On the afternoon of the first day of July in the 48th year of Kangxi, at the garrison of the guard camp, Cao Hao ushered in his fifteen-year-old birth.

But if there is a little friendship, the sixteenth elder brother has made a post, and explained in advance that in order to add joy, only gold and silver will be accepted as a congratulatory gift, not elegant things. After Cao Hao found out, he couldn't cry or laugh, this was simply naked blackmail. It's just that although sixteen is small, it is quite thoughtful, and this commotion should not have another meaning.

Sixteenth Elder Brother and Cao Hao are both young, and when others receive posts, they think that the two of them have figured out new tricks, and they don't think much about it.

Bao Ya and Sukhbaru were the most cooperative, and asked someone to send a small gold coin early, Bao Ya Gege's was twenty taels, and Sukhbaru's was fifteen taels. Like Wu Yue Nage and others, they are reduced again, some give ten taels, and some give five taels. and he who had no gold in his hand gave him silver in proportion.

The old and new colleagues in the guard camp get along well with Cao Hao, and they are willing to join in this excitement, most of them are silver, and they have ten taels or eight, which can be regarded as a follower.

The sixteenth elder brother was quite noisy, and instructed a lot of people to prepare the banquet. However, when the group of guests was about to arrive, the sixteenth elder brother looked at the two money boxes containing gold and silver bills, but he was quite dissatisfied, and went out with a slight frown.

Today, the two guards of Detehei and Shuming were on duty in the morning, and when they were free in the afternoon, they came to join in the fun. They have all heard about the Cao family's raising of the flag, and in their eyes, this is much more worthy of congratulations than their birthday. Only Nalan Fusen, because he is familiar with the details of the Cao family, thinks more than others. The Cao family operates in the second generation of Jiangnan, and its power is unique for a while, relying on the favor and identity of the Long Live Lord. Shangsanqi Baoyi, that is the slave of the Son of Heaven, even if it is the governor and governor, he must have scruples. The Cao family has now taken off this coat identity, although it is broader in terms of children's careers and marriages, but the rise and fall in the future is really not good. If it is good if the Lord is alive, he will naturally have some protection; If the Holy Driver goes west one day, can the new emperor allow the Cao family to continue to run Jiangnan?

What Nalan Fusen thought of, Cao Hao also thought about last night. In fact, regardless of whether the Cao family raises the flag or not, it is a policy to continue to operate Jiangnan. Three generations and four people successively served as Jiangning weaving for 60 years, and in the history of the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years, the Cao family is the only special case in such a family-like local business. Although this is Kangxi's kindness to the Cao family, it is also easy to arouse the suspicion of the new emperor.

Cao Hao has been in the Qing Dynasty for eight years, and he has thought about the future of the Cao family several times, and there are only four words to summarize after thinking about it, that is, "prosperity and decline".

The Cao family, the Li family, and the Sun family are close to each other and serve as the three major weavers in the south of the Yangtze River. Even if Cao Yin has always been loyal to the monarch and has always been low-key, it is inevitable that some people will think that the Cao family is an eyesore. In fact, the most appropriate way is to arrange for the Cao family to get out of Jiangnan. But this is even more difficult, Cao Yin is the emperor's eyes and ears in Jiangnan, this is not a part-time job that can see the light. Those who take on this responsibility must be the emperor's absolute trusted confidants. The emperor is high, and how many people do you really trust? Here in the Cao family, there are ten years of nurturing by the Sun family, Cao Yin's accompaniment since childhood, and decades of conscientious work of two generations of the Cao family.

*

After the sixteenth elder brother went out for a quarter of an hour, he turned around with a smile and a grin. Wei Zhu, the eunuch beside Kangxi, followed behind, holding a tray in his hand, covered with yellow silk. It turned out that Kangxi's reward had arrived, fifty taels of gold.

Cao Hao thanked him, but he really admired Xiao Sixteen in his heart. It seems that Kangxi is really in a good mood these days, not only raised the flag of the Cao family, but even the sixteenth elder brother used his son to make trouble, and he also cooperated.

Under the impetus of some people, whether it was the prince's clan with him, the military attache of the Eight Banners, or the Mongolian kings who came to the dynasty, they all knew that Emperor Kangxi personally gave a congratulatory gift to a former imperial guard to celebrate his birthday. Therefore, throughout the afternoon, people from Cao Hao's tent came to send congratulatory gifts one after another.

First, the prince sent someone to send thirty taels of gold, and the thirteenth elder brother and the fifteenth elder brother twenty taels. The Mongol kings Belle knew that the emperor and the prince were all with them, so they were naturally not far behind. If it weren't for the example of the prince and brother and others in front, I am afraid they would have to be generous. In this way, some of them were the same as the thirteenth elder brothers, giving twenty taels of gold, and some of them were reduced, sending fifteen taels or ten taels.

Detehei and the others were dazzled by the people who came and went to give gifts, and even Cao Hao was a little dizzy. Why does Little Sixteen need so much gold and silver? So much so that in order to make money, he took Kangxi and pulled the banner alive. He bet that among the Mongol kings who gave gifts, there must be few who knew who Cao Hao was. It is estimated that everyone is confused, what kind of person is this kid Cao Hao, who has such a big face, and they would never have thought that this was all the whim of Xiao Sixteen.

Unintentionally, there was a big limelight, Cao Hao smiled bitterly, it seems that he should talk to Xiao Sixteen, and ask this kid what he needs money for, although he doesn't have much savings there, but he still has tens of thousands of taels.

In this way, in the "clanging" sound of gold and silver bills, Cao Hao spent his fifteen-year-old life. The gold and silver gifts received were carried back to his residence by the sixteenth elder brother Zhao Feng to count. At this point, the sixteenth elder brother borrowed Cao Haosheng to collect money, which is more like having "ironclad evidence". Those who got the news late, and didn't have time to give gifts on the first day of junior high school, made up for it on the second day of junior high school, and naturally sent it directly to the sixteenth elder brother.

Although the gold and silver did not fall into Cao Hao's pocket, he was still very embarrassed because of his name. The military attaché of the Eight Banners and the Mongolian kings don't have to worry about him, but the guard camp is not easy to face calmly. You must know that at this time, the purchasing power of silver is very strong, and ten taels of silver is enough for ordinary people to live for half a year. Even if it is a wealthy family, ten taels will be worth half a month's money.

Although the two guards of Detehei and Shuming are both children of the banner people, they have different family backgrounds, and they are not all rich and wealthy. If you send it back, it will be annoying. Cao Hao had no choice but to keep it in mind and wait for the opportunity to return the gift.

*

On the third day of the seventh month, the sixteenth elder brother came to Cao Hao with great interest. The congratulatory gifts received in the previous two days have finally been counted, totaling 432 taels of gold and 2,580 taels of silver. If we follow the exchange ratio of one tael of gold and ten taels of silver, these total six thousand nine hundred taels of silver. Excluding the eighty taels of silver for the banquet, Cao Hao earned a total of 6,820 taels on this birthday.

The sixteenth elder brother took the statistical list, and he actually looked like he was dancing.

Cao Hao saw that he was happy, and his mood was much better, so he asked, "The Sixteenth Master is so concerned, where does he need money?" If I still use it, I still have some savings in the capital. ”

Qing Dynasty princes usually built their mansions after the age of fifteen. Of course, there are exceptions, the twelve elder brothers, the thirteenth elder brother, and the fourteenth elder brother, the three adult princes, still live in the palace elder brother.

The sixteenth elder brother's birthday was half a month ago, and it seems that it is a matter of the near future that he needs to use silver money, otherwise he would not use Cao Hao's matter to make a raft.

The sixteenth elder brother was stunned by Cao Hao's question, and then triumphantly took out a piece of paper from his purse, opened it carefully, and held it up to Cao Hao with a smile.

It turned out to be a land deed, fifteen hectares of land, Cao Hao was a little strange, after the elder brother went out of the palace to build a mansion, he had a Zhuangzi under his name, and now he is doing sixteen of these properties. One hectare of land is 100 acres, and fifteen hectares of land is 1,500 acres.

Seeing that Cao Hao was speechless, the sixteenth elder brother stuffed the land deed into his hand: "This is for you, it is the heart of Eniang and me." As early as before I left Beijing, I heard that you were selling Changping's land, and you were still streamlining the population of the prefecture to help your father pay off the deficit in the household department. Eniang was worried that you didn't have any money in Beijing, so she gave me 5,000 taels of silver to let me earn and give you expenses. I asked someone to check in the household department, and your family's deficit is still one or two million, which is really a big hole. You are a well-known filial son, and this money will inevitably be used in your hands to pay off the deficit. In the land you sold in Changping, buy this good piece for you. In this way, you have money on your side and you are in deficit, and you have land on this side. I was greedy for a while, I bought a few more acres, and the silver money given by my mother was not enough, so I borrowed some debts from several brothers, and now I lend you to live for you, and I have made up all this gold and silver, and it is almost the same! ”

Cao Hao took the title deed and felt very heavy, but he didn't expect that the sixteenth elder brother had been collecting it for so long, and he was actually buying this for him. However, he sold the land just to help the Cao family make a show, in order to secretly invest better. Unexpectedly, it made people who really cared about the Cao family worried. He handed back the title deed to the sixteenth elder brother: "The kindness of the concubine and the sixteenth master, Cao Hao understands it, but this really can't be accepted." On the Changping side, there are still ten hectares of fertile land and a few pieces of wasteland, and they have not all been sold! ”

The concubine Wang is the biological mother of the fifteenth elder brother and the sixteenth elder brother, and Cao Hao's cousin. At present, her status in the palace register is only a noble, but because she was favored by Kangxi, she gave birth to three more princes, and she was already treated as a concubine. Whether it is in the palace or outside the palace, they are called concubines. In recent years, Kangxi's several southern and northern tours have been accompanied by secret concubines. This time, he went north to Saiwai, and because he caught up with the concubine, he stayed in the capital to recuperate.

The sixteenth elder brother hurriedly waved his hand: "There is no reason to take back the things that were sent." Speaking of this, he pointed to Cao Hao: "Look at yourself, wearing muslin clothes, and you don't have any accessories on your body." Eating in the usual days is also full of ordinary dishes. When I went out, I took a little man, and he was so tired that he was miserable with you. Don't say it's me, even Huang Ama can't bear it in his heart when he sees you like this, otherwise he won't let me mess around. Although I haven't seen you before, I've heard E-Niang mention it a long time ago. The year before last, I followed Huang Ama to the south and lived in your house, and I wanted to go to Qingliang Temple to see your cousin. Later, because he followed his brothers to inspect the river, he had no leisure. When you entered Beijing, before I saw you, I heard that you were being bullied. After E-Niang heard about it, she cried for a long time, and privately sent a lot of medicine to the Pingjun Palace. Finally, when you were healed, the news came that you had sent slaves to sell land. The sister-in-law of the Cao family, the top of Mrs. Fengsheng's heart, grew up in brocade clothes and jade food, and now he is so poor. ”

The sixteenth elder brother said with embarrassment, but Cao Hao listened but didn't know how to explain. He wears muslin clothes because cotton is more comfortable than silk, and he doesn't wear any accessories, because he thinks small objects look cumbersome. There are a lot of good things in the purse, ready to be used for gifts. During this period of eating, I was disgusted by all kinds of big meat, so I picked porridge and side dishes to eat. These are poor in the eyes of others! No wonder Kangxi's grace of raising the flag is said to be down, it is estimated that he feels guilty after knowing that the Cao family has repaid their debts, after all, the Cao family's deficit is spent for the past years. Where is the Cao family repaying their own debts, they are simply helping the emperor repay their debts. Although Kangxi couldn't bear it, according to the national law, he could only let the household officials collect debts from the Cao family.