The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 146 The Foundation of the Four Families
"Uncle Shi."

When Wang Xin arrived in the hall, Jia Zheng saw him and asked him to sit down. He smiled and said, "It's been a long time since you first came to the capital. It's been more than half a year now."

Wang Xin took a sip of the tea the butler had brought him. He hadn't drunk much, so he was already sober. He nodded and replied, "Uncle Shi was right. It's been seven or eight months without me noticing."

Jia Zheng looked emotional. Time flies so fast. It seemed like the first time he saw the boy was just yesterday.

At that time, he was just a newly promoted Dusi. That is to say, seven or eight months ago, this person was just a Zuoji. In just seven or eight months, he was promoted from Zuoji to Dusi, and from Dusi to Youji.

Even for a military officer, it is shocking to be promoted three levels in less than a year.

Then why is Zhu Wei so nice to the boy in front of him? Why can he trust Wang Xin so easily?

There is an invisible threshold between the rank of Dusi and the rank of guerrilla general. There is a huge gap in status between an ordinary general and a general leading an army. However, the Eastern Army Admiral Zhu Wei spent so much effort to train Wang Xin.

Jia Zheng couldn't figure it out, he just knew that the boy in front of him was indeed a talent, whether he was leading troops in battle or dealing with human relations.

Jia Zheng didn't think much about it, as if he had made up his mind. He mentioned one thing first, "The Ministry of War suddenly praised Wang Ziteng. I'm afraid Wang Ziteng will be in trouble soon."

"Isn't it a good thing?" Wang Xin didn't know much about what was happening in the court and needed others to tell him.

Jia Zheng shook his head and explained.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. If it is not arranged by their own people, then when others say something nice to them, there must be an ulterior motive, and if there is an ulterior motive, there must be something wrong, so nine times out of ten it is not a good thing.

Only simple people will imagine that good things will happen when something unexpected happens.

After listening to Jia Zheng's explanation, Wang Xin agreed.

The four major families prosper together and suffer together.

He was already a guerrilla general, and even the emperor's gaze was on him, but he still wanted to hide. It was like covering his ears and stealing the bell, deceiving himself and ultimately hurting himself.

Also because her surname is Wang, the women of the Wang family in the Jia Mansion naturally regard her as their own family.

Jia Zheng was satisfied with Wang Xin's attitude and trusted him. After all, his surname was Wang. Jia Zheng told Wang Xin the secrets of the four major families.

Eggs are not put in one basket.

Ningguo Mansion maintains the old path, that is, the path of nobility, representing the founding merit system of the Jia Mansion.

The eldest branch of the Rongguo Mansion is taking the military route, and the retired emperor promotes and uses military generals. The rise of military generals is inevitable, and the nobles cannot wait to die, so Jia She maintains relationships with old military friends and makes friends with new generals.

Then comes the second room.

That is Jia Zheng's branch.

Jia Zheng had limited abilities and was well aware of his own affairs, so he handed them over to Lin Ruhai very early on. Lin Ruhai was the one who planned many things, and they gave up their military careers and pursued the path of literature.

None of the eldest sons of the Ningguo Mansion and the Rongguo Mansion took the imperial examinations, but the second sons of the Rongguo Mansion, from the deceased eldest son Jia Zhu, to the current Jia Baoyu and Jia Huan, as well as the grandson Jia Lan, every son had to study hard since childhood. Not only did they go to the clan school, but they also hired many guests.

The two paths of nobility and military generals are closely related, so the relationship between the Ningguo Mansion and the Rongguo Mansion's first wife is also relatively close, but the Rongguo Mansion's second wife is relatively independent.

The Shi family remains unchanged, still following the old path of nobility, but they are extremely low-key and rarely compete. The Wang family follows the path of military commanders.
After hearing this, Wang Xin's face was full of complexity.

This is the foundation of a big family. How can ordinary people compete with a big family?
If you are lucky, you can have a three-year good fortune; if you are extremely lucky, you can have a ten-year good fortune; if you are extremely lucky, you can have a twenty-year good fortune; and if you are a trend-setter in this era, you can have a thirty-year good fortune.

But luck will always run out one day, and for ordinary people, everything will be reduced to zero, leaving only some wealth.

But big families won’t do that. Big families have a deep foundation and can survive the downturn. This is one of the reasons why they have been a thousand-year-old family.

It can also be seen from what Jia Zheng said that the Jia family is indeed a banner.

Whether it is the Shi family, the Wang family, the Lin family, etc., these allies are allocated and mobilized around the Jia family, forming a huge resource pool.

This is the uncertainty of fate. Plans are not as good as changes, and life is always full of surprises.

For example, Wang Ziteng’s unwillingness.

Lin Ruhai's early death.

Seeing Wang Xin understand him, Jia Zheng slowly explained his purpose. "Wang Ziteng's career as a military commander has probably reached its limit. Without Wang Ziteng, the first wife's family probably won't get far either." Jia Zheng offered his analysis, not telling Wang Xin that the letter was from Lin Ruhai.

Although I am not an expert on the Dream of the Red Chamber, I am still clear about the endings of the four great families.

Combined with Jia Zheng's words, Wang Xin has completely understood. Many things that he could not understand before, he now understands.

For example, Wang Ziteng's strategy of changing the cage and replacing the bird, weren't the men in the Jia family aware of it? According to Jia Zheng, the second branch of the family was a military commander, and Wang Ziteng was their external partner.

Wang Ziteng's approach is equivalent to putting the priorities before the priorities.

But no matter how dissatisfied Jia She was, he did not refuse because Jia She was incompetent.

Just like Jia Zheng was equally incompetent, the real person in charge of the overall situation in the Imperial Academy was Lin Ruhai, and the Jia family became a background for the banner. The same was true in the military, and the person in charge of the overall situation was Wang Ziteng.

If it weren't for his own fault, Lin Ruhai would have died of illness.

This is called man proposes, God disposes.

Lin Ruhai was indeed talented. Under his layout and the talents he cultivated, it was really possible for him to succeed in this endeavor. After all, the second branch did continue on this path later, but it was just a little slower.

As for Wang Ziteng.

Perhaps it was because of his lack of ability, or perhaps it was because of the great resistance, that he was indeed at a dead end. In the end, Jia She asked his son Jia Lian to go to the local area and contact military generals.

Who is Jia Lian? He's a stubborn person. It's really hard for him to go out and maintain his martial arts.

As for Ningguo Mansion, Wang Xin shook his head, feeling even more miserable.

Everyone says that elders are bad, but if there is no supervision from the elders, how many people can maintain their self-control? The Ningguo Mansion is a good example. Without the supervision of the elders, the children completely let themselves go.

These are not difficult to understand, but what is difficult to understand is Jia Zheng.

Wang Xin thought he needed to re-acquaint himself with Jia Zheng, and he said admiringly, "Uncle, you have an extraordinary mind, you see things clearly, and you can see the dangers in the martial arts."

Jia Zheng blushed and accepted it calmly, feeling proud. He had a very good impression of Wang Xin. This boy was really good, so he praised him, "Only by emphasizing both civil and military skills can one be more stable. Fortunately, you have him."

Wang Xin looked surprised. Seeing Wang Xin's surprise, Jia Zheng was even more pleased. He smiled and said, "I asked you to come here this time to tell you so many things. I also have some ideas. For example, from now on, the military will depend on you to maintain it."

I really didn't expect that the Jia family would devote all their efforts to cultivating me?

It's not necessarily a good thing. Wang Xin evaded the question, saying, "This matter is of great importance. I'm afraid I can't bear the heavy trust placed in me by my uncle."

Jia Zheng didn't know what Wang Xin was thinking, so he comforted him: "Don't worry. The eldest wife doesn't know about this matter. It's still my idea at the moment. But I know the eldest wife's ability, so you should be prepared."

Lin Ruhai's letter was written clearly and Jia Zheng could understand it.

Jia Zheng was not polite at all to his brother-in-law. His own sister had married him. Over the years, Lin Ruhai had always been his backbone.

Tell the good news first, Jia Zheng thinks it is good news, and then tell Wang Xin the bad news.

The bad news is that Fatty Feng, the governor of Yongxing, is arrogant and daring. When the Jia family was in its heyday, this man dared to go against the Jia family. Now he is even more rampant. A large part of Wang Ziteng's failure is also due to this man.

Wang Ziteng was the commander of nine provinces. Nominally, he had a higher status and greater power and responsibility than this person, but he ended up like this. Wang Xin was just a guerrilla general. Although he was not under the control of Yongxing, he was still under his command.

Jia Zheng thought of Lin Ruhai's letter and felt worried.

Crisis and opportunity often go hand in hand. Since Wang Xin is going to be arranged by the Ministry of War to go to Shanxi, Jia Zheng suddenly became unconfident as to whether his brother-in-law really values ​​this boy or wants to use Fatty Feng to eliminate him.

What Wang Ziteng failed to do, Wang Xin accomplished.

It was natural for him to become the leader of the four major martial arts families, and this was a fact without him having to say it.

My brother-in-law's arrangement was perfect, but he trusted this boy too much.

Jia Zheng couldn't imagine that if it were him, he would be helpless, so even if the boy in front of him was stronger, what qualifications did he have to fight with Fatty Feng.

(End of this chapter)