The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 124

On the day they returned to Beijing, Lin Qianqian's family were sent to the imperial farm by Yinyu.

Yinyou's imperial farm covered an area of 20,000 acres. He had plenty of work to do, including weeding, planting crops, raising pigs, feeding chickens, herding cattle, and chopping wood!

To be honest, if it weren't for the imperial farm awarded by Kangxi, it would have been almost impossible for Yinyou to buy large tracts of high-quality irrigated land in the suburbs of Beijing even if he had money.

The next day after returning to Beijing, Yinyu went to the East Courtyard first after finishing his duty.

After all, Cuiqing was the legitimate wife, and Yinyu had to give her the necessary respect.

When Cuiqing saw Yinyou coming, she welcomed him wholeheartedly and served him very comfortably.

When they were making love, Cuiqing kept pestering Yinyou.

This made Yinyou convinced that it would be difficult for a woman who had tasted the love of a man to keep herself from falling in love with him.

Hence, there is the insightful statement that a widow’s door is always full of gossips!

After Cui Qing was defeated, Zi Qiang knelt down beside the bed again and asked to be a substitute.

Yinyu was not so polite to Ziqiang. He used the boy's trick of pushing the cart to make her shake uncontrollably!
In the early morning, after Yinyu left his post, Cuiqing asked Ziqiang, "Did you really see clearly that none of the boxes and cages that Master brought back were sent west?"

The west side is the west courtyard, which is Huixiang's side.

"Girl, I have arranged for Mrs. Xi and Mrs. Wang to take turns watching over you. There is no way they can be wrong!"

When there were no outsiders in the room, Zi Qiang always called Cui Qing "Miss." But not everyone is qualified to call her "Miss."

"Hmph, I want to see how I can keep this bowl of water evenly balanced."

Ever since Yinyou left Beijing, Huixiang has never come to the East Courtyard to pay her respects to Cuiqing. How can this be tolerated?

However, the principal wife and the concubine are equivalent to the kings of the backyard.

Generally speaking, it was not impolite for Huixiang not to come and pay her respects.

Cui Qing obviously couldn't find any reason to blame!

However, Cuiqing was not stupid. She naturally understood that Huixiang's behavior meant that Huixiang was unwilling to submit to her.

In the royal palaces in the capital, almost all the wives and concubines were fighting openly and secretly.

The relationship between the mothers is very tense. No matter how good the relationship between the prince's sons is, how good can it be?

Don't let the kings unite and plot against me, and this will truly be put into practice!

This shows the wisdom of the Qing Dynasty emperors' deliberate establishment of the polygamy system.

After Yinyou entered the palace, before he could even sit down, a large number of his subordinates and officials came to the signing room to ask for instructions and reports.

The Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty was no less than a small imperial court. I wonder how many trivial matters it had to deal with?
"Master Fifteen, four of the trucks that carry water to Yuquan Mountain have broken down. Please request that they be rebuilt."

"…The emperor's socks are a little small and uncomfortable to wear. Please make them again."

"Reporting to Master Fifteen, two of the official rooms at Master Yi'er's have lost paint and need to be repainted."

"There's a broken iron pot in the guards' dining room. Please buy one!"

For a full hour and a half, Yinyou was dealing with these seemingly trivial but very important chores.

What happens in the palace could be reported to Kangxi intentionally or unintentionally, so no matter how small the matter is, it is impossible!
After Yinyou finished dealing with these miscellaneous matters, Kangxi, who had just finished his imperial court session, summoned Yinyou to the Qianqing Palace.

As soon as Yinyou finished his ceremony, Kangxi began to scold the bunch of parasites in the Guangdong Customs.

"The year before last there was a surplus of 500,000 taels, but last year there was only 300,000 taels left. I estimate that if they don't take good care of it, in a few years they will have to pay me out of pocket."

Yinyou kept his head down and said nothing, allowing Kangxi to scold him to his heart's content.

In the Imperial Household Department, there are two offices that are considered to be BUG-level offices. One is the Jiangnan Three Weaving Office, and the other is the Guangdong Customs Supervision Office.

These two yamen were nominally under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department. In reality, the Imperial Household Department only had the power to audit accounts and did not have the power to recommend personnel appointments and dismissals.

Especially the Guangdong Customs Supervision Office, there has long been a rumor in the streets that this is the emperor’s southern warehouse!

The so-called Emperor's Southern Treasury is Kangxi's small treasury.

Yinyou is not a fool. Oh, when it is not my turn, I can't even get a word in.

Now, the termites are too greedy, and you want me to take care of them?

I'm sorry, I can neither manage nor want to manage your small treasury.

"Why don't you say anything?" Kangxi was finally tired of scolding. When he sat down to drink tea, he realized that Yinyou had been silent.

Yinyu said confidently: "My dear Khan, I don't even have the tax collection regulations of the Guangdong Customs Supervision Office. How can I check it?"

To put it bluntly, the entire Guangdong Customs Supervision Office was pitch black from top to bottom, without a single ray of light.

When foreign merchant ships arrived, the exact amount of tax was entirely up to the tax officials, and there were no detailed rules for tax collection.

In this case, it is impossible to check the accounts clearly.

Whoever wants to do a thankless job can do it. I won’t take the blame for this!

Kangxi also knew that the shortage of tax silver at the Guangdong Customs had nothing to do with Yinyou.

However, he was quite angry. Why couldn’t those rats be satisfied?
"If you were asked to manage the Guangdong Customs, what would you do?" Kangxi knew Yinwei's temper very well, so he softened his expression and asked Yinwei calmly.

Yinyou is a stubborn guy. He would never do anything he doesn't want to do, even if you beat him to death.

"My dear Khan, this is actually quite simple. Set up several customs supervision offices along the coast of the Qing Dynasty, and let foreign ships freely choose the port where to pay taxes. If there is a shortage of customs duties, dismiss the official, punish him, and replace him with a capable person." When Yinyu said this, he couldn't help but think of China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. Earlier, when Yinyu's father-in-law's family went to the telecommunications bureau to apply for a home phone, they not only had to pay half a year's income, but also had to wait for at least several months.

Finally, I found connections and asked an acquaintance to invite an installation master to come to my house. If I didn't give everyone a few boxes of Hongtashan, the installation would not be possible. When it was time for lunch, I had to arrange a hearty lunch for the master.

Under an exclusive monopoly, it is simply a daydream to imagine that the service quality is very good!

To put it bluntly, there is only one Guangdong Customs Supervision Office, and all foreign merchant ships must pay taxes in Guangzhou.

When it came to the reform of the customs tax collection system, Kangxi seemed very hesitant.

This is because, if the common people of the Qing Dynasty were allowed to have too much contact with foreigners over time, their thoughts would no longer be restricted.

"Kneel down!"

When Yinyou heard these three words, he knew that Kangxi was not going to check the accounts.

Since Kangxi had no intention of checking the accounts, Yinyou was naturally happy and relaxed.

When it comes to the Qing Dynasty, it has always been better to have less trouble than more, and to blend in with the world as it pleases!
After returning home from work, Yinyou chose to go to the West Courtyard.

Huixiang led her people to greet Yinyou at the gate of the courtyard.

"Greetings, sir!"

"Get up!"

As soon as Yinyou entered the courtyard, he discovered something unusual.

My goodness, behind Huixiang, there stands an extremely pretty little beauty.

To be honest, Huixiang's appearance is just average. On a scale of 10, she would be at most 5.5 points.

Some nonsense, saying that everything is the same after the lights are turned off.

This is pure bullshit!

At least, Yinyou's body is very honest. He can be in love with Cuiqing, who scores 9 points, and they can be together till death.

However, being with Huixiang was just a one-time affair.

Huixiang is not stupid either. She immediately found a good helper to help her.

In fact, when a daughter of a powerful family gets married, they will always give her a beautiful maid to help her stay in the family's favor.

The more sophisticated and powerful families would even buy a bunch of little beauties early on and have them live with their girls from an early age.

After the survival of the fittest, the most loyal one is picked out and trained to be the girl's best friend.

It must be admitted that the maids trained in this way will, in most cases, be of the same mind as the daughter of the family.

For example, Ping'er in Dream of the Red Chamber remained loyal to Wang Xifeng even though she was beaten and abused by her.

After Yinyou entered the room and sat down, Huixiang took the initiative to call the maid who came with her as a dowry to her side and introduced her affectionately, "Master, her name is Ruitong, and she grew up with me. Unfortunately, when I married into the Prince's Mansion, she fell seriously ill and didn't get well in time..."

Yinyou took a quick look at Ruitong. This girl was indeed prettier than Cuiqing and Ziqiang.

It is obvious that the fourth brother and his wife had been secretly helping out a lot from a very early time.

Nomuzhi was just a bondservant, how capable could he be? How could Yinyou not know that?

In the Qing Dynasty, the only use of women to their families was to serve as tools for marriage.

After dinner, they strolled in the yard to digest the food. Huixiang personally helped Yinyou to warm his feet.

While warming his feet, Yinyou thought to himself, if there is no fierce competition, how can we talk about the quality of service?

In view of Huixiang's satisfactory performance, Yinyu waved his hand to dismiss the servants, took out a large-denomination ticket from his sleeve and took the initiative to put it in Huixiang's hand.

"Please keep it for me."

If Huixiang doesn't take the man's money, Cuiqing should take it. If you don't take it, it's a waste. If you take it, it's also a waste.

However, when Huixiang took the ticket and took a closer look, she was stunned. Wow, it was actually 100,000 taels of silver!

Yinyu brought 300,000 taels of silver from Jiangnan, of which Cuiqing got 100,000, Huixiang got 100,000, and he kept 100,000 taels for himself as a reserve.

If a man has no private money, even if he wants to treat his wife to a drink at the last minute, he will be scolded by his wife for a long time!

The taste is too sour, Yinyou must be unhappy!

When they were making love at night, Huixiang was quickly defeated, so she took the initiative to call Ruitong to fight for her.

So, Yinyou naturally swallowed Ruitong as well.

Having tasted the sweetness, Yinyou deliberately played a balancing game between the East Courtyard and the West Courtyard, adding more water to the noodles and more noodles to the water.

Anyway, because of the competition, the women actively vie for favor, and as a result, Yinyou will definitely benefit.

In the morning, when Kangxi was holding court at the imperial gate, he publicly declared that all officials, big and small, should work hard to serve the Empress Dowager on her birthday.

In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi's birthday was called the Wanshou Festival, and the birthdays of the Empress and the Crown Prince were called the Qianqiu Festival.

According to past precedents, in order to appear filial, Kangxi always celebrated the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration even more grandly than her 100th birthday celebration.

The parasites in the Imperial Household Department were rubbing their hands in delight, their chance to make a fortune had come again!
PS: The second update is finished, I’m working hard on more updates, please give me some monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)