"Dream of the Red Chamber" is a famous chapter novel in China, but there has been a lot of speculation and controversy about its author. The more mainstream view now is that "Dream of the Red Chamber" was written by Cao Xueqin of the Qing Dynasty, but in fact many people put forward many different views.
For example, many people believe that the "Red Chamber" of "Dream of the Red Chamber" can be interpreted as "Zhu", that is, the surname of the Ming Dynasty Tianzi; Jia Jingyin in the novel is the same as "Jiajing", and loves alchemy as much as Jiajing, regardless of affairs, and eventually died because of taking Dan medicine; Wang Xifeng's name "Feng" was originally a male bird among the phoenix, but it was used on the female Wang Xifeng, implying that the great eunuch Wei Zhongxian, both of them were great stewards and powerful.
There is also a mention of "mourning Hongxuan" in the book, looking at the solution of "red" through "Zhu", then this is the meaning of nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty. Although Cao Xueqin was raided by Yongzheng in the end, after all, he was born in the Qing Dynasty, so why did he use it to remember the Ming Dynasty? But these are the speculations of some descendants, even if the book is really written by the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, Cao Xueqin also has the credit of "reviewing the book for ten years, adding and deleting five times", and is also an indispensable author.
However, Cao Xueqin, the recognized author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", had a very bumpy life, he came from a family of Zhengbaiqi wrapping clothes, his great-grandmother was once Kangxi's nanny, his grandfather served as Kangxi's companion and imperial bodyguard, and later served as the imperial envoy of Jiangning Weaving and Lianghuai Patrol Salt. Cao Xueqin was born in 1715, and during his childhood, Cao Xueqin always lived a life of fine clothes and food.
However, after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne in 1722, the Cao family's life gradually became difficult. On the one hand, the Cao family relied on kangxi relations to get to the top position, and they were not very familiar with Yongzheng; on the other hand, Yongzheng was more strict in investigating corruption, and the official positions in Jiangnan were all so-called "fat differences" How many were not greedy? Cao Xueqin's family is obviously also a corrupt family, only to see when Yongzheng will come to check on them.
In 1728, Yongzheng, who finally did not want to wait, began to raid the corrupt family left by his father, and in the fifth year of Yongzheng, that is, in 1727, this inventory finally arrived. Cao Xueqin's uncle Cao Fu was dismissed from his post and imprisoned for harassing the post, weaving deficits, and transferring property. In the first month of the following year, cao Xueqin's family was thoroughly raided, but after copying out the cao family's property, Yongzheng's heart was cold when he got the list. The report of the Cao family raiders is roughly as follows:
"There are thirteen houses and family houses, a total of 483 rooms, eight places of land totaling nineteen acres and sixty-seven acres, a total of 114 men and women of family size, and more than 100 pieces of tables, chairs, beds, old clothes and more than 100 pawn tickets, and a total of 32,000 taels of indebted cao yin."
What does it feel like to see this? More or less? Anyway, yongzheng obviously felt less after reading it! He didn't expect to copy 800 million taels of silver like his grandson Jiaqing copied his son Qianlong's favorite and Yan, but it wasn't the case with Cao Xueqin's family now! Because the Cao family has nothing but a little fixed asset. Not only that, but there are actually "a total of thirty-two thousand two owed to Cao Yin", and if you really want to calculate, the assets of the Cao family may still be negative.
So why is this happening? A big reason is that the corruption in Jiangnan is too severe, and by the time the Cao family takes office, there is actually no oil and water to fish. After Yongzheng came to power in 1722, he strengthened the fight against corruption, and at this time, the Cao family estimated that they did not dare to be blatantly greedy, but invested the only remaining assets in the family to earn money. It's just that the roof leaked in the overnight rain, and this asset did not get a return after being invested, but let the Cao family owe a bunch of debts.
So by the time Yongzheng came to raid Cao Xueqin's family, their family's property was already close to negative assets. From this point of view, in fact, Cao Xueqin's good life is estimated to be between 1715 and 1722 AD, that is, less than 10 years. And this period of time, which is almost a child's ignorance, let him write the rich and noble imperial style in "Dream of the Red Chamber", so it will arouse the suspicion of many people - the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not Cao Xueqin.
What do you think, readers?