As one of the nine dukes of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and one of the four most important strategists, Tong Yangjia was naturally valued by Emperor Zhu Hongsan. Therefore, after Zhu Hongsan entered Beijing, he arranged a place for the four of them, and what was prepared for Tong Yangjia was the house of the former Manchu Jierharang in Xicheng Damucang Hutong, Prince Zheng's mansion.

Prince Zheng's mansion was originally a house prepared by Emperor Yongle for Yao Guang, and after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the little emperor of Shunzhi gave this mansion to Prince Zheng Jierharang. By the time Zhu Hongsan arrived, this place became Tong Mansion again, and later Tong Yangjia was knighted, and it became the Duke of Qi again.

Tong Tuchang took the two to the big wooden warehouse alley outside the imperial city of Xicheng, which is close to the root of the imperial city, which is a symbol of the nobility of Tong Yangjia's status.

Tong Tulai's uncle and nephew couldn't help but be shocked when they saw that the original mansion of Ji'er Harang had become the mansion of the Duke of Qi. At the same time, I saw that the gate of the Qi State Mansion was vermilion, with golden door nails on the horizontal and vertical nines, and twelve pairs of doors were inlaid on the lintel, and two box-type household pairs engraved with lion patterns were guarded at the door.

The door and the household were the status symbols at that time, but this Qi State Mansion was too bold! Twelve doors, lion households, golden door nails, and eight stone steps at the door, this is obviously the prince's regulations, doesn't my uncle understand these accept the original Zilharang's mansion as it is? Tong Tulai thought about it, it was still necessary to remind Tong Tuchang, after all, now he has to follow Tong Yangjia to eat, if Tong Yangjia is unlucky, he can't escape.

Tong Tulai leaned forward and whispered, "Brother, is this mansion a little arrogant?" ”

Tong Tuchang smiled and said: "Don't worry, eldest brother, this is the emperor's grace, my uncle has followed His Majesty since Huguang, and he has been born and died for more than ten years, this is what my uncle deserves!" ”

It turned out to be a reward from the emperor, and it seems that his uncle is very favored by the emperor, so he sees that there is a way for him to re-emerge from the mountain.

At this time, the doorman at the gate of the Qi State Mansion had already seen Tong Tuchang coming, and hurriedly came out to kneel down and said, "The second master is here!" Welcome to the second master! ”

Tong Tuchang was a frequent visitor to the house, smiled and asked, "Is my uncle back?" ”

"Back to the second master, the master just came back from the cabinet, and now he is in the study!"

"Okay, I'll go in to visit my uncle, these two people are relatives of my Tong family, you arrange to wait in the concierge first, and my uncle will meet in a while!"

The disciple got the news and hurriedly led Tong Tulai and Tong Guonai into the door to serve them.

Tong Tuchang didn't need anyone to lead the way, and came directly to the study of Tong's Mansion in the second courtyard, and saw his uncle Tong Yangjia sitting in a daze in the study.

Tong Yangjia had a big quarrel with Ma Mingyuan in the cabinet today, which made him very unhappy, so he skipped work and went home, and just arrived at home to see his nephew Tong Tuchang coming to visit.

Seeing his nephew shrinking at the door of the study, Tong Yangjia frowned and asked, "Since you're here, why don't you come in?" ”

Tong Tuchang entered the house only after receiving Tong Yangjia's instructions, and then bowed down and said, "Uncle, the little nephew is here to visit my uncle!" The little nephew looked at his uncle and frowned, and he didn't know what was going on? ”

Tong Yangjia sighed when he heard his nephew ask, and said: "It's not that I'm worried about the government, now that the war in Liaodong and Shanxi is in full swing, all the materials have to be shipped from Nanjing, and the old man wrote to prepare to build a new gunpowder bureau in Tianjin Wei when he went to court in the morning, and he knew that Ma Mingyuan's husband didn't say that the treasury had no money, and he sent the old man's fold back!" Do you think the old man can not be angry? ”

"Uncle, Ma Mingyuan covers the sky with such a hand, don't the other cabinet elders have any objections?" Tong Tuchang knew that the cabinet was not monolithic, there were many factions besides Tong Yangjia, could they just see Ma Mingyuan so arrogant?

"Hey, Wang Yunchang is Ma Mingyuan's pawn, Feng Ziyong and Fu Wenlong don't know why they don't make a sound, Jiang Yueguang and Li Zhi, the two puppets, have nothing to do with themselves, and now only the old man can worry about state affairs!"

After Tong Yangjia finished speaking, he looked at Tong Tuchang and said: "You don't have to worry, today Your Majesty intends to negotiate peace with Horqin Mongolia, and wants to send a civil official to serve as an envoy to the peace talks, uncle, I recommended you, so that you don't have to go to Shaanxi to suffer!" "Tong Tuchang doesn't like to go to Shaanxi at all, and he has also found his uncle, but the emperor's holy purpose is there, and Tong Yangjia has no good way. So as soon as the emperor proposed peace talks today, Tong Yangjia immediately recommended his nephew.

Tong Tuchang was still a little unhappy when he heard the news, although there is no war with Horqin Mongolia now, and there is no danger to his life if he goes by himself, but after all, he has to get out of the fortress, and the bitter cold weather in the north is not a joke.

In the past few days, Tong Tuchang has come over every day to annoy Tong Yangjia because he doesn't want to go to Shaanxi, and now that the matter is solved, Tong Yangjia said with a smile: "What? You don't have to go to Shaanxi, are you still happy? ”

"Uncle, of course I'm glad that my little nephew doesn't have to go to Shaanxi, but my little nephew didn't come here today for this matter!"

"Oh? Then what are you looking for today? ”

"Uncle, that's it!" Tong Tuchang told Tong Tulai and other Tong clansmen about the tragic experience, and then told Tong Tulai and others that they wanted to find a way out.

Tong Yangjia sneered after hearing this: "These guys are all unscrupulous descendants of Tong Yangxing back then, when Tong Yangxing dedicated Fushun City to Nurhachi for his own selfishness, and even our Shenyang Tong clan was wiped out by the faint monarch Chongzhen!" If it weren't for the fact that you and my uncle and nephew had a big life, they escaped on the way to escort, and now they have become dry bones in the grave, and now these guys still have the face to sit in the official? ”

Tong Tuchang was young and didn't know much about what happened back then, but Tong Yangjia was already an adult in his twenties, so he naturally remembered the tragic situation of his family back then.

Tong Tuchang looked at Tong Yangjia and gritted his teeth, and said on the side: "Uncle, nephew also knows that our family was affected by Tong Yangjia back then, but at this time and then. Now there are only four or five of my uncle's right-hand men, and they are all feudal officials, and there is no one who serves as a squire in the court. And these Liaodong people are different, these people were all important ministers in the Manchu Qing Dynasty back then, and there were a lot of Shangshu servants, and because of the emperor's holy decree, no one in Beijing now dares to use these Liaodong Han army banner people, it is better for the uncle to send charcoal in the snow to subdue these people, and there is a good foil to choose a capable person from them! ”

Tong Tuchang's words are a sore spot in Tong Yangjia's heart, because Tong Yangjia is in a strange position in the Chu Party group, few people defect to outsiders in the Chu Party, so until now, Tong Yangjia can only independently deal with the blows of Ma Mingyuan's group in the DPRK, and it is very difficult to dodge every time. Ma Mingyuan has a letter to impeach Tong Yangjia, but Tong Yangjia is only one brother here, and every time he makes any moves, Tong Yangjia has to take action in person, which really makes Tong Yangjia, who is a bigwig of the court, miserable.

At the same time, Ma Mingyuan's side is very simple, as long as he signals his subordinates, he doesn't need to go to the battlefield in person, even if the impeachment fails, he will only lose a pawn, and he will not pose a threat to Ma Mingyuan, who has deep roots. But Tong Yangjia's side is not good, because there is no younger brother around to block the knife, so every time Tong Yangjia has to take action in person, not to mention the danger, Tong Yangjia, as a pavilion elder, has to confront a petty official of four or five grades, which is really a loss of identity.

Tong Yangjia was also very hesitant when he heard his nephew say this, the surrender officials of the original Manchu Qing Dynasty were almost killed, and the Han officials were divided into two factions, this is the two parties of the north and south in the early Shunzhi period, to put it clearly, it is the continuation of the dispute between the eunuch party and the Donglin party during the Wanli Apocalypse.

However, now the Southern Party is doing well because of Chen Mingxia, and some people have taken refuge in Jiang Yueguang, the boss of the Donglin Party, and now they are all working as some low-level petty officials, but the Han people of the Northern Party and the former Han Army Banner are unlucky. Feng Quan, the leader of the Northern Party, returned to his hometown in Zhuozhou, and Sun Zhiqi was dismissed and returned home because of his bad reputation, and he died at the hands of the peasant army in Shandong, and the rest of the Northern Party were only some low-level petty officials. However, the Northern Party was a big force that was in direct opposition to the Southern Party back then, and although it is now down, it still has a lot of energy.

Tong Yangjia thought about Tong Tuchang's suggestion and it was not bad, but this matter was not something that he Tong Yangjia could decide, and only the emperor could give an order.

"Nephew, what you said is good, but the emperor has already decreed that no one will help these Liaodong Han people, and there is nothing I can do about it, uncle!"

"Uncle, this is very simple, the emperor loves his wife the most, Tong Tulai's daughter Tong was the concubine of the little emperor of Shunzhi back then, it is better to persuade Tong Tulai to dedicate Tong to the emperor, what does uncle say?"

This is a good idea, Tong Yangjia is the second concubine of the Dong family in the background of the palace, but now that the Dong sisters are in their thirties, the old Zhuhuang can no longer attract the emperor, it is better to offer a person of his own clan, and he can also be favored for himself.

Tong Yangjia made up his mind and met Tong Tulai and Tong Guonai in the study, and when they saw Tong Tulai, they knelt on the ground and kowtowed, calling them uncle and grandfather, although Tong Yangjia was about the same age as Tong Tulai. Tong Yangjia also squeezed out a few tears in order to act, and this can be regarded as an uncle and nephew meeting.

The next thing is simple, Tong Yangjia heard that his eldest nephew was living in such a difficult situation now, and immediately took out a thousand silver dollars and a mansion to solve Tong Tulai's urgent need. However, Tong Tuchang also euphemistically proposed that the second concubine of the Dong family in the palace was already old, and the emperor liked young and beautiful women.

Tong Tulai is also a person of officialdom, and immediately understood the meaning of Tong Yangjia, and quickly patted his chest and said that he had a fifteen-year-old daughter, who looked like a flower and a moon, and was willing to dedicate it to the emperor. But after Tong Tulai finished speaking, he found that Tong Yangjia looked at the sky and did not speak, Tong Guonai stabbed his uncle in the back, and Tong Tulai reacted, what does his daughter's favor have to do with Tong Yangjia?

Tong Tulai thought for a while and said: "Uncle, the little girl is young and ignorant, and the little nephew is afraid that she won't know the rules after entering the palace, so why don't you pass the little girl to the Tuchang brothers, and the brothers will strictly discipline them?" ”

Tong Yangjia is waiting for this sentence, if your daughter enters the palace and gets favored, what should the old man do?

Tong Yangjia hurriedly stood up and helped Tong Tulai up and said: "It's easy to say, in this way, Tuchang's daughter is Concubine Dong's niece, and she is also her own family!" ”