In the tenth year of Kangxi's reign, it was the eighth day of August.
The crackling sound of firecrackers finally sounded inside and outside the Wang Manor outside Haidian Town. There was a huge crowd outside this country house that had just been repainted. Everyone crowded at the gate to watch the old Wang family marry a new wife, and happily waited to eat the flowing water banquet.
The old Wang family who is going to marry a wife today is not an ordinary family, but the family of Wang Fuchen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi! The bride-to-be was Wang Fuchen’s eldest son, Wang Jizhen. The girl was not married to an ordinary family, but to the family of Jia Hanfu, the governor of Shaanxi Province. The girl she married was Jia Xiaowan, Jia Hanfu's daughter. Oh, she also married Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingxiong who were enslaved in Xinzheku (the internal affairs department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). Princess Jianning’s daughter became a concubine.
Now Wu Yingxiong has gone to Wu Sangui to rebel together. Once the rebellion is over, he will be the emperor in the future. Isn't his daughter the princess?
There is really no one in this marriage. The governor's son marries the governor's daughter, and even takes an alternate princess as a concubine!
Wedding events of this level are usually held in Beijing. However, the atmosphere in Beijing recently is not suitable for holding weddings. You are just getting married, and you will bump into three or five mourners along the way. There are so many unlucky?
Therefore, those newlyweds who happened to encounter this unlucky day had no choice but to go to the country manor to hold weddings.
Wangjiazhuang in Haidian does not really stand in the wilderness, but is built in a countryside.
In this village, apart from the Wang family's mansion, there are only some village houses that don't look so decent. Those who live in these village houses are tenants who rent land from banner farmers.
Although they were "free persons" and not slaves of anyone, they were at the bottom of the hierarchy under the strict hierarchy of the Qing Emperor.
Not to mention compared with the organized bannermen and Baoyi people, even the Sula slaves of the Bannermen and the domestic slaves of the Baoyi people were far inferior. When those servants come to the village in Haidian, they become stewards and village heads. Even if it doesn't reach this level, it is still a master who has enough to eat and drink, shouts and drinks, and does not do farm work.
Ordinary tenants would only be envious when they saw them. Although they talked about the word "slaves", they were actually superior "masters". However, tenants who had no room for themselves did not dare to do so. Richer than others.
Of course, in the system of the Qing Dynasty, these tenants who rented flag fields were not the lowest. In fact, they can also be regarded as peripheral to the Eight Banners aristocratic system, at least they are not likely to starve to death. The bannermen have many ways to get money, and they are not so careful when collecting rent.
For example, Wang Fuchen, the big landowner in Wangjiazhuang, has long forgotten that there is such a thing as rent collection.
In addition, these tenants have much more opportunities to climb up the ladder than tenants elsewhere. They are all "candidate domestic slaves". If some banner landowners are promoted, they will naturally recruit more domestic slaves. They can make up for it.
This is how one person attains enlightenment, and chickens and dogs ascend to heaven!
Another thing is that they are still the substitute family members and long-term followers of those "officials who work in vain".
The local bureaucracy system of the Qing Dynasty was very imperfect. There were only a small number of local officials, and most of them had little ability to do things. Therefore, after the officials and white-collar workers borrowed Beijing bonds to buy vacancies, they had to recruit a group of masters, family members, and elders to take office together.
The so-called family members and long-term followers are actually candidates for officials - most of the local officials are hereditary local officials, but officials who take office must also bring a group of people with them, otherwise they will have a black eye after taking office and lose all money. Can't catch it.
Most of the family members and long-term entourage of the "officers working in vain" who borrowed Beijing bonds to buy up their positions were appointed by their creditors. But where can those creditors recruit people? Why don't you recruit some smart and reliable people from your own servants, gangsters from the outer cities of Beijing, and your own tenants to keep an eye on those "official laborers"?
The bannermen masters in Beijing have been having a hard time recently, with almost every family mourning and every household mourning.
But for the tenants outside Beijing, it means that the path to advancement has become wider. Emperor Xiao Mazi is now short of slaves, so the slave door is wide open!
Although the masters of Lao Wang's family were very lucky and none of them died in battle, their tenants and the tenants of several houses next door had more opportunities for advancement because of the growth of Lao Wang's family.
So right now, there are a lot of people coming to eat the flowing water table, and the young men among them are very energetic.
At this moment, the master of the Wang family has not yet appeared, and the tenants who are waiting to become slaves of the old Wang family have begun to ask each other about climbing up.
"Have you heard? The big white man from the next village was spotted by the bannerman's landowner's wife two days ago. He wants to recruit him as his son-in-law. He is also planning to change his surname to Guarjia. How can this guy be so lucky? Woolen cloth?"
"You have a good family. What's the name of the big white guy? His nickname is fake Wang Shikai! He can't think of the real Wang Shikai, so he might as well get a fake one! What? Are you envious?"
"I'm not envious. How can we, the people like us, afford food and shelter for those widows of the bannermen? The fake Wang Shikai is probably in trouble, so the real Wang Shikai can do it. I can follow the real Wang Shikai to Guangdong as a long-term follower. Satisfied!"
"Yes, yes, this is more realistic. Most of the widowed banner women want to remarry slaves born in their own families, and it is not our turn. We have decided to go with the old Wang family, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi! In the future, he may be King Pingnan. When the time comes, we will defeat the bannermen of Nan Wang Fan!"
"That's great. I wonder how many people Lao Wang's family is planning to recruit this time?"
"You don't know that there are too many, right? The eldest son Wang and the second son Wang have bought six alternate prefects and twelve alternate counties in Guangdong and Guangxi, plus the eldest son Wang's own alternate prefect of Shaanxi. Second Young Master’s own Guangdong Customs Administration, how many people will he have to bring to take office?”
"Is it true that there are six prefects and 12 county magistrates? Are there so many vacancies in Guangdong and Guangxi?"
"Of course it's true, Mr. Wang is the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Now Guangdong and Guangxi are on the front line of the war with Wu Sangui. Isn't it easy to find vacancies? Can't we just let the officials in office serve in the military front? How dangerous is this military front? ah!"
"You, Gao, have you come up with this idea? If Mr. Wang doesn't ask you to be a master, it will be a huge loss."
"Hey hey hey"
"You are all brothers of the Tiandihui! When we get to Guangdong and Guangxi, my father and I will definitely ask you to fill the vacancies. I will say something ugly up front. You are officials of the Tiandihui, not the officials of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Not even an official of Wu Sangui! Keep this in mind and abide by the rules of the Tiandihui. From now on, the two Guangdong and Guangxi will be our world!"
In the back garden of Wangjiazhuang, Haidian, Wang Zhongxiao was mobilizing several Tiandihui disciples who were about to serve as officials in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Most of these disciples are Wang Zhongxiao's confidants, including Master Yu, Wang Shiyuan, Wang Leiyong, Wang Quan, Wang Andu and others!
When these people heard Wang Zhongxiao's words, their eyes were all shining!
What they want is not to be an official of the Qing Dynasty, but to be the founding hero of the Wang family!
In addition, Guo Jinbao, Zhang Xiaobao, Li Fuhan, Zhou Chang and others also seized this opportunity and bought candidate counties. Even Zhang Xiaobao's father, Zhang Zhongqing, couldn't withstand his son's insistence, so he bought an alternate prefect and was going to take office in Guangdong. Of course, these three people still don't know what Wang Fuchen, Wang Zhongxiao, and Wang Jizhen are thinking.
They were kidnapped to Guangdong.
Of course, Wang Zhongxiao spent a lot of money this time. For these dozen vacancies, he spent almost half of the money he got from Shang Kexi, Geng Jingzhong, and Wu Yingxiong - Emperor Kangxi had a dark heart! The "official price" offered is not cheap.
An alternate county magistrate dares to ask for one thousand five hundred taels!
A candidate magistrate triples that to 4,500 taels!
An alternate prefect charges thirteen thousand taels!
The asking prices for such lucrative positions as salt transport envoys from various provinces and Tianjin Customs Road are over 100,000 taels!
Among them, the Tianjin Customs Road was acquired by Yang Qilong at a sky-high price of 120,000 taels!
This Tianjin Customs Road sounds similar to Wang Zhongxiao's Guangdong Customs Road, but in fact it is far different. The Guangdong Customs Road mainly deals with Western and Nanyang trade. If it can be sold, it will not lose one million taels!
The Tianjin Customs Channel is mainly for North Korea and Japan. Both countries are closed to the outside world. If you want to trade with them, you have to build your own fleet and go to sea to do business. Therefore, the Tianjin Customs Road is actually a "franchised trading company", which is completely different from the Guangdong Customs Road. That is to say, Yang Qilong was able to eat it only with King Yu Fuquan standing behind him, Chen Yonghua from the Yanping Palace standing next to him, who was proposing to join the army, and a group of "Caobang brothers" on hand.
So he was the only buyer of the Tianjin Customs Road. The reason why he paid 120,000 taels was entirely to please Emperor Kangxi - Yang Qilong was a gifter of women and money, and now he was Emperor Jian's wife. Heartbroken!
Moreover, except for the salt transport envoys and Tianjin Customs Channel, which were sold at sky-high prices, the other shortages were not actual shortages, but substitute shortages.
As for whether they can make up for it, it depends on how those officials who bought the vacancies can find their way to the local governor when they get to the local government - because of this big sale of officials, the number of officials who go to the local government to be substitutes will definitely increase greatly. It may be even more difficult to fill the gap.
In addition, these candidate county magistrates, candidate magistrates, and candidate magistrates who are sold are not in good places. They are mainly candidates from Shaanxi-Gansu, Huguang, and Guangdong and Guangxi. They are close to the front line. I don’t know when the surname was Wu!
It will be impossible to sell it then. Now the officials in the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan cannot sell it. What a pity!
But even so, the less than 500 alternate officers that Emperor Xiao Mazi brought out were still snatched away!
There is no way, there are too many people who want these officials. Not only local tycoons like Yang Qilong want to be officials, but even the four sons of Jia Hanfu's family each got a candidate county in Guangdong - without this candidate county, they would have to enter The battalion is a soldier, ready to go to the battlefield to fight Wu Sangui's people!
For those bannermen nobles and big bosses who have money in their hands and have children who are incompetent and afraid of death, buying their sons a candidate officer can justifiably keep them away from the battlefield and away from Sangui. It is really It's such a good deal.
In addition, there are some masters who are in a similar situation to the old Wang family, and they also regard this imperial court sale as an opportunity!
There are minions in Dingnangege Mansion and Pingnan Prince Mansion who bought official vacancies in Guangdong and Guangxi.
At this moment, on the official road outside Wangjiazhuang, there were about a dozen knights in robes walking slowly along the official road. Among the three leaders, one was Li Lan, who was jealous of Wang Zhongxiao's competition for "Wu Shifan".
The other two people, one is a fair and plump middle-aged man, in his forties or fifties, with a few long beards, and looks very official.
There is another person who looks like a warrior. He is about forty years old, with a fleshy face, dark skin, and fierce eyes. His beard looks a bit messy, and his forehead is shiny, and it actually glows with the color of metal under the sun. It looks like it's made of iron.
"Zhu Futai, Wang spent a lot of money this time. He bought more than a dozen candidate prefects and county magistrates in one go. Damn it, are you trying to turn Guangdong into the world of their old Wang family? Why can't the emperor notice it? What does Lao Wang’s family have in mind?”
Looking at the bustling Wangjiazhuang in the distance, it was none other than the new Guangdong Admiral Li Lan who was gnashing his teeth and badmouthing the old Wang family!
"Hmph! How could we not notice it? If the emperor hadn't noticed it, he wouldn't have let us go to Guangdong to serve as governors, admirals and commander-in-chief. Zambo, do you think so?"
The fat middle-aged man who took over Li Lan's words was the famous Zhu Guozhi!
Historically, he happened to be the governor of Yunnan when Wu Sangui rebelled, so he became a loyal martyr. But this time he was lucky. Before he could spend money to campaign to the governor of Yunnan, Wu Sangui had already rebelled.
He had previously served as the governor of Jiangsu, and was nicknamed "Zhu Bai Di". It is certainly an exaggeration to say that he turned Jiangsu into a white land, but it is certain that he was good at scraping the land.
Because he was so good at scraping, he caused two major cases in Jiangsu. As a result, he offended too many people. Later, he was impeached for "being a filial son." He was dismissed from office and went home to eat old rice - the rules of being a filial son in the Qing Dynasty, Han officials If you want to kill your father, mother, or aunt (if your biological mother is a concubine), you will have to worry about it for three years! But the banner officials only had to observe filial piety for twenty-seven days. Moreover, he was not allowed to leave the flooded areas without authorization and go home to attend the funeral. However, Zhu Guozhi was so filial that he ran home to be a filial son before the new governor who came to take over arrived.
As a result, someone grabbed the handle and gave it to me!
But now Kangxi felt that his territory was really good, so he revived him and asked him to go to Guangdong to have a good time!
The martial artist he called "Uncle Zan" was quite related to Wang Zhongxiao, because his name was Chen Shikai and "Uncle Zan" was his given name.
Wang Shikai and Chen Shikai are both Shikai!
However, "Tianxia Shikai" may not necessarily be the same family!
This Chen Shikai was an old relative of Li Guoying, the former governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi. After Li Guoying died of illness, he became an official without a backing. He led a deputy general and served as a general in Kuizhou and Chongqing, but he was not promoted even though he came and went.
But this time shit came, and Kangxi promoted him to Zhaoqing's general soldier!
Zhaoqing is the residence of the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi!
Chen Shikai heard Zhu Guozhi's words and hurriedly smiled and said: "What Futai said is that the governor of Guangdong has a promotion bid of 2,000, the admiral of Guangdong has a promotion bid of 5,000, and the humble Zhaoqing General Soldier has a town bid of 2,000, for a total of 9,000 elites. .Although it is not as good as Wang Fuchen’s 10,000 new troops and 5,000 governors, it is not without the strength to fight!"
Zhu Guozhi said with a smile: "One war is not enough. But, Guangdong is the foundation of Tiannan. We can't let one family and two families divide it equally. Why do we have to have a three-legged confrontation? After we arrive in Guangdong, we are one leg and Pingnan The Wang Mansion is one foot, and the Wang family is another. If they keep each other in check, nothing will happen. Sir Li, although you and Wang Shikai have a bit of a feud, it is nothing compared to the overall situation!"
"Hmph!" Li Lan snorted, "Futai, your calculation is wrong. The Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi is also in charge of Guangdong and Guangxi. You can't only count Guangdong and leave out Guangxi!"
"Guangxi? Guangxi is Dingnangege, Guangxi general, and Guangxi admiral, right?" Zhu Guozhi is obviously a "fan of the Three Kingdoms."
Li Lan shook his head: "Futai, you probably don't know that Dingnan Gege and Wang Fuchen had an affair. The biological father of Dingnan Gege's son Sun Jiqing is very likely to be Wang Fuchen!
Therefore, the fifteen subordinates of Dingnangege Domain must all be counted as Wang Fuchen's command! In addition, there are one or two generals and deputy generals in Guangxi who are Dingnangege's old troops, and they may be won over by Wang Fuchen.
Also, Liu Jinzhong, the commander-in-chief of Chaozhen in Guangdong, and Zu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Gaolei, are cousins of Wu Sangui. "
"Who did you listen to?" Zhu Guozhi was stunned.
He was familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but now he met Wang Fuchen who used the "Jin Ping Mei" method of war.
"Fu Honglie!" Li Lan said, "He is from the royal family of Dingnan Palace. He was imprisoned before for impeaching Wu Sangui. He was recently released. He has been re-employed and is going to be the prefect of Guangxi!"
Zhu Guozhi nodded, then pointed at Wangjiazhuang: "Let's go get a wedding drink!"
(End of chapter)
