When Feng Shuo heard the news, he just curled the corners of his lips imperceptibly.
Xing Yao was now increasingly unable to figure out his master's thoughts, so he clasped his fists and said, "Master, the tattoo artist is here."
Feng Shuo's eyes fell on the document in his hand, without looking up, "Put it in the mansion first, has Chi Qing sent back any news?"
Chi Qing could be regarded as Feng Shuo's confidant. The treasure map was a big deal, so it was secretly handed over to Chi Qing years ago. As Chi Qing had not returned, when Xie Chuji asked to see Chi Qing, the people under him could only arrange a place for her to stay.
"They are already on their way back. Military Advisor Chi disguised himself as a merchant and bypassed the official road, going through the green forests of western Sichuan." Xing Yao said.
Nowadays, the world is in chaos, and various princes have raised their flags, so merchants dare not take the official road.
If you encounter bandits in the mountains, if you hire enough bodyguards, you may be able to save your life. But if you encounter the army, you will have to face the King of Hell.
Many princes and nobles did not have enough troops, and they robbed the civilians for their military rations and salaries. Once their reputation became bad, they thought of a more vicious method, asking their soldiers to disguise themselves as bandits and start burning, killing and looting.
If a caravan encounters an army on the official road, it will be like a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. The army will kill everyone in the caravan, take away all the caravan’s supplies, and then frame it by saying that it was done by bandits.
The people have long been complaining. Except for the elderly who can no longer walk, the young people who can walk have all fled to other places.
Feng Shuo, a bandit from the green forests of western Sichuan, had also heard about it. He frowned slightly and gave an order: "Send someone to meet them."
It is said that the bandits in the western Sichuan green forest do not rob poor people, but only rob wealthy businessmen, and even assassinate several corrupt officials who take human lives lightly. When the local army is encircling and suppressing the bandits, the people who have received their favors will take the initiative to inform the bandits, so that up to now, the power of the bandits in the western Sichuan green forest area has become increasingly stronger.
Chi Qing and his party carried the treasures from the imperial mausoleum and disguised themselves as merchants as they traveled day and night, so they were bound to be targeted by bandits.
Xing Yao clasped his fists in agreement.
Before he could leave, the butler Fu Xi hurried into the room with a letter with three secret seals on it: "Your Majesty, an urgent report from the capital."
Three secret seals were urgently sent. It must have taken several thousand-mile horses a thousand miles to deliver this news from the capital all the way to Xizhou.
Feng Shuo took it, opened the wax seal, read through it quickly, and his face suddenly became serious. "Tell Han Tuo, An Yongyuan, Chu Changping, and Song Bozhou to come see me immediately."
After a pause, he added: "Call Duke Chen as well."
Xing Yao guessed that something big had happened in the capital, so he did not dare to delay and hurriedly sent people to various places to spread the news.
***
Jiang Yanyi went to Ruyilou after breakfast. He had made an appointment with the people from the Chamber of Commerce to continue discussing the matter of joining Ruyilou and opening a branch there today.
He came back near noon, with a hint of fatigue between his brows.
Aunt Guo now stays at home more often to take care of business. When she saw Jiang Yanyi coming in, she went to greet him and asked, "Boss, you're back. Did your business go well today?"
Jiang Yanyi took off the brocade cape that was stained with rain and snow and handed it to Qiu Kui to dry. "Manager Xu has connections in Sishui City. He wants to invest in Sishui City and open a restaurant to sell pots. He is a money-grubber. He doesn't have any friends in Sishui City. I'm worried..."
Since the fundraising for the military funds, Manager Xu is still the head of the Chamber of Commerce on the surface, but secretly the entire Chamber of Commerce has been following Jiang Yanyi's lead.
Shopkeeper Xu naturally bowed and nodded in front of Jiang Yanyi, but with the lesson learned from the past, Jiang Yanyi did not dare to trust him completely and was always cautious about everything.
She noticed a box of snacks on the table, which looked like a gift from someone, so she asked, "Are there guests at your house?"
Aunt Guo said, "It's Miss Xie from next door who came to visit."
Xie Chuji would occasionally come to the mansion to play chess with Duke Chen. Jiang Yan had met her several times, but they had never talked much. In his impression, she was a beauty who seemed gentle but had a cold heart.
Jiang Yanyi said, "Take the snacks to the yard and give them to Mr. Chen."
Duke Chen did not like others calling him by his official title. He preferred to live freely and unrestrainedly like an old man in the mountains. Jiang Yanyi and others usually called him that.
Aunt Guo said, "Mr. Chen is not at home, and Miss Xie said she wants to discuss something with you."
Jiang Yanyi's eyes showed some doubt: "Looking for me?"
Aunt Guo nodded.
Jiang Yanyi walked towards the backyard and asked, "Where did Mr. Chen go?"
"Not long after you left, someone from the palace came over. After a few words, Mr. Chen left."
Jiang Yanyi said nothing, just thinking that someone suddenly came from the palace, maybe something big had happened.
**
Before Jiang Yanyi opened Ruyi Tower, he cleaned up a room in the backyard and used it as a flower hall to receive female guests. The furnishings in that room remain unchanged, and Aunt Guo arranged for Xie Chuji to wait for Jiang Yanyi here.
"We were delayed at Ruyi Tower due to something. Thank you for waiting for us, young lady." Jiang Yanyi said after entering the house.
She has been dealing with merchants in the Chamber of Commerce for a long time, and now even if there is a smile in her eyes, it is slowly becoming difficult to see the depth of her smile.
As the budget was not enough at the time, the house was only furnished with low tables and futons. Xie Chuji, wearing a pear blossom white dress with embroidered patterns, was kneeling on the futon with her back straight. The teacup in front of her was still steaming, but her face was like a frosty lake in late autumn, so cold that people dared not approach her.
"Miss Chu is busy with her business, so I am the one who is bothering her." She nodded slightly, her thin shoulders making her look even thinner.
In terms of appearance alone, Jiang Yanyi is three times better, but Xie Chuji's temperament, which was nurtured by a scholarly family, is truly outstanding.
After meeting so many people, Jiang Yanyi naturally knew what it meant to use tricks on people.
The Xie family girl was a scholar with a proud character. She didn't think she was someone who liked to make false promises. So she didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "Why did Miss Xie come here today?"
Xie Chuji said: "Miss Chu is very frank. If I were to really talk about this matter, I would be ashamed to open my mouth."
Jiang Yanyi could tell that she seemed to have something to hide, so he said, "Miss Xie, please feel free to speak up."
Xie Chuji raised his head and said, "I saw that there are few schools in Xizhou City, so I want to open a private school to teach the children here how to read and write, but I don't know how to spend the money to build the school and buy books. I heard that Miss Chu is from the Chamber of Commerce and raised military supplies a few days ago. I came to your house today with a thick face, and I want to ask if the Chamber of Commerce can fund the construction of the school."
Jiang Yanyi had not expected that Xie Chuji would come to his house to ask for the establishment of a private school, so he immediately said, "Thank you, Miss, for your generosity. I will do my best to help with this matter. I will discuss this matter with other people from the Chamber of Commerce tomorrow and give you a reply then."
Running a private school is neither a big nor a small matter.
There are thousands of children in Xizhou City who are from poor families and have never been to school. Xie Chuji wants to teach them for free with good intentions, but she cannot teach them all by herself, so she has to recruit teachers and deans to provide standardized management.
If children from poor families had money to go to school, they would not have waited until today. It is impossible for them to make a living by collecting tuition from students to teachers. At that time, whether it is building a private school, buying books, or paying the teachers a monthly living allowance, it will have to be paid by the Chamber of Commerce.
The people from the Chamber of Commerce had already spent a lot of money to raise military supplies, so it would be difficult to take money out of their pockets now.
After hearing what Jiang Yanyi said, Xie Chuji thanked him sincerely and left. Jiang Yanyi wanted to keep her for dinner but she refused.
When Aunt Guo went into the room to add more hot tea, she saw Jiang Yanyi rubbing his brows tiredly and advised:
"Boss, please don't take everything on yourself. Miss Xie has good ideas, but she grew up in a wealthy family and has never suffered much, so she naturally doesn't know the difficulties of doing business. You can't just pay for running a private school, there are many troubles involved. The world is in chaos now. In the past, people studied to take the imperial examinations, but what do children from poor families study for now? They can't even get enough food to eat. I'm afraid that even if you open a private school, few people will come to listen to the lectures even if you don't charge money."
Aunt Guo has watched Jiang Yanyi get to where she is today, and she knows how hard it has been for her. Now she has more people to work with, and she doesn't have to do everything by herself. Before she opened Ruyilou, she had a small shop, and she was busy by herself from making soup to frying ingredients late at night.
Outsiders saw that her business was booming and she had opened a restaurant in just a few months, but wasn't all this earned by her own hard work
She has built up the business she has today step by step from a business that even men could not do. It’s not that her business path has been much smoother than others, but that she has put in twelve times more effort than others.
She had saved up some money with great difficulty, and if she spent it all, it would be fine if the money was useful in building the private school, but if it was useless, Aunt Guo would feel bad for Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi came from the future, so he naturally knew the importance of education. He said, "The school must be run. If the children in Xizhou can recognize more words and understand more principles, their future paths may be different from those of their parents."
Aunt Guo sighed, knowing that Jiang Yanyi was soft-hearted about these things, and said nothing more.
Jiang Yanyi thought that running a private school would benefit the people, and if the government took charge, she could then go to the Chamber of Commerce to help promote it, and perhaps the effect would be better.
But for a whole day, the servants in Feng Mansion said that Feng Shuo had never left the study. Jiang Yanyi saw officials from Xizhou rushing to Feng Mansion in waves and leaving in waves at home, and Duke Chen still hadn't returned. She became more and more certain that something must have happened in the court.
****
Feng Mansion Study.
It was late winter and the weather was still very dry and cold. The leaves of the asparagus fern outside the window, which had been buried under the snow for a whole winter, had already turned yellow.
The door was closed tightly, and there were heavily armored soldiers guarding outside the study, giving it a strict look.
The sunlight poured in from the half-closed window, shining obliquely on Feng Shuo. Half of his face was submerged in shadow, his slender eyes were half-closed, and his slender fingers tapped the desk in front of him, asking everyone in the hall:
"The entire Liao family was beheaded, and the Gao family, except for the pregnant Empress Gao, was imprisoned. The new emperor cut off the tail to save his life, and gave up the Gao family to vindicate Marquis Mu Wu and calm the people's anger. What do you think should be done now?"
All the staff members frowned and said nothing. They thought that by finding fault with the Gao family, they had the leverage over the new emperor. However, they did not expect the new emperor to be so ruthless that he ignored the empress dowager and the pregnant Empress Gao and directly raided the Gao family.
After the scandal of the Gao family was exposed, princes all over the country raised their flags, but now they are labeled as rebels and traitors.
Han Tuo was in the army and connected with the frontline. He knew the situation very well. He said, "After the Qingping Marquis rebelled, Xinzhou was captured by the imperial court's heavy cavalry in less than half a day. Below Xinzhou is Yuzhou. Although Yuzhou has a canal to block the cavalry, it will be difficult to defend as long as the imperial court's troops cross the river."
The imperial court's heavily armored cavalry was always a threat.
Immediately, an aide advised: "Your Highness, our forces are now entrenched in the south and the north. Even if the imperial court wants to attack, it must first deal with the rebel kings in the Central Plains. We should rest and recuperate first, and when Military Advisor Chi returns with the treasures from the imperial mausoleum, we can form a heavy cavalry unit. When we are evenly matched with the imperial court forces, it will not be too late to engage in direct battle."
"Do you mean to abandon Yuzhou? How is this different from that treacherous villain? Who will be willing to form an alliance with us in the future?" A general shouted angrily.
Even though Xing'an Hou had become disloyal after forming an alliance with Feng Shuo, he has now handed over the military power of the entire Yuzhou to Feng Shuo. If Feng Shuo does not care about Yuzhou, he will surely be criticized by the world.
The scolded staff member bowed deeply to Feng Shuo and said, "I am just considering the overall situation."
Feng Shuo asked An Yongyuan: "How is the training of the 5,000 heavy armored cavalry going?"
This cavalry was formed with the money that Jiang Yanyi raised from the Chamber of Commerce.
An Yongyuan stepped out. He was a man of few words. He spoke in a low voice like thunder: "I request that you lead these five thousand cavalrymen to Yuzhou."
If they can issue a request for battle, it means that the army is ready to go to the battlefield.
Feng Shuo said, "The five thousand cavalry will be taken over by Lu Bo."
He looked at Han Tuo and said, "In addition, take another 30,000 troops to garrison in Yuzhou."
The 5,000 cavalry had been led by An Yongyuan since its establishment. Suddenly, the power changed hands, and everyone in the room had a subtle look on their face.
But An Yongyuan showed no resentment at all, he just clasped his fists and said, "I will obey your orders."
Han Tuo then clasped his fists and said, "I will obey your orders."
They would not object to any decision made by Feng Shuo in front of others.
After discussing for a whole day, it was already dusk outside. Feng Shuo left An Yongyuan alone, and the others left the study one after another.
After there was no one else in the room, An Yongyuan clasped his fists and asked, "I wonder if the prince has any instructions for me to stay with him?"
The lights on the high table were on. Under the orange light, Feng Shuo's face showed no warmth at all, and his eyes were deep and bottomless. "I asked you to hand over the heavy cavalry to Han Tuo. Do you object?"
An Yongyuan said: "I dare not. Your Majesty has made the decision. You have your own considerations. I will obey your orders."
Feng Shuo annotated a few words on the document in his hand, closed it, and then looked at the people standing below and said, "When Chi Qing returns, we will need to buy tens of thousands of good horses from outside the Great Wall. Since you can train five thousand heavy cavalry, you can also train these tens of thousands of heavy cavalry."
An Yongyuan was stunned for a moment. He was a man who never smiled, but a hint of ecstasy appeared on his face, which was as silent as a rock. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Feng Shuo then said, "Go down."
An Yongyuan's voice became even more sonorous: "I will take my leave."
Feng Shuo asked him to stay in Xizhou in order to continue training a heavy cavalry that could confront the imperial army head-on.
An Yongyuan was famous for his ruthlessness and steadiness in employing troops. Even in a battle that seemed sure to be won, he would be extremely cautious and trap the enemies one by one.
On the contrary, Han Tuo's use of troops emphasizes the unexpected, and he has defeated the larger force with the smaller one many times. The heavy cavalry under his command cannot confront the imperial court head-on, so it is most appropriate for Han Tuo to lead the troops.
Moreover, if he had to go south to lead an expedition in person in the future, he must leave someone in the north who could suppress the Turks.
Han Tuo is young and promising, but his seniority in the military is still too young and he does not have as much prestige as An Yongyuan.
Xizhou is as solid as a rock, so he can go south without any worries.
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-02-04 02:52:52~2021-02-04 17:47:33~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: pp 1;
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: I love to eat mooncake 1;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: 10 bottles of Huahuahuahuahua; 1 bottle of Tianzi No. 1 worker;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!