Jia Minqi's family in the Red Chamber

Daiyu had a fever, and in the middle of the night, the couple sent someone to invite a well-known old doctor in Chang'an City to have a look.

The old doctor checked the pulse carefully, and said that the eldest girl just caught the wind and cold because of being tired these days, but it is not a serious problem.The doctor left a prescription and got a generous consultation fee-the dissatisfaction of being called up in the middle of the night also "pressed" the heavy money.

It was discovered early, thanks to Daiyu's eldest girl, Zijuan, who was named by Daiyu.Jia Min smiled when she heard this: She will never be the "good girl" who always wants to make Daiyu and Baoyu a couple.

In other words, Zijuan talked less and carefully, and when she got up to drink water in the middle of the night, she wondered why the girl kept turning over all night, and when she opened the curtain, she saw the eldest girl frowning and her eyes closed tightly.

Zijuan touched it with her hand, and immediately called the girl who was on guard at night, and ran to report to the old man and wife. After receiving the right card, she opened the door in time and went out to invite the doctor.

When Daiyu drank the medicine and fell into a deep sleep, it was already dawn.

Lin Hai felt relieved, and took Jia Min back to his room to rest for a while.

Lin Hai quickly fell asleep beside her, but Jia Min couldn't close her eyes any longer: officials and gentlemen who had a deep karma with her were added together, but there were only three of them, Miaoyu's father Han Qi, Yinglian's father Zhen Shiyin, and Baochai's father Xue Huan.

They did great good deeds, and Jia Min's family followed suit; if they did evil deeds, if they were not stopped in time, they would surely harm their family members.

She felt uncomfortable: Why did Daiyu suffer innocently instead of harming herself? !

Jia Min turned around, only thinking about getting up early in the morning, sending someone to the three wives to inquire about the situation, and sending some smart people to the state capital where they are located.

It just so happens that my family has many industrial estates in the south of the Yangtze River, and no one suspects that I have ordered people to travel between the northwest and the south of the Yangtze River many times.

Just as she made up her mind, Lin Hai's arm had already been stretched out, gently wrapping around her waist.

Jia Min's heart immediately felt warm, and if he was unable to do so, he would tell the master all about it.She is trapped in the inner house, and it is not easy to decide the future of a court official by herself, but if the master is calculating, it may not be difficult.

In other words, Jia Min had just arranged for his confidants to go south in the morning, and saw Lin Hai who had returned home early in the afternoon...the expression on his face was obviously different.

Facing his daughter-in-law's concerned eyes, Lin Hai didn't hold back, and raised his hand, as if to wipe off the cold sweat on his forehead, "Fortunately, I ran early."

Jia Min understood, "Is Jiangnan uneasy again?"

Lin Hai hit the nail on the head, "Since when did Jiangnan live in peace? This time, the waves are about to rise. Donggong finally can't sit still."

Tax-heavy places are also places of contention.

Jiangnan's officialdom can be described as the most intricate place in Daliang. The capital is at the foot of the emperor, and the current emperor is a wise emperor, so the capital is often not as "lively" as Jiangnan.

With the curtain call of the Sun family, almost all officials closely related to the Sun family were imprisoned, and more than a dozen fat jobs were worth fighting for—this benefit also had the taste of "rewarding for merit".

Originally, everyone followed the rules and took what belonged to them.Some people just saw that the prince was weak - after all, the death of the grandfather caused speculations, two uncles, one was sad and the other was unknown.

Because Donggong didn't speak all the time, some people thought...it wouldn't hurt to extend their hands a little bit.

The crown prince was originally quite generous, and didn't mind if those one or two official positions were reserved for his own people, but the other party pushed his nose and tried to pull down some of the crown prince's disciples in the south of the Yangtze River to make room for them.

What can be tolerated and what cannot be tolerated!The prince was furious, just when someone blocked him on the only way from the East Palace to his father's study and asked him to agree directly with a note.

At the beginning, his uncle uttered wild words, saying that if he didn't help him, Ding You would go... The prince was not so annoyed.

After talking about the scene of "blocking the prince in the palace", Lin Hai couldn't help feeling, "This is making everyone have a bad year."

Jia Min also said helplessly: "If the prince can't hold back any longer, how can it be justified?" She asked curiously again, "Which one can't think about it and ran to block the prince?"

Lin Haidao: "The new Zuodu Censor."

Jia Min didn't say a word for a long time: the former Zuodu censor Mr. Li was Lin Hai's teacher, and Mr. Li had a half-teacher friendship with the new chief censor.

Lin Hai's two teachers, Mr. Li and Mr. Zhou Ge, are from the same hometown and ~same~ party, and Mr. Zhou Ge has faintly joined hands with the first assistant in recent years.The second assistant also formed an alliance with the third-ranked elder, and the fourth, fifth, and second elders formed their own clans and often watched the excitement.

The crown prince must have felt that the Zuodu censor alone did not have the guts to embarrass him face to face...

Of course, apart from secretly hating Elder Zhou Ge and Lord Li, the prince might also doubt his father.Generally speaking, the chief censor has always been valued by the Holy Majesty, and most of the time the Zuodu Yushi is simply the Holy Majesty's "person".

The crown prince has done nothing these days, and it is not unreasonable for the Holy Majesty to deliberately beat this son in disappointment.

Jia Min thought for a long time before saying: "There is no such thing as a disaster!" But this matter couldn't be explained clearly.

Lin Hai sighed, "Brother Han was transferred to the prefect of Suzhou."

It's not a bad thing that Han Qi finally stopped being the prefect of Hangzhou attached to Guo.A lot of ancestors are staring at the top of the head, and it is not easy to do things.

Jia Min nodded straight, "Even if we want to make an example of others, Mr. Han's grade is not enough. What we should worry about is...Brother Zhou." No wonder the master expressed his feelings, saying that he was lucky to escape early.

If he was greedy for the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River and stayed in office because it was easier to achieve political achievements, even if he is not completely unable to handle it now, he will still have a headache.

"Brother Zhou has been an official, and I am afraid that this is the first time he has encountered so many criticisms and impeachments. First, he said that Brother Zhou's left and right men accepted bribes, and they could not be judged fairly during the court examination. It is said that there is collusion between the government and the businessman, and the great Confucianism came to give lectures, and the seats are all sold out... It is shameful..."

Jia Min sighed: "If I can bring it up, I'm afraid there is specious evidence."

Listen to these mistakes, each of which is not easy to justify clearly... It won't cause immediate loss of office, but it will greatly affect reputation.

And Zhou Li is a student of politics, and he values ​​reputation more than other official positions.

Lin Hai said again: "Brother Zhen also wrote to say that people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are fluctuating. Xue Huan also wrote, saying that he 'borrowed' ten thousand taels of silver to the chief envoy of Zhejiang...he didn't hide it from me."

Jia Min squinted her eyes when she heard this: she finally knew why Daiyu fell ill.

It is said that the fat vacancy of the chief minister of Zhejiang Province, after some operations, finally fell into the hands of the third-ranked veteran.It is the elder Ge's beloved disciple who serves as this official.

It's understandable for Xue Huan to show filial respect to his boss, but a shot of ten thousand taels... There must be tricks in it.As for the chief envoy in Shui Jing, he is willing to kill people and steal money and money as military pay... a fierce man, and every time he swings the butcher knife, he will definitely kill his whole family—purely not giving him a way out.

But now the prince and the Rong family have not rebelled, and he has no chance to be so mad.However, after Xue Huan made a filial piety, Daiyu immediately developed a fever, which shows that this chief envoy has already done a lot of evil deeds.

Jia Min couldn't help but wonder: if the money is given out, it's like being overwhelmed and unable to get it back.If the chief minister's crimes were exposed early and he pleaded guilty to the law, would he still get some benefits?

It should be noted that this person in the water mirror is one of the group of people who responded to the Rong family early... But I don't know if they have hooked up now?

Because of this matter, Jia Min couldn't help worrying: How should I properly disclose it to the master?To say that this person has taken refuge in the Rong family must implicate the ambitions of the Rong family and the prince behind the Rong family who is thinking of putting all his eggs in one basket.

Reporting on the crown prince, even if it succeeds, may not be able to save his life.Taking a step back, if the master believes her words, how can the master's teachers also agree?

Therefore, she will never talk nonsense until she has any solid evidence. When the day comes when she has solid evidence, it should be revealed by others...

Well, the princes are all good choices.

After thinking about it, Jia Min asked, "What does the master say? It costs [-] yuan to open your mouth. Don't let something happen... It doesn't sound right."

Don't the couple want to go together?Lin Haidao: "If he doesn't tell the truth, Brother Han's letter should arrive in a few days."

Letters from officials go to the post station, and the letters always come faster than the hands of their own people who stay in Jiangnan.

At this moment, in the Xue family thousands of miles away, Aunt Xue was wiping tears while Xue Pan was lying on the bed and humming.

Under his father's stare, Xue Pan has restrained himself a lot.I still don't expect to read books, so I can calm down and listen to the accounts from the shopkeepers.

At the same time, with his younger sister Baochai marrying into the palace, his situation is a little bit better than before: at least he is not one-heartedly clinging, coveting the wealth of the Xue family's wealth, and the powerful family intends to get married.

His father had just been relieved for a few days, when he went to the countryside to watch the farmers repair the city wall and canals during the slack season, Xue Pan rarely went out for a stroll, and he caused trouble for his father again.

After drinking, Xue Pan's not sober mind became even more confused. Under the instigation of a group of cronies, he robbed another beautiful lady in the street—exactly the same as he snatched Yinglian from Feng Yuan back then... …

Xue Biao couldn't hold her back, so she had to run back to report the news. Aunt Xue didn't take it seriously when she heard that: Yinglian is still the daughter of Juren, so let's just let it go?

It's just that this time the "suffering master" is not a commoner, the family of the little lady came to the door that night: it turned out that the little lady was a distant relative of the wife of the chief minister.How could the little lady expect "disaster from heaven" when she went shopping in the street? !

Aunt Xue was dumbfounded at the time, and she just responded to what the sufferer said... Xue Biao winked like crazy, and Aunt Xue was so upset that she really couldn't see anything.

She was scolded for a long time in a daze, but just as the other party opened her mouth, Aunt Xue finally came back to her senses and said in a low voice, "We have to wait for our master to come back."

That night, Xue Huan came back.

Xue Pan was beaten so hard by his own father that he couldn't get up anymore.

Xue Huan looked at his daughter-in-law with tears in his eyes, and he hated nothing but iron, "He was tricked! The relatives of the chief envoy's family are the ones you can hold on to on the street?"

Xue Huan is only a county magistrate, and there is a magistrate on his head, so Xue Pan can't be a yamen.Xue Huan, who had heard the whole story, became more and more annoyed as he thought about it. He stared at Xue Pan and asked, "Where are all friends and relatives from?"

Xue Pan didn't dare to whine anymore, but quickly reported a few names, "The rest, my son can't remember."

Hearing his nephew's name, Xue Huan narrowed his eyes: he was not really surprised.

Now he also understands that Lin Hai and Wang Ziteng are completely different people.When Wang Ziteng asked for money, he didn't give it, and he didn't allow his wife to give it. Naturally, he offended the brother-in-law openly and secretly.

The prince voted for the crown prince, and Lin Hai had the support of the old man... It's not like Xue Huan couldn't see that both the first assistant and the old man Zhou were closer to the second prince...

Thinking of this, Xue Huan couldn't help laughing at himself: He is a seventh-rank county magistrate, why should he try to figure out the thoughts of the elders and sages in the court council.

Regardless of who wins and who loses, whoever gets the last seat probably has no interest in embarrassing such a small person as him.If he chooses wrong, but his future is limited, he is just a donated official, so his future is doomed...unless he has the ability to rescue him, or his daughter gives birth to a "true dragon".

Aunt Xue was even more frightened when she heard her son's name. After a long time, she murmured, "No, I won't." Then she quickly hugged the master's arm, "I offended Mr. Chief Political Envoy, and the master hastened to dismiss you!" Someone told Baochai to ask her to beg the prince to make peace."

No matter how much she loves her daughter, in Aunt Xue's heart she can't compare to her son.

Xue Huan finally couldn't bear to stop her, "Nonsense!" Then he lowered his voice, "Why tell Baochai about some trivial matters, bothering the prince?!" What is worthy of the chief envoy's calculation in our family, isn't it money?I have plenty of money!

In all fairness, Xue Huan was the only one in the Xue family who could handle it clearly, and he really loved Baochai.At least he didn't want his bastard son to drag down his pearl.

Xue Huan thought about it all night, but he still couldn't get over it, and beat his son again the next day... Anyway, he didn't hurt his muscles, but Xue Pan won't think about it in half a month.

He also specially called his nephew Xue Bian, praised him in public, and gave his nephew several long-term followers: in the future, if Xue Bian messes around outside in the future, he can "cut first and play later".

It's better than letting the nephew share some of the family property, than letting the bastard son lose everything by himself.In addition, Xue Huan has a lot of money, and the level of staff he hired is good, and there are even people who have been masters of Daotai for many years.

Xue Huan wanted to support his nephew, so he simply asked the old gentleman to teach Xue Biao.

But she said that after seeing her master's livid face for three days, Aunt Xue had to "harden her temper": she directly blocked all the relatives and friends who came to visit her son.

I just resumed regular contact with my natal family, and after this incident, I don't bother to talk anymore.

On the third day, the chief envoy, Xiu Mu, and Xue Huan personally went to the chief envoy's mansion to "plead guilty": the chief envoy was trying to make money, and the "distant relative" girl was actually not so able to withstand scrutiny.

It cost [-] yuan to save money and avoid disasters. Xue Huan settled down a worry and at the same time knew to communicate with the chief minister in many ways-in fact, he came to bargain twice and three times, and he had to explain something to Lin Hai.

After all, he still felt ashamed, so he simply wrote a letter and sent it to the northwest.After two days, his sense of humiliation had almost dissipated, and he remembered that Mr. Lin had many old friends in the south of the Yangtze River, how could he hide his troubles from others? !

So he wrote another letter, which was all the truth from beginning to end, without saving himself any face, and sent it to the northwest again after writing it.Lin Hai has been kind to him, and he must give this lord an explanation.

Coincidentally, half a month later, his letter and Han Qi's letter arrived at Lin Hai's desk at the same time.

Han Qi was busy handing over the handover to his colleagues who succeeded the prefect of Hangzhou. If there was any disturbance, he would write a letter dutifully to report: He was quite satisfied with Xue Huan's handling, at least Xue Huan recognized his head and paid for it, and didn't use Lin Hai's level at all. relationship meaning.

When Lin Hai saw Xue Huan's second letter, he was also happy, and turned around and murmured to his wife, "People are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong. This has long been targeted by people."

Jia Min frowned, "Master, if you really don't have a lot of money and want to make a fortune, why don't you talk to the merchants? The Sun family is gone, and the vacated business routes have not been filled yet. .”

Lin Hai stared at his wife for a long time and said, "If you don't tell me, I'll let it go..."

Subordinates will show filial piety to their superiors, but what Xue Huan encountered this time can be said to be "blackmailed". There is always a special reason for being so shameless and careless as an official in the same dynasty.

This is exactly what Jia Min reminded.

The confidantes she sent to the southwest also sent back messages one by one. Behind Xue Pan's loss this time was the shadow of his good uncle's family.If it is said that Wang Ziteng plots against this stupid nephew, he is wronging Mr. Wang... Mr. Wang is seeking the governor of Gansu, so he doesn't care about his stupid nephew or even the Xue family.

Who's busy making enemies when they're looking for a promotion?According to Jia Min's thinking, it's just that the prince wins the fox and pretends to be the tiger.Of course, there are indeed people behind Wang Zisheng who are envious of the Xue family's property.

Lin Hai said again at this time: "Since it is not easy to be an official in Jiangnan, let's get another transfer."

He has already realized that it is enough to have Brother Zhou and Brother Han staying in Jiangnan, and these two who are in the midst of the turmoil have no time to take care of Xue Huan: Although Xue Huan can't be called an order, but because of his rich family background, it makes people feel uncomfortable. eyeing.

Lin Hai pondered for a while, and felt that Master Xue always had a place in the southwest.

After the iron ore smuggling was traced, the clue finally came to the fifth prince's disciple.When Lin Hai heard about this, he didn't want to ask any further questions. He just arranged a county magistrate to the southwest to respond to Xu Qian and Jia Lian's civil and military affairs.

Thinking of this, he wrote a letter of recommendation to his teacher.After packing the letter, he turned his head and said to his daughter-in-law who was reading the letter, "The storm is coming."

Jia Min shook the letter in his hand, "I feel sorry for you."

Lin Hai asked curiously, "Those sisters of yours also noticed something wrong?"

Jia Min joked, "Don't say we are short-sighted." She suddenly took Lin Hai's hand and listened to her ear, "The prince who has been around for more than 30 years...if you can read history books, you can't figure out what it is like."

No matter how kind the Holy Majesty is to the prince, the prince doesn't have many capable people in civil and military affairs.

But his brothers, the second prince is highly respected by scholars, the sixth prince has outstanding military achievements, and now he has commanded an elite army, and the fifth prince is also highly respected by nobles when he is silent...

The prince is not someone who can swallow his anger.If he doesn't resist, even if he sits in that seat in the future, he will still be a puppet.

Jia Min felt that it was almost inevitable that the prince would rebel.

Lin Haidao: "Master Rong is the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, but it has been almost a month since the sixth prince arrived..."

Jia Min knew that her husband was trying to appease her, "Master, don't worry, as long as we take good care of the child." If not, send the children back to the capital together.

It is said that Daiyu only burned for half a day, even so Jia Min held her daughter and rested at home for a full five days. As a result, Daiyu was very well, and she became more plump without going out.

Jia Min was also a little relieved, thinking that Daiyu's burning was probably a reminder.But for peace of mind, I still ran to the temple outside Chang'an City to burn incense: I prayed to my father for the safety of the family.

Daiyu, who was free at home, helped her mother with housework and took the initiative to take care of her three younger brothers.

Brother Sui also went to the fields with his cousin and sister to see the faces of the people, as well as the dilapidated canals and bridges... During the period, his cousin and sister taught her a lot. The younger brother also taught me without hesitation.

The older ones taught the younger ones, and the younger ones taught the younger ones. They were very friendly, and Lin Hai and Jia Min were very pleased.

The children were fine. Jia Zhu rested for a few days, and when her complexion was rosy, she asked Daiyu to write down a series of experiences in repairing canals, digging wells and improving irrigation these days, and compiled them into a book, which the brothers and sisters solemnly handed over to Lin Hai.

Lin Hai took the brochure and summoned his staff to discuss.

The Rong family has been operating in the Northwest for many years, and they must have placed many cronies in the army. If the crown prince really waved his arms... Rong Jing's response would not be difficult. Luckily, Rong Jing, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was stationed in Lanzhou, not in Chang'an.

Basically, if you want to defend against the Rong family, you have to rely on the sixth prince who is training hard.

So in the past two or three years, Lin Hai's most important task is to secure the fields and harvest more grain.Among the northwestern provinces, Shaanxi produces the most grain.

After he took office, he discovered that every year ~ the court ~ the government sent the money used to repair the canals to be embezzled wantonly. At this time, Lin Hai couldn't help it.

When the war comes together, Shaanxi will have food, soldiers and the Sixth Prince who will be in charge, so they will be able to resist the enemy outside the pass.Just by watching the Sixth Prince train his troops when he arrived, he is a person worthy of entrustment.

Naturally, Lin Hai also made a decisive move. According to the experience manual written by Jia Zhu and Daiyu, especially the final budget and expenses, he forced his subordinates to lead people to rebuild the canal.

It is said that the garrison is divided into two categories: civilian tun and military tun. Lin Hai forced people to "construct large-scale construction", and the relevant officials and subordinates complained about the lack of pen and money. After all, they knew that they were wrong. How about Lin Hai; but the officers in the military village have always been arbitrary, so naturally they refused to swallow this "bad breath".

By the way, the military settlements in Daliang are not farmed by warriors. Most of the people responsible for planting the land are the old, weak, sick and disabled among the auxiliary soldiers—but no matter how old, weak, or sick they are, they are also warriors who have received ~fun~practice~, unruly He also made up his mind to teach Lin Hai a "lesson".

So Lin Hai went around to inspect the construction of the canal at the end of the year, and this group of people carelessly brought the chief minister to the still dilapidated canal, and at the same time blatantly said, "All the money allocated from above this year has been used here and it is not enough. "The man reluctantly bowed his hands, "Master Lin is very observant."

As soon as the words fell, dozens of tough men surrounded Lin Hai and his long followers.

At this time, the subordinate who was in charge of leading the way and introducing them took a few steps outside and looked at Lin Hai with an apologetic expression.

Lin Hai laughed back angrily, "What if I insist on checking the accounts?"

It is said that the former chief envoy also relied on the intimidation of this group of people, and the two sides have "lived in peace" for many years, and this time they are just repeating the old tricks.

The man at the head is confident: the civil servants are not intimidated, and they are even louder, "Master Lin, it is convenient for others, and you will have time to check the account book after the year. If you really want to embarrass the brother..."

After getting his wink, those fierce men pushed forward a few more steps, which means Master Lin can escape by jumping into a ditch, why are you hesitating?

Lin Hai looked at these people one by one, and sighed, "Why are you bothering?"

As soon as this remark came out, the leading man suddenly remembered: This group of people in front of them is too calm!That's all for Lin Hai, after all, he is also a second-rank chief envoy.Why are the servants behind him still looking so calm.

He suddenly felt that he might have bumped into something hard this time, and he heard the wailing of his confidant, "Master, it's not good! The King of Beijing, the king, the prince is here."

After the confidant finished shouting out of breath, he fell to the ground—of course he was shocked and tired, unable to hold on.

Lin Hai was also slightly surprised: I really didn't expect that it was King Jing Jing who came.If he was going to make an inspection tour, he would naturally say hello to the sixth prince in advance.

It's just that he thought that the person who came out to resolve the "crisis" had to be the deputy general of the sixth prince.Not to mention his second rank, the officials in charge of the military settlements in the frontier army are at least of the same rank as Jia Lian's uncle... Otherwise, how can he have the confidence to challenge himself, the chief executive?

This time the Holy Majesty actually sent the King of Beijing as well - it should be noted that before ~Tai~zu founded the country, the Northwest was the territory of the King of Beijing.The reason why his daughter-in-law's natal family has a close relationship with the Beijing Palace is also because when his father-in-law Jia Daishan was stationed in the northwest, the Beijing Palace supported a lot.

A few years later, when the Beijing Prince's Mansion was in decline, Jia Daishan was serving as a privy envoy with unparalleled prestige, and Jia Daishan did repay the kindness of the Beijing Palace.

It's just that this time the King of Beijing Jing came to the northwest in person, what did the Holy Majesty hear? !