Mu San held a tray in both hands and followed Fang Jie, he was actually happier than Fang Jie laughed. In the tray was a brand-new viscount's crown uniform, as well as the token of the fifth-rank general ranger. This was a reward from the emperor, it came quite suddenly, it was a surprise for Fang Xie.
I thought I would get nothing at first, but who would have thought that it would be a rewarding experience.
The real nobles of the Sui Dynasty, from high to low, are Prince, County King, State Duke, County Duke, County Marquis, County Marquis, Township Marquis, County Boss, Township Boss, County Son, Xiangzi, and Township Man. From the county marquis to above, all have their own food cities, and the people they belong to do not need to pay taxes to the court. The king of Feng has his own fief and can have his own private soldiers, but the number must not exceed the limit of the court, otherwise it will be regarded as a serious crime of treason.
Except for the prince and county king, each title is divided into three classes.
For example, the highest one is the first-class duke, and the lowest one is the third-class duke. Fang Jie was conferred the title of Viscount by the emperor, not a county magistrate, but a first-class township son. Originally, at the beginning of the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, roughly speaking, the sixth-class real nobles all had their own people, but in the reign of Emperor Taizong, this decree was abolished. There is no other reason. Every year, many meritorious officials will be named real nobles, which means that some people will no longer pay taxes to the court every year.
In the beginning, no matter how many heroes of the founding of the Sui Dynasty were there, they were the ones who could be counted. But later, the descendants of these heroic officials also had titles. After just twenty years, the number of real nobles is ten times more than that at the beginning of the founding of the country. Soon after Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he abolished this rule established by Taizu, and re-established that only those above the county marquis have their own fiefs and food towns. In the reign of Zhenzong, it was changed to the county marquis and above to be able to entrust the land and food town.
Although Fang Jie's first-class countryman is not a very high title, as long as he is a real noble, it means that he has left the poor family.
"My servant congratulates Lord Xiaofang."
Mu San smiled and said as he walked: "Oh, look at this broken mouth of this servant, I will respectfully call you Lord Fang from now on."
Fang Jie smiled and shook his head: "There is no red envelope for you today, no matter how sweet your mouth is."
All he was thinking about was what the emperor said just now. If the emperor's reward surprised him, then after hearing the errand that the emperor gave him, he didn't feel any surprise. For this job, the emperor had to give Fang Xie a decent-looking identity.
It's just a first place in the entrance examination of the Martial Arts Academy, but it's not very easy to win.
He didn't have many conversations with Mu San along the way, and it was obvious that Fang Jie was preoccupied, so Mu San simply stopped talking, but he was glad that he was proud of his good vision. If Fang Jie had stayed far away when Fang Jie was imprisoned, it would have been difficult for him to get along with this hot little Mr. Fang now.
The icing on the cake is never as good as sending charcoal in the snow.
When Fang Jie returned to the shop, it was already dark and he couldn't see his fingers. When he got off the carriage, Fang Jie still gave Mu San a bank note with a large denomination. Mu San didn't refuse this time, and simply accepted it neatly. Fang gave Mu San the silver bills every now and then, but he didn't want to have any emotional involvement with him. It is better to put the relationship between the two of them only on the level of interests. Talking about feelings with eunuchs is all nonsense.
When Shen Qingfan and the others saw Fang Jie come back, they stood up one after another. Fang Jie rubbed his frowning brows, and smiled at everyone: "Guess what gift the emperor gave me?"
Mu Xiaoyao looked at his expression, and couldn't help sighing: "No matter what gift the emperor gives you, it is not as heavy as the gift he asked you to give him."
Fang Jie smiled bitterly: "You are the only one who is smart."
Shen Qingfan smiled and said: "It's all written on your face, tell me, what is the emperor asking you to do that can't be done?"
Fang Jie leaned back on the chair and stretched his body vigorously. Mu Xiaoyao walked up behind him, raised her hands and kneaded his shoulders. Fang Jie smiled softly at her: "It's not a bad thing to do, at least it's easier than playing hide-and-seek with Prince Yi. And it happens to be a place I'm interested in, and I wanted to go at first. This time the emperor let me go and spend public funds to eat, drink and have fun all the way, it seems that there is nothing uncomfortable."
"Then you're still frowning?"
Shen Qing fan asked.
Fang Jie said: "The key is that I really want to go to that place, but it's not the time yet. It's at least several years earlier than I expected."
"where?"
"Southwest of the Sui Dynasty...Yongzhou."
Hearing these words, the expressions of Mu Xiaoyao and the others all changed. She subconsciously looked at Da Quan, only to find that Fang Jie and Shen Qingfan were both looking at her. The movements of Mu Xiaoyao's hands froze, and a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. Fang Xie kept staring at her, and the fleeting fear did not escape Fang Xie's eyes.
"What's wrong?"
Fang asked.
Mu Xiaoyao shook his head: "I'm just surprised. We escaped all the way from the southwest. Although we haven't been to Yongzhou, we feel a little uncomfortable when we think about the places we have been to. Why do we want to go to Yongzhou? Are you going to see Luo Yao?"
Fang Jie hummed and said, "I don't know if Luo Yao has taken the wrong medicine, but he has the courage to write a letter asking His Majesty to marry him. He wants His Majesty to betroth the grown-up eldest princess to his son Luo Wen... this What good deeds did Luo Wen do in Chang'an City, doesn't he, as a father, know? At this time, he just sent someone to ask His Majesty to marry him... Luo Yao doesn't know what he's planning."
"Then what are you going to do?"
Big Dog couldn't help asking.
Fang Jiedao: "Your Majesty said that because the Eldest Princess is his most beloved daughter, even if you want to go to the southwest, you should send someone to check the environment, climate, customs, etc. The princess discussed, if the eldest princess is not willing, there is nothing to say. Now that the important officials in the court are busy, the emperor thought of me as an idler. So I was awarded the title of a first-class villager, and a fifth-class official. The vanity of a ranger general."
Shen Qingshan was silent for a while and asked: "The emperor doesn't want to marry the eldest princess to Luo Yao's son?"
Fang Jie nodded: "Of course I don't want to... If I want to, why arrange it like this?"
…
…
Fang Jie drank a sip of tea to soothe his throat: "Although I don't know what kind of medicine Luo Yao sells in the gourd, it is inevitable that he has no good intentions. The Northwest was defeated and Chang'an was plotting chaos. At this juncture, Luo Yao sent people to Chang'an to seek help. Superficially speaking, His Majesty bestowed the marriage because he felt that his status was not high enough, so he wanted to be a relative of the emperor. On a deeper level, it may not be probing for something."
Shen Qingfan said: "The reason why the emperor asked you to go is to see the local customs?"
Fang Jie nodded: "That's what he said. It was nothing more than procrastination. The emperor gave me half a year, saying that he would come back after not wandering around in Yongzhou for half a year. Immediately put me back in the cage at the guards' office. Half a year... half a year is enough for the emperor to mobilize troops from all over the Sui Dynasty, and then the emperor will personally conquer the Northwest. The eldest princess's marriage will naturally have to be delayed until the Northwest is settled... Will the Emperor be afraid of Luo Yao?"
Da Quan said: "Understood, Luo Yao just wanted to take advantage of the fire."
Mu Xiaoyao shook his head: "Where is such a simple thing, everyone knows that the most elite troops in the Sui Dynasty were the Sixteen Guards, and the most elite of the Sixteen Guards, except for the Sixth Army of the Son of Heaven, were stationed in the southwest. The left front guard. Because the left front guard has never stopped fighting, and every year it will use troops against the barbarians. Although the scale is small, the troops in the left front guard take turns to fight, and the soldiers always have a murderous look."
"But when the emperor sent troops to the northwest, he didn't mobilize troops from the southwest. This time the northwest army was defeated, and the 700,000 troops were buried in the hands of the rebels. How could it be a matter of time before the emperor wanted to mobilize troops again. Luo Yao must be I already knew about the defeat of the Northwest Army, so I came up with such a way to test the emperor."
Fang Jie rubbed his nose and said with a smile: "In short, the emperor does not trust Luo Yao as much as he seems, and Luo Yao is not as loyal as he seems. So this trip is not easy, if Luo Yao really has something With treasonous thoughts, our trip will be more or less unfortunate."
"going or not?"
Big Dog asked.
Fang Jie said: "Go, of course... As I said just now, even if there was no such thing, I would still go to Yongzhou in Southwest China sooner or later. I planned to wait a few years until I have the strength to protect myself." Go. But now that we have this opportunity, we might as well go ahead.”
"just in case… "
The big dog murmured: "What if Luo Yao really has the heart of disobedience?"
Fang Jie looked at the big dog and said seriously: "Then our lives will be entrusted to you. Your nose must be more sensitive then."
Da Quan smiled wryly: "I thought Prince Yi would be able to rest for a while after his rebellion, and then he would go all the way to the southwest."
"It's not rushing."
Fang Jie laughed and said, "It's procrastination. It's not too urgent or too late. It takes two months to get to Yongzhou. It takes four months to go back and forth. We only need to stay in Yongzhou for two months. Didn't the emperor say that he wanted us to see the customs, customs, climate and environment of the Southwest, so we can go for a walk around, treat it as a tour of mountains and rivers, and it's not difficult to get away with it for two months. Even if Luo Yao really had some dirty thoughts, we could escape , now the strength is much stronger than before, can't we escape? Besides... This time we have people sent by the emperor to follow."
Mu Xiaoyao's expression was still a little weird, although she could control it, it still seemed a little unnatural. Fortunately, Fang Jie and Shen Qingfan stopped staring at her, which made her quietly relieved.
"Since you have to go, you have to prepare."
"There's nothing to prepare."
Fang Jie said: "This time the emperor gave two super bodyguards. If you use them well, they will be like raising two poisonous snakes. Maybe they will bite you back."
"Chen Hum Chen Ha?"
Shen Qingfan was startled for a moment and then asked.
Fang Jie nodded: "It's those two live treasures..."
…
…
station.
The light was still on in the innermost room, and four strong men stood outside the room like nails. These four people can tell at a glance that they are from military background, and they have a cold murderous look on them. At the gate of the post station, there were also four strong men standing there holding on to the hilts of their knives. The cold aura emanating from their bodies made no one in the post station dare to approach.
In the room, a middle-aged man with a medium build, a little on the thin side but with a bit of a vigorous look picked the wick with a needle, and the room suddenly became brighter.
He glanced back at the man sitting on the side, and said after a moment of silence: "What does Your Majesty mean? It takes a lot of trouble to send someone to the southwest for a while and then come back?"
"not sure."
Sitting on the chair was a man in his mid-twenties, about 1.8 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thin waist. He could tell at first glance that he was a strong general. Although he was wearing regular uniforms instead of armor, the military demeanor that can only be found on the battlefield is still very clear.
This person's face is like a crown jade, and his appearance is dignified.
And the middle-aged man who looked about forty years old was much uglier. Moreover, there was a long scar on his face. Looking at the length of the scar, one could imagine the severity of the injury at that time. If the knife wound was a little further off, his right eye would be crippled.
The young man said: "It is true that the emperor loves the eldest princess, maybe he is really worried that the eldest princess will not adapt to our life in Yongzhou. Originally... as a son-in-law, he would stay in Chang'an, but the general only has a son like the young general. Stay by your side. It is considered good that His Majesty did not reject the general's request, and it is nothing to say to send someone to the southwest to have a look."
"I hope so."
The middle-aged man was silent for a while and said: "Lu Ou, I found out that His Majesty seems to have entrusted the matter of going to the Southwest to a new talent named Fang Jie."
The young man named Lu Ou hummed: "I've heard of this guy, and it's said that he is a talented guy. But since he was born in the military, he shouldn't be as pedantic and sour as those literati."
"Tomorrow, I plan to meet this Lord Xiaofang."
The middle-aged man smiled: "Although this person's status is not high, he may play a decisive role in the marriage between the eldest princess and our major general, so we should not underestimate it."
"Go ahead."
Lu Ou looked at the package on the table, and said with a smile: "Don't say that money can make ghosts turn the millstone. If there is enough money, it will not be a problem for the millstone to push the ghosts. Since he is the only person who is appreciated, it is not a problem to think about it." The kind of person who is not short of money. As long as he is willing to accept money, what can't be done?"