The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 67: Several tricks left (asking for monthly tickets)

Nowadays, if one person succeeds, everyone around him will benefit as well, which is actually a very normal logic.

Because if one person commits a serious crime, the entire family will be implicated.

The mainstream of this era is that close relatives within the fifth degree of mourning share happiness and difficulties.

Since the imperial power did not extend below the county level, the power of clans filled the power vacuum in the countryside.

Often, when a family dies out, relatives will swarm in and try every possible means to take over the family.

Of course, the relatives who can make a family wipe out are definitely not beyond the fifth degree of mourning.

Relatives beyond the fifth degree of mourning are just passers-by and have no right to inherit the family's inheritance.

According to Yinwei's plan, he would temporarily rent a large courtyard with five entrances in the inner city of Beijing for Wang Guozheng's family to settle down.

As the saying goes, living in the capital is not easy.

This is not easy, because the housing prices in the capital are extremely expensive. Not only ordinary people cannot afford it, even the prince Yinyou certainly cannot afford it.

Mipin did have some private savings, but most of her collections were rare treasures awarded by Emperor Kangxi, and they were forbidden items in the palace that ordinary people dared not collect.

According to the rules, anyone who dares to privately take forbidden items from the palace would be guilty of a serious crime of disrespect.

Therefore, Concubine Mi could only ask Yinyou to take out the few private gold and silver jewelry from the palace, melt them privately, and then give them to Wang Guozheng to show his filial piety.

Anyway, anyone who wears gold and silver jewelry with the secret mark of the palace will bring trouble to himself unless it is completely melted down.

However, after Yinyou took the jewelry, he did not give it to Wang Guozheng immediately.

The reason was simple. He was not well-off. The rent of the five-story compound in the inner city was a considerable expense. In addition, there were also the food, clothing, and daily expenses of their entire family, which were also not small amounts of money.

If the melted gold and silver jewelry were given to the Wang family all at once, and the Wang family had no money to pay the rent in the future, would Yinyu have to watch them sleep on the streets?

Because it’s getting late, we will have to spend the night in Tongzhou.

These days, having power means happiness.

Under Tulihai's arrangement, the prefect of Tongzhou mobilized the runners of the prefectural government to drive out all the guests of the largest inn in Tongzhou, vacating the accommodation space.

At first, Yinyu was also kept in the dark. When he was surprised to find that there were only members of the Wang family in the huge inn, it was too late.

In the Qing Dynasty, officials who were transferred to other places were eligible to stay in post stations in various places according to the rules.

However, given Wang Guozheng's rank, he was not qualified to bring so many people with him to eat and live in the inn for free.

In addition to being used by officials, post stations also have certain military specialities. It is no exaggeration to say that if a small post station official is really irritated, he also has a special channel to report your bad deeds directly to the court.

Historically, after the Cao family was raided, they left Jiangning and moved back to the capital. Because they offended the postmaster, someone took the opportunity to add insult to injury and filed a complaint against them in Yongzheng's Palace of Tranquil Longevity.

When Yongzheng learned about it, he was furious and beat the Cao family members with heavy punches. If it weren't for the Thirteenth Brother's strong protection, even if the Cao family returned to the capital, they might not even have a place to stay.

Tulihai and the prefect of Tongzhou were both smart men and knew the seriousness of the matter.

Is there any need to ask which is more serious: harassing the official post stations or clearing out the inns of private merchants?
In the eyes of Qing officials, common people are nothing!
After settling down in the inn, the Wang family washed up and came out to see that there were more than a dozen tables filled with the finest dishes.

Tulihai told Yinyou that he had paid for these banquets himself.

Yinyou is not a fool, how could he easily believe Tulihai’s lies?
The luxurious meal costing ten taels of silver per table must have been specially arranged by the Tongzhou prefect using public funds in order to curry favor with him.

In the past, Yinyu had served as the main leader of the county party committee. He knew very well that if he was not careful in the reception work, he would easily offend his superiors.

You've offended your boss, and you still want to get promoted? Stop dreaming!

In the Qing Dynasty, hospitality was no small matter. This was the truth! Because of the taboos regarding men and women, Tulihai was considerate and directed his men to place the banquets on the second and first floors of the inn.

The second floor is for female guests, and the first floor is for male guests. There are servants guarding the stairs, so they don't interfere with each other and can rest assured.

As for the servants of the Wang family, they could only take their bowls and hide in the utility room to eat.

Yinyou's identity was extremely special. As long as he was present, everyone couldn't even eat in peace. That was not being close to the people, but deliberately torturing the guests.

So, Yinyou simply found an excuse to avoid it.

Tulihai was indeed a master of hospitality. He invited Yinyou to the luxurious private residence next door and set the table in the West Flower Hall.

There were more than twenty charcoal basins placed in a circle around the wall in the West Flower Hall, all filled to the brim.

In front of the main entrance of the West Flower Hall, a huge cowhide screen was erected to completely keep the biting cold wind out.

After Yinyou walked into the room, he did not feel the cold wind, but instead he began to sweat from the heat and was forced to take off his mink vest with a white raccoon fur collar.

"Fifteenth Master, please take the seat of honor!" Tulihai bent over and courteously invited Yinyou to take the seat.

Yinyou didn't hesitate and sat down at the upper seat facing the door of the flower hall.

Tulihai took the second seat to the left of Yinyu, and Erlunte and Shi Shipiu sat to the right of Yinyu respectively.

In some old TV dramas, when officials were hosting banquets, some people would actually sit with their backs to the door and drink and eat in a very open manner.

Well, the historical consultants in the drama are actually experts in Qing history.

Leaving aside family dinners, at any large banquet for entertaining distinguished guests, the two seats facing the door not only had no stools, but people were not allowed to sit there at all.

Because that was the passage where servants served the dishes.

In the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty, there was a well-known rule for banquets, namely: anyone who dared to block the sight of the distinguished guests at the table would be treated as a huge insult and be asked to leave!

How can there be no fun when high-ranking officials entertain guests?
Soon after the banquet started, a group of Kunqu opera actors came on stage and began to sing.

Yinyou's status was too noble, and the people present were all high-ranking civil and military officials. It was naturally impossible for them to behave like the thugs in the streets and be rude.

"Master Fifteen, it is truly a cause for celebration that you have received your noble relative. I am so brave as to offer you a toast." Tulihai was the first to bow and toast.

The prevailing principle of social interaction in public is: carry each other's sedan chairs.

As for whether drunken talk can be trusted, that depends on one's strength and status.

Tulihai's reception work was indeed flawless, so Yinyou smiled and raised his glass, clinking glasses with him.

When it was Erlunte's turn to toast, Yinyou just waved his hand and told him to sit down and toast from a distance.

Erlund was a rough man who only knew how to be loyal to Kangxi, so he didn't think much about it.

But Shi Shibiao is different. This guy has a lot of ideas.

Of course, this is also closely related to the fact that the Shi family was almost exterminated due to Zheng Chenggong's suspicion.

After suffering such a huge loss, we should at least learn some lessons, right?
Therefore, Shi Lang often taught his sons to be loyal only to the current emperor.

In simple terms, the Shi family will be loyal to whoever becomes the emperor.

PS: I wrote very smoothly today. I will continue to write and update. Please give me some monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)