Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 26: Being tricked by shrimps in the shallows

The palace, the imperial study.

Emperor Zhenglong closed the secret fold in his hand, leaned back on the dragon chair, frowned and fell into deep thought.

It can be said that he has been on the throne for seven years, but the Supreme Emperor still has great power and has never truly delegated power. There are really not many people available for civil and military use in the Manchu Dynasty.

In the past two years, the Emperor's energy has been insufficient and he has gradually delegated power to the government. Several Hanlin officials he focused on cultivating at the beginning of his accession to the throne - Lin Ruhai, Mei Gong and others - gradually became prominent and were entrusted with important responsibilities.

Especially for Lin Ruhai, the salt industry has always been Daxia's main source of finance and taxation, and it is also an important input for him.

Seeing that his wife of many years was about to become a mother-in-law, today's secret agreement gave him a heavy blow. Lin Ruhai was critically ill and might not survive this year.

It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. If Lin Ruhai has three strengths and two weaknesses, it will not be so simple to appoint another person who meets the requirements of ability, qualifications, and loyalty.

But without this income, the plan of Shenji Camp and the expansion of Jinyiwei that he had been thinking about might be unsustainable.

The expansion of Jinyiwei is nothing more, but the Shenji Camp has a lot to do with it.

The Four Kings and Eight Dukes occupied more than half of the military power of the Great Xia Dynasty. Most of these people were promoted by the Supreme Emperor and only obeyed the Supreme Emperor's orders.

Among the eight guards in the capital, only the Habayashi guards who guard the palace are in the hands of his confidant Chou Duo.Even this Yiwei, who is related to his own safety, was deliberately done by the Supreme Emperor to reassure him.

But while delegating power, the Tiger Guards were renamed the Dragon Guards to guard the Daming Palace where he lived.

The so-called dragon ban also means banning dragons, as if the Supreme Emperor reminded himself all the time that he was just a dragon imprisoned, and he was not allowed to soar to the nine heavens and show off wantonly.

But if a dragon can't move the wind and rain, can it still be called a dragon?

Furthermore, the Supreme Emperor is already old. If anything happens, without his suppression, these nobles with military power...

The past events of his eighth brother, Prince Yoshitaka, were still fresh in his mind, and he had to guard against them.

"Your Majesty! King Zhongshun and Commander Qi Ning of the Jinyi Guards are asking for an audience!"

Emperor Zhenglong was awakened by the voice of his chief companion, Xia Shouzhong, the eunuch of the Sixth Palace.

"Xuan!"

"My brother! Your Majesty! I'm going to see the Emperor!"

"Get up!"

The commander of the Jin Yiwei made Qi Ning get up and said: "Your Majesty, the people who bought the steam engine last time were really improving the papermaking technology! The people I sent did not dare to disturb them. They only asked the cart puller when they were transporting paper pulp to the workshop in the city. The horse was frightened and discovered that the scatter was indeed pulp.”

"Oh? How do you conclude that they are improving papermaking technology?"

"Jin Yiwei kept an eye on that workshop day and night. Most of the wood they brought in didn't have any common paper-making raw materials, but there was a lot of pulp."

At this time, King Zhongshun came out and said: "Your Majesty! I have sent people to calculate the cost of making paper, and the cost is only [-]% of the original price. Why not let the Jin Yiwei arrest people and ask for ways to improve them."

Emperor Zhenglong pondered for a long time and asked: "I remember that this person is a deregistered domestic slave of Rongguo Mansion? Or is he a prostitute?"

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

"When he improved papermaking, was it his own idea or was the Jia family leading the process behind the scenes?"

"This..." Qi Ning hurriedly knelt down and said, "The minister was negligent!"

Emperor Zhenglong waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter! Weren't there two more steam engines from last time? You go find Tian Chang and try it according to the materials purchased in his workshop."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Emperor Zhenglong waved his hand and pointed at the secret fold somewhat desolately.

"Ruhai is critically ill and I'm afraid he won't survive this year!"

"Ah! Then we should..."

King Zhongshun said and made a chopping motion with his hand as a knife.

"A little impatience will mess up a big plan. It's not advisable to act too hastily before you figure it out. Just try it first as I said before!"

"My dear brother! My dear! I obey the order!"

... Lai Shangrong didn't know that he was not only being targeted, but also being targeted by the emperor.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, he observed carefully, and sure enough, Baoyu's servant Mingyan looked at Pan Youan in the wrong way.

According to their parents, Mingyan's mother's surname was He. She was the daughter of Mrs. Wang who was married to the He family. In her early years, she was assigned to the son of the Ye family who was born in the Jia family. This was also what the parents said.

Nowadays, there are no elderly people in the house, so they forget the details and just call her Lao Ye Ma. This is also the practice among the Jia family's servants, who call her after her husband's surname.

The He family is also very close to the Zhou Rui family. Lao Ye's mother's nephew He San is the godson of the Zhou Rui family. His family also has a daughter named Chunyan who works as a maid in Baoyu's house.

It was also because of this relationship that Mingyan was able to work as a book boy next to Baoyu.

There is a saying that a mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, so how could Mingyan tolerate Pan Youan getting over her head.

As long as some rumors are released inadvertently, they can do whatever they want, and there is no need to deliberately arrange it.

Lai Da and his wife didn't want people to know that they were the troublemakers. After all, they were the leaders among the elders in the Jia family, and they didn't want to chill people's hearts.

After all, if the people's hearts are scattered, it will be difficult to lead the team.

Lai Shangrong is very responsible for his parents' arrangements. What he is most concerned about now is who is behind Siqi who wants to scheme against his family.

Without eating this day, Lai Shangrong came to Rong Mansion again.

There was no way, Pan You'an had been with Baoyu for half a month, but Si Qi never looked for him. When he thought of a pair of eyes staring at him from behind, he suddenly felt like a light on his back.

To be on the safe side, I don’t dare to be presumptuous when meeting a mandarin duck.

Through observation in the past few days, he discovered the pattern of returning to the house for a lunch break during the Spring Festival. He deliberately raised the difficulty of the homework and rushed over without even eating.

As usual, he first went to Jia Mu's place to say hello, and on the grounds that the homework was difficult, he gave Baoyu a brief explanation before wandering out, choosing a road that no one had to pass, and pretending to stop and admire the scenery.

Sure enough, it didn't take long to see Yingchun bringing Siqi out.

Pretending to meet by chance, both parties met and greeted each other.

Lai Shangrong smiled and said to Si Qi: "Brother Pan asked me to bring you a message!"

Pan Youan was appreciated by Jia Zheng, and no one was more happy than Siqi.

The first time he heard the news, he ignored his aunt's sarcastic words and asked for leave and went to Pan's house. But Pan Youan's lukewarm attitude was like a basin of cold water.

Coupled with the untimely throbbing when Lai Shangrong teased him that day, he didn't dare to see his cousin again.

Although he suspected that Lai Shangrong came here to force him under the guise of his cousin, he still had the slightest hope.

When Yingchun saw her hesitation, she just pretended that she didn't dare to agree because she didn't say anything.

He smiled and said, "There's no two steps ahead. Since I have something to ask for, I'll just go back first!"

Watching Yingchun go away, even though I wanted to keep up, my legs were motionless as if they were filled with lead.

"Say something quickly!"

In order to cover up his embarrassment, Si Qi spoke first.

Lai Shangrong stared at Siqi and said, "Your cousin's affairs have been settled. Please let me ask you when you will settle the bill!"

Although there was no one in private, he still kept it vague to be on the safe side.

The original plan was that as long as Si Qi decided on the time and place for cashing in, he would arrange his manpower in advance and have someone behind him.

"There's nothing to settle the bill!"

Unexpectedly, Si Qi was stunned for a moment, then turned around and left without saying a word.

I fuck!After hunting geese all day long, I didn't expect to be pecked by geese.

With this ruthless attitude, Lai Shangrong still didn't know that he was being prostituted for nothing.

(End of this chapter)