When Cao Xueqin's home was raided, how many family properties were found? (Part 2)
An uncheckable decline
If you carefully read the historical materials, it is not difficult to find that Cao Yin was not a capable courtier, especially the weaving, salt affairs, etc. under his jurisdiction, just like today's large state-owned enterprises, holding economic resources that are unimaginable to ordinary people, but during Cao Yin's tenure, not only did he have a huge deficit in his position, but Cao Yin also borrowed money from the imperial family to participate in economic activities, and this money was finally lost.
With a good relationship with Kangxi, although Cao Yin had financial problems several times in office, Kangxi did not punish him, but instead tried to extend the period and let him make up for the deficit.
At this time, the Cao family, as Cao Xueqin described in the Dream of the Red Chamber, was full of bells, lived luxuriously, and had a large population. While they lived in luxury, their expenses were also astonishingly large, and the prosperity of several generations made the Cao family unaware of the hidden crisis, but instead benefited from the grace of the good and the hereditary fat.
In the fifty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Cao Yin entered beijing to report for duty, and soon after returning to the south, he fell ill with malaria. Immediately after this matter was reported to Kangxi, kangxi paid attention to it, and he sent a fast horse to send medicine to Cao Yin, but the heavens did not care, and Cao Yin died before the emperor's medicine was delivered.
After Sun and Cao Yin, who really had an emotional connection with Kangxi, left, Kangxi's attention and favor for the Cao family had faded like a tide, and the Cao family was unaware of it.
After Cao Yin's death, Kangxi, in order to preserve the Cao family property, also appointed Cao Yin's only son Cao Yin to weave for Jiangning, perhaps Cao Yin's luck came to an end, just two years later, Cao Yin also died, and the position of Jiangning weaving was passed on to Cao Yin's heir Cao Fu.
The era of Cao Yong and Cao Yong was the white-hot period of the "Nine Dragons Seizure", and the Cao family in Jiangnan may have held a credit for supporting the new jun after the new army succeeded to the throne, or perhaps after Cao Yin's death, he vaguely felt that the grace was not as good as before, and stepped into the muddy waters of the concubine.
Historical records show that the Cao clan sided with the Eight Brothers in the conquest of concubines, and once recommended the Eight Brothers as the crown prince, but the end of history was that the Four Brothers ascended the throne. Yongzheng was not soft on the courtiers of the hostile camp in the conquest of concubines in history, not to mention that behind the luxurious life of the Cao generations was a series of deficits, and the loopholes were like sieves.
At the beginning of Yongzheng's ascension to the throne, he was greatly dissatisfied with the extravagant waste of the previous dynasty, the extravagant life of the aristocratic class, and the lack of restraint and frugality. Soon after, an edict was issued requiring all localities to check the money and grain and make up for the deficit, and Li Xu, a relative of the Cao clan and a colleague, was convicted of the deficit and dismissed from his post and raided the family.
Since Yongzheng ascended to the throne, the Cao family has been like a sword hanging over its head, the fear of an unknown fate is like a shadow, and Cao Fu is like a bird with a frightened bow, looking around for someone to borrow money and find a little room for turning back. However, the huge holes left behind decades of wealth can be solved by asking people.
In the sixth year of Yongzheng, Cao Fu was finally dismissed from his post and raided his home for crimes such as economic deficit, harassment of the station, and transfer of property, and the family returned to the old mansion in Beijing empty-handed, and the Cao clan went through the Kangxi Dynasty and successively served as Jiangning weaving for sixty years, and finally it was investigated, and the descendants scattered in all directions, just like the end of "Dream of the Red Chamber", ending up with a white expanse and really clean land.
The Cao family has been in Jiangnan for many years, and has been working in a fat and poor position, Yongzheng naturally thinks that the Cao family is rich, and wants to use the Cao family property to make up for the deficit of weaving in Jiangnan for many years, but to his surprise, the Cao family raided the family, and only copied out more than 60,000 silver worth of property, which is far from the deficit that Kangxi Yongzheng was secretly reported.
Cao Xueqin's family has flourished because of the opportunities and struggles of a generation, but because of the extravagance of several generations, people can't help but sigh, the tragedy of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is probably here, rich as a big dream, after all, there is no trace.
