Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Rongguo Mansion, Fengjie's Courtyard.

Wang Xifeng said that the Rongguo Mansion only contributed two thousand taels to Baoyu's wedding expenses.

Wu'er naturally wouldn't say anything. Now that Wang Xifeng was the housekeeper in charge, and she was saving money for the Third Master, Wu'er had no objection.

But Ping'er had been with Wang Xifeng all her life and knew her character very well. She knew that there must be another explanation for the two thousand taels of silver.

Although the Second Branch has now become a side branch, it may inevitably decline in the future.

But now the old lady is still alive, the master of the second house is the old lady's legitimate son, and Baoyu is the old lady's most beloved grandson. Just relying on these two things, the dignity of the second house can be maintained for many years.

Therefore, using two thousand taels to arrange Baoyu's marriage was definitely not enough considering the Jia family's ostentation and actual expenses.

Ping Erh said, "Madam, since you have this plan, but the old lady and the mistress don't agree, what should we do?"

Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "I expected that only two thousand taels would be allocated from the public treasury, and there would definitely be people who would be unwilling to accept it, and if they didn't say anything themselves, they would instigate the old lady to speak up.

No matter how the third brother was unpopular in the past and how Baoyu was favored, the times are different now. The two branches of the Jia family have been separated, and some rules must be established.

My third brother asked us to take care of the property in the West Mansion. If we don’t live frugally, we will end up running out of money sooner or later.

The Second Wife was also used to taking care of household chores and was most aware of the twists and turns in household expenses. Now she had to deal with another wasteful issue like Baoyu's marriage.

We should tie our pockets tightly first, so that even if someone comes to tear open a hole, it won’t be much.

According to Ping'er's suggestion to cut it down to five thousand taels according to previous example, it does make sense.

But we can ask for 5,000 taels ourselves, but the old lady and the second wife will probably think it is too little. By then, it will definitely cost 6,000 or 7,000 taels, and if we add some losses, we won’t be able to survive this year.

So I only insisted on two thousand taels. Even if there are more losses in the subsequent expenses, it would only be a few hundred taels more, which would cut off the source.

The money is just one thing, the most important thing is to use Baoyu's marriage as a warning to everyone, to make it clear that the eldest wife's family business is the eldest wife's business, and the eldest wife is the head of the family. There must be rules and no one can be careless. "

After hearing what Wang Xifeng said, Ping'er and Wu'er naturally understood the meaning. Even a blind man could see that the one who was most dissatisfied with the matter was the Second Wife of the East Courtyard.

Wang Xifeng used the incident to establish her authority and scare people off first. Even if she tried to stir up trouble in the future, she would not be able to accomplish anything because she had reservations in her heart.

Wang Xifeng laughed again and said, "I know in my heart that two thousand taels is probably not enough for Baoyu's marriage, but don't forget the old lady.

The old lady was the eldest daughter of Shangshu Ling, Old Master Shi, and she married into a first-class duke family.

I heard from the elders in my family that the old lady had a grand wedding with a wedding dress that spanned ten miles. We younger generations have never seen such a grand occasion.

All the rewards from the palace, festival gifts, and the old lady’s belongings over the years added up to more than one Rongguo Mansion.

The old lady has loved both Lin Daiyu and Baoyu all her life. Lin Daiyu is still young, and I think it will take three years for Baoyu to get married. Now Baoyu is getting married, and the old lady has to spend money to support him.

A single hair plucked out of the old lady is thicker than my waist. The small change from her treasure chests is worth more than two thousand taels, so Baoyu's marriage must be solemn.

And the second wife is the eldest daughter of our Wang family. She has a very solid background. When she went out, she brought not only the dowry but also two dowry shops. She is very confident.

The Miss Xia that she had chosen for Baoyu was the only daughter of the Guihua Xia family, an orphan family. The Xia family was rich in gold and silver, and their family background was even richer than that of Aunt Xue. Baoyu was marrying a golden Buddha.

The Second Wife had gotten such a great bargain, but she couldn't just let her son get married and then continue to suck blood from the Western Mansion. She had to put in some money herself, otherwise it would be unjustifiable.

Just do the math, Baoyu's marriage, after scraping together some money, would cost nearly ten thousand taels of silver, and he is very respectable, so he won't suffer any loss at all."

……

Ping Er couldn't help laughing when she heard Wang Xifeng's teasing words, and said, "According to what you said, grandma, I feel that it is generous of us to give two thousand taels of silver from the public treasury."

Wang Xifeng said with a smile: "Don't think I'm stingy. This is a big family, and I have to be very careful to manage it, which is not easy.

When you two take over the seal and steer the ship, every penny you make and every penny you take will belong to you men. I’m afraid you’ll be even more stingy than me…”

Wu'er and Ping'er were teased by Wang Xifeng's words and their faces turned red. They wanted to laugh but were too embarrassed to do so.

Wang Xifeng asked, "Wu'er, go back and tell your third brother about this. I will tell the old lady about this tomorrow. Who knows, the old lady will talk to your third brother and let him know what's going on.

Wu Er smiled and said, "The Third Master has handed the West Mansion over to the Second Madam to take care of. It is natural for the Second Madam to make the decision on such household affairs. Besides, if the old lady wants to look for the Third Master these days, I am afraid it will be difficult for her to meet him."

Wang Xifeng asked, "When you mentioned that, it occurred to me that since my third brother was promoted by imperial decree, I haven't seen him come to the West Mansion. He has been nowhere to be seen. What has he been busy with?"

Wu Er replied, "The Third Master has been very busy these days. He goes out early every morning and often comes back after dark. It seems that he is busy with important government affairs in the workshop outside the city..."

……

Firearms workshop in the eastern suburbs of Shenjing City.

The area within a few hundred steps of the workshop was patrolled and guarded by imperial guards with shining swords and spears. Several hills and slopes near the workshop were occupied and guarded by imperial guards in plain clothes.

In the suburbs of the city, if any traveling merchants, hunters, woodcutters or other idlers approached the workshop, they would be questioned by the soldiers.

Such scenes for several days in a row have made the residents living near the eastern outskirts of the city feel awed, and whenever they pass by, they stay away from the firearms workshop.

In the tight guard circle of the Imperial Guards, only one checkpoint was opened. Large carts loaded with goods often traveled back and forth in and out of the firearms workshop at night, avoiding the eyes and ears of others.

Occasionally, there were horse-drawn carriages carrying people, led by unknown officials, which were allowed to pass through after multiple checks and verifications, and finally entered the firearms workshop.

Emperor Jiazhao personally visited the firearms workshop to observe the test firing drills of the newly made breech-loading rifles and discussed the production of 500 breech-loading rifles, which were to be completed by the end of this year.

When this matter was confirmed, the court and the public were still shrouded in the shadow of the Spring Examination fraud case, and Emperor Jiazhao was filled with anxiety and anger.

But even so, the emperor still regarded the construction of breech-loading rifles as the most important government affairs at the moment.

After he returned to the palace from the workshop, he summoned the two chief officials of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue and asked them to select reliable and loyal officials to immediately start coordinating matters related to the construction of the breech-loading rifle.

According to the list of construction materials issued by the Firearms Workshop, the Ministry of Works mobilized all kinds of high-quality iron, wood, charcoal, molds and other materials, and transported them to the Firearms Workshop in a steady stream.

The Ministry of Revenue mobilized capable personnel to travel around the country to select skilled blacksmiths, carpenters, and pyrotechnicians, and transported them to the capital in batches.

However, after these people arrived in Shenjing, not everyone could enter the workshop. They had to be personally interrogated and assessed by the Director of the Firearms Bureau and the workshop master craftsman.

During the personnel screening process, the meticulousness and carefulness of Jia Cong, the Director of the Firearms Bureau, opened the eyes of the officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

This young fifth-rank supervisor asked the Ministry of Revenue to select craftsmen from all over the country, and not only needed to provide basic written descriptions such as name, native place, household registration, address, and skill characteristics.

They even want to know everyone's daily moral reputation, whether their close family members are good or not, whether the person himself and his blood relatives have any history of committing crimes, etc., no matter how big or small, they want to know.

After all, the Ministry of Revenue is an ordinary government office that handles practical affairs, and the things that Jia Cong wants to know are already part of the daily lives and private matters of ordinary people. Probably only the local county government officials, local security guards, and village chiefs would be aware of such detailed and trivial matters.

This has completely exceeded the scope of affairs of the Ministry of Revenue in Shenjing, the Guangmingtang, and has fallen into the category of internal affairs such as the Jinyi secret agents.

At this time, Xu Liangxiong, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was convicted and imprisoned. The Ministry of Revenue lost its deputy minister, internal affairs were shaken, officials were uneasy, and people were in panic. Many officials from Xu Liangxiong's faction were isolated and excluded.

After receiving the imperial edict, the Minister of Revenue and others, facing the turmoil within the government office, were able to urgently mobilize reliable personnel and select dozens of outstanding craftsmen from the two nearby states within a few days. This was a very capable move.

Asking the Ministry of Revenue to investigate the ancestors, relatives, friends and other family members of these craftsmen is actually beyond their scope of responsibility.

The Minister of Revenue also had some complaints about Jia Cong's secretive and shady spy style, feeling that it lacked integrity.

He thought of this young supervisor, who had been to Jiangnan several times to investigate major cases. His actions had always been unexpected and unpredictable. Compared with the present, there seemed to be some clues to follow...

……

The importance of selecting craftsmen was reported to the palace by Jia Cong in a memorial. Emperor Jia Zhao issued an oral order on the same day, requiring all selected craftsmen from the Ministry of Revenue to be temporarily relocated to a place chosen by the Ministry of Revenue, and to be guarded on the spot by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Less than two days later, 40% to 50% of the craftsmen selected by the Ministry of Revenue were eliminated, and a few of them were directly imprisoned by the Imperial Guard. The remaining craftsmen were interrogated and assessed by the Firearms Bureau, and some were eliminated again. In the end, only 30% to 40% entered the firearms workshop.

Afterwards, the Minister of Works and officials involved in the incident learned the shocking news from other channels.

When these craftsmen were placed under guard, it was said that the emperor mobilized a large number of secret agents from the Imperial Vehicle Department to travel around the country overnight and investigate the work and privacy of all the craftsmen.

This is the only way to eliminate people of questionable status in time. Among them, several craftsmen who were imprisoned by Jinyiwei were said to have evil intentions, but the specific reasons are unknown...

……

In the firearms workshop area, Jia Cong, along with deputy supervisor Liu Shizhen and manager Qian Huai, were inspecting the construction progress of each workshop in the workshop.

The number of people coming in and out of the workshops was obviously much more than in the previous few days, and they were all strangers. Their expressions varied, some were excited, some were nervous, and some were calm.

Although these new craftsmen were carefully screened and eventually allowed to enter the workshop, they had to sign a contract with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works before joining.

Before the end of this year, no one is allowed to leave the firearms workshop without the permission of the Firearms Bureau of the Ministry of Industry, and all food and accommodation must be within the workshop. Any violation of the rules will be severely punished by law.

Such a contract is somewhat harsh and frightening for these craftsmen who have superb skills but live at the bottom of the market.

Among the craftsmen who were finally selected, a few of them requested to withdraw.

However, the firearms workshop's generous salary, stable food and accommodation, and the title of a government-run workshop were still very attractive to craftsmen who had limited means of livelihood.

Therefore, most of the selected craftsmen accepted the contract and chose to join the workshop.

At present, this group of new craftsmen have not yet moved their families to Shenjing as they need time to be verified.

The workshop will make special arrangements to send part of their monthly salary back to their hometowns so that they can support their families.

The reason for sending back part of the salary, rather than most or all, was also a measure specially decided by Jia Cong.

Because the salary given to the craftsmen is much higher than what they can earn from making a living outside, once the full amount is sent back to their hometown, it will have been a long time and will be spread by word of mouth, which will definitely attract the attention of interested people.

There is an inevitable risk of someone following the instructions, and even the risk of implicating the craftsman's relatives.

After experiencing the theft of muskets in the Liaodong Firearms Camp and the private firearms manufacturing workshops in the suburbs of Jinling.

Jia Cong was fully aware of the impact and shock that sophisticated and sharp firearms would have on this era that was originally dominated by swords, guns, arrows and crossbows.

Once the sharpness and excellence of the breech-loading rifle was revealed to the world, Jia Cong could easily imagine how much madness and desperate covetousness it would cause. Wouldn't the events in Liaodong and Jinling happen again?

Everything he is doing now, whether it is the strictness in selecting craftsmen or the caution in taking various detailed measures, is just to delay this process to the maximum extent.

So that the time gained by this maximum delay can allow him to always have the upper hand...

……

As Jia Cong inspected the workshop, he kept flipping through a roll of documents in his hand, recording in detail the new craftsmen assigned to each room, as well as their names, ages, skills, and character descriptions.

While looking through the documents, he casually instructed Liu Shizhen, Qian Huai and others around him on the key points of the training, apprenticeship, management, performance evaluation, rewards and punishments of the new craftsmen, covering every detail and making them thought-provoking.

Liu Shizhen and Qian Huai were already accustomed to the extraordinary and extraordinary qualities of the young Shangguan.

Liu Shizhen was a third-class Jinshi, and Qian Huai was also from a family of honor. Both of them were knowledgeable and insightful.

But every time I spend time with Jia Cong and listen to him, I am still amazed, and feel that every word he says has deep meaning if you think about it carefully.

I don't know where his strange knowledge and insights came from. They are not found in the classics, not passed down by sages, and there is no trace of them.

……

As Jia Cong walked along, he saw that a lot of newly-delivered construction materials were piled up on the open space of the workshop, making the originally limited space seem even more cramped.

The workshop originally had a special warehouse, but with the increase in new construction materials, there is no vacant space now. In addition, accommodation needs to be arranged for new craftsmen, so the workshop is no longer sufficient.

Jia Cong said: "According to the construction needs, the workshop needs 50 new craftsmen, but we don't have half of that number right now, and we don't have enough space.

Two days ago, I wrote a letter to request the expansion of the workshop. The emperor's order has been sent to the Ministry of Works. I wonder how the construction is going?"

Liu Shizhen said: "Yesterday I informed Qin Langzhong of the Ministry of Works and Construction. He knew it was an order from the Lord and was very enthusiastic in his words and deeds.

He said it would take a day to gather the craftsmen and building materials, and they would be able to start tamping the ground and building the house tomorrow morning."

When Jia Cong heard about Qin Langzhong from the Ministry of Works, he was slightly moved. He wondered what was going on with Keqing and Xiujie in Jinling recently...

……

In the east of Shenjing City, there is Hongde Gate.

As night fell, the sky turned dark blue and the stars flickered. The shops near Hongdemen were brightly lit and noisy, just like in the daytime.

There was a constant stream of people and vehicles flowing through the city gate, but more people were entering the city than leaving, because in less than an hour, the nine gates of Shenjing would be closed.

At this time, Jia Cong's carriage merged into the crowd entering the city and slowly entered the city. In front of his carriage was a large Ministry of Works delivery vehicle driven by two horses.

The Ministry of Works had quite a few such two-horse carriages, all of which were rented from carriage shops in the city of Shenjing. However, the drivers were not the shop owners, but carefully selected soldiers from the imperial guards.

Following Jia Cong's suggestion, the Ministry of Works only sent three vehicles a day in order to reduce the noise. The vehicles set out after nightfall and returned to the city before the city gates closed.

When Jia Cong's carriage slowly drove into the city gate, he half-lifted the curtain, glanced at the scene outside the carriage, and quickly lowered the curtain again.

There is an Eight Immortals Restaurant near the city gate. A middle-aged man with a decent appearance is sitting at the second-floor window, sipping a drink and looking towards the noisy and bustling city gate. His eyes are focused on the delivery cart driven by two horses.

There were fine wine and delicious food on the table, and he had also ordered a set of bowls and chopsticks, as if he was waiting for a distinguished guest.

At this time, the door of the private room was pushed open, and a man in his thirties came in. He was wearing an indigo long gown with dark floral patterns. He had a strong figure, but his back was slightly hunched. His face was sallow and he looked quite haggard.

After the man came in, he turned around and closed the door of the private room, saying, "Master Liu, I haven't seen you for a long time."

The middle-aged man with a clean-looking face looked surprised and said, "Manager Zhao, why do you look like that? I was surprised when I received your letter yesterday. But is there something wrong in Jinling?"

Shopkeeper Zhao had a bitter look on his face and said, "After I returned to Jinling at the end of last year, the first few months were relatively peaceful, but then there were constant disturbances in the city.

The newly appointed Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Wang Zhangjiang, is more experienced and shrewd than his predecessor Ge Zhicheng, and is a very remarkable figure.

After he took office, he has been pursuing the case of the private firearms factory in Nanjing last year and has never stopped investigating. However, we eliminated the hidden dangers in time and he could not find any traces for a while.

Later, I received news that Wang Zhangjiang took a different approach and directed the investigation from the outside to the inside, investigating the private workshop craftsmen and guards detained in the Jinyiwei prison.

It is said that he did not torture these people, but instead sent a large number of spies to various places with unknown purposes.

When I recruited these people, I never showed up myself just in case. I used complicated means to select and bring these people to Jinling.

So, these people don’t know my existence at all, and when I heard such rumors, I wasn’t too worried.

But since last month, I found that someone had planted secret agents around the drugstore, and every time I went out, it seemed like someone was following me, so I knew something was wrong.

That day I arranged some people to escape from the city on the pretext of attending a friend's wedding banquet. Unexpectedly, the Jinyiwei soldiers were very alert and followed us all the way out of the city, trying to arrest us by force.

In desperation, the two sides engaged in a fierce fight. Several of my trusted aides were killed by the swordsmen of the Embroidered Uniform Guards. My subordinate was stabbed once but luckily escaped.

Afterwards, I wanted to flee southward, but the roads to the south were tightly blocked. I thought that if I went southward, the affairs of Nanjing would be interrupted and no one would know about it, which was quite risky, so I turned to go northward. "

The middle-aged man with a clean appearance was slightly shocked after hearing what Shopkeeper Zhao said. He asked, "You said that the road to the south is tightly blocked, so you can only go north. Are you sure it's safe..." (End of this chapter)