[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

When the two girls of the Lin family were happy, after half a year's tour to the south, Tu Yuanyi's imperial driver finally set off to return to the capital. The capital was in critical condition, and Tu Yuanyi had no time to come to Yangzhou to see Xing Xiuyan again.

The Flower Hall of Prince Lian's Mansion.

Prince Lian Tu Yuankang looked at Prince Gong Tu Yuanfeng who finally compromised and came to his palace, followed by the staff of the two parties.

Tu Yuanfeng was originally known as the most beautiful man in the royal family. He was handsome and handsome, and looked like a fairy from the outside world, so he was very favored by the emperor.He succeeds in the Zhen family, and loses in the Zhen family. Although the emperor is greedy for pleasure, he also knows that the emperor cannot become a puppet of his relatives, so he was excluded from the heir to the throne by the emperor.

The Zhen family really didn't come from a high family background, Concubine Zhen is just the eldest daughter of the emperor's brother-in-law.

Prince Lian's family background is even lower. His mother has passed away, and he only had the status of Ning Zhaorong before he died. .Prince Lian also married Zhao Qi, the granddaughter of Prince Zhongxian and the daughter of Marquis Xiao'an, Sun Lan, the youngest daughter of Sun Jingliang, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Ma Xinyue, the daughter of Ma Baocheng, the governor of Hexi, as side concubines.

Compared with Prince Lian, Prince Yuansu of Yuansu, Tu Yuanyi, is simply the son of his stepfather. The princess is just the daughter of the former deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (later promoted to chief), and the concubine Wu and Cui. Wu was originally the Minister of Rites. Cui's daughter, the Cui family is only the daughter of the Shandong Xunfu, and they are all families that became more prosperous after he ascended the throne.

Prince Lian also has the support of Prince Cheng Tu Yuanfang. Prince Cheng is now the leader of the army, leading 3000 imperial guards to patrol the border of Shuofang, which is the residence of Jin Shichao, the king of Xining County and concurrently the governor of Shuofang.Of course, Tu Yuanfang didn't want to be emperor, but he had a lower family background than Prince Lian, he was born by a court lady, and he died of blood collapse as soon as the court lady gave birth.Later, he was raised at Concubine Hui's place, but Concubine Hui herself had a second prince, how could she have much sincerity towards him?

The fifth apprentice, Yuan Kang, who is still four years younger, took good care of him because he was raised by the childless Empress Xiaoyi.

He was very poor at reading since he was a child, and when he was young, his fifth brother would be his gunner, because he was the adopted son of the queen, so he listened to him.

At the beginning, Tu Yuanxin, the second prince born to Concubine Hui, and Tu Yuanzhi, the fourth prince born to Concubine De, competed most fiercely with Tu Yuanren, the former prince. Those two princes were of high birth and outstanding talents, so they were recruited first. The massacre of the first prince who rebelled.

In the end, many of the four kings and eight princes contributed to put down the rebellion of the first prince, while the two concubines Hui and De died of illness shortly after the death of their sons.

Only then did the childless Empress Xiaoyi think of supporting her adopted son, Tu Yuankang. At that time, the emperor also intended to do so, so he was very particular about the side concubine and errands for him.However, after a few years, the young and powerful disciple Yuankang, who held a lot of power in his hands, made the emperor feel threatened, so the emperor turned to favor the nine apprentices who were born of the outstanding, talented and most beloved concubine Zhen Gui Yuanfeng.As for Lao Liu, Lao Qi, and Lao Ba, they are not good. Lao Liu broke his leg when he was young and has a weird and gloomy temperament. Lao Ba is a big fool. The son of the governor's daughter Concubine Yu, Concubine Yu died when he was 8 years old, and he was raised by Concubine Zhou Shu.However, although Tu Yuanyi was handsome, he was known as "mean and ungrateful" among the princes at that time, and he was very unlikable in the court.

At that time, Tu Yuankang also thought that Tu Yuanfeng was his competitor, but he did not expect that his father would pass the throne to Tu Yuanyi.

On the table between Tu Yuankang and Tu Yuanfeng was a letter of insurrection, welcoming the emperor back to the court, and then the emperor Xiazhao (actually drafted by them) abolished Qianyuan Emperor Tu Yuanyi, because the emperor was inconvenient, first Prince Lian oversees the country.

This is not something that can be easily resolved, Tu Yuanfeng's palms are sweating if he doesn't eat or drink water.If he hadn't received the news that his good seventh brother had taken over Zhen's family and was imprisoned, I am afraid that he would have no good fruit to eat if he also got caught in the south of the Yangtze River once he returned to Beijing. He would never compromise with Prince Lian.

"Fifth brother, you are the head of the residence, you should leave your seal first." Tu Yuanfeng said.

Tu Yuankang looked at Lao Jiu's pretty face, until now he realized that this younger brother was overestimated by him, he was just trying to be cute in front of his father, and he was just an embroidered pillow.

Tu Yuankang picked up his own seal, dipped it in red inkpad, and stamped the two copies of the letter of insurrection, and then looked at Tu Yuanfeng.

Tu Yuanfeng said, "Fifth Brother, you must keep your word."

As he said that, he also took the stamp and stamped it on the letter of insurrection. If Tu Yuanyi hadn't done too badly, Tu Yuanfeng wouldn't want to get involved in the muddy water.Because whoever is the emperor, the fifth and the seventh, he is Prince Gong.But now that he has given the blame to Lao Qi, he is afraid that Wang Jue will not be able to keep it, not to mention his life is in danger, and Lao Wu promised that after he ascends the throne, he will be granted the title of Prince Gong who is hereditary and irreplaceable.

……

What Tu Yuankang and Tu Yuanfeng signed was not so much a letter of insurrection, but a contract, each holding a copy, this is the other party's handle, and the other party cannot regret it halfway.

After the signing, Tu Yuankang and Tu Yuanfeng did what they said they would do, and those who suffered losses in the south of the Yangtze River were also greedy for the merits of the dragon and repaying the benevolent monarch Tu Yuanyi.

Naturally, the Jia Mansion, Wang Mansion, and Shi Mansion also received an olive branch from Tu Yuanfeng. After all, the Zhen family is also an old relative, and the losses of the three mansions in Jinling are not small at all.

Of course, the least damaged may be the Jia family, because their whole family is second-hand, and they have no idea how much wealth they have. Many slaves take advantage of the scapegoat and get less benefits.At most, Jia's posts can only lead to lawsuits on the surface.

Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng were instructed by Mrs. Shi to follow the two kings into the palace and respectfully invite the old sage to return to court.Jia's mother and Mrs. Wang are just greedy for Prince Lian to become a new saint in the future. Jia Yuanchun will be named a concubine, although Jia Yuanchun is now 27 years old (taboo: Jia Yuanchun, but the original name is also used below.).Just because she has been blogging for so many years, she is 27 years old, and she has spent countless silver taels, the Jia family has no choice but to be tempted.

However, Jia Lian, as the only man of the younger generation, was also present at the time. Originally, Jia's mother meant to let Jia Lian take care of the big family until the dust settled.In case something happened, he would still come forward.

Jia Lian couldn't help being stunned when he heard the news, his mind was racing, but he remembered that his cousin Shi Rui had said that Beijing might not be peaceful recently, and he had warned his family not to get involved in sensitive matters.He had also heard about Jiangnan. Jia Lian was not satisfied, but Shi Rui said, "How does the turmoil in Jiangnan really affect you? Do you have more or less money?"

At this time, Jia Lian saw that the whole family was hot-headed, how could he not be nervous?He stood in front of Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng brothers, and said, "Father, Second Uncle. This is tantamount to conspiracy, and it is a matter of losing one's head! I also heard that the old sage has long...been handicapped, so how can he return to court? And It is justifiable for the old sage to surrender to the sage."

Jia Zheng is pedantic. In fact, although he is greedy for the status of the head of the family and is also an official fan, it still makes him less courageous to seek rebellion.

Jia Zheng's heart turned cold, but he said: "How is treason? The emperor..." He was not good at talking, he wanted to say that the emperor is mean and ungrateful, and caress about human life in the south of the Yangtze River, but he is also a person who likes to read and has been educated in loyalty and patriotism. , how can you say that you have passed?

Jia Amnesty, however, was dissatisfied with Jia Lian, saying, "Don't spoil me and wait for the big things, and take good care of the family. The changes in the south of the Yangtze River have uprooted the roots of our four major families. How can this matter be done?"

Jia Lian persuaded: "Those slaves in the south of the Yangtze River took advantage of the power of the Rongguo Mansion to make a fortune, but how much money can they give you every year? How many people are obviously free, and while they are not filial, they still borrow money from our two mansions. Fame and profit? Why do we have to commit taboos for them? Now that the sages are in the south of the Yangtze River to kill these slaves who are misfortunes, they are not implicated in our house in name, which is to save us. If we meet someone who wants to attack our two houses, he will die. The slaves, but us. Now the lost money is someone else’s, the profit is someone else’s, and the life is someone else’s, so why did father and second uncle come forward?”

These were Shi Rui's words of consolation. Shi Rui had stayed in Beijing as a concubine since last year's spring.After Jia Lian came back from the south, he often hang out with him, and he also controls some business of his uncle's family, and also earns some money by relying on his general affairs.He also learned some insights from his cousin, but the only displeasure was that his cousin didn't allow him to be like a hungry ghost, dragging all dirty and smelly things into the house.

When Jia She heard this, he was justified. In fact, although Jia She was greedy and lustful, and was helplessly suppressed by Jia's mother, he was more sophisticated than Jia Zheng in terms of foreign affairs.After Jia Yuanchun's visit to his relatives exhausted his internal pockets, he was able to plan money from Ping'an Prefecture for the livelihood and continuation of the mansion, which shows his bold vision and scheming.This is also one of the major crimes for which the Jia family was ransacked.

Jia Amnesty knew that the Jia family had actually lost control over those servants.It is precisely because the Jia family is weak, but Wang Ziteng is very shrewd, and the power of the Wang family is still basically under control, so at home, his eldest house is overwhelmed by the second house supported by the Wang family.Because he knew that without Wang Ziteng, the Jia family would show its original shape now—but it was just a paper tiger with a reputation.

Jia Amnesty hesitated, but Mrs. Wang said anxiously: "Lian'er, after the matter is completed, Yuan Chun will be a concubine. Don't you want to be the uncle of the country? This is not treason, it's just to welcome the old sage to court. .”

Since Jia Lian came back from the south, apart from being scolded by Jia's mother, he was very hostile to Mrs. Wang, which caused him to have no contact with the three uncles of the Shi family for more than ten years, and his mother's dowry is now gone.Jia Amnesty and Mrs. Xing didn't have that, only Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang were the most suspects, and Jia Mu was a mother-in-law after all. Although it was shameless and reasonable to take it, it would be really hateful for Mrs. Wang to take it.

Jia Lian said: "How does the old sage come back to the court like that? This is a lice on the monk's head. It is clear at a glance. It is treason. Why deceive yourself and others? How much risk does the rebellion take from the merits of the dragon? Auntie is sure that the saint will be the loser? My father is a first-class general, and he has no shortage of glory and wealth. Why is he holding his head in order to be the name of the uncle of a lady who doesn't know what his name is, and who doesn't know if he will be favored? The role? The father only sits at home, impartial, no matter which side wins, he is still a first-class general in the end, which is much better than the status of the mother-in-law who doesn't know if he will fulfill it. Let's look at my grandfather back then But can you figure out whether Prince Yizhong will lose or win? But what will happen after seeing them lose?"

This is also the way of official career that Shi Bai taught him, that is, to be impartial and not fall into the taboo of seizing one's heir.