Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 471 The beginning of the literal prison
In ancient times, after the death of a queen, officials needed to follow a series of etiquette to express respect and mourn for the deceased.

These etiquette include:

Hearing the funeral: After hearing the news of the queen's death, officials need to immediately put on mourning clothes to express their condolences.

Plain clothes: Within seven days after the death of the queen, officials are required to wear plain clothes as a sign of mourning. Plain clothes refer to clothes without colors and patterns, as opposed to bright clothes.

To mourn: Officials need to go to the palace within the specified time to mourn. Crying is required during mourning to express memory and respect for the deceased.

Feng'an Zi Palace: After the queen dies, her Zi Palace (coffin) will be placed in a specific place in the palace. Officials need to participate in the enshrinement ceremony in Zi Palace to express their respect and respect for the deceased.

Memorial ceremony: Within a few days after the death of the queen, officials need to go to the palace to attend a memorial ceremony to express respect and pray for the deceased.

Funeral: Within a certain period of time, officials need to observe mourning in their official offices to express their memory and respect for the deceased. During the mourning period, you need to pay attention to your words and deeds. You are not allowed to drink alcohol, eat meat, or engage in entertainment activities.

These etiquettes were very important in ancient times. They not only expressed respect and memory for the deceased, but also demonstrated the loyalty and filial piety of officials. At the same time, these etiquette are also important means to maintain social order and moral values.

Therefore, even if Jia Rui is the prime minister of the dynasty and takes the emperor to order the princes, he cannot reduce the etiquette.

This set of actions would last for a month, and as the current Prime Minister Jia Rui, he was naturally the first to bear the brunt. Therefore, Jia Rui hardly had a good night's sleep this month.

It was not until Queen Jia Yuanchun's mausoleum finally entered the imperial mausoleum that Jia Rui could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

That afternoon, he dragged his tired body back from the suburbs. As soon as he entered the Yangxin Hall, he sat down on the kang exhausted and never wanted to stand up again.

At this time Hualan came over and brought a few pieces of paper to Jia Rui.

"Sir, these are the recently collected poems and articles by Jiangnan scholars."

Jia Ruili was so tired that he didn't want to open his eyes anymore, but he still forced himself to reach out and take the pieces of paper and flip through them casually.

Not to mention, the poems above are really good, at least Jia Rui himself couldn't have written them.

The spring breeze blows the green willows, and the autumn rain dyes the leaves yellow. There is no truth in the court, it is all lies.

The moon reflects the clear stream, and the clouds cover the distant mountains. Everything in the court is complicated and full of sorrow.

The garden is full of flowers in spring, and the valley is quiet with birds chirping. All the nobles and nobles in the court are all snobs.

These three poems are actually grumbling words, and they seem to be very dissatisfied with Jia Rui's control of the world.

Although Jia Rui was not a little unhappy, he did not get angry.

When he saw the bottom song, Jia Rui finally couldn't help being angry.

This poem is written like this: How dare a little girl from Jasper dare to ask for a bride. The rich family is as deep as the sea, and it is better to return to the countryside. There are many dangers and obstacles in the world, and people's hearts are prone to change. An Neng is willing to sacrifice his life and keep his heart strong.

In Jia Rui's opinion, this poem has nothing to do with the imperial court on the surface, but upon closer inspection, it clearly means that Jia Rui's small family is not worthy of ruling the world.

The song next to it was even more outrageous, and Jia Rui couldn't help it.

The moon hangs high in the blue sky, illuminating the sorrow in the world. The gap between rich and poor is huge, and the powerful oppresses the weak. Don't forget that the world is suffering, everything has its time. But if you have good conscience, you can fly.

Jia Rui suddenly sat up from the bed and kicked the kang table to the ground.

These Jiangnan literati were so arrogant that they simply did not take the current Prime Minister of the court seriously.

Jia Rui frowned, tapped his forehead with his hand, and then said to Hualan: "Send orders to the Jinyi Army to take down all three literati who wrote anti-poems, and conduct strict interrogations to see who they are. For example, there are still people making small moves behind the scenes.”

Hualan got Jia Rui's order and immediately went out to deliver the order.

Jia Rui's order was simply a reminder to the Jiangnan literati.

A few days later, the Jinyi Army in Jiangnan finally moved into action. Three literary princes who wrote poems were captured on the spot and then tortured.

Later, through these three literati, their teachers and some gentry who supported them were implicated. After that, the snowball grew bigger and bigger. A month later, more than 10,000 people in Jiangnan were arrested.

The matter was so big that all civil and military officials in the dynasty sensed that something was wrong.

Especially the officials who came from Jiangnan have now kept their mouths shut and do not dare to spread any rumors.

Of course, those people in Jiangnan will not sit still and wait for death. They don't have the ability or the courage to rebel, but they can still find someone to intercede.

As for who to intercede with, everyone is very discerning. Now the only person in the world who can suppress the lunatic Jia Rui is his grandfather Jia Dairu.

Therefore, in the past few days, Jia Dairu was invited to attend several literati gatherings.

Every time Jia Dairu went there, he was very happy, and when he came back, he was filled with anger.

It's not that those people dared to put on Jia Dairu's shoes, but that these people talked about the miserable situation of Jiangnan literati at the banquet and asked Jia Dairu to intercede with Jia Rui.

Although Jia Dairu did not make any great achievements in the scientific examination, he considered himself a literati. Therefore, Jia Dairu sympathized with the experiences of those literati in Jiangnan.

Because of this, Jia Dairu has not been happy every day in the past few days, especially after returning from the banquet today, Jia Dairu's anger can no longer be suppressed. He replied and came to the outer study room. As soon as he sat down, he said to Wangcai who came to wait on him:

"Go and get that evil Jia Rui back for me."

Wangcai glanced at the livid old man and was also frightened.

Since Jia Rui took charge of the world, the old man's attitude towards Jia Rui has improved a lot, and he is rarely as angry as he is today.

When Jia Dairu got angry, Wangchai was really scared, so he hurriedly crawled out and sent a young eunuch to quickly enter the palace to notify Jia Rui.

At this time, Jia Rui was looking at the list of those who came to Jiangnan today.

These lists were drafted by people under Jia Rui according to Jia Rui's wishes.

Most of them are big landowners and literati in Jiangnan, and they are all very prestigious.

These people are the pen and backbone of Jiangnan.

Jia Rui's goal is to get rid of all these people in order to weaken the dynasty's influence on Jiangnan and allow his own forces to penetrate deep into Jiangnan to replace them.

Jia Rui drew red circles on his names one by one. Anyone who drew a red circle was equivalent to a death sentence.

And each red circle represents hundreds of lives.

Just when Jia Rui had been drawing more than twenty circles and was about to have people distribute the list to the Jinyi Army for immediate execution, Qin Shun quietly came to Jia Rui's side.

"The old lady in the Duke's mansion has sent a message, asking you to return to the mansion immediately."

Jia Rui put down the paper and pen in his hand, "Did something happen at home?"

Qin Shun lowered his head, not knowing whether he should say anything.

Jia Rui, who was sitting there, was unhappy and said coldly, "Why, do you want to join another master?"

This sentence frightened Qin Shun, and he quickly knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "Master, no matter how brave I am, I wouldn't dare to think like this."

"Then who else do you want to hide from? Why don't you tell me quickly?"

Qin Shun didn't dare to hesitate now. He could only tell Jia Rui everything about the old man's banquet in the past few days, why the old man was angry today, and how angry he was.

After hearing this, Jia Rui was a little speechless. He didn't expect that these people's noses were really good. They actually caught the only old man Jia Dairu who could suppress him.

Moreover, this old man is very concerned about face. The most important thing is that he recognizes his identity as a Confucian scholar.

There is no other choice but to go back and appease the old man before doing other things.

Jia Rui had no choice but to temporarily put the list he was going to send out on the table.

Then he dressed up and went to the back hall to say hello to Xue Baochai. After all, he would be reprimanded by the old man when he returned. He might not be able to finish the work tonight, so he might not be able to come back in time.

After listening to Jia Rui's narration, Xue Baochai covered her mouth and laughed for a long time.

"Uncle, you are like a mouse meeting a cat. There is always someone who can subdue you."

Jia Rui said helplessly: "There is nothing I can do. I have been scolded by the old man since I was a child, and now I have a psychological shadow. When I hear that the old man is angry, my liver starts to tremble."

"Then why don't you go back quickly? If you delay for a long time, I'm afraid the old man will take action."

After hearing this, Jia Rui thought it made sense, and immediately left the Yangxin Hall, hurriedly left the palace in a sedan, and returned to Wu Guofu half an hour later.

After Jia Rui entered Wu Guofu, he got off the sedan in the courtyard, and then hurriedly took Qin Shun to the front of the study.

Wangcai was already waiting for Jia Rui here with his head peeping out. When he saw him coming, he quickly stepped forward to Jia Rui's side. While following Jia Rui forward, he said:
"Master, please bring some snacks. The old man was very angry today. Several of the boys who came in to deliver tea were kicked out."

When Jia Rui heard that it was so powerful, he immediately stopped, rolled his eyes, and said to Qin Shun beside him:
"Send someone into the inner house to inform the old lady and ask her to come out and rescue me."

After hearing this, Qin Shun quickly nodded in agreement, and then left in a hurry.

Jia Rui took a long breath at the door of the courtyard to calm down his emotions, and then cautiously came to the door of the study.

The boy guarding the door winked at Jia Rui and then opened the door curtain.

Jia Rui paused for a moment, doing some mental construction for himself, and then stepped into the study.

As a result, as soon as he entered the study, before he could stand still, something flew towards him.

Who is Jia Rui? It was a masterpiece of martial arts. Although the flying teacup was fast, in Jia Rui's eyes, it was no different from slow motion.

Jia Rui knew that the old man had thrown it at him to vent his anger, so in order to please the old man, he pretended to be very embarrassed and rolled on the ground, seeming to have barely avoided the tea bowl.

(End of this chapter)