Fang Yun understood as soon as he heard it, his uncle Fang Shouye was obviously recommending Fang Yingwu.
Fang Yingwu is the son of Fang Shouye's eldest brother, but he has always lived in Fang Shouye's house, and the two have a father-son relationship.
Fang Yingwu is over 20 years old, currently a juren, quite talented and shrewd. In the past, someone offended him and he tortured them to the point where they wanted to live but not die. He is extremely treacherous. However, he is not a tyrannical young man, and his reputation is mixed.
Fang Yingwu had a habit of not being interested in decent women. He liked to spend the night in brothels or pleasure boats and was a playboy by nature.
Fang Yun asked Fang Shouye some more about Fang Yingwu, and recalled the previous rumors. This person had no other bad deeds except that he liked to hang out in brothels and was ruthless in revenge. Moreover, Fang Yingwu was his cousin and a member of the same clan, so he was much more trustworthy than an outsider. With Fang Shouye's temper, if Fang Yingwu's character was really problematic, he would definitely not put down his face and send a letter.
"When my cousin arrives in the capital, I will host a welcoming party for him."
Fang Yun went to the "Spring Hunting Class" and "Palace Examination Class" as usual in the morning. After class, he used the official seal to check the letters of communication. It turned out that many familiar or unfamiliar people recommended themselves or others, just to become Fang Yun's private soldiers or staff.
On the way home, Fang Yun thought as he walked that it would be great to have someone as a private soldier or aide, but his own team was not stable yet, and rashly accepting a large number of people would inevitably lead to various conflicts. After all, human hearts are the most complicated and are not as easy to control as the barbarian private soldiers.
After lunch, Fang Yun did not go to the literary battlefield to practice verbal sparring or poetry battles, but sat in the study room thinking about the candidates for his team.
Naturally, they could not refuse the Jinshi who came from a farming family to help. "Farming" was an important subject in the palace examination. It would be best to get A or B in farming. If they got C, they would immediately lose the qualification to be in the top three in the palace examination. Food and clothing are always the top priority of human beings.
Master Xiang is a veteran official, and was recommended to Cai He by Minister of Culture Jiang Hechuan. He has been with Cai He for several years. It can even be said that he is more reliable than Fang Yingwu.
Fang Yingwu is also a candidate for the staff. He has traveled all over Jingguo, and he does not only think with his lower body. He has met all kinds of people in brothels and boats, and heard strange things, which are what Fang Yun lacks. Fang Yingwu is younger than Xiang Shiye and more perceptive in some aspects.
As for the private army leader of the Yaoman private army, Ao Huang will be the one who takes the position. Ao Huang will definitely be very motivated.
The Guanjue private soldiers were sent by the military. The general of the Guanjue private soldiers was a middle-aged Hanlin from the Chen Sheng family. He had served in the army for many years, but for Fang Yun's safety, he was sent to Fang Yun by the Chen family. The two thousand private soldiers nominally belonged to the royal family of Jingguo, but in fact they were trained by the Chen Sheng family. Their loyalty to Jingguo was unquestionable.
Fang Yun thought clearly, with the addition of the people sent by the Holy Academy, the current team is enough. If there are more, it will be bloated. After all, he is only governing a county, not a state or even a country. If there is a shortage of people, he can directly select from the relatives of the Fang family in Dayuan Prefecture. The relationship between the same clan is extremely reliable, and Fang Yun and he will rise and fall together. Even if the people of the same clan want to join Fang Yun's enemies, the other party may not be willing to accept it.
Once the "Fang Family" has gained a firm foothold and achieved a certain scale, it can speed up the recruitment of external talents.
In the afternoon, the eunuchs of the imperial palace came to read the imperial edict, officially conferring Fang Yun the title of "Duke of the State", and rewarding him with a palace, a separate courtyard, a garden, fertile land, etc., and brought a total of ninety carriages as gifts!
The Fang family simply could not accommodate so many gifts, so all of these things would be sent to the famous garden "Quan Garden" located on Mingde Street. Quan Garden was one of the three best royal gardens in Jing State. One of them was given to Chen Guanhai, two were used by the royal family themselves, and now one was given to Fang Yun.
Fang Yun was obviously stunned when he heard the reward. Yesterday's court meeting did not involve "Quan Garden". It seemed that the Queen Mother made the decision today.
Ordinary people would only think that it was a generous reward from the empress dowager, but Fang Yun was an official after all, and he immediately realized that this was a very obvious political signal.
A country has a "crown prince" who is the heir to the monarch, and Fang Yun's treatment is similar to that of Chen Sheng, which means that the Queen Mother has regarded Fang Yun as the "crown prince".
The award of "Quanyuan" demonstrated the determination of the Queen Mother and many officials in the court.
The status of the Duke is extremely high, and the enthronement ceremony requires a certain amount of time to prepare. The formal ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and enthronement will be held on December 25th. At that time, not only civil and military officials will participate, but the people of the capital will also attend.
In view of the change in Fang Yun's identity, Shangshe was no longer suitable for living. That night, everyone packed up everything in the Fang family.
The next morning, a convoy sent by the palace took Fang Yun and others away and was responsible for moving. The eldest princess Zhao Hongzhuang also came in person.
Quan Garden is located in the southeast corner of the capital. When the capital was being built, a natural spring was discovered there, so it was built into a royal garden and named after the spring.
The carriage stopped, Fang Yun and the Fang family got off. In front of them was the majestic and ancient main gate of Quan Garden. On the plaque of the main gate were inscribed the two words "Quan Garden". They were written by the founding emperor of Jing State himself. It was the third realm of calligraphy, "words become bones with ink". Every stroke of the two characters stood out like swords.
Quan Garden consists of a main garden and four branch gardens in the east, west, south and north. The theme of the main garden is water. As you enter the main gate of Quan Garden, the first thing you see is a lake with a radius of 30 meters. There are small islands and pavilions in the lake. There are long corridors or bridges on all four sides connecting to other places.
It’s just winter now, and the plants on the water surface look a little shabby. If it were summer, the lake would be full of lotus leaves and lotus flowers in full bloom, making it a rare place to enjoy the lotus.
This is the famous "Lotus Pond Lake" in Quan Garden. Around the Lotus Pond Lake, there are buildings such as Liuxiang Hall and Feiye Pavilion.
Along the way, Zhao Hongzhuang kept introducing everything about Quanyuan.
Fang Yun and Ao Huang were very calm, but Yang Yuhuan, Su Xiaoxiao, Fang Daniu and others kept exclaiming along the way. Even though the scenery here was not as beautiful as in summer, they were deeply fascinated.
Fang Yun compared Quan Garden with the Suzhou gardens in his memory and found that this Quan Garden was superior in scale and other aspects. After all, great scholars participated in its construction and were able to accomplish things that ordinary people could not.
The lotus pond behind the main gate alone is more than 20 acres in size!
The group walked for a while, bypassing the lotus pond before arriving at the main garden at the back. The main garden was full of ponds and rivers, covering a very large area. At first glance, it made people think they had arrived at a water village in the south of the Yangtze River.
Because it is a royal garden, the main garden is mainly for the monarch to enjoy and rest, handle government affairs, and even hold temporary court meetings. It is not suitable for living. After passing through the main garden and reaching the South Garden, it is where everyone lives.
All the facilities in Nanyuan are extremely complete, even too complicated for the other family, and many rooms cannot be used at all.
Zhao Hongzhuang didn't know much about this place, so the gardener of Quan Garden was responsible for introducing it to the Fang family one by one.
Afterwards, Fang Yun and everyone went to visit other gardens.
Time passes neither fast nor slow; it never comes back.
Fang Yun quickly adapted to life in Quanyuan. On December 25, he was officially conferred the title of "Duke of the State".
Gifts from various countries and families arrived one after another, the people Fang Yun needed for his team arrived one after another, and his private army was gradually improved. Fang Yun was busy every day and didn't have time to relax until the Chinese New Year. (To be continued...)