Chapter 540: "War" (Part 1)

Because Cao Yong and the Sixteenth Prince arrived, the Thirteenth Prince was in a very good mood and asked someone to prepare wine and food to keep them both for wine.

During the meal, the Thirteenth Prince couldn't help but praise Wang Quantai and said, "Cao Yong, I think Wang Quantai is fine. His subordinates are serious and have a good idea. I asked, he has been wearing armor for more than ten years, and it is a bit useless to join merchants like this." At the end, he felt a little regretful.

In the early years, when Wang Quantai resigned, although Wang Lusheng said he would not do anything about Cao Yong, Cao Yong felt like a mirror in his heart, and was exhausted from burning the pot by himself.

This time, Wang Quantai and his wife came to the capital. When Cao Yong asked him if he wanted to become an official, he said no, but he was somewhat uncomfortable.

Later, it was roughly mentioned in Wang Lusheng's letter, and Cao Yong knew the whole story.

Every family has a difficult sutra to recite, and Cao Yong was too lazy to talk too much about Wang Quantai's family affairs. However, since he introduced him to the Thirteenth Prince, he also had a vague intention of making up for it.

After hearing what the Thirteenth Prince said, Cao Yong talked about the ban on burning the pot three years ago.

Although it was an old story in Shandong, the Thirteenth Prince and the Sixteenth Prince had known it for a long time. The civil unrest that affected half of Shandong also shocked the government and the public, and all officials looked at each other.

Not only were many baked pot farms in the royal palaces robbed, but they were scolded by Kangxi afterwards. The Thirteenth Prince's Mansion also sent people to buy baked pot farms, but in the end it was left alone.

Some roasted pot farms were also saved and made a lot of money, such as Prince Jian’s Mansion.

When he heard that Wang Quantai ignored the wealthy slaves of the royal family and dared to be named Prince Jian, the Thirteenth Prince couldn't help but quiver: "Okay, I'm not afraid of the powerful, I'm a good man!"

The sixteenth prince said, "The courage is commendable, but if the official lost because of this, he would still be a little reckless. This is why the royal palace has gained a disadvantage and has not put this grudge on his heart. Otherwise, Yaer Jianga would be a famous vengeance. If he knows this, can he still have the best choice for the king?"

"After checking the ban, he resigned and went south to Guangzhou to help his cousin's business." Cao Yan said.

The sixteenth prince nodded and said, "This is why I know the truth. I can't blame myself for finding such a person to come to Beijing. You are the most cautious. If you are a naughty person, you will not be called to Beijing."

"If there is no selfishness, appease the local area. If all military officers can do this, wouldn't the world be peaceful? It was originally a person who had meritorious people, but he would be rewarded, but he would be resigned to save his life." The Thirteenth Prince smiled bitterly: "It is just a slave in the royal palace, which can shock the sixth-rank official of the court like this, and it is such a great power."

The Sixteenth Prince had already said that he was going to make a fortune, but the Thirteenth Prince agreed with a smile, but he understood it in his heart.

Seeing that the Thirteenth Prince was like this, he was afraid that he would feel depressed. He smiled and said, "Since the Thirteenth Prince appreciated him, he would accept him as a slave and give him a good reputation. In that case, it would save you from being cheap in Beijing in the future. Isn't it just a sixth-grade top-notch? As long as the Thirteenth Brother gives an order, my brother will run errands."

Upon hearing this, the Thirteenth Prince looked up at Cao Yan.

The so-called "senior recruitment" mentioned by the Sixteenth Prince is not to let Wang Quantai be a slave, but to want to let Wang Quantai be a slave.

In addition to being the heir to the banner, the Han people were the servants of the bannermen.

There are two types of slaves. One is the name of the master slave, but it does not depend on the owner's household registration. It is also a commoner, called the "account opener"; the other is the "householder" and does not have an independent household registration.

The "account opener" is a good clergy. In addition to fulfilling some etiquette and obligations in front of the master's family, the other ones are no different from those of the Eight Banners. They can eat the Eight Banners' public grain and become officials.

The disadvantage is that the imperial examination cannot be held within three generations. If you become an official, you cannot reach the third rank of the outside, and the capital cannot reach the hall.

However, the rules are just rules. There are many servants released in the palaces of the princes and officials in the capital, among which there are also outstanding officials of the third rank or above.

In Cao Yong's mansion, Wei Hei and Zheng Hu were all "opening accounts", while the Ren brothers were servants.

"Housemen" are a low-ranking family, unable to take the imperial examination or become an official.

Although he has the identity of a bannerman and the Thirteenth Prince as his backer, Wang Quantai's future will be limitless, but Cao Yong is not a person who is used to making decisions for others.

It is not easy to take advantage of, after all, you have to be a "slave". Once the relationship between master and slave is determined, it is not Wang Quantai alone. His descendants must be descendants of the Thirteenth Prince as their master.

Cao Yong was born in the Cao family, and the identity of this "slave" could not be chosen.

Although he had to admit that because of his identity as a banner, he acted as a "powerful man" at the beginning of his landing, and had a good life. However, as a young man living in later generations, enjoyment can be enjoyed, but the shame of being inferior to others also makes people uncomfortable.

Whether Wang Quantai is willing to become a nationality for fame and fortune is his own choice.

"I can't make the decision for him. I have some friendship with his cousin, but I'm just mediocre with Wang Quantai." Speaking of this, Cao Yong paused and said, "Shandong is straightforward and doesn't know if he is interested in a career. When I ask him, I will ask him to thank Master Shisan for his kindness."

After hearing Cao Yong's words, the Thirteenth Prince waved his hand and smiled, "Why are you grateful? Sixteenth is just saying that. If he wants to become an official, it will be better to be in your name than to me. I heard you mentioned before that his wife Zheng's wife managed the Zhuchang a few years ago. I guess this foreign goods shop is clearly Wang Quantai Jing, but in fact, Zheng's wife is in charge?"

Cao Yong nodded and said, "Thirteenth Master said it is right. Zheng is from a family of pearl merchants and has some eyesight for jewelry and jade. He has also been dealing with foreign goods in Guangzhou. It is not wrong to hand this stall over to her."

When the Thirteenth Prince heard this, he just smiled, looked at Cao Yong up and down, and said, "I always see you behave properly and look like a pedantic, but I didn't expect that these men were all soldiers of the Detachment of Women." Speaking of this, thinking that Zheng was a married woman, he felt that he was speechless and said, "Whether Zheng or the female shopkeeper of the dim sum shop, if you didn't meet you, your escort, maybe these women would have hidden in the boudoir, and how could they have such a bright future? After all, they should thank you for your kindness."

Cao Yong was so ashamed that he smiled, not knowing how to answer.

It’s not that he is willing to use the “Deputy Army of Women”, but that there is really no one else who does business.

Although Cao Fang can stand alone, it is difficult for Cao's servants to come forward to manage them. Besides, there are still many trivial matters in the Cao family that need Cao Fang to be busy with.

The Qing Dynasty, like the previous dynasty, also "respected agriculture and suppressed commerce". The merchants had a low status, but in terms of household registration, they did not belong to the low-ranking family like the previous dynasty. Instead, they were like "school workers", and were of good origin, which was different from slaves, prostitutes, and good servants and others.

In this way, the identity of the merchant has been improved.

Since Emperor Wu of Han "demolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", the common saying in the world is that "everything is inferior, only reading is high."

People are used to treating business as a "lower career" in their bones. In the world, men who learn literature and martial arts are the future, but if they get involved in business, they will be self-destructive.

Because of this, there are very few suitable businessmen who can meet and find them hard to come by.

Although Han Jiang and Zheng Woxue are not old and have shortcomings, their level is much higher than others.

Seeing Cao Yong laughing but did not answer, the sixteenth prince opened the folding fan in his hand, shook it, and said, "I heard that the female shopkeeper in Daoxiang Village is quite beautiful, otherwise it would not have attracted Kuihui to be fascinated and exhausted. Tell me, how did he hook up? It wasn't the little lover in the south, right? I heard you mention it, my friend's niece, an old friend in Jiangning."

At the end of the day, the Sixteenth Prince raised his eyebrows and smiled in ambiguous way.

When the Sixteenth Prince said the previous words, Cao Yong's heart couldn't help but sink. He picked up the teacup and took a sip, a little worried.

In this dynasty that advocate "ethics" to the extreme and that "chastity archways" are everywhere, for women, "beautiful reputation" is not a blessing.

Since ancient times, beauty has been so poor that no matter what a man does, the weak woman will always be the one who bears the infamous reputation in the end.

Even if Han Jiang leaned behind the Cao family and the Chun Prince's Mansion, and Kui Hui's past, no one dared to make an idea for the time being. However, sometimes, words can hurt people and kill people.

If it were some women, they might not take it seriously. After all, women from merchants’ families are not big girls or young wives who are kept in the inner house. They don’t go out of the front door or enter the second door.

Since you are a shopkeeper, it is inevitable that you will show up in public.

Han Jiang's family has the cunning of a business woman and the gracefulness of a southern woman. They speak and act very politely, and they are not bad at all.

Han Jiang was innocent and affected by Kuihui's affairs. If he was stigmatized by it, Cao Yong would be afraid that he would feel guilty.

Before he could finish his worries, the sixteenth prince said the second half of the words, but he had not swallowed the tea in Cao Yong's mouth, so he was not choking.

He coughed twice, quickly put down the teacup and patted his chest.

"Haha, is this guilty?" The Sixteenth Prince made fun of Cao Yong's misconduct.

Cao Yong glanced at him and said with a smile: "I am not in good health. I don't have the good 'blessing' of the Sixteenth Master, and I have good 'energy'. I can enjoy the blessings of all people. Now that I have arrived at the Ministry of War, my eyes are dark, and I can't even care about this, but I don't have time to talk about anything else."

Although the Sixteenth Prince is proud of his wife and concubines, he is a lazy person. He can sit and not stand, and lie down and not sit.

Although he was young and looked very capable and showed no sign of gaining weight, the Sixteenth Prince had to deal with his wife and concubines, and sometimes he was not physically strong. He didn't know who was urging him to change some medicine.

It is a medicine that is three parts poisonous, not to mention that excessive indulgence can hurt people, and taking medicine will only add fuel to the fire.

After Cao Yong knew about it, he carefully advised him twice, but he agreed, but he couldn't stop it. It was not until he had a minor illness that he had a memory...

After leaving the Thirteenth Prince's Mansion, the sun sets, Cao Yong rode back home with a little drunkenness.

It's April and it's already summer, but unlike previous years, it's very cool and doesn't feel hot at all.

Cao Yong raised his head and looked at the gray sky. Although it didn't rain these days, there were very few times when the weather was sunny. Most of the time, it was so gray.

It was snowing in Shanxi and Gansu until March, but the rain in the south was fierce in previous years. Before summer, the embankment was washed away by the water flow.

Cao Yong's mind was a little confused. Is it a "year of disaster"? He sighed in his heart, and really wanted to scold himself.

Is this not a life-threatening worry? He has a little bit of a slight tail? He actually feels like a worldly person, and his heart becomes softer and softer.

Others don’t know how corrupt the government of the whole country is, but Cao Yong knows it clearly.

Let’s not talk about anything else, let’s talk about the granaries in various places, which were used by the imperial court to prepare relief or to stabilize local grain prices. However, except for several commonly used granaries in Jiangnan, other provinces are basically empty warehouses.

The reason why Shandong roasting pots are so prosperous and so large is that they are used to use grain from the official warehouse.

After a while, when he arrived at the entrance of the alley, Cao Yong happened to meet Cao Shuo who was coming from another direction.

This was already a little over the school. Cao Yong glanced at Cao Shuo, thinking that he was staying in the school to work hard, and said, "I heard from your second brother that you often study until the second half of the night. Your health is important, don't be too hard. Just learn slowly, and no one is forcing you to take the exam, so don't be in trouble."

Cao Shuo is now studying Manchu in the Eight Banners Officials, and he has great enthusiasm for learning.

He didn't talk much, but after all, he was sixteen or seventeen years old and was a bit arrogant. Since he couldn't do eight-legged essays, he memorized this Mandarin by rote, so he naturally wanted to learn it well.

In his early years, Cao Shuo also learned some Mandarin Chinese in a private school in Jiangning, but he only knew a little.

Although I knew that relying on my uncle and cousin to learn Manchu for a few years and join the Six Works as a post, Cao Shuo wanted to do his best.

Diligence can make up for your shortcomings, and stupid birds fly first. Even if they can't compare with their younger brothers, Cao Shuo still wants to be more useful.

Seeing that his cousin misunderstood, Cao Shuoyuan wanted to explain. When he said that he had failed to learn and had a lot of housework, he really had no face to say it, so he lowered his head and said nothing.

I am not just "unvious"?

As a son, it is unfilial to affect his parents and elders; as a elder brother, it is not a good example for his younger brothers, it is unrighteous; as a husband, it is not a good wife, it is unfaithful to be able to take care of his wife, and it is unkind to be tired and suffer the pain of losing his son.

A person who is unfilial, unrighteous and unkind is him Cao Shuo!

Not to mention others, even if he is alone, he will look down on himself.

Cao Yong blew the wind for a while and became a little drunk. He didn't notice Cao Shuo's strangeness and said, "You are still young. Even if you have been studying for three years, you are only twenty years old, so don't worry."

"Brother, am I... very unpromising..." Cao Shuo hesitated for a moment and asked.

Cao Yong heard the frustration in his words, grabbed the reins and turned his head to look.

Cao Shuo drooped his head and couldn't see his expression clearly, but his hand that grabbed the horse's reins was trembling slightly, looking very pitiful.
To be continued...