Chapter 368 Wang Ren’s letter asking for a huge sum of money
In the afternoon of spring, the sky is blue, the breeze is gentle, and there is a sense of vitality. The westward slanting sunlight gradually shines on the private alley between Ning and Rong, and reflects on the mottled walls, emitting an inexplicable light.
Jia Zhuan, who suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Sister Feng: "Aunt Feng seems to have something else to do?"
The sudden words caused Sister Feng and Ping'er to stop together. Ping'er even made eye contact with Sister Feng in shock. Sister Feng understood that Ping'er's eyes were asking her: "Didn't we agree to delay it for a while?"
What?"
Sister Feng shook her head lightly towards Ping'er, but heard Jia Lan say in a warm voice: "Auntie invited me to go on this journey. At the beginning, my face was a little nervous but I couldn't speak. I guess there must be something difficult.
"At this point, Jia Lan straightened his face: "If anything happens, aunt just said that no matter what the matter is, my nephew will definitely help."
After hearing this, Sister Feng opened her mouth slightly, then pursed her lips, and finally looked at Ping'er with emotion and said: "Just because of this hard work, my good nephew is infinitely better than the one at home!
"
Ping'er smiled and nodded.
"That's right, around the time of the Lantern Festival, I received a letter from my brother Wang Ren..." Sister Feng told Jia Lan.
"Wang Ren?" Jia Lan frowned when he heard this name, and then recalled what he had seen and heard about this person in his mind.
The four families of Jia Shi, Wang Xue and others sound like the same family, but in the original book, except for the Jia family, Cao Gong's descriptions of the other three families often have a sense of mystery. For example, Wang Xifeng's life experience is a mystery.
In the original book, it is only said that she has a brother like Wang Ren, and that Wang Ziteng, who is in charge of the royal family, is Sister Feng’s uncle [Note 1]. As for the names of Sister Feng’s biological parents, Cao Gong did not clearly explain, but at this time
In the world of , the situation of the Wang family is somewhat similar to that of the Jia family, that is, Wang Ziteng, who is in charge of the power, is not actually the head of the Jinling royal family.
The Wang family has twelve houses in total since the capital Taiwei took control of the county prince, two of them are in the capital, and the rest are still registered.
The father of Wang Xifeng and Wang Ren is the eldest son of the second wife in the capital, the eldest son of the Wang family; the current governor of the three sides, Wang Ziteng, is the second son, but his talent is more outstanding than his elder brother, and he was praised by the Xianrong Kingdom as a rising star of the generation, so
Mrs. Wang then passed the title of the royal family to the eldest son, and let his second son inherit the title, so that the second son could run the officialdom, while the eldest son would focus on handling family affairs.
In the early years of Chunzhi, the power of the Jia family was greatly weakened after several changes. Jia's mother made the decision to let Jia Lian marry the legitimate daughter of the royal family. After that, she continued to transfer the Jia family's relationships in the army, especially in the capital camp, to the Wang family to support the prince.
Teng was promoted to be the governor of Jingying and served as the leader in front of King Jia Shi Xue Ming.
Leaving Jinling, the hometown where he has been operating for many years, and coming to the capital, all relationships have to be re-established. This is naturally a huge challenge for Wang Ziteng, but it is not an easy thing for the uncle of the Wang family to give up his title.
Regardless, he was the founding earl after all. Although he was not as noble as the four princes and eight princes, in people's hearts, the title of the founding king was always more valuable.
When the old man of the Wang family passed away, he gave up his title and returned to his hometown with his coffin in his coffin. Because of this, the reputation of the old man of the Wang family was good among the people. At least among the scholars, he was said to have the style of "Taibo Zhongyong".
When he came to Jinling to visit relatives during his travels to the south, Jia Lan also paid a visit to the uncle of the Wang family, an old man with a straightforward personality.
He was in his sixties and had just suffered a serious illness two years ago. His face looked a little weak, but he was in good spirits. He was very happy to see Jia Lan and held him for a chat for almost half a day, starting from the relationship between the two families.
This daughter is Wang Xifeng.
Sister Feng was very popular with the uncles of the Wang family. She was brought up as a boy since she was a child. Everyone in the Wang family called her "Brother Feng". When she came out of the cabinet, she added the word "Xi" to her name.
Xi means light, "Poetry·Zhou Song" says, "The time is pure Xi."
Sister Feng is a beam of light wherever she goes.
This name is a wonderful one, which shows that the uncle of the Wang family who named his daughter this name knows Sister Feng very well.
Xi means Xingye, "Shangshu·Yao Dian" says: "A hundred kinds of work are allowed, and the common people achieve Xianxi."
Sister Feng came to Rongguo Mansion and took over the responsibility of housekeeper from Mrs. Wang and the hope of revitalizing Jia Mansion.
In this way, since Mrs. Wang, the Jia and Wang families have become more intimate, and they can be said to be one body!
But is this really the case?
The transition of power is not a transfer of power by practitioners. It is done with just one initiation.
The relationship between people may be simple at the beginning, but as time goes by, they will fall into various rules and bring many involuntary consequences. Officialdom has always been about everyone adding fuel to the fire.
Gao is only the icing on the cake and rarely provides help in times of crisis. In the eyes of many people, the fallen Jia Mansion may be the best Jia Mansion.
At the beginning, Wang Ziteng may have really relied on Jia's family wholeheartedly, but more than ten years later, whether this feeling is the same, I am afraid only Wang Ziteng himself knows.
But at least, the relationship between Wang Ziteng and the Jia family is still very close. His wife often visits, and she also brings her and Wang Ziteng's daughter, Wang Jinxiu, Jia Baoyu's "cousin of the Wang family".
From the perspective of outsiders, in the hearts of the elders of these two families, the idea of kissing and re-kissing may not exist.
But relationships are always mutual.
During this trip to Jinling, Jia Lan discovered that the younger generation of the Jia and Wang families did not have much contact with each other.
For example, Sister Feng's brother Wang Ren, like most officials' children, is modest and courteous, abides by hierarchy, and has a sense of superiority in his bones. The degree of his rhetoric will vary depending on the topic. After more experience and maturity, he may be a good person.
The lord of preservation.
As the eldest son of the eldest branch of the Wang family, Wang Ren hardly interacted with the Jia family. Unlike the enthusiasm of the Wang family, Wang Ren's sense of alienation when he met Jia Lan was quite obvious.
Wang Ren seemed to care about his sister Wang Xifeng on the surface, but Jia Lan could feel that this concern was more like a routine matter.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After that, Jia Lan showed off his massage skills. After dredging the meridians, not only did the Wang family look much better, but the rheumatism that had been bothering him for many years also improved. Only then did Wang Ren
Jialan looked a little better.
However, Jia Lan still noticed a hint of worry from the Wang family uncle's slightly withered face.
Later, when he returned home, Jia Lan learned from Li Wan that Wang Ren and Jia Lian disliked each other, and they didn't know how they formed a feud.
Now that Wang Ren is not staying in Jinling, he actually wants to go to the border to gain military glory?
Jia Lan's eyes were a little incredulous: "Auntie, are you sure that Wang Ren, who wants to donate his official position to the border, is your brother, the uncle Wang Shi who I visited in Nan Province?"
Sister Feng nodded.
"For this, he asked you for money, and he asked for 60,000 taels in one breath?" Jia Lan asked again.
Sister Feng grimaced and nodded.
Jia Lan was stunned when he heard this, and was surprised that Wang Ren was such a big lion. Sixty thousand taels used to recruit soldiers could recruit 1,500 elite soldiers, which were still comparable to the elite servants in the late Ming Dynasty, including war horses, armor, bows, arrows and spears.
Carrying a blunderbuss [Note 2] can be said to be armed to the teeth. Such elites were no more than the men under Second Duke Ning Rong who roamed the battlefield back then.
"The uncle of the Wang family is gentle, elegant and naturally good. From what my nephew has seen, he doesn't seem to be good at military matters. Is it still debatable to recruit troops to go to the border?"
Hearing Jia Lan's evaluation of Wang Ren, Sister Feng twitched her lips. It was difficult for Jia Lan to say the words without blushing or heartbeat. Wouldn't Wang Xifeng know what her brother was like? Basically, it was the same as "gentle, elegant, naturally good."
"Eight poles can't be beaten together.
Sister Feng sighed: "This matter was discussed between my uncle, the governor, and my father. Now, not only my brother is here, but also the children of more than ten clans from my hometown in Jinling. According to what my brother said in his book, there are almost no people from my hometown this time.
He was just trying to sell iron, and he brought tens of thousands of silver coins with him, as well as a lot of food."
Wang Ren's letter was vague, so Sister Feng naturally didn't dare to believe it easily. Just as she was editing her book to ask, two more letters came immediately after.
One is from Wang Ziteng, and the other is from the Wang family.
The familiar handwriting on the two letters and the seal at the end of the letter proving her identity all proved that this was no joke.
Jia Lan frowned, and for a moment he couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in Wang Ziteng's gourd.
"Sixty thousand taels is not a small amount after all, and I can't come up with it." Jia Lan thought for a while: "Did my ancestors and grandmother ever know about such a big thing."
"Of course I can't hide it, but the old lady didn't say anything. She just told me to take care of it."
Do you think we can do it? This sounds meaningful. Whether we can do it or not, and how we should do it all depends on it.
Jia Lan asked tentatively: "Auntie, what do you think the old lady means?"
Sister Feng thought for a while and said, "She just sighed, 'War is dangerous, and people will die in this battle.' But there was nothing else to say."
Jia Lan's eyes moved slightly: "I'm afraid the old lady also feels embarrassed, but judging from her tone, she also wants to help."
Sister Feng said quietly: "Yes, after all, it is a friendship of several generations. It would be a pity if our feelings were hurt because of this matter. Besides, the Wang family treated us in the past..." At this point, Sister Feng suddenly realized something, and her words seemed to be interrupted by
He stopped as if he was stuck, his eyes wandered a little, and there was a trace of embarrassment on his face.
Jia Lan understood and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
The Wang family relied on the Jia family, so why didn't the Jia family do the same? Wang Xifeng, who had the power to take over the litigation in Tiejuan Temple, was apparently talking about the local official's "love for seeing the Jia family for a long time", but the only thing that played a role was just
Is the Jia Mansion in decline? No, Prince Teng, the governor of the three sides, is Sister Feng's greatest source of confidence.
A letter was exchanged for three thousand taels of white money. Although it cost two lives, it also made Sister Feng "more courageous."
Note 1: Some people think that Wang Ziteng is Sister Feng’s biological father, but in the 25th chapter of the book, Wang Ziteng comes to Jia’s house to visit Sister Feng, who is possessed by the Nightmare Demon.
Dreams are illusory, and when they are fake, they are also real, and it is not clear whether they are true or not!
Note 2: Xu Rijiu of the Ming Dynasty recorded a conversation between himself and a remnant soldier who returned from the southeast of Liaoning. The military pay issued by the Ming court was 1.8 taels of silver plus one hu of rice per month, but about one-third of it was withheld by the Shangguan.