At the reception banquet, there were staggered toasts, and the female family members in the palace drank fragrant plum wine and ate the delicacies that filled the table, chatting from time to time, talking and laughing, it was very lively.
And the center of all the female relatives is naturally the crown prince Nangong Yue.
It was already a long time, and Aunt Mei, who was standing by, twisted her body in embarrassment.
The other concubines couldn't help but glanced at her. This Concubine Mei was sent in by Madam Qiao. Although it was in the name of serving Madam, everyone knew the real intention.
Back then, when Madam was not grounded, they had to observe the rules for five hours every day. Now it is only a stick of incense, and they don’t believe that she can’t stand anymore. Hmph, it’s just a thought. It's all about pampering and being spoiled.
Aunt Mei adjusted her standing posture, supported her forehead, and swayed her frail body, as if she was about to fall down at any time.
She swayed weakly every once in a while, once, twice, three times... Naturally, many female relatives at the banquet also saw it, and secretly exchanged a look, but they were all calm.
The banquet continued lively and lively. After half an hour, the maids removed the dishes from the banquet and served hot tea for the masters to digest.
Nangong Yue picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then turned to Wei Shi who was sitting on her left: "Wei side concubine, my mother has been lingering on the sick bed recently, so the new aunt has neglected the rules, which is really out of place! Concubine Wei, I can only bother you to work hard, let the new aunt go to your yard every day to set up a rule for two hours."
When Aunt Mei heard this, a trace of disbelief appeared on her delicate face, and she blurted out: "Concubine Shizi, I am the king..."
"Bold." Que'er scolded softly, "In front of the concubine, my aunt should call herself a 'servant'. According to the rules of the palace, my aunt will go get the five-handed board by herself in a while."
Aunt Mei bit her lower lip, she seemed very unconvinced, even her eyes dimmed a bit, looking pitiful.
Nangong Yue said slowly: "... Please trouble Concubine Wei to assign another nun to go there."
Wei Shi had long seen Aunt Mei's unruly and frivolous appearance, but she was always low-key, so she didn't reprimand her. Since the concubine Shizi proposed, she immediately bowed and said: "What the concubine Shizi said is that I must teach this Concubine Mei the rules, so as not to lose the face of the palace."
Nangong Yue nodded and said with a smile: "The tea-flavored duck tastes good today, but is there a new cook in the palace?"
Concubine Wei greeted her with a smile: "Your concubine, you are right..."
No one paid any attention to a mere aunt.
Everyone at the banquet saw this scene, and they couldn't help but think to themselves: The concubine is worthy of being a concubine, even the new concubine, who has been favored recently, doesn't give her any face.
The reception banquet ended peacefully.
After returning to the courtyard after the banquet, Nangong Yue didn't want to move at all, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
When Baihui and Huamei came to be on duty early in the morning, Nangong Yue hadn't woken up yet. An Niang's eyes lit up when she saw the two of them, she quickly pulled them aside, and asked in a low voice, "How is it?" I was worried about this matter, but when I came back yesterday, the two maids were sent away by the concubine, and it was inconvenient for her to ask the concubine directly...
It's just three words, but Baihui understands it, and the thrush beside him also understands it, and there is a glow on his face.
Baihui looked normal and nodded.
With this nod, An Niang let go of her heart hanging in the air, and bowed her hands together, muttering in her mouth: "May I bless the concubine to conceive a grandson as soon as possible!"
Ever since the eldest son and the eldest concubine got married, An Niang has always been worried: at first, she was afraid that the elder son would be young and impulsive and could not control herself, and the imperial concubine was still young, so consummating the marriage too early would be bad for the imperial concubine. Unexpectedly, the son of the son really had a heart, and he waited patiently for more than a year... When the concubine was finally ready, but the master of the son was going to war again, and the matter of consummating the house could only be put on hold for now.
Finally, this time, it's done!
Now, when the concubine gives birth to Lin'er, I can rest assured... No, I have to help take care of my grandson!
An Niang looked at Baihui and Huamei and the others, frowning. These maids are still too tender, how to know how to take care of the baby, you still have to rely on yourself!
Seeing that An Niang's face changed and changed in the blink of an eye, and finally left with great ambitions, Baihui and Huamei couldn't help but look at each other, and then laughed.
I don't know what happened, but it seems to be a good thing.
Of all this, Nangong Yue, who was still sleeping soundly, didn't know about it. She slept until the sun was up.
After several days of traveling, riding horses, and fighting the Baiyue people, Nangong Yue was physically and mentally exhausted, and her muscles were even more sore. When she just came back yesterday, she didn't feel much, but After waking up after sleeping all night, the aches and pains all over her body hit her like wildly growing weeds, making her completely unwilling to move.
After struggling under the blanket for a stick of incense, Nangong Yue dilly-dally rang the small copper bell beside the bed.
The door opened, and the maids who had been waiting outside in the morning filed in to wait for her to get up and wash.
Having had breakfast in a hurry, Nangong Yue asked Que'er to fetch the roster of servants of the palace, and took Baihui to Tingyu Pavilion by herself.
The little maid courteously led her to Dongci Room. When the old master Fang saw her coming, he quickly put down the new seal stone in the book, waved to her, and said, "Ah Yue, come, come and sit."
Although the winter in southern Xinjiang is much better than that of Wang, Mr. Fang is old and frail after all, and a pot of charcoal fire has been burned in the house, which is very warm.
Nangong Yue greeted Ann with a smile.
Mrs. Fang looked Nangong Yue up and down, and there were lines of laughter on her wrinkled face, and her eyes narrowed when she smiled, "Ah Yue, you have lost weight after a long journey, you can take good care of your body next time." .Go back later and have a good rest. There are endless chores in the palace, so don't tire yourself..."
The kindness of the old man made Nangong Yue feel warm in her heart. In this palace, probably only Old Master Fang could make her feel the kindness of the elders towards the younger generation.
"Thank you grandpa for your concern, I know." Nangong Yue sat down beside Old Master Fang.
Nangong Yue had just invited Ann yesterday, but she was sent back to rest by Mrs. Fang, and she didn't talk to him about what happened in Yanding City. However, she knew that Mrs. Fang must be very worried, so she took the initiative to say with a smile: "Grandfather, can you know that A Yi won the battle?"
"I know I know!"
Speaking of this, Old Master Fang smiled even more heartily.
Before Nangong Yue left, she had told Zhu Xing to immediately report to Mrs. Fang whenever there was a victory report. Therefore, even though Mrs. Fang never left home, she was very clear about the victory of Yanding City, and he had to read every success report over and over. Several times.
"Grandfather, you must not know how to fight!" Nangong Yue said with eyes like bright stars, "Ah Yi, he is so powerful..."
She talked vividly about the battle of Yanding City, about how Xiao Yi pretended to lead an army of 20,000 to Yongjia City, about how the Nanliang army approached the city, but ran away in embarrassment, and was ambushed instead, and finally a group led by Xiao Yi Wan Dajun waited for work with ease, killing almost the entire army!
In order to make Mrs. Fang happy, Nangong Yue deliberately picked up Xiao Yi's part and talked in detail, saying how brave Xiao Yi is, how good at fighting Xiao Yi is, how vigorous Xiao Yi is... It seems that she was also on the battlefield. It was like a scene, in fact, even if she didn't witness it with her own eyes, Xiao Yi showed her joy several times.
Old Master Fang smiled brightly, as if he looked younger by several years.
"Good job! Good job!" Despite his age, Mrs. Fang remained bloody. He patted the table with his palm and said, "We should kill all the people from Nanliang who have slaughtered many of our people in southern Xinjiang." !"
Seeing the happy look of the old man, the corners of Nangong Yue's mouth became more and more raised, and there was a smile from the bottom of her heart on her face.
Grandpa Fang excitedly asked her a lot about Yanding City, and Nangong Yue answered them in detail.
Naturally, it was good news but not bad news. It only talked about Xiao Yi's bravery, but he didn't mention the shocking old and new scars on his body at all.
Mrs. Fang was quite addicted to listening to it, and the wrinkles on his face deepened with a smile, and he said proudly: "Okay, okay! If his mother and concubine know that Ah Yi is so capable now, He will be very happy too." When mentioning his daughter who died young, Old Master Fang's face darkened involuntarily.
Nangong Yue said along the way: "I'll go and burn incense sticks to Concubine Mu and tell her the good news." Concubine Mu is the one who gave birth to A Yi. Peace is what it should be.
Grandpa Fang nodded in relief, couldn't help but feel a little relieved, and asked again: "Ah Yi has gone to Yongjia City now?"
Nangong Yue nodded with a smile, not daring to mention that Xiao Yizheng led his troops to venture into Nanliang territory at all, and only said: "Now our army has the upper hand, even if Ikaluo sticks to Dengli City, as long as there is no food and grass to keep up, sooner or later he will suffer I can’t go on. After this battle is over, Ayi will be able to come back, and it will only take a month or two at most.”
Old Master Fang beamed when he heard that, his grandson is coming back, maybe he will have a great-grandson soon, and the days really get better and better.
God made him lose his wife and daughter in his early years, and after so many years of torture, finally he didn't treat him badly in his later years!
Nangong Yue continued: "... I will give a small ceremony to the Zhou family in a few days, so I will come back first." At this point, she changed the subject, "?...Grandfather, I am on the way back. A piece of ore…”
She glanced at Baihui, who took out something wrapped in a blue handkerchief from her purse and handed it to Nangong Yue.
Nangong Yue unfolded the veil, revealing the gray ore inside, and sent it to Mrs. Fang: "I want you to palm my eyes..."
Before Nangong Yue finished speaking, Mrs. Fang looked at the ore and blurted out: "This... Could it be a salt mine?" As he spoke, he took the ore in his hand and examined it, and then used his nails to pick off some of it. Stone chips, tried it on the tip of the tongue, then nodded with certainty, "This is indeed a salt ore."
Salt Mine!
Nangong Yue suddenly realized.
Even in Dayu, salt was strictly controlled by the imperial court, and the salt tax was one of the main sources of revenue for the Ministry of Households. Salt smuggling is a capital crime, but salt smuggling is profitable, and there are still people who are willing to take risks in order to make a country rich and invincible.
Dayu is like this, let alone Baiyue, which is located in the inland.
Baiyue is not surrounded by the sea, even if there are lake salt, well salt and mineral salt, they are not inexhaustible like sea salt. They are short of salt, and the benefits of a salt mine are simply incalculable.
No wonder they took such a big risk to seize the Fang family's salt mine, and in the name of the Fang family, they have been mining it for more than ten years, even now, they refuse to give up.
Mrs. Fang keenly sensed that something was wrong with Nangong Yue's mood, and asked, "Ah Yue, what's wrong with this ore?...Someone deceived you with the ore?"
Nangong Yue hesitated for a moment, and asked without answering, "Grandfather, do you still remember that Fang's family has a mine on Sigle Mountain?"
Mount Sigle
Old Mrs. Fang frowned, and stroked his beard thoughtfully, "... I remember that more than ten years ago, someone seemed to report that a vein of ore was discovered in the Sigle Mountain area. I remember that I was the person in charge of the mine Manager Wu at the site hired some long-term workers to dig there to see if it was a poor ore ore."
There are many mines in the Fang family. If it is just a poor mine, the old man Fang will not look down on it, and it is not worth spending manpower and material resources to mine it.
After that, in the impression of Mrs. Fang, he never got any feedback from Sigle Mountain. Presumably, the mine was too poor to be worth mentioning. Mrs. Fang didn't care anymore. For Mr. Fang, who owns most of the mines in southern Xinjiang, it is not bad to be able to remember a name.
What's more, it was more than ten years ago.
Reminiscent of the ore that Nangong Yue just took out, Mrs. Fang seemed to understand something, and asked, "Ah Yue, did your ore come from Sigle Mountain?"
Nangong Yue nodded.
"It turned out to be a salt mine!" Mrs. Fang was very surprised.
Salt mines are rare and can bring even more value than iron ore.
But if he had mined salt mines in Sigle Mountain back then, why didn't he know it at all
No, it's fine if he doesn't know, why now, more than ten years later, Nangong Yue has noticed this mine, and among them... Mrs. Fang is a little afraid to think about it.
Nangong Yue knew that it would definitely arouse the suspicion of Mrs. Fang, but if she wanted to investigate down Sigle Mountain, she would undoubtedly have to get Mrs. Fang's support. At least Mt. In the early years, there were also ledger books. Mrs. Fang is the head of the Fang family. If he wants to see this account book, he can't hide some things from him.
Nangong Yue looked directly at Old Master Fang and said without hesitation: "...Grandfather, the salt mine in Mount Sigley is now in the hands of Baiyue, and it is called the Fang family to the outside world. I am not too clear about the details. "She only talked about the Baiyue incident, concealing that it might have something to do with the death of the former concubine and the old prince.
Mrs. Fang is also a person who has experienced wind and rain. Hearing this, he calmed down, nodded slightly, and said, "If you want to check or ask anything, you can just tell my grandfather."
"That's natural." Nangong Yue responded with a smile, and climbed up the pole again, "Speaking of which, I really need your help now. When I came back this time, I got two hundred and fifty shi for nothing I want to ask my grandfather to make a batch of iron arrows."
Old Master Fang was getting old, so he was afraid that he would cause trouble for his grandson. Now, Nangong Yue said that he had something to trouble him, but it made him very excited, especially this iron arrow was used by his grandson on the battlefield. Old Master Fang said nothing He said he agreed immediately.
Nangong Yue pretended to be exaggerated by telling the story of how she cheated the batch of iron ore from the Baiyue people, which made Mrs. Fang laugh out loud, and the agitation she had just had because of Mount Siglei disappeared quietly with the laughter. go.
Accompanying Mrs. Fang for lunch, Nangong Yue asked him for a Ping'an pulse, prescribed a dose of calming soup, watched him use it, and then left Tingyu Pavilion.
When she returned to the yard, Que'er had already put the roster on the desk in her small study.
On the roster, the basic situation of each servant of the palace is recorded: whether they are born in the family or bought, name, age, where they work, etc. The Zhennan Prince's Mansion has only been established for more than 20 years, and even if the family has the most children, it will reproduce to the third generation. From time to time, the Prince's Mansion will buy some servants to come in.
These records are a bit too simple.
Especially the parents of the children at home. There is no record of the parents' work in the office in the past.
Nangong Yue casually looked at the roster, and asked, "Que'er, who are those women who talked about Aunt Mei that you mentioned yesterday?"
Que'er took two steps forward and said, "Excuse me for being rude."
After turning a few pages, she pointed out a few names. They are the first batch of servants of the palace. Apart from the basic information such as name and monthly payment, the roster only records the date and price of their purchase, and where they are currently working.
Nangong Yue closed the roster and said: "Pass my order, from today onwards, all the servants of the palace will be collected and re-registered in the roster... Specifically, it is the same as what we did when we were in the palace in the capital." She paused, then added, "Not only the servants, but also the aunts."
"Yes, Crown Princess."
Que'er bent his knees and retreated holding the roster.
It must be a lie to say that she is not disappointed, Nangong Yue can only comfort herself in her heart not to worry, since someone did it back then, there must be traces to be found! She has enough time to check slowly!
Nangong Yue's order was quickly passed down. Although the subordinates were a little bit arguing, they didn't dare to have the slightest objection, but those aunts reacted a little bit more. It's nothing more than those who have fallen out of favor. He complained to the King of Zhennan that he had been slighted, and let the King of Zhennan decide for himself.
For this reason, King Zhennan called Nangong Yue over and asked him a question or two.
"Father, both Yanding City and Luoyue City have discovered the spies planted by Nanliangan." Nangong Yue said without looking sideways, "Daughter-in-law thinks, we must be careful, if people from Nanliang sneaked into our palace, That's a serious worry. Rather than worrying about it all the time, it's better to check it out first."
These words are reasonable and restrained. When King Zhennan thought that there might be spies from Nanliang people in his palace, he couldn't help but feel lingering fear. He made a decisive decision and asked Nangong Yue to investigate carefully.
With the words of King Zhennan, things are much easier to handle. Nangong Yue handed over the full power to Que'er and Huamei, while she herself looked through the greeting cards from various prefectures after resting, and was exhausted by the journey. , They all declined on the grounds that they needed to rest. Not being able to get close to Nangong Yue successfully, all the governments were disappointed, and immediately expressed that they did not dare to disturb the crown prince's rest, and instead sent generous welcome gifts.
In just two days, a newly opened warehouse was full.
Baihui, who was registering and registering the gift list, raised the corners of her mouth high. She still remembered that when the Crown Princess first came to Southern Xinjiang, these mansions were still waiting to see. It has only been a few months, and it has completely changed. In terms of attitude, the Crown Princess can be regarded as having a firm foothold.
After resting for two days, Nangong Yue accepted the pair of cards sent back by Xiao Fei, and once again took over the middle prize of Zhennan Palace.
On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Dacheng rushed back with two hundred stones of iron ore three days ahead of schedule. On that day, the iron ore was sent to Fang's smelting workshop, and he rushed to work day and night.
On the sixth day of December, Xiao Huifei entered Bixiao Hall and brought back a good news—
Xiao Yi led his troops to rush into Nanliang from the poisonous black swamp, captured five cities in one fell swoop, and approached the capital of Nanliang.
There was only such a simple sentence in the news, but Nangong Yue repeated it over and over again, with a look of joy on her face.
Counting the time, she only separated from Xiao Yi for about ten days, and she was thinking of him all the time in her heart.
Nangong Yue's lips were always filled with a smile, and after a long time, she reluctantly threw the good news into the brazier...
"Shi Zifei, Miss Han is here."
At this time, Baihui's voice came from outside the door, accompanied by Nangong Yue's words "let Sister Xia come in", Han Qixia hurried in, she was wearing ordinary green clothes, with unstoppable anxiety on her face, she said as soon as she met : "Yue'er, I seem to be recognized..."
Nangong Yue was startled, and hurriedly asked, "Who is it?"
"Yes..." Han Qixia took a deep breath and said vigorously, "It's the saint of Baiyue, put your clothes on."