The Weather Changes

Chapter 199: Jiaozhi Shi Weiyan scolded the empress

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The name Jiaozhi is very strange. I asked Pei'er. According to the people there, they don't wear shoes and socks all year round, and the second toe is placed on the big toe, so it is called Jiaozhi. For this reason, the two ladies tried it with great interest that night. They both felt that it was quite difficult, so they used it as a topic of conversation and randomly guessed the reason.

Lord Shi Weiyan is a famous scholar of the time, and he values rituals and music, so he must not be neglected, so he sent a sword to the Nansanshili Pavilion Posthouse in Guangxin two days in advance to meet him. The night before, the express horse reported that they had arrived at the Nansanshili Posthouse, and the team set out at 1:00 a.m. the next day and would arrive at noon. For this speed, it can only be seen that the carriages and horses are very well equipped. I think Jiaozhi is nearly a thousand miles away from Guangxin, and it would take several months to arrive without the carriages and horses.

That day, because the departure had been planned long ago and they were in a hurry, the students bound for Luoyang set out early on time and were unable to catch up with the scholar-official.

I consider myself a sentimental person, but I didn't go to see Kong Ming again, thinking that I hadn't seen him for a long time, and such a separation would not make me feel too lost. Even though so many people around me have left, I still feel very sad.

I know that Kongming's uncle did not live with Kongming. There were few houses in the courtyard and the house was narrow, so only Kongming and his brother lived there. So the night before, I decided to visit this elder of the Zhuge family. Although I haven't been there, they will leave together tomorrow, and I still have a lot to say.

As expected, the middle-aged man who was walking alone in the yard in casual clothes was a little surprised by my arrival.

I suddenly realized that I didn't even know where he worked. I was a bit confused that day and didn't have any impression in my mind.

But I wasn't nervous: "Lord Zhuge already has an official rank. But you have been here for the past ten days, aren't you afraid of being blamed by the higher-ups?"

"Oh. Yue Hou Rong reported that I was summoned by Sui Hou to take up my post in Nanye (southwest of Yangzhou in the Han Dynasty, near Jingzhou and Jiaozhou). However, Nanye has been plagued by bandits this spring, and the city is bullying the road, so I have nowhere to go. Because the people of Nanye often flee along the foot of Tailing Mountain or the bank of Yuzhang River. So many of them gather in Jingnan. I was sent by Sui Hou and approved by the Duke of Chu, so I gathered refugees in Jingnan. Fortunately, General Xingba helped me in many ways. I temporarily borrowed a place on the edge of a wasteland to open up farmland for Chu. Pay some taxes as compensation, so that the people can support themselves and not flee. Because it is in the Chu territory, its governance is all from the local county, Xuan dare not overstep his authority, nor interfere. I didn't expect that I heard about Kong Ming when I was having a banquet with General Gan and others. I thought there was nothing to do here, so I asked for leave and rushed here. There is actually no problem over there, but this time I go north. It would be better to let Kong Ming go with others. Jin'er and I will continue to stay in Jingnan. Then we will return to Nanye and wait for Kong Ming to finish his studies. "

"Sui Hou and I have a grudge against each other in the past, so it would be best not to let Sui Hou know that you are staying with me permanently." I suddenly felt an inexplicable worry.

"It's okay. I have already reported this to my master. I was also very nervous, but he agreed to it. He also said that if I could meet you, I would tell Yue Hou about his admiration for you." Judging from the gentleman's expression, he should not be lying. I don't know what this brother Yuan is thinking. Is he unwilling to offend me, or does he really want to be friends with me

"Oh, that's good. I was young and hot-tempered when I was young, and I have offended Sui Hou many times. I hope you can apologize to your master on my behalf when you meet him." I really don't want his family to be troubled because of my impulsive behavior back then. Although the person in the north only asked someone to compliment me, I am willing to ask the same person to convey this sincere apology.

The next day at the hour of Mao, the sky was already bright and I appeared in front of the palace. Lord Xu arranged a farewell ceremony and a simple ceremony to worship Confucius.

I changed into a formal dress and after the ceremony I spoke some encouraging words to the children.

I saw Kong Ming in the crowd, and I passed on my hopes for him to everyone.

Many people have told me before that the students I selected seem to be a little older, but in fact I chose them based on Kong Ming's age. Maybe some people will think that I abuse my power, so let them be.

I insist that I am just trying to help things grow faster and I have no other selfish motives.

Of course, I did have some selfish motives. But after all, Kong Ming was not the only one who went at this age. Other outstanding children of this age were also selected, and even after the announcement, they were all sent at this age. I ordered people to consult with them. Although they were reluctant, the parents of those students had no doubts about my arrangement. I felt sorry for the parents. I did not give any special instructions to the escort guards. Of course, I sent Hua Rong and his wife to accompany them. I asked them to visit the imperial physician. If they met the benefactor in Jingzhou, they could also give an explanation. At least, their taking care of Kong Ming had nothing to do with my order.

I think Yinling should remind her.

I am not a good family member to Kong Ming, but Yin Ling is. That night when I went to see Uncle Kong Ming and came back, I didn't see Yin Ling. I could guess where she went. Pei Er could also guess. We waited together until she came back. Her eyes were a little swollen.

In the end, I wrote a letter to my father and Mr. Cai respectively.

I presented all my ideas with the overall situation in mind and asked them to help take care of these students, but I "accidentally" mentioned a talented person among them.

Apparently, I am not a fair ruler either.

Finally, everything was over. I let out a long sigh, and a sense of loss and emptiness seemed to burst out from my chest, instantly washing over the entire main hall, leaving me sitting alone, looking around.

I wanted to give myself more things to do to fill this emptiness, so I found two heroes, one black and one red.

"Lord Wei Yan is coming today. He should arrive in the afternoon. Captain Guangxin has already gone to meet him. One of you is Ling'er's sworn brother, and the other is Pei'er's sworn brother. You are both my relatives. You will go to meet him on my behalf. Each of you should bring your own clan soldiers, and then take the military token to lead a brigade of elite cavalry from the central army. The Longxing Brigade will go far away in light armor and march ten miles ahead to wait at the Nanshili Pavilion. The Yiwu Brigade will march five miles ahead and escort him to the Shuinanjinkou. I will wait for him at the ferry here. You should behave better and don't lose the courtesy."

The two of them agreed and left. When the two of them were together, they were not as usual. They were very serious and seemed to be competing with each other secretly.

I believe that sometimes this kind of inner competition is not necessarily a bad thing. This time, the scholar Wei Yan should be somewhat touched. Frankly. I always feel that the scholar has been watching me, and this behavior is not particularly consistent with the annotations in his book. This time, Yinling wrote a letter to him based on the content of his book to force him to come over. He should not be in a good mood. I deliberately coaxed him and seemed to be insincere.

It’s better to express my displeasure and then give him enough face.

Jian has always been polite, so I am not worried about his reception going wrong. But I hope that my two brothers-in-law can properly intimidate him and his men. The swiftness of the Xianbei people and the ferocity of the Xiliang people are enough for them to endure before they see me. The reason why I want to bring another traveler is to make the scene bigger. Give Mr. Shi a grand reception.

Although the weather was a little cooler, it was still a bit hot to wear a neat suit and move around a lot, so I could only sit quietly and take the bus to the ferry.

By the way, I called together a few adults around me to discuss the itinerary for the next few days. Lord Xu is an old fox. After listening to my welcoming arrangements, he smiled slightly. He could understand what I meant.

So he proposed to perform a shooting ceremony and then go hunting in the northern mountains.

It seems that Lord Xu is quite wary of Lord Shi. So I agreed. By the way, I will see if his subordinates have brought anyone here. In fact, there are also Bo Cai, Uncle Zhang, Song Yudong and others, but on this day, Lord Xu and I were the ones talking. Brother Bo is like this originally, Uncle Zhang has never had a good relationship with Confucian scholars, and Song has been very humble and low-key since he became the Shangshu Ling. So. Only Lord Xu, as a local, can give more suggestions.

Of course, I still have to give face to Master Zushi in front of others and behind their backs. So Master Xu and I still have to discuss, "Is there any vacant land in the city to build a annex?"

"My Lord, is this the residence built for the southern envoys? It has already been arranged. There is an old alley in the northwest of the palace. In the past, it was the residence of the subordinates of the Jiaozhou governor. It was an official residence. After the Zhongping year, it was abandoned for a while. Now it has been renovated and rectified. Many rooms have been completed. Some southern envoys have already moved in. Others will be completed soon. It should be all finished within half a month."

“Is there any large, neatly-spaced space?”

"My lord, do you want to build an official residence for Lord Wei Yan?"

"Well, after all, Mr. Shi is as famous as the Three Chens, and he is also an important official of Yue. We should also build a separate courtyard for him to show our respect for Wende."

"The rest are just a few scattered empty houses, most of which were built by families that fell into poverty and could no longer make a living here, or by the occupants who committed crimes and had their houses confiscated. There is only one larger place in the northeast of the palace, which was built by Zhao Guang, the King of Cangwu, as a warehouse and armory. It is close to Baiyun Mountain and has a nice view. But because of the Baiyun Mountain and the palace, you can only see the sunlight for two or three hours around noon. It is mostly blocked at other times. Guangxin is sometimes a bit cold in winter and is not suitable for living."

"It doesn't matter. He can't live here permanently, and I won't let him live here permanently. I'll take him to have a look when the time comes. If there's no problem, we'll build it." I tried to reassure Lord Xu.

"It's terrible that it will cost a lot." Taxes have indeed been exempted in many places recently. However, due to unrest in some places, taxes cannot be collected, and the government treasury is a bit tight. Recently, the issue of site selection for military farms has been discussed.

"It's okay, I'm just being selfish." I've just been promoted to a rich man recently, so I'm very confident.

"Your Majesty has rewarded Marquis Yue a lot, right?" Lord Xu is now much more relaxed when talking to me. He is not as reserved as he was at the beginning, and he can even make some jokes today.

I laughed it off and changed the subject: "According to the local customs, how long does it take for a noble to marry a girl?"

Lord Xu naturally understood what I meant: "Three months."

"Can we advance the event so that all the scholars can attend? Although Lord Li has passed away, his father has entrusted me with all the powers, but we should not be too hasty after Longmen arrives. Please invite the Chen family members you invited as soon as possible. If necessary, I can also visit them. It would be wonderful if we can accomplish this good thing when all the wise men have arrived."

"Oh, then it might be better for you to invite the Chen family. I have visited them several times recently, but they were mostly perfunctory. Although I have shown all the courtesy, Mr. Chen has no intention of leaving the mountain."

"Where?"

"There is a narrow valley fifty miles northwest of the river valley, and a few miles inside the valley there is a wide area, all of which are Chen family farmland. According to rumors, Chen Lang's sister recently became a widow and returned home, and she may have left for this reason... Well, that's not right, it's not right, this reason is far-fetched, and it's easy for people to spread gossip."

"It's okay, it's okay. After we visit Sanchen, we'll take Mr. Shi with us to visit. It can be considered a good story." Everyone started talking at the same time, and there was no word for a while.

"Hepu should be discussed." Bo Cai suddenly spoke after a long silence.

After a brief discussion, everyone got up again. The road from Cangwu to Hepu is mountainous, and there are many hills in the southwest of Hepu. The southeast is densely networked with waterways. The mountain bandits in the north, the bandits in the southwest, and the water bandits in the southeast are colluding with each other. Although they are no match for the government troops on the plains, it is a headache to go to those places. Our newly established official ships are all large ships for crossing the sea. It is quite troublesome to enter such a deep and winding waterway. In addition, Yulin has just been settled. There is still a worry in the north of the South China Sea. If Shi Xie does not make efforts, it will definitely delay our plan to go deep into the south of Yizhou.

"The matter of archery requires more consideration. Stop when you reach your limit and don't overdo it." Uncle Zhang said solemnly.

"I have read all the proposals from Hepu. There is no need to rely too much on Lord Wei Yan. I will fight him. If he wants to refuse, we will go and fight. Within a month and a half, before his group returns to Longbian, we must try to conquer that place." In fact, I have thought about this matter a long time ago. I have read a lot of memorials and proposals about Hepu in the recent bamboo slips. Looking at the sand table, I already have a basic plan in mind. At this time, I just asked everyone before: "Are all the chariots already proficient in operation?"

There was silence for a moment. This time it was Song who spoke up: "My Lord, please don't force it. This matter has serious implications. We should discuss it later."

"There is little rain here only in autumn and winter. At other times, it rains a lot and the roads are muddy, which is not suitable for advancing troops. Therefore, the weather is on our side. Xuwen has been captured by Han Xian's navy, and our navy is stationed there; and the rebellion in the big cities of Zhulu, Hepu, Linyun, and Gaoliang counties has been basically quelled. After the autumn harvest, the people's hearts are more settled, so the harmony of the people is on our side. Only a few mountain cities, which are surrounded by water, are still plagued by banditry due to poor transportation and lack of information. The difficulty of Hepu is mainly due to inconvenient roads and blocked waterways. The rampant bandits in the mountains make it difficult for farmers and woodcutters to move, and the bandits here are powerful; the bandits on the water are ferocious, which makes fishermen distressed and embarrassed, and there are many pirates. Therefore, the geographical advantage is not on our side. Originally, we wanted to use the hands of the scholars to slowly recover and pacify the situation. If they refuse, it means that they are not attentive to the people. Asking them to quell the rebellion will only increase the killing and go against long-term peace. We will have to do it ourselves. Today is very different from the past when we entered Vietnam. In the past, we had no place to stand, and there were wars everywhere. We had to quell the rebellion quickly and could not take care of other things. Now we have a solid foundation, and everything is beneficial to us, so we should consider it carefully. Before the autumn harvest begins this time, the army will be stationed there. Although the area is large, we should not divide the troops too much. The main thing is to block the main traffic routes and quickly gather beside the vast and flat farmland beside the big city to protect the autumn harvest in various places. "

"My Lord, that is true, but even so, our forces will still be dispersed. Hepu and Gaoliang are very far apart. If the bandits gather their forces and come, our army may be at a disadvantage."

"We naturally need to gather and set up some passes along some important roads... And I plan to set a trap, which is to actively attract them to come over to the wide plains, so that they can't slip into the mountains or waterways when we advance. Then concentrate our elite forces, gather the bandits who are resisting stubbornly in one place and annihilate them, so that they can't fight or escape. We have done all kinds of appeasement. If they don't calm down after this autumn harvest, I will have to take action. If they can't unite as a group, the mountains are barren, and those bandits will need a lot of supplies since they have gathered. Regardless of whether they are mountain bandits or not, if they block the entrance of the main road, even if they can find a way out over the mountains and ridges and rob the people, they will be exhausted if they don't take the main road, and it will be just right for us to chase them. The pirates have to live on the shore, so they are even less to be feared. If they escape into the sea, let Han Xian run over them with the big ship."

"But, what is your plan for this trap, my lord?"

"Can the tank be practiced?" I asked the question again.

"It's okay. Jianfeng thought it was good and ordered people to make more. I'm afraid there are dozens more now. Of course, this should belong to Da Sima, but... I'm afraid he doesn't know." Uncle Zhang has been nagging lately.

I had just drawn an outline on the ground with the hilt of my sword when I heard someone shouting outside that someone was coming to the ferry over there.

Soon someone reported that a large group of people had arrived on the other side.

I went out in formal attire, and saw a team in white clothes, guarded by red and black people, slowly boarding the boat.

I breathed a sigh of relief, it finally came.

The cool breeze blew from the Yu River and the sound of drums and music came to the old scholar, who was in great spirits.

Unfortunately, my two regular musicians were nowhere to be found. I could only let Pei'er rehearse the welcoming drums and music in advance, while I stood in awe with the guards of honor and the troops.

When the boat was about to dock, I took a few steps forward and bowed to the captain.

"Please forgive me, Lord Yuehou. My father said that ritual and music come first, so he did not board this ship. This is the ceremonial band. He also ordered me to ask Lord Yuehou for forgiveness. My father is on the next ship."

I stood up. I saw a young man in white standing at the bow of the boat, returning my greeting. I praised him and said, "You are indeed a wise man."

No need to guess, that’s definitely not what I think in my heart.

I talked to Mr. Shi enthusiastically. He was well-educated, but from his actions and words, I felt that he was still a reckless warrior.

Because he admired me so much and looked forward to having the same experiences as me.

What kind of vision is this

Well, I seem to despise myself. And he is not the only one who admires me. I am optimistic about the others. I may still have some prejudices. And they are deep.

In addition, he is quite agile and should be good at martial arts.

Finally, the scholar arrived, accompanied by my two brave generals. A truly solemn old man came out. I suddenly felt apologetic. This old man was obviously not old enough. Was I being too much by asking him to come here after running for more than half a month

I couldn't stand up until I saw a pair of well-maintained hands holding my sleeves: "How dare I accept such a great gift from Lord Yue."

But you still suffered it, I thought to myself, and the apology I felt instantly faded a lot.

Next, the courtesy and etiquette in official circles were still performed one after another.

The scholar even went out of his way to praise my musicians.

I felt quite proud.

I was also proud that he didn't mention my two powerful generals.

I use my shortcomings to highlight his strengths and win his praise. I use my strengths to highlight his shortcomings and make him silent. Isn't that beautiful

Of course, there is still a little unhappiness in this pride.

Therefore, we have never seen him act in the past turbulent times, and we have never seen him act even when he received orders from the superiors. His ability is limited to one county. If you praise my military commanders for their bravery, you can still say that he is broad-minded and can distinguish right from wrong. He did not even praise me on the spot. At least our etiquette is still complete and the ceremony is grand enough; because he is narrow-minded, I am afraid that it will boost my ambition and be detrimental to his self-esteem.

Therefore, we cannot rely on anything for the matter of Hepu, and I am afraid that the rebellion of Jiuzhen and Rinnan will still require all our strength.

They only exchanged pleasantries for a short while that day, and the rest of the welcoming banquet was not a problem. Then he let his father, son and entourage settle down and rest early.

Then I called my subordinates together and after a discussion, we decided on the matter regarding Rinan and Jiuzhen.

Han Xian, Pan Xiang, Nan, Hu Ze, and She Yuan are preparing to rush to Xuwen, with Nan guarding Xuwen and She Yuan assisting him. Since there are fewer storms on the sea after autumn, we have hired people familiar with the waterways and have them quickly sent to Bijing, Zhuwu, Xijuan, Lurong, and Xianglin to occupy them. The five cities are all near the harbor and are easy for our warships to land and capture. Among them, Pan Xiang was specially ordered to guard Bijing and Hu Ze to assist him. They should quickly get familiar with the local customs and people, appease the people, and then do other things. The cities of Jiuzhen are all deep in the river. If it is not good for the warships to go there, the garrison of Rinan can join forces with Shi Xie to attack from both sides with infantry and cavalry, and then coordinate on the water, which can ensure safety and avoid Shi Xie's vigilance.

That night, the two ladies actually sent someone to invite me over. I immediately rushed to report everything to the leaders of the two families so as not to worry them.

"Zi Rui's plan may be good, but it may be disrespectful to Lord Wei Yan."

"Our old man is always like this, making his own decisions. If I don't watch him for a few days, I don't know if he gets carried away again. I guess he got too much freedom before and became too spoiled."

"Ling'er, how can you be such a husband?"

"It's okay. This... I just plan to discuss it with Mr. Shi. If he really doesn't want to, I will leave. But time is running out. If he doesn't do it, we may have to waste another year if we don't prepare now. So let them prepare first, but I guess we will have to do it. I won't be his enemy, but I have to scare him." My swift and decisive, stormy character was much more obedient this time.

"Lord Wei Yan is, after all, a learned and renowned scholar. Does Zi Rui have any grudges against him? This response seems to indicate that he does not trust him at all."

"When I was not here, he had not received the emperor's order. So he only guarded Jiaozhi and did not ask about other counties. It was not his responsibility, so why should he be asked to take it. When I came, I promoted him to the position of Left General and praised him in the memorial, hoping that he would do something. If you are not in the position, you should not intervene in the affairs. Now that he is in the position, I have not even received a letter from him asking for orders. There is no time to wait. I will have a good talk with him. If he is in trouble, we should do what we should do."

"But... Pei doesn't understand military affairs, but now Zirui is using the navy to attack Rinnan, which will make Lord Wei Yan feel insecure, because Jiaozhi is closer to Xuwen."

"He had already made such arrangements. If it weren't for the lack of information in Zhuya (Hainan), I'm afraid he would have gone to recapture Yazhou (which was historically temporarily out of the control of the Han Dynasty at this time)." A pregnant young woman who has always been teasing me shook her hands helplessly.

"The scholar-official has ceded land to himself and has been ruling Jiaozhi for several years (according to the official history, Shi Xie became the governor of Jiaozhi in the fourth year of Zhongping. Because he was the governor of Jiaozhi for the next forty years, there is a "last" at the end, author's note), neither rising nor falling. This kind of local emperor is definitely not as elegant and lofty as he is in his books. It is not convenient to offend such people. But we must also warn them to prevent them from acting recklessly and not knowing how to restrain themselves."

"Even so, Mr. Wei Yan has never done anything reckless."

"He sat back and watched the turmoil in the neighboring county (he did write a letter to the emperor in the official history, but the timing and its content seemed to be quite reprehensible, so this book has omitted this story after the environment was changed). And did nothing; he recruited many displaced scholars. However, he did not seek official positions for those who submitted memorials for him, and used them for personal gain. Behind this, he had a heart of disloyalty. I regard myself as a minister of the Han Dynasty, so how can I let him do this?" I felt more confident, and gradually became more righteous and awe-inspiring.

"Zi Rui is really thoughtful, but Pei Shi is shallow. Ling'er. Although Zi Rui is a bit of a pedant, he does not act on impulse. He still has his foresight."

"Sister Pei, don't brag. He will get proud easily. Do you remember when we teased him with apples and he grabbed the apples, he rolled around on the ground."

"Oh, oh, was he afraid that we would snatch it back? He had few teeth at that time, so it took him a long time to eat an apple." (Apples were definitely available at that time, as in the Book of Songs, "The deer calls, eating wild apples")

"No matter how I look at it, he's just showing off. He's always been like this since he was a child."

I couldn't help looking at her with resentment.

"What are you looking at, kids? Don't learn from your father. Be humble and eager to learn. Don't be arrogant when you win, and don't be discouraged when you lose." Yiren puffed out her belly, looking fearless.

Pei'er laughed happily, and even imitated Ling'er by sticking her belly out. Then she couldn't help laughing and turned away.

Of course, I was lucky to stay overnight that night. Of course, I didn't sleep well that night, and because those women had been taking care of me recently, my appearance today almost made the female guards on night patrol in the courtyard a thief. Fortunately, my figure is not suitable for being a thief. The two southern barbarian girls exclaimed and muttered a few incomprehensible complaints or sudden realizations, and then I, who had just been woken up and was still sleepy and staggering, bumped into the vegetable patch.

Then I woke up completely.

The next day I quickly apologized to my mother-in-law, but she didn't seem to care. Instead, she asked me in a simple manner if I was free recently to help dig a well.

My mother-in-law's hearing is not very good, so her voice always seems very loud. I guess the two ladies heard it clearly and immediately expressed their opposition loudly in the house.

I was also puzzled and pointed at the original lotus pond, which is now a fish pond.

No, there is no water in the land of Acai, Amao and others in the backyard. They have military duties on weekdays and have no time to dig wells.

I thought to myself: The working people are really united, it sounds like I'm the only one with free time.

In the end, I paid some people in the city who specialized in well digging to dig a well. There was an underground river under the city, and following the general direction of other wells in the city, we soon found a place with very shallow water.

When watering the well, one should not forget the person who dug it. Later, the produce from the former martial arts field in the backyard appeared on our dining table.

Of course, the scholars can't eat the produce in the palace, because due to the recent drought, the vegetables are not growing well and it's not time to harvest. It's better to have rain every day in summer, so you can harvest a crop in a few days. From this speed, I think growing vegetables is still amazing, much faster than growing grain. I used to think it was as slow as growing grain, just faster than raising cattle and sheep.

This is why there is a story. Since I came to Ehe Shaoge's house, there has been a lot of mutton smell in the palace recently. The fourth brother has been craving for it for a long time. He often goes to the clan over there to buy some, then grills it in his yard, adds some salt and pepper, and it has an irresistible taste. This has attracted a lot of foodies, who frequently visit his "best friend". Naturally, this includes me. As the elder brother, it would be a shame if I didn't visit my brother, and my adopted daughter who has been fostered here for a long time.

Therefore, this dish was also included in the treat for the scholar this time.

The scholar just nodded slightly, but his son was much happier and asked what it was.

Thinking that there were really not many sheep there, he introduced them, which led to the Battle of Chencang, which made his son even more amazed.

Since Mr. Shi never stopped him, I suddenly felt that it was Mr. Shi who instructed his son to be closer to me.

His eldest son was named Xin. According to rumors, he was not the biological son of Lord Wei Yan, because he had no sons at first. Later, his wife adopted a child and then had several children with concubines. Thinking of the things that happened in the Luoyang Palace, I always felt that there was something fishy here. But I was not interested in exploring the secrets here, so I didn't think much about it.

Of course, I have no reason to restrict others from thinking randomly, so feel free to think randomly, just don't be too fanciful.

I don't know who spread this news. I've never heard of it before, but it spread quickly after they arrived. I always feel that there are some big mouths in his team.

I knew that Lord Wei Yan was from this place. Now I know that his ancestral home is in a settlement about 100 miles northwest of Guangxin. Pei'er was very respectful to him, pouring wine for him and asking questions from time to time. Lord Shi answered every question, and was very detailed. When his son and I were talking about how to march and fight, they seemed to be having a rigorous and serious academic discussion on Confucian classics.

But from my observation, Pei Er really admired the scholar's talent; at the same time, the scholar gradually showed that he was quite surprised by Pei Er's knowledge.

So, I continued chatting with his son, and listened to their conversation from time to time.

I have to admit somewhat shamefully: I don’t understand some of it.

For a moment, I had a strong question in my mind: Are they speaking the same language as mine

While we were drinking, the scholar actually took the initiative to talk to me.

"I don't know the Lord's intention. Is it for the people? Or for the country?"

Did he want to argue with me about which was more important, the people or the country? And he very skillfully ignored the king. He probably wanted to find out what I really thought.

"Without the people of the world, how can there be a country?" Since you don't mention the king, I won't mention it either. I will try to win him over again: "This time, I do have something to discuss with you, the lord, and that is the rebellion in Hepu, Jiuzhen, and Rinnan. Because I have just arrived, I don't know the cause of the rebellion, so I dare not use force rashly. I will try to appease them first. Now it is summer, and autumn is not far away. If there is another disaster, it will be bad for the autumn harvest. Although there are many harvests a year here, if the harvest is delayed for a few more seasons, the farmers will be forced into the wild forest to dig yams. What should I do then!"

"Xie is actually a Confucian scholar, not a talented general, so I dare not talk about weapons recklessly. Although the lord has given an order, Jiaozhi is busy with its own affairs, and I am afraid that more good generals and warriors may be needed. Just like the two generals who came to welcome me today, Xie's people all regard them as gods..." If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Waiting for me here seems like I need something from you.

Politely, I'm not very happy; sincerely, I'm very unhappy; from the bottom of my heart, I'm very unhappy.

And frankly, I really don't want him to help me fight. After the fight, he will be rewarded, and he will have to decide the administration of those places. His power is growing too strong, which is a threat to me. The country is in a troubled time, so I still hope to control these places under our court. If the officials sent can work for the welfare of the people, there will be no such disasters. It's not like this place has never been stable for a long time in the past. The only question in this consideration is "if".

"Zhi dare not force you, Master Shi, so let's forget about this. I will pacify Hepu myself, and I will also take Rinan. Jiuzhen will wait for me to take Rinan back, and then we will join hands with Master Weiyang to attack from the north and south to take it. Recently, we have ordered the ministers to recommend virtuous and upright people, recommend filial and honest people, and recommend policy answers. If there are people in Jiaozhi or other places that you think are good people, you can recommend them and they will definitely be used. When the time comes, the governor of Jiuzhen and the magistrates of various counties also hope that Master Weiyang can recommend some people with both virtue and talent to take up the post."

The gentleman agreed with some hesitation. From then on, I had nothing more to say except wishing him a happy birthday out of courtesy.

On the second day, at the court meeting, the emperor praised Shixie for his contribution to Annan and appointed him as the Grand Tutor of Yue State, granted him the title of Grand Master, and granted him the same rank as the Three Officials.

This fake title has a reason. I first gave him the title of Left General, and now I give him the title of fake title (which can kill those who disobey military orders), which is obviously reasonable. But since he is unwilling to lead troops to fight for me, this fake title is just an empty title. In fact, he has already established a government for many years, and the officials in Jiaozhi are all his people. Now I am just giving him a legitimate reason.

He immediately ordered a group of people to reorganize the navy in Xuwen and prepare to set out in the autumn. In view of the presence of Mr. Shi, he also asked Nan to pay attention to the resettlement of the people coming from Yazhou, inquire about intelligence, and report in time to prepare for the recovery of Yazhou; he also asked to train the land force in Cangwu and be on standby to march to Hepu at any time.

That day, envoys from various villages that had already arrived in Guangxin were invited to come and meet the emperor. Su Mei and the saint girl actually came, which was a little too fast.

The fourth brother was actually a little nervous.

When people gather together, according to our Han customs, there must be a banquet. I have always liked banquets with lots of food, and what I hate most is a banquet without food.

It was a coincidence that the Grand Herald returned before the banquet that day. He did not have time to celebrate his success. He also did not have time to ask about the details. He could only ask about the brothers' well-being first.

Su Mei's eyes were not really friendly, they were full of affection. I felt that Lao Si was the roasted lamb on her table. At least I thought roasted lamb was better than anything else. Not only did I look at it, I also wanted to eat it. Of course, Su Mei didn't always look at Lao Si, but after a glance, she would eventually fall on my brother. In contrast, the saint returned to the human world, probably because she had unloaded that burden. She looked relaxed and carefree. During the banquet, she even specifically greeted my witch and even had a good chat with her. People in their profession should have a common language. However, after the banquet started for a while, the men were just celebrating each other's birthdays and having a good chat. The women laughed together.

In addition to me and my two wives sitting there, there was another person, my fourth son, who brought his wife, or my sister-in-law brought the fourth son. My sister-in-law obviously knew about the threat of this barbarian woman, and I didn't know who the informer was. But Su Mei obviously ignored my sister-in-law. Instead, she felt that my sister-in-law was an eyesore.

As the nominal ruler here, I decided to symbolically express my opinion to the Fourth Brother's family: Fourth Brother, sister-in-law, it may be unfair to you that I have two wives. Look at Su Mei's expression. She wants to reserve another place for Fourth Brother.

The fourth child is also the nominal head of their family, so the younger brother and sister-in-law acted as spokespersons to explain their family’s intentions: It’s okay, I will stop this wild girl.

"Sister, you are such a hero, Si. Look how cowardly you are." I tried my best to show that I had no intention of gloating.

"Brother, don't be so happy. My sister-in-law and I are here." The fourth brother also passionately expressed his feeling that he does not need anyone else's help to uphold justice.

That night, it was decided that the next day I would accompany Mr. Shi to visit the descendants of the Three Chens, and then accompany Mr. Shi back to his hometown.

They also planned to arrange the wedding of Master Xu and Yuan the day after they came back, while the scholar was around.

From that night on, the whole Guangxin became busy.

That night, Yan Dahonglu, who stayed with me, talked with Zhang Shubo's elder brother Lao Si and other important officials for a long time. I roughly understood the situation there. They finally agreed that I could only take 300 people to go deep into the country. Because we really couldn't spare more troops and couldn't take more supplies to go there.

The next morning, while preparing, he took the scholar to see the place where he planned to build a mansion for him, and convinced him that he must build a mansion here. Naturally, the scholar could not refuse.

He seemed to be in a more relaxed mood. In fact, many of my arrangements were made to make him feel at ease following me. Many things seemed to be arranged for his schedule. In fact, these were things we were supposed to do, but I wanted him to feel that I was waiting for him to come before doing such things. And in the name of national affairs, I hurriedly did it. In fact, I at least hoped that he could firmly support me.

That day, the convoy was marching forward in a mighty manner. During the first rest on the road, the people below set up a shooting ceremony. I had quietly asked Lord Wei Yan if he could participate, but he declined. I asked his son if he could participate, and he agreed. So I didn't show up, and successfully suppressed the fourth child's desire to perform. Finally, I asked Yuan to go through the scene. Yuan had experienced big scenes before, so he was not flustered when he was called on temporarily. Moreover, his family education seemed to be very thorough, and his posture was very standard, authentic Luoyang style. In addition, every arrow hit the bull's eye, so it was definitely not embarrassing. After the ceremony, I said that this boy was my relative, but he was still a clerk with a salary of 200 stones, and I hoped Lord Wei Yan would not mind.

The fourth brother finally found an opportunity. That day, there was a solitary bird whose name I couldn't tell hovering over the team, and the son of the scholar suddenly became interested in hunting. Although his performance in the archery ceremony was impeccable, he felt that the bird was flying too high and too fast after several attempts, and he felt that he could not shoot it, so he gave up because he was afraid of losing face or accidentally hurting it.

Then the fourth brother had the bird and the arrow delivered to Master Shi.

I checked my team and saw Su Mei, Saint and other tribal envoys sitting in the last car. Then I looked at the smug look on Lao Si's face.

Apart from shaking my head and sighing, my mixed feelings can be summed up in one simple sentence: If you don't do it, you won't die.

For this reason, I approached Lao Si and questioned him. Lao Si was quite surprised. He thought I was hoping that he could show off his skills. I was shocked and asked who gave you such confidence. He is the son of a 2,000-stone official, and you asked a 200-stone clerk to deal with him. You must want to show that you, a high-ranking official, can shoot better. Shouldn't I shoot too

Don't you know that Su Mei is following

Hey, why is she following me

You ask me how I know

Aren't you the lord

It was all arranged by Uncle Zhang and the Grand Herald. I didn't know it at first, but I just discovered it by accident, and I was on the last car.

As a lord, aren't you a bit useless

Son, are you so brotherly? I just trust you and let you arrange everything. I asked Brother Bo to arrange the guards, your sister-in-law to arrange the ceremonial guards, and Uncle Zhang and the Grand Herald to arrange the entourage. It's that simple.

Brother, you have caused me so much trouble.

I didn't punish him for his rude words. After all, he misunderstood my intentions, and he was indeed thinking about me and unconsciously pushed himself into a deeper crisis. This time, Lao Si left a deeper impression in Su Mei's heart. It should be that Lao Si's arrow should have shot directly into Su Mei's heart.

I used to think that love is like wine, slowly getting you drunk. You are so deeply trapped that you don't want to wake up. Or it is like snow, floating and drifting with the wind, burying everything else. Only the pure white world and you and her are left. The difference is that wine can be drunk as you like, but snow doesn't come when you want.

Now I always feel that there should be a god of love in this world who shoots arrows into people's hearts. This god of love is better than the two other gods of love I thought of, because he can be controlled at will, but the main thing is that this god of love's self-control ability is indeed questionable.

I have seen the first arrow that intoxicated Su Mei, but now her heart has been pierced by many arrows.

That murderer is still pretending to be innocent next to me. I really want to kick him off his horse.

The fourth brother is impeccable except for his solution of comparing wheels, which makes me worry about him. Maybe for Su Mei, his shortcoming is that he got married too early.

Su Mei actually had a pretty face. She was thin, not like a female general at all, and looked more gentle than Wan'er, but her skills that day were still impressive. If it weren't for Nan, who was also a fork wielder and much stronger than her, the others would have thought it would be difficult to end the fight peacefully.

My attention turned to Nan, who was accompanying us. Nan didn't ride a horse today. She wore a very polite Han Chinese dress. She sat next to my sister-in-law, holding a bamboo scroll and asking something. Since Su Mei came, my sister-in-law felt threatened and has been following the fourth brother recently. The fourth brother's performance today should have satisfied her. At least she was talking to Nan at ease and didn't pay special attention to the back.

I rode to their car and asked Nan what he was looking at. Wan'er was very happy: Nan has become smarter and has been working very hard recently. If my sister-in-law was not pregnant, I would have let him go to my brother to learn.

Isn’t your sister-in-law pregnant too

It's okay, he's stupid, I can do it. I'm afraid my two sisters-in-law will be lenient.

Nan looked helpless.

I quickly changed the subject and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Strategies of the Warring States" (Note: edited and compiled by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty).

Nan, you are dressed quite neatly today and are studying "Strategies of the Warring States". Are you going to be a strategist

No, I just feel that I used to want to be like my big brother, always using force and hoping to win by brute force, but now I feel that is not right.

"Nan, what you said seems hurtful." Seeing Wan'er covering her mouth and laughing, I had to remind Nan that this brother-in-law and nephew are truly a family.

"My brother-in-law and I have always believed that the best way to attack someone's army is to attack their plans, and the next best is to destroy their alliances. Killing soldiers is the next best, and conquering cities and territories is the most meaningless. Look, Brother Rou alone has made so many strongholds stop being our enemies, and some even join us. If I learn strategies, I should be able to do greater things." It seems that the fourth brother has read Sun Tzu's Art of War.

This guy just kept talking and passed on the matter. But I still think this guy has improved and is no longer the barbarian he used to be.

"I have something to entrust to you now."

"What's the matter, lord?" This guy was so excited, and suddenly when he heard that I had something to give him, he actually called me lord.

"Go and apologize to Miss Su." I pointed at the car at the back. "You almost killed someone last time. What happened to you? You didn't know the severity of the situation and didn't know how to stop."

"Oh, I was thinking at that time... I felt a little... No, I'll go right away." Nan seemed to be a little upset about what happened that day. It seemed that he had been criticized a lot since then.

Nan got off the bus and stood by the roadside waiting respectfully, which was quite polite. My sister-in-law looked at Nan, then at me, and a smile that seemed to show understanding appeared on her face.

"You know." I smiled too.

"Thank you, big brother." A heartfelt voice of thanks came from behind.

I had already turned my horse forward, and when I heard this, I raised my hand and waved to my brother and sister-in-law.

"All troops have received orders to rest on the spot!" A majestic military order echoed among the mountains and rivers.

Brother Bo's voice. It's rare for him to talk so much in one day.

But he seems to have misunderstood me. That's not what I meant. (To be continued...)