King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 827 Family Affairs, National Affairs, and World Affairs [Final Chapter]

Zhu Jinghong finished reading the memorial and then he sighed.

"Transfer it to the cabinet and let them discuss it!" Zhu Jinghong ordered.

Once the affairs of the Xue and Lin families are confirmed, he will severely punish them, let alone Jia Yucun.

The next day, the cabinet issued a draft opinion, ordering Jia Yucun to be suspended from his post and stay at home pending investigation.

When the news reached the Jia family, Jia Yucun knew that he was finished, even though it was only in the investigation stage.

"Master, why don't you submit a petition to defend yourself?" Jiao Xing looked worried.

"It is time to file a petition, but not to defend myself, but to plead guilty and accept punishment!"

Jia Yucun knew what kind of person he was, and he knew even better what kind of person the emperor was, so he did not dare to have any extravagant hopes for safety.

Sighing, Jia Yucun continued, "I hope Your Majesty can remember our old friendship and not kill them all!"

In the past half month or so, so many unexpected changes have occurred that even though Jia Yucun has been in the officialdom for a long time, he still feels overwhelmed and unable to cope.

After all, he was a subject, and his position was not high enough. He could not see through the puzzle quickly and could only respond passively in confusion.

Now that the result has arrived, it is a burden that he cannot bear.

Jia Yucun is indeed a capable person. Although he did not defend himself in the memorial of apology, he only talked about his merits and hard work.

Objectively speaking, he did work like a slave for Zhu Jinghong, and had to take the blame for many of the impeachment cases.

Only five days later, Jia Yucun received an imperial edict, dismissing him from his post as Minister of Rites, and then a formal investigation was launched against him.

Only a few days later, Jia Yucun was taken to the Ministry of Justice and his interrogation officially began.

This situation frightened the Minister of Revenue He Gujin so much that he retired on the grounds of old age and frailty.

He Gujin is certainly not clean either, and the current Minister of Personnel Zheng Xianlin is the same, but these people are his die-hard supporters after all, and he also has to consider the adverse effects of abandoning them after they have done their job.

Therefore, when He Gujin retired from his post, Zhu Jinghong agreed, which gave him a good end.

At the end of April, with the intervention of Zhu Jinghong, the verdict of Jia Yucun's case was announced.

Because he made mistakes in employing people and suffered losses, his property was confiscated and his entire family was exiled to the north of Liaodong to open up wasteland.

It was also at the end of April that the first merger case in Jiangbei came to a conclusion. Li Ziheng verified the various crimes of the Chen family and sentenced them to confiscation of all their property and exile of the entire family.

Large-scale exile is an important means of developing newly occupied land.

These big families have hundreds of people at a time, and they are more troublesome than ordinary people, so Zhu Jinghong also likes to exile these people.

Also at the end of April, the investigation into the Xue and Lin families yielded results, showing that they had indeed bought a lot of land in Sizhou.

In places like Jiangbei and Jinling, some people have been making a fuss about this matter, spreading stories about forced buying and selling between the Xue and Lin families.

According to the investigation by the Northern Pacification Office and the Censorate, the Xue and Lin families did not engage in forced buying or selling, so there was no need to take any action against them.

But Baochai still issued an imperial decree, admonishing the Xue and Lin families, as royal relatives, that they should not compete with the common people for profit, and ordered them to return the purchased land to the people.

Handled in this way, the matter was resolved smoothly, and the royal family was not dragged into disgrace.

In addition to associating themselves with the Xue and Lin families, local gentry also focused on attacking Li Ziheng. Impeachment memorials against him came one after another, but Zhu Jinghong withstood the pressure.

On the side of the Censorate, Wang Pei'an had already drafted a charter and was preparing to conduct mergers and inspections in Henan, Hebei and Shandong.

In early June, the Ministry of Revenue officially issued a document ordering local governments to check land registration and work with gentry to correct erroneous registrations. This was considered an opportunity for local governments to make corrections on their own initiative.

Li Ziheng's strict investigation and the Censorate's "covetous" attitude, coupled with the Chen family's fate as a typical example, did make the big landlords in various places feel the pressure.

In fact, the so-called annexation was mainly related to large landowners because they had the ability to ignore the law in local areas.

In any case, under pressure from all sides, "wrong registrations" were corrected in various places one after another, and many people whose land was taken away were freed.

Of course, there will always be some stubborn people who refuse to return the land, and then we can only wait for the Censorate to investigate.

Although there is no way to ensure that all of them are found, as long as they are being checked, it will create pressure and have the effect of curbing mergers.

In fact, many things are difficult to achieve overnight. What is needed is enough patience, continuous attention and continuous hard work.

For Zhu Jinghong, there are many such things.

Suppress annexation, appoint officials, plan the country, open up new territories, build the navy, develop technology, and reform the local people...

Things can't be rushed, so he is not in a hurry and just lives his life in peace.

In the autumn of the fifth year of Qiansheng, Zhu Jinghong lived in the palace again, as in previous years.

Living in the palace for too long became boring, so he moved to the temporary palace in July, intending to stay there until the end of the year before returning.

August 15th, Mid-Autumn Festival.

In the palace, his daily life was also very regular. He usually read memorials or met with civil and military officials in the morning, and had free time in the afternoon.

But today is Mid-Autumn Festival, and Zhu Jinghong planned to have a good rest, so he put government affairs aside.

Of course, if it is an important matter, someone will naturally hand it to him, and it doesn’t matter if ordinary chores are put aside.

But even so, he still read sixteen copies of the chapter that day and wrote the word "approved" or "allowed" on the cabinet's draft.

After reviewing the memorial, Zhu Jinghong came to the garden.

In fact, it is not accurate to say that it is a garden, because the entire palace is a garden built on the mountain, with only a few halls used for meetings.

The Mid-Autumn Festival should be celebrated with great fanfare. Of course, Zhu Jinghong doesn’t need to worry about these things, as someone will take care of everything.

The place where we are having the banquet today is called Feiliujian. It got this name because there is a stream flowing down the mountain, which is nearly four or five meters deep from top to bottom.

There is a large garden at the foot of the mountain stream, where various exotic flowers and plants are planted, and pavilions and towers are dotted around.

Palace maids and eunuchs were coming and going delivering various things. Although the scene was busy, it was also orderly.

When they saw the emperor coming, the palace maids and eunuchs they met along the way knelt down and paid homage to him from a distance.

Because he was attending a family dinner, Zhu Jinghong was wearing casual clothes today and looked more easy-going.

On a balcony in the garden, the concubines were seated according to their titles, chatting lively in groups of three or four.

And under the balcony, there were two little girls chasing and playing. They were Zhu Jinghong’s two older daughters, Zhu Xianrou, born to Yinglian, and Zhu Xianjing, born to Keqing.

The former is eleven years old, and the latter is over nine years old.

As he walked towards the balcony, Zhu Jinghong asked, "Why don't I see Zhen'er and the others?"

The accompanying eunuch Yu Hai replied, "Your Majesty, the princes are probably still in school. It is said that... their studies have not been good in the past few days, so the Empress ordered all the princes to go to school to review for an hour!"

Compared with daughters, the requirements for princes are obviously higher.

"I see they are having a lot of fun in the palace these days. We should keep a closer eye on them!"

While Zhu Jinghong was muttering, the two princesses noticed their father appear and ran towards him.

"Dad~" "Daddy~"

Zhu Jinghong was unhappy when he mentioned his son, but when he saw his daughter jogging towards him, he smiled again.

"Meet Father!"

Although they were two little girls, they saluted very properly at this moment, reflecting the upbringing of a royal family.

But this so-called self-cultivation came to an abrupt end after the ceremony, and the younger Zhu Xianjing immediately started to complain.

"Dad...my elder sister stole my wreath!" Zhu Xianjing pointed at Zhu Xianrou, her face full of grievance.

Zhu Jinghong had just noticed the wreath in Zhu Xianrou's hand. It was indeed very beautifully woven.

But he didn't expect that the two girls were chasing him for this.

Zhu Xianrou immediately said, "Who said it's yours? This is the wreath I made!"

Zhu Xianjing became more and more angry. She ran to her father and grabbed his clothes. She looked at her elder sister and said, "But I picked those willow branches and flowers myself!"

"Oh?" Zhu Jinghong became the judge and wanted to seek justice for the two sisters.

Zhu Xianrou was not in a hurry and said slowly, "But I made it up, so it should be mine!"

"I also contributed!" Zhu Xianjing immediately defended.

After saying that, Zhu Xianjing jumped up and cried, "Dad...my elder sister bullied me!"

Zhu Jinghong did not rush to deal with it, but asked: "Rou'er, Jing'er said that she also made contributions. It would be unfair to her if you monopolize it. How should this matter be handled?"

Zhu Xianrou felt a little aggrieved, but she still said generously: "If she insists, I can give my daughter to her!"

Zhu Xianjing took the wreath from her elder sister and then said, "I have a share in it!"

"Ok?"

Zhu Jinghong looked at Zhu Xianjing, wanting his second daughter to say thank you.

Zhu Xianjing has a very good relationship with her eldest sister, and such fights happen frequently between them, so what happened just now did not affect their relationship.

At her father's signal, Zhu Xianjing turned to her elder sister with a wreath in her hand and smiled: "Thank you, elder sister!"

"That's better!" Zhu Xianrou pouted.

Then Zhu Xianjing turned around, raised the wreath with one hand, and signaled her father to come down with the other hand.

Zhu Jinghong didn't understand, but he still bent down slightly, and then Zhu Xianjing put the wreath on her father's head.

This situation surprised Zhu Jinghong.

Squatting on the spot, Zhu Jinghong held his daughter's shoulders and asked softly, "Why do you want to give something you worked so hard for to your father?"

Before Zhu Xianjing could reply, Zhu Xianrou, who was behind her, said, "Daddy, we made this for you. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival... This is a gift from us sisters to you!"

Although it was just something woven with willow branches and wild flowers, Zhu Jinghong was deeply moved, because it was a gift made for him by his youngest daughters.

He was an iron-blooded emperor, and wearing such a thing would affect his image, but at this moment Zhu Jinghong was reluctant to take it off.

So, in full view of everyone, he held one of his daughters' hands in each and walked towards the balcony with great satisfaction.

While they were arguing, the concubines on the balcony received the news and were now heading out to greet them, led by Baochai.

Looking at the concubines who were coming down the stairs, Zhu Jinghong said loudly: "No need to come down. We won't talk about this at the family dinner today. Go back!"

Baochai then stopped and turned to the crowd and said, "Since your majesty has spoken, let's all go back!"

All the concubines expressed their gratitude and returned to the tower one by one. Zhu Jinghong then went up the stairs with his two daughters.

When Zhu Jinghong arrived on the balcony and all the concubines came to pay their respects to him, the younger princes and princesses also came out to pay their respects to him.

Zhu Jinghong personally questioned all these children, and he took a seat under the guidance of Baochai.

At this time, Daiyu asked with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are wearing a flower crown, which makes you look like a famous scholar in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Could it be that Your Majesty has changed his character?"

Zhu Jinghong was wearing a flower crown on his head. In fact, the concubines had already noticed it and were deeply surprised by it.

It's just that because he is the emperor, it's not appropriate to comment.

Daiyu had just finished speaking when Xiangyun spoke up: "The literati of the Wei and Jin dynasties enjoyed wine in the form of wine flowing down the stream, and our emperor dominated the desert. How can these two be connected together, unless..."

"Unless what?" Baoqin asked directly.

Just as Xiangyun was about to speak, Baochai reminded her: "Xiangyun, you have to say something nice!"

Xiangyun sighed and said, "The Queen's words make me dare not say anything!"

While they were chatting and laughing, the two little maids who were sitting a little further back, Keqing and Yinglian, had already whispered the situation, with an air of seeking credit.

"How could your father wear this!"

"Jing'er, don't mess around anymore!"

Keqing and Yinglian were each teaching their daughters in low voices so that no one else could hear them. They had always been so cautious.

At this moment, Xiangyun, under the instigation of everyone, finally uttered the four words "affecting the tastes and tastes", which made Baochai, Daiyu and others laugh.

Tanchun and her two sisters were also laughing. Yingchun really found it funny, Tanchun was smiling on the surface but not in her heart, and Xichun was just laughing for show.

In addition to these old people in the palace, the low-ranking nobles who were selected into the palace in the past few years have become unimportant background figures.

But who would be willing to be a background figure forever? There is still a lot of time to go, and all kinds of messy things such as competing for beauty will test the Empress's ability to manage the family.

After some joking and laughing, Zhen Qin asked where the wreath came from.

Zhu Jinghong beckoned his two daughters to come over, and then said, "I just solved a case outside..."

Out of everyone's curiosity, Zhu Jinghong told them about the dispute between the two sisters and also explained the origin of the wreath.

After hearing this, all the concubines finally understood why the emperor wore this thing for the first time. It turned out that it was made by his daughter and she regarded it as a treasure.

At this time, Daiyu said: "Your Majesty is in charge of the livelihood of the people of the world. Even when you are busy with state affairs, you still have to take time out to judge cases for Rouer and Jinger. This is really a deep love for his daughters that is admirable!"

Before Zhu Jinghong could reply, Baochai beside him smiled and said, "Your Majesty is wise and enlightened... You are the father of all nations and millions of people in the world. How can you not know about family affairs, national affairs and world affairs? How can you not care about them!"

Hearing Baochai's words, Zhu Jinghong thought of what had happened in recent years. He did not dare to have any extravagant hope for the emperor's "holy and wise" words.

Sitting at the head of the table, Zhu Jinghong looked calm and said with a slightly sighed tone: "I don't know everything about family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs!"

Although they were joking just now, the laughter in the hall subsided a lot when they saw the emperor's serious expression.

Just at this moment, there was a noise outside, and upon careful listening, there was an argument.

Zhu Jinghong knew that it was his son who had come, and it was obvious that he would have to cause trouble for him again today.

(End of this chapter)