"Dream of the Red Chamber" has "four kings and eight dukes". The "four kings" are the kings of Beijing County, Nan'an County, Xining and Dongping, and the "Eight Princes" are the Dukes of Ningguo, Rongguo, Zhenguo, Liguo, Qi, Zhiguo, Xiuguo and Jiao.
According to the knighthood succession system in the Ming and Qing dynasties, these princes and dukes, when passed on to future generations, had to descend one level at a time. Therefore, the titles of Rong Guo Gong and Ning Guo Gong at that time were passed to Jia Yu's generation and had become first-class generals; by Jia Zhen's generation, they had become third-class Shenwei generals; the grandson of Zhen Guo Gong had become a first-class uncle; and the grandson of Li Guo Gong had become a first-class son.
However, one of the "Four Kings and Eight Dukes" is an exception, that is, the King of Beijing County. The original text of "Dream of the Red Chamber" explains very clearly, "It turns out that these four kings were only the king of Northern Jing on that day, and the current descendants of the king are still attacking the king." Therefore, the "Four Kings and Eight Dukes" at that time, after several generations of inheritance, now only the Northern Jing King's family has the highest title.
Therefore, when the Ningguo Mansion was funeral for Qin Keqing, the King of Northern Jing personally came to send the spirit, and Jia Yu, Jia Zheng, and Jia Zhen all hurried up to "meet with national etiquette." Seeing this picture, we are very clear that although the King of Northern Jing is about the same age as Jia Baoyu, or slightly older than Jia Zhen, or slightly older, his status is much higher than that of Jia Zhen of Ningguo Province, Jia Zheng of Rongguo Province, and Jia Huan.
However, what was strange was that it was obvious that the King of Northern Jing, whose status was much higher than Jia Zhen's, sent someone to the Ningguo Mansion to send a New Year gift before the New Year, but Jia Zhen did not want to see it at all.
The person replied: "The Water Prince of the Northern Province sent a word link and a purse." Jia Zhen heard that and ordered Jia Rong to go out to entertain, "only said that I was not at home." Jia Rong went. Here, Jia Zhen watched as she finished receiving her things and went back to her room to have dinner with Youshi.
Jia Zhen was obviously at home, and at this time, he was idle, just under the porch watching people give the descendants of the side branches of Jia Fu a new year's goods. But why didn't he want to see the King of Northern Jing? And let Jia Rong lie that she is not at home? In fact, we only need to look at the previous conversation between him and Youshi to understand.
Early in the morning of this day, You Shi sent Jia Rong to guanglu temple to receive silver for the spring festival. When Jia Zhen asked about this matter, she said something like this——
"Although our family does not wait for these few pieces of silver, how much is the emperor's divine grace." I closed it early, saw it for the old lady over there, bought the ancestor's offering, the grace of the emperor on the top, and the blessing of the ancestor on the bottom. Even if we use ten thousand taels of silver for our ancestors, it is not as decent as this... Except for one or two families like ours, if those hereditary poor officials and children do not hold this silver, what will they take to offer and celebrate the New Year? Zhen Zhen'er is the emperor's grace and thoughtfulness. Yu Shi said, "That's exactly what it said." ”
You look at Jia Zhen's tone, "Except for one or two families like us", except for the Ningrong Second House, the other hereditary families are just "hereditary poor officials' families"!
In Jia Zhen's eyes, the "hereditary poor official family" undoubtedly included the King of Northern Jing! Their family is also hereditary, and it is not among the "one or two families" that Jia Zhen said. It is only by relying on the silver of the spring festival given by the emperor that they can "offer and celebrate the New Year"!
Regardless of whether this was the case in the Actual Situation in the Northern Jing King's Palace, in Jia Zhen's opinion, it was like this.
Therefore, when Jia Rong returned from the Guanglu Temple with silver, the officials of the Guanglu Temple missed Jia Zhen. Jia Zhen still smiled triumphantly, "Are they thinking of me?" It's the end of the year again, and I'm either thinking about my drinking or thinking about my stuff! ”
In Jia Zhen's view, all the people who came to be close to him in the past years were for his banquet and things. The King of Northern Jing, who sent people to the Ningguo Mansion to deliver New Year's gifts, was obviously the same. Therefore, the Annual Gifts he sent were nothing more than word links and purses, all of which were of no value, and if Jia Zhen returned the gift, it would be much more expensive! Therefore, Jia Zhen sent Jia Rong out to lie, and he also had to hide from the King of Northern Jing.
Moreover, this year's Ningguo Mansion received relatively few New Year goods from the tenants at home, far below Jia Zhen's expectations, and Jia Zhen had to "save" as much as possible.
Therefore, although the title of King of Northern Jing was much higher than that of Jia Zhen of Ningguo Province, although he took the initiative to send someone to Ningguo Mansion to send New Year gifts first, Jia Zhen also had to find a way to avoid him. Because in Jia Zhen's view, the King of Northern Jing, a "hereditary poor official", also came for his own wine plays and things.