Prince Yong's audit was unambiguous, and soon the poor silver on the sea tax account was found out, and the difference between the Fujian Division and the Zhejiang Division was 41,000 taels, but only the two principals of the Zhejiang Division were found out. On the Fujian Division's side, as Cao Hao and others expected, all the responsibility was pushed to Li Qichang.

Although the confessions of Li Qichang's subordinates in the form of several written posts following the accounts are inconsistent and quite flickering, it is impossible to confirm that Li Qichang has nothing to do with the false accounts in this case.

I don't know if Kangxi knew that it was boring, or if it coincided with the upcoming Halloween Day, and it happened that the Criminal Department reported to the Governor of Jiangnan Kali and the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Fan Shichong, to report the seizure of the pirate Zheng Xianxin and his henchmen, which attracted Longyan Dayue, Kangxi did not investigate Li Qichang's responsibility. However, he did not stay in Kyoto, but was transferred to Yunnan as the secretary of the inspection envoy and promoted to the school administration.

The remaining principals involved in the case were undoubtedly dismissed from their posts and ordered to make up the shortfall, although Mu Kexun in Zhejiang Shilang was not involved in the case, he was guilty of negligence and was also called to share part of the deficit.

As for Shi Wengui, his treatment of him is really intriguing. He was promoted to the rank of deputy commander of the White Banner. On the surface, he was promoted to the next level, but in fact, this deputy is basically an idle position, and he is far less powerful than the six servants. This appointment is tantamount to a real downfall.

The Fujian Division can't do without the chief officer, I don't know what kind of competition a few Shangshu servants have had in private, and those who originally wanted to install people to come over also turned off, and finally pushed Cao Hao out.

Cao Hao has been in the post of a foreigner for less than half a year, and he has been promoted to the fifth rank of Langzhong, because he has been in charge of the front for more than a month, and he is not busy with everything.

With the arrival of the new right attendant of the household department, Wu Yifei, a new round of standing in the household department has begun. Cao Hao had no intention of getting involved, and most of his attention was focused on the gradually revealing drought.

The next day He Maocai came, he went to the palace of Chunjun Wang, and then went to Qintian with Chunjun Wang to check the Qingyu records, and the more he checked, the heavier his heart became. "Since the beginning of spring, the rain is wet, there is no wind", although there are two cloudy days recently, but "the clouds rise, that is, followed by the wind", and then compare the records of previous years, such rainless weather continues, there is only one conclusion, that is, "summer will be dry".

Although King Chunjun did not go to Tongzhou with Hu last month, he also heard from those who had heard that because there was no snow last winter, the water level of the river was much lower than in previous years, and the emperor personally ordered the repair and construction of several new dams, and there will be no floods in Zhili this year. Last year, there was a lot of rain, which caused floods and flooded several counties in Zhili. At the moment, everyone is guarding against floods, and who would think of going to the big drought.

Starting from the Cao family and the Chunjun Palace, the Pingjun Palace, the Jueluo Family, the Zhaojia Family, the Ningchun Family and the Yongqing Family, there are more and more people looking for people to dig wells. Although it costs some money to dig a well, compared with the harvest of the same year, the family knows which is more important and which is more important. In the Gyeonggi land, in addition to the names of these magnates, there are also many small civilian households, where can they take out the money to dig wells?

A few days later, King Chunjun gave Kangxi an excerpt on the matter of digging wells to prevent drought in winter and spring. Kangxi questioned the officials of the Qin Heavenly Prison, but could not reach a useful conclusion.

Although the drought is beginning to appear, it is about to be the Wanshou Festival, and it is 50 years since Kangxi ascended the throne, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty are busy "praying for the honor of the birthday", thanksgiving and praise, who will pay attention to the people's livelihood at this juncture, and talk about the disaster situation of Lao Shizi.

Although Cao Hao is still at home every time, he always unconsciously looks at the sky, and then looks at the Wei brothers, thinking about their origins. Their brother was a farmer, and because of a natural disaster, he fled with his parents, and later his parents starved to death. If it weren't for the master who met them, they would probably have been reunited with their parents. Think about the maidservants in the family, in addition to the children born in the family, most of the others were sold by their families due to disasters.

Although Cao Hao had not witnessed the tragic situation of the victims, he had heard some of them when he was in Jiangning.

Jiangning is prosperous, but there are many displaced people who come to beg due to drought and floods every year. For fear that these people would be surrounded by diseases and epidemics, successive prefects usually placed them in one place. Lao Taijun and Li both believe in Buddhism, and every autumn and winter when the displaced people enter the city, they will set up a porridge shed to give porridge. There are many other wealthy families in the city. The Taoist temples of various temples are even more inevitable.

Cao Hao was young at the time, and he was followed by people when he moved, sat and lay down, and he didn't have a chance to see those victims, let alone contact them, so he didn't feel anything special. At that time, due to the sequelae of being kidnapped, he focused all his attention on physical fitness and ignored all the affairs of the outside world.

Cao Hao's original goals were only two, that is, to avoid the fate of early death and to redeem the fall of the Cao family. Now, the problem of the deficit has been solved, and his body has been checked several times by the old lady. Except for the wound on his leg that itched a little when it rained on a cloudy day, he really couldn't be healthier anymore. If this still can't avoid the fate of early death, then there is no way for him.

He thought about the safety of his family, and even had a plan to avoid the capital before the second abolition. Right now, I want to do something down-to-earth, not for family honor, nor for personal rights.

It's an indescribable feeling, as if a man should set a goal for himself and work towards it. But what can he do? Looking at the account books every day, listening to colleagues gossiping about the rights and wrongs of officialdom, or coming to the front of Kangxi and the fourth elder brother, shaking his tail and being an obedient minion, neither of them is what he wants. He thinks about drilling wells every day, how can he dig more wells?

For a while, but there is no proper way, you can't use the money yourself, right? That's death, and if you have a "grace" hat down, you can crush him to death. Thinking of later, Cao Hao couldn't help but feel a little discouraged, the endless personnel dumping, and the officialdom that was greedy for ink, this is the "prosperous age" that has been whitewashed and praised!

After dinner, because they thought the room was stuffy, Cao Hao and Chu Yu asked someone to move two reclining chairs out and sit under the porch. Xiyun took two maids to water the two sycamores in the yard and retreated.

Because Cao Hao has been a little silent in recent days, Chu Yu couldn't help but be a little worried, and asked tentatively: "Is your forehead unhappy?" Do you need to ask a doctor to come and take a look? ”

Cao Hao looked at Chu Yu's slightly worried face, and shook his head with a smile: "It's okay, it's probably because I was in the spirit of reconciliation a few days ago, and I was a little tired, so it's okay after these two days!" ”

"In this case, even if you don't invite the imperial doctor to come, let's use some ginseng and bird's nest to make up for it!" Chu Yu was still not at ease.

Looking at Chu Yu's tense little face and saying seriously, Cao Hao nodded her nose and said in a low voice: "It's just that the spirit is insufficient, do I need to make up for it, others don't know, don't you know?" ”

Chu Yu's face was suddenly full of shame, and he secretly looked around, but there was no one else, Fang gently slapped Cao Hao twice.

Cao Hao took Chu Yu's hand and put it on his chest, closed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.

"Are you thinking about Chu Yu?" Chu Yu asked, she didn't know why she asked like this, but she looked at Cao Hao and felt that it was like this.

Cao Hao opened his eyes, looked at Chu Yu, and nodded: "Not only thinking about Chu Yu, but also thinking about my mother." My mother has been thinking about my family affairs for a long time, and if she sees Chu Yu, she will definitely like it! ”

Similar words, Cao Hao originally said, Chu Yu thought it was to calm her heart at the time, but now she listens to it, but for some reason there is a trace of sadness.

Cao Hao shook Chu Yu's hand: "What are you thinking about?" It's just that I haven't seen my father and mother for more than half a year, and I miss them a little. My father's health is not very good, and he is old, and I, as a son, can't wait by my side, it's really unfilial! ”

Chu Yu was puzzled: "A few days ago, didn't my father-in-law and mother-in-law come to the house to write?" The family letter is still good not to read, and it is said that the second uncle has added a daughter in the first month, and now she is with her grandmother. ”

Cao Hao shook his head: "Parents are like this, because they don't want their children to worry, they all report good news but not bad news. Last spring, my father was seriously ill and kept it from me. Later, it was mentioned in the excerpt by other officials that the emperor knew about it and ordered me to go back to serve the sick, so I knew! ”

Chu Yu couldn't help but worry: "Then what should I do?" Why don't we wait for Halloween and go back to the south! Seeing that Cao Hao didn't respond, he thought it was because of the errand: "Let's ask Ama to intercede with Huang Mafa and send you to Jiangning on an errand, so that we can be filial piety by the side of our father-in-law and mother-in-law, and save our worries!" ”

What a little fool, if only it were that simple? In order to slowly eliminate the influence of the Cao family in Jiangnan, so that the Cao family will not be so an eyesore, his eldest son can be released anywhere, but he can't go back to Jiangnan. And the parents, in order to look good on Kangxi's face, they can't do without Jiang Ning, otherwise they won't be able to show Kangxi's "kindness". If you want to take the two of you to your side for the elderly, I'm afraid you will have to wait for the Yongzheng Dynasty, and it will take eleven years.

Cao Hao was thinking about what he would look like in eleven years, and he was afraid that there were a few children, and a little maid came to report, saying that there were guests in the front yard, and the housekeeper sent someone to the second gate to pass the word and ask the uncle to come over.

At this time, Cao Hao looked at the sunset, and couldn't guess which one it was? Could it be that Ning Chun is here, this kid, because he went to Qiu Niang because of this meal, and he wanted to hide it from his family, so he came out with a raft to eat and drink with friends, and Cao Hao was naturally indispensable among them.

It was the sixteenth elder brother who came, sitting in the living room with a calm face, his eyes full of irrepressible anger. When he saw Cao Hao, he didn't make a sound, turned his head, and snorted coldly, but it didn't seem like he was angry at Cao Hao.

What's wrong with this kid, he is giggling in peacetime, where can he stand such a big anger? Cao Hao looked at Zhao Feng, the little eunuch who came with the sixteenth elder brother, with a little doubt.

Zhao Feng bowed down and said, "Uncle Cao, our master just came out of the mansion of Lord Neng!" ”

Cao Hao sat opposite the sixteenth elder brother and asked, "I went to meet my future father-in-law, and I couldn't eat a closed-door banquet, so I was annoyed like this?" ”

At the beginning of the month, the palace just pointed out, Guo Luoluo, the daughter of the three-grade functional special, is the sixteenth elder brother Fujin. Speaking of which, this Nengte family also had a "dealing" with Cao Hao, the year before last when he first entered Beijing, the Guishan he encountered was this Guo Luo Luo's family. Nengte is Guishan's uncle, and he is very low-key. Cao Hao naturally will not forget that there is still an aunt in Guishan in the palace, who is Concubine Yi, the biological mother of the fifth elder brother and the ninth elder brother.

The sixteenth elder brother calmed down a lot of anger at this time, and complained to Cao Hao with a frown: "It's really a big forest, and there are all kinds of birds!" Originally, I thought that I could do my duty, so what do you want to see me do if you have nothing to say? But it's Langtu and Guishan. ”

Lang Tu is the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Guishan's father-in-law, and a daughter is the concubine of Brother Jiu.

"Isn't that the idea of hitting those tea plantations? Worth being so angry in front of you? "After the year, the Cao family's tea garden was officially handed over, and several heads of the Internal Affairs Office had their own ideas, and they made a fuss about the jurisdiction of several tea gardens in private. Although it is nominally owned by the royal family, as long as the management rights are in hand, the oil and water in it will naturally not be less.

"They eat dogs, let's just look at the excitement, I'm so angry that they can't wait to calculate me!" The sixteenth elder brother sneered: "It must be the method that my ninth brother came up with, wanting to drag me into the water!" They fought back and forth, and when they didn't come to a conclusion, they wanted to push me out as a cover. ”

"You want to take care of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Cao Hao shook his head: "This is really too trivial, do you have that patience method?" ”

The sixteenth elder brother smiled: "Or do you know me, where am I that piece of material?" Although it is nothing that Brother Ah is also in charge of the Internal Affairs Office, and Brother Jiu has also done it, I really don't have that interest. Even if you want to learn to be an errand, you are optimistic about Seventh Brother's side! ”

Thinking about the accounts that can't be finished in the household department, Cao Hao can't help but envy the sixteenth elder brother, if it weren't for his father-in-law's seventh elder brother in the Ministry of Rites, he really wants to be active and follow the sixteenth to the Ministry of Rites.

Thinking about it, Lang Tu and they didn't rub their tongues around the sixteenth elder brother, which made him wary. In addition to annoying those guys calculating themselves, he was also annoyed by the Eighth Elder Brother and the Ninth Elder Brother. He knew in his heart that in this family business, Brother Jiu and Concubine Yi were indispensable. Do you think that you can hold him like this, but it is just wishful thinking.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the prince's position is unstable, but even so, the sixteenth elder brother has no idea of getting involved. Standing honestly behind the imperial father and being a responsible elder brother is what he wants.

Thinking that Cao Hao is now in the officialdom, I am afraid that he may not be implicated when he will be involved, the sixteenth elder brother couldn't help but admonish: "Whether it is coercion or temptation, you must not wade into this troubled water, it's not a joke!" Even the fourth brother, you have to stay away. If they dare to press it tighter, and I and Huang Ama will not let you suffer! After speaking, he himself laughed: "But I'm too worried, just your lazy surname, I'm afraid that I will give you a support credit, and you won't bother to pick it up!" ”

The two also talked about the Wanshou Festival after ten days, and the sixteenth elder brother was worried about what birthday gift to offer, unlike those elder brothers who opened the mansion and divided the title, he didn't have much silver, and there was no one under him to go to Zhang Luo.

Cao Hao's eyes lit up, and he said with a smile: "I have a way here, which doesn't cost much silver, but also earns a little decent!" ”

(To be continued)