Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1247 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 171

Shuhe was the first princess of the previous emperor to get married, and Qianlong conferred the title of Princess Gulun on her, so the wedding was naturally more grand. Even if the queen was stupid, she did not dare to do anything about Princess Shuhe's marriage or dowry, for fear of affecting her own reputation, and then affecting the reputation of the eldest princess Jingse, and shaking her own position.

Seeing that the queen was clear-headed, Jiang Xinxin let go of the matter completely. She only wrote a few words for the princess's mansion bought by the Lu family and made a plaque to send over.

But although Shuhe married from the palace, she would not be married in the princess's mansion. The prince consort also bought a house in the capital. If the couple had a good relationship, they would live there most of the time in the future.

The late emperor had four princesses, all of whom are now over ten years old. The Mongolian tribes had already found out the princesses' ages early on. This time, they brought a large number of young people under the pretext of attending Princess Shuhe's wedding. The princes would not take them away when they left, in order to let those young men and children develop feelings with the princesses and duchesses in the capital.

Mongolia was so eager to marry into the Qing imperial family that it wanted to marry all the Qing princesses and princesses, which made the concubines in the palace very proud.

The only ones who could not be proud were Concubine Ying and Concubine Ke, who were of Mongolian descent.

These two people have always been proud of their Mongolian origin, and privately wanted to revive the glory of the reign of Empress Xiaozhuang Wen. However, when they saw the reality that times have changed, they simply fell ill and stayed at home.

Of course, there were always people in the palace who would take advantage of others' misfortunes, but Concubine Ying and Concubine Ke were just arrogant and looked down on others. They had never framed anyone, so everyone just made a few remarks and it was over. There was no fuss at all, and Jiang Xinxin would never hear about it.

There are more princes and princesses in the harem. Jiang Xinxin has seen this many times, so it is no longer surprising to her. Fortunately, various gift lists have become routine from the beginning, and Jianqiu simply goes to the warehouse to pick things according to the examples set by Jiang Xinxin.

The concubines in the harem felt uncomfortable but could do nothing about it when they saw that Queen Mother Jiang Xinxin only cared about the Queen and ignored other concubines.

But Concubine Su was really unwilling to accept this, because the treatment given to the eldest prince Yonglian far exceeded that of the two princes and one princess she gave birth to. However, she did not dare to do anything to Yonglian, let alone the queen. She had previously tried to unite and instigate Concubine Chen, but Concubine Chen revealed that she had given someone a drug that would make them infertile on the way to the capital, and she dared not do anything anymore.

At that time, Concubine Chen was thinking about the relationship with Concubine Su because they were both from Jiangnan. Even though Concubine Su had no heir, she only hated Concubine Su secretly. She didn't even think of going to Emperor Qianlong or the Empress to expose Concubine Su. Moreover, for the sake of the children born to Concubine Su, she didn't think of using this matter as a handle to threaten Concubine Su.

But Supin herself felt that she could no longer stand up straight when facing Chen Guiren, and was worried all day long that Chen Guiren might expose her. In the eyes of the Queen and Qianlong, combined with Supin's secret words that she was dissatisfied with the fact that her children were not treated as well as the eldest prince Yonglian, it became a fact that Supin was spoiled and greedy.

Concubine Su originally had an ordinary appearance. Perhaps she could be considered a beauty among ordinary people, but in the harem, a place where beauties gathered, her appearance could only be considered mediocre.

Besides, Jiangnan chose her because he was optimistic about her fertility, and even the previous emperor chose her mostly for the sake of Qianlong's offspring.

Therefore, in front of Emperor Qianlong, there was really no other impression of Su Concubine except a few children with mediocre talents. Even as the performance of the Second Prince and the Third Prince fell further and further short of Qianlong's expectations after they went to school, he even said that the Second Prince and the Third Prince were dragged down by their biological mother, Su Concubine.

The cruel reality was enough to make Su Bin despair, because except for herself, no other concubines in the harem even regarded her and the princes and princesses she gave birth to as a threat.

Jiangnan was originally an important tax-collecting area of ​​the Qing Dynasty. There was even a saying that "If Suzhou and Hangzhou are well-fed, the whole world will be well-fed." However, as the wool business gradually expanded and the previous emperor promoted a variety of high-yield crops, the Mongols became wealthy, and the people of the Qing Dynasty gradually became well-fed. The status of Jiangnan declined significantly.

The fact that the Mongolian princes gathered in the capital with their families this time, instead of waiting for Qianlong's Mulan hunting trip to hold an alliance on the grassland, is in itself very intriguing.

Jiangnan is the most politically sensitive place, especially with Zhang Tingyu, a serious official from Tongcheng, in the court. Of course, he would worry about the future of people in Jiangnan.

But even if Jiangnan caught the ride of maritime trade, it could not compare with the top port, Guangzhou Thirteen Factories. All the goods introduced from the West would be distributed in Guangzhou and Fujian. Even though Jiangnan had no shortage of docks, it could only make second-hand money.

As the method of drying salt spread, the salt industry also saw the spread of Yangzhou's status as a salt distribution center. Yazhou Island south of Guangzhou gradually prospered because it was the most suitable place for drying salt.

The vast markets in the north, southwest and northwest originally controlled by the Yangzhou salt merchants gradually shrank as the Qing Dynasty completely recovered Qinghai and discovered the vast salt lake in Qinghai. They even lost the Mongolian market.

The forces that control Jiangnan today are actually several giants who joined the imperial court when the wool business was just starting out.

The lifeline of Jiangnan was in the hands of the imperial court. Those who wanted to resist the imperial court were almost all massacred when the imperial court implemented the policies of "equalizing the land tax", "officials and gentry paying taxes together", "collecting fire expenses to the public", and "abolishing foot binding". Now even the White Lotus Sect has almost disappeared in Jiangnan.

But even so, Zhang Tingyu strongly opposed the Jiangnan gentry reaching out to the harem, so even though Concubine Su secretly sent out a lot of messages asking for help, she only got some financial help. The qualifications of the second and third princes really frustrated the Jiangnan gentry.

Princess Shuhe got married happily. Although her husband was a typical Mongolian, he was handsome and had a good temper. He took the initiative to learn Chinese early on and treated her with genuine respect.

Without the supervision of the governess, Princess Shuhe lived a very comfortable life after marriage. After all, even though she had never lacked fine clothes and delicious food in the palace, she did not have the freedom to go shopping at any time.

Princess Wenshu, who was waiting for Princess Shuhe to return home in seven days and would have to consider her marriage in two years, directly grabbed Princess Shuhe, her elder sister, and wanted to ask her even about her private affairs.

Princess Shuhe understood her sister's thoughts and advised: "The relationship between Mongolia and the Qing Dynasty has changed from offensive to defensive. We are much luckier than those aunts who married into Mongolia in those years. Mongolia would not dare to send a prince consort with a bad temper to the capital. After all, in their view, the share of the wool business is extremely important."

Princess Wenshu understood this principle, but when it came to herself, she always felt that it was never too careful.

To be honest, Shuhe also felt pity for her sister Wenshu. When Concubine Cao passed away, she had already become somewhat sensible. Later, she even went out of her way to ask her biological mother, Concubine Xin, about the inside story. The answer she got was naturally different from what Wenshu knew.

So she hoped more and more that her sister could live a good life and have a bright future.