Qi Ning raised his hand to invite Fan Dehai to have some tea. Fan Dehai picked up the tea cup with both hands. Qi Ning then smiled and said, "My father-in-law looks bad. Is it too hard on the journey?"
"Master Hou, the miscellaneous family is just tired." Fan Dehai sighed: "Master Hou has been away from Beijing these days and is not clear about the affairs in the palace. I wonder if you still remember Liu Wei?"
"Liu Jin?" Qi Ning nodded and said, "Of course I remember." He smiled slightly and asked softly, "Could it be that Liu Jin made things difficult for my father-in-law?"
Fan Dehai sighed: "Master Hou, the Za family are just servants serving the emperor. It's not a big deal to embarrass the Za family. To be honest with the master, I originally sent someone else to come to the East China Sea to convey the decree this time, but Liu Zhen was in front of the emperor. Jin Yan said that the Marquis had outstanding achievements and if he randomly sent someone to convey the order, he would be disrespectful to the Marquis, so he advised the emperor that the Za family should come to convey the order...!" After a pause, he smiled and said, "Actually, The Marquis has made great achievements, and the Za family can come to deliver the order, and they are very happy. However, Liu Zhen has no good intentions. It is already a long way from the capital, and after receiving the order, the Za family must arrive within four days. To the East China Sea, we can only travel day and night, because we are deliberately trying to make the Za family suffer."
Qi Ning frowned and said, "Did Liu Wei go too far?"
Fan Dehai raised his brows and immediately said: "What the Marquis said is that if it is just to embarrass the Za family, the Za family will not take it seriously, but Liu Zhen is now hanging around the emperor all day long, bewitching the emperor for fun, this... this is really It makes the Zajia family angry."
"Oh?" Qi Ning sneered: "Is he bewitching the emperor?"
"The Emperor loves the Queen very much. The Queen likes dancing and music. Liu Zhen just takes care of these things every day." Fan Dehai leaned forward slightly and whispered: "Master Hou, do you still remember those people I met in the palace last time? Musician?"
Qi Ning nodded slightly, and Fan Dehai sneered: "After those musicians entered the palace, they were personally raped by the queen. They were in Fengyi Palace almost every day...!"
"Why don't you ask, Your Majesty the Emperor?"
"As far as the miscellaneous family knows, the Duke of Zhen Guo discussed the Northern Expedition with the important ministers of the DPRK, and all the bureaus have also started preparations. The Duke of Zhen Guo will also go to the palace every day to report to the emperor." Fan Dehai frowned and said: "But the emperor only said that everything was done. The Duke of Zhen will handle it, and there is no need to go to the palace to report some trivial matters."
Qi Ning frowned slightly, and Fan Dehai sighed softly: "However, the Duke of Zhen goes to the palace every day, and every time he brings several important ministers with him to report. Every time the Duke of Zhen enters the palace, the emperor only I can go and see you." Suddenly he thought of something and said: "Yes, there is one more thing to tell Mr. Hou. When he comes, the emperor mentioned Qiu Shou and asked the Za family to tell Mr. Hou that they must catch up with the autumn on the sixth day of September. hunting."
"Qiu Shou?" Qi Ning was startled: "The sixth day of September?"
Fan Dehai said: "Since the founding of Da Chu, whenever the emperor wants to send out troops, he has to go hunting to boost morale. This time, the Duke of Zhenguo made a speech to the emperor, begging him to go out to hunt in the autumn, and Qin Tiansi has already been selected. The date is set for the sixth day of September." He raised his hand and calculated, and said: "There are still eight days left, and the Marquis should be able to catch up."
"The Duke of Zhenguo proposed that the emperor go hunting in autumn?" Qining asked: "Did the emperor agree?"
Fan Dehai nodded and said: "This is a royal rule that has existed since the founding of the country. During the autumn hunting, the emperor must bend his bow and hunt in person. The more prey he catches, the higher his morale will be."
"Where to hunt?"
"There is Pinglin Town less than fifty miles southwest of the capital. Next to the town is Pinglin. There is a garrison in Pinglin Town dedicated to guarding Pinglin. I heard there are about two hundred people." Fan Dehai said: "Pinglin is a royal hunting ground. , no one is allowed to go near it on weekdays. There are birds and beasts raised in the forest. When the late emperor was here, he would take time to hunt in spring and autumn. This time, the emperor also went to Pinglin for his autumn hunting."
"Ping Lin Qiu Shou?" Qi Ning said thoughtfully: "Who is accompanying you?"
"This is the Ministry of War making preparations. The Zajia family really don't know exactly who is accompanying him right now." Fan Dehai shook his head and said: "When the late emperor was here, at most two thousand people came at one time, and many important officials in the court accompanied him. Go, but the late emperor sometimes did not summon all the ministers to go there. The Za family still remembers that one autumn, the late emperor only took your father to go hunting." After thinking for a while, he said: "This autumn hunting is to show our great Chu soldiers the holy drive. With Tianwei, there must be many officials accompanying him."
Qining said "Oh" and said with a smile: "Since the emperor has a decree, we must speed up here. My father-in-law has a good day's rest here to recuperate. If everything goes well, we will set off back to Beijing the day after tomorrow."
Chen Ting and Xin Ci accepted the order and had no time to celebrate, so they began to act according to the order.
Chen Ting has collected many carriages and horses, and most of the goods have been shipped. However, due to the lack of carriages and horses, some of them have not yet been fully shipped.
This is not because the officials in the East China Sea are negligent, but because the imperial court has always had strict restrictions on local horses and does not allow local areas to keep horses in captivity. The sources of horses in the empire, except for the small amount of local horses that the government allows to be kept in captivity, are mostly from official horses. Horse farm.
The purpose of raising horses in official horse farms is to select strong war horses.
In the dispute between Chu and Han, the biggest disadvantage of the Chu army was that it suffered all the losses on its war horses. The Northern Han Dynasty had excellent war horses. Not only were they of good breed but also in large numbers. The Northern Han cavalry had always been a force that the Chu army was afraid of. Legion.
The Chu army was located in the south, and the breed of war horses was naturally incomparable with that of the Han army. Therefore, the Chu state secretly purchased horses from the north and sent them to official horse farms for breeding. Although they also cultivated a good breed of horse, most of them Some of them are still not qualified as war horses, so those unqualified horses from official racecourses flow into the private sector.
The climate and conditions in the East China Sea are not suitable for raising horses. Almost all the horses here are imported from other places, and every horse entering the East China Sea must be registered. This directly leads to the scarcity of horses in the East China Sea.
The materials seized this time were accumulated by the Donghai Jiang family for generations. The quantity was too huge, and the transportation to the capital was a long way. Chen Ting naturally did not dare to use inferior horses to transport it. If something went wrong along the way, he would not be able to bear the consequences. Therefore, he requisitioned horses from everywhere and selected horses suitable for transportation. Almost all the horses around Gulin City had been requisitioned, but there were still some shortages. Chen Ting finally requisitioned horses directly from the officials and gentry of Donghai.
Most of the horses owned by the officials and gentry were used for traveling. Naturally, they were all of high quality, and all of them were fat and long-legged. When they first heard that the government wanted to use horses to transport supplies, these officials and gentry were naturally reluctant to let their mounts do this. After a hard day's work, the imperial court had just pulled down several major families in the East China Sea, and the Jinyihou was still in charge of the East China Sea. Chen Ting was recruiting horses under the banner of the Jinyihou, so the officials and gentry naturally did not dare to say anything.
They barely managed to gather enough carriages and horses, and the goods were finally shipped the next evening. After Chen Ting and Xin Ci asked Qining for instructions, they each mobilized 500 elite soldiers. In total, there were a thousand people as escorts, plus the convoy. The transport of strong men can be regarded as a huge team of nearly two thousand people.
Although Qining was riding a horse, Chen Ting also knew that the relationship between Mrs. Tian and the young Marquis next to Qining was very important, so he naturally did not dare to neglect and carefully prepared the carriage.
Early the next morning, Chen Ting, Xin Ci and others were already waiting outside Gulin City. The convoy transporting goods was also waiting outside the city. The long convoy was like a long dragon, with no end in sight.
Everyone did not wait too long. Qi Ning had already led the accompanying officials from the Ministry of Justice out of the city gate on horseback. Wu Dalin and other guards were divided into two teams, Tian Xuerong's carriage was in the middle, followed by several horseback guards.
Seeing Qi Ning coming out, Xin Ci, Chen Ting and other officials, big and small, rushed to greet him. Qi Ning had already stood up and dismounted, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I have kept you waiting for so long, but there is no need to be so polite."
"Master Hou, it's been a hard journey along the way. Master Hou, please take care of yourself." Chen Ting cupped his hands and said.
Qi Ning nodded slightly and saw Qin Yuege also standing nearby. He smiled at Qin Yuege and said, "Qin Facao, the Ministry of Justice is still short of manpower. If you are willing, Master Chen and I will discuss it. You can go to the Ministry of Justice as an errand in a while." yes."
Everyone around knew that Qi Ning was determined to promote Qin Yuege.
Although Qin Yuege was in charge of the criminal name in Donghai, it was only a local yamen after all. Once he entered Beijing and entered the yamen of the Ministry of punishment, he was naturally not comparable to a local magistrate. Moreover, Qining was not only a hereditary marquis, but also the minister of the Ministry of punishment. Now he Speaking in person, if Qin Yuege really goes to Beijing as a errand, even if he doesn't leap over the dragon's gate, he still has a bright future.
Qin Yuege cupped her hands and smiled and said, "Thank you for your appreciation, Lord Marquis. It's just that my qualifications in this humble position are still young. I would like to practice here for two more years. If the Marquis feels that I can still do something more in my humble position, it won't be too late to go to the capital to serve."
Qining just smiled and didn't say much.
Some officials nearby thought to themselves that Qin Yuege rejected such a great opportunity in public, probably because he had other motives. After all, the Sima family was now powerful in the court, and many people knew that the conflicts between the Jinyi Qi family and the Sima family were getting worse. The deeper it goes, the King of Huainan has been overthrown by the Sima family. Who can guarantee that the Jinyi Qi family will not be the next King of Huainan. If Qin Yuege follows Qining to Beijing, she will naturally be inseparable from Qining. Once the Sima family wants to In order to rectify the Jinyi Qi family, Qin Yuege will inevitably become the target of the Sima family.
Although he missed a great opportunity by staying in the East China Sea, at least he could stay away from the capital and stay safe.
But some people also think that the Donghai family has just been wiped out, but this may not be the end. Several major Donghai families have been entrenched in Donghai for hundreds of years and are deeply rooted. There may not be any leaks from the remaining parties. If this group of people continues to cause chaos in Donghai, they can always make Donghai unstoppable. It is unknown whether Qin Yuege stayed in Donghai during the Taiping period, perhaps to purge the remaining members of the family.
The morning sun shone down on the earth, and the faint light between heaven and earth seemed warm and pleasant. Qining turned to Xin Ci and said: "Grand Governor, I want to recruit you...!"
"Don't worry, Lord Marquis, I know how to make arrangements." Xin Ci immediately handed over his hand and said: "They sincerely accept the imperial court's invitation, so I will naturally arrange it properly. I hope to hear news from Lord Marquis soon."
The news Xinci mentioned was naturally referring to the Haibosi incident. Qining wanted to turn Mo Yanbai and his gang into trading sailors. This matter had also been discussed with Xinci. Although there were some risks involved, if he could Letting these people sincerely run errands for Haibosi would undoubtedly be the best result.
Qi Ning held his hands in a circle, and everyone returned the favor. Qi Ning didn't waste any words, turned around, got on his horse, and winked at Wu Dalin beside him. Wu Dalin raised his arms and said loudly: "Let's go!"