Cao Xueqin's grandfather was reused by the Kangxi Emperor and enjoyed all the glory and wealth, but when Yongzheng ascended the throne, he copied Cao Xueqin's home. In fact, the reason is very simple, that is, corruption.
I believe that most people have read "Dream of the Red Chamber", and the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is Cao Xueqin. Cao Xueqin is a novel based on her family origins, family changes, and the decline of the Middle Way. The protagonist of this novel, Jia Baoyu, is based on Cao Xueqin herself. Jia Baoyu was born in the Jia family of the four major families, deeply loved by his grandmother, his father was a close subject of the emperor' side, and his sister was still a noble concubine who was elected to the palace. He was born with an extremely luxurious life, eating and wearing extremely extravagantly, and a meal was equivalent to the income of ordinary people for a year. Then he was reported by people in a letter, ordered by the emperor to raid his home, and fell in the middle of the family road, and even Jia Baoyu, the favorite of the family, was missing.
Cao Xueqin's origin is very similar to Jia Baoyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber". The Cao family used to weave in Jiangning, which was a very fat messenger, some of which were oil and water. Cao Xueqin's grandfather was deeply trusted by the Kangxi Emperor and lived in Cao Xueqin's house on many southern tours. It can be seen that the Cao family was once full of arrogance and wealth.
Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin accompanied Kangxi to study when he was young, and he also served as a royal bodyguard, so he would be highly trusted by Kangxi, and when he became an adult, he would serve as Jiangning Weaving. We know that Jiangnan is rich in silk and tea, and these things are paid tribute to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and special procurement agencies are needed, and special personnel are needed to be responsible for procurement, and then transported to the imperial palace. Every year, the imperial palace needs a lot of silk brocade, so it has become such an institution in Nanjing, that is, Jiangning Weaving. Specialized in purchasing palace supplies, such as silk brocade, tea and so on in the south. Jiangning Weaving belonged to the Imperial Merchants and was generally managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition to procurement, he was also responsible for the reception and logistics of the emperor's southern tour.
Since the Cao family served as a Weaver in Jiangning, the income was quite rich, coupled with the trust of the Kangxi Emperor, he was generous to their family and treated the Cao family kindly, so that the Cao family became a famous and prestigious family.
As described in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the rich are not more than three generations, and the descendants of the Cao family are becoming more and more unmotivated, although on the surface it seems that the degree of eating and wearing has not decreased, but in fact, the inventory has become less and less, and many things have been taken out to subsidize the family, which can be known from Wang Xifeng's words. And "Dream of the Red Chamber" reflects the social state at that time, Kangxi's later years, the Qing Dynasty on the surface seems to be extremely prosperous, in fact, the corruption during the Kangxi years was very serious, Kangxi's close ministers around more or less have corruption, resulting in a deficit in the national treasury, once a major natural disaster occurs in the local area, the state has not much silver to use for disaster relief.
After Yongzheng ascended to power, he could not bear the corruption of officials and began to vigorously rectify the phenomenon of corruption, which did not matter, and soon involved the Cao family.
Under the protection of the Kangxi Emperor, the Cao family was accustomed to enjoying and extravagant life, so that when the country was no longer so prosperous, when the silver stored in their own family was getting less and less, they had to hold on to this huge shelf, and every day was a large amount of expenditure. Just like what we saw in "Dream of the Red Chamber", in addition to men having official positions and being able to earn money to subsidize the family, there are many women and servants in the family, and large and small festivals must be celebrated by the whole family, and every scene is extravagant, and a large amount of silver is needed, where does this money come from? It is the embezzlement of imperial court money.
The last jiangning of the Cao family, Jiang Ning, was bold and arrogant, and when the family's inventory could not be squandered at will, he tried his best to withhold the imperial court. Therefore, when Yongzheng was politically corrupt and corrupt officials, it was bound to implicate the Cao family, resulting in the Cao family being raided, and Cao Xueqin happened to experience the process of raiding and declining when she was a child.
Although the Cao family was raided, but the Cao family ancestors were after all the emperor's close subjects, so they would not be connected to the other, although the family road fell, can no longer be as pearls as before, but the Cao family is still preserved, the Cao family still has a place to stay, but it can no longer be reused.