The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 61 Give me some color
However, what most people don’t know is that the big hot kang in Northeast China must be made of loess, or preferably clay, which should be laid flat on the front of the kang.

In the Qing Dynasty, blue bricks and cement were the basic skills of the craftsmen in the Imperial Household Department and were easy to obtain.

However, in the absence of prefabricated reinforced concrete slabs, it was quite difficult to find a suitable kang surface to support the stone slabs.

Fortunately, the fourth brother had been in charge of the Imperial Household Department and knew the truth about the matter. He used both soft and hard tactics to obtain more than a dozen pieces of raw topaz and ordered the craftsmen to grind them into thick jade slabs, which he successfully laid flat on the kang.

In nature, apart from diamonds, topaz is the hardest.

After the jade plate is set up, it is covered with a mixture of clay and straw. In this way, it is warm in winter and cool in summer, very comfortable!
"Master, I heard that you are going to get married after the New Year?" Chun Ji was slow to make a move, obviously she had something on her mind.

Yinyu picked up the teacup, took a sip, and explained with a smile: "Don't listen to their nonsense, the fate has not even started yet."

Among the royal family, all the princes, including the crown prince, were puppets at the mercy of Kangxi.

As usual, Yinyou's wedding date was decided after seeking approval from the Ministry of Rites and then according to Kangxi's wishes.

Kangxi hadn't even issued an edict, so how could the wedding be held after the New Year?

However, Chun Ji's test reminded Yin Yu that the new home must have a woman to take charge.

The reason why Yangzhou skinny horses are extremely expensive is that the cost of training them is extremely high.

After a period of contact, Yinyou knew that Chunji was not only good at accounting, but also proficient in using an abacus.

"The house cannot be without a lady to take charge of things. From tomorrow on, you will temporarily take charge of everything for me." Chun Ji was caught off guard by Yinyou's heavy responsibilities.

"Master, this is not appropriate, right?" Chun Ji asked Yin Yu tentatively.

Yinyu smiled slightly and said, "You can help me manage this household as the housekeeper. When Fu Jin comes in, I will hand it over to her."

The custom in the Qing Dynasty was that men were responsible for external affairs and women were responsible for internal affairs.

The prince's wife naturally has the right to manage the household.

However, in order to check the power of the principal wife, the prince's concubine can also legitimately serve as the housekeeper.

Anyway, if the legitimate wife falls out of favor or is unable to manage the household, the concubine can completely take her place!
Although Chun Ji was given by the fourth brother, Yinyou could give her anything that the fourth brother could not give her.

First of all, if Yinyou did not work hard on the land, Chunji would not be able to give birth to a son.

Secondly, Chun Ji was just a plaything. If Yinyu really disliked her, the fourth brother would not turn against Yinyu for her.

Secondly, if Chun Ji wanted to live a comfortable and carefree life, she could not do without Yin Yu's favor.

As for Yinyou, he believed that humans are not plants or trees, so who can be heartless?

As long as you use enough gentleness and patience, there is no need to worry that Chun Ji will not completely side with Yinyu.

In fact, it is easy to guard against open spies.

What is really difficult to guard against is the hidden chess pieces hidden under the water.

God knows how many spies the Fourth Prince or Kangxi had planted by taking advantage of the opportunity to build a new house.

After all, the eunuchs, palace maids and servants in Yinwei's house all belonged to the Imperial Household Department.

Yinyu knew a little about what was going on with the people in the Imperial Household Department.

Every few years, Kangxi would force a major replacement of the eunuchs and palace maids in the Yuqing Palace.

Alas, some of the dry wells in the Forbidden City are filled with corpses!

After the bath and lights turned off, Yinyu took Chunji into his arms as usual and asked her to imitate the beautiful posture of Guanyin. If the weather was not too cold, it would be more fun to put Chunji on the specially made chaise longue.

In the morning, Yinyou had breakfast as usual and then got on the car to go to the Ministry of Revenue.

Today, each of the six ministries and major government offices has its own free canteen.

Among them, the most outstanding was the kitchen of the Ministry of Revenue. Not only did it have nearly a hundred kinds of dishes, but the staple food also included noodles such as oil-splashed noodles and belt noodles from the Shaanxi area.

Think about it, in the entire Qing Dynasty, the highest-level financial and taxation department, could its canteen be short of money?
However, winter was approaching, and Yinyou preferred to eat the steaming hot breakfast prepared at home.

As soon as Yinyou walked into the courtyard of the archives room, he saw Zahari, a doctor from the Eight Banners Department, waiting outside his office.

All government offices in the capital are about to be sealed.

However, at this critical juncture, the land dispute files that were originally taken away by Kangxi were sent back to the Eight Banners Division of the Ministry of Revenue after such a long time.

The people from the Eight Banners Division must close the case before it is sealed.

Otherwise, those upright officials in the Censorate would pounce on Zahari and Yinyou like mad dogs.

According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, economic disputes between bannermen and Han people would be considered to have reached the final stage as soon as the files reached the hands of the Eight Banners Division of the Ministry of Revenue.

Of course, this is only the nominal right of final adjudication. The one who can make the final decision can only be Kangxi.

"What time will the court open?" Yinyou asked Zahari calmly.

"Replying to the Fifteenth Master, the court will open at the beginning of the 9th hour. I have come here specially to invite you to preside over the trial." Zahari was a little bit petty and deliberately said that Yinyou was the presiding judge.

Yinyu asked Zahari coldly, "What kind of judge am I?"

Kangxi's order was to order the fourth son to keep a close eye on the case. The fourth son arranged for Yinyou to supervise the case specifically, but he was not the presiding judge at all.

Zahari, relying on his status as the boss, was not afraid of Yinyu, and quickly explained: "With you here, how dare I sit in the main hall and hit the wake-up stick randomly?"

The wake-up wood is another name for the gavel.

There is also a wooden stick on Kangxi's dragon table. However, this is not a gavel, but a stone stick to calm the mountains and rivers!
It’s true that what Zaharie said is in line with the Qing Dynasty’s unspoken rules for trying cases.

Yinyu certainly would not be easily stumped. He smiled coldly and asked Zahari, "Who said I'm going to the main hall? I can just sit in the back and listen to the trial, right?"

Zaharie was speechless for a moment and had no words to respond.

The trial could be conducted in the main hall or in the back hall. Unless Kangxi had a clear decree that Yinyu should preside over the trial, otherwise, whatever he chose would be in accordance with the rules.

No matter how you look at it, Yinyou's choice was extremely beneficial to him, while Zahari was in an absolutely passive and embarrassing situation.

In the first round of arm wrestling without any fuss, Yinyu won.

In those days, power was given by the emperor, but authority had to be established by Yinyu himself.

If you don't teach an old bureaucrat like Zaharie a lesson with his powerful backing, he won't know how many eyes the Horse King has.
Due to the sensitivity and particularity of economic disputes among bannermen and civilians, Emperor Kangxi once issued a special decree to build a main hall within the Eight Banners Office, where cases were heard.

After arriving at the Eight Banners Division, Yinwei sat down on a chair in the back hall and refused to move.

Zahari couldn't persuade him, so he had to bite the bullet and go to the main hall in front to start interrogating the case.

As soon as Yinyou sat down, Wulin brought a teacup and gently placed it on the coffee table.

(End of this chapter)