"My dear nephew Zihou, come here..."
Zhu Ping'an and his colleagues from the Ministry of Justice bid farewell to Hu Zongxian and walked a few steps along the street in front of the Inspectorate when they heard a familiar voice in front of them. Zhu Ping'an looked up and saw Linhuai Hou waving at him.
Beside Marquis Linhuai there was an official who was a few years older than him, two sizes smaller than him, and dressed in a military officer's uniform with a brave leopard embroidered on the outer garment. This was a third-rank military officer's uniform.
The two men were two levels apart in rank, but they were arm in arm with each other, talking and laughing, and seemed to have a good personal relationship.
Well, this official is probably the Duke of Wei... Zhu Pingan guessed in his heart.
Zhu Ping'an apologized to Lord Neitai and Chu Xiong and others. Neitai and others also noticed that Linhuai Hou greeted Zhu Ping'an, asked about Linhuai Hou's identity, smiled and nodded, indicating that Zhu Ping'an could go.
"Uncle, who is this gentleman?" Zhu Ping'an said goodbye to Ni Titanium and others, came to Linhuai Hou, bowed and saluted, and asked about the identity of the person next to him.
"Haha, nephew, I was just about to introduce you. This is the Duke of Wei." Linhuai Hou introduced with a smile.
It turned out to be the Duke of Wei, exactly as I had guessed.
After being introduced by Linhuai Hou, Zhu Pingan smiled and bowed to Duke Wei, "Your humble servant greets Duke Wei."
"Haha, Zihou, it's too strange to call you that. The Marquis of Linhuai and I have been childhood friends and are as close as brothers. Zihou, you are the nephew-in-law of the Marquis of Linhuai, which means you are also my nephew-in-law. If you don't mind, you can call me uncle." The Duke of Wei said to Zhu Ping'an with a smile.
"It's been a pleasure for Ping'an. Meet my uncle." Zhu Ping'an responded with a smile and paid the respect as a nephew.
"Haha, my good nephew." Duke Wei smiled brightly.
"You thief, don't think you can ignore your thank-you gift just by using your connections." Marquis Linhuai bumped the Duke of Wei with his shoulder.
"What do you mean by thief? I only gave you a reference. You are still taking my gift of thanks for nothing. Am I that kind of person?!" After hearing what Marquis Linhuai said, the Duke of Wei couldn't help but blush, and replied with his neck stiff, his face flushed like Guan Gong.
“Hehe…” Marquis Linhuai chuckled and rolled his squinted eyes.
"Ahem, nephew, last time you gave Linhuai Hou your insightful suggestion of adding warships, but he was too stubborn and stubborn. It's not that Bole didn't recognize your insight. I am different. I was impressed by your insightful suggestion at that time. Your suggestion hit the nail on the head, pointed out the problems of the current navy, and put forward practical suggestions. It would be a pity to discard such good advice. I couldn't bear to see the pearl in the dust, so I adopted your suggestion and submitted a memorial to His Majesty to suggest adding warships. As expected, His Majesty agreed to the suggestion."
Duke Wei coughed and explained to Zhu Ping'an.
"It is Ping'an's honor to be adopted by my uncle." Zhu Ping'an said with a smile.
"Marquis Linhuai, look at my nephew, then look at yourself. Are you ashamed? My nephew's mind is much broader than yours."
Upon hearing this, Duke Wei was so delighted that he couldn't help but bumped Marquis Linhuai with his shoulder and joked with a smile.
"Don't talk about these nonsense. Where is the thank-you gift?" Marquis Linhuai stretched out his fat paw and pushed Duke Wei away.
"Ahem, nephew, I heard from your uncle that you are in charge of organizing the military preparations in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and leading the militia in the Ministry of Justice. Your uncle doesn't have any good gifts for you, so he will give you some supplies needed for the military preparations."
Duke Wei coughed and said to Zhu Ping'an.
The military supplies are good, I like them. Upon hearing this, Zhu Pingan bowed and thanked him, "Thank you uncle for your timely help."
"Don't use junk against us." Linhuai Hou interrupted.
"You think I'm like you, using obsolete products to deal with Zihou? The supplies I gave Zihou were all new products."
Duke Wei raised his chin and mocked Marquis Linhuai, emphasizing that what he gave Zhu Ping'an were all new products.
"What new products?!" Linhuai Hou asked.
"Of course, I will provide whatever my dear nephew needs." Duke Wei said with great wealth.
"Okay, you said it." Linhuai Hou clapped his hands, and then said to Zhu Ping'an, "My dear nephew Zihou, it's rare for the Duke of Wei to be so generous. If you need anything now, just ask."
Last time, Linhuai Hou gave me a batch of obsolete uniforms, spears, swords, longbows, damaged armor, and 300 bird guns. What I lack now are tents, armor, and artillery... ...
Zhu Pingan thought for a moment, then bowed to Wei Guogong and said, "Uncle, the imperial court has limited food and wages, and it is difficult to maintain. At present, my militia is still short of tents, armor, muskets, artillery, food and grass..."
"Ahem, nephew, it's easy to deal with muskets, but there's nothing we can do about cannons. These are all quotas set by the imperial court."
When Duke Wei heard this, sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Tsk, then why did you just say with such a shameless face that you would give Zihou whatever he needed..."
Linhuai Hou missed no opportunity to laugh at him.
"Then you are better than just giving my nephew the discarded products." Duke Wei retorted, and then said with a dignified look, "Although I can't do anything about the cannons due to the imperial quota, I can do everything else."
"My dear nephew, I heard that you want to form a militia of 1,000 people. Well, let me give you 100 sets of tents and 100 sets of armor from the army. I can't do anything about the cannons, but I can give you 200 muskets."
Wei Guogong made a promise to Zhu Ping'an openly.
"You are an elder, and you have used Zihou's good advice. You have the nerve to ask for such a small amount of money."
Linhuai Hou ridiculed him, and urged the Duke of Wei to bring out some more good things.
"All of this is new. The tents are new, the armor is new, and the muskets are new. They are all new products recently distributed by the Armory. Oh, by the way, nephew, I will give you another ten stones of gunpowder." Duke Wei raised his chin and said.
"Well, the new products distributed by the Armour Bureau are not bad." When Lin Huaihou heard that it was the new products distributed by the Armour Bureau, he nodded. Although not all the products produced by the Armour Bureau were high-quality, they were all good stuff.
"Thank you, uncle. Thank you, uncle." Zhu Ping'an bowed and thanked the sponsor, Duke Wei, first, and then thanked Marquis Linhuai who helped to intercede.
"My dear nephew, you are too polite. The Japanese pirates are rampant nowadays. Helping Zihou's militia is also to relieve His Majesty's worries and solve the problems for the people." Duke Wei replied with a smile, and then encouraged, "Although it is a militia, Zihou should also try his best. If there are any problems, you can come to me and Linhuai Hou. We have been in the army for many years and have some experience."
"Thank you, uncle." Zhu Ping'an thanked him again, "I will often ask for your advice from now on."
"I will go back and make arrangements. Zihou can bring enough people to Zhenwu Camp tomorrow to collect tents, armor, muskets and other supplies." Before parting, Duke Wei and Zhu Ping'an agreed on the time and place to collect the supplies.
"Thank you, uncle." Zhu Ping'an thanked him again.