In the autumn of the tenth year of Kangxi, it was simply the beginning of a nightmare for the old men, aunts, sisters and children of the Eight Banners in Beijing.

The battle in southwest Sichuan not only broke the phantom of the invincibility of the Eight Banners Force, but also made these Eight Banners old men, Eight Banners aunts, Eight Banners sisters and Eight Banner children in Sijiu City really taste the loss of their sons, husbands, brothers and fathers. For some of them, it's the sky falling, the ground sinking, the pillars of the family falling and the hope for the future gone!

Starting from the seventh day of the seventh month of July, the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers led by Prince An were broken by the 100,000 rebels led by Wu Sangui, a traitor, in the territory of Xuzhou Mansion in southwest Sichuan.

At the beginning, people were still in disbelief for the defeat of the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers, but soon realized that the Qing Dynasty was likely to be in a national disaster, and on July 22, ten days later, as the Yamen of the Eight Banners in the city began to post a funeral notice, and began to distribute letters with the words "so-and-so is not in the king's business" and bags of pension silver, those in the city of Sijiu found the names of their relatives and received the letters and pension silver on the funeral notices. Only then did they realize that the catastrophe was not the Qing Dynasty for the time being, but themselves!

They have lost their most important family members forever!

And since July 23, the color of Sijiu City has changed - almost every household is vegetarian, every household hangs white silk, day and night, there is a cry, and everywhere you go, you can see people burning paper money.

Early in the morning, Wang Zhongxiao and Wang Jizhen also changed into plain clothes, carried two large boxes of gifts, and walked out of the house in Big Tofu Lane with a serious face, along Chongwenmen Inner Street all the way to the south, to the residence of Zhenglanqi, alas, looking like they were going to "eat a banquet".

The two of them, especially Wang Zhongxiao, are also not big "stars" in Sijiu City. There were many people who greeted him along the way, but there were no good words, and the opening was "Condolences and changes", "Who is gone in your family" and so on.

Wang Zhongxiao was okay, he sighed when he heard this, and replied: "My eldest brother is gone (Wu Shilin)"

And when Wang Jizhen heard these words of mourning, she looked unlucky with her dead father, and she didn't know that she thought that Wang Fuchen was gone!

However, his unlucky appearance is not unreasonable, because today he is not going to eat the banquet, but to pay for the levy. Nazheng is also called Na Yuan, which means that the man's family goes to give the woman's family a dowry.

What a festive thing!

The male family is the eldest son of the governor of Liangguang, and the female family is the youngest daughter of the governor of Shaanxi, and she is no longer the former governor of Shaanxi!

After accepting the petition, Jia Hanfu has come back to the mountain, and once again got the appointment of the governor of Shaanxi, and will go to Xi'an to take office in a few days - Jia Hanfu is a rare good official, not corrupt, not bribery, not rectification, but also pay for his own money to run a school, the revival of "Guan Xue" in the Qing Dynasty can be said to have started from his old man. So he has a high reputation in Shaanxi Province. When Wu Sangui was about to hit Shaanxi, it was obviously beneficial for the Qing Dynasty to let him serve as the governor of Shaanxi.

On the one hand, men and women are married, and on the other hand, high-ranking officials have to do it, which is a great thing for double happiness.

But isn't this a "good day" that is full of vegetarians? How can you blow and blow? Is this a celebration of the heavy casualties of the children of the Eight Banners?

Of course, postponing the wedding is not appropriate. Now that the three ceremonies of the six wedding ceremonies have been completed, such as Nacai, asking for names, and Najib, the next step is to invite and welcome. According to the original arrangement, it can be completed before Wang Zhongxiao, Jia Hanfu and Wang Jizhen take office.

In addition, Emperor Kangxi also issued a special edict not long ago, once again emphasizing that "all subordinates, the mourning time cannot exceed 27 days, and marriage is not allowed to be postponed for too long because of the funeral" - the children of the Eight Banners are insufficient, and they must speed up production!

In this case, how can the Wang family and the Jia family, who have no dead people in the family, postpone the wedding? Isn't this sabotaging the production work of the children of the Eight Banners? Beware of the book ginseng in the imperial history!

So Wang Jizhen had no choice but to quit the drum group, and he and his brother Wang Zhongxiao casually carried two large boxes of gold ingots (the box is quite big, and the gold ingots are not a few catties) and went out

When the two brothers Wang Jizhen and Wang Zhongxiao arrived at the Jia family's mansion in Xiliu Hutong, Chongwenmen, the entire alley was a miserable and bitter rain.

Jia Hanfu's official is not small, but his family's mansion is not big, it is an ordinary four-entry courtyard, it looks quite old, and I don't know how many years it has not been renovated, and it doesn't look like the governor's house.

Moreover, the courtyard of this Jia Mansion is also a little cold.

"Is this it?" Wang Zhongxiao felt that something was wrong, "Brother, you didn't get the wrong way, right?" ”

"Can this be wrong?" Wang Jizhen glared at her brother, "This is my daughter-in-law's house!" ”

"That's not right, isn't Jia Taibao (Jia Hanfu added the crown prince Taibao in the sixteenth year of Shunzhi) to be Futai in Shaanxi? When our father was the governor of Liangguang, the threshold was about to be broken! ”

Wang Jizhen smiled bitterly and shook her head: "Can this be compared?" Who is our father? A big corrupt official, what kind of corruption does he dare not do? What kind of official is my father-in-law? That's a Qing official who will go down in history! ”

"Hey, what's clear, I won't be able to do it in the future" Wang Zhongxiao didn't go on, and it would be a shame to go on.

No matter how Jia Hanfu served the country and the people, he was also on the goods of "Erchen Lu" in the Qianlong Dynasty. If he doesn't want to be on "Erchen Lu", then he can only be a third minister!

After Wang Zhongxiao stopped talking, he walked quickly to the door of Jia Taibao's house and patted the door, "popped" twice, and the door opened, and then he saw a white-bearded old man, who looked sad and sad, and then heard the noisy voice.

"Amma, I didn't say you. I've been a governor for so many years, why don't you make a little more? Now that the imperial court is going to sell the official beard, if you have money, my second brother and third brother and I can donate a real shortage of officials now! ”

"That's right, if we have a real shortage of officials, we don't have to be soldiers to fight with Wu Sangui!"

"There is no real shortage, and the alternate is fine! Let's buy four taels of shortage. I went to the territory of your old in-laws' army, are you still afraid that there is no shortage to make up? ”

"That's right, now the Dutong Yamen can prepare for the conscription, except for the boss, none of our four brothers have run, and then you will wait for the white-haired people to send the black-haired people!"

This should be Jia Hanfu's four filial sons, Jia Guobin, Jia Guodong, Jia Guoqiao, and Jia Guokai, counting their fathers.

Although the brothers of the Wang family often educated their unreliable father in the past, it was inconvenient for outsiders to know about educating their father after all, so they were quite embarrassed now, and they were embarrassed to enter the Hanging Flower Gate, so they just waited in the outer courtyard, waiting for the old servant of the Wang family to go in and report.

However, the old servant's movements were a little slow, and before he could get into place, Jia Hanfu had already begun to reply, "I have already asked you to read more books, read more books, don't you have all the exams?" You are flag people, how easy is it for flag people to take the test? Little Sixth Brother, your second, third, and fourth brothers have no hope, your fifth brother died early, you are still young, and you can study hard! ”

"What to read! Buy it. You can also buy it! ”

"You, you, are you going to be angry with your father? If you don't study hard, you Ama and I, I'll be" Lao Jia seemed to be really angry this time.

"What's that for you?"

"I really took that little beauty from the Wu family as a concubine, and I let her have another seven!" Jia Han Fu Jia old man really has a good trick!

Now the brothers of the Jia family are in a hurry, Jia Hanfu is a Qing official, and he doesn't have much property, if he wants to share it with one more little brother, the brothers can get even less. But before they could get mad, the old servant had already informed the master of the news of the visit of the two brothers of the Wang family.

As soon as I heard that there was a visitor, the "infighting" of the old Jia family ended immediately, and when the door of the hanging flowers was opened, the five fathers and sons of the Jia family were called a father and son!

I saw the middle station of the old man Jia's happy heart, and there were two sons on the left and right, and the old man Jia was greeted by the hanging flower gate like the stars and the moon. The brothers of the Wang family didn't hear about the four Jia Gongzi's godfathers, they first paid a thousand salutes to the old man Jia, and then exchanged favors with the four Jia Gongzi, which was called polite.

After a long period of fighting, Wang Zhongxiao and Wang Jizhen were invited into the middle hall of the courtyard by Old Man Jia and the four Jia Gongzi, and then the guests and hosts sat down, and the servants of the family served tea.

After a few people drank tea for a while, and chatted for a while, Wang Zhongxiao finally couldn't help but ask the Jia family about selling officials in the imperial court, "I heard that the imperial court is going to open a donation class?" ”

"Yes, there is such a thing," the young man named Jia Guokai, who was in the sixth line at home, immediately took over the topic, "It has spread all over the world. Brother Shikai, you are so well-informed, don't you know? ”

I really don't know. Wang Zhongxiao didn't stay in the city these days, but took his family to the Zhuangzi in Yuyuantan to take a vacation - he was tired a while ago and couldn't take a good rest? And now that Wu Shifan is still hiding in Yuyuantan, Kangxi has issued a secret order to the sticky pole again, asking them to secretly track down Wu Shifan's whereabouts. Wang Zhongxiao was very worried, so he personally guarded the Zhuangzi in Yuyuantan.

In addition, Wang Zhongxiao stayed in the Zhuangzi of Yuyuantan in order to cultivate a relationship with that Wu Xiaogang and enhance understanding. The little scumbag is still small. Wang Zhongxiao was ready to let her grow up and pass through the door again, so he "cultivated" first.

And Wang Jizhen didn't know that he had asked for leave from the yamen in the past few days and was dedicated to handling his own marriage. For him, this matter is not just as simple as marrying a wife and taking a concubine (Wu Yingxiong's second daughter was obtained by him, and she is ready to do it in pairs and do it together), but it is a matter of life!

Because Wang Fuchen is now sitting in Liangguang, it is impossible to come back to attend his son's wedding, so after marrying the daughter of the Jia family, he has to take her to Guangdong to salute the old man Wang Fuchen.

He's gone. That's gone, so you'll have to prepare.

As for selling officials and buying officials, he thinks that the old Wang family is going to be reversed, what kind of officials of the Qing Dynasty are buying? Isn't that a waste of silver? So he doesn't care about that.

"Sixth Brother Jia, tell me quickly," Wang Zhongxiao is interested in buying an official, "How to buy this official?" ”

"Brother Shikai," Jia Guokai looked at Wang Zhongxiao with a curious expression, "Didn't you put some Guangdong Customs Road?" Wen Sipin's Taoist, do you still want to buy an official? ”

Wang Zhongxiao was originally a general soldier, because of the defeat in southwest Sichuan to the first-class guards who brought back the third grade. A first-class guard can be released as a military attache to have a lieutenant, but if you want to put a civilian position, it is not so big.

The civil officials of the Qing Dynasty were much more valuable than the military officials, and the civil officials of the third grade were according to the local envoys!

It is impossible for Wang Zhongxiao to let go of Guangdong as an envoy!

Therefore, when the guards are released as civil officials, they have to be lowered to one or two levels, and the first-class guards of the third grade and the first class of the guards put a customs road of the fourth grade, which is already very fragrant.

"I have an official myself," Wang Zhongxiao said with a smile, "but I also want to buy an official for a few of my dear relatives and friends. I don't know if I can buy the real shortage of counties, counties, master books, and classics? ”

The magistrates, county officials, master books, and canonical histories are all the most basic officials, who control the grassroots power of the Qing Dynasty and directly rule the common people under them.

Don't look at Wang Fuchen's Liangguang Governor, he seems to be very powerful, but he, the governor, has no territory and people directly under his jurisdiction

And without the territory and people directly under the central government, Wang Fuchen has no way to carry out the construction of the base area, and there is no 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 already moved the idea of sending officials he could control as much as possible to Liangguang as the magistrate of the county by following the path of the selection of the officials. However, the limitations of this path are very large, and there is no way to make Wang Zhongxiao's real henchmen directly become the magistrate, because most of his henchmen are not qualified to participate in the election.

Now Kang Mazi is directly selling his official position in order to raise military spending, which is easy to do!

When Jia Hanfu heard Wang Zhongxiao's question, he shook his head with a smile and said: "Virtuous nephew, you still don't know much about the local official system of our Daqing Dynasty, and every county in Daqing has a magistrate, but there are very few county officials, master books, and canonical histories, and most counties don't have county officials, master books, and canonical histories, and the whole county has a prefectural county." ”

There were actually very few officials in the Qing Dynasty who needed them!

Not only are there no second-level adjutants in the county, but even at the prefectural level, even in the governor's yamen and the governor's yamen, there are no second-level governors and governors.

If you want to "take the exam" in the Qing Dynasty, it is really difficult, unless you are a flag person.

Wang Zhongxiao said thoughtfully: "Then I will buy more Zhixian in Guangdong and Guangxi!" Whether it's a real shortage or a standby, if there is one, it's best to buy both! ”

Jia Hanfu touched his white beard, squinted his eyes at Wang Zhongxiao, pondered for a while, and then said: "Virtuous nephew, if you want to be rich, someone can also buy the alternate prefect and the alternate Dao!" When the time comes, your father can let the alternate prefect and the alternate province go to the acting prefect. ”

"Deputy?" Wang Zhongxiao's eyes lit up, "Yes, Zhengyin Zhixian has the approval of the Ministry of Officials, and the acting Zhixian only needs to be appointed by the superintendent. It's just that the acting must be a high-ranking official and a low-level official, and if you can buy more alternate prefects, you can let them go to the acting county government. ”

Jia Hanfu smiled and said: "Virtuous nephew, the old man will teach you a trick again, although there are a large number of candidate county officials in each province, but when you are the governor, you will definitely deduct some county magistrates and let your own people act as agents." This has two advantages: first, it can actually control some of the territory; the second is to make the official shortage more demanding; Three. It is an alternate officer who can let the superintendent yamen run more errands! These alternates don't need to give money, they can be called in vain, and they can also save the money for the master. ”

This Jia Daqing official is not a good boss, if he doesn't work hard in office, he naturally can't afford to hire a sufficient number of masters - the governor yamen is equivalent to the provincial government of later generations, no matter how elite the army is, there can't be only one high-ranking official in this provincial government, right? How does this work? Therefore, the governors of the Qing Dynasty had to pay out of their own pockets to invite a large number of masters to help with their affairs. And the officials who are candidates for election in the province are the governors (governors) who work for nothing, that is, in the "provincial government" for nothing, 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, Wang Fuchen and Wang Zhongxiao, father and son, are both big corrupt officials for the country and the people!

Not only do they have the money to invite their masters, but they also have the money to buy officials for their beloved relatives and friends!

Thinking of this, Wang Zhongxiao smiled and said to Jia Hanfu: "Jia Shibo, I'll discuss something with you!" ”

"What's the matter?"

Wang Zhongxiao said: "The younger generation wants to buy more prefects and counties. But I can't do it alone, I want to ask your old four sons to help me become this official! ”

"Amma, we have to help with this!"

"That's right! It's all my own people."

"Our brothers are idle, and it's good to go to Guangdong to be a magistrate!"

"It's much better than going to be a soldier of the Eight Banners and sending them to death!"

Jia Hanfu's four sons are really warm-hearted, and they all want to help Wang Zhongxiao.

Jia Hanfu smiled and nodded, "Since the old man's four dogs all want to go to Guangdong to be officials, the old man won't stop him. But the old man wants to remind Shi Kaixian's nephew that this official is not too cheap. You'll have to get enough money to go and sweep the goods! ”

Wang Zhongxiao smiled: "Don't worry, what I have is silver!" ”

Jia Hanfu said to Wang Jizhen again: "You also go and buy an official, don't buy Guangdong anymore, it's not appropriate for the father and son to be officials in the same province." Or buy a prefect of Shaanxi, and go back to Shaanxi with the old man! ”

(End of chapter)