Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

In the capital.

This is a small courtyard with narrow houses and dilapidated bricks and tiles. An ink painting of pine and stone in the middle hall is the masterpiece of Chen Hanqing, a famous artist in the former dynasty. An old friend is here." The plaque on the hall is inscribed with the three characters "Zaide Hall", as long as you read the strokes, you can know that the person who inscribed this plaque must have experienced hardships, and there is a special calmness after experiencing wind and rain in the strokes, although the characters are not The work of famous masters is quite interesting, but the craftsmanship of the craftsman who made the plaque is not very good, and the paint on the plaque is a little faded.

It is very strange that there are paintings and calligraphy by Chen Hanqing and other masters in the middle hall, but there are only cheap elm tables used by the poor, and there are two chairs on both sides that have been repaired countless times. It is very incongruous to fill it with wood of different colors.There are no porcelain vases and hat barrels that are usually used for decoration on the table case, and even the blue and white teacup on the table case is missing a lid, which looks shabby no matter how you look at it.

There were only two people sitting in the hall, an old man and a young man, but their complexions were not very good, their eyes were dim, and there was a sour smile at the corners of their mouths.

After a long while, the old man finally said: "Son, do you really want to let go of such a good opportunity? You must know that the confidant of His Royal Highness is Jiang Yuan Jiang Qingyuan, the left servant of the Ministry of War. He got acquainted and appreciated by him, then he can directly communicate with His Highness, and gain His Highness's trust, which is more effective than how many great things you have done. Sigh, how many people can do something earth-shattering to alarm His Highness the Crown Prince? People, big and small, in Beijing have to go to see Mr. Jiang and ask him to introduce him?"

The young man lowered his head and frowned fiercely, pursed his lips, and then said: "Father, but the origin of our family... Alas!" The handle of that wretched chair was broken again.

The old man also frowned, and after thinking for a while, he didn't know what to say, let alone their origins, the surname is not a big deal, it's only because of such a bad relative, who kept the father and son together. To be dragged down.When Jiang Yuan was young and down and down, his relatives almost broke the ladder to the sky, and he couldn't turn over for several years. Now that he has really climbed to the sky in one step, and the sky is straight up, don't he still have the cheek to beg for help?Although this matter has nothing to do with their family at all, it is impossible for the blood relatives to just say that there is no relationship. How can we get on the line of Jiangyuan?Even if you want to kill your relatives righteously, you have no relatives to kill...

The old man thought for a while, then sighed again, "Child, no matter what, I still have to go. It is not easy to have a chance. If you are lucky enough to have a few words with Mr. Jiang, try to speak clearly. That family has nothing to do with our family... I think Mr. Jiang Qingyuan is a rare genius in the world, a rare understanding person, maybe he won't blame our family..."

But maybe he will blame our family... Let's look at the people who have offended him over the years.

The Xue family has nothing to do with that matter, but in the name of the old relatives of the Jia family, they have been scrapped by the household department for countless rounds. So far, they may have lost hundreds of thousands of family property, and I don’t know if they can still support it. go down.

In addition to the 100 million yuan owed by the household department, Lin Hai was knocked out of an unknown amount of money one after another. The officials from the household department went to his house from time to time to find faults, which made him fearful every day. He is still the censor of Yanyan, the great official of the frontier, in fact, he is just a grasshopper in the palm of his old man, and he can't even jump out.

The Bowlinghou historian has become more and more useless since Mr. Shi Laohou disappeared.The third son, Shi Ding, was transferred by the Ministry of War to Guangxi to eat taro, and he didn't know if he would come back alive in this life.Although the second son, Shi Nai, bears the title of Marquis, he huddles in Marquis Bowling's mansion all day long, not even daring to leave the gate, for fear that Jiang Yuan will find him someday.

Prince Teng of the Wang family was sent to the border by Mingsheng and secretly. It sounds like he is still a first-rank official, but who has ever seen a first-rank official in power who has nothing to do to inspect the northern border and not stay in the middle of the court to take charge of government affairs?Originally, Wang Ziteng was in charge of the entire capital camp army, and he should be an important minister who could overthrow the world, but now he has no soldiers left under his command, and the capital city has also escaped his control and fell into Jiang Yuan's arms.On the surface, this Mr. Wang looks very beautiful, but in fact he is just a passing day, not as good as Linhai in Yangzhou, and he can't find the palm of Jiang Yuan.

The Jia family... This one doesn't even have any glory left. Jia Zheng of the Rongguo Mansion was directly pushed to the cusp of the court war, and the war between the nobles and the family revolved around him and Chu Chen. In the end, if the aristocratic family wins miserably in the end, then Jia Zheng, the troublemaker, must end badly. Dismissal from office is considered trivial, and loss of life is possible.And if Xungui's side wins miserably, Jia Zheng can't even think about it, how can the old emperor let him off lightly?If there is a snipe and clam fight between the two sides, both sides will lose, then Jiang Yuan will be the one who will benefit from the fisherman, and the Jia family will not even think about having good fruit to eat, and they will not escape the fate of decline in the end.

On the surface, it seems that Jiang Qingyuan let Xungui go because of Jinshang's words, and he didn't pursue it in depth. In fact, he pushed Xungui into a deeper abyss with his own hands, making them desire/immortal/desire/death.After the palace change, if Xungui could abandon his car to protect his commander in chief, although he would have suffered heavy losses, he could still make do with it and continue to survive. As a result, Jiang Yuan now intends to use the hands of the aristocratic family to wipe out all the Xunguis. What?The most frightening thing is that no matter what happened, Jiang Yuan didn't do anything directly. He waved his hand in an understatement, but the final result was that all these people suffered. How can such a skill not make the onlookers feel terrified ?

This Mr. Jiang has the ability to live thousands of people, and also has the way to destroy thousands of families. It can be seen that he has the temperament of repaying revenge and repaying kindness.If you treat him well, he will repay him ten times and a hundred times, and if you treat him cruelly, he will repay him thousands of times and tens of thousands of times!But why did my family catch up with the bad side...

The young man couldn't help but sighed again, his father was right, the opportunity was rare, and he had to go if he should.I have ambitions in my heart and plan to show off my talents, but if I don't go when I have the opportunity, I will fall behind.He only hoped that Mr. Jiang is really a sensible person like his father said, so that he wouldn't be confused with that bad relative.well……

On February [-], the dragon looked up.

There are all kinds of strange sayings about the second day of February. Some say it is the birthday of the Lord of the Land, some say it is the birthday of Huangdi Gongsun Xuanyuan, and some even say it is Jigong’s birthday. It is called "Qinglong Festival".

Yuehua once laughed and said that the third day of February is a good day. According to legend, it is Wenchang Jun’s birthday. If he can be born on that day, then his son will definitely learn well.Jiang Yuan doesn't believe this, if the birthday is good, the whole life will be smooth, then the caesarean section will be over for all, why do we need to work hard?

When a person is born, he must follow the laws of nature. If it is the time of birth, it will be the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.As for whether he will be promising in the future, his son will not be too bad after all, depending on heredity and upbringing.

Although the banquet was for a luncheon, except for the really high-ranking and important figures, few people came to Guanyinghou's mansion at noon.Whether the officials, relatives or friends who were invited, or those who came uninvited without receiving the invitation, they all came to Jiang Yuan's mansion early, hoping to have a few more words with him, and to be appreciated by him and recommended to His Royal Highness , and was promoted by Situ Sheng.Officials from Situ Sheng's camp arrived earlier. They not only congratulated Jiang Yuan, but also entertained his visiting guests and friends. They were extremely busy.

Jiang Yuan is notorious for not accepting heavy gifts, so naturally no one dared to touch his bad luck. Everyone gave the most common gifts. Just looking at this gift, which is a bit shabby compared to the local gentry, if you don’t mention this It was the residence of Marquis Guanying, but he couldn't even guess where it was.Jiang Yuan has no objection to living a prosperous life when he is rich. He uses charcoal in winter and ice in summer. He has fish and meat at every turn, and servants to serve him. It's nothing, but he doesn't bother to ask for bribes.There will always be times in a person's life when they have to turn a blind eye and close one eye, but if they can't even keep the most basic bottom line, they won't be able to live, and sooner or later they will die on it.It's okay to communicate with relatives, but it's unnecessary for strangers to offer heavy gifts in order to ask him to do something.

When the young man handed over the congratulatory gift to his subordinates, he still felt emotional. Jiang Qingyuan was able to sit in such a seat for several years. It really wasn't because of some fluke. This Master Jiang is indeed a powerful person.

After entering the door, the servant led the youth to a group of people. This group of people were all low-level civil servants, and they were all selected/selected/out of the imperial examination. They were of the same age, and some were even more They were classmates in the same year, but they had a lot in common with each other, and the chat was lively for a while.

The young man looked around, and sure enough there were several different groups of people.There are those with high official positions, some who have won titles, some who are highly respected, some who are in the prime of life, some who are from a recommended background, and some who have been promoted from small officials and soldiers. Every group of people has something in common, and there are one or two among them. People with backgrounds similar to those around them help the host's family to entertain guests and friends.With such meticulous and thoughtful handling, no matter the status of the guests is high or low, they will not be left out in the cold. On the contrary, because of their similar identities, they have a good chat. I think those wives who came to the back house will be treated like this, and this matter is really done.

Observing what a person does can roughly guess his ability and character. The more young people look at it, the more they feel that this Lord Jiang Yuan is not simple. Thinking about the downfall of His Royal Highness, he can attract such a talented person. It can be seen that he must be a great Mingjun in the future.It's a pity that before the rise of His Highness the Crown Prince, he was still studying and studying at home. When he passed the imperial examination and took the official position, this His Highness was no longer easily accessible to him.Getting rich late is easy to suffer, even if the time of the imperial examination is only three years away, it is a world of difference. If you don’t recommend yourself but suffer step by step, you don’t know how many more years you have to wait to fulfill your ambition, so you know Jiang Yuan would be annoyed by his life experience, so the young man sent him to his door automatically, just hoping to be recommended by Jiang Yuan, so that he could meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The young man was absent-mindedly chatting with the people around him, but his eyes were aimed in the direction of the main hall, hoping to see Lord Jiangyuan Jiang. Fortunately, most of the people in his group were sneaking at the main hall like him, otherwise Their incoherent small talk might not be able to go on.

After a long time, a young man walked out of the main hall, dressed in a green robe, tied with a jade belt around his waist, and wearing a sage crown on his head. Although he looked only in his 20s, he had an elegant and calm demeanor, and his brows contained majesty. Proud and cold as plum blossoms, stronger than fire, far better than other people.There are obviously many rich and high-ranking officials standing behind him, but none of them can cover his sharpness. When you look closely, the compelling brilliance disappears, and the young man reveals a penetrating sense of the world instead. The gentleness came, as if the aggressiveness just now was just an illusion of the bystanders.

Although no one introduced him at this time, the young people in the crowd were shocked, this person must be Jiang Yuan Jiang Qingyuan!This Marquis of Guanying actually has such a demeanor, it is even more famous to meet him.

Jiang Yuan stood at the entrance of the main hall and did not walk towards him, but talked softly with other important ministers. This inevitably made the young man a little frustrated, but he was still able to control his emotions and calmed down quickly.Jiang Yuan is an important minister in the court, and when he is the son-in-law, it is reasonable to greet guests who are also important ministers and close relatives and friends. With his current low position, it would be good to have someone here to entertain him. They didn't even let him in.

According to the rules in the capital, the Zhou Ceremony must be completed before the luncheon. Seeing that it was almost time, Jiang Yuan led the guests into the central hall.Although the hall is not small, it is not enough to accommodate all the guests here, so the doors and windows of the hall have been opened, so that the guests who are not close enough to noble status can see the scene inside from the outside.

The guests outside don't care about it, do you want them to argue or crowd with those high-ranking officials in the room?Anyway, there are many charcoal pots on the porch, it is not cold at all standing there, and it doesn't matter so much whether you look outside or inside.

The young man stood in a better position, occupying a window, so he could easily see the situation in the hall.The tables and chairs in the hall have already been removed, and a large table is placed in the center, on which are placed small objects of various shapes/colors/colors, including seals, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, ink, law, and so on. Common things such as scriptures, pens, ink, paper, inkstone, knives, swords, bows, arrows, abacus, coins, account books, toys, food, etc., and finally a box of rouge.This rouge is a unique rule in the capital city of Jingchao. The test is held every week, and the test is character, and then there is the enlightenment education for children in each family. This box of rouge is the best test. It can be said that she loves beauty, but if the boy is caught, she will become lustful and have bad conduct.

The defense of men and women in the Jing Dynasty was not as serious as that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Even if there were, it was only the attention of the folk rotten Confucians. The timing was nothing unexpected.Everyone looked at her, and the woman standing next to her could be seen to be Prince Situ Sheng's concubine Liu Shi just from her clothes, and a young woman who followed the princess was dressed in a gorgeous prince and concubine to serve her. , who is only in his twenties, even people who have never seen him can guess who it is, it must be the concubine Yang of Shun Wang Situhui.

The Crown Princess and Princess Changning have always been close, and they can be regarded as sister-in-laws like mothers. It is not surprising that she came here, but why did Princess Shun also come to Guanyinghou's Mansion to attend the banquet? Isn't Prince Shun always at odds with His Highness the Crown Prince? Is it harmonious?The young man thought for a while, although King Shun has always been at odds with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Jiang Yuan is one of the most important ministers in the court after all, and has more power in his hands than the other five ministers, and even more than a dozen in the Gyeonggi camp Wan's army can be said to be high-ranking and powerful. Even if they don't make friends with such people, they can't be offended. King Shun has suffered everywhere during this period, so why would he make trouble for himself at this time.Even if you can't get along, you still have to talk about face, and you can't let people find fault in person, so no matter how unwilling King Shun is, he still let Princess Shun come to the banquet.

This concubine surnamed Yang came from the Yang family that refused Gaozu's marriage offer at the beginning. After decades of feng shui, the Yang family is not as prosperous as it was back then.At the beginning, he was able to reject the royal family and despise the royal family's muddy background, but now he has to go up the pole and cling to the royal family.The Yang family is the eldest daughter of the direct branch of the Yang family. She has been raised according to the ways of the imperial concubine and concubine since she was born. She can be described as gentle and generous, with dignified conduct. She has dabbled in hunting, and is especially good at painting. It is said that her calligraphy and paintings are not much worse than those of the calligraphers and painters of the dynasty, so she can be regarded as a talented woman.But this talented girl's appearance is not so good, although she can't be called ordinary, she can be regarded as delicate and pleasant, but it would be an exaggeration to say she is bright and charming, she can only be said to be above average.

I heard that Shun Wang Situhui was not very satisfied with Yang Wangfei's appearance, so he took in many concubines, and even raised a lot of actors... Cough cough, it's no wonder that this Princess Shun's complexion is not very good-looking, there is always a trace of sadness, It can be seen that life is not going well.

The young man was counting the gossip he had heard, but he heard the servant at the gate loudly report: "His Royal Highness, His Royal Highness is here!"

Just this one sentence lifted the spirits of all the guests present. Did His Royal Highness come in person? !