How did Cao Xueqin's family offend Yongzheng and fall to the point of raiding the house?
In the book "Dream of Red Mansions", Cao Xueqin vividly shows the historical picture of Jiafu from prosperity to decline through the variety of characters.
What is not known is that the decline of this Jia Mansion is closely related to the decline of the Cao family. At the beginning, the four members of the Cao family and three generations firmly controlled Jiangning weaving for 58 years, and their family power was unparalleled in the Jiangnan region.
However, after Emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne, the Cao family became a thorn in his eyes. In the end, Emperor Yongzheng confiscated all the property of the Cao family, making this glorious family that had been inherited for a hundred years disappear in an instant.
How did Cao Xueqin's family annoy Emperor Yongzheng, causing the emperor to show no mercy and finally resort to plundering means to push the Cao family to a desperate situation?
Kangxi's nursing mother, if you trace the history of the rise of the family, the origin of the Cao family can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. After the Manchurians entered the Central Plains, the Cao family chose to join the Qing Dynasty and began to seek benefits in the Qing Dynasty's imperial family.
From the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi became the second class of the royal bodyguard, and was loved by the Shunzhi Emperor for his honesty and bravery.
The Cao family's official relationship with the royal family began when Cao Xi's wife Sun became the nurse of Emperor Kangxi. Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, thus became the brother of Emperor Kangxi.
As we all know, Emperor Shunzhi had become a monk when Emperor Kangxi was a child, and his mother also died early, which made Emperor Kangxi lack parental care since he was a child. And Sun filled his regrets, always by his side, teaching him to read and reason, and teaching him the principles of life.
For this nurse, Emperor Kangxi showed special respect. Every festival or nursing mother's birthday, Emperor Kangxi personally drove to congratulate.
For Cao Yin, the milk brother who grew up together, Emperor Kangxi was very important. After Kangxi became pro-government, he set out to find a suitable place for the Cao family. At this time, Jiangning weaving aroused his interest.
After careful consideration, Kangxi believed that Jiangning weaving was strategically located and had always been an important position trusted by the emperor. And Cao Yin is like a brother to him, although he is young, his loyal father Cao Xi is also an ideal candidate.
However, despite the enormous power of Jiangning Weaving, it is not a high-level position. In order to protect the nursing mother's family from bullying, Kangxi also specially gave Cao Xi other official positions, and additionally rewarded the Cao family with a large number of gardens, laying the foundation for him to gain a firm foothold in the Jiangnan region.
With the support of the emperor, Cao Xi soon held Jiangning weaving firmly in his hands. However, this leader was not a business genius, and most of the business proposals he made ended in failure, but fortunately the emperor never held him accountable.
Even if the emperor loves the Cao family so much, let alone the subordinate ministers!They followed suit, and in a short period of time, there was no one in the Jiangnan region who could compare with the Cao family.
Received many times, embezzled the imperial court funds Emperor Kangxi visited the south of the Yangtze River six times, and the emperor needed a place to settle down when he went out. Considering that the nurse is still there and has trust in Cao Yin, Kangxi has maintained close contact with Cao Yin every time he has visited the south, and even four receptions have been handled by the Cao family.
The cost of receiving the emperor must have been enormous, and Cao Yin himself was only a military attaché and, like his father, lacked the ability to do business. Coupled with the huge cost of maintaining the family's face, the Cao family is already facing great financial pressure.
One or two may be bearable, but Kangxi has become a frequent visitor. Gradually, Cao Yin couldn't bear it, so he had to receive Kangxi by misappropriating the ** of the imperial court. If that's all, it may be understandable, after all, this is an expense for the service of the emperor.
However, Cao Yin was so bold that he relied on ** for all the expenses of the house. The Cao family is already pampered and arrogant, and their daily expenses are almost astronomical. As a result, there was a serious deficit in the Jiangnan region's finances.
For all this, Emperor Kangxi was not unaware. After all, there are other **once** things that have happened to him, but out of consideration for his emotions when he was a child, Emperor Kangxi chose to be tolerant and did not delve into it.
Kangxi even found Cao Yin privately and said to him: "I have heard about Jiangnan's financial deficit, and I will not pursue it for the time being, but you must take the initiative to make up for the previous deficit." ”
The emperor gave him such a step, and Cao Yin was grateful, and responded again and again: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely try my best to make up for this shortfall." ”
Although Cao Yin made a promise to the emperor, due to his limited strength, until his death, the deficit of two million taels had not been made up.
However, the incident of misappropriation occurred in the Kangxi Dynasty, what is the relationship with Yongzheng?Why did Yongzheng pursue it endlessly after succeeding to the throne and finally raid the Cao family?
Nine sons seized the heir, and the wrong eighth was chosen In the later years of Emperor Kangxi, in order to compete for the throne, an incident broke out in which the nine sons seized the heir. At that time, most of the court** were involved, and each supported their favored heirs, and the Cao family was no exception.
However, like their ability to do business, the Cao family also behaved differently in terms of looking at people. What they have high hopes for is Yongzheng's younger brother Lao Bayinxi, who keeps running for him.
For this eighth elder brother, the Cao family attaches great importance to it. Not only did they marry the eighth elder brother, but they also constantly provided him with wealth, trying to achieve a win-win situation by improving the status of the family.
To their surprise, it was the fourth child who won the nine sons in the end, that is, the later Emperor Yongzheng!
Emperor Yongzheng was a man who remembered hatred, and in the face of obstacles on his way to the throne, how could he let it go. The Cao family, in particular, has provided funds to the eighth elder brother many times, which makes it even more difficult for him to forgive.
After Emperor Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the first thing he did was to clean up the court and rectify it. Overnight, hundreds of ** were sent to prison and exiled.
In the process of inventory, Yongzheng stumbled upon the misappropriation of ** by the Cao family. Although Emperor Kangxi chose to be tolerant, Yongzheng is different from Kangxi, he has no scruples, and the original Sun is not Yongzheng's nurse.
After finding out about the matter, the head of the Cao family, Cao Zhuan, had no choice but to admit that the family had a deficit at the beginning, and after cleaning up, he found that the Cao family owed more than one million taels of silver to the national treasury.
Emperor Yongzheng couldn't bear it, thinking that these court ** dared to harm his interests. When he was about to send the Cao family to the frontier, the thirteenth elder brother came forward.
The thirteenth elder brother said to Yongzheng: "When my father and emperor toured the south, I accompanied him and had a relationship with the Cao family, and asked the emperor to give the Cao family a chance. ”
Yongzheng attaches great importance to this younger brother, because since the beginning of the succession, this younger brother has always been by his side and provided a lot of help.
Faced with this situation, Yongzheng had to agree: "If the Cao family can make up for the deficit within three years, I will forgive the loan once." ”
With the intervention of the Thirteenth Elder Brother, the Cao family seemed lucky to avoid a disaster, but in fact this was only a superficial scene.
The current head of the Cao family, Cao Qian, is very incompetent and as untalented as his ancestors in terms of finances. His only merit seems to be rhetorical ornate and his literary talent is excellent.
Although the Cao family has become a thorn in the emperor's eyes, they have not stopped. Instead, he lives a life of luxury as always, and doesn't seem to care about the situation of debt.
This made the frugal Emperor Yongzheng extremely dissatisfied, especially considering Cao Zhuo's lack of achievements in politics. Under his leadership, there was hardly any ** in the Jiangnan region, which ran counter to the responsibilities of Jiangning Weaving.
The contradiction between the Cao family and the emperor has long been deeply buried, and when the time is ripe, Emperor Yongzheng will completely remove the cancer of this country.
The opportunity finally arrived, and Emperor Yongzheng had been waiting for a long time. At the beginning, the emperor asked the Cao family to make up for the deficit within three years, but the Cao family didn't care at all. Three years later, the Cao family not only failed to make up for the previous shortfall, but even owed more money to the state treasury.
Imperial power cannot be challenged, and the treasury cannot be tampered with. Emperor Yongzheng finally couldn't bear it anymore, dismissed Cao Zhuo from his official position, and confiscated all the Cao family's property to the national treasury.
Originally, Emperor Yongzheng thought that copying the family could enrich the treasury, but he didn't expect that in the process of investigation and punishment, the most was not gold, silver and jewelry, but countless pawn tickets!
This is enough to prove that even without the emperor's will, the Cao family is already gorgeous on the outside and dilapidated on the inside, and there is only a dead end waiting for them.
Fortunately, the emperor still missed the old love of Kangxi and kept their real estate in the capital for the Cao family, so the entire Cao family moved to the capital, including the young Cao Xueqin.
The Cao family began to sell off all kinds of properties, seeking assistance from all sides, and trying to repay the arrears to the imperial court once and for all. However, in the face of the huge amount, they were at a loss.
Cao Qian has always been decadent, and all the hardships have been transferred to the young Cao Xueqin. Despite Cao Xueqin's hard work, he was only a half-grown child, how could he withstand such a huge disaster.
Until the death of Emperor Yongzheng, the Cao family was unable to fully repay the deficit of the imperial court. It was not until after Qianlong ascended the throne that out of respect for his grandfather, the Cao family was spared and forgiven of debts.
Since then, Cao Xueqin has relied on teaching to make a living, struggling to get by, often needing financial support from relatives and friends.
There are many reasons for the decline of the Cao family, including the extravagant lifestyle of the family, the many sums of money spent on receiving the emperor, and most importantly, being on the wrong side in the process of the nine sons taking the throne. This directly offended Emperor Yongzheng and eventually led to the collapse of the family.
If the Cao family had stood on the right side in the process of seizing the heir, it might have been able to continue the glory of the Kangxi period and continue to occupy an important position in the Jiangnan region.