Mr. Duan went straight to the backyard and quickly came to his sister on the swing in the garden. He held up several scrolls in his hand, "Guess, what is this?"
Duan Wan could tell at a glance that the scroll was unusual.
"Could it be the collection of Qingyang poems I asked my brother to help find last time?"
"This is not an ordinary collection of Qingyang's poems. I met Wu Qingyang in Shanlu this time and specifically asked him for a calligraphy and painting," he told his sister with a smile, "Wu Qingyang is indeed talented and a very nice person. He did it directly in front of me. I got this calligraphy and painting,”
He unfolded the scroll, a long scroll, Western Region, Desert, Iron Armor, Jin Ge...
The scene in Wu Qingyang's poem about the frontier fortress immediately came to mind, and the poem accompanying the painting, especially the powerful calligraphy, made this work even better.
"ah."
Duan Wan happily jumped down from the swing, grabbed the scroll, held it in her hand and couldn't put it down, her eyes were full of excitement.
Just as Duan Gongzi said to Wu Huaiyu, his sister is also a poet, but after reading Wu Huaiyu's poems, she also became a fan of his poetry.
"Did Wu Qingyang really do this himself?"
"Then it's still fake. Look at the inscriptions and seals on it. Not only are they Wu Qingyang's, but they also state that this calligraphy and painting is for you, Duan Qiniang."
Duan Qiniang's face is filled with happiness, a true reflection of her idol.
Mr. Duan smiled beside him and said, "Wu Qingyang is very handsome and elegant," as he said, he took out another scroll and handed it to his sister, "I also specially made a portrait of him, take a look."
Duan Gongzi is good at business, but he has actually read a lot of books, and is even very talented in calligraphy and painting. When the scroll was unfolded, Wu Huaiyu's graceful demeanor appeared on the paper, and Duan Wan was a little startled when he saw it.
"How's it going? He's handsome, isn't he?"
Duan Wan chuckled, "It's a little different from the Wu Qingyang I imagined. I thought he should be as tall and mighty as my thirteenth uncle, even a little mature with vicissitudes of life, but he turned out to be so young."
"I'm only nineteen, so of course I'm young."
Duan Shen secretly observed the expression on his sister's face.
"Little sister, when I had tea with Wu Qingyang, I showed him some of your poems. He spoke highly of you and praised you as a rare talented woman."
"Oh, why are you telling him this?" Duan Wan felt a little embarrassed.
"Little sister, Wu Qingyang, he admires you very much."
"how come."
Duan Shen struck while the iron was hot, "I think you are a good match. You are both talented and good-looking. The most rare thing is that you can appreciate each other and understand each other's poems."
Duan Wan turned to look at her brother with doubts in her eyes.
She liked Wu Qingyang's poems very much, but she also knew that Wu Qingyang had married a long time ago, and she was married to the daughter of Fan Xing, a noble lord in the Wude and Zhenguan dynasties. The Fan family was still a famous family in Anlu. Before, Li Sanniang, the daughter of the Yongkang Palace, even pursued her for thousands of miles. When I came to Shuofang, there were a lot of scandals with Wu Qingyang, but in the end it is said that Wu Qingyang still rejected this third wife who didn't even care about her status.
"Little sister, my uncle and brother introduced you to many famous people before, but none of them caught your eye. You see, you are already eighteen years old now. You can't keep doing this."
Duan Shen smiled and said, "Wu Qingyang is a really nice person. After meeting him, I found out that he is even better than the rumors said. I think you are a good match."
"Brother, what do you mean?"
"Brother, I want you to marry Wu Huaiyu as your concubine,"
"Be a concubine?" Duan Wan was surprised.
"Yes."
"I am a noble concubine, but I am still a concubine." Duan Wan was surprised that her brother actually wanted to marry her off as a concubine. Although the Duan family was in decline, it was not that bad.
Duan Shen smiled and took out many gifts for his sister, including the latest Beijing News.
"The latest issue of The Legend of the Bearded Guest is very exciting. This issue of the Beijing News has also begun to serialize a new story called Liaozhai. They are all stories about ghosts, gods and monsters, but they are also exciting."
Duan Wan was not in a hurry to read the Beijing News, which she liked very much now, but asked her brother what he meant.
The two brothers and sisters have been dependent on each other since childhood, especially after their mother died of illness.
Duan Shen smiled and stretched out his hand to caress his sister's head. He had loved this sister since he was a child and would never let her suffer in the slightest. He remembered that when he returned to Chang'an and was bullied by his half-brother, he could go crazy despite everything when he was young.
It seemed like he was beating up his much older brothers just to protect his sister.
After coming to my great-uncle Duan Decao's place, I was actually bullied by the clansmen here a lot when I was young. Sometimes I even dared to bully my family servants.
As long as someone dares to bully his sister, he will rush forward with red eyes and fight to the death.
Even if his nose and face were bruised and swollen every time he was beaten, he would always reach out to touch his sister's head, rub her hair, and scratch her nose afterwards to reassure her that she didn't have to worry.
"I think Wu Qingyang is a really nice person,"
"Brother, do you think that the Wu family is now prominent, or do you think that Wu Huaiyu is young and holds a prominent position?"
"Little sister, brother loves you the most,"
Duan Shen told Wu Huaiyu that his sister admired him, liked him, and even volunteered to be his concubine. In fact, Duan Shen was only telling Wu Huaiyu.
When he came back now, he told his younger sister that Wu Huaiyu admired Duan Wan, revealing that Wu Huaiyu wanted to adopt her as his concubine.
Lies on both sides.
They all just took a fancy to Wu Huaiyu.
Duan Shen was a discerning businessman and felt that Wu Huaiyu was a rare commodity.
If he wanted to be bound to Wu Huaiyu, of course he couldn't just send some slaves and some beauties. It would be better to marry him. If his sister became Wu Huaiyu's concubine, the relationship would naturally go to a higher level.
"Little sister, we have been kicked out of our home for more than ten years. My mother-in-law has not been buried in our Duan family's ancestral grave. My brother can only be a businessman and we are dependent on others. Although my uncle takes good care of us, he is also old.
, it is impossible to take care of us all the time. Many people in this family look down upon us. No matter how much I do for them and how much money I make, in their eyes I am just a servant of their family."
"I want to stand on my own and revitalize my family. I want to be successful. I also want you to be happy."
"Wu Huaiyu is really good, talented and capable, and has a good family background. I am very optimistic about him and feel that he will be able to become a general or prime minister in the future..."
"Of course, brother will never force my little sister,
If you don’t want to, I won’t force you.”
After Duan Shen left.
Duan Wan held the calligraphy and painting and sat on the garden swing for a long time.
She put away the calligraphy and painting, unfolded the portrait that her brother had painted for Wu Huaiyu, and Duanxiang painted that person for a long time.
She didn't sleep that night.
She recalled that more than ten years ago, her father suddenly died of illness in Jiangnan, and her mother took her two young brothers and sisters back to Chang'an to support him. However, when they got home, they were kicked out of the house and were not even qualified to mourn and pay homage to her father.
Over the years, her brother has taken great care of her, and the brother and sister depend on each other for life.
She knew what her brother had been doing all these years, running private property for her uncle, cousins in the clan, and her brothers enjoying the benefits, but she still looked down on them and did not regard them as family members at all. Some people even regarded them as housekeepers, like servants, with disgust.
treated as such.
She is very clear that her brother is ambitious and capable and wants to achieve something.
Now, he has taken a fancy to Wu Huaiyu and even asked herself to be his concubine.
Can't sleep, get up.
I lit the lamp and turned over the calligraphy, paintings and images.
That poem, that word, that painting, that image, if it was just a simple evaluation of these, that would be really good. Although she preferred not to mix it with other things, but if she really wanted to support her brother, this might not be a bad thing.
But, does he really want to take her as his concubine?
······
Xiazhou, Shuofang.
Tongwancheng is called Baichengzi by the locals.
At that time, Helian Bobo mobilized 100,000 people and took six years to build Baicheng, dreaming of unifying all nations and ruling the world. However, within ten years of Helian's father and son's control, it was captured by the Northern Wei Dynasty.
From Tongwan Town in the Northern Wei Dynasty, to the later Xiazhou Administration, to Shuofang County Administration in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and then to the end of the Sui Dynasty, Ying Yanglang, a local strongman from the local area, killed all the prefects of Liang, separatist and ruled the roost, and made it his capital of Liang Dynasty.
But now, the capital city of Daliang is once again surrounded by the Tang army.
Baicheng is very majestic.
Wu Huaiyu rode to the city and looked at this famous city on the Silk Road.
Tongwan City is considered the first city outside the Great Wall in northern Shaanxi.
The three cities stand side by side on the north bank of Wuding River.
From Datong in Shanxi to Wuwei in Hexi, Tongwan is an important Silk Road transportation line connecting Hexi. It starts from Pingcheng (Datong) at the easternmost end, passes through Hequ, Fugu, Shenmu, Hengshan, and goes west from Tongwan City through Lingzhou.
, to Wuwei, Liangzhou.
Nine regions contributed gold and silver, and all directions offered their treasures.
Even now, Tongwan City has always been an important town from Guanzhong North to Heshuo.
Along the line of the Great Wall, it connects Hedong and Hexi, and is even the gateway to the Turks in northern Saibei.
Tongwanyou Waiguo City, East City, and West City.
Although this city has experienced the Great Xia, Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui and Liang Dynasties, it is still so majestic.
At that time, Duan Decao defeated Liang Division and only had one of the three cities left, but he still failed to capture it.
"People in the city, listen, I am the Chief of the Lingwu Dao Marching Army of the Tang Dynasty, the Chief of the Lingzhou Governor's Office and the Governor of Yanzhou, the Prince Xima of the Economic Affairs Bureau of the East Palace, the owner and bachelor of the Chongxian Hall, and the founding public military officer of Shouyang County.
Huaiyu is also asking all the Liang divisions to open the city and surrender immediately, otherwise no one in the Liang family will be spared when the city is destroyed."
The troops came to the city.
Wu Huaiyu personally came to persuade him to surrender.
However, he did not expect that a few words could persuade Liangshidu to surrender, but now that the troops were approaching the city, he could use the opportunity to scare Liangshidu, just like when Jieli drank the Mawei water and then continued to send envoys to threaten and blackmail Datang.
Wu Huaiyu and the others had no intention of attacking the city.
But beating the children on a rainy day was just idle time. While other soldiers and horses were sent out to forcibly relocate the people, he could deceive the Liang division.
What if Master Liang is really afraid and pays tribute of gold, silver and silk to seek peace, isn't that a net profit?
Anyway, it’s just a pull.
Sure enough, Wu Huaiyu personally took action and negotiated several times below and above the city. Master Liang actually sent an envoy to negotiate outside the city.
The envoy from Liangshidu said that the Turkic army was moving south and was about to arrive, and asked the Tang army to withdraw quickly. Wu Huaiyu said that they had surrounded Tongwan, and many soldiers and horses were sweeping the outer forts of Shuofang. In addition, follow-up soldiers and horses from Yanqing and other places were also on the way.
Come.
Anyway, they are just bluffing and intimidating each other.
After wasting a long time talking, I finally got to the point.
Wu Huaiyu directly asked for tribute gold, and the lion opened his mouth.
Liang Shi returned the money and bargained.
After chatting for a whole day, Liang's envoy finally returned and returned his orders. Liang did not agree to pay tribute, but he also sent an envoy to send a hundred stones of grain and a hundred sheep to reward the Tang army.
Wu Huaiyu accepted them all and said that he would give Liang Shidu three days to think about it, and he would not attack the city during these three days.
A meal of plain talk was exchanged for a hundred stones of grain and a hundred sheep, which Wu Huaiyu felt was not a loss.
Master Liang felt that one hundred stones of grain and one hundred sheep could be exchanged for three days, which was quite a deal.
