Aristocratic family's career in the Red Chamber

The bodyguards of Tu Youhao's bodyguards were going crazy. Seeing the fire in the small building where they were temporarily stationed, the flames had already licked the tiles on the roof, the window lattices were burned hollow, and there was a thick smell in the air. The smell of burning, the flames lit the night like day——Tu Youhao was still there, if something happened to him, people like him would all die without a place to bury him.

As for the real confidants around Tu Youhao, the dead men who were trained with great effort in the words, now their eyes are open, staring at the sea of ​​fire, and the veins on their foreheads are bulging. Not only are their masters inside, but just now, they His companions poured water on their bodies and rushed in to rescue them. Although they were anxious now, they had to stay and look after them, checking their surroundings to see if anyone was trying to take advantage of the fire and planned to do something wrong at this stall.

It was too strange and too coincidental that this fire started.

It has been nearly two months since Tu Yuhao came to Jiangnan. When he first came, he couldn't open the situation at all. They said that officials in the officialdom were protecting each other. Tu Yuhao saw him this time, probably because he was not very favored. None of the officials here surrendered their allegiance, not to mention those officials from aristocratic families, even the so-called "Qingliu" who came from poor families hid Tu Yuhao's secrets and refused to tell them frankly.Tu Youhao, the little royal dragon, was not taken seriously by these local snakes at all.

The only one who was kind to him was Jia Hu's uncle Lin Ruhai.Of course, this kind of politeness does not mean to confide in him and say what you have to say. On the contrary, although Lin Ruhai is polite to this disciple Youhao, but when something happens to him, he still hides it from him. Tell him important things.However, compared to other people, he still mentions some unknown things in the Jiangnan officialdom, such as the structure of various parties, forces, etc.——For this, it is because of Jia Hu’s repeated letters and prayers for help, Lin Ruhai That's why he was so polite to Tu Youhao.

Otherwise, an unfavored prince, Lin Ruhai, his current confidant, would not take it very seriously.

All of this made Tu Youhao's investigation in Jiangnan difficult.At the beginning, there was no progress at all.

Tu Youhao knew that there were some things that could not be rushed, and he was hit hard by all parties, but he did not give up. After a few days of depression, he quickly cheered up, only showing indifference on the surface, Traveling around the mountains and rivers every day, wandering around, collecting earthen rituals and interesting objects from various places in the south of the Yangtze River, packing them up and sending them back to Beijing. As for the corruption in the south of the Yangtze River, he will listen to what the other members of the imperial mission say. , do not express an opinion.

More than half a month has passed, and the rest of the people are sour and relieved of him - he is just an incompetent prince.

Here, Tu Youhao is really grateful for his inexplicable bad reputation these years, as if everyone knows that he, the fourth prince, is not favored by the emperor, is incompetent, and is easy to fool... At this time, it is easier for him to act.

Not long after, Tu Youhao got tired of Yangzhou, Jiangsu and other places, and proposed to go to Hangzhou.At the beginning, all parties were not happy, and they came to persuade him one by one, why he was so valuable, he couldn't just leave casually, lest it be called a collision, why he was entrusted with the emperor's grace, but he came here for an errand, how could he mess around at will? go wait?Tu Youhao only pretended to be unstingy, and said angrily: "I went to Hangzhou to see the people's sentiments? Why don't you do the emperor's mission? You stay in the yamen every day, and you can hear your ramblings. Can you know? How many things? It’s better to go to the folks, maybe you will know more!”

Tu Youhao's dandy image in front of him was too successful. Everyone took him as an excuse and wanted to go out to play. Of course, there may be some who took his words seriously. Anyway, he strongly opposed it. Tu Youhao became impatient and shot Holding the table, he took out his prince's identity, and said to everyone coldly: "I see who dares to stop you!"

Then, no one dared to persuade.

Fortunately, Tu Youhao accepted the maids, women, servants, horsemen, guards and other characters sent by all parties without evasion. On the way to Hangzhou, there were more than ten vehicles and horses, just like the sons of the wealthy family going out for a parade. Be looked at.Now, everyone is relieved.

On the way from Yangzhou to Hangzhou, Tu Youhao slept soundly in the carriage during the day, and never slept in the wild. Everywhere he went, he had to go to the brothel Chu Pavilion for a good walk, and if he saw the wine he liked, he would spend the night there. If you don't like it, go to the snack street, and even find a Tanping singer to sing a section - just like a boy who has never seen the world.Most of the ditty songs in the south of the Yangtze River are different from those in the north, and the people in the audience privately suspect that this Fourth Highness, can he understand what people are singing?Or did you fall in love with the person who sang the commentary?

When he arrived in Hangzhou, Tu Youhao played even crazier. Today he visited the West Lake, tomorrow he went to the Broken Bridge, and he didn’t miss the Qiantang area. He didn’t miss any of those famous teahouses, restaurants, and brothels. I bought two big boxes of things, all of which I planned to send back to Beijing.At first, the big local householders didn't dare to get close to him, but after waiting for a while, they saw that he was really a dude, so they moved their minds one after another. Posts inviting him to stay in the house poured into the post like rain.Within two days, Tu Youhao moved out of the post station and lived in a wealthy family in Hangzhou.

The local magistrate did not despise Tu Youhao behind his back: You were not happy when I invited you to live in the yamen, and you said it would not disturb the yamen’s work. The beautiful daughter of the family, is your heart moved?

Anyway, this trouble caused most of Tu Youhao's reputation in the local area to be ruined.Those veterans in the officialdom with evil intentions gradually relaxed their vigilance towards Tu Youhao.

It's just that none of them thought that the one who looked at Tu Youhao sleeping in the brothel, Chu Pavilion, sleeping beside those women was actually a secret guard pretending to be Tu Youhao. The real Tu Youhao had already Disguised, sneaked into the folks, and made unannounced visits.

After a long time, it really made him find out a lot of things.

The people are always the most honest people, they keep their own place, and their greatest wish is to live in peace and harmony.As parents and officials, you must serve them wholeheartedly, be upright and innocent, and ordinary people can worship people like Bodhisattvas, sincerely love, support and support them.Wherever the government orders of the yamen go, the people sincerely obey them and never neglect them.

But it is not enough for the parents and officials to scrape the ground three feet, and the blue sky should be three feet higher. Although the common people are not easy to say anything because of the distinction between superiority and inferiority, they are not vegetarians with one mouth and one tongue.It didn't take long for the big guys to know all about it. They dared not disobey the government orders, but a little delay and lack of cooperation were fine.

Good politics and harmonious people, that's all.

The character of the local officials learned from the mouths of the people is not completely accurate, but it is also seventy-eight percent accurate.Hangzhou is a big city, gathering people from all over the world, and different people come and go every day. Tu Youhao pretends to be ordinary people and wanders around, listening to passers-by talking about the situation in his hometown, and someone in the yamen relies on his sister to be the county magistrate Concubine love, running rampant in the countryside, life is going to be difficult, the one said you are not bad, we are called the county magistrate money rake on our side, and we have to rake all the money in our own pockets, thanks to this The weather has been good for two years, and they have to catch up with the disaster year. They will not be able to live with such a county magistrate and such exorbitant taxes...

Before Tu Youhao came to Jiangnan, he knew that the official situation here was severe, but he never expected that this group of dog officials, relying on the sky and the emperor's distance, could do such outrageous things.If they dare not raise taxes, there are donations and payments for various items, collusion between officials and businessmen, and bribery is commonplace. "The yamen opens to the north, and no one comes in if there is a reason but no money." It is really true.

Tu Youhao heard that a man with a frosty face and a sluggish expression put a pair of children on the street and sold them on a straw mark. He knelt on the ground and only begged the buyer to give them something to eat, and no one else dared to ask for it.

Tu Youhao was baffled by what he heard at first, if the family is poor and wants to sell their sons and daughters, why not take some money away, so as to subsidize the family?Hearing the sighs of people in the know, it turned out that this man was originally a husband and wife, an old mother and a happy family. He ran a food stall and had a good life, but one day he offended the son of a wealthy local businessman. Yes, the food stall came. A man said that he ate their food and killed him. He beat him up and reported to the police. The wife and husband went to jail together. The wife couldn't hold on, and she pleaded guilty before she died, so the man was able to beat him. Paid fifty boards and went to half life to get out of jail.Back home, the old mother was seriously ill and took out all her savings to treat his injuries. As a result, someone robbed him of the money at the door. The old mother protected her son's life-saving money and refused to let go. No one could hold on, it was gone.

The man knew that if his family stayed in the local area, there would be no way to survive, but he probably wouldn't live long with this injury, so he simply put the girl on the grass and sold it to a good family, so that he could grow up safely and earn some money. The money, plus the money for selling the house and the land, was given to the old mother and wife, and a coffin was also bought to be buried in the soil.

At that time, Tu Youhao gritted his teeth and exhausted all his strength to restrain himself from slapping the table and shouting angrily.In this world, there is still such a thing of bullying others, and such a thing of contempt for the king's law!

Tu Youhao asked the guards to investigate in secret, but the wealthy family was not an ordinary family. It turned out that his family also had members of the clan as officials. The daughter married a magistrate in Shandong, the eldest son was a Juren, and he married a lady from an official family... Everyone see In the face of colleagues, in the face of vain money, what is the death of one or two ordinary people?At that time, the man's wife signed the signature. She was careless and accidentally poured rat poison into the guests' food, which killed him. Now that everyone is dead, the evidence is gone, and here is the evidence. It is difficult to overturn the case!

How could Tu Youhao see such a thing?He asked his subordinates to give the man several hundred taels of silver, together with a pair of children, and sent him to another place overnight, and also gave him two bottles of Da Nei's top-quality elixir to heal his injuries.This is what Tu Youhao tried his best to make up for the guilt in his heart.

He is the grandson of the emperor, and he has been prosperous and wealthy since he was a child, and everyone looks up to him.But if it wasn't for the support of the people, what would he be a prince?It is said that the people in the world are all kings and princes, but under the rule of his father, there are innocent people who are bullied like this.Tu Youhao was ashamed of his father's ignorance, ashamed of the hardships suffered by the people.

If one day I can ascend to that position, I will work hard and diligently. I dare not say that all corruption in the world will be eliminated, but I will definitely let this bully of the people die without a place to die!

Tu Youhao gritted his teeth and swear to God!

Tu Youhao was in a bad mood, so he naturally wanted to find a way to relieve it. The rich man who bullied others was killed. Tu Youhao sent secret guards there. He just wanted to scare people and teach the second son who caused the man's family to be ruined. Unexpectedly, the secret guard discovered in that family's house that the master of that family actually had a private account of secretly offering bribes to the prefect of Hangzhou.

After hearing this, Tu Youhao was overjoyed, and asked the secret guard to steal it secretly. He lit the lamp and looked at it all night, and knew the names of many people. He was afraid that people would find out. The next day it was dark, and he sent the account book back. He didn't dare to delay. The next night, I asked people to go privately to find out if there were any evidence left in different people's homes.Emperor Tian pays off, and I don't know if these people are secretly thinking of leaving a way out for themselves, preparing a backup, and every household has prepared private accounts for themselves in private.Because it was hidden in secret, it took half a month for the dark guard to find out.

Then Tu Youhao said that enough was enough, time was running out, and he had to go back to Suzhou to join the imperial envoy, so as not to delay the imperial envoy.On the second night after he left, the account books of many people's homes were stolen.

Tu Youhao is also cautious in doing things, playing the banner of the prince with great fanfare all the way, protected by a bunch of guards around him, living in the best house, and never leaving people by his side.Although there were some small twists and turns on the road, they were quickly resolved by the guards.

After all, Tu Youhao was too high-profile, no one dared to move a prince openly.

When he was about to arrive in Suzhou, Tu Youhao's defenses became tighter.After all, there are imperial envoys in Suzhou and guards from the imperial palace. Once Tu Youhao arrives in Suzhou, he will be protected by layers of officials, and it will be even more inconvenient to do it.If you want to get back the ledger, you must take advantage of the time when there are not many guards around Tu Youhao.Therefore, in the past few days, Tu Youhao even slept with one eye open.

But no one thought that there really is someone who is not afraid of death.

Tu Youhao set up the prince's ceremonial stand grandly in the lobby, and beat gongs and drums all the way to tell everyone that he was the prince's grandson, but someone threw a fire in in the middle of the night, intending to burn him to death.

The viciousness of the hands is really unbelievable.Tu Youhao is no longer favored, but he is still a prince.The emperor was furious, and laid down millions of corpses. If a prince really died in the post station, not to mention that the local officials were punished, even the people here would suffer innocently.Don't those who do it know this?No, he knows, but in his opinion, it is better to protect the prince and be demoted than to be convicted of corruption, decapitated, and ransacked the family!As for those innocent and affected people?What are you doing with them? !

The fire in the small building burned too fast, before everyone came back to their senses, he started to burn blazingly, and the first place to burn was Tu Youhao's room.

It was the middle of the night, everyone was sleeping, and those who were not on duty didn't know what was going on, their whole body was limp and weak, and they were drowsy until they wanted to sleep. When they heard the noise outside, it took them a while to realize that something had happened. Help, my body is weak, and I can't get up at all.Needless to say, everyone knows that he must have learned the truth.

The on-duty guards were also caught in the attack, and they were drowsy, killing a lot of the dozen or so dead men. The hidden guards were cautious and in good condition, but the dozen or so dead men were not afraid of death at all, and they had kerosene hidden on their bodies. Strong wine, even death, threw itself into the sea of ​​fire, and splashed the fire oil and strong wine everywhere, and the fire burned even more fiercely.

The dark guard is also really brave and fearless, seeing the fire getting bigger and bigger, in the end, he tried his best to make a few cuts on his body, and also slashed a few times at the dead man, and finally dealt with the dead man, leaving two people behind. Looking at the surrounding situation, stop asking people to fish in troubled waters. The rest of them splashed some water on their bodies, covered their mouths and noses with a wet handkerchief to prevent them from being choked by the thick smoke, and rushed into the sea of ​​fire to find Tu Youhao.

The fire licked the house and ran around. Under the fire, there was the sound of wood being burned, and every sound was shocking.The legs of the clerk at the post station were all weak, and he sat on his knees and cried heart-piercingly: "My God, my God, how could such a thing happen? How could such a thing happen?"

This is the prince being burned, the prince's grandson.If Tu Youhao was really burned to death in this inn, none of them would survive, none of them would survive.There are also wives and children at home, and old parents. I don’t know if brothers, sisters, relatives and friends will be affected? "My God, how could such a thing happen, how could such a thing happen!"

Before he finished crying, he asked the guards to kick his back, twisted his face and drank: "If you have the strength to cry here, why don't you go fetch me water to put out the fire? If something really happened to our Highness, be careful to destroy your nine clans!" !"

This threat was too terrible, the people at the post station didn't dare to delay any longer, and everyone rushed to fetch water to put out the fire.Even if the guard is hit by the trick, in the face of life and death, the potential will still burst out, or draw a knife on the body, use the pain to wake up, or pour the cold water directly on the top of the head when fetching water to wake up Yes, a group of people worked together to fetch water and put out the fire.

But the fire was still burning uncontrollably.

The face of the steward of the post station was as pale as paper: The post station was overhauled the year before last, and the yamen sent money down, but a little was withheld from the yamen, and another piece was withheld by the master, and another piece was withheld by the steward himself and the yamen servant who had made a good appointment with him. There was not enough money for good wood to build the station, so the steward quietly got fir wood, which was not bad for anything else, only a little, and it was easy to burn.The steward originally thought that nothing would happen, how could such a coincidence cause a fire?He has been working in the station for decades, and he has never seen anyone so bold as to rush to the station and set fire to it.No, just use fir as a shoddy.

Who knew, it would really encounter fire? !Moreover, the fire broke out when the prince moved in.If this is really good wood, it will never burn so fast, but it is flammable fir.Once touched with fire, it burns very fast, and with the addition of those kerosene and strong wine... the steward's feet softened, and he knelt on the ground and begged all the gods and Buddhas in the sky.He knew that he was doomed, that it was a trivial matter to shoddy the best, but it was a major event that the prince was almost killed.No matter what, he couldn't please go.Now he only hopes that Tu Youhao can survive the catastrophe, so that his family may be able to survive.

"God, please bless the fourth prince, please be safe, be safe." The steward knocked his head on the ground, his forehead was dripping with blood, but he didn't seem to feel the pain at all, he slammed on the ground heavily.

This is also the wish of everyone inside and outside the inn at this time.

As for Tu Youhao, before going to bed, there were two hidden guards guarding him. At that time, the fire was smashed into the house by someone connected with a kerosene jar, and there was also a jar of incense, and the fire burned , Mixiang rushed into the nostrils with smoke and fire, and Tu Youhao and the two hidden guards made a bad plot. Even if they reacted in time, their legs were weak for a while.Then more kerosene jars smashed in, as well as wine. When the strong wine bottle was broken, the wine splashed, and the fire burned even more violently.In a daze, Tu Youhao suddenly remembered the fire during the palace change when he was a child. At that time, it was the same. Even the air was distorted by the fire. His skin was scorched, and death was never like this moment. , so close to him.

At that time, he doubted, could he really survive such a fire?Even if he survives, there are still chaos raging, can he really escape?

How did Jia Hu do it at that time?In Tu Youhao's mind, the calm smile on Jia Hu's young face appeared in his mind: "For our life, we have to fight hard, right? Are you willing to wait like this?"

Naturally, not reconciled!

Resisting his uncomfortable reaction, Tu Youhao wrapped the quilt around his body, picked up the teapot in the room, and poured it on the two hidden guards, motioning them to lift up the stool to protect their heads, so as not to prevent things from falling from the roof. The flames splashed on their bodies, and the three of them rushed out of the house together and went downstairs quickly.

The house that Tu Youhao lives in is the best small building in the inn. It is a two-story building. The second floor is the bedroom and study room. Jumping down, not to mention the high floor, the dark guard is weak at the moment, and I am afraid that it will be dangerous to jump off the building with Tu Youhao. There are many flowers planted on the side of the downstairs alone, and they are all on fire at the moment. Jumping down is like going into the flames Jump.

The only way is to go out from the first floor.

The smoke from the fire was getting heavier and heavier, choking into the nose, and even breathing was hard.Tu Youhao's head was heavy and heavy, his feet were weak, and his eyes began to blur.

Could it be that he was about to die here?

Tu Youhao bit his lower lip hard, the pain made his mind clear for a moment.No, he can't just die here like this, he hasn't fulfilled his wish yet, he still has so many things to say to Jia Hu...

A part of the stairs was burned, and the dark guard gritted his teeth and jumped onto the burning wooden plank, letting Tu Youhao step on his body and shouting, "Your Highness, go!"

Tu Youhao looked at the way the hidden guard gritted his teeth and endured the pain from being burned, and swore in his heart that he would not let anyone do something wrong in it this time!

"Your Highness! Your Highness?"

The secret guard's exclamation sounded, and Tu Youhao's eyes lit up, "Come here quickly, come save people!"