Love of Friends in the Red Chamber

Jia Cong stepped up to the door of the cabinet, and please come in after registering. The emperor ordered the eunuch to send a message to come in. Long live!" The emperor said with a warm smile, "It turns out that our young Hedu is back, so get up. Aiqing has done a great job this time, and I am so relieved!"

Just as Jia Cong was about to get up, when he heard the words of praise, he quickly knelt down and thanked him: "This is all the merit of the sage's cultivation of the world. In addition, when Prime Minister Lin was the governor of the river, he was well dispatched. The humble minister just followed the order and acted according to the rules. How dare you covet the merits of heaven if you fulfill your duties as a minister?" Hearing that he handled it well, the emperor nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile: "Get up, give me a seat, and it will be easier to talk while sitting." Jia Cong thanked the seat, and a small eunuch A short pier was brought over, and Jia Cong sat down with a slanted sign.The emperor asked about the sufferings of the people along the river, as well as the products, weather, and roads, and Jia Cong answered them one by one truthfully.

All the ministers present here are well-informed and well-informed ministers, and naturally they can tell the truth when they hear it—this Jia Cong is indeed a person who has penetrated into the people, has a thorough understanding, understands the conditions and opinions of the people, and is practical and capable, with good knowledge, and is not just an empty word Rich playboy.The more the emperor listened, the more satisfied he became, and the topic turned to the important task of river governance. This was originally Jia Cong's profession, so naturally he talked endlessly, like a treasure: "I tell you, the weather has recovered early this year by luck, and it is From east to west, the temperature rises step by step, so I escaped the ice flood—in my humble opinion, this ice flood is much more harmful than the peach blossom flood, and it is much more difficult to prevent."

The emperor was very interested when he heard about this for the first time, and asked, "Oh? What's the matter with Lingxun?" Jia Cong said with hand to mouth, and said, "Panjiadu in the middle reaches of the Yellow River is the easiest place to break through." The river is narrow and has nine bends and eighteen bends. The Yellow River flows from west to east, and the terrain is also from high to low. When the upstream thaws and the river opens, the downstream is often still closed due to the cold and warm weather, and the drainage is not smooth, and the ice blocks accumulate to form an ice dam, causing the upstream water level to rise sharply, threatening the embankment, and even breaching.” He said. Understand, everyone heard clearly, then Jia Yucun interjected: "Then why is it more harmful than the peach blossom flood?"

Jia Cong glanced at him and saw that he had a serious face, like a minister who was worried about state affairs. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that "a person should not be judged by his appearance", and he would never show it on his face. Because of the heavy rainfall, the river surged rapidly, and the silt and sand flowed down, causing the embankment to break, and I have found a way to prevent it." The emperor's eyes lit up, and he said quickly: "Say it, say it." Jia Cong calmly replied: "Reinforce Embankment, dredging the river is certainly a solution, but treating the symptoms is not the root cause. The river sand accumulates more and more, and the embankment will break sooner or later. Therefore, river control is actually sand control. If the sand is controlled, the water is actually good water, irrigating farmland, Nurturing the living people will turn harm into benefit."

For a while everyone listened, even Lin Jiarui heard Jia Cong speak in such detail for the first time, Jia Cong became excited and continued to talk: "I am in the most flood-affected areas in Henan, Hebei, and Shaanxi. After carefully inspecting the terrain and people's conditions, the poor mountains and bad waters along the river, the common people reclaimed almost all the land along the river for their livelihood. Returning farmland to forests and planting grasses, fixing sand and preserving water, not only is it not easy to burst, but it will not take a few years for the Yellow River to clear."

The emperor breathed a sigh of relief, he dreamed of "Hai Yan He Qing", the world is peaceful, this picture is too tempting.However, Dai Anshi, one of the ministers in the cabinet, frowned and said: "Jia Cong is still young. He just draws cakes to satisfy his hunger and returns farmland to forests. Do you know how much good land will be wasted by doing this? What do the common people eat? Once a famine occurs, immediately There will be a civil uprising, can you bear the disaster?"

Jia Cong was not flustered, and calmly retorted: "Master Dai only knows one thing, but not the other. Return the farmland to the forest. The forest is not an ordinary forest, but a fruit tree. The yield of grain grown there is extremely low, and floods are frequent. Basically, I depend on the sky for food, so before I came to Beijing this time, I found two villages in Panjiadu, bought their fields, and planted fruit trees. It seems that the annual harvest will be effective, and it will naturally be able to convince the surrounding people. No In the past few years, the people saw the benefits, and they would scramble to do this. In fact, there is no need to force it. The so-called "the world is prosperous, it is all for profit; the world is crowded, it is all for profit." "

Jia Yucun looked at the gap between the words, and said with a smile: "Unexpectedly, Tanhua was born, has excellent knowledge, and is a minister of prosperity." Overtly praise and secretly criticize, hiding the sharp edge.Seeing Jia Yucun playing ghosts in front of his face, the emperor felt a little disgusted, but he remained calm and watched Jia Cong's reaction.

Jia Cong smiled freely and said: "Scholars should be able to distinguish clearly between the words 'righteousness' and 'benefit', and scholar-bureaucrats want to live in peace and happiness. However, for a scholar who cultivates himself and respects himself, 'poverty' is not a disease. Hundreds of millions of people, as far as the whole country is concerned, 'poverty' is a disease - Jia Cong is not ashamed to be a 'minister of prosperity'."

He spoke so frankly that Jia Yucun was speechless. Lin Jiarui felt a heat in his heart, and the emperor couldn't help praising: "What a good economical Tanhua! What I need is a 'happy minister' like you." The emperor saw that Jia Cong had been talking for a long time with dry mouth, so he ordered someone to give tea. The little eunuch brought a tea tray with a tureen on it.The emperor's sharp eyes suddenly saw Jia Cong's hands, he was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help saying: "Aiqing, your hands?" Jia Cong quickly covered the back of his hands with his sleeve, and said in shame: "I am afraid, there is a dirty holy sight. "The emperor didn't care about it, he reached out and grabbed Jia Cong's hand, and turned up the sleeve. When the ministers looked at it, they saw that the hands were not like the hands of a scholar. They were full of calluses, and the fingers were full of cracks. Layer upon layer, it is obvious that they often do hard work to beat their hands like this, just like the hands of an old farmer.

The emperor couldn't help but burst into tears, Jia Cong said shamelessly: "It's because I'm young and don't know how to take care of myself. My staff also reminded me to apply oil every time I go into the water. I find it troublesome, so in the end..." The emperor said: "If All the ministers and workers in the court are as diligent as Aiqing, why worry that the world will not be peaceful and prosperous! When the cabinet discussed in the morning, some people said that you are young and should not open the door of luck." The emperor glanced at Jia Yucun , Jia Yucun lowered his head, and the emperor continued, "I want you to be the governor of the river at this time, the second-rank position, and the first-class earl." Jia Cong understood that it would be hypocritical to refuse at this time, and immediately Kneeling down to thank you, all the ministers congratulated.

After discussing river governance for a while, Jia Cong was well versed in the principle of accepting as soon as he sees a good deal, so he stopped showing off his knowledge, and saved some to make a retreat when he succeeds in the future.The emperor was obviously a little tired of the overly professional river control strategy, and he kindly asked about the scenery along the river, housework and human relations, etc. He heard that it took less than 20 days for Jia Cong to return to Beijing from Shaanxi. The emperor laughed. Said: "Aiqing is so eager to return home, obviously she misses her family, and it's time to go back and reunite." Even when Jia Cong was asked if he was married, everyone laughed. Lin Jiarui guessed that the emperor might want to marry the princess to Jia Cong, and secretly laughed in her heart. Jia Cong blushed and replied: "Two years ago, my grandmother made the decision and married my cousin of the Lin family for my minister." The emperor nodded and stopped talking about this topic.

Finally, the emperor was exhausted talking and let Jia Cong out. Jia Cong was sweating heavily. Lin Jiarui followed him out and saw no one around, so he laughed and said, "Brother Cong is sweating now? If the emperor really betrothed the princess to the You, then you will really sweat." Jia Cong begged for forgiveness again and again: "Brother, don't make fun of me." He just felt like returning home, but uncontrollable thoughts rushed to his heart and filled his chest.

So Jia Cong went straight to Jia's mansion after leaving the palace. Pan You'an had told him before that Daiyu had already gone to Jia's mansion.As soon as Jia Cong entered the room, Jia's mother hugged her and couldn't stop crying. Seeing that Jia Cong had grown taller for a year, he was dark and thin. How could he look like Mr. Pianpianjia?Fortunately, the essence is introverted, and the gestures are quite imposing, which makes people admire.Mother Jia couldn't help sighing: "My son, this trip has really suffered." As she spoke, she took Jia Cong's hand and felt the calluses on it. She was shocked, and when she looked carefully, she cried again. After a scene, all the female relatives also cried with them, and tried to persuade them.

This scene was a bit funny to say, it wasn't a sad atmosphere at all, but the tears gradually stopped, and laughter filled the ears again.Jia Cong looked carefully and saw Daiyu standing next to Jia Mu, her eyes red and swollen from crying, and she was looking at him with affection at this time, and she couldn't help feeling relieved that all her hard work had paid off.In front of the crowd, the two of them couldn't talk privately, they could only make eye contact and understand each other.

Mrs. Xing was naturally very proud, but Li Wan and Baochai must have lost something in their hearts, and seeing their husband and wife agree with each other, it makes people feel lonely.Li Wan sighed again and again: "I just hope that Lan'er will be successful, and he will be like Uncle Cong." Mrs. Wang couldn't help feeling a little resentful in her heart, so she glanced at her, and Li Wan retreated.Baochai set up a banquet, and when it was busy, the imperial decree arrived again.

So he hurriedly withdrew the banquet and set up the incense table. Jia Cong knelt down to accept the imperial edict. Sure enough, he was awarded the post of governor of the river. , Unified dispatching of cultivated land to forests, let Jia Cong have the idea of ​​"a scholar should die for his confidant" from the bottom of his heart.The emperor also gave Daiyu the seal and clothing of the second-rank imperial order. Since then, wearing a phoenix crown and a scarf, Daiyu has officially enjoyed the treatment of an imperial wife.