The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 45 The Zhen family comes to Beijing
Bai Hongzhi's guess was correct. The winter of the third year in Yongchang was indeed a year of heavy snow. After the early snow in early November of the lunar calendar, several more snowfalls followed.

It was November 26th. The snow stopped suddenly and the sky was clear. The sun was glaring. The thick snow on the ground inside and outside the city reflected the sunlight. The weather was so bright that people could hardly open their eyes.

Although the nine gates of the capital were guarded by soldiers during the day, they were open to everyone. Only when the royal guards or officials of the second rank or above entered or left would other people be temporarily prohibited from entering or leaving, and the ban would be lifted only after the guards or officials had passed.

In the late afternoon, the guards of Yongding Gate began to evacuate people in and out. The snow on the middle passage had already been cleared away. However, the people welcoming them here were not court officials, but a red-robed eunuch from the palace, leading eight blue-robed eunuchs and a team of imperial guards. There were also a green and a blue velvet sedan chair next to them.

According to regulations, this was the arrival of royal relatives stationed in other provinces in Beijing.

At this time, a group of guards came running out of Yongding Gate with a sedan chair carried by eight people.

The sedan chair stopped outside the city gate. The pole tilted and the person who stepped out was actually Prince Beijing Shui Rong!

The red-robed eunuch showed no surprise at Shui Rong's appearance. He half-saluted Shui Rong and said, "Greetings to the prince."

Shui Rong immediately reached out to stop him and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work." Then he took off a jade pendant from the jade belt around his waist and said, "This is something I have been wearing for many years. Don't despise it."

The eunuch in red was overjoyed: "Thank you for the reward, Your Majesty!" He took the jade pendant with his hands clasped together.

Shui Rong smiled and said softly, "I wonder why His Majesty summoned my father-in-law to the capital?"

The red-robed eunuch looked around and lowered his voice: "It's related to the assassination case."

Shui Rong remained silent on the surface, but in his heart he greeted all the ancestors of the White Lotus Sect.

There was a sound of horse hooves and everyone looked over.

Not far away, a group of horsemen were approaching in a cloud of snow.

The red-robed eunuch said, "Master Zhen has arrived. Let's welcome him."

The eunuch in red and Shui Rong walked up to the suspension bridge and greeted them.

The captain of Zhen Yingjia's personal guards led ten riders in the front, followed by Zhen Yingjia, followed by Zhen Yingjia's eldest son, Zhen Fu, and behind them were more than twenty guards.

When they arrived at the suspension bridge, Zhen Yingjia's guards all dismounted.

Zhen Yingjia and his son also dismounted, threw away the reins, and walked towards the red-robed eunuch and Shui Rong who came to greet them.

The official position of the Zhen family in Jiangnan was the president of the Jinling Province Ti'ren Academy. After Li Dingguo recovered Nanzhili Province, it was renamed Jinling Province. The capital was changed to Beijing and renamed Jiangnan Province, which was later changed to Jiangsu Province.

The Ti-Ren Yuan was roughly equivalent to an institution sent by the emperor to understand the people's sentiments and supervise the officialdom and the people. The president means to summarize and make decisions, and the word "imperial envoy" is added in front of it. To put it bluntly, the Zhen family is the emperor's spy stationed in Jiangnan, which is more special than the censors of the Metropolitan Censorate and the Jinyiwei.

In addition, the Zhen family in Jiangnan also managed the two major weaving bureaus in Jiangning and Suzhou.

"Lord Zhen, you are finally here!" The eunuch in red walked down from the suspension bridge.

Shui Rong immediately quickened his pace towards Zhen Yingjia.

Shui Rong: "I, the son-in-law, greet my father-in-law. I wish you all the best!" He said with a deep bow.

Zhen Yingjia nodded with a satisfied smile: "Okay, okay. Get up and talk, get up and talk."

Shui Rong: "Yes." He smiled and looked at Zhen Fu: "You have grown taller again."

"Second brother-in-law." Zhen Fu bowed to Shui Rong.

The red-robed eunuch said to Zhen Yingjia, "The emperor said that Master Zhen should first kowtow to the old concubine and talk to her about household affairs, and then hand over the sign tomorrow."

Zhen Yingjia: "I bow down to thank Your Majesty for your grace." As he said this, he was about to kneel down.

The red-robed eunuch supported him firmly with both hands and said, "The emperor said, you don't need to thank me."

Zhen Yingjia: "Yes." He took out a silver note from his sleeve and asked in a low voice: "Why did the emperor summon me to the capital? What did the prime minister say?" Then he stuffed the silver note into the hand of the eunuch in red.

The eunuch in red took a glance and saw three big characters "One Thousand Taels" clearly visible on the banknote!
The eunuch in red, with a big smile on his face, helped Zhen Yingjia onto the suspension bridge and said softly: "Our ancestors have told us it's not a big deal. A while ago, the White Lotus rebels assassinated General Li on West Chang'an Street. Some of the swords came from the Jinling Manufacturing Bureau. The Jinling Manufacturing Bureau makes so many swords every year. Who knows where they came from?" Shui Rong, who was following behind, turned his gaze and looked at Zhen Fu.

Zhen Fu gave him a quick look and then hurriedly followed Zhen Yingjia.

Shui Rong's eyes lit up and he followed with big strides.

The eunuch in red smiled and led Zhen Yingjia to the front of the green velvet sedan chair, and opened the curtain himself.

Zhen Yingjia lowered his head and got in, and the eunuch in red also got into the sedan chair. The two sedan chairs were immediately lifted up and moved towards the city gate.

Shui Rong said to Zhen Fu: "The one who was assassinated was Li Hu."

Zhen Fu: "Oh? How is it?"

Shui Rong: “Nothing hurt.”

Zhen Fu was stunned: "God is really blind."

Shui Rong shook his head: "Li Hu is an important chess piece of the emperor. If he dies, it will be a big deal."

Zhen Fu was stunned for a moment and asked, "It's just a chess piece, is it that serious?"

Shui Rong: "He is not an ordinary chess piece. He is an important chess piece for the emperor to stabilize the crown prince, check and balance the second prince, and divide the nobles and the military."

Zhen Fu: “This”

Shui Rong changed the subject: "Aren't you going to the palace to kowtow to the old concubine?"

With a snort, Zhen Fu said: "She wants to see Zhen Baoyu's phoenix egg. I won't bother to please her."

Shui Rong smiled secretly and said, "Let's go. The family has prepared a banquet. I will entertain you!"

Li Hu has been living a very comfortable life recently. The only thing that he cannot say is comfortable is the matter of Lin Daiyu.

The snow was falling so heavily that the Yongding River showed signs of freezing prematurely.

Fortunately, the snow stopped and the sun came out, which made Li Hu feel relieved.

Li Hu's military position has been decided: the commander of the left outpost vanguard battalion of the Fifth Military Battalion, which was Xie Jing's previous position. As for the 3,000 soldiers in the missing battalion, he will recruit them himself after the new year.

Today, the Li Mansion can be considered a mansion. The courtyard with five entrances and two spans is actually two courtyards with five entrances and two spans enclosed together. The back room has been turned into a large flower hall, and the garden has been rearranged. Not only has a lotus pond been dug and a waterside pavilion been built, but a patch of bamboo has been transplanted into the garden and a pavilion has been built.

Both are standard five-courtyard courtyards, so Lin Daiyu's courtyard has the same specifications as Li Hu's courtyard, with five upper rooms in the front with carved beams and painted rafters, and side rooms with corridors on both sides.

Wang Daniu called a group of personal soldiers to carry pieces of wood into the bedroom.

Li San followed behind, panting, and shouted, "Slow down, slow down, don't break anything."

Wang Daniu glanced at Li Hu, who was reading a book under the south window, and said loudly: "What you said is wrong. Is this a thing? This is the apple of our general's eye!"

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

Li Hu glared at him angrily: "Hurry up and put it on."

Wang Daniu answered loudly, "Yes," and led everyone into the inner room.

Li San was still worried, so he quickly followed him in.

Li Hu put down the book in his hand and slowly stood up. He knew that Lin Daiyu brought a lot of books. In addition to the north side of the outer warm room which was full of bookshelves, the wall outside the bedroom was also full of bookshelves. In front of him was a large rosewood marble desk, on which were placed several precious inkstones and various pen holders. The pens on the pen holders and pen holders were like a forest.

(End of this chapter)