Story of Yanxi Palace: Red Seal Spring Star

At the beginning of May, the emperor invited the Empress Dowager to the Old Summer Palace to watch Lu Wenhong's new play "Red Fu Ji" for Nanfu, and the Empress Dowager lived in the Old Summer Palace.

"Hong Fu Ji" was written by Zhang Fengyi, a man of the Ming Dynasty, with a total of 34 volumes.It is based on the Tang Dynasty legendary novel "Biography of the Curly Bearded Guest", which describes that a famous general Li Jing met Sikong Yang Su in Chang'an at the end of the Sui Dynasty. , met Li Shimin through Liu Wenjing.The curly bearded man originally had the ambition to compete for the world, but seeing Li Shimin's extraordinary appearance, he knew he couldn't match him, so he poured out his family's wealth to support Li Jing, so that he could assist Li Shimin to achieve his imperial career.Li Jing, Hong Fu, and Qiubeard are called the "Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust" by later generations.The book also adopts the legend of Xu Deyan and Princess Lechang's "reunion through a broken mirror".

The drama of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies is naturally liked by the women in the harem.Concubine Rong's favorite two sections are "Jingdu" and "Night Run". "Jingdu" means that Li Jing heard that Yue Gong Yang Su recruited heroes, and went to meet with a plan to show his ambitions. When crossing the river, he met Liu Wenjing. "Running at Night" tells that Yang Su's concubine, Hong Funv, fell in love with Li Jing when she saw Li Jing's extraordinary vigor.Empress Nala was very upset in her heart, she openly staged an elopement scene in the palace, but the empress dowager didn't say a word.

On the night of the fifth day of the lunar new year, Yongqi and the emperor were talking in Le'an, when Li Yu hurried in, panicked, and said: "It's not good, your majesty, your lord, you're out of water!"I don't know why, let's go!Both father and son were taken aback, and Yong Qi hurriedly got up to support the emperor.When the three of them left the room, they saw that there was a mess outside, the eunuchs and guards were busy fighting the fire, the courtyard next door to the east was billowing with smoke, it looked like the Qingyan Palace in Jiuzhou was on fire.

Yong Qi and Li Yu supported the emperor and hurriedly walked out of the courtyard.The emperor suddenly paused and said: No, I have cramps in my legs.Then he slowed down.Li Yu was anxious, his forehead was sweating, Yong Qi immediately knelt down and said: "Huang Ama, I will carry you on my back."Li Yu quickly helped the emperor onto Yong Qi's back.The three of them hurried to the Changchun Immortal Pavilion in the southwest direction.

Arriving at the back door of the Changchun Immortal Pavilion, I saw the Empress Dowager Liu Nanny and all the court ladies standing there, looking up at Jiuzhou Qingyan, all very anxious, seeing Yongqi, Li Yu and the emperor coming, they were all overjoyed.Seeing that Yongqi was sweating, the queen mother asked him to put down the emperor. Yongqi said: "Grandma, I'm fine, let's talk about it in the room."As he spoke, he went straight forward with Li Yu.It wasn't until they entered the apse of the east courtyard of the Changchun Immortal Pavilion that Yong Qi put the emperor on the couch, hurriedly asked if his legs were all right, and asked Li Yu to pass on to the imperial physician.

Empress Dowager helped Nanny Liu to come in, saw the emperor sitting on the couch, Yong Qi knelt in front of the couch and rubbed his legs, saying: Oh Amitabha!Your father and son are fine!Both of them want the Queen Mother to rest assured.Nanny Liu asked the maid to go up and wipe the sweat of the father and son.As they were talking, Concubine Rong and Wei Mei hurried in through the front door holding Elder Sixteen in their arms. She and Elder Sixteen lived in Tiandijiachun. The emperor was here, and the two immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Concubine Rong hurried to the side of the couch and said to the emperor: I asked people along the way, and they all said they didn't know where you had gone. The concubine and Wei Mei were dying of anxiety!People stopped us from going to the East Hall.When I got here, I didn't see the Queen Mother in front of me, so I was even more anxious.Wei Mei gave the child to Xijun, and also came up to greet the emperor.

The emperor smiled and said: "I'm fine, it's Yong Qi who failed me and Li Yu came early in the morning, as long as you're fine."Only then did Concubine Rong see Yong Qi kneeling beside her, and hurriedly asked about the situation, Wei Mei then asked the Queen Mother how she was.At this moment, Li Yu led Imperial Physician Liu in.At that time, the emperor was already recovered, but he was still told to record the pulse, and then Imperial Physician Liu went by himself.Li Yu replied that the fire had been extinguished because the guards were investigating and had gone to Mr. Doro's house to inform him that he would come right away.The emperor asked Yongqi to change his clothes. He was sweating profusely, and his clothes were already wet.

Empress Nala also came with Zhen'er and Yuan Chunwang. Seeing that the emperor was well, she was relieved.Everyone sat and talked for a while, and all the heads of the inner court came to greet them one after another, and Prince Guo Hongzhan, who happened to be working in the garden these days, also came to greet them.The emperor said a few words to everyone, and asked Concubine Rong to stay and serve.

At this time, Yongqi had already returned to Wuling, and the queen mother gave some instructions and returned to the front hall.Concubine Rong and Li Yu changed the emperor's clothes, and the emperor asked Fukang'an.Because Fukang'an was 15 years old, he was awarded the third-class bodyguard, inherited the title of Captain Yunqi, and was ordered to walk in Qianqingmen, and attend Fu Heng's military affairs class with his two elder brothers.Concubine Rong hurriedly replied that he was fine, and that he was on duty tonight. On the way here, she saw him running from the direction of the garden gate, sweating profusely, so she wiped his sweat and told him to go back to be on duty, saying that she was fine. , I will go to the emperor and teach him to rest assured.The emperor said happily: "Yongqi, An'er, they are both very filial. I am very relieved. It is you and Concubine Qing who taught me well."

After the emperor fell asleep, Concubine Rong was not sleepy and was reading the scriptures outside. Li Yu told her that the fifth elder brother had made a head start today, and the emperor was very happy.Concubine Rong smiled and said: "How come it's such a coincidence, it's rare for him and the emperor to talk together at night, and they can get away with it?"Startled, Li Yu looked at Concubine Rong.Concubine Rong also looked at him.Li Yu nodded hurriedly, and said: "My servant will tell Master Duo Luo tomorrow and ask him to investigate carefully."who do you thinkConcubine Rong didn't speak.Li Yu said, "It must be checked, and it must be checked carefully!"The slave also went to tell Lord Yilu to check in the harem too.

However, this incident in 28 was investigated for a year before and after, but there was no result.It was also in September of this year that Fu Heng's family moved into the North Garden of Shuchun Garden next to Changchun Garden, that is, they moved into the Chunhe Garden across the street and closer to the Queen Mother, so the Xinci Garden was renamed Chunhe Garden.In the same month, He Zhu found out she was pregnant and was overjoyed. Hu Jiajia and Yi Boer were also happy for her.Although Yongqi already has four sons and one daughter, she is pregnant with a direct lineage, and the queen mother and others are also very concerned.

In June of the 29th year, another shocking case came out in the previous dynasty: the Lianghuai Salt Citation Case.The cause is this:

Salt and iron are the most important tools of the country, enough to control the lifeline of the country, so it has always been a monopoly for the country. In the Qianlong Dynasty, the tax revenue of the Lianghuai salt industry accounted for a quarter of the national tax revenue. "The world" comment is not false.

Because the salt business implements a monopoly system, if a merchant wants to do salt business, he must first have a "permit". This kind of license is called Yanyin.For each salt quotation, four hundred catties of salt can be purchased from the salt production areas controlled by the imperial court, and then sold in various places.Because the salt trade is monopolized by the imperial court, the profits are very high, so as long as the salt merchants have enough salt in their hands, they can make a lot of money.When the imperial court distributed salt to the salt merchants, it had to collect heavy taxes at the same time, because the salt tax was one of the main sources of the imperial court's income.

Officials responsible for distributing salt to salt merchants are called salt transport envoys, also known as salt officials, who are in charge of local salt affairs.The coverage of the salt administration in the Lianghuai region is the six provinces within the current administrative scope, including Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu.That is to say, whoever has served as an envoy to transport salt to the Huaihe River, the salt merchants in these six provinces will curry favor with him. A huge loss for a certain salt merchant.

Gao Heng, the brother of Concubine Gao, was the former Yanzheng. Last year, Gao Heng was transferred back to the capital and was replaced by You Bashi.Not long after Yubashi took office, he wrote a memorial and reported it directly to the emperor.This memorial uncovered a long-hidden hole in the Lianghuai salt industry that officials and businessmen had covered up for a long time—the former salt administrators Pufu and Zhao Zhibi had asked to withdraw the salt quotations for the second year in advance. 20 quotations.According to regulations, each salt tax is only one tael, and the withholding salt tax has to pay three taels of tax. Therefore, the salt government should pay 60 taels of silver tax to the Ministry of Households, but only 27 taels were paid, and the rest More than three hundred thousand taels of silver were missing.Based on this, Yuba Shigeng asked the emperor to calculate the income of withholding Yanyin in the 11 years since the 20th year of Qianlong.

The matter was so serious that the emperor was furious, and immediately sent Fu Heng to file a case for strict investigation.

Fu Heng organized an official and private double|investigation, and the private investigation was carried out by Pudawa through Fan's family and went deep into the Huaihe River and Huaihe River.In the end, Fu Heng said: "Die Heen, a merchant from Lianghuai, rewarded you with the title of minister. He cited a case over the years and regarded official money as his own capital. Lianghuai salt merchants should pay 100 million interest silver to the state treasury for more than 400 years. Two, except for the project expenditure of more than 19 million taels for the emperor's southern tour under the pretext of various merchants and the [-] taels handed in by Yubashi, the rest has been swallowed up."

That is to say, from the tenth year of Qianlong, in the past 20 years, the three salt administrators should have paid a total of 100 million taels of silver to the treasury, excluding the more than 400 million taels spent by the emperor on his southern tour and Yubashi's initiative to go to the state treasury. In addition to the 19 taels handed over, the whereabouts of 6801 million taels of silver remain unknown.This result made the emperor dumbfounded. This was far greater than the Kyakhtu smuggling case back then, and the ruling and opposition parties were in an uproar.

Jiqing was the first Lianghuai Salt Administration, and he took office in the tenth year of Qianlong.

Pufu was the second Lianghuai Salt Administration, and he took office in the 15th year of Qianlong.

Gao Huan, the third Lianghuai Salt Administration, took office in the 22nd year of Qianlong.

These three people are naturally the focus of the investigation.The detailed findings are:

Jiqing stipulated that in addition to paying taxes to the court normally, salt merchants who received salt from him should also pay him extra "filial piety".The salt merchants agreed one after another, and Ji Qing made a lot of money.But it is unknown how long Jiqing can stay in this position, so he told the emperor: After the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties in the Lianghuai area, the population expanded rapidly, and there was not enough salt. I hope the court can send more to the Lianghuai area. Shiobiki.The emperor thought it made sense, so he distributed more salt.But Ji Qing still felt that it was not enough, so he made his own idea and distributed the salt for next year in advance, so that the salt merchants could earn next year's money in advance, and they were all overjoyed.

Not only that, whenever there are weddings, big birthdays, full moons and other happy events in the family of Jiqing, the salt merchants will send generous gifts to honor the Jiqing.Every time Jiqing cried poorly to the salt merchants, saying that there was "nothing left" in his home and yamen, and his life was pitiful.The salt merchants immediately understood and raised money to buy furniture, antiques, calligraphy and paintings for them.This kind of money and power transaction has lasted for many years.

After Ji Qing's death, as soon as Pu Fu took office, salt merchants came to pay their respects as if they were serving Ji Qing.Pufu is timid, and refuses all bribes on the surface.The salt merchants had to find another way.As a result, they bought fields, houses and utensils one after another, and gave them to Pufu in other names.Seven years later, Pufu resigned. Before he left, he "borrowed" 4 taels of silver from the salt account.But Pufu usually wears simple clothes. The emperor always thought that Pufu was clean and honest, and praised him many times.

But Gao Huan is special.The Gao family was originally the emperor's absolute confidant, not to mention that Gao Huan was Gao Bin's son, Gao Jin, who is currently the governor of Hedao, was Gao Bin's nephew.Gao Heng gave Yinsheng the head of the household department, then moved to the doctor, and went out to Shanhaiguan, Huai'an, and Zhangjiakou to discuss taxes. The director was Lu Yanzheng and Tianjin General Soldier.After his father Gao Bin died in office, he asked the emperor to let him take charge of the Lianghuai salt administration, and the emperor agreed.

As soon as Gao Heng took office, he convened a meeting of salt merchants, saying that he took office in a hurry, the court did not allocate office expenses, and his family did not even have money to buy firewood, rice, oil and salt.The salt merchants also understood and expressed their willingness to help. Gao Heng received 3 taels of silver in one lump sum.Every festival, Gao Heng would have a big banquet for the salt merchants, and the salt merchants wanted to pay their respects one after another.Even if it was not a special day, Gao Heng would treat guests to dinner for various reasons. The salt merchants went to the banquet one after another and never dared to miss it.Gao Heng went to a salt merchant as a guest, and when he saw a valuable antique calligraphy and painting, as long as he stood in front of it for a while, the calligraphy and painting would be delivered to Gao Heng's residence the next day.Gao Heng is very corrupt, but due to his status, no one dares to impeach him.

The salt merchants have been exploited by Gao Heng for many years, and dare not speak out.Before leaving, Gao Heng made a promise to the salt merchants that he would continue to "take care" of everyone.The newly appointed Youbashi's status and background are far inferior to Gao Heng's, so the salt merchants are very scornful of Youbashi, relying on Gao Heng's support.You Bashi saw something abnormal in the internal account, so he submitted the booklet and reported it directly to the emperor.

The first Jiqing is dead. Although the second Pufu is still alive, he cannot find a huge amount of property at home. Only the third person, Gao Heng, has countless property in his family, which is too different from what he actually should have.

Pufu has also been imprisoned, but he refuses to admit to corruption. Fu Heng suspects that Pufu has concealed property, and the amount must be not small, so he returns to the emperor of Ming Dynasty, calmly, and continues to investigate, but he does not disclose it.

The case of the former court revealed the past 20 years, and the harem also revealed the truth about the death of Concubine Xin.The lead to reveal is that Ruigui was poisoned.

Since this nobleman began to serve the emperor during the 25th year of Qianlong's east tour, she has been in poor health. The imperial doctor only said that she was weak, but there are different opinions on the cause of the loss, and there is no consensus.Because of her poor health, she was naturally not able to serve the emperor.The noble concubine and Debao Guanbao's family were very anxious, and Yi Boer often felt sorry for this cousin.The emperor once called Ye Tianshi to see her, but Ye Tianshi couldn't tell the exact reason, and the medicine didn't help her.She has a low status and is not favored, and no one suspects other reasons.However, when investigating the case of Jiuzhou Qingyan's escape in 28 years, he found some clues. Because Yilu and Debao were close, he always felt that this matter was strange, so he continued to investigate.

Yilu and his wife Li Shi carefully investigated and found that every time Mr. Ruigui received new clothes as usual, his dizziness would get worse.But the clothes were purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs according to fixed seasons and sent by the embroidery workshop. After checking these clothes, there was no abnormality.Later, nobleman Wu told Yilu one thing. She said that Bailu, the maid of Duanfang, behaved suspiciously. She often stinged scorpions and looked around when she walked.

Yilu thought that Bailu was stealing, so he sent someone to investigate secretly, but the result of the investigation surprised him.It turns out that Bailu is actually Yuan Chunwang's "counter food". She often sneaks around because of her tryst with Yuan Chunwang.This is not a small matter, because Yuan Chunwang's opponent is Zhen'er who is beside the queen.All of a sudden, he thought of the strange thing about Mr. Rui's collection of clothes, and because Mr. Rui was a close relative of the fifth elder brother, he suspected that Mr. Rui's matter and Yuan Chunwang were actually related to the queen.

Yilu observed and investigated carefully again, but still found nothing, so he quietly reported his findings and suspicions to Concubine Rong.Concubine Rong asked him to tell her the next time the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent clothes to Ruigui, and she arranged for Ye Tianshi to come in to see her, so that she could check the clothes.

Ye Tianshi found that the new clothes had a relatively strong smell of new materials, but the smell of the clothes did not cause dizziness. Apart from this, he did not find any other abnormalities in these clothes.So Ye Tianshi proposed to visit the place where Mr. Ruigui lived.In the palace where Mr. Rui lived, he saw many orchids. Mr. Rui's name was Hulan. He liked to grow orchids since he was a child.

The author has something to say:

【Story of Princess Lechang】Princess Chen Zhen of Lechang is the younger sister of Empress Chen, the last emperor of the Southern Dynasty.She looks fresh and refined with elegant temperament, and can write poetry, she is a famous talented woman and beautiful woman.When Princess Lechang became an adult, she voluntarily married Xu Deyan, a talented scholar from the south of the Yangtze River, because she valued Xu Deyan's talent more than his glory and wealth.After marriage, the husband and wife respect each other as guests, and the husband sings and the wife follows.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty sent troops to the south, and the state of Chen perished.The subjugated Empress Chen and Princess Lechang and other relatives will be taken captive to Chang'an, the capital of the Sui Dynasty.Xu Deyan said to his wife: "With your beautiful appearance and talent, now that you are subjugated and taken into exile, it is very likely that you will be exiled to a powerful and wealthy family. At that time, we may not have a chance to see you again. If our fate is not broken, If we can see each other again, then there should be a token.” So, Princess Lechang broke a bronze mirror she used frequently into two pieces, kept one half for her husband, and kept the other half for herself.She said: "Then we will make an agreement: every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, we will take out this half of the bronze mirror and sell it along the streets of Daxingcheng until we find out the whereabouts of each other." The half of the bronze mirror hugged its head and wept.

Later, Princess Lechang was assigned to be a singer in the mansion of Yang Su, the founding hero of the Sui Dynasty.Every year on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Princess Lechang would order the old maid beside her to sell her precious half bronze mirror along the street. People thought it was strange, wondering what to use the half mirror for?Moreover, the old servant's asking price is quite high, no one is willing to buy it at all, and as time goes by, there will be few people interested in it.Although there is no news like nothing, but Princess Lechang still insists on asking the maid to go out to sell half bronze mirrors on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year.Xu Deyan finally came to Chang'an after a difficult life of ups and downs.On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he came to the market and saw someone selling a half bronze mirror at a high price.Xu Deyan secretly knew that his wife had disappeared, so he hurriedly led the old servant to his residence, and showed him his other half of the bronze mirror.

Princess Lechang cried bitterly when she saw the poem written by her husband brought back by the old servant.It is written in the poem: "The mirror goes away with people, and the mirror returns to people. It does not return to Chang'e's shadow, and the bright moonlight remains in the sky." Later, Yang Su knew the reason and was moved by the sincere affection of the two of them. Summoned into the mansion, let him and his wife meet.Xu Deyan saw that his wife was living a well-fed life here, so he said: "See you again, my wish has been fulfilled, I vowed not to marry again in this life, after returning to the south of the Yangtze River, I plan to escape into the Buddhist gate, and spend this life alone in front of Qingdeng." Come on, the two covered their faces and wept.Yang Su then said: "I miss the old love between the two of you so much, I am determined to return Princess Lechang to Mr. Xu, so that you can reunite after a broken mirror." .

[Jiuzhou Qingyan Fire] It happened on the fifth day of May in the 28th year of Qianlong. Yongqi left Qianlong on his back, all of which are historical records.It is also a historical record that Fu Heng moved into the North Garden of Shuchun Garden, and then the garden was renamed "Chunhe Garden".

[Auspicious] The key criminal in the Lianghuai Salt Citation Case was dead at the time of the incident.In history, he was the cousin of Concubine Ling, who was born in the House of Internal Affairs, and was a confidant of Qianlong.The two main criminals in the Lianghuai Yanyin Case are both relatives of the Qianlong Dynasty, and the other is Gao Huan, the younger brother of Concubine Gao.The case was revealed in the 33rd year of Qianlong in history. The disclosure process and details of the case are shown in the article. Fu Heng was in charge of the investigation.