In the book "Dream of Red Mansions", Cao Xueqin presents to the world the process of Jiafu from prosperity to decline through the continuous change of characters.
As everyone knows, the defeat of this Jia Mansion is similar to the decline of his family. At the beginning, the four members of the Cao family and three generations controlled Jiangning weaving for 58 years, and the family power was unmatched in the Jiangnan region.
However, after Emperor Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he regarded the Cao family as a thorn in his side. In the end, all the property of the Cao family was confiscated, which made the grand family that had been inherited for a hundred years disappear in a breath.
So how did this Cao Xueqin's family offend Yongzheng, so that the emperor didn't miss the old love, and finally ended up stealing the family?
If you want to trace history, then the Cao family can even start from the Ming Dynasty. When the Manchus entered the Central Plains, the Cao family also chose to follow the Qing Dynasty and served under the Qing Dynasty emperor from then on.
From the reign of Emperor Shunzhi, Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi became a second-class guard with a sword. This person is extremely honest and brave, and Shunzhi loves it very much.
However, the Cao family officially began to be linked to the royal family, and it started with Cao Xi's wife Sun being selected as the nurse of Emperor Kangxi. Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, became the brother of Emperor Kangxi.
As we all know, Emperor Shunzhi became a monk when Emperor Kangxi was young, and his mother died early, which made Emperor Kangxi lack the love of his parents since he was a child. And Sun made up for his regrets, no matter when, he always stayed by his side, taught him to read and reason, and taught him the principles of life.
For this nursing mother, Emperor Kangxi also showed special respect. Every year during the festival or the birthday of the nursing mother, Emperor Kangxi will travel by royal car and personally go to congratulate.
As for Cao Yin, the milk brother who grew up together, Emperor Kangxi attaches great importance to it. After Kangxi became pro-government, he began to think of a good place for the Cao family. At this time, Jiang Ning weaving came into his eyes.
Kangxi thought about it and felt that the position of Jiangning weaving was excellent, and it had been held by the emperor's cronies since ancient times. And this Cao Yin is like a brother to him, although he is young now, his loyal father Cao Xi is really a good candidate.
However, although Jiangning's weaving power is large, its own level is not high. In order to prevent the nursing mother's family from being bullied, Kangxi even specially added other official positions to Cao Xi and rewarded many gardens to the Cao family, which also laid the foundation for the Cao family to gain a foothold in the Jiangnan region.
With the support of the emperor, Cao Xi soon firmly grasped Jiangning weaving in his own hands. However, this man really had no talent for business, and most of his business proposals would end in failure, but fortunately the emperor never held him accountable.
Even the emperor loves the Cao family so much, not to mention those ministers below!They went up and down, and for a while, no one in the Jiangnan region could compare with the Cao family.
Emperor Kangxi once went to the south of the Yangtze River six times, and the emperor traveled, so he naturally needed a place to stay. In line with the principle that the nurse is still there and trusts Cao Yin, Kangxi will keep in close contact with Cao Yin every time he travels south, and even the Cao family is responsible for the four receptions.
The expenses for receiving the emperor must be huge, and this Cao Yin himself is just a martial artist, the same as his father, and he is really incapable of doing business. Coupled with the huge cost of maintaining the family's face, this has already put the Cao family under great financial pressure.
It's okay once or twice, but Kangxi has come many times. Slowly, Cao Yin had no choice but to receive Kangxi by misappropriating the ** of the imperial court. If that's all it takes, then it's reasonable, after all, it's the silver earned by the emperor and the emperor spends it himself.
But he didn't expect Cao Yin to be bold, and he even pinned all the expenses in the house on **. The Cao family was already pampered and arrogant, and their daily expenses were almost astronomical. As a result, Jiangnan's finances have created a huge vacancy.
For all this, Emperor Kangxi was not unaware. After all, there are other **to him** this matter, but Emperor Kangxi did not choose to pursue it more out of friendship when he was a child.
Kangxi even privately found Cao Yin and said to him: "I have heard about the financial vacancy in Jiangnan, so I will not mention it for the time being, and you will take the initiative to make up for the previous deficit." ”
The emperor gave him such a face, and Cao Yin was also very moved, and replied again and again: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely try my best to make up for this shortfall." ”
Although Cao Yin had made a promise to the emperor, he was really not capable enough. By the time of his death, he still had a deficit of two million taels that had not been made up.
However, this misappropriation happened in the Kangxi Dynasty, what does this have to do with Yongzheng?Why did Yongzheng chase after him after he ascended the throne and directly raided the Cao family?
In the later years of Emperor Kangxi, in order to compete for the throne, the incident of nine sons seizing the heirs broke out. At that time, most of the ** in the court were involved, and they all stood in line with their favorite candidates, and the Cao family was naturally no exception.
However, the same thing as their business ability is that the Cao family's ability to see people is also quite different. They all pinned their greatest hopes on Yongzheng's younger brother Lao Bayinyu and kept wandering for him.
For this eighth elder brother, the Cao family attaches great importance to it. Not only married with the Eighth Elder Brother, but also continued to provide money to the Eighth Elder Brother, wanting to improve the status of the family by learning from the dragon's work.
What they didn't expect was that it was the fourth child who won the final victory in the Nine Sons, that is, the later Emperor Yongzheng!
This Emperor Yongzheng is a person who holds grudges, how could he let go of these stumbling blocks on his way to succession. Especially the Cao family, they have also provided silver to the eighth elder brother many times, which is even more unbearable.
After Emperor Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the first thing he did was to start emptying the court and rectifying. Overnight, hundreds of people were sent to prison and exiled.
In the process of the investigation, Yongzheng accidentally discovered the misappropriation of the Cao family. Although Emperor Kangxi chose to let it go gently, it was just that once he was a son of heaven and a courtier, Yongzheng was not Kangxi, and the original Sun was not Yongzheng's nurse, so he simply had no scruples.
After finding out about this matter, Cao Zhuan, the head of the Cao family at that time, had no choice but to admit that his family had lost money at the beginning. And after the liquidation, it was found that the Cao family had owed more than one million taels of silver to the national treasury.
Emperor Yongzheng couldn't bear it, thinking that these moths of the imperial court dared to harm his interests. Just as he was about to send the Cao family to the frontier, at this time the thirteenth elder brother stood up.
The thirteenth elder brother said to Yongzheng: "When my father was on his southern tour, I followed my father's side and had a lot of connections with the Cao family, and I asked the emperor to give the Cao family a chance. ”
Yongzheng also attaches great importance to this younger brother, because since he first won the heir, this younger brother has always been by his side and helped him a lot.
Seeing this, Yongzheng had no choice but to say: "If the Cao family can make up for the deficit within three years, then I will let him go." ”
With the help of the Thirteenth Elder Brother, the Cao family seemed lucky to escape, but all this was just a superficial phenomenon.
The head of the Cao family at this time, Cao Qian, is extremely incompetent, and like his ancestors, he doesn't have much ability to collect money at all. If his only role is to use gorgeous words and excellent articles, let's say it.
In addition, although it has reached this point and has become a thorn in the emperor's side, the Cao family still has not stopped. Even maintained the original luxury life as always, and there was no debt at all.
This made Emperor Yongzheng, who advocated frugality, very dissatisfied, and Cao Zhuo did not have much achievement in politics. During his tenure, Jiangnan had almost no **, which was contrary to the responsibilities of Jiangning Weaving.
The contradiction between the Cao family and the emperor has long been deeply planted, just waiting for the opportunity to come, Emperor Yongzheng will completely pull out the cancer of this country.
Soon, the long-awaited opportunity of Emperor Yongzheng arrived. At the beginning, the emperor ordered the Cao family to make up for the deficit in three years, but the Cao family didn't take it to heart at all. Therefore, after three years, the Cao family not only paid off the previous one, but even poked out a bigger basket and owed more money to the treasury.
The imperial power is unquestionable, and the treasury is not allowed to be touched. The unbearable Yongzheng Emperor officially dismissed Cao Zhuo from his official position and confiscated all the Cao family's property in the treasury.
Originally, Emperor Yongzheng thought that he could enrich the treasury by copying the Cao family, 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 ruined by the gold and jade, and there is only a dead end waiting for him.
Fortunately, the emperor still remembered the old feelings of the Kangxi era, and kept the house that the Cao family had earlier in the capital, and the Cao family moved to the capital as a result, and the same was true for the young Cao Xueqin.
The Cao family began to sell various properties, seeking help from all sides, and wanted to completely pay off the deficit to the imperial court. Unfortunately, the amount is too large, and there is really no way.
At this time, Cao Qian had been in decadence, and all the pressure was transferred to the young Cao Xueqin. Even if Cao Xueqin works very hard, he is still only a half-grown child, how can he face such a big disaster.
Until the death of Emperor Yongzheng, the Cao family failed to completely repay the deficit to the imperial court. It was for the sake of his grandfather that Qianlong ascended the throne and let go of the Cao family and forgave them their debts.
After that, Cao Xueqin relied on teaching to support the family's life, and her life was very poor, and she often needed help from relatives and friends.
There are many reasons for the failure of the Cao family, such as the extravagance of the family, the many times to spend huge sums of money to receive the emperor, and most importantly, the wrong side of the nine sons in the process of winning the heir. This directly offended Emperor Yongzheng and finally went to extinction.
If the Cao family could stand in the right position in the process of seizing the heir, it might be able to continue the glory of the Kangxi Dynasty and continue to call for wind and rain in the Jiangnan region.