The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 771 A Ten-Mile Farewell

As mentioned earlier, the Lantern Festival is the most important festival in the Great Jin Dynasty, one of the manifestations of which is the exceptionally long holiday, lasting from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the twentieth day of the first lunar month, a full twenty days off, which is quite extravagant.

On the 21st day of the first lunar month, the officials finally ended their longest holiday after the New Year and began to return to work like oxen and horses. Well, although the dynasties are different, oxen and horses are still oxen and horses. Don't be fooled by the glamorous appearance of the court officials. Getting up at three or four in the morning to prepare for the morning court is indeed quite miserable. Moreover, they only get one day off every ten days, which is comparable to the 996 work schedule.

On the first morning court session after the New Year, a minor disturbance occurred. The reason was that Jia Huan, the rising star in the political arena, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Marquis of Dingyuan, submitted a memorial impeaching the emperor. The memorial, which was over a thousand words long, was sharp and pointed, directly targeting the powerful father-in-law of the emperor, Tian Hongyu!

Tsk tsk, this is going to be a good show. One is the Marquis of Dingyuan, who has just wiped out hundreds of thousands of rebels in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces and is riding high. The other is the Earl of Anle, the father of Consort Tian, ​​who is the only favorite in the harem. Both are tough guys. It's like Mars colliding with Earth!

It is said that Tian Hongyu's actions had long aroused public indignation, and in recent years, there have been quite a few officials who have impeached him. However, Emperor Qiansheng was so infatuated with Consort Tian that he turned a blind eye to the Tian family's bad behavior and ignored the impeachment memorials from the ministers. He even allowed the Tian family to retaliate against the impeachers. Over time, no one dared to impeach the Tian family anymore.

However, the anger of the censors towards the Tian family did not disappear; on the contrary, it continued to accumulate. At this time, Jia Huan stood up to impeach Tian Hongyu, which immediately caused a great reaction. Memorials impeaching the Tian family followed suit and flew to Emperor Qiansheng's desk like snowflakes. There were even a large number of students from the Imperial Academy who gathered outside the Meridian Gate to petition and call for severe punishment of the Tian family. It can be said that when one voice is raised, many people respond.

Faced with this surging wave of public opinion, even Emperor Qiansheng could no longer pretend to be blind. Tian Hongyu himself also realized that things were not going well, and he scrambled to find Shi Dayong for help. He also sent his wife to the palace crying to beg his daughter, Consort Tian, ​​for help.

The reason why Jia Huan's impeachment caused such a great stir was not only because the Tian family had committed many unjust acts, but also because of Jia Huan's current influence in the court. Of course, the Donglin Party also contributed to the uproar behind the scenes.

The Donglin Party was already at odds with the eunuch faction, and the Tian family had close ties with Shi Dayong, so they were naturally targets of the Donglin Party. Moreover, Consort Tian had given birth to a prince and was so favored, which undoubtedly posed a certain threat to Prince Qing.

Given this, the Donglin Party was naturally happy to secretly fan the flames, attempting to use Jia Huan and the Diecui faction to bring down the Tian family, a powerful maternal relative. After all, with Jia Huan as a shield, even if the emperor was angry, he would only use Jia Huan as a scapegoat.

Emperor Qiansheng was indeed furious, extremely furious. He had never liked Jia Huan, a clever man with the potential to become a powerful minister, but he had no choice but to rely on Jia Huan's abilities. Unfortunately, this kid was ungrateful. He was about to return to Shaanxi to take up his post, but he still caused trouble for me. It was truly outrageous. Did he really think that I couldn't do without him?

However, faced with the overwhelming public opinion and impeachments, Emperor Qiansheng could no longer remain silent. Moreover, he knew that his father-in-law had indeed caused some trouble and wanted to give him a warning. So he ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to investigate the illegal activities of the Tian family.

Hey, letting the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate the Tian family is like letting a fox investigate whether you've stolen a chicken, because the Embroidered Uniform Guard itself has been helping the Tian family to act arrogantly and do many illegal things like bullying men and women, so they're destined not to find anything.

However, in order to quell public anger and public opinion, Emperor Qiansheng ultimately dealt with the matter by punishing Tian Hongyu with a two-year salary deduction for a few minor issues.

The officials were naturally extremely dissatisfied and continued to bombard the emperor with memorials. This time, however, Emperor Qiansheng ignored them and kept all the memorials in the palace without issuing them. In any case, he had already dealt with them, so they could do whatever they wanted!
As the instigator of this incident, Jia Huan was also ordered by Emperor Qiansheng to leave the capital and return to Shaanxi immediately, on the grounds that Zhang Xianzhong's former subordinates (his four adopted sons) continued to cause trouble in the Hanzhong Prefecture area.

As a result, Lord Jia's remaining four-day vacation was also ruined, let alone taking another three months of leave, which was simply wishful thinking.

On the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month, Jia Huan packed his bags and left the capital ahead of schedule. Baochai shed tears of reluctance, while Daiyu cried so hard she almost fainted. The night before his departure, Old Master Zheng summoned Jia Huan to his study and gave him a severe dressing-down: "You wretched child! I warned you long ago not to provoke the Tian family. Now look what's happened! You've not only offended Consort Tian, ​​but also the Emperor. Although things aren't bad now, you rebellious son will suffer the consequences later."

Jia Huan simply laughed it off. With his father's mediocre political mind, how could he possibly understand the purpose of his actions? Being afraid of everything, he was destined to never achieve anything great.

The next morning, Jia Huan walked out of the mansion to leave the capital and found that the gate was full of scholars. About half of them were students from Diecui Academy, and the other half were scholars who had come to see him off. They had all come spontaneously to see Jia Huan off.

Clearly, Jia Huan's act of leading the impeachment of the Tian family, a powerful maternal relative, while offending both the Tian family and Emperor Qiansheng, also brought him immense prestige. Prestige, though invisible and intangible, possesses an unparalleled power of influence, especially in crucial moments.

Although Jia Huan was a civil official, he was ennobled through military merit. His influence in the army goes without saying, but his reputation and influence in literary circles were still somewhat lacking. This time, his leading the impeachment of the "hard-to-crack" Tian family undoubtedly greatly increased his popularity among the upright literati, earning him a good reputation for being upright, fearless of power, and daring to speak frankly.

As the saying goes, starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's integrity is a big one. In the minds of true literati, reputation and integrity are more important than life itself!
"It's freezing cold, everyone please go back. Don't linger here. What merit do I, Jia Huan, have to deserve this?" Jia Huan said, clasping his hands in greeting as he stood on the steps in front of the door.

"Lord Jia is too modest. Compared to what Lord Jia has done, what is a little bit of cold for us?"

"Indeed, indeed. Although Lord Jia's impeachment of the Tian family did not yield the desired results, it has taught the Tian family a lesson and dealt a blow to Tian Hongyu's arrogance. He will surely restrain himself in the future. We should thank Lord Jia on behalf of the people who have suffered greatly at the hands of the Tian family."

"I have heard that Shaanxi has abolished the mining and tax supervision. This is all thanks to Lord Jia's immeasurable merit. Lord Jia is upright, selfless, and fearless of powerful figures. He is truly a role model for us scholars."

"What you say is absolutely right, brother. Lord Jia is about to take up his post less than a month after his marriage. It is a pity that we scholars are of little importance and cannot help Lord Jia. All we can do is accompany him for ten miles to express our heartfelt wishes. Do you all agree?"

"Indeed, indeed! I would like to go with you, brother!"

Unable to refuse, Jia Huan could only head towards the city gate surrounded by hundreds of scholars. The scholars indeed escorted him for ten miles outside the city, and finally dispersed after watching Jia Huan and his personal guards ride westward.

Now, Tian Hongyu survived the ordeal. Although he did not suffer any major losses, he was quite frightened as a result. From then on, he indeed became much more restrained, but he also hated Jia Huan to the bone. In particular, when he learned that hundreds of scholars had escorted Jia Huan away from the capital, he was even more furious. However, the Jia family was clearly not a soft persimmon that Tian Hongyu could easily manipulate.

First, Jia Huan is a marquis with military power and countless arrogant and fierce generals under his command, making him someone no one dares to easily provoke. Second, although Consort Jia is currently out of favor, she still has a prince and thus wields considerable influence over the emperor. Third, Jia Huan is on good terms with the Prince of Min and also has the support of the Diecui Sect. Therefore, Tian Hongyu would have to think twice before seeking revenge against Jia Huan, and he could only swallow his anger for the time being.

(End of this chapter)