Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

Compared with the commercial salt in the Jing Dynasty, the list that His Royal Highness handed over to the Beiman envoy has a lot more tradable types, in addition to real gold, silver, jewelry and jade, from food to use, from seeds to plants, There are hundreds of species of livestock, ores, and so on.Most of the plants in this list are not found in the Central Plains, some can be used for use, some can be used as medicinal materials, and some can be used for ornamental purposes. The envoy of the Northern Man Kingdom saw that there was nothing special, so he agreed without any doubt. When he got down, he didn't know that Jiang Yuan was sneering there.Although vegetables and fruits can be rich in products, medicinal materials can also be used to cure diseases, but what he and Dajing really want are cotton, which the northern barbarians think is useless!

The record of the large-scale application of cotton in the previous life was already a matter of the Song Dynasty. It is said that there was no word for "cotton" in Chinese characters before the Song Dynasty, only "mian".Cotton refers to the hair of animals, such as sheep, but the origin of cotton is not China at all, and people don't know what this white thing can be used for, it is just an ornamental plant.

At that time, the Jing Dynasty already had the kapok plant, but the kapok is a tree. Although the "cotton" it produces is very effective in keeping out the cold, it is not easy to apply it with the current production technology of the Jing Dynasty. Cotton wool is put into clothes or quilts for stuffing, but there are only a few people who can do this after all, and more animal hair such as wool or animal fur is used to keep out the cold.That is to say, but there are very few livestock after all. Except for the rich, most people also buy way to get too many furs, and it is even more difficult to use them to equip the army.

Cotton is different from kapok in that it is relatively easy to grow and use on a large scale. Once it is used correctly to make padded jackets and cotton shoes, the soldiers of the Jing Dynasty can ignore the cold weather and fight in the frigid north without dying from frostbite. Leave the battlefield.Then the last problem in attacking the Northern Barbarian Kingdom - the cold weather - will also be overcome by Dajing, and the Jing army will exert even stronger strength.

On the other side, Lin Jun talked with the Deputy Envoy of the Beiman Kingdom Abonajiang for a few days and also discussed the sale of tea. The Deputy Envoy had no idea that there was such a commodity as salt, and thought he He successfully surpassed Xue Jin and made great contributions to the Northern Barbarian Kingdom, so he was very excited there.

The diet structure of the northern barbarians is mainly meat and milk, and lacks the intake of plants, which makes their nutrition unbalanced, and tea can alleviate this nutritional deficiency.Not only that, eating a lot of meat also makes it difficult for the northern barbarians to digest, which also requires tea to promote digestion, so all the northern barbarians cannot do without tea.Compared with the plant food plundered from the countries of the Western Regions, the tea leaves from the Central Plains are preserved for a longer period of time and are easier to eat. A big deal of tea leaves is definitely a considerable benefit. No wonder Abonajiang thinks he has made a great contribution .

Jiang Yuan thought, what will the deputy envoy look like when he knows that the trade Xue Jin is talking about is salt?Definitely pretty.

Even tea is very important, but where is it compared to table salt?Tea can be replaced by other things, but salt cannot be replaced. Xue Jin's contribution far exceeds that of Beiman's deputy envoy. This narrow-minded Abonajiang will definitely sue in front of their profuse sweat.

As for Xue Jin...he will definitely be furious when he finds out that Abernajiang skipped him and negotiated the tea trade with the Jing court, which will further cause conflicts between him and the aborigines of the northern barbarians.

In short, the greater the conflict between them, the more benefits Jingchao will gain.Hmph, when it comes to fighting minds, the Central Plains are more powerful, aren't they?

It was already the first ten days of July to send away the envoys from the Beiman Kingdom. It was rare for Jiang Yuan to have nothing to do, so he could rest at home for a while.

July is hot and the weather is hot. Although the capital is located in the north, it is also extremely hot.It is rare for Jiang Yuan to suffer from laziness. He lay on a bamboo chair at home to enjoy the coolness. There were many ice basins in the room to cool down, and he could not feel the heat outside at all while sitting inside.

Someone in the Jing Dynasty had already discovered the method of making ice with saltpeter, but the ice made by this method was not as good as the ice made from natural freezing, so most rich people still had to store ice in winter.Guanyinghou's mansion is not short of money, and Jiang Yuan has always been generous in this normal need, and specially built a large ice cellar to store ice.There are only three masters in their mansion with Jiang Xuan, so with a big wave of Jiang Yuan's hand, the servants and servants in the house also distributed a lot of ice cubes to relieve the heat, which made the servants very grateful.

In the Jing Dynasty, there was already such food as smoothies, and under the influence of the neighboring Beiman Kingdom, ice cream was produced.Ice cream is very similar to the ice cream of the later generations. It melts in the mouth and is very delicious. Although I can't use it for fear of getting cold in the stomach and intestines, it is really pleasant to hold such a bowl in summer and taste it slowly.Jiang Xuan was still young and couldn't stand too much ice, so after being coaxed to sleep by the nanny, he took him to the ear room to rest, while Yue Hua sat in the room to accompany him, holding the travel notes he sent a few days ago. look through.

Even when Jiang Yuan was lazy, he couldn't stand too much leisure, so he just took Yuehua to chat, and the two of them talked about Rongguo Mansion and Lin's family.

Yuehua put down the book in her hand, frowned slightly and said: "A few days ago, Li Da's family saw that the Rongguo Mansion was keeping a filial piety, and found out that Lin Hai's wife, Mrs. Jia, was gone, leaving only a girl behind, who knew that the hot filial piety would return. Before long, the girl from the Lin family was picked up by the Jia family, who just arrived in the capital a few days ago. They don't even care about filial piety and human relations, and I don't know what the two families are thinking."

What are you thinking?Jiang Yuan snorted, he didn't know what the Jia family was thinking, but he could see why Lin Hai did this.In the past, he only thought that Lin Hai was very pedantic, but he was not pedantic enough. He didn't even understand what the word "loyalty" meant, so why pretend to be a loyal minister?The old emperor wanted to hug the eldest prince's thigh when he was still alive, his vision was really bad.Unexpectedly, not only did he have bad eyesight, but he was simply a fool.

It is estimated that the censor of Yanyan felt that the Rongguo Mansion was mixed into the power of the first prince and the fifth prince at the same time, but nothing happened. Jia Zheng was impeached again and again but was not demoted. The old emperor was willing to protect the Jia family with all his heart, and the Rongguo Mansion still had great power in the court, so he wanted to use the power of the Jia family to help him out of the quagmire and get out of the current predicament.So when Mrs. Shi opened his mouth, he obediently sent his daughter who had not yet become a filial piety. In name, he entrusted Jia's mother to take care of her for her upbringing. .

What reputation does Jia Mu have now?If you hand over your daughter to her, you won't be afraid that you won't be able to get married in the future!

What a great idea!

"What else did Li Da's family say?" Jiang Yuan asked lazily, but he wanted to know what else could happen to Jia's family.

"It's nothing else, but the girl entered the mansion through the corner gate, and there is no one to receive her seriously." Situ Yuehua said after thinking about it.Although that girl is just a junior, the daughter of a dignified third-rank official is considered a relatively important relative, so she can afford to enter through the small door on the side of the door without opening the middle door. Far away, I think there must be something dirty about Jia's and Lin's families here, so they made a big deal out of it.

"Let's go to cool down." Jiang Yuan turned his head and said to his wife: "It seems that the Jia family thinks that the Lin family is useless, and thinks that Lin Hai has been involved in the treasonous matter, and he can't get rid of his crimes. Sooner or later, he will be liquidated. .Compared to a family like theirs who deliberately send their daughters to the mines to die to show their loyalty, the Lin family will never be able to turn around, so they don't even want to talk about this little bit of face."

Yuehua is very smart, she can tell, "Oh? The Jia family picked up that little girl because they felt that the Lin family would not be successful. They wanted to wait for Lin Hai to disappear and take over all the family wealth of the Lin family. "Princess Chang Ning frowned, "Although it's not that I don't know the filth of this Jia family, but even the money of the family is stretched out, it's really... If you really marry this little girl and enter the house, if there is anything else..." She I can't say any more.

"The Jia family has been struggling to make ends meet all these years. A few days ago, because of Jia Yuanchun's matter, not only took out the money in the public account, but even sold several shops and farms, and all the savings of several lifetimes were gone. This is not true. So I started thinking about it." Jiang Yuan said.

He ate the last mouthful of ice cream, put down the bowl in his hand, and said, "It seems that Jia's mansion has been idled recently, so he has the courage to do such things again. That's right, why does Jia Zheng participate in the capital?" Nothing happened, but it makes people feel a little more popular... A while ago, with the east wind of bullets, the group of honorable families actually wanted to join forces to deal with His Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness Parade deliberately let this group of short-sighted guys have a better experience and let them be more honest. Who knows that Xungui and the family have been too honest for a while, but this is boring. It must make people look forward to it, right? "

I'm a little looking forward to it, I'm afraid it's going to be completely hopeless.

A few days later, the old emperor, who felt that there were fewer and fewer bullets, felt that it was time to deal with the mutual impeachment of the Xungui family. Under the "advice" of His Royal Highness, the headache-ridden old emperor simply beat Xungui and the family separately. Fifty boards, a few officials on the Xungui side were demoted, and a few officials on the aristocratic family's side were also dismissed, thinking that the court would be quiet for a while.

Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng were among the people who were demoted and reprimanded by Xungui.

Jia Zheng's crimes were randomized, and there were dozens of crimes provided by the aristocratic family, and a few were picked out at random, and he was relegated to the first class of Honglu Temple from the ninth rank.

The Jing Dynasty did not set up the Minister of Honghe Temple, and the Honghe Temple was also transformed into a state guesthouse for foreign guests. Jia Zheng, the preface class of Honghe Temple, had to take care of nothing more than the lack of a cup in this room and a chair in that room. Simply a handyman.

Among the official positions in the Jing Dynasty, the smallest is from the ninth rank, and no matter how young they are, they are not called officials but can only be called officials.Downgrading to such an official position from the ninth rank is a hundred times more embarrassing than driving Jia Zheng home to eat himself. As long as he is still living in the capital, he will see any official with a higher official position than him, even some small officials will not be ashamed. Putting his official position without real power in his eyes, this simply made the good-looking Jia Zheng feel ashamed to face others.

But no matter how shameless he was, he still had to obediently go to Honglu Temple to report, just because it was the emperor's personal order. If he didn't accept it, would he still dare to resist the order?As soon as this side received the order, the other side resigned immediately?The aristocratic family immediately had to charge him with resentment. He dared to hold resentment against the emperor's will. Would he still want to live?

So this small official from the ninth rank has to do it, and he has to do it if he doesn't!Even if he is ridiculed, he dare not even die!Otherwise, the whole family will never get well, and they will all be sent to the frontier.

The old emperor charged Jia Amnesty with trespass.This crime is easy to understand. His title of Jia She is a first-class general, but the plaque at the door dared to write the name of Rongguo Mansion. The decoration and scale of the mansion exceeded the system of a first-class general. What is transgression?

The old master Confucius said, "It is tolerable to dance in the court, but it is unbearable." Could it be that the majesty of the emperor cannot be violated, and the country's system can be violated at will?In the Dajing Dynasty, there were strict requirements on how many rivets there could be on the gates of officials. How could it be done indiscriminately?

Just based on this article, Jia She was directly demoted from the first-class general to the third-class general, downgraded two ranks in a row. Not to mention, the Ministry of Rites personally came to retrieve the usurped imperial gift and ordered The Jia family will correct all the overreach within three months, otherwise the title of Jia Amnesty will be unnecessary.

This is simply embarrassing!In the entire capital, which of the eight Duke's mansions is not presumptuously hanging the plaque of the Duke?The remaining seven families didn't see anyone convicted, why did Jia Amnesty have to be unlucky?Jia She thought that compared to the unreliable Jia Zhen in the Ningguo Mansion next door, she would not cause trouble. As a result, it was fine for Jia Zhen to bully men and women there, but Jia She, an honest person, took the lawsuit first. Why? !

Mrs. Xing was very clever, and said: "Master, the one from Lixiangyuan has also been demoted by His Majesty, are we being implicated by him?"

It's okay if you don't say it, but how can Jia Amnesty bear it?It was useless for anyone to object, he didn't even sit in the carriage, he ran out along the gate and ran all the way to Lixiangyuan, scolded Jia Zheng, and even clamored to throw Jia Baoyu back to Lixiangyuan, where they were Now it is the "third-class general's mansion", not the mansion of the Duke of the State, and it cannot keep the son-in-law who is a ninth-rank official!

What he said was as harsh as he wanted, Jia Zheng's face flushed red, he choked his breath in his throat, he couldn't spit it out or swallow it, he almost passed out.

Jia Amnesty said a few more harsh words before leaving Lixiangyuan angrily.The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, he didn't go back to his own yard at all, and went straight to the old lady's yard.Jia Zheng made him lose his title and lost face, why should he still raise his son for Jia Zheng?Not only does he have such an open mouth, but he also has to support a bunch of maids, servants, mothers, and nanny of his son? !

No, no matter what you say, you have to drive this prodigal son out!The temple of his third-class general is too small to keep this great Buddha!

Jia Amnesty came to the old lady's door noisy all the way, Jia's mother's face changed, and she didn't dare to rely on her old age anymore, so she let Yuanyang support her to block the gate, shouting: "Boss, you What is this for? Do you know what filial piety is? You are trying to take my life!"

At this time, Jia Amnesty didn't care about shame. The old lady's voice was louder, and he was louder than the old lady's, "Since ancient times, only fathers raise sons, and sons raise their fathers. I haven't heard the truth. I said I want my uncle to raise a nephew! This second child is still alive and well, and he hasn’t died yet. How can there be any reason in the world to raise a son for the living brother? If this kid is my son, I will admit it. How much will it cost? It should be all right, why should he live in my house if he is not my son?!"

As soon as his words came out, not only Jia Mu and Jia Baoyu lost face, but also Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang's face was completely wiped out.If you hear these words carefully, why don't you think that Jia She is having an affair with Mrs. Wang?Otherwise, why did he even shout out that Jia Baoyu was his son?The faces of Jia Zheng's family are all pretty!

Mother Jia was panting with anger, and she pointed to the eyeballs of the boss who had been waiting for a long time, but she couldn't say a word.What can she do with Jia Amnesty? !All the servants in Jia's mansion have become fools. Seeing that Da Fang took power, they immediately fell to Da Fang's side. The only thing she can command is a mandarin duck. How can anyone else listen? her?

This eldest son, when she said that he went to Yangzhou to pick up Daiyu, he was willing to listen to every sentence. He didn't even want to face the Lin family's desperate money. Locked in Jia She's own warehouse, but now?Why didn't the eldest son listen to what she said?Not only did he not listen, but he also stabbed a knife into her heart every sentence.

Hearing the commotion outside, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, who lived in Jiamu's yard, looked out through the window screen, and heard Jia Amnesty say loudly in the yard: "Old lady, it's not that I don't want to keep Baoyu, But my nephew killed his own mother and elder brother before he was born, and killed his own grandfather when he was born. The Holy Majesty even charged the mansion with the crime of neiwei not cultivating because of him. That's all, but what will happen next? Zhu Er is his elder brother, who is lingering on the sick bed by him, and still has to drink bitter medicine juice every day. Yuan Chun is his biological sister, and he doesn't know if he is still alive or not. His own father was so humiliated by him that he was demoted to a ninth-rank petty official. He was so embarrassed that he didn't dare to leave the door. Who else would he want to beat now? What about you, Mrs. Ke, me, or Lian'er? ah?"

Jia Baoyu turned pale with fright when he heard this, turned his head and rushed back into the room, got under the quilt and covered his head with a pillow, pretending he didn't hear anything.

Lin Daiyu was also frightened timidly. Her nanny was standing next to her. At this time, she quickly pulled her back and said as she walked, "Girl, you have heard all this. Don't talk to me in the future." The second master Bao has been in a relationship, so he didn't have to be bad luck."

Mother Jia bit her to death, "You unfilial son, what are you trying to do to kill my own mother? Do you feel comfortable when I die? Well, I'll die for you!"

Jia Amnesty did not expect that he would force Jia Mu to this position, but he also had a knot in his heart. If Jia Mu hadn't sold the sacrifice land privately, his father might not have died...

Although Jia Daishan didn't treat him as well as his second child, it wasn't too bad. The son always had a kind of longing for his father. Jia Daishan, a general who was born in the army and had military merits, was of course also Jia Shen's longing object. In his heart, his father has a very special status, but his mother indirectly killed his father, how could he not be concerned when this incident was exposed?It's okay if this knot is normal, but as Jia's mother kept belittling him and turned to Jia Zheng, his heart became more and more uncomfortable. After accumulating, he finally couldn't help but burst out!

"Mother!" Jia She didn't call her old lady anymore. The name "mother" should be very warm, but in his mouth, it was more alienated than the three words "old lady", as if he didn't have any emotion.

His face was ashen, he looked straight at his own mother, and said lightly: "If you go now, the second brother will have to go home to guard Ding You, and it is not certain whether he will still have this position from the ninth rank after three years. Yes. As for accusing me of unfilial piety, it’s okay. At worst, I don’t want my title as a third-class general. Since my mother is not willing to let go of the sacrificial land left by the ancestors of the Rongguo Mansion, even the Duke’s life I took them all away, thinking about how to defeat our Jia family for so many years, so what's wrong with me fulfilling you? Isn't this a great 'filial piety' of me!"

These words were heartbreaking, and Jiamu rolled her eyes and passed out immediately, while Jia She looked at Jiamu who was being supported by the maids, her eyes were cold and terrifying, as if the person in front of her was not his biological mother, but like a stranger...