The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Summer passed quietly.

Every summer, Jia Rong didn't want to move and spent most of his time staying in the house.

From the quiet retreat of June to the somewhat chilly August.

During this period, in addition to chatting with the British delegation about science and art, he also reviewed the books sent by his subordinates, or looked at the intelligence sent by the Jinyiwei.

On the contrary, he ignored the important affairs of the court and many so-called big things.

The seventh year of the Holy Dynasty, August 14th, 8:00 a.m.

"Greetings to His Majesty! Long live the Holy Emperor!"

"Flat body."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Jia Rong casually said, "If there is anything, just pick out the important points to talk about. If there is nothing else, just prepare for the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, we can take a holiday early and stay at home with our families. There is no need to hold a royal banquet."

In recent years, very little money has been spent on ostentation, especially not many banquets have been held.

It seems that various noble ladies were often invited to banquets in the Holy Palace, or various banquets attended by civil and military officials were often held.

In fact, compared with other emperors, it was less than one-tenth of the level.

Even for events like expanding territory, suppressing rebellions, or having a son, banquets were rarely held.

There are only a few festivals in a year, and even modern countries have to celebrate them, let alone feudal dynasties that pay so much attention to etiquette.

"Your Majesty!" The Minister of Rites stepped forward and said, "Sacrifices and celebrations are rituals that demonstrate the prosperity of the Holy Dynasty. Now that the treasury is full and all nations are submitting, we should hold a grand banquet to let the world know the great name of the Holy Emperor!"

Jia Rong had a blank expression on his face. "I don't need these useless things to show my strength. What else is there?"

The Minister of Rites had a low sense of presence and did not dare to talk back to Jia Rong, so he retreated obediently.

There is a tacit unspoken rule in the Holy Dynasty.

It can be said that he is proud of his achievements.

Only when you have made achievements can you be confident.

The same corrupt official can be spared from death if he has made meritorious contributions, but will be sentenced to death if he has not.

Several ministers of works were considered to have made contributions, so they were all safe.

The Minister of War also made some contributions. Even though he embezzled huge amounts of assets, he did not affect his wife and children.

The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Personnel were not so lucky. Those who died were all serious criminals from these departments.

The left and right prime ministers have worked hard and made great contributions over the years, and have always done their jobs honestly and conscientiously, so even though they committed the crime of deceiving the emperor, they were forgiven by the Holy Emperor, and in front of the other guards and eunuchs, the Holy Emperor promised not to blame them for other people's affairs.

It was precisely because of this atmosphere that all the leaders of the Ministry of Industry were working desperately to catch up with the progress and accumulate merits for themselves to avoid death.

Corruption is allowed, but making contributions is a must!
After corrupt officials have embezzled money, out of fear they will look for something to do, do good things to seek forgiveness, and also to protect their wives, children and mothers in case their crimes are exposed.

People in the Ministry of Rites did not find many opportunities to make meritorious contributions, so their say was very low.

Although he wanted to be a famous official like Wei Zheng, Jia Rong was not the kind of person that Li Shimin was, and he would not just endure it.

The Holy Emperor in everyone's mind is indeed a benevolent monarch, but he is also a holy monarch who does not listen to advice.

If you insist on causing trouble, you will definitely be demoted.

Just because Jia Rong doesn't kill people or change officials at will doesn't mean he is willing to accept opinions humbly.

The left prime minister and the right prime minister have been doing their work honestly over the years and dare not act as Jia Rong's father and teach him how to do things.

The Minister of War stood up, holding a notebook in both hands and wearing a pair of glasses on his nose.

"Your Majesty, yesterday our spies sent us information that a murder occurred in Westminster, Great Britain. The murderer called himself the sharpshooter Zuo Luo and killed a seventh-rank governor."

Jia Rong frowned. Was this a frame-up?

The left and right prime ministers and others all showed joy!

The sharpshooter Zuo Luo is not wreaking havoc in the Holy Dynasty, but has fled to a foreign country? !

The Minister of Justice quickly said, "Your Majesty! The assassin has already sailed out to sea!"

The high official in charge of foreign affairs at the Honglu Temple stood up and said, "Your Majesty! Zuo Luo must have secretly followed the British delegation back to a foreign country. This is God's blessing on our Holy Dynasty! Long live the Holy Emperor!"

The other ministers also happily stood up from their seats, and a large group of people moved tacitly to the steps next to them and knelt down.

"Long live the Holy Emperor! Long live the Holy Emperor! Long, long live the Holy Emperor!"

Jia Rong was not happy at all.

Not happy.

Looking at a group of ministers who seemed to have encountered great fortune, Jia Rong slammed the table in anger.

Snapped!
The teacups and speakers on the table were vibrating.

Jia Rong was furious and felt very angry.

Very big!
"Are you so happy that the assassin is gone?!"

"A bunch of cowards who have never thought of arresting the assassin, let alone eliminating the trouble forever. They just want to pretend that the world is peaceful when the bad guys are not around!"

"Shameless!" Jia Rong stood up and cursed: "Shameless!"

"Where is the courage in your heart? Where is the justice? When you encounter difficulties, you think of others to solve them, and when you encounter danger, you just leave it to fate!"

"Retreat! You are a bunch of rubbish!"

Jia Rong cursed several times in anger, but he suddenly felt much better and was not so angry anymore.

Soon Jia Rong walked away expressionlessly, no longer paying attention to the useless trash behind him.

Everyone knelt on the ground, lowered their heads and allowed him to insult them.

Most people are innocent, but many are more or less ashamed.

After all, Jia Rong was right in scolding, and a large group of people were frightened.

After two or three minutes, the eunuch came over and said, "My Lords, the Emperor has returned to the Holy Palace."

The left prime minister sighed, slowly stood up and said, "Everyone, please stand up. The emperor was right in scolding you."

The right prime minister was also a little ashamed after he stood up.

"If His Majesty had not required everyone to be loyal to their duties and not delay official duties due to fear of death, the court would definitely not be so stable now."

"For the past two months, we have been able to control our subordinates and prevent them from deserting the battlefield only at the request of His Majesty."

"I didn't expect His Majesty to still be thinking about catching the thief, but we were overjoyed after the thief escaped, and we failed His Majesty's expectations."

What the left and right prime ministers say is true.

The others also knew that in the past few months, the guards of the Holy Palace had been transferred to protect the others.

Zong Zheng suddenly discovered something.

"It turns out that the emperor has been waiting for the assassin in the palace..." His words quickly made the others shudder and were horrified!
The left prime minister, the right prime minister, and the court officials present also figured out the cause and effect.

"No wonder... No wonder!" An old minister was heartbroken and in tears, "I am incompetent! Damn it! I let His Majesty face such danger alone!"

The old man cried and said, "If anything happens to the emperor, I will be buried with him and continue to serve him loyally!"

What he said was not false, but he truly had a kind of loyalty that was beyond description.

The Minister of Justice sighed and said, "I see... I never thought that among so many of us, not one of us could help His Majesty, nor did anyone understand the danger His Majesty had been in for the past few months."

"Your Majesty is determined to eradicate that demon, but we... Alas!"

After "understanding" why Jia Rong was so angry, everyone felt extremely ashamed.

There is not a single capable official in the whole court, and His Majesty has to face the danger alone! !
After get off work in the evening, Zuo Xiang went home.

As soon as I got home, my wife and daughter came out to the living room with smiles on their faces.

"master."

"Father."

The left prime minister sat down on the sofa and asked his wife and daughter who came out, "What's the matter?"

Generally, these two people don't need to come out to greet you.

The wife replied, "Master, the palace sent a Mid-Autumn Festival reward this afternoon. There is medicine for the old lady, a thousand taels of silver notes and mooncake fillings given by the emperor."

"They said that those who are getting married this year can just reunite at home, and each family can arrange a young girl to go to the palace for the banquet. They also said that she must have good temperament, good figure and good looks. I thought of letting Wan'er go."

Wan'er lowered her head in embarrassment. "My daughter has been to the palace twice. The people in the palace are all very nice. There shouldn't be any problems."

After hearing this, Zuo Xiang sighed.

When Wan'er saw this, she asked with concern, "Why is father sighing? Something must have happened."

Zuo Xiang also wanted to find someone to talk to, and soon told them with a worried look on his face about how he had been scolded today.

"Your Majesty has given us a new life." The Left Prime Minister raised his hands to the sky and sighed, "However, we, the ministers, have no way to repay you. We receive high official salaries, but let Your Majesty face such a dangerous situation alone."

"Fortunately, the beast who deserved to be cut into pieces was afraid of Your Majesty and ran away to a foreign country." The Left Prime Minister cursed the beast viciously.

Wan'er comforted him, saying, "Your Majesty is a man of great talent and vision, and you have the mandate of heaven. That beast is definitely not a match for Your Majesty. But it's good that the beast has escaped now. It will be peaceful for him to die outside in the future."

Wan'er and other ministers' daughters often get together.

Jia Rong had kicked the whole thing of etiquette away long ago, and he didn't care at all about the interactions between his subordinates.

In the past few years, there was some estrangement between the ministers. After understanding Jia Rong's attitude in recent years, although there is still some distance between the officials, the sons and sons, and the daughters and daughters visit each other frequently.

Zoos and botanical gardens have special days open to the women of court ministers and meritorious families.

When the Holy Palace holds banquets, it also gives these wives and daughters of officials the opportunity to meet each other.

Wan'er is a kind of president among the sisters in the Beijing circle. Firstly, her age is just right, neither too old nor too young. Secondly, her father holds a high position and has a strong backing.

The third is that she is smart, graceful and charming.

The sisters in the Beijing circle have been afraid for the past few months and are angry at the assassin. They hope that the beast will die quickly and his entire family will be executed by slow slicing.

Zuo Luo killed these people's husbands, fathers, and brothers, and after these people's death, their respective status would be seriously affected.

Wan'er herself was always worried that her father would be killed, and so were the other young ladies, so this group of socialites all hated the assassin extremely.

Of course, there are also a few people who are curious about and admire the assassin.

Once this kind of woman is discovered, she will definitely be beaten to death by her parents and family members.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Your brother's appointment as governor has been decided. You and your sister-in-law will be sent to the palace tomorrow to burn the tail."

The full name of Burning Tail is Shenlong Burning Tail. Legend has it that after a carp jumps over the Dragon Gate, its tail will be burned off by thunder. After ministers are appointed to the throne by the emperor, they have to offer food to the emperor.

In addition to offering food to officials to show obedience, there is also gratitude for the merit.

Burning the tail is only given when you are appointed as an official.

Hereditary nobles with meritorious service need to send women into the palace to learn the proper etiquette of meritorious service nobles and receive nourishment from the emperor's dragon energy.

Of course, only princesses and princesses of similar level could receive such nourishment. Ordinary people could not even see the emperor, and if they learned something, they would be beaten back.

The Zuo Xiang family did not have hereditary merit. They only had official positions but no titles or property.

But now that His Majesty has bestowed His Grace, everyone is looking forward to the hereditary succession.

Several people who had made great contributions had their official positions inherited by their descendants.

For example, the Governor of Luzon and the sons of several ministers were also given important positions.

Therefore, paying homage to officials and sending burning gifts must be grand.

Wan'er was very smart and naturally understood what it meant to ask her and her sister-in-law to go together to send off the Shaowei.

"Yes, father, I have long wanted to visit the palace."

Wan'er obeyed her family's arrangements, and she also knew clearly that if her family wanted to continue to be rich and prosperous, someone had to go to the Holy Palace to do things.

The left prime minister nodded and said with satisfaction: "Your Majesty is handsome and powerful, magnanimous, and not fussy about details. You have been to the palace and met several of the ladies in the palace."

"You must be respectful after entering. The emperor has given our family a new life. Back then, my father was just a small official of the sixth rank. He had no one to look after him and no foundation. He came from a poor family."

"It was His Majesty who promoted my father based on his merits and made all of you lead a good life."

"When you were a child, you were seriously ill and had a fever all over your body. It seemed that you were beyond help, so you were sent to the Lord, who was a Duke at the time. It was thanks to the Lord that you survived."

"You still have the pockmarks on your body that were left by His Majesty himself. It was His Majesty who saved you from smallpox. You owe His Majesty many lives, and you will never be able to repay him in several lifetimes."

After listening to these words, Wan'er realized that she owed that man a lot.

Not only Wan'er, but even Wan'er's sister-in-law Ye was also repeatedly warned by both her biological mother and mother-in-law.

Feudal ethics still exist, but many large families maintain them while brainwashing their daughters, making them willingly serve a man with many wives and concubines for the sake of the family.

***
Mid-Autumn Festival

Jia Rong didn't have any special feelings about the Mid-Autumn Festival. He didn't want to go out for a walk, nor did he want to spend it with the women in Nuanxiang Palace, and he didn't want to eat moon cakes.

I was in a neither good nor bad mood, so I just lay casually on the bed, watching a group of beautiful women playing musical instruments, singing and dancing in the 200-square-meter bedroom.

From musicians to dancers, from maids to accompanying female guests, they are all beauties picked from thousands.

The daughter and daughter-in-law of the left prime minister were also dancing on the stage. There were too many people who wanted to sell their bodies, and they were very aggressive...

They were mentally prepared to devote themselves, and then they found out that it was not just lying down with their legs open and then all the hundreds of people in their family would be able to prosper for hundreds of years.

They thought that if they agreed, things would be done.

but,

No, it's that simple. (End of this chapter)