As the saying goes, "accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", the Cao family is the same, as the official family, the Cao family is also not able to live in the emperor's vision with peace of mind.
From Cao Xi to Cao Yin, to Cao Yin (Cao Yin's eldest son), to Cao Yin (Cao Yin's nephew), and finally to Cao Xueqin's generation, the Kangxi Dynasty had passed, and in the face of the ensuing Yongzheng Dynasty, the Cao family seemed too out of place. The Yongzheng Emperor was not the Kangxi Emperor who had been fond of the Cao family in the past, and when facing Cao Fu, the head of the new generation of Cao family, because of his inaction and the exposure of things such as "harassing the station", the Yongzheng Emperor finally made the Yongzheng Emperor intolerable, and under the banner of "strict official rule", Cao Fu was dismissed from his post and investigated, the Cao family property was confiscated, and the Cao family returned to Beijing to return to the banner (the Ancestors of the Cao family were the white flag).
1. The Kangxi Emperor and the Cao family
Why the Cao family was able to mix with the Wind and Water during the Kangxi Period, in the feudal era, the rise of the family clan always seems to be related to the emperor's love, if it were not for the Kangxi Emperor's much support for the Cao family, only by virtue of the Cao family's official style and ability in the past generations, the Cao family would not have had this special encounter in any case.
The relationship between the Kangxi Emperor and the Cao family begins with the earliest Cao Xi, in 1651, the regent Dolgun committed a capital crime, so the Shunzhi Emperor took the Zhengbai Banner to which he belonged to his subordinates, which directly led to the Zhengbai Banner later becoming the household slave of the Aixin Jueluo family. The relationship between Cao Xi and the Kangxi Emperor was developed on the basis of the relationship between the "family slaves", and the Kangxi Emperor's childhood nanny was Cao Xi's wife and wife, coupled with Cao Xi's own outstanding ability, so he was particularly heavily entrusted by the Kangxi Emperor.
After Cao Xi's death, because Cao Yin grew up with the Kangxi Emperor from an early age, the two had a very good relationship, so the Kangxi Emperor was also very fond of Cao Yin when he treated him. The "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" records that the Kangxi Emperor went to Jiangnan five times, and Cao Yin received five times, four of which were stayed at the Cao family, which shows the degree of trust that Kangxi had in the Cao family. However, it was precisely because the Kangxi Emperor blindly loved and protected the Cao family that to a large extent, it eventually led to the misfortune of the Cao family's subsequent fate.
2. The Yongzheng Emperor and the Cao family
Logically, the Kangxi Emperor's attitude towards the Cao family before his death was very friendly, and the Yongzheng Emperor, as the heir, naturally would not go against his father's wishes, but when the Yongzheng Emperor personally visited the Golden Ruan Palace, he first aimed the contradiction at the Cao family, and then he raided the Cao family with various crimes. For the Yongzheng Emperor, the final tragic end of the Cao family also satisfied a large part of the Yongzheng Emperor's heart!
First: At the feet of the Son of Heaven, he is corrupt and perverts the law, which violates political reform
As mentioned above, Cao Yin once presided over the kangxi emperor's five trips to Jiangnan and other huge affairs, during which time, the amount of silver invested by Cao Yin was immeasurable, coupled with Cao Yin's own daily pomp and circumstance in the official field, social gifts and other expenses, it was really difficult for Cao Yin to breathe. In 1709, Cao Yin (江寅), who was then the governor of Liangjiang, was appointed to cao yin , and it was stated that Cao Yin (Jiangning Weaving) and Li Xu (Suzhou Weaving) owed three million taels of public silver.
However, at that time, the Kangxi Emperor's attitude towards the two of them was still mild, and they were only allowed to fill in the blanks afterwards, and did not punish them. After Cao Yin's death, the imperial court found out that Cao Yin had lost 373,000 taels of silver to the national treasury during his lifetime. Such a huge deficit figure is indeed an astronomical number for the Cao family, but this burden naturally falls on the shoulders of the Cao family's future generations.
After Yongzheng came to power, he launched a large-scale inventory of money and grain and strict management of officials for the whole country, and it just so happened that Cao Fu, who was the weaver of Jiangning at the time, not only did not make up for the money and wealth lost by his ancestors, but also embezzled and perverted the law, and in the face of such an unbearable situation, Yongzheng could never let it go any longer.
Second: The Cao family participated in the "Kowloon Conquest"
If the Cao family had chosen to stand in support of the fourth master (Yongzheng) at that time, in fact, it would not have attracted the antipathy of Yongzheng in the later period, at least not to be used to open the knife. But in the later years of Kangxi's life, the Cao family made two mistakes: they should not participate in the "Nine Dragons Conquest"; they should not stand in support of the Eighth Master and oppose the Fourth Master.