Red Chamber 29

Jia Lian had been close friends with Liu Xianglian since childhood, and as a result, he had also practiced martial arts alongside him.

Later, when Wang Xifeng came to the Rongguo Mansion, she also began learning archery and horsemanship, often competing with Jia Lian to see who was better, much like a pair of bickering lovers.

Provoked by this, the pampered Jia Lian gritted his teeth, endured the hardship, and persisted in his training.

Afterward, Jia Lian followed Liu Xianglian to participate in the military examinations.

Although he did not pass as a military jinshi, he did earn the title of military juren and had his name registered with the military.

For this southern expedition, Jia Lian was egged on by friends like Liu Xianglian and Feng Ziying, and he signed up to join as well.

Although Wang Xifeng was worried, she still happily packed Jia Lian's luggage, waiting for him to return and earn her a noble title.

She accompanied Xue Baoqin to see Jia Lian and Liu Xianglian off.

Xue Baoqin was already pregnant; though it was still early, Mother Liu valued her health greatly and sent the most capable matron from her own household to accompany and care for her.

Jia Hu and Liu Zhong stood on the city walls, watching the great army set out.

The two of them now served in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue respectively, managing the provisions for the army.

This was a vital task, as the food and fodder were tied to the morale and physical condition of the soldiers on the front lines.

If the supplies could not keep up, how could hungry soldiers fight against the enemy?

The Emperor attached great importance to this war and entrusted this most critical link to Jia Hu and Liu Zhong, which showed the depth of his trust in them.

The two did not fail the Emperor's trust and had already caught wind of the movements of certain rats.

Some people were truly bold, daring to lay their hands on military rations.

The two had already identified those individuals and dispatched men to keep a close watch on them, intending to use them to catch the people pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

They had already set a trap, waiting for those people to walk right into it.

Jia Hu asked, "Who do you think is the mastermind behind this?"

Liu Zhong chuckled, "You already have your suspicions, don't you? Why ask me?"

Jia Hu sighed, "Jia Zhen is just a hollow-headed, foolish, and self-righteous fellow. Fortunately, Commandery Prince Yizhong doesn't think much of him either, so he hasn't involved him in any of the real plans. Otherwise, for this theft of military rations alone, he would have lost his head, and it would have implicated Rong'er and Xichun as well."

Liu Zhong replied, "If you don't want to implicate innocent people, it would be better to deal with him sooner."

Jia Hu frowned upon hearing this.

He agreed with Liu Zhong's opinion, but after all, they were relatives, and Jia Zhen had been decent to him when they were young, so he couldn't bring himself to act just yet.

Liu Zhong said, "Indecision leads to disaster. Look at how decisive Zhao Yiniang was."

Jia Hu had not kept the matter of Zhao Yiniang from Liu Zhong.

Jia Hu sighed and said, "I understand."

Liu Zhong offered him an idea: "You could have someone go and have a chat with You Shi."

A few days later, Jia Yuanchun received news from the Ningguo Mansion: Jia Zhen had died of a stroke during intimacy!

Jia Rong and Jia Qiang rushed back to the capital once more, escorted Jia Zhen's coffin, and took You Shi away from the capital to return to Jinling.

Jia Rong did not inherit the title of the Ningguo Mansion, and the estate was reclaimed by the Emperor.

Thus, one of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes was gone.

At the same time, the capital was plunged into a bloody purge.

All those who had tampered with the military rations were arrested by the Jinyiwei.

The Emperor showed no mercy and had them all executed, while their families were exiled thousands of miles away to the borders.

Those who were unlucky were directly recruited into the border army and sent to the battlefield.

Whether they could survive depended entirely on their luck.

The mastermind behind the scenes was caught by the Emperor; it was the son of the Deposed Crown Prince, Commandery Prince Yizhong.

This fellow believed the throne belonged to his family and wanted to rebel, gathering many of the Deposed Crown Prince's former subordinates, which included several families from the Four Kings and Eight Dukes.

The Emperor granted Commandery Prince Yizhong a cup of poisoned wine but spared his wife and children.

However, the Emperor showed no mercy to those who had followed Commandery Prince Yizhong.

The Niu Family of the Duke of Zhen, the Ma Family of the Duke of Zhi, and the Chen Family of the Duke of Qi were all raided.

The Niu Family was the maternal family of Commandery Prince Yizhong's wife and had been the most deeply involved, so they suffered the worst fate.

All the adult males of the family were executed, the women were sent to the official brothels, and the underage males were turned into young eunuchs.

The Chen Family of the Duke of Qi had a noble consort who pleaded for them, so no one died, but the entire family was exiled to the southern barbarian lands.

The noble consort from the Chen Family passed away not long after her family left the capital.

The Emperor dispatched another troop to march on Ping'an Prefecture.

Ping'an Prefecture was the territory of the Commandery Prince Xiping, who was the maternal uncle of Commandery Prince Yizhong.

It was precisely because of Commandery Prince Xining that Commandery Prince Yizhong had the confidence to rebel.

Commandery Prince Xining had spent over a decade in Ping'an Prefecture preparing, recruiting soldiers and buying horses, believing he could capture the capital in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, the Emperor had also laid out his own plans long ago.

Among the generals in Ping'an Prefecture were quite a few of the Jia family's former subordinates.

Some of Jia Daihua's former subordinates were successfully bought over by Commandery Prince Xining through the connections of Jia Zhen.

As for those who were former subordinates of Jia Daishan, along with the subordinates of Jia Daihua that Jia Zhen was unaware of, they were brought into the Emperor's fold through Jia Hu and Jia She.

The moment Commandery Prince Xining raised the banner of rebellion, the Emperor's men struck back with a stab in the back.

The rebellion was quelled quickly, and the estate of Commandery Prince Xining vanished from the world entirely.

This move terrified the remaining ducal and noble houses; they all hunkered down, behaving themselves and not daring to stir up trouble.

But did they think the Emperor would let them off just because they hid away?

The Emperor had long since grasped the various criminal evidence against those families, and when the time was right, he began to clean them out.

Grandmother Jia hid in Rongqing Hall, listening to Yuanyang recount which family had been raided today and which would be raided tomorrow, too frightened to even get up.

The only thing she felt fortunate about was that Jia Zhen was dead; surely the Emperor would not be able to uncover her past involvement in conspiring with Jia Zhen to speculate on Commandery Prince Yizhong, nor would he settle scores with her.

Grandmother Jia was filled with anxiety and unease.

Her health, which had been poor since the passing of Jia Zheng, grew worse and worse, and three months later, Grandmother Jia passed away.

Jia Hu was supposed to observe mourning for Grandmother Jia, but the Emperor issued an order for him to remain in office, requiring Jia Hu to continue his work.

As a grandson-in-law, Liu Zhong did not need to observe mourning for Grandmother Jia.

However, his work was extremely busy.

Having dealt with many parasites in the imperial court, there was a severe shortage of manpower, and both Liu Zhong and Jia Hu were forced to do the work of several people, even sleeping on floor mats in the government offices at night.

For Grandmother Jia's funeral, Jia Hu only took seven days of leave before he had to return and continue working overtime.

Grandmother Jia's funeral was somewhat desolate; it was not that Rongguo Mansion did not value her funeral—on the contrary, Rongguo Mansion used the highest specifications of funeral rites for her.

It was just that most of the old relatives and acquaintances who associated with Rongguo Mansion had been dealt with by the Emperor; those ducal and noble houses were all gone, and their descendants had left the capital, so who would be left to attend Grandmother Jia's funeral?

Grandmother Jia's funeral was cold and lonely, and after forty-nine days, Jia She escorted the spirit, taking the coffins of Grandmother Jia, Jia Zheng, and Wang to return to their ancestral home in Jinling, where the three were buried in the ancestral graveyard.

After this, Jia She and Zhang never returned to the capital, living in Jinling until they both passed away.

Jia Huan, Jia Cong, and Xichun followed the two of them back to Jinling.