The Rongguofu compound generally refers to the spacious two-entry courtyard from the main gate to the Yimen, and from the Yimen to the hall.

It was already night, but the courtyard of Rongguo Mansion was full of people.

There were many people in the Jia family, and they were crowded together in the courtyard. Most of them were talking, wondering what the big deal was that their master had summoned them here.

Some people finally squeezed to the front. Before they could see the bright hall clearly, there were neat plates of silver ingots placed on the rows of tables, as well as twenty or thirty people under the steps. The baskets filled with bunches of copper coins made everyone couldn't help but get excited.

As a slave of the Jia family, I have naturally seen many such scenes.

In addition to big happy events in the family, at the end of every year, the government also distributes some reward money to each household to celebrate the New Year.

It’s just that none of them were as big as today’s battle.

Everyone in Rongguo Mansion discovered that in addition to people from their own mansion, people from Ningguo Mansion were also here.

"It seems that the government is going to give everyone a reward." A young servant looked expectantly on his face.

"It's natural. Second Master Lian has become the Marquis. How could the government not pay a reward for such a big happy event so that everyone can be happy?"

"Well, that's right. But, if our government is sending out rewards, what are the people from the East Palace doing here?"

Many of the servants from the Rongguo Palace looked at them with repulsive expressions, standing in the crowd. There are some weak people in Ningguo Mansion.

Naturally, the fewer people who share reward money, the better. Moreover, the second master of their mansion is giving out rewards to everyone, so why is Ningguo Mansion coming to join in the fun?

Although Mr. Lian took on the role of acting patriarch, he was not the master of Ningguo Mansion.

A steward from Ningguo Mansion smiled and said: "We don't know what's going on. Early in the morning, Manager Lin came over and announced that each of our households should send someone here..."
< br />Although the Ningguo Mansion was the eldest, it was now in a weak position, so the servants of the Ningguo Mansion naturally could not hold their heads high in front of the prosperous Rongguo Mansion.

A steward of the Rongguo Mansion smiled and said: "What do you know? Isn't the garden at the back almost completed?

Maybe the government is going to join this matter. , and rewarded them together.

Although the construction of the garden is a matter for our mansion, after all, many people in the east mansion have also contributed, so the master and the second master must reward them together. It’s not surprising.”

“That’s it.”

Just as the people below were talking about it, Jia Lian came out with Lin Zhixiao and others.

Seeing Jia Lian’s slender and noble figure, the entire courtyard fell silent at an extremely fast speed.

Jia Lian stood on the platform under the eaves of the hall, looking down at the hundreds of Jia family members in the courtyard.

Under the illumination of the lanterns hung high in the courtyard, all these men, women and young men were all unconceivably happy. They looked at him with either reverence or fear.

Jia Lian knew that although the quality of this group of people might not be high, their bodies were not as strong as those of the officers and soldiers he had led.

However, these are the slaves born and raised in the Jia family, and they are the group of people who are most likely to die for him.

"Today, I have summoned you here for three things."

As Jia Lian slowly spoke, all the people below him fell silent, so that after Jia Lian paused, In such a huge scene, you can hear the needle drop for a moment.

A young and unstable boy, who had never experienced such a tense scene, replied excitedly: "If you have anything to do, Lord Marquis, just tell me, you guys are willing to die for the second master!"

After he finished speaking, he found that many people were looking at him in surprise, but no one responded.

Even Jia Lian looked towards him. His face suddenly turned red and he shrank back in embarrassment.

Jia Lian didn't seem to pay attention to this person. After the scene became quiet again, he said: "The first thing is that I returned to the capital for the first time today and saw that everything at home was fine. Even the garden behind was also Everything is almost finished.

I feel very happy, so I specially prepared some loose money for everyone so that after they take it back, they can buy more food and wine, and they will be happy."

Although they had already guessed it, after hearing what Jia Lian said, everyone in the courtyard couldn't help but get excited and started to thank him.

Jia Lian still waited for them to calm down before he said:

"Let me first talk about the rules for distributing rewards.

Everyone in my Jia family The slaves registered in the East and West Prefectures, regardless of men, women, old or young, even if they are looking after the house in Nanjing or guarding the village in the north, each will be rewarded five hundred.

Those who cannot be present today can be replaced by their family members. Receive. If your family members are not in Beijing, they will be recorded in the accounting office for the time being and can be collected at any time in the future.

Secondly, anyone who is currently serving as an errand in the Rongguo Mansion and is at the request of the master’s family can receive double portions.
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Finally, in the past year, anyone who has worked as an errand or done errands in the garden behind, regardless of whether it is the east or west house, as long as there is a record in the steward's room, can get another copy.

Don’t think it’s too little, all the rewards today are just for me.I spent my own money to cheer everyone up. The real reward will come when the garden is completely completed, or when the imperial concubine returns home to visit her relatives. At that time, the mansion will naturally give special rewards according to the merit.

In addition, I will give you rewards as appropriate for those who are in charge of various affairs and housekeepers. "

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he returned to the main seat in the center and sat down without waiting for the people below to hear clearly.

But it was obvious that his words had caused a stir among the people below. There was a big commotion.

Five hundred dollars, a month’s worth for an ordinary slave boy in the Jia family.

It’s not too much to say more, it’s not too much to say it’s less. It’s not too little. After all, many people work hard for a month just waiting to get these five hundred coins.

Not to mention, those who work in the house here are still in the garden. Those who have done something in the country can also receive two extra copies. Doesn’t it add up to three copies?

One thousand five hundred yuan, converted into one, two, two or three yuan of silver. This may not be In the eyes of those high-ranking housekeepers, but for most of the low-level servants, it is still a huge income.

After all, even the mandarin ducks serving the old lady Girl, the monthly payment is only one tael of silver.

I haven’t heard that this is just a reward given to everyone by the second master from his own pocket. When the garden is completed, will there be another reward?

For a time, many people who had not done anything in the garden secretly planned to go to the garden to find a job in the next time, otherwise wouldn’t they be in a big loss?

Some people were secretly surprised by another point.

The rewards given out by the government are all based on the list of people working in the government. There is no such thing as the second master said Like that, all the slaves in the Jia family are rewarded? You know, the Jia family has been rich for a hundred years, and there are many slaves.

And slaves beget slaves, these slaves are The people are all current members of the Jia family.

The two houses of the Jia family are so big, either there are no vacancies, or they are unwilling to endure hardship, and many of them have not yet received errands in the two houses.< br />
For example, if a family has children and has several children, those who have grown up will naturally be sent to the house to arrange errands. But those who have not grown up can also be regarded as residents of the Jia family. Could it be that, These free-loaders, now the second master also wants to reward them?

If this is true, then it is really in line with the words of universal celebration.

There is no more time to think and discuss , as the second master opened the roster on the table and read out a name, Manager Lin next to the second master loudly announced: "Fan Dapeng's family has four people living there. Among them, Fan Dapeng and the eldest son Fan Chengcai are all feeding in Nanyuan of Rongguo Mansion. Horse, you can receive six rewards in totalSilver, three thousand in total, do you have any questions? "

"No, no, I thank you, Master! "

The middle-aged man who came forward after hearing this was filled with gratitude. He really didn't expect that the two teenage children in his house would one day make money for the family. !

If I had known earlier, I should have asked the family member to sign the deed of residence, so that I could get another one?

His wife was married outside. , is not a slave of the Jia family, and the Jia family does not force the slave's spouse to become a slave.

"If you have no objection, go and get the money. "

Jia Lian casually scratched the list. After Fan Dapeng took the reward from the women, he said lightly: "Next, Zhao Xin. "

"..."

...

In the back hall of Rongxi Hall, Mrs. Wang came back from Jia Mu's courtyard and came to look for Jia Zheng. .

"Master, I heard that Lian'er was in the front yard, handing out rewards generously, not only to people in our house, but also to everyone in the Dongfu. Is this..."

After Mrs. Wang sat down, she couldn't help but ask.

Jia Zheng was stunned, and then said: "What's the point? Lian'er is happy today, so he can use his own money to give Is there anything wrong with the slaves paying some rewards? "

"My own money? "

Mrs. Wang was a little surprised. She heard that there was a lot of commotion outside and knew that Jia Lian was handing out rewards. She naturally thought that Jia Lian was withdrawing money from officials. After all, the house was run by Jia Lian and his wife. It was easy to get money from the official. She never thought that Jia Lian would generously pay for it himself.

Now after listening to Jia Zheng's words, she knew that she had misunderstood, so she changed her words: "Although it is him You can use your own money however you want. However, the situation in our house is no better than before, so it is better to save some money.

If you develop a routine, if the reward is less in the future, the slaves will be resentful. "

Mrs. Wang feels that Jia Lian has the mentality of a nouveau riche.

It should be noted that this housekeeper, especially the discipline of slaves, is a skill. Rongguo Mansion has long formed a routine , Now that Jia Lian is making exceptions arbitrarily, won’t things be chaotic in the future.

“What’s going on in our house? "

Jia Zheng was very disapproving, and even told Mrs. Wang that their Jia family seemed to have fallen, and felt very unhappy.

"Now in the official treasury, it is not Do you still have tens of thousands of taels of cash? ”

“Although there are still some, not all are ready to welcome the return of the imperial concubine.Is it a family visit?

According to my calculations, I can only cope with this year. What will I do next year? "

Jia Zheng still didn't take it seriously: "Our family has been burdened with the garden and visiting relatives in the past two years. When these two major events are over, there will be no other major events in the house, and things will naturally be relaxed by then. ”

Jia Zheng believes that as long as the situation is not exhausted, there is no need to worry at all.

As for whether the Jia family will be exhausted?

It is obviously impossible.

He has lived for fifty years and has never seen Jia’s house run out of water.

Just this time, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were spent to build the garden.
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But this is an accident.

As long as this incident can be overcome, with the more than 100,000 acres of fertile land in Rongguo Mansion, the annual cash harvest alone will already exceed 10,000 taels. .

In addition to other miscellaneous things, such as shops in the north and south Beijing, etc., the normal income of Rongguo Mansion in a year is about 20,000 taels of silver.

As long as no big things are done, In a few years, the official treasury will naturally be rich.

Mrs. Wang doesn’t think there is anything wrong with Jia Zheng’s idea.

If not, she wouldn’t She dared to speak up and borrow money from You.

She just instinctively felt that she could not let Jia Lian steal the limelight and win people's hearts like this.

After all, if this continued, In the future, how many servants in Manfu will listen to them, and they will not all go to curry favor with Jia Lian and his wife?

"Master, I always feel that nowadays the government treasury spends more and the income is less, and everyone in the family Everyone is asking for money from the officials.

I have been unable to make ends meet, and if I continue at this rate, problems will arise sooner or later in the future.

So, do we have to think of ways to change this situation? After all, now that the two sides are using money together, if it is not done in a systematic manner, trouble will inevitably occur. "

"Well, do you have any good ideas? ”

Jia Zheng also had a feeling that since he and Jia Lian decided not to divide the family property, there has been no input in the official treasury except the annual income from the rent of the farm shop.

From Jia Mu went down, asking for money from the officials everywhere.

"In my opinion, since we are one family, it is better for the master and Lian'er to discuss it. From now on, no matter the master or Lian'er, everyone will The salary, silver, and rewards from the imperial court are all assigned to the officials and distributed uniformly.

Well, the same goes for gifts given by relatives and friends. What do you think, sir? ”

To be honest, Mrs. Wang was raped by JiaIn the past two years, Lian had sent massive rewards to his family, and then Wang Xifeng moved them to the small yard and hid them, which made him feel very sad.

For example, when Jia Lian came back this time, he received three rewards at once.

Except for the Empress Dowager and Yuanchun, when Zhaoer and others came back before, they sent back rewards from Emperor Ningkang.

Although it is not much, except for the belt of the knight's uniform and other items, there is only one thousand taels of silver.

It is always enviable.

After all, except when he was promoted to imperial concubine in Yuanchun, Jia Zheng had never received a reward of more than one thousand taels from the court.

Of course, when Jia Zheng was on a major errand at the Ministry of Industry, he had made some necessary gains on several occasions.

But no matter what, Jia Zheng is definitely not as good as Jia Lian.

Let’s not talk about the rewards on the surface, but let’s talk about the Military and Horse Division. Who doesn’t know that it is a very wealthy yamen?

Jia Lian is not as "honest and upright" as Jia Zheng. In the past two years, I don't know how much money I have made...

This is Mrs. Wang's idea.

She even thought about letting Jia Zheng persuade Jia Lian to receive all this "shady" income for official use.

When Jia Zheng first heard about it, he felt that Mrs. Wang's proposal was feasible. After all, although he had small calculations in his heart, he really regarded Jia Lian as his nephew.

He was still thinking that his uncle and nephew would work together to carry forward the Rongguo Mansion.

Therefore, it would be a good thing if the salary and salary could be collected into one place, which would not only make the relationship between the two families closer, but also make each other less calculating.

But then he shook his head. Just because he is noble and lazy does not mean he is stupid.

He felt that Jia Lian would definitely not agree. After all, Jia Lian held many positions and had a title. As a small official of the fourth rank, his salary was only a few hundred taels of silver and dozens of stones of grain a year. How could he be compared with Jia Lian?

"This is inappropriate.

I know you are looking at Lian'er's glory in the past few years, but you have never thought about Lian'er's success in the court and the palace. Why are there so many rewards?

Take this time, haven’t you heard that most of the people who followed Lian’er died in the Northern Desert?

Lian'er also told me before that the pensions for those who died following him will not be used in the officialdom.

He said that this was the first time that he had someone around him People died in the battlefield, and they wanted a generous pension, but they didn't want to violate the pension standards set by the Duke of the country, so that's why.

I asked him how much money he planned to spend on the pension, and he said it would be about five thousand taels..."

" Jia Zheng said, with some surprise and confusion in his eyes.

After all, the previous two generations of old masters had a very high standard for subsidizing their Ding family generals, much higher than the imperial court.

But if a bodyguard is killed in battle, it is not It’s about sixty to eighty taels of silver.

But as for Jia Lian, he only had so many guards around him, but he had to spend so much money to provide compensation...

" Five thousand taels? ”

Mrs. Wang seemed a little surprised, and then fell silent.

She also thought that if Jia Lian’s standards were followed, what would happen if he went to the battlefield again in the future? After the death of the soldiers, will the money be released by the officials or not?

After all, if according to what Mrs. Wang said before, everything such as salary and salary will be collected by the officials, then this Expenses should naturally be borne by the official.

If this is the case, it is better to separate them and take care of their own affairs.

Jia Zheng took the opportunity to persuade: "I know you are watching Lian My son's fortune in recent years has been a little jealous. It's just that you don't think about it, Lian'er has risked his life to do all this.

If you are willing, I have an idea. "

"What? "

"I think Baoyu is getting older now. Since he doesn't want to study, why not let him learn from Lian'er and go to the battlefield.

In this way, it does not insult his status as the grandson of the Duke of the country. ”

Jia Zheng said, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

Jia Lian’s achievements, let alone Mrs. Wang, even Jia Zheng was jealous.

He wants Jia Baoyu to study and become a talented person, but according to him, this is probably impossible.

In this case, it is better to let Jia Baoyu follow Jia Lian.

He has heard that the reason why Jia Lian was able to quickly open up a situation in the army was because many generals in the army took care of him for the sake of the old man.< br />
If Jia Lian is like this, I think if Jia Baoyu goes, the treatment will not be much worse.

Mrs. Wang looked lonely, looked at Jia Zheng, and said quietly for a long time: "This is what the master said. , let’s talk to the old lady. As long as the old lady agrees, I have no objection. "

Uh...

Jia Zheng, who knew Jia's mother's temper well, stopped imagining.