This is not because Wei Changying is pretending to be indifferent, but because he is really not happy - because yesterday Her Royal Highness Princess Linchuan issued an imperial edict from Gu Wei, a descendant of the Gu family in Hongzhou.
Along with the imperial decree of marriage, there was also an edict to the nine imperial guards.
This was supposed to happen in the spring of this year, but it was delayed because Princess Linchuan was missing and the imperial guards were also among the candidates for the Prince Consort... Shen Zangfeng and other nine people were ordered to be among the top ten who won the imperial martial arts performance on New Year's Eve last year - except Gu Weiwai, who was selected as the consort, immediately went to the frontier to serve in the army for a period of three years.
The point is, in these three years, any one contribution can be worth three calculations.
Three years later, we calculated the results together and returned to the imperial capital to discuss merit and reward—
This was after the great victory in Fengzhou Prefecture last year, His Majesty learned that Song Duan, a young son of the Song family in the south of the Yangtze River, had achieved the greatest victory in the Wei Dynasty's war against foreigners in more than ten years. Later, he was supposed to summon Song Duan to Beijing for an audience - but it turned out that such a "young hero" made the Rong people deeply afraid, but he and his father Song Han were assassinated by the Rong people...
The Holy Spirit felt regretful and disappointed. Seeing that all the imperial guards were extraordinary, he felt moved and asked the victor: "How does Song Duan compare with my left and right guards?"
All the imperial guards who are not members of the clan or the sect of the aristocratic family are the descendants of the family who have been carefully cultivated, so they will try to arrange them in front of the Holy Emperor. Although the man who reported the victory was ordered by Wei Qi to praise Song Duan, he did not lose his mind and naturally responded like this: "Song Duan can be called a young genius, but how can there be an ordinary bird beside the phoenix? Your Majesty, right?" , far better than Song Duan."
Therefore, the Holy Spirit felt that the reason why the country had only had one great victory in Fengzhou and rarely heard of good news was because the talented people were left with him. Therefore, the idea of sending young talents to guard the border to increase the prestige of Wei came up.
It's just that these elders of the imperial guards brought the highly valued disciples of the clan to the Holy Emperor's side, in order to gain a bright future by staying with the Holy Lord every day. Now the Holy One wants to send all these people to the frontier... When the Holy One became so interested, he went back and chose new imperial guards to serve, and then forgot about these people. What will happen to the future of these disciples who have been cultivated
Therefore, the elders from all the families came forward one after another - Wei Changying was not very clear about the details here. In short, the Holy Emperor may be too eager for good news, maybe he is confused, maybe it is a whim, maybe the emperor has his own decree... Anyway, this border station is The opportunity to return to Beijing and be quickly promoted within three years was fiercely fought over by various schools at last year's New Year's Eve martial arts performance.
The last ten people who got the ten places, according to the rankings on last New Year's Eve, were Shen Zangfeng of the Xiliang Shen family, Gu Yiran of the Imperial City Gu family, Jinxiu Duanmu Duanmu Wuyou, Hongzhou Gu Wei, Rongcheng Deng family Deng Zongqi, Su Yuwu of the Su family of Qingzhou, Liu Youzhao of the Liu family of Donghu, Qian Lian of the Qian family of Xinghe, Gu Xinian of the Gu family of the Imperial Capital, and Pei Yu of the Pei family of Youzhou.
This was because Gu Wei wanted Princess Linchuan, and the Holy One loved the princess and was not willing to let her daughter leave the imperial capital, nor could he bear to see Princess Linchuan separated from her consort after her death, so he directly promoted Gu Wei to a noble title through the Lord. Let him stay in the imperial capital to accompany the princess.
In this way, the remaining nine people did not have such a good thing for nothing. They still went to the border areas according to the Holy Master's plan. Only after they came back with merit three years later could they seek official positions and rewards - which also proved the Holy Master's wisdom.
As for this border area, the western and northern borders of the Wei Dynasty are currently guarded by the Shen family and the Liu family respectively. These two families have been fighting on and off with the Di people and the Rong people for more than ten years without stopping. The whereabouts of Shen Zangfeng and Liu Youzhao are obvious.
The rest were divided into these two places - Gu Yiran, Deng Zongqi, Gu Xinian and Shen Zangfeng went to Xiliang; Duanmu Wuyou, Su Yuwu, Qian Lian and Pei Yuzhao went to Donghu with Liu Youzhao.
When he first learned about this division, Guard Chief Ying was very surprised: "Why do you care about Qiudi and the Rong people? Where are the bandits in the world?"
Shen Zangfeng said: "All of you, your lords, say that the bandits in the area can be exterminated by the governors of the state and county on their own. Compared with the dangers of foreign tribes on the border, they are just a small thing."
Wei Changying couldn't help but said: "Although I am a female generation and don't know anything about military affairs. But on the way from Fengzhou to the imperial capital, what I saw and heard is that many bandits were originally common people because they had no food and clothing. , as a last resort, many fertile fields cannot be exploited by ruthless officials and have to be abandoned. The world is like this, if we don’t suppress Pingjing, it will be bad, isn’t it?”
"Don't say these words outside." Although Shen Zangfeng's tone was gentle, his expression was very solemn, "The Holy One does not like to hear such words. Besides, bandits are everywhere in the country now. It takes a long time to eradicate them and the achievements are small. Who is willing to Do it?”
Guard Chief Ying bit his lip and was speechless: His Majesty wanted to send his left and right guards to serve in the frontier, but he was dissuaded by the noble family. Until the Holy Majesty promised to triple the credit, all the families started to compete again - His Majesty refused. I like to hear people say that there are many bandits in the country, but I like to report good results against foreign races. What is good at the top is effective at the bottom. Anyway, it is the common people who are having trouble living now. The aristocratic families are still well-dressed and well-fed. Naturally, it is the credit of the Holy Spirit. , they sent their children there...
As for the dire straits of the people down there, the important ministers who live in the deep courtyard buildings rarely see it with their own eyes. Even if they see it, there are still state and county chiefs who can shirk the blame or blame.
But no matter how much he sympathized with the displaced common people he saw on the road to the imperial capital, Wei Changying couldn't tell Shen Zangfeng to give up his promising future of going to Xiliang and go to annihilate the bandits in the country. It can be heard that Shen Xuan must have made great efforts in this so-called theory of tripling the merits and considering only the merits of Di and Rong.
This time, the royal guards went to the border to serve. It seemed that there were nine of them except the quasi-consort Gu Wei, but in fact it could be said that there were only two.
Shen Zangfeng, Liu Youzhao.
After all, it was on the land of Xiliang and Donghu. No matter who among the nine people made the contribution, the lion's share must go to Shen Zangfeng and Liu Youzhao - Shen and Liu ate the meat, and the Yu family drank the soup. In the eyes of the Holy One, this is sending the talents around him to boost the country's prestige, but in the eyes of the family, it is an excellent opportunity to cultivate their children. After the like-minded people persuaded the Holy One, they worked together to share this opportunity decisively and simply. .
Due to internal strife in the Liu family, Liu Xixun, who had originally had high hopes, unexpectedly failed. He did not get this opportunity, so he had to let Liu Youzhao take over first.
Because of the deep brotherhood between Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou, the Shen family worked together to cultivate Shen Zangfeng, allowing Shen Zangfeng to successfully take the top spot and firmly seize this opportunity to rise to the top.
Speaking of which, both Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou were still in their prime. The reason why Shen Zangfeng was appointed to take over Ming Peitang early was to establish his prestige and reputation as early as possible. I don’t know how much Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou paid for this great opportunity, and how much effort they expended. The brothers joined forces and fought with the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty to win it. Shen Xuan would definitely not forgive anyone who dared to stop him, let alone his wife, even Mrs. Su.
What's more, Wei Changying is not willing to sacrifice his husband's future - this world is the world of the Holy Emperor, not the world of the Shen family. The Holy One doesn't care about the life and death of the people. How much can other people do
She was stunned for a while, suppressed the discomfort in her heart, and then asked, "When are you leaving?"
"It's probably only been the past two days." Shen Zangfeng knew that she was reluctant to leave, and raked her hair with his fingers, comforting her, "Don't worry, we are all still young, and three years goes by very quickly. Wait for me Come back, I can take you with me even if I leave Beijing again."
Wei Changying couldn't help but ask: "You can't take me with you this time?" He felt a little embarrassed after asking this, his cheeks were dizzy, he looked at the flower arrangement in the porcelain vase not far away, and murmured in a low voice, "Ah, I I’ve never been to Xiliang and I’m curious about where it is…”
Shen Zangfeng smiled and pinched her cheek and said, "There is no one else here, so you can't bear to leave me. Are you embarrassed to say it?" He added, "It's bitterly cold in Xiliang. I'm afraid you can't adapt to the climate there. What's more, this time I'm consecrated. When I was about to die, my father thought it would be better to go alone. After all, the Di people were out and about plundering people. I'm afraid I would have no fixed place to live there. Even if you went to Xiliang, you would probably be in a mansion. You can't wait to see the superiors. I’m not familiar with the relatives of the branch sect, so it’s better to stay in the imperial capital.”
Wei Changying also heard Mrs. Su mention that although the Shen family had only one name, Ming Peitang, there were also different branches of the sect. Because Shen Zangfeng's grandparents died early, only two brothers, Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou, were left. The two brothers supported each other and worked very carefully for several years to stabilize the position of the clan leader.
It is conceivable that the relationship between the Shen clan members in Xiliang and the Imperial Tutor and Xiangning Bo Mansion will not be very good.
Coupled with the bitter cold in Xiliang, it is really better to stay in the imperial capital.
"Who can't bear to leave you?" Wei Changying felt regretful and rolled his eyes at him, but then he snuggled into his arms and hummed, "I just thought that if you go away for three years, you won't be here for three years." You know you will bring me some sisters, maybe someone will call me mother when you come back?”
As he spoke, he put his arms around his waist.
Shen Zangfeng held her in his arms with one hand and played with the tassels hanging from her lapel with the other. He said with a half-smile, "Okay, I can repay Yinger's many sorrows to my husband because I can't bear to leave him. It turns out he is very jealous." Are you afraid that your husband will have a child in Xiliang?"
He teased her and said, "How about you spend time with your husband, so that he will always think about you and not look down on the women there when you get to Xiliang?" He became dishonest in his words.
"Actually, it doesn't matter if you only have a few people to serve you in the three years since you've been here." Wei Changying looked up at him with a wave of eyes.
Shen Zangfeng was stunned, subconsciously stopped his movements, and then said with a smile: "On Hui Chun Cao Lake, the lotus picker girl teased her husband a few words, and Ying'er couldn't stand it. How can you be so generous now?"
"Actually, I have always been very generous! But those lotus-picking girls have simple looks, how can they be worthy of my husband?" Wei Changying said sweetly, "Husband, do you think so?"
"So, if the person who teases your husband is beautiful, Yinger won't care about it?" Shen Zangfeng whispered in her ear, and kissed her behind the ear.
Wei Changying let him do what he did and said with a smile: "This is natural. Husband, you are born handsome and graceful. The women in the boudoir who are in love with you don't know what you are like, let alone those women from humble backgrounds? No. How can I make you a concubine with a first-class beauty? Those lotus pickers in the past were simple and plain. They brought you in and you were embarrassed when you went out..."
"What Yinger said makes sense." Shen Zangfeng suddenly raised his head and said with a serious face, "But I have no choice but to do it because my husband's heart is tied to you, Yinger, and I really have no intention of taking a concubine."
Guard Chief Ying looked at him sideways and said in disbelief: "Don't accept it?"
"Yes, absolutely not!" Shen Zangfeng said firmly!
Wei Changying sighed, stretched out his hand to touch his face, and said lovingly: "Husband, wouldn't this be too unfair to you?"
"Why do you and I speak so politely?" Shen Zangfeng also looked at her affectionately and said sincerely, "My husband's feelings for Ying'er can be expressed by the heaven and the earth, by the sun and the moon. If I go to Xiliang, it's just a matter of time." How can you have a different heart in three years? Ying'er really looks down on my husband! As the saying goes, "Everything is different except Wushan." Since I met you, I can't see anyone else in my eyes!"
"I am so touched by your husband's words!" Wei Changying continued to caress his face and said with tenderness in his eyes.
Shen Zangfeng solemnly said: "Yinger!"
"Huh?" Wei Changying blinked, his face full of innocence.
So Shen Zangfeng said flatteringly: "Since Yinger is so moved, then... can we take off the hairpin that has been against my husband's heart since just now?" (To be continued)