New Dream of Red Mansions

Xia Yuntian stood by the river and watched that the migrant workers on both sides had built more than half of the dam, and nodded with satisfaction.The newly appointed Governor of Liangjiang next to him said: "In another month, the fortifications will be completed. It's just Mr. Xia, how will the wages be paid at that time? There are more than 8 people. When the fortifications were being built, it was agreed that as long as it is done here , in addition to three meals a day, there is also a salary of [-] yuan a day, calculated in this way..." It is difficult for the imperial court to collect relief food, let alone these wages, although building the dam at this time can save a lot of money. With little money, Marquis Pingyang even took this opportunity to let those merchants who provided materials give away a lot of relief food for free, but there was still a lot of vacancies.

Xia Yuntian said: "Doesn't the Zhen family have many rare treasures? You have to trouble the governor to invite some celebrities and wealthy businessmen to come, and seal up the silver that has not been copied from the Zhen family."

The governor of Liangjiang was surprised, and objected: "These things have to be sealed and sent back to the capital..." The governor of Liangjiang was speechless for a moment. When these things were sent back to the capital, they would also be put into the treasury, and then the treasury would take out money to pay the workers. On the surface, it is no different from paying money from the treasury.But there is a big difference.

After sending the Zhen family's items back to the capital, how much will be left after being exploited?There is another floor left in the palace, and maybe only one out of ten will be collected into the national treasury in the end.That would be equivalent to at least [-]% of the income going to the national treasury. He dare not say anything else, but with Pingyang Hou, the evil spirit here, there are almost no people who have the courage to play tricks under his nose.

If the Supreme Emperor would never allow such a thing to happen.The Supreme Emperor has always been kind.But today is different. Today's strict and clean government, I'm afraid that today's Marquis of Pingyang can do something like this.

The governor of Liangjiang is a person of today, and he has just been promoted, so he naturally knew what the emperor was thinking, so he went down to make arrangements.

As soon as the governor of Liangjiang left, a half-grown child dressed as a servant behind him said puzzledly: "Uncle, isn't this going to offend many people? I'm afraid it will be bad for the Pingyang Marquis."

Xia Yuntian laughed and said: "They won't do anything to the Marquis of Pingyang for such a small benefit. Your Highness, you have to remember that under absolute power and determination, even if they offend some people, they can't do anything to you Compared with the family I copied in Jiangnan, the people who offended because of these money are really not worth mentioning."

The prince thinks about it, if it is someone else, he is afraid that he would not want to offend those people, but as his uncle said, the people he offended are not many, and there are many less. It's really nothing.

The emperor received the memorial from the Marquis of Pingyang and agreed without even thinking about it. This time Marquis of Pingyang went south, not only brought the disaster under control, but also pulled out many cancerous tumors, and built some previous fortifications. It can be said that, The Marquis of Pingyang only spent half a year in the south, which was worth the ten years that other people spent there.Even though there are timing issues, the most important thing is his courage and ability.

When the disaster is raging, any official of the main faction will probably try every means to stabilize the victims first, and then find a way to collect relief food for disaster relief.The south of the Yangtze River is almost the world of the Zhen family, and it is the most difficult to work under such a situation where there are such local snakes entrenched.

In previous disasters, the people sent by the emperor were crowded by the Zhen family and had nowhere to stand?But who would have expected that when Marquis Pingyang went to the south of the Yangtze River, he didn't go to appease the victims or check the relief situation, but directly took people to copy the governor of Liangjiang and several officials under him?

Even the emperor didn't expect that Xia Yuntian's actions miraculously calmed down the victims, and made the victims who were about to riot listen to his orders seriously.

He knew that most of the reason Pingyang Hou exerted such strength was because of the prince who was by his side.He is teaching the prince in his own way.

The emperor lowered his eyes, the gentleman he invited for the crown prince was a great Confucian in the world, but the empress suggested that the candidate was Mr. Chen from the Imperial Academy. Ping Yanghou knew that this person was the best candidate to teach the prince.

The prince is too young, but he is in his prime.Just like the father and the deposed prince back then.He didn't want to establish a prince early at first, but Pingyanghou was in power, the border was unstable, and the brothers in the court were also restless.Previously, the grievances in Pingyanghou Mansion had to be resolved as soon as possible, and the establishment of a prince was the only way.

Now that he agreed to let the prince accompany him, the reason is to let Marquis Pingyang spare no effort to deal with Jiangnan's troubled pockets, and now it has achieved results, but seeing that the Zhen family was uprooted in less than half a year, he felt a little uneasy for no reason.

The Zhen family is an old minister of the Supreme Emperor. When the Supreme Emperor went to the south of the Yangtze River, his family alone picked him up four times, which shows how much their family is favored. But that's it, when Xia Yuntian's booklet was delivered, the Supreme Emperor still didn't say anything.

But he knew that this was also an attitude, he didn't kill them, he just exiled them.

After this incident, I am afraid that Marquis Pingyang's prestige in the army has risen to another level, as well as Shilin.I heard that Zhen's family was often criticized by scholars, and now Marquis of Pingyang has copied Zhen's family, but it is in their hands. Last time Marquis of Pingyang stopped the Russian army from invading, not only gained a great reputation in the army, but also was highly respected among scholars.What's more, the Xia family has always had a good reputation among scholars.

The emperor threw down the notebook and thought with a headache, if only he had a younger sister from the same mother, and if the Marquis of Pingyang came from the royal family in the future, then he would not have to worry so much.

At this time, several cars were quietly entering the capital from the east gate when the city gate opened early in the morning, and then entered Rongning Street. The leader looked around and saw no one, so he knocked softly The side entrance of Rongguo Mansion.

Zhou Rui's family hurried into Sister Feng's yard.

Sister Feng just sent Jia Lian out to court, and was about to go back to sleep when she heard that his wife's companion, Zhou Rui's family, had come, so she got up quickly and asked, "Why is Sister Zhou here?"

Zhou Rui's family took a look at the room.Ping'er hurriedly got up and went out to guard.

Seeing that there was no one in the room, Zhou Rui's family stood up and whispered in their ears: "...Second Mistress, Madam means that the two families are aristocratic families after all, and they have been kissing for a long time. Now it is hard to tell who is who. Now, if you can help me, I will help you, and I ask you to accept it first, and then they will return the kindness from the one above."

Sister Feng raised her eyebrows and said with a smile: "This is my wife's order. Of course I dare not disobey, but I don't know where to put it. Sister Zhou also knows that the yard of my second master and I is small, and there is really no place to put it." I don't know where my wife is..."

Zhou Rui's family quickly waved their hands and said, "Madam came to look for grandma just because she couldn't find a place over there." Zhou Rui's family pondered for a moment and said, "How about sending it to the public treasury? Now people are waiting outside. Wait until it's daylight before anyone sees it."

Sister Feng gasped in her heart, how could such things be placed in the public treasury?If someone finds out by accident in the future, it won't be hers, will it?

After thinking about it, he still said: "Then let me go here first, and we can talk about it later when the wife makes room."

Zhou Rui's family breathed a sigh of relief.

As soon as Zhou Rui's family left, Ping'er came in and said, "Grandma, you have to tell the second master about this. The Zhen family has been raided, but it's a big deal."

Sister Feng waved her hand indifferently and said, "It's not a big deal because Zhen's family was raided. Who else knows that things are with us besides their family?" She said with a sneer, "I know my wife's plan, she Thinking that if the Zhen family can't come out in the future, these things will belong to her, but she thinks too much and doesn't dare to take it, so she pushes me out to make a house. "

Ping'er hurriedly said: "It's unlucky after all, and grandma is not short of money, so why bother to calculate those things?"

Sister Feng thought about it, so she waved her hand and said, "Forget it, I don't care about it, let people put things in the private warehouse, look after them, and drive everyone outside the yard out, so that no one can see them."

Ping'er quickly responded.

It's just that there are people coming and going in the backyard, and it's the time when the servants get up and work and move around the most. When entering the second courtyard, people have to open the door. How could they not see it?

After all, this matter got out, except for the few masters who kept it secret, everyone below knew about it. Even Xiyan also learned the specific situation from Chunlan, even knowing how many boxes were brought in.

Daiyu said: "It's illegal to hide and infringe on family property. It's good to be safe now, but I'm afraid that in the future..." Xiyan can calmly ignore it, but Daiyu still hopes that her grandfather's family is safe and sound, so He said: "Let's remind them, the eldest uncle is not counting on it, and the second uncle is not at home. Lian's second brother is now on an errand, so he has some knowledge and experience. Why don't you just tell him, or return the things. Or send it out, you can't leave things in the mansion."

Xiyan smiled and asked: "We can't just tell him like this, I don't know how many people will be involved if we talk like this."

That's right, it was originally a confidential matter, but the whole family knew about it, I'm afraid it's just a matter of hiding it from my grandmother now.Thinking of this, Daiyu felt a little sad, her grandmother was right, now everything in the house is hidden from her, she has almost become blind.

"It's better for me to tell him and explain clearly in person that Brother Lian is a transparent person, and he won't implicate those people." Daiyu is still confident about this.

Xiyan sighed, Daiyu was too upright, she knew everything clearly.She does not deny that Daiyu's guess is correct, Jia Lian is a transparent person, and his heart is not cruel enough.As long as Daiyu pleads for mercy, no one else will be involved, but doubts are inevitable in his heart.

She bribed some of the servants of Jia's mansion, as long as she checked carefully, she could still find out.They didn't know before because they didn't suspect that the girls in the garden would buy servants.

Tanchun has many eyes and ears because her girls are friendly with those girls. When people gossip, it is inevitable to hear that Daiyu has good eyes and ears because she can also infer from some clues, and Zijuan has a lot of contacts in Jia's mansion. If you want to know any news, if you don't say anything else, Zijuan can inquire a lot.But Baochai was able to know everything because she had been casting a wide net and benevolent to the servants of Jia's house all the time, so it was easy for her to know any news.

But like Tanchun and Daiyu, she doesn't have a girl from Jia's family, and her temperament is not as smooth as Baochai. She prefers to place people in a few inconspicuous corners, and she can live as she wants In life, you only know when you want to know.Although it costs more money, it takes the least amount of energy.Because once this kind of transaction relationship is established, it only needs to follow the conventional operation.

Jia Lian is not stupid, if he becomes suspicious, he might dig out the people she arranged.Leaving aside the loss of those people, she didn't want the Jia family to know about her actions.

"You don't need to go, leave this matter to me, and I'll just let him know."

Anyway, there are many people in the house who know about it, and she has a way to make Jia Lian not think about them little girls.

In this way, within two days, when Jia Lian came back from drinking in the evening, he heard two women talking in a low voice when passing by the small garden, "... I don't know how much money the Zhen family sent out, there are three carts worth of money." It's a big box."

"Do you think it contains silver? How much silver can it hold?"

"Oh, hello, there's not much silver in the three carts."

"It's a lot for us, but for a family like the Zhen family, what is three carts worth of money? It's better to install some farm shops. A thin piece of paper is worth a lot of money."

"Oh my god, how much money does that cost?"

"Otherwise, why do you think the wife and the second mistress dared to take it? It's not because they hope that the Zhen family will not come back, so the things will go directly to our family."

"No way, the Zhen family and our Jia family are relatives."

"Hmph, so what about my old man? Now their family has been raided and everyone has been exiled. It's not certain whether they can survive. These rich and noble families don't have the same sense of loyalty as our poor ones. Otherwise, why would the Zhen family be in trouble? , Jia’s family doesn’t help in the capital either.”

"Old sister is talking nonsense again, this Zhen's family was raided suddenly, our family didn't know..." The two gradually drifted away from each other, and when Jia Lian came to his senses, the two of them had disappeared.Jia Lian looked at the direction in which the two disappeared with an ugly expression.

Jia Lian kicked the door open as soon as he got home, the loud noise frightened the master and servant in the house.Sister Feng was startled, and Heping'er went out to look together, and saw Jia Lian looking at them with an ugly face.

"Yo, what's wrong with the second master? How did our master and servant provoke the second master?" Sister Feng looked at Jia Lian with a half-smile.

Jia Lian sneered, "You don't know why it has offended you, come and ask me?"

Sister Feng immediately put away the smile on her face, frowned and asked, "Second Master, what's wrong?"

Jia Lian snorted coldly, stepped in and sat on the first seat, stared at Sister Feng and asked, "I heard that someone from the Zhen family is here?"

Sister Feng's heart skipped a beat, she nodded nonchalantly, "Where did Second Master hear about it?"

"Don't worry about how I heard it, just tell me if it's true or not. Also, did you collect the money that the Zhen family sent us to hide?"

Sister Feng's face darkened, "Why is the second master taking care of the inner house?"

Jia Lian was so angry that he threw the cup on the table to the ground, "Is this a matter of the inner house? Do you know that hiding the belongings of a prisoner is considered the same crime?"

Sister Feng opened her mouth, wanting to say that there are still empresses in the palace.Jia Lian interrupted her with a wave of his hand, "Don't tell me about the empress in the palace. It is precisely because we have an empress in the palace that we should not be involved with the affairs of the Zhen family. The two most important things since the Holy Majesty ascended the throne, One is that the princes are fighting for power, and the other is that the national treasury is empty. When the Jiangnan flood occurred, the emperor used his private treasury to prepare a lot of relief food, but less than one-tenth of it was delivered to the victims. The emperor was furious and sent The officials who went down were all evacuated by the Zhen family, aren't you going in at this time to find trouble for the empress in the palace?"

Sister Feng didn't expect things to be so complicated.

"This, this is what my wife asked me to accept."

Jia Lian's face was as deep as water, and he knew Mrs. Wang's personality best. "You don't know what kind of person your wife is? I'll talk to my wife about this matter in person. Should I return the things, transfer them to others, or leave them to my wife?" Make up your mind, anyway, this thing can't stay in our house, at least not in our hands."

After thinking about it, Sister Feng understood that with Mrs. Wang's personality, she might not want to part with these three carts of things, so it's better to hand them over at this time.

Mrs. Wang was indeed unwilling to give up the three carts, and she was even more unwilling after hearing what Jia Lian said.According to Jia Lian, the possibility of the Zhen family coming back is very small, but she is not willing to affect the daughter in the palace.Mrs. Wang pondered for a moment, and said: "Later, you ask Sister Feng to bring the things over. We finally agreed to the Zhen family, and it's not good to regret it all of a sudden. I'll just find a place to settle it."

Jia Lian lowered her eyes and answered.When they got back to the yard, they hurriedly asked someone to move the things to Mrs. Wang's yard. Jia Lian and Sister Feng did not hide this action from anyone, so soon everyone knew that the Zhen family's things had been transferred to Mrs. Wang's yard.

Seeing that they were so secretive, Daiyu could only sigh inwardly.After all, she is a guest, and if she knows something, she can only act as if she doesn't know it.

Xiyan didn't know about Daiyu's distress, and Zhuang Sheng, who followed Brother You to Suzhou, reported to her a few months ago that he had bought up a large number of fields while the victims were leaking out.

Xiyan had to redeploy. She knew that the victims might still have grievances in their hearts at this time. If they thought about the land they sold cheaply after returning home, they might feel angry. If they didn't handle it well, they might draw others' attention.

Xiyan planned to lease those fields to those victims, and only charge [-]% of the rent for the first three years, and then talk about it later.

Madam Zhuang was a little distressed, "The girl's rent is too light. Most people charge [-] to [-] percent. Our family has been charging [-] percent, which is considered a low rent."

But in Xiyan's opinion, this is really not low. If she is not afraid that the rent is too low, it will make people form a habit, and she may turn her benefactor into an enemy in the future. She would not charge such a high rent.In modern times, does she dare to charge such a high rent?

Forty percent, she is already very satisfied, and those victims will be very satisfied.

The head of the Zhen family looked at Xia Yuntian and said with a sneer: "Pingyanghou, don't forget that your family is also an old minister that the Supreme Emperor can use."

Xia Yuntian glanced at him lightly, and said indifferently: "Aren't the old and new ministers all servants of the royal family? If you remember that you are a servant, this Marquis will not have this opportunity."

The Patriarch of Zhen's family turned pale immediately, and looked at Pingyanghou with a gloomy look. After a long time, he twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "I just hope that Pingyanghou's loyalty will not be betrayed. Just don't hide your bow."

Xia Yuntian lowered his eyes.

Behind Xia Yuntian, the prince dressed as a servant opened his mouth, and the head of the Zhen family gave him a meaningful look and sneered.

Marquis Ping Yang naturally cultivated this nephew in every possible way, but he didn't know whether this nephew would still look at Marquis Ping Yang as trustingly as he does now when he grows up.

The four kings and eight princes immediately went to the family.

Many people in the capital were in turmoil, and some people began to target Pingyanghou.

One month later, when everything was over, Marquis Pingyang returned to the capital with the prince and many subordinates.

The emperor was overjoyed, and gave Pingyanghou a lot of rewards, and at the same time let Pingyanghou regain control of the Northern Army. For a while, Pingyanghou became a celebrity in front of the emperor.

Because Pingyang Hou has kept his filial piety for six consecutive years, he has not said anything about his marriage so far.This year Pingyang Hou has already become a filial piety, and with his current power, many people have moved their minds, and for a while, many girls in the capital have their minds floating.

As a result, Pingyang Hou's Mansion welcomed wave after wave of guests, and it was extremely lively for a while.

The old lady of Pingyang Hou rubbed her forehead with a headache, and said to Zhou: "Thank you behind closed doors, we will not go out again during this time."

Mrs. Zhou pressed the temple of the old lady, and said in a low voice: "Mother, what they said is actually true. Master Hou has already passed the filial piety, so it's time to talk about kissing. Now the border is unstable, and I don't know what Master Hou is. It’s time to go to war.”

The old lady frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, "Wait a little longer."

Thinking deeply in her heart, Mrs. Zhou asked tentatively, "Does mother already have a candidate in mind?"

The old lady smiled and said: "I don't know if he thinks of our family or not. I will discuss it with him when I come back in the evening. Mrs. Tai is right, his two elder brothers are daughters-in-law chosen by herself. It’s different if you can’t come to him.”

Zhou Shi lowered her eyes and said nothing.

But he already knew in his heart that Xia Yuntian was probably very satisfied with this candidate, otherwise Mrs. Tai would not have said so.It's just that I don't know the identity of the other party, so that the old lady and Xia Yuntian pay so much attention to it, it can't be the Princess of the Four Kings, right?With the current prestige of the Marquis of Pingyang, it is not impossible.

Zhou's heart suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, if the other party just has a higher status than her, it doesn't matter.She is a widow, anyway, she is more respected in the mansion