Video Editor

Time passed quickly, and the wedding of Su Ning and Lin Wan'er was held. It was almost a grand oriental wedding.

Looking at this bright and beautiful new wife in front of him, Su Ning was very satisfied. "Wan'er, you will be my wife from now on."

"Well, please take care of me for the rest of my life."

"Come on! A night of spring is worth a thousand gold. Flowers have fragrance and the moon has shadow. Let's not waste precious time."

"what……"

While Su Ning and Lin Wan'er were enjoying their wedding night, Xue Baochai felt lost and alone in the empty room. However, she also knew that some things were bound to happen sooner or later, and she, a little woman, could not change anything at all.

……

Immediately afterwards, another major event occurred in the capital. The Jia family, one of the four major families in Jinling, was ransacked and all the direct descendants of the Jia family were thrown into prison.

At this time, Jia Yuanchun had just been canonized as "Virtuous Consort" and was pregnant with the emperor's child. She also received special permission from the emperor to return home to visit her relatives. Logically, the Jia family should have been honored, so why was their property confiscated?

When it comes to prosperous places in the world, the Jiangnan region is undoubtedly second to none.

The Jia family, who served as the Jiangnan weaving manufacturer, was naturally a wealthy and prominent family.

Since the Jiangnan weaving factory was not affiliated with the Six Ministries, but was directly managed by the Imperial Household Department, it was responsible for supervising the three weaving bureaus in Jiangning, Jiangsu and Hangzhou and was classified as an imperial merchant.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Jia family is wealthy in the local area.

During the late Qing Dynasty, Hu Xueyan, a royal merchant, was also located in Jiangnan. His wealth could compete with that of the country and he could even afford the military expenses needed for Zuo Zongtang to recover Xinjiang.

Therefore, the Jia family's wealth was unparalleled in the Jiangnan region.

When Lin Daiyu entered the Jia Mansion, she could see some clues.

The text mentions that the Ningguo Mansion is at the east end of the street, and the Rongguo Mansion is at the west end, which indicates that there are only two mansions on the entire street, and both belong to the Jia family.

The scale of this building is almost comparable to the royal palace in the capital.

Lin Daiyu was sitting in a sedan chair and saw more than ten people "wearing gorgeous clothes" "lined up" in front of the Jia Mansion.

Obviously, these people are the "gateguards" of the Jia Mansion, and they are all able to wear "gorgeous clothes".

The main door was not open, and only the side door allowed sedan chairs to enter and exit.

Even when they reached the door, Daiyu did not get out of the sedan chair, but continued to be carried for a distance of about "a shot's length", which was between 150 and 200 meters.

The most shocking thing is that the "old women" who accompanied her into the Jia Mansion also rode in sedan chairs.

At this time, the sedan bearers from the outer gate left and were replaced by three or four young servants to carry the sedan. They walked for some distance before arriving at Lady Jia's residence.

Then she got off the sedan chair, walked along a long corridor, around the screen, and through the hall before finally arriving at the main room.

The prosperity of the Jia family can be seen from the clothes of the people. They are the manufacturers of silk and brocade, so the clothes they wear are satin and brocade exclusively for the royal family.

The colorful brocade jacket worn by Wang Xifeng is equivalent to an ordinary family's lifetime income.

Not to mention the gold and silver ornaments, such as jade pendants, gold necklaces and ivory hairpins, which were part of their daily wear.

Even when Jia Zhen died, the Jia family spent a large sum of money to buy the coffin that had once been favored by Prince Zhong in order to make Jia Zhen's funeral more decent.

However, in the entire Jia family, only the household manager held a certain amount of real power. Although Jia Zhen also held an official position, he actually had no power.

With such extravagant consumption, even if the Jia family has huge wealth, they will eventually spend everything.

This disguised prosperity eventually collapsed due to one incident...

Jia Yuanchun is Jia Baoyu's biological sister and the eldest daughter in the family.

She had good manners and outstanding appearance since childhood. Later, she participated in a selection and eventually became a lady in the harem.

The main responsibilities of this position were to accompany the queen and assist in writing documents and memorials.

Later she gained the emperor's favor and was eventually promoted to the rank of Changzai or Guiren.

Although the Jia family became royal relatives because of Yuanchun, her status in the palace was very limited and she could not attract the emperor's attention at all.

At this time, Yuanchun unexpectedly became pregnant with the emperor's heir and was promoted to "Xian Guifei". This news was like a shot in the arm for the Jia family.

In the Qing Dynasty, the harem had two palaces, six courtyards and twelve concubines. If Yuanchun could become a concubine, it meant that she would often be favored by the emperor.

As long as you say a few good words to the Jia family in front of the emperor and give them some rewards or small positions, you can rescue the Jia family from their predicament.

After becoming a concubine, Yuanchun obtained the emperor's permission to go home to visit her family on the Lantern Festival.

With their keen political insight, the Jia family sensed a glimmer of "opportunity" hidden in this.

When a concubine returned home to visit her relatives, she would always be followed by a group of palace maids.

It would be even better if we could take this opportunity to show them the strength and sincerity of the Jia family.

As long as we treat this group of people well, they will report truthfully to the emperor after returning to the capital.

As long as they can gain the emperor's approval, he can arbitrarily grant them millions of taels of silver or appoint them to a small official position, which will bring the Jia family to a higher level.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, due to his fondness for Tong Jia, the emperor not only conferred the title of first-class duke on her father, but also gifted him a thousand gold coins to help him build a residence.

Therefore, the Jia family decided to take a risk.

They selected an area in the backyards of the two mansions and began large-scale construction, building the Grand View Garden of about 200 acres.

At this time, Jia Zheng also gradually increased his efforts in educating Baoyu. For example, after the construction of the Grand View Garden was completed, he asked Baoyu to demonstrate his talents in public.

From this we can see that Jia Zheng hopes to take this opportunity to attract the emperor's attention to himself and his son Baoyu.

Unexpectedly, this all-out "counterattack" became the fuse of the Jia family's downfall.

After the visit, Jia Zheng neither attracted the emperor's attention nor received any reward. He spent several million taels of silver but did not see any return.

What worried him even more was his daughter Yuanchun's expression and instructions before she returned to the palace.

What did Yuanchun say when she left that made Jia Zheng, a seasoned workplace expert, so nervous?

After the visit, Jia Yuanchun said to everyone before getting into her sedan chair: "If there is a chance to go home next year, please don't be so extravagant."

If she expressed this to the Jia family from the perspective of a noble concubine, then it was actually a polite remark intended to show the outside world the concubine's frugality.

However, observing her behavior when she returned home this time, she did not regard herself as a "royal concubine", but as a "daughter of the Jia family".

When she first met Lady Jia and Lady Wang, she sighed, "When you sent me to that deep courtyard in the harem, I wonder how long it would take before I could see you again..."

After she finished speaking, she sobbed.

Seeing her father Jia Zheng, she said again: "Poor families can enjoy the happiness of family, but our family is rich and powerful, but we can't get together. It really makes people feel meaningless."

From these words, it can be seen that Jia Yuanchun did not regard herself as a royal concubine, but rather identified more with her identity as a daughter of the Jia family.

From the daughter's perspective, she clearly realized that the Jia family's expenses this time were extremely huge, almost comparable to the luxury of the royal family.

Therefore, what she said to Jia Zheng was that she hoped her father would be more restrained next time. Being too ostentatious would sooner or later arouse suspicion.

Through Yuanchun's performance and words throughout the whole process, it can be seen that although she was canonized as a "concubine", her life in the harem was not happy.

Especially in the Qing Dynasty, Han concubines were often discriminated against.

It would be great if she had support from her natal family, but the Jia family would not only be unable to help her, but might also bring trouble to Yuanchun.

Sure enough, when the emperor saw how extravagant and wasteful the Jia family was and compared it with the empty treasury, he arbitrarily found a few charges and confiscated their property.

Unfortunately, only 60,000 taels of silver were seized in the end.

According to the original author's real experience, Emperor Yongzheng sent Li Wei to the Jiangnan region to deal with the problem of private salt and rectify corrupt officials.

In history, Yongzheng frequently searched properties due to the shortage of national treasury, so he was called the "Emperor of Confiscating Property" by later generations.

Although Yuanchun had warned the Jia family, it was too late. In the end, the Jia family was defeated and fell apart.

However, Suning knew that this was entirely the Jia family's own fault. When the emperor announced the implementation of the land-based tax system and the unified tax payment system for officials and gentry, the Jia family actually turned a blind eye with a fluke mentality.

Such behavior naturally angered the emperor, so he found a reason to confiscate the Jia family's property. However, in the end, for the sake of Jia Yuanchun, he still left the Jia family with a glimmer of hope.

……

In the feudal era, the "family" that was confiscated usually referred to the family property and family members.

The wives, children, family members, livestock and property of those whose homes were raided were all confiscated by the government.

Young women, those treated well, were sold into brothels; those treated poorly were sent directly to military camps as prostitutes. In the Qing Dynasty, they were even reduced to slavery and exiled to the frontier. House raids were often sudden raids, with no prior notice. First, the house was surrounded, and then all family members were apprehended and searched for hidden possessions. Then, boxes and cabinets were rummaged through, and even the ground was dug deep, to find and confiscate all valuables, including real estate and land.

In ancient times, confiscation of property was considered a serious punishment, but it was not the main punishment. It was only an additional punishment. The intensity of the confiscation of property, in addition to the severity of the crime committed, largely depended on the degree of mercy shown by the emperor.

If the emperor wanted to be more lenient, he might indicate so in the edict.

Ancient emperors ordered the confiscation of officials' property mainly for the following considerations: first, the need to punish corruption.

Secondly, some officials will be severely punished so that they cannot stand up.

Finally, the imperial court was short of money, and confiscating property could yield a large amount of money and property, which could replenish the treasury income in a timely manner.

Among these reasons, most of them revolve around money.

When the imperial court was short of money, they would find a reason to confiscate property and money. As for charges, they would accuse you even if there was no crime.

Secondly, it is the house raiding to combat crime. At this time, the house raiding is just one of the additional punishment measures. What is more important is to deal with the person.

The Cao family was raided in history and belonged to the former. At that time, Emperor Yongzheng was reorganizing the national finances and clearing up various deficits, and he did not specifically punish the Cao family.

According to the archives of the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng first sent Li Xu to help the Cao family clear the debt. Since the Li and Cao families were relatives, this was clearly giving the Cao family a chance to make up for it.

Unexpectedly, Li Xu himself also embezzled a huge sum of money and was severely punished.

Yongzheng's treatment of the Cao family may have been because he saw that Cao Yin's descendants were incompetent. If he had let it go, not only would the palace payments continue to be in arrears, but the situation would have gotten worse.

It would be better to close the case by confiscating his property, which is a bit like a bankruptcy declaration by a court in modern times, so that the debtor no longer has a heavy burden.

What's more, Yongzheng left a house in the capital for the Cao family and gave them a head position in the Imperial Household Department. It can be said that Yongzheng was quite caring towards the Cao family.

The royal family took such good care of the Cao family, so the author used Tanchun's words in the book to point out the theme: the reason why his family could not be supported was because the fortress was breached from the inside.

In the world of the Red Mansion, the Jia family was raided, and only the main culprits such as Jia She, Jia Rong, Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng were severely punished.

In his comments in Chapter 76, Zhi Yanzhai hinted that Jia She died in the end, and the cause of death was related to the confiscation of his property. Mrs. Xing's surname was Xing, which meant the death penalty.

Jia Zheng was implicated by Jia She, and Lady Wang (whose surname was Wang (deceased)) was exiled, and the same thing happened to Jia Lian and others who held official positions.

When the Jia family was ransacked, everything was confiscated, and the princes and nobles who once lived in luxury became worse off than ordinary people.

The poem "Hao Le Ge" says: "I felt sorry for the coldness in my torn coat yesterday", which shows that the Jia family experienced a difficult and miserable life after the house was ransacked.

Jia Baoyu even became a beggar and begged on the streets.

The writing structure of Dream of the Red Chamber is to see the big from the small. The author miniaturizes the Yihong Courtyard into a small Jia Mansion.

So in the Yihong Courtyard, there is Qingwen who is like Daiyu and Xiren who is like Baochai, and there are a large number of servants and maids who quarrel and fight and cause trouble, just like in the Jia Mansion.

Therefore, the search of the Grand View Garden became a rehearsal for the search of the Jia Mansion.

So what happened after Yihongyuan was raided?
Is everyone dead?

No, only Qingwen, Fangguan and Sier were driven out, and accordingly, only a few people were arrested when the Jia family's property was searched.

Jia Baoyu, Xiren, Musk Moon, Qiu Wen and Bi Hen are all fine.

The search of the Grand View Garden was a rehearsal for the confiscation of the Jia family's property. The reason was that the Jia family was short of money and had too many servants who were dishonest. Now there was a reason to investigate gambling and fire people. They simply used this as an excuse to collect some evidence, arrest the wrong person and fire him, and save some money at the same time.

The reason why the Jia family was raided was probably that when the Zhen family was involved in something, someone took the opportunity to sue the Jia family, which led to the raid. After the raid, for some reason, the court let the Jia family off to a certain extent.

The book describes the fate of everyone after their homes were ransacked. The general meaning is: "The earth is so clean and white." Of course, few of them have a good ending.

But although some died young and some became widows, none of them suffered the worst consequences such as being sent to the Jiaofangsi, exiled to Ningguta, or having their entire family executed.

Since the beginning of Dream of the Red Chamber, the Jia family has been in a desperate situation, declining day by day, and only had a last glimmer of hope when the Grand View Garden was built.

The root cause of the Jia family's decline was not the confiscation of property, but the extravagant spending to maintain its superficial splendor, the unfilial descendants and the lack of successors in the family, and the chaotic internal management, corruption, debauchery and collusion.

Of course, if what you think of as "miserable" is the execution of the entire family and the punishment of nine generations of the clan, then the end of the Jia family was not miserable at all.

In fact, those who were directly involved in the crime were not the Ning Mansion, but the brothers Shezheng and Wang Xifeng in the Rong Mansion. Jia Lian was implicated because of his wife.

"Dream of Red Mansions" describes a wise ruler in a prosperous era, so it is impossible for him to implicate innocent people.

After She, Zheng, Lian and Feng were convicted, if the Jia family had outstanding children who took on family responsibilities, the family could still continue to prosper.

However, with the economic collapse, "there was no one to plan and strategize", the family lost its cohesion and had to be scattered and "descendants dispersed".

In general, the confiscation of property was just an important link in the decline of the Jia family: even without the confiscation of property, the Jia family would still have declined, but just more slowly; with the confiscation of property, the Jia family might still have had a chance to revive if there were outstanding talents.

"I saw him build a tall building, I saw him entertain guests, and I saw his building collapse." Good times will come after bad times, and honor and disgrace have been cyclical since ancient times. This is an eternal law.

But poverty alone is already very miserable for these young men who only know how to "live in wealth and honor".

Thunder, rain, and dew are all gifts from God.

In the feudal dynasty, there were no such things as centuries-old prestigious families in front of the emperor.

The emperor can make you a prominent family overnight, or make you lose everything in the blink of an eye.

A phoenix in distress is no better than a chicken, and that's what they are talking about.

In fact, the logic of all things in the world is inherently connected, and the tragedy of the Jia family is actually buried in various earlier details: for example, the rampant corruption in the Jia family, the crooked top beam leads to crooked bottom beams; and Wang Xifeng's abuse of power, usury and harming people, etc. The building is about to collapse, and it will be destroyed from within.

As for Baoyu, you might think, he's a well-educated, handsome man with a talent for poetry and painting. How could he not have a good life? Couldn't he have relied on his talents, like calligraphy and painting, to earn a living?

But look at the author Cao Xueqin's own life in his later years. He lived by selling calligraphy and paintings and relying on help from friends.

Having been used to a privileged life since childhood, he really doesn't know how to be frugal and live a simple life like ordinary people, and his means are only enough to live a poor life.

Cao Xueqin's youngest son died because he had no money to treat his illness, and he himself died in poverty and illness.

Baoyu is not even a scholar. He can only write obscene lyrics and songs when it comes to poetry and painting. How can he expect to make a living?

Write poems and draw pictures for people every day?

But is Baoyu the right material?
If he were asked to go from a life of luxury to eating steamed buns and selling calligraphy and painting overnight, he would probably rather die than do it.

What's more, in ancient times, there were few people who could survive solely by poetry and painting. The levels of people like Li Bai, Du Fu, Liu Yong, and Tang Bohu were many times higher than Baoyu's, but they could not make a living solely by these.

After their house was ransacked, Baoyu and others had to take responsibility. What was even more difficult to bear than the decline in living standards was the tremendous mental torture. When he could no longer bear it, he had no choice but to become a monk to escape.

The Jia family was extremely wealthy before, so they were bound to be envied.

Later, when they were raided and brought down to earth, these people would only step on them. How could they not seek revenge on those whose families were destroyed by Fengjie's usury?

Compared with the paradise-like days before, the period after the Jia family’s property was ransacked was definitely one of worse and worse.

……

Although Suning was reluctant to say much about the Jia family's affairs, he had been trying to make arrangements so that Jia Baoyu would not suffer too much in prison.

One day, Su Ning went to the prison to visit Jia Baoyu, but Jia Baoyu was no longer as bright and handsome as before. "Brother Bao, are you okay?"

"Young Master, why are you here? What's the situation outside now?" Jia Baoyu also became excited when he saw Suning.

"Your Jia family is finished." Suning looked at Jia Baoyu and said with emotion.

"Where are my grandmother and Sister Lin?"

"Your grandmother couldn't accept the confiscation of her property and passed away on the spot. As for Lin Daiyu, she has been taken to the Su Mansion by Xue Baochai."

"Young Master, please take good care of Sister Lin. She is weak, so I'll have to trouble you to take care of her from now on."

"Don't worry! I've already hired a famous doctor for Lin Daiyu. When you get out, you can take care of yourself."

"What? Can I still be released?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem! I will ask the emperor for help."

"Young Master, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness! If there is an afterlife, I will definitely repay you for your kindness."

"No rush! We can discuss our affairs later. Besides, the four great families of Jinling have all been confiscated, and Shi Xiangyun has been sold to the Imperial Music Bureau. I've already bought her out. Xiren and the others haven't been affected, so you don't need to worry too much."

"Thank you."

……

(End of this chapter)