We read all the lead to present a different history.
Speaking of the rise and fall of the Cao family, we have to mention one person, who is Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin.
Many people may not be very familiar with this person, but I believe that many people should have seen the TV series "Kangxi Dynasty" starring Chen Daoming, which has a character named Wei Dongting, whose historical prototype is Cao Yin.
Cao Yin (曹寅), also spelled "Liàn Pavilion", was influenced by the Cao Wei regime in the Three Kingdoms period, and many people used to refer to Cao Wei as Wei when they talked about the State of Wei. In other words, in the minds of many people, "Cao" is "Wei" and "Wei" is "Cao". The author of the Kangxi Dynasty was also influenced by this, so he used Wei to replace Cao, that is, to refer to Cao Yin with Wei Dongting.
In a sense, Cao Yin's life trajectory is roughly similar to that of Wei Dongting in "Kangxi Dynasty", and the turning point of his fate is mainly his mother, that is, the Jia mother in "Dream of the Red Chamber". It is said that when Cao Xueqin portrayed Jia Mu, she mainly used Cao Yin's mother as a historical prototype.
Initially, Cao Yin's family has always been a royal "slave in disguise", and later after Kangxi was born, Cao Yin's mother was selected to become Kangxi's nanny, so Cao Yin had the honor of playing with Kangxi from childhood to adulthood, and the two also formed a deep friendship between kings and subjects. So after Kangxi came to power, Cao Yin ushered in the highlight of his life.
In addition, Cao Yin himself was also a man of letters and martial arts, and he was heroic, so he was promoted to the rank of second-class bodyguard and zhengbai banner leader before he was twenty years old; and when Cao Yin was twenty-six years old, he began to assist in Jiangning weaving affairs; six years later, he was officially appointed by Kangxi as a Weaver in Suzhou, and later moved to Jiangning Weaving. Since then, Jiang Ning weaving has been re-elected by the Cao Yin family for nearly 40 years.
In these nearly 40 decades, the Cao family also ushered in his most prosperous and brilliant moment, because Kangxi six times in Jiangnan, except for the first time, the next five times were cao Yin undertook the Kangxi Southern Tour of the driving ceremony (four times nanjing to take over, once Yangzhou to pick up the driver); more importantly, Kangxi four times to nanjing, are directly living in Cao Yin's home, which also makes Cao Yin's limelight, directly overshadowed the local governor and inspector.
Of course, the so-called success is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He, and the glory of the Cao family stems from its five consecutive receptions of Kangxi's southern tour, and its decline also stems from this. Because, undertaking the grand ceremony of the Kangxi Southern Tour and providing food and accommodation for Kangxi and his party are all huge expenses.
Although it is said that the imperial court itself will have certain funds, these funds are obviously not enough to support the expenses of Kangxi and his party, especially for Kangxi and his party to live in Cao Yin's house, which is itself a weight for Cao Yin and a blessing for Cao Yin's family, how can he ask the imperial court for money? In this context, Cao Yin could only borrow public money, that is, borrow money from local finances to receive it.
This practice directly caused a huge deficit to Cao Yin, because Cao Yin's income sources are also so many, this large amount of money borrowed, where can he afford it? Therefore, in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi (1709), Cao Yin already owed up to three million taels of public silver, so the governor of Liangjiang, Ga Li, also secretly reported to Kangxi that he requested the public impeachment of Cao Yin, but Fortunately Kangxi did not agree.
In general, when Kangxi was alive, because of the friendship, plus he also knew that this was not Cao Yin's fault, so even though Cao Yin had already died, Kangxi continued to take care of the Cao family, did not force them to pay back the money, just let them slowly make up for the deficit.
The problem is that after Yongzheng came to power, he and the Cao family did not have much friendship, and Cao Yin was still a member of the Eight Masters Party, so Yongzheng naturally refused to give the Cao family a side, so the Cao family was directly raided.
In this regard, many people are very curious, since Kangxi Ming knows that living in Cao Yin's house will bring a huge financial burden to Cao Yin, but why should he continue to live in Cao Yin's house?
In fact, there are two main reasons for this: the first reason is that Kangxi originally chose to live in Cao Yin's house, mainly to win over the Scholar Group in Jiangnan. Because Cao Yin was the nephew of Gu Jingxing, a remnant of the Ming Dynasty, and Cao Yin was elegant and talented in literature, he came to Jiangnan to serve as a Weaver in Jiangning, and soon gained the approval of the remnants of Jiangnan and the upper-class intellectuals of the Han nationality.
Subsequently, Cao Yin actively implemented Kangxi's established policies and made extensive friends with well-known people with great influence in Jiangnan, and over time, Cao Yin became a figure who presided over the elegant and popular people in the southeast, and enjoyed a very high reputation in the Jiangnan region.
Later, Kangxi's southern tour itself was to envelop the Ming Dynasty remnants and Han upper-class intellectuals in Jiangnan, so he deliberately let Cao Yin preside over his driving, and deliberately lived in Cao Yin's house, the purpose of which was to believe that he Kangxi greatly respected the Han people and respected the Scholar Group in Jiangnan, so he also hoped that everyone would actively embrace the Qing Dynasty.
As for the fact that Kangxi has been living in Cao Yin's house since then, this involves the second reason, that is, if Kangxi does not continue to live in Cao Yin's house, it will inevitably make many people think wrong. On the one hand, many people will think that Cao Yin is no longer valued and trusted by Kangxi, otherwise why does Kangxi no longer live in his home?
In this context, it is inevitable that some people with ulterior motives will start to make a big fuss about Cao Yin's deficit, so that once there are too many people staring at this matter, especially if it is full of storms, it will naturally be difficult for Kangxi to cover up Cao Yin. In this way, the Cao Yin family may die faster.
On the other hand, the Scholars' Group in Jiangnan will inevitably think that if Kangxi does not live in Cao Yin's house, it will not be Kangxi who decides to change the friendly policy towards the Jiangnan Scholars' Group. Against this background, many people will inevitably be worried and anxious, which is obviously not conducive to the stability of the Jiangnan region.
It is also based on these two reasons that Kangxi can only continue to choose to live in Cao Yin's house. In a sense, Kangxi also had no way, if he did not live in the Cao family during the southern tour, it would really force the Cao family to a dead end.
On the contrary, if Kangxi continues to live in Cao Yin's house, although it will make the Cao family's deficit bigger and bigger, as long as Kangxi is still alive, the Cao family will not have any substantial impact, and there will be time and opportunity to make up for the deficit during this period.