The autumn of the tenth year of Kangxi's reign was the beginning of a nightmare for the Eight Banner old men, Eight Banner aunts, Eight Banner sisters and Eight Banner children in Beijing.
The battle in southwestern Sichuan not only completely shattered the illusion that the Eight Banners were invincible, but also gave these Eight Banner old men, Eight Banner aunts, Eight Banner sisters, and Eight Banner children in Forty-Nine City a real taste of What it feels like to lose a son, a husband, a brother and a father. For some of them, this means that the sky has fallen, the earth has sunk, the backbone of the family has fallen, and the hope for the future has disappeared!
Starting from the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the Eight Banner Heavenly Soldiers led by Prince An were defeated by a hundred thousand rebels led by the traitor Wu Sangui in Xuzhou Prefecture in southwest Sichuan. The terrible news of the loss of troops, heavy casualties, and a rout of hundreds of miles came. One after another, like a bolt from the blue, they crashed into the Forty-Nine City.
At the beginning, people were still in disbelief at the defeat of the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers, but soon they realized that the Qing Dynasty was likely to be in a national crisis. And on July 22, more than ten days later, the Qing Dynasty As the Eight Banners Dutong Yamen in Sijiu City began to post notices of mourning, they began to distribute letters with the words "So-and-so is no longer in the king's business" and packages of pension money. After learning the names of their relatives, receiving letters and money, they realized that it was not the Qing Dynasty that was facing the disaster, but themselves!
They have lost their most important family member forever!
Starting from July 23rd, the color of the forty-nine cities has changed - almost every house is in plain clothes, and every household is hung with white silk. There are cries day and night, and you can see people burning firewood wherever you go. paper money.
Early in the morning that day, brothers Wang Zhongxiao and Wang Jizhen also changed into plain clothes. Carrying two large boxes of gifts, they left the house in Dafu Lane with serious faces and walked south along Chongwenmen Nei Street. , walked towards the residence of Zhenglan Qi, as if he was going to "eat a meal".
The two of them, especially Wang Zhongxiao, can be regarded as moderate "stars" in Sijiu City. Butlu Bu is a pig-killer, and Lu Bu still has a small job, so he has many acquaintances. Many people greeted him along the way, but they didn't have anything nice to say. They just said "I'm sorry," and "Who is missing from your family" and the like.
Wang Zhongxiao was okay. He sighed after hearing this and replied: "My eldest brother-in-law is gone (Wu Shilin)"
When Wang Jizhen heard these mourning words, she looked as if her biological father had died. Those who didn't know better thought that Wang Fuchen was dead!
But his unlucky look is not unreasonable, because today he is not going to eat, but to collect taxes. Nazheng is also called Nabi, which means that the man's family sends betrothal gifts to the woman's family.
What a joyful thing!
The husband’s family is the eldest son of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the daughter’s family is the governor of Shaanxi. The youngest daughter is no longer the former governor of Shaanxi!
After receiving the certificate of surrender, Jia Hanfu has come back to life, and has once again been appointed by the governor of Shaanxi. In a few days, he will go to Xi'an to take office - Jia Hanfu is a rare good official who does not engage in corruption, bribery, or rectification. He also spent his own money to run schools and academies. The revival of "Guan Xue" in the Qing Dynasty can be said to have started from his old man. Therefore, his popularity in Shaanxi Province is very high. When Wu Sangui was about to invade Shaanxi, it was obviously beneficial to the Qing Dynasty to let him serve as governor of Shaanxi.
On the one hand, a man is getting married and a woman is getting married, and on the other hand, high officials have to do it. This is a great double happiness. Logically speaking, a drum group should be invited to play and beat all the way to deliver the betrothal gift.
But isn't this a "good day" for the city to be full of people? How can you do that? Is this celebrating the heavy casualties suffered by the Eight Banners disciples?
Of course, it is not appropriate to postpone the wedding. Now the three rites of the six wedding ceremonies, including nacai, name asking, and naji, have been completed. After completing the ceremony today, the next step is to ask for an appointment and personally welcome. According to the original arrangement, it could all be completed before Wang Zhongxiao, Jia Hanfu and Wang Jizhen took office.
In addition, Emperor Kangxi issued a special edict not long ago, emphasizing once again that "anyone under his banner must stay in mourning for no more than twenty-seven days, and marriages must not be postponed for too long because of the funeral." - There are not enough children of the Eight Banners, so we must speed up Production!
Under such circumstances, how could the Wang and Jia families, who had no dead members in their families, postpone their wedding? Isn’t this undermining the production work of the Eight Banners’ children? Be careful of Yushi Benzishen and them!
So Wang Jizhen had to quit the drumming troupe, and she and her brother Wang Zhongxiao went out casually carrying two large boxes of gold ingots (the boxes were quite big, and the gold ingots were only a few kilograms).
When the two brothers Wang Jizhen and Wang Zhongxiao arrived at the Jia family's mansion in Xiliu Hutong, Chongwenmen, the whole alley was in a miserable state. Almost every household was hung with white silk silk, and only the Jia family's house was clean.
Jia Hanfu's official position was not small, but his house was not big. It was just an ordinary four-in-one courtyard. It looked quite old. It hadn't been renovated in I don't know how many years. It didn't look like it belonged to a governor. Homestead.
Moreover, the courtyard of this Jia's house is also a bit neglected.
"Is it here?" Wang Zhongxiao felt something was wrong, "Brother, did you get the wrong message?"
"Can this be wrong?" Wang Jizhen glared at her brother, "This is my wife's house!"
"That's not right. Didn't Jia Taibao (Jia Hanfu added the crown prince Taibao in the 16th year of Shunzhi) want to be Shaanxi Futai? When my father was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, the threshold was almost crossed!"
Wang Jizhen smiled bitterly and shook her head: "Can this be compared? Who is our father? He is a corrupt official. He dare not do anything corrupt and pervert the law? What kind of official is my father-in-law? He is an upright official who will go down in history!"
"Hey, what are you talking about? I won't be able to get it in the future." Wang Zhongxiao didn't say any more, and it would ruin the scenery if he continued.
No matter how much Jia Hanfu served the country and the people, by the time of the Qianlong Dynasty, he would still be listed in "Er Chen Lu". If he didn't want to be listed in "Er Chen Lu", then he would have to be a third minister!
After Wang Zhongxiao stopped talking, he quickly walked to the door of Jia Taibao's house and knocked on it. After two clicks, the door opened, and then he saw an old man with a gray beard, looking sad. Looked like that, and then heard the noise again.
"Amma, I'm not telling you that you have been a governor for so many years, why don't you make more money? Now the court is selling off its officials and titles. If you have money, my second and third brothers and I can donate it right now. The official!"
"That's right. If we have the officials we really need, we won't have to serve as soldiers to fight Wu Sangui!"
"If there is no real vacancy, a substitute one will do! The worst we can do is buy four vacancies from Guangdong, Guangxi and Guangxi. We have gone to the territory of your old in-laws, the Duke of the Army. Are you afraid that there will be no vacancies to fill?"
"That's right, Zha Zi is preparing to recruit troops in the Dutong Yamen now. Except for the boss, when all four of our brothers have not arrived, just wait for the white-haired man to send the black-haired man away!"
This should be the four filial sons of Jia Hanfu's family, Jia Guobin, Jia Guodong, Jia Guoyi, and Jia Guokai, scolding their father.
Although the Wang brothers often educated their unreliable father in the past, educating his father was a family matter that was not convenient for outsiders to know, so they are quite embarrassed now. They are too embarrassed to enter the Chuihua Gate, so they just wait in the outer courtyard. Wait for the old servant of the Wang family to go in and report.
However, the old servant's movements were a bit slow. Before he could reach his position, Jia Hanfu had already started to retort, "I have already asked you to read more books. Read more books. Don't you have everything you need to take the national examination?" Bannerman, how easy is it for the Bannerman examination? Xiaoliuzi, your second brother, third brother, and fourth brother have no hope. Your fifth brother died early. You are still young and can still study hard!"
"What are you reading? Buy it. You can even buy it if you are a person!"
"You, you, are you going to make your father angry to death? If you don't study hard, your mother and I will..." Lao Jia seemed to be really angry this time.
"What are you talking about?"
"I will really take that little beauty from the Wu family as my concubine, and I will let her have another seventh child!" Mr. Jia Hanfu Jia really has a clever trick!
Now the brothers of the Jia family were anxious. Jia Hanfu was an upright official and did not have much property. If one more brother wanted to share it, the brothers would get even less. But before they could get angry, the old servant had already informed them of the visit of the two Wang brothers.
As soon as they heard that a visitor was coming, the "internal strife" in the old Jia family immediately ended. When the hanging flower door opened, the five Jia family fathers and sons were called one father and son filial piety!
I saw Mr. Jia standing in the middle cheerfully, with two sons on each side on the left and right. They looked at Mr. Jia like stars over the moon and welcomed him into the hanging flower gate. The two Wang brothers also pretended that they had not heard about the four Master Jia's godfathers. They first bowed to Mr. Jia, and then bowed to each other with the four Master Jia, which was called polite.
After a long period of bowing, Wang Zhongxiao and Wang Jizhen were invited into the central hall of the courtyard by Mr. Jia and the four young masters. Then the guests and the host were seated, and the servants of the family served tea.
A few people drank tea for a while and chatted for a while. Wang Zhongxiao finally couldn't help but ask the Jia brothers about the sale of officials in the imperial court, "I heard that the imperial court is going to launch a donation campaign?"
"Yes, there is such a thing," the young man named Jia Guokai, who was in the sixth grade at home, immediately took over the topic, "it has spread all over the place. Brother Shikai, you are so well-informed, how come you don't know about it?"
I really don’t know. Wang Zhongxiao didn’t stay in the city these days. Instead, he took his family to the village in Yuyuantan for a vacation. He was exhausted a while ago and couldn’t take a good rest? Moreover, Wu Shifan is still hiding in Yuyuantan, and Kangxi has given the Niangan Department a secret order to secretly trace Wu Shifan's whereabouts. Wang Zhongxiao was very worried, so he personally guarded the village in Yuyuantan.
In addition, Wang Zhongxiao stayed in Zhuangzi in Yuyuantan to cultivate feelings and enhance understanding with Wu Xiaoji. Xiaoji is still young. Wang Zhongxiao plans to let her grow up before she can enter the family, so he "cultivates" her first.
And Wang Jizhen didn't know that he had taken leave from the yamen in the past few days to focus on his marriage. For him, this matter was not just about marrying a wife and taking a concubine (Wu Yingxiong’s second daughter was acquired by him, so he prepared to do it together), it was a matter of life!
Because Wang Fuchen is now in Guangdong and Guangxi, it is impossible to come back to attend his son's wedding, so after marrying the daughter of the Jia family, he had to take her to Guangdong to pay respects to the old man Wang Fuchen.
Once he leaves, he will never come back, so he has to be well prepared.
As for selling and buying officials, he felt that the old Wang family was about to rebel, so why buy officials from the Qing Dynasty? Isn't this a waste of money? So he doesn't care about this aspect either.
"Brother Jia Liu, tell me quickly." Wang Zhongxiao is interested in buying an official. "How do you buy this official?"
"Brother Shikai," Jia Guokai looked at Wang Zhongxiao curiously, "Didn't you let some Guangdong customs pass? You want to buy an official position for a fourth-grade Taoist priest?"
Wang Zhongxiao originally had the rank of general soldier, but due to the defeat in Southwest Sichuan, he was promoted to the rank of third-rank first-class guard. If a first-class guard is sent out as a military attache, he can have a deputy general, but if he is to be a civilian, it is not that big.
The civil servants of the Qing Dynasty were much more valuable than the military attachés. The civil servants of the third grade served as supervisors in the local area!
There is no way Wang Zhongxiao could be released as the inspector of Guangdong!
Therefore, if a guard is sent to work as a civil servant, he has to be lowered one or two levels. A first-class guard of the third grade is placed in the customs department of the fourth grade. That is already very fragrant.
"I already have an official position myself," Wang Zhongxiao said with a smile, "but I also want to buy some official positions for some of my closest relatives and friends. I wonder if I can buy the county magistrate, county magistrate, chief bookkeeper, and historian who are in short supply?"
County magistrates, county magistrates, chief registrars, and officials were all officials at the lowest level. They controlled the grassroots political power of the Qing Dynasty and directly ruled the people below them.
Although Wang Fuchen's governor of Guangdong and Guangxi seems to be very powerful, he does not have direct jurisdiction over the territory or people.
Without the territory and people directly under his jurisdiction, Wang Fuchen had no way to build a base area. Without a base area, once his governor broke away from the Qing Dynasty, all he could rely on was the army in his hands.
Wang Zhongxiao had long since thought of sending as many officials as he could control to Guangdong and Guangxi as county magistrates through civil service selection. However, this method had great limitations and could not make Wang Zhongxiao's true confidants He became the county magistrate directly, because most of his close friends were not qualified to participate in the election.
Now Kang Mazi directly sells his official position in order to raise military funds, this is easy to handle!
When Jia Hanfu heard Wang Zhongxiao's question, he smiled and shook his head and said: "My dear nephew, you still don't know much about the local official system of the Qing Dynasty. Every county in the Qing Dynasty has a magistrate, but the county magistrate, chief registrar, and dianshi are two There are very few assistant officials, and most counties do not have a county magistrate, a chief registrar, or a magistrate, and there is only one magistrate in the whole county."
In the Qing Dynasty, there were actually very few officials where they were needed!
Not only are there no secondary officers in the county, but also at the government level, even in the governor's office and the governor's office, there are no secondary officers. There are dignified governors and governors. If you don't count the military attachés in the pacesetters, they are all bare-bones, and the entire government office is just one. Governors or governors are "employed"!
In the Qing Dynasty, it was really difficult to "take the exam" unless you were a bannerman.
Wang Zhongxiao said thoughtfully: "Then I have to buy more county magistrates in Guangdong and Guangxi! Whether they are actually in short supply or on the waiting list, it is best to buy them all!"
Jia Hanfu touched his white beard, glanced at Wang Zhongxiao with squinted eyes, thought for a while, and then said: "Xiannephew, if you are rich, someone can buy all the alternate magistrates and alternate Taoists! Then your father can let him Alternate magistrates and alternate roads serve as acting magistrates."
"Acting?" Wang Zhongxiao's eyes lit up, "Yes, Zhengyin County Magistrate must be approved by the Ministry of Officials, and acting Magistrate only needs to be appointed by the Governor. However, the acting magistrate must be a high-ranking official and a low-ranking official. If we can buy more alternate magistrates, they can be allowed to act. It’s county administration.”
Jia Hanfu smiled and said: "My dear nephew, I will teach you a trick. Although each province has a large number of candidates for county magistrates, the governor will definitely deduct some of the vacancies for county magistrates and give them to his own people to act for them. This has the effect of There are two advantages: first, it can actually control some territory; second, it can make official vacancies more scarce; third, it can allow more alternate officials to run errands in the governor's office! These alternate officials do not need to be paid and can be used for free. , using them can also save the money of hiring a master."
This upright official Jia is not a good boss. If he doesn't work hard during his tenure, he will naturally not be able to hire a sufficient number of senior officials. The governor's office is equivalent to the provincial government in later generations. No matter how streamlined the troops and administration are, there can't be only one senior official in the provincial government. ? How is this work carried out? Therefore, the governors of the Qing Dynasty had to pay out of their own pockets to hire a large number of masters to help them with their affairs. The officials who are candidates in the province are the "officers working in vain" of the governors (governors), that is, they work in the "provincial government" for free and are not paid.
Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, if those feudal officials were not a little more greedy, they would not be able to carry out their work.
Fortunately, father and son Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao are both corrupt officials who serve the country and the people!
Not only do they have money to hire a master, but they also have money to buy officials for their dearest relatives and friends!
Thinking of this, Wang Zhongxiao smiled and said to Jia Hanfu: "Jia Shibo, let me discuss something with you!"
"what's up?"
Wang Zhongxiao said: "This junior wants to buy more magistrates and county magistrates. But I can't do it by myself. I would like to ask your four senior gentlemen to help me become this official!"
"Amma, we have to help with this!"
"Yes! We are all our own people."
"We brothers have nothing to do. It would be nice to go to Guangdong and become a county magistrate!"
"It's much better than dying as an Eight Banners soldier!"
Jia Hanfu's four sons were indeed warm-hearted and wanted to help Wang Zhongxiao.
Jia Hanfu smiled and nodded, "Since all four of my sons want to be officials in Guangdong, I won't stop you. But I want to remind you, nephew Shikai, that this official position will not be too cheap. You have to Only when you have enough money can you go shopping!"
Wang Zhongxiao smiled and said: "Don't worry, I have plenty of money!"
Jia Hanfu said to Wang Jizhen again: "You should go and buy an official position. Don't buy another one from Guangdong. It's not appropriate for father and son to be officials in the same province. It's better to buy a magistrate in Shaanxi and follow me to Shaanxi to take up the post!"
(End of chapter)
