The bear child of the Red Chamber, Jia Cong

That night, the six princes' residences all received an arrow letter.All the kings recognized the arrow, which was exactly the same as the wooden arrow shot in the early years to inform the governor Zhou Yan that he was about to lose his official position, but Zhou Yan not only lost his official position, but also lost his life.When I opened the letter, there was only one sentence different from the last time, but this time there are many densely packed words, but it is still in an extremely correct style.

It reads: "The old sage's deadline is approaching, and the sage has temporarily stopped many military pay. The number is guessed by the mountain people, and it may not be accurate. It is also guessed that there are rumors in the army that the generals swallowed the military pay privately." The names of many generals and their outlines are listed at the back. The amount of intercepted military pay.

You princes are overjoyed to see you!Last time, the news sent by this person was extremely accurate, and it must be the same this time.They gathered in one place to discuss a few more times, and told what they saw when they entered the palace recently, carefully pondered and analyzed each other, I am afraid that the old sage is really about to fail.If the saint doesn't give money, let's give it!So he sat down and divided the points, this place belongs to you, and this place belongs to me. After the distribution is over, he is ready to win over the generals.

Liu Xianglian was not idle here either.As soon as the old sage left, the most important thing the sage wanted besides military power was money, so he might be in a hurry to ransack someone's house.Several people sat together and discussed for a long time, guessing that the sage must copy from the rich.Those who are extremely rich and have nothing wrong with copying, the Jiangnan Zhen family, which is protected by the old sage alone, is the most recommended.Liu Xianglian then packed up her things, dressed up her men and went to Jinling.Gong Sanyi, Jia Huan and others discussed the meeting again, and made up an arrow book for Situ Pan.It was not to tell him about it, but to make him bother to guess who sent the book and what was his purpose.Anyway, the princes sang operas, and the rebels watched the fun. Watching the fun is not a big deal.

But after more than half a month, news came from the palace that the old saint was about to die, and all the kings and princes came to serve in the palace.Three days later, the Supreme Emperor died, and the court and the public were wailing.

Ever since he knew that the old sage was going to die soon, Jia Huan asked Mother Jia to pretend to be sick.Although Jia's mother didn't know why, because Yuan Chun told her to listen to Jia Huan when things happened, she followed his advice, pretended to invite the imperial physician three or four times, and thanked the guests behind closed doors.At this time, the Emperor Taishang had a funeral, and all the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were ordered to enter the court and follow the rank system. Jia's mother used her illness as an excuse to support her at home, so she didn't have to suffer that torment.Jia She went south without Mrs. Xing. Mrs. Xing and Wang You went to the court every day to accompany the sacrifices until they were not upright before returning.Later, the spirit was invited to enter the Xianling Mausoleum. The place was called Xiaoci County, and it took about ten days to commute from the capital.The dignitaries of the dynasty have to go there together again, and Linlin will stop for a few days, at least a month.

They had only been away for a few days, when Liu Aiyun suddenly arrived at the gate of the Taiping Escort in a carriage with Tsing Yi Xiaomao.Jia Si thought he was here for business, so he hurriedly invited him to have tea inside.

Liu Aiyun said: "The emperor drove the crane back to the west, and ordered the world: no banquet and music for one year in the house of nobles, and no marriage, theater and wine for half a year among the people. I am originally an opera singer. I have nothing to do for the time being. Come to you Is it okay to eat for two days?"

Jia Si smiled and said: "Everyone Liu has been out of Beijing for the past few years, how can they appreciate our simple idea."

Liu Aiyun said: "To tell you the truth, I've been uneasy these few days. It's safer in your bodyguard."

After hearing this, Jia Si hurriedly arranged a guest room for him, and Liu Aiyun stayed here temporarily.

Because Lin Hai and Su Zheng both sent their spirits away, Jia Huan ran to the bodyguard office every day. When he heard about this, his heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Cong'er once said that everyone Liu has a strong sixth sense, so nothing will happen, right?" So I thought about it, and called Jia Baoyu back from the academy to take advantage of Jia's mother's illness.

After Wang Ziteng left Beijing, the Xue family was naturally unable to live in the Wang family, so they moved back to their house in Beijing.Although the second wife of Jia's family had a falling out with Xue's family, Jia Huan and Xue Pan were on good terms; because Xue Baochai had been in charge of the family property in recent years, and had a lot of contacts with Jia Huan.Then Jia Huan went to Xue's house again, and advised Xue's family to live in Rongguo Mansion or Taiping Escort for a while, in case something goes wrong, so they can take care of it.

Baochai is very clever, and has received many advices from Xue Pan, so she persuaded Aunt Xue: "Huan'er is not a person who listens to the wind and rain, and has a lot of friends in Beijing. I'm afraid he has some kind of letter. Our mother The three sons are all women, Tiao'er is young, and his family is rich. If not, just listen to him."

Aunt Xue hesitated and said, "It's just that I don't have the face to go to Rongguo Mansion again? Yesterday you said that the actor went to live in their escort agency."

Baochai hurriedly said: "Master Liu and elder brother partnered to do business and helped our family a lot. Mom, don't misunderstand something."

Aunt Xue frowned and said, "What did your brother make him obsessed with? He refuses to get married. How could I have misunderstood you?"

Baochai said: "I have watched coldly all these years. My brother never gave him any money, and he only took a piece of money as the shopkeeper for helping him with some business matters. In my opinion, this Mr. Liu I'm afraid he wants to use his elder brother to take the line of Shanghai goods, so that he can leave his status as an actor in the future. If he doesn't want to, what if his elder brother wants to? Besides, I can see how his elder brother's feelings for him have been in the past two years It has faded a lot. As for getting married, I'm afraid he is too busy to take care of it."

Aunt Xue heard what she said clearly, so she believed it a little bit.Nai sighed: "It's really good. I just hope that your brother will marry a decent wife soon, so that he can take over your affairs. Otherwise, why would you get married? You are already nineteen, how can you go on like this?" good."

Baochai smiled lightly, and changed the subject.

The next day Baochai sent someone to tell Jia Huan that their family would like to take refuge in the Taiping Escort temporarily.Jia Huan couldn't help laughing.As far as Xue's family is concerned, living in Rongguo Mansion is better than living in the Escort, but they would rather come to the Escort.It can be seen how much Aunt Xue loves face.

For a moment, he thought of Su Zheng's little granddaughter, Su Cheng, and spent half a day coaxing her eldest daughter into agreeing to stay away from Rongguo Mansion temporarily, so she lived in the girls' yard.Mother Jia liked young girls, and hearing that it was the daughter of the Su family, she became more and more happy, and often invited her to talk to her.

Seeing that the days passed day by day and the capital was safe and sound, Jia Huan thought that he was thinking too much.

Suddenly one day, galloping horses galloped across the street, and rebels surrounded Xiaoci County, and the saint and all civil and military orders were trapped!For a while, there was a big earthquake in Beijing.It turned out that Cao Datong, the general soldier of Tianjin, rebelled and surrounded the imperial tomb.Jia Huan is in a hurry, Jia Zheng and his two gentlemen are there!He hurriedly dispatched his people and rushed to Panlong Mountain.Although Liu Xianglian went to Jinling, Ge Qiao was still there, and immediately led two hundred brothers down the mountain overnight.There were too many people, so I didn't dare to go to the escort agency, so I went to the mansion in the south of the city to settle down first, and Ge Qiao rushed to Rongguo Mansion by himself.

Jia Huan is sitting on pins and needles right now.Both Yuanyang and Su Cheng's girl, Lixia, were in front of him, one was sent by Jia Mu to urge him to quickly find a way to save his father, and the other was sent by Su Cheng to urge him to quickly find a way to save his husband.Pian Jiahuan hasn't received any real letter yet, so he can't say one, two, three, four.Hearing that Uncle Ge was coming from someone outside, he hurriedly said: "The negotiator is here! Both girls, please come back for a while, tell the old lady and Miss Su to be at ease, and I will go to the escort agency with him to discuss." Oil on the soles of the feet ,Ran.

He went straight out, dragged Ge Qiao to the bodyguard bureau, and ordered someone to invite Luo Tainiang to Yihong Courtyard.

Suddenly Luo Tainiang came and said some recent letters.Cao Datong led only 6000 troops, and the Imperial Forest Army bypassed the mountain path and attacked the imperial mausoleum by surprise. Now that the saints and all the civil and military officials are in his hands, no one else dared to move.The leader of the rescue is Gan Lei, the president of the Imperial Forest Army.That's all for the rest, but there are too many people there, and they only rely on the monks and nuns to send some meals every day, and you adults may not be full by order.Jia Huan said sadly: "Looking at it like this, it's hard to rush in and snatch the master and the two gentlemen out." Then they discussed for a long time, and they had to find a way to feed the people inside.

The next day, Liu Aiyun returned to the theater troupe, and asked some people to invite some leaders of his fan club to go there together, saying: "Today, I am trapped by rebels, just like a dragon swims in the shallows and is tricked by shrimps, or a tiger falls in Pingyang and is bullied by dogs." Loyalty to Sheji does not depend on size, respect to the emperor has nothing to do with high or low. However, I am a mere actor, unable to save him. There is only one thing. I am very sorry to hear that the Holy Majesty and all the adults are short of food in the imperial mausoleum. If you are interested, please join me. Contribute money and power, and take turns to provide three meals a day with the emperor and the adults. There is no need for delicacies, just ordinary rice and steamed buns. We are ordinary people, not the Imperial Forest Army, and the rebels don’t have to stop us from entering.”

Those fanciers all followed his lead, and they all claimed to be, and praised the good words for a long time.Many of them are rich men, so what are some rice noodles?They all went back to make preparations, and transported them to Xiaoci County in carts, where they borrowed people's kitchen stoves to cook them.Gan Lei heard it and praised it! "It's rare for an actor to have the heart of repaying the king, which shows that the emperor is very kind."

Liu Aiyun personally led a group of ration lovers to the front of the formation of the two armies, and said to the rebel soldiers: "Little man Liu, please see General Cao."

Cao Datong also heard that an actor brought fanciers to deliver meals to the emperor. He thought it was interesting, so he called him in to hear what the actor had to say.

Liu Aiyun led a boy into the army tent, and calmly bowed to Cao Datong: "General Xie is willing to see the villain."

Cao Datong snorted coldly: "You are an actor, do you really appreciate the emperor's kindness?"

Liu Aiyun shook her head: "No. The villain and his fan friends are ordinary people, but they just love drama. But we all have relatives and friends who are trapped in them for various reasons. Some are petty officials who were brought to send their souls Yes, some of them are servants who follow the lords. I heard that every day there are monks and nuns in the vicinity who deliver fast meals to the nobles. But I don’t know how many monks and nuns there are in the vicinity? Let’s eat when we are full first, and eat together with the elder wives and younger wives of the emperor’s brothers and sons. Then come the adults with higher official titles and their wives. The last is the small officials. As for the servants, they can eat a bite. Not bad. So we prepared a lot of rice and steamed buns, all of which are common dry food, and everyone can eat enough. It is more than the fast food given by the masters. Only if there is more, the servants can have a full meal. General Well, the villain didn't want to send food to the emperor and the adults; it's just that the emperor is not full, and the friends of the villain will also be hungry. Besides, if the villain only delivers food to an old servant of a certain adult, would he dare to eat it? ?”

Cao Datong was stunned.After half a day he smiled and said: "So that's it! What did I say, that old thief has never done anything good to benefit the country and the people, so that he can provoke an actor to give him food."

Liu Aiyun laughed and said: "The general wants the emperor anyway. What is the use of an ordinary official? It's just to work for the emperor to earn a salary, which is as useless as an ordinary clerk working in a shop and earning a salary." How about letting the adults out and leaving the children of the Tian family alone?"

Cao Datong snorted, "Why didn't you let your friend out?"

Liu Aiyun sighed: "Although I don't know how the general and the saint will end this mess in the future, it will be resolved one day, right? If the general lets my friend out alone, I don't know how long he will live."

The kid behind him smiled and said: "Besides, there are quite a few smart people in this group of adults. Letting them out will prevent them from coming up with any evil ideas to spoil the general's affairs."

Cao Datong raised his eyes to look at that kid, he was only fourteen or fifteen years old, he was slightly fat, he smiled naively, and asked: "What the hell could they come up with? It's all in the palm of my hand anyway." He said and squeezed his fist.

The kid said: "How do I know! Stooges often have it, but Zhuge Liang doesn't. There are so many adults who have studied in the court, there must be some very smart ones. What if they come up with some weird ideas? General Isn't it impossible to guard against?"

Cao Datong glanced at him and said: "You don't need to coax me, if Situ Wan slips away disguised as some old coachman, wouldn't my work be in vain?"

The kid said with a smile: "It's not like you don't know Situ Wan. Even if he's in disguise, fetch a plate of water for everyone to wash their faces before leaving, wouldn't it be over?"

Cao Datong glanced at him determinedly after hearing the words: "Do you know who Situ Wan is?"

The kid said: "Isn't he a saint today?"

Cao Datong said happily: "Not bad! You dare to call his name, you have the guts!"

The boy giggled and cupped his hands: "Thank you, General, for your compliment." Then he said, "Well... I'll just say it casually, the general just listens to it casually. General, you are not very smart at the moment."

Cao Datong glanced at him.

"Look, this place is not far from the capital, and you don't have many troops. In addition to the imperial forest army in central Beijing, there are also soldiers and horses from Hebei, who will come here soon. You have so many people in your hands, and Many are literati, old men and women, who have to eat and drink every day. It is difficult to look after the stall. Why do these people work? Isn’t it because they are alive? After a long time, if they die, they will be worthless Yes. There are also petty officials who are worthless. Hostages are not many but good. It’s better to get rid of those who are old, weak, sick and disabled, and only keep some surnamed Situ and military generals. The military generals may lead soldiers when they are released. To beat you, it’s better to be trapped inside. Even if the general is negotiating with the court, the most important thing is the family of the saint? What’s the use of others.”

Cao Datong laughed loudly when he heard the words, pointed at him and said, "Boy, which small civil servant are you the son of?"

The boy made a grimace: "You guessed it all, the general is really smart. Hey, but I dare not tell you who my father is, anyway, he is just a small civil servant, there is no more than him, but there is no less than him. Why don't you just let him out. Look at me, I'm so smart, I can help you with ideas; or if it's useful, I can use it as a ransom to redeem my father, what does the general think?"

Cao Datong clapped his hands: "Good boy! Forget it, you are so smart, I don't want to kill you either. It's just that what you just said is too important, I have to think again."

The boy lowered his head in disappointment, and after a while he said: "Then... can dry food be sent in? I'm really worried about my father. Man Shuo is a servant, his little official who is as big as a sesame seed can have a mouthful left for me." He eats well."

Cao Datong thought about it, how could the emperor's family not be hungry—and if they couldn't all be starved to death, then it would be useless.What the child said made sense, and he said: "It's rare for you to be filial, so I will fulfill you."

The boy cheered and gave a deep salute: "Thank you General for your benevolence!" He added, "In order not to arouse the suspicion of the brothers under the general's tent, we will not send the things inside, but only send them to the door to call their people to come. Take it, what does the general think?"

Just now Cao Datong was still wondering if they would send some secret agents to pretend to be dry food deliverers to collude with them, but this kid spoke first.It's really all four corners.Then he pretended to say: "Since I believe in your filial piety, you don't have to be so cautious."

The boy said: "Thanks to the general for being so considerate, I should try my best not to cause trouble for the general."

When the two of them left the rebel camp, they ordered baskets of dry food to be carried away. Cao Datong followed them through the camp and sent them to the gate of the imperial mausoleum. Yes, I am here to deliver meals to the emperor and all the adults~~~" The echo echoed back and forth and spread far and wide.