Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Ningrong Street, Rongguo Mansion.

The sun is bright, the shadows of eaves are faint, the flowers and trees are swaying, the waterside pavilions and rocks are leisurely and elegant, and the pavilions and towers are magnificent and beautiful.

The Rongguo Mansion is a nearly 100-year-old imperial mansion that has been maintained and repaired by several generations and is truly magnificent.

It’s just that the world is full of ups and downs, and victory and defeat are common sense. No matter how magnificent and brilliant something is, there will always be a day when it will decline.

Jia Cong and Daiyu left Rongqing Hall, passed through the small gate between the two mansions, and returned to the East Mansion together, with Xichun jumping and skipping beside them.

Daiyu said, "Why did Third Brother just say that Baoyu and Huan brothers could inherit the family business? It was fine with Grandmother, but Second Aunt was very unhappy when she heard it."

Jia Cong replied: "People often indulge in vanity, avoid the important and focus on the trivial, and always think positively. Now that the eldest branch is in decline, the lady always talks about inheriting the title. I am afraid that she may not be able to get what she wants."

Although Daiyu is a young girl in the boudoir and her mind and experience are not as profound as Mrs. Wang, she is a smart and quick-witted person after all. As soon as she heard what Jia Cong said, she immediately thought of something.

He asked, "What did Third Brother mean by what he said in the hall just now? Did he mean that Baoyu would not be able to inherit Second Uncle's title and family business in the future?"

The two walked across a stone bridge in the garden and sat on a stone bench beside the bridge. Xichun picked willow branches and wild flowers by the water and squatted aside to make a flower crown for fun.

Jia Cong said: "The emperor abdicated in his prime, and Your Majesty was able to ascend the throne. Therefore, Your Majesty is destined to be a king who puts filial piety first.

That time, Baoyu spoke without thinking in the inner chamber and insulted the retired emperor. Within a few days, the clan affairs office found out the private conversations in the inner chamber of the Jia family and even issued a special document to reprimand them.

This can only be done with the permission of His Majesty.

In order to maintain the royal family's filial piety and dignity, His Majesty will most likely not allow Baoyu to become the crown prince, otherwise how can the father and son and the king save face.

The old lady and the mistress doted on Baoyu too much, and the first wife's family fell into decline. They felt that it was only natural for Baoyu to inherit the family business in the future.

When doting on a child, they would always block his view of what was happening. To them, the incident at the clan house that day was nothing more than Baoyu being ignorant and being punished by the master. However, they never delved into the root cause.

The decline of the first branch of the Jia family is a misfortune for the family, but Madam is speaking so confidently about inheriting the title in front of everyone in the family, while my second sister-in-law and I are still in the hall. This is really disrespectful to everyone's reputation."

Jia Cong sneered and said, "I just couldn't stand it, so I said that Baoyu and Huan'er could both inherit the family business.

But I won’t tell them the inner thoughts in front of them, because it will not only make me look bad, but also make them think I don’t like my brothers, which is not worth it.”

Daiyu glanced at Jia Cong and said with a smile, "It is only because of Third Brother's ability that he has obtained the title. Otherwise, if Second Brother Lian was in trouble, Third Brother would be the most legitimate."

Jia Cong said: "It is better to keep the title yourself. Why bother to get involved in the hot potato of the Western Mansion? If so, there will definitely be a lot of trouble. It will not be as comfortable as it is now."

……

Jia Cong submitted a memorial to Emperor Jia Zhao to plead for Jia Lian. More than ten days passed and the memorial entered the palace, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea and there has been no response.

Wang Xifeng was worried about this matter day and night, and would ask Ping'er to come to the East Palace to ask for news every other day. After five or six days, even Jia's grandmother began to pay attention to this matter, after all, it involved the life of her eldest grandson.

Li Wan and Tanchun take care of the housework in the West Mansion. When they encounter difficult problems, they will come to Wang Xifeng to discuss them.

Li Wan has always had a crush on Ping'er, perhaps because she admires Wang Xifeng for the way she arranged for Ping'er, or because she knows the pain of losing her husband and feels some sympathy for Wang Xifeng's situation, so she always says a few words of comfort every time she comes.

Among the women in the West Mansion, probably only Mrs. Wang did not care about Jia Lian's affairs. Her mind was all on her son Baoyu.

Baoyu was badly injured last time by Jia Zheng, but after a month of care, he was able to walk with difficulty, which made both Grandmother Jia and Mrs. Wang very happy.

Mrs. Wang even instructed the maids such as Xiren to serve well, because the New Year was coming to an end and there would surely be many old relatives and friends coming and going.

Mrs. Wang felt that this year was different from previous years. Baoyu could not idle away in the backyard like before. He had to learn how to socialize with the elderly relatives and nobles in the family. After all, Baoyu would be the one to inherit the country's business in the future.

Grandmother Jia rarely expressed approval of Mrs. Wang's ambitious thoughts. Although Baoyu didn't like to listen to these worldly topics, Grandmother Jia still tried to coax him several times by his bedside.

……

During these ten days, not to mention the worries in Wang Xifeng's heart and Mrs. Wang's infinite longing, the situation outside the Jia Mansion was also quite turbulent, almost like a storm.

Ever since Qian Shaoyang, the general of Datong, returned to the capital to report on his work under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Originally, the Datong general still had some hope in his heart, but he did not expect that as soon as he arrived in Shenjing, he was ordered by the palace to be removed from his military post and thrown into the Jinyiwei prison for interrogation.

I don't know whether General Qian knew he could not escape the blame or he just couldn't stand the torture of the Imperial Guards.

He was imprisoned for only a few days before he confessed to all his crimes, including sheltering the Datong Sun family, colluding with them, and accepting huge bribes of gold and silver.

In the end, he also confessed another thing. When Gu Yankui, the governor of nine provinces, was inspecting the nine borders, he found a deputy general from Datong who was involved in corruption and fraud in the army, and arrested him and put him in prison.

But after this deputy general was imprisoned, he died mysteriously in prison less than a day later, before he could be interrogated.

According to Qian Shaoyang's confession, the deputy general's fraud was related to Sun Zhanying's illegal trafficking of salt and iron. Sun Zhanying was worried that the matter would be exposed, so he used means to silence him overnight.

Qian Shaoyang, who was the general of Datong at the time, not only knew about this, but also covered it up and facilitated it. Otherwise, with Sun Zhanying's power in the army, he would not have been able to kill people so easily in the border prison.

Because as long as the deputy general confessed, not only would Sun Zhanying be in great trouble, but Qian Shaoyang would also be implicated.

Regarding this incident, Jinyiwei commander Xu Kun realized Qian Shaoyang's value and investigated Qian Shaoyang more thoroughly.

He was like a hyena that smelled blood. He used all kinds of means without hesitation and tortured Qian Shaoyang beyond recognition.

As the Jinyiwei brutally exploited Qian Shaoyang, the frauds and crimes hidden in the Datong Army were revealed one after another to a horrifying degree.

In the past seven or eight days, Xu Kun, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, has been going in and out of the palace almost every day to report Qian Shaoyang's latest confession during the interrogation to Emperor Jiazhao.

Qianyang Palace, the great hall representing the supreme authority of the Great Zhou, seems to be shrouded in gloomy clouds these days.

In the past five or six days, every day a large number of Jinyiwei red-clothed cavalrymen, carrying yellow silk packages, galloped through the city on horseback, and rushed northward through the Hongde Gate of Shenjing.

……

As time enters November, the autumn in Shenjing City is coming to an end, and all things are bleak and withered.

Jia Cong reviewed his exam preparations every day as usual, and would go to Luocang Mountain from time to time to receive instruction from his mentor Liu Jing'an. The master and apprentice often discussed and analyzed the current situation, as the saying goes, "knowledge of worldly affairs leads to learning."

When Jia Cong submitted a petition for Jia Lian to the palace for ten days without any response, even he felt uneasy.

After some thought, he asked someone to invite Liu Shizhen, deputy director of the Firearms Bureau, to his house for a talk.

After the two met, Jia Cong asked about the development progress of the breech-loading rifle.

Although Jia Cong resigned from the post of Director of the Firearms Bureau due to mourning, the Firearms Bureau is currently being served by Deputy Director Liu Shizhen.

But Liu Shizhen did not have this reason and did not feel the slightest bit slack towards this superior who was much younger than himself.

Liu Shizhen was also a successful Jinshi, and was also keen on the method of forging firearms. Jia Cong had brilliant and unparalleled talent both in literary talent and the art of making firearms.

Liu Shizhen had to admire him prostrate himself. He knew that all the shocking things Jia Cong had done were heights that he could never reach in his entire life.

Therefore, in front of this young man who was much younger than him, he regarded himself as a disciple and a student.

When Jia Cong asked about the firearms workshop's progress in developing the breech-loading rifle, it was almost the same as he had expected.

With the current firearms manufacturing technology of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there is still a long way to go before we can start manufacturing breech-loading rifles.

It was the appearance of myself as a latecomer that, like cheating, has accelerated the progress, making it almost inevitable that we would encounter difficulties in the actual research and development process.

After Liu Shizhen left, Jia Cong made some minor modifications to the original breech-loading rifle drawings.

He changed the original copper cartridge case to a paper-wrapped cartridge case, and changed the primer ignition, which was extremely difficult to make, to a needle-fired primer ignition, which greatly reduced the difficulty of making a breech-loading rifle.

The reason why he improved the breech-loading rifle drawings that he had previously displayed at this time was also a step that he had reserved in advance.

He wrote to Emperor Jia Zhao to plead for Jia Lian, but over the past ten days, there was no response from the palace. It must be that Emperor Jia Zhao had been weighing the matter for some reason. At this time, Jia Cong also heard the news that Datong commander Sun Zhanying surrendered to the enemy and Datong general Qian Shaoyang was arrested and imprisoned.

The occurrence of these events is closely related to Jia Lian's involvement in the salt and iron trade in Datong, and is also a kind of extension and expansion of Jia Lian's affairs.

Jia Cong could not predict that when things developed beyond the normal range, Jia Lian would be dragged into the worsening situation and be severely punished by the court, thus completely losing the chance of survival.

As for whether the East and West mansions of the Jia family, including himself, will suffer greater impact and damage under this unclear situation, there are unpredictable risks.

In such an unclear situation, if you want to be invincible, you must increase your voice and weight in the emperor's heart.

This simplified and improved blueprint of the breech-loading rifle was what he had planned in advance, a bargaining chip to gain more initiative when the situation changed drastically.

With his understanding of current firearms manufacturing techniques, how could he not know that the first version of the breech-loading rifle blueprint, depicting an all-copper primer bullet, would be beyond the reach of the current manufacturing level.

……

At the same time that Jia Cong was modifying and simplifying the blueprint of the breech-loading rifle, news began to spread in the city that Qian Shaoyang, the general of Datong, was convicted and confessed to the crime of border army fraud in the imperial prison.

More than 30 middle and low-ranking officers of the Datong border army were implicated and convicted.

The imperial court has sent a large number of Jinyiwei and Tiqi to the north to convey the order for interrogation.

Among these convicted Datong officers were also the descendants of the Shenjing hereditary heroes, four princes who had been raised in the army...

The court’s method of conferring titles and honors states that meritorious service is precious and that no one can be awarded without military merit.

For the families of the great Zhou dynasty's military commanders, although there were no strict regulations for the inheritance of titles by their sons, they must have proof of military merit.

However, if a family with military honors wants to continue its wealth and prosperity, it must maintain its status in the army, and the training of legitimate children is of utmost importance.

Therefore, each military family would send their legitimate sons to the army for training, commonly known as raising military supplies.

One is to cultivate the military talents of the children, and the other is to accumulate qualifications to make it more natural to inherit the title.

Jia Rong and Jia Lian, from the Ning and Rong mansions of the Jia family, were not arranged by their families when they were over the age of dancing elephants. They joined the army and raised military supplies, which was an extremely decadent and unmotivated act. People like Baoyu are even less worth mentioning.

The reason may be that the children of the Jia family are too spoiled and lazy.

It is also possible that Jia Daishan and Jia Daihua had experienced the Wu Wang Rebellion, the ascension of the new emperor and other misfortunes, and were wary, so they deliberately let their sons either give up the military or take the imperial examinations to pursue literature, in order to protect themselves...

……

The four descendants of the nobles involved in the case were arranged to join the Datong border army and raise military supplies through their family connections.

This major case of illegal salt and iron trafficking in Datong started with the incident involving Jia Lian, and later involved three noble families: Xie Jing, a second-class man and guerrilla of the Beijing Camp, Qi Jianhui, a second-class man, and Qiu Liang, the commander of the Five Cities Army.

Now, due to the confession of Qian Shaoyang, the direct descendants of the four noble families in Shenjing are involved again.

From beginning to end, eight wealthy and powerful families in the capital have been involved in this major case, which sounds very sensational.

When this news spread, the entire capital was shocked, and the noble families were even more panic-stricken, because the noble children who raised military funds in the nine border areas were not just those four families.

The sons of nobles who were engaged in military service in the Nine Frontiers tended to stick together as they were far away in the frontier and weak in power.

Therefore, no one knows whether the damned Qian Shaoyang in the Jinyiwei prison will expose their children.

……

Just as the major wealthy families in the Shenjing City were either harboring ulterior motives, or watching from the sidelines, or running around to help their children escape from danger, it was a chaotic scene with one family taking over and another taking their place.

At that time, a shocking piece of news was vaguely heard from the Jinyiwei Yamen.

The three people who were first involved in the salt and iron trafficking case were the second-class man Xie Jing, the second-class man Qi Jianhui, and the Five Cities Army Captain Qiu Liang. They were all imprisoned after Jia Lian from Rongguo Mansion was involved in the incident, and they confessed to the crime.

After the news spread, the families of these three people could not help but hate the Rongguo Mansion to the core. Because of Jia Lian's betrayal, the titles of the three family heads were stripped, and now they are still in prison with their lives in danger.

After this blow, these three noble families will probably never recover, and they will inevitably be filled with deep hatred towards Jia Lian and the Rongguo Mansion.

Related news also continued to ferment in the market, saying that Jia Lian not only confessed the identities of the three noble families, but was also the root cause of the whole incident.

It was because Jia Lian and Sun Zhanying's three sons were involved in the sale of salt and iron that the incident was discovered and he was imprisoned, which led to Sun Zhanying's escape and surrender to the enemy, which implicated Datong General Qian Shaoyang and convicted him.

After Qian Shaoyang was thrown into the imperial prison, he could not bear the torture any longer, so he accused more than 30 officers involved in the case in the Datong border army, including four children of noble families who provided military supplies...

As the saying goes, good things do not go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles away.

Jia Lian, the eldest son of the Rongguo Mansion, is the root cause of the Datong Salt and Iron Case and the culprit behind the misfortune of the eight noble families involved in the case.

This explosive news spread like wildfire in every corner of the capital as if it had wings.

The family that was once the pillar of the four kings and eight dukes, a luxurious and majestic family, was reviled and abandoned by the nobles in the capital almost overnight. It is no exaggeration to say that its reputation was ruined.

Naturally, the news also reached Rongguo Mansion. When Lady Jia, Jia Zheng, Mrs. Wang and others learned about it, they were frightened day and night.

At this moment, it happened that Madam Xie of the Shanguo Mansion was celebrating her 65th birthday, and nobles from all over the capital came to the mansion to celebrate her birthday.

Duke Shan and Duke Rong were both members of the Eight Dukes. Lady Jia and Madam Xie had visited them several times, and Duke Shan was always courteous and considerate when Lady Jia celebrated her birthday in the past.

This time, it was Mrs. Xie's 65th birthday, so the Rongguo Mansion naturally had to present a gift. In order to show the closeness of the two families, Grandmother Jia also asked Jia Zheng to come to the house in person to celebrate the birthday.

As a result, when Jia Zheng went to Shanguogong to pay his respects, he was received with unprecedented coldness. Not only did he not see Madam Xie, but no one from the Xie family came out to receive Jia Zheng.

The person who finally came to receive Jia Zheng was just a smiling second steward of the Duke of Shanguo. He served him a cup of fragrant tea, said a few polite words, and then sent the dignified head of the Rongguo Mansion away.

After Jia Zheng returned to Rongguo Mansion, he talked about this matter with sighs. Jia Mu, Wang Fu-ren and others were all very angry and felt extremely humiliated.

Finally, Lin Zhixiao went outside to inquire about the reason, and only then did he know that Madam Xie came from a noble family, and the second-class man Xie Jing was Madam Xie's only nephew from her natal family, and he had been loved by Madam Xie since he was a child.

It is said that Xie Jing was convicted and stripped of his title. Madam Xie was heartbroken to see her family fall into decline, and therefore hated the Rongguo Mansion to the core...

Moreover, the matter went far beyond this. Several noble families had jointly submitted a memorial to Emperor Jiazhao.

Jia Lian, as the crown prince of Rong State, defied the will of the world by colluding with traitors and reselling salt and iron in violation of the ban. His crimes are extremely serious and he should be sentenced to death as a warning to others...

The Dali Temple heard the rumors outside and even strengthened the guarding of the prison where Jia Lian was imprisoned by three shifts of jailers, for fear that some nobleman would lose his mind and do something crazy.

……

Ningrong Street, Earl's Mansion.

Early in the morning that day, Yinglian entered the study and saw Jia Cong drawing at his desk. There were several drawings on the table with wet ink, on which were drawn several objects with complex lines and strange shapes.

Yinglian rarely left the Earl's Mansion, and Jia Cong seldom mentioned firearms at home, so the little girl naturally could not recognize that these pictures were the drawings of improved and simplified breech-loading rifles.

Jia Cong got up early in the morning to retouch his tracing drawings. The ink he had ground himself had already run dry. When he saw Yinglian coming into the study, he said, "Yinglian, help me grind the ink."

After hearing this, Yinglian washed the inkstone, added water and ground the ink as if she were familiar with it, but she saw Jia Cong taking out a blank memorial from the drawer.

She asked curiously, "Young Master is not an official now. Didn't you just write a memorial a few days ago? Why are you writing again now?"

In the past few days, Jia Cong had naturally heard the rumors about Jia Lian outside. He also knew that Jia Zheng was humiliated when he went to the Duke of Shan Guo's mansion to celebrate his birthday. He also knew that some nobles had reported to the emperor, seeking revenge and adding fuel to the fire.

Ten days ago he had submitted a petition to the palace to plead for Jia Lian. Now that things had come to this point, he naturally could not stay out of it.

The only way now is to use this simplified blueprint of the modified breech-loading rifle to find a glimmer of hope for the situation that has gradually reached a deadlock.

Jia Cong said: "There have been too many things to do recently, so I have to write another one. Maybe I will have to go to the palace to see the emperor again..." (End of this chapter)