It started to rain lightly in the sky, and the water mist shrouded the entire Qinjiazhuang. Green trees, villas, rivers, cattle and sheep, playful children, and the sound of Lang Lang reading all merged into one, like an ink painting.
Qinjiazhuang stood still on the top of the mountain, holding an umbrella and silently admiring all this, feeling a little reluctant in his heart.
It has been two years since I came to this world, and I have built everything in front of me, brick by brick, tree by road, all with my own sweat. Now I have to leave again and start from scratch. I hope the road ahead will be better.
"Tap tap tap!"
The sound of footsteps trampling on the rain came from behind, and immediately a strong voice sounded: "Uncle, the prime minister is coming. He seems to be in a hurry. He has already arranged it in the reception room."
Qin Huaidao turned around and went back, handing the umbrella to Luo Wu who came over to report.
Luo Wu followed up with an umbrella and continued: "Uncle, is there something wrong with the court?"
"What do you want to say?" Qin Huaidao asked.
"No, I'm just worried about whether it will affect my schedule."
Qin Huaidao was stunned for a moment, without further explanation, he quickened his pace a little, hurried back to the house, came to the reception room, saw Fang Xuanling pouring himself a drink, and said with a smile: "Uncle Fang, I must have something to do here on this rainy day.
?”
Fang Xuanling treated Qin Huaidao as his nephew, and treated himself as an outsider. He went straight to the point: "I have to come because of the Holy Spirit's oral instructions. There are three things. One is that the King of Jin's appointment as crown prince requires a ceremony, and the time is set for ten days.
The Holy Spirit hopes you can come and witness."
Participating and witnessing means recognition of the prince. Li Er's abacus crackled. Qin Huaidao smiled and said nothing, looking at Fang Xuanling noncommittally.
Fang Xuanling didn't offer any more advice and continued: "The second thing is that the Holy Emperor hopes that you can lead the expedition against Tubo. If you have any conditions, feel free to ask for them."
Qin Huaidao still smiled and said nothing, and poured himself a cup of hot tea.
Fang Xuanling still didn't give much advice and continued: "The third thing is that Princess Yuzhang's body has fully recovered. The Holy Master asked me to come over and discuss the wedding date with you. How do you decide on these three things? I can go back and recover."
"Three days later, Luo Zhang's wedding will be held in Qinjiazhuang. If the Holy One agrees, it will be held together with Yu Zhang's wedding. It will be small, simple, not big. If the Holy One does not agree, it will be too simple. The Holy One decides on time, and I don't care.
, As for watching the ceremony and going on an expedition, I have no time!" Qin Huaidao said with a smile.
Fang Xuanling smiled and said: "Okay, now that we've finished talking about business, let's talk about private matters. I understand that I don't want to lead the army to go to war. Can you tell me why you don't go to the ceremony?"
Qin Huaidao did not hide anything and said truthfully: "Originally I planned to leave Luo Zhang after the wedding, so it would be on the day of the ceremony for the crown prince of Jin Dynasty. Your Majesty will not care about anything else. It will be much more convenient when leaving. It would be great if your Majesty came here in person to persuade him to stay."
trouble."
"That's right, awarding a crown prince is a big deal. The court is too busy, and the Holy Father has no time to take care of it. This day has been chosen well, but it cannot be leaked. I will also make preparations and let Fang Yiai leave with you then."
"Let's set off at 9 o'clock so as not to alarm the people of Chang'an City. Let Fang Yiai leave the city one day in advance to avoid causing unnecessary trouble. Just find a place to wait on the road outside the city and meet up."
"It's better this way. I'll go first." Fang Xuanling stood up and left. As for other matters and how others would arrange them, she was smart enough not to ask.
Qin Huaidao sent people out of the house and hurried to the backyard to find He'er and Li Xueyan, and warned: "In ten days, the King of Jin will be crowned the prince. We will leave today. He'er, let the female workshop make a batch of hot air balloons in the next few days.
According to the previous drawings, are the clothes and shoes ready?"
"Everything is done as required and will be shipped back to Qinjiazhuang in the next two days." He'er said quickly.
"That's it, it's freezing cold in Hanzhou and you can't live without warm clothes. Let's ask in secret to see who is willing to go to Hanzhou. Bring everyone who is willing to go. Pack the tools and equipment the day before departure and take them all to Hanzhou.
Continue production and keep it secret," Qin Huaidao warned.
"Understood!" He'er agreed quickly.
Qin Huaidao looked at Li Xueyan and continued: "Tell Xiaoyu that the Dongshi shop should not replenish the goods recently, and sell out the stock. If you can't sell out, pack it up secretly before leaving, and transport it all back to Qinjiazhuang. The staff will arrange to go to the barbecue bar and hot pot.
If you don't want to go to the city or department store, you'll be sent away after paying a fee."
"Understood!" Li Xueyan agreed. What came to mind, he asked, "Are you leaving Uncle Jia?"
Qin Huaidao looked bitter and said helplessly: "Jia Shu would rather die than I can do anything. Besides, Uncle Jia is old and should not travel long distances. The bitter cold in the Western Regions may not be bearable. If you don't want to go, then don't go. As long as we develop in Hanzhou
If it's good, no one in Chang'an would dare to touch Uncle Jia."
"The truth is this, that is, Uncle Jia is old and should take care of himself until he lasts. He can't bear to be left alone." Li Xueyan said with some helplessness.
"It doesn't matter, a group of old people in the house will stay. There are three properties: barbecue bar, hot pot city and department store. It's enough for Uncle Jia to keep him busy. He won't be bored. He just works hard all his life and can't bear it. Forget it. Don't talk about this. You
Tell the person in charge of Tianwang’s Chang’an branch to ensure Uncle Jia’s safety.”
Li Xueyan nodded and took note, then asked: "What should I do with sister Yuzhang?"
Qin Huaidao continued: "On the day of departure, the Holy One is busy with the Crown Prince's coronation ceremony and doesn't care about anything else. You will go to the harem later. If Yu Zhang is willing, quietly leave the palace that day and catch up. If you don't want to, don't force it."
"Are you asking someone to elope?" Li Xueyan rolled her eyes angrily. The dignified princess eloped with someone, saying that the royal family would lose face?
He'er was not a member of the royal family, and his thinking was different from Li Xueyan's. He objected: "You can't say that. It doesn't take a month to recuperate even if you fall into the water and get sick, right? The Holy Emperor is delaying holding the wedding. I'm afraid he just wants to use Princess Yuzhang to manipulate the young master and force him to do so."
The Lord is doing the work. Once we leave, if Princess Yuzhang doesn't follow, I'm afraid she will marry someone else."
Li Xueyan thought it made sense. The man from Tai Chi Hall would do anything for political gain. He might have some ideas if he delayed the wedding from happening. He agreed: "What He'er said makes sense, then I'll go prepare it and go now."
, to avoid long nights and many dreams.”
Qin Huaidao was jealous when he saw that the two women not only did not compete with each other, but rushed to help persuade other women. If this was impossible in future generations, why wouldn't such a good and fine tradition be continued?
After chatting for a while, Qin Huaidao followed Li Xueyan into Chang'an City. They got off the car secretly on the way and entered the Duke of Wei's Mansion.
Come out and get in the car quickly.
"Did you agree?" Qin Huaidao asked after sitting down.
"I agreed. However, Yuzhang said that she has strengthened the security. I don't know if I can come out. She said she will find a way."
"The guards have been strengthened, is that true?" Qin Huaidao narrowed his eyes.
Li Xueyan said with some annoyance: "The wedding date was set a month ago. Although I fell into the water and fell ill, I recovered in a few days. It should have been rescheduled long ago, but it has been delayed for a month. It has not been scheduled yet. There must be something wrong."
"The Holy One wants to use Yu Zhang to blackmail me, and wants me to take command and go out to attack Tubo." Qin Huaidao said and informed Fang Xuanling of the three things he mentioned.
Li Xueyan has a very high political acumen and knows everything about it. She said dissatisfiedly: "So that's it, Your Majesty is really... Tubo wanted to marry me to a princess, but His Majesty didn't want his daughter to marry far away, so he wanted to recognize me as his adopted daughter and make me a princess. Now, now
I want to use Yuzhang to manipulate Lang Jun again, but really... forget it, let’s not talk about it.”
I get angry when I think of how I almost married Li Xueyan from Tubo, but after all, she is an elder of the same clan, and it would be disrespectful and ungentlemanly to purse her lips and not speak if she were not an elder.
Qin Huaidao didn't say anything, just thinking about something on his mind.
The carriage rumbled and rolled forward.
After returning to Qinjiazhuang, Qin Huaidao once again got into the workshop. One month was still too short. The artillery shells were enough to fight a critical battle, but it was still too far away to defeat the country. After some weighing, Qin Huaidao told Luo Wu to choose more manpower.
Quickly make some explosive packs as backup, just in case, and continue making cannonballs yourself.
Time passed by unconsciously, and five days passed before I knew it.
An unexpected but shocking news came that the Turks had sent troops.
Contrary to Qin Huaidao's prediction, the Turkic troops divided into two groups and attacked Xizhou with a force of 100,000. They used continuous crossbows. Guo Xiaoke, the governor of Xizhou, resisted desperately and suffered heavy losses. The other group attacked Hanzhou with the same force of 100,000.
Repeating crossbows also appeared, and Xue Rengui defended the city and temporarily blocked them.
The main force of 200,000 troops from the Western Region continued to follow up with fierce force.
Qin Huaidao was a little shocked when he saw the news. The Turks actually dispatched 400,000 troops. Is this an all-out move, preparing to launch a national war and take over the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop?