermen. Bannermen don't need ordinary people, ordinary bannermen have two taels of silver every month, enough For chewing, who is willing to leave their hometown to dig food."

"How good is that?" Cao Yong thought of finding a good master for Wei Wenzhi, so that the boy could fulfill his wish and take the road of martial arts.

The reason why he wanted to look for it among the flags, and he didn't want to look for someone outside, was because he didn't know his family background and it would be insecure.

The Wei family is a big family in Jiangning, if the people sent by Cao Yong have evil intentions, they will do bad things with good intentions.

Wu Sheng hesitated, and said: "Grandpa, from a young point of view, it's better if you borrow a servant who is good at riding and shooting from someone you know well, it's more appropriate than someone hired from outside..."

When Cao Yong heard it, he understood that what he said was referring to the Pingjun Wangfu and Chunwangfu.

The palace has servants and servants, many of whom are outstanding in skills, serving as guards, attendants and so on.

With the relationship between Cao Yong and these two palaces, not to mention borrowing someone, it is just a trivial matter to ask for it directly.

Thinking of this, Cao Yong nodded, thinking about returning to the city in a few days, and going to the father-in-law's house to pay his respects.

The brother-in-law is not here, and the eldest nephew is tied up in the palace. Cao Yong doesn't want to go to his sister's house to dig a corner.

The two were talking when they heard the footsteps of "Tata" outside.

"Master, Lord Seventeen sent someone to deliver a letter, Lord Sixteen is not good..." Zheng Hu hurried in, without hesitation, he said to Cao Yong...

(End of this chapter)