"I have met your Majesty, Yang Feng, the deputy commander-in-chief of Datong Town. Long live your Majesty! Long live your Majesty!"
"Cao Xing, the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, has met your Majesty. Long live your Majesty! Long live your Majesty!"
In the Qianqing Palace, two very burly generals knelt down facing Yunxi and shouted loudly.
"Everyone, get up." Yunxi asked the young eunuch beside him to help them and said.
When the two of them stood up and sat down respectfully with their buttocks a little closer to the chairs, Yunxi said with a smile: "Yang Feng, Cao Xing, why are you two so reserved with me?"
"As a minister, I should be respectful to His Majesty." The two of them said almost in unison.
If it were anyone else, Yunxi would definitely be happy when he heard what he said, no matter what he said verbally. But when facing the two of them, Yunxi was not like that.
Yang Feng was one of the first two guards sent to him, and the other guard Chen Xing died in the battle to protect him. They have known each other for more than ten years, and they are very familiar even though they have not seen each other in the past three years.
He had known Cao Xing for a short period of time. He had met Cao Xing when he was working in the Ministry of War before becoming the emperor's grandson. Because they had similar temperaments, the two had a good relationship. Later, in the 28th year of Hongwu, when he was patrolling along the Great Wall and was attacked by the Mongols, Cao Xing lost another arm for him, which made Yunxi value him more and the relationship became closer. It was not until the beginning of the third year of Jianye that he volunteered to go to Xuanfu as the deputy chief soldier.
Because these two people had an unusual relationship with him, Yunxi attached great importance to them, not only treating them as his subjects, but also treating them as friends.
Yes, my friend. Yunxi is very lonely. Whether he is the grandson or the emperor, he is surrounded by a group of people, but these people are either villains who want to take advantage of the situation, or they are upright ministers. He is afraid that he will not notice for a moment. , so that they were taken advantage of by people with ulterior motives, and Yunxi did not dare to make friends with them. Since ancient times, emperors or monarchs have been said to be lonely and ignorant, and that's it.
But under the huge feeling of loneliness, Yunxi really wanted to have friends, so Yang Feng and Cao Xing, who had known him for the longest time and had been injured and even lost an arm to protect him, gradually became his friends. They were very special. Even though Xiyao later married Xiyao, Xiyao and he could be close to each other, but they were not friends after all. If he hadn't regarded Yang Feng as a friend the year before last, he might have died long ago.
Because he regarded them as friends, Yunxi said at this time: "You two are my closest ministers. Don't be so respectful to me. I am already bored enough discussing things with other ministers, so I just want to have a light time with you." Speak relaxedly. Sit down with your buttocks firmly, don't act like you're striding on the chair."
"Yang Feng, act like you took me shopping on the Double Ninth Festival when you first came to serve as my bodyguard; Cao Xing, you too, act like you did when I first came to the Ministry of War on errands."
Yang Feng and Cao Xing looked at each other. Although they didn't dare to do what he said, they slowly relaxed and sat down firmly in the chair.
"That's right." Yunxi leaned on the bed and said with a smile, "Just relax."
"Cao Xing, what has been the situation in the Xuanfu area in the past two years? Have there been many Mongolian invasions? Not only the guards inside the Great Wall, but also the guard posts outside the Great Wall have been harassed by Mongols." Yunxi began to ask about serious matters.
"Your Majesty," Cao Xing just said these two words, and Yunxi interrupted again: "Call the official family."
"Guan family, the situation in the Xuanfu area has been good in the past two years." Cao Xing said: "Although the original three guards of Peiping (the three guards of King Yan) were dispersed and transferred away, there are fewer soldiers and horses, but the Mongols are far from what they were back then.
, the troops and horses we still have are enough to deal with them."
"What's more, in the second half of the third year of Jianye, His Highness Prince Ning sent troops to conquer Mobei, which also caused them to change the Khan. The Mongols were even weaker. Not to mention breaking the Great Wall, even the guard posts north of the Great Wall could not be broken.
."
"But there are still people attacking. There are not many Mongolians coming. They are at most two or three hundred people. They are wearing ragged clothes and holding many notched swords and guns. They are riding on horses and want to take advantage of the army's negligence.
Let's go home. Last year, various health centers reported this kind of thing more than thirty times."
"It's not much." Yunxi said, "Just tell all the guards to take precautions."
He had no good way to deal with the harassment of these Mongolians who came here sporadically and were not even considered guerrillas, but only bandits. Logically speaking, the best way to eliminate the bandits was to go straight to their lair, but the Mongols
The old nest is mobile, and the Mongolian grassland is vast and sparsely populated. It is very difficult to find it. The only way is to focus on defense. By building fortresses like weaving fishing nets, the Mongolians are compressed little by little. Every few years, large armies are sent to the grassland to fight.
In a battle, even if all the Mongols run away and you can't fight, you can still show them that Ming Dynasty is still paying attention to you, so be honest.
"The same goes for the official family and Datong Town where the minister is located. Even if the new Mongolian Khan Guilichi declared his vassalage to the Ming Dynasty last year and His Majesty agreed to open mutual trade, some Mongolians would come and harass. Not all tribes on the grassland obey Guilichi.
In addition, there were not many merchants in Datong and Yansui last year, and the Mongolians did not even buy enough salt and tea." Yang Feng said. He was sent to Yansui as the deputy commander-in-chief in the first year of Jianye.
, he was transferred to Datong as the deputy commander-in-chief in the second year, so he is familiar with the situation in both places. This year, he has completed his three-year term and returned to Beijing to report on his duties. The same goes for Cao Xing.
"Please pay more attention." Yunxi said again.
But after saying this, he laughed and said: "Shouldn't I say this to you? You won't go back and continue to be the deputy commander-in-chief. Later I asked Jin Youzi and others to prepare a decree and send it to the border town.
"
"Officials, I don't know where you want to send us as officials?" Cao Xing couldn't help but said curiously when he heard this.
"Have you heard about the rare battle with Samar?" Yunxi asked.
"Yes, officials." they replied.
"According to intelligence from many places, he will send troops to the Ming Dynasty next year. Of course, I will also make preparations to defeat him in the northwest."
"We still don't know how many troops Timur will send to attack the Ming Dynasty. I can't say how many troops I will send. But it will not be less than the soldiers sent to attack Annan this time."
"For such a big battle, there are many things that need to be prepared in advance. You two are my right-hand men. Not only are you loyal to me, but you are also quite talented. You will stay in the capital to help me prepare for this battle. There will be a rare battle with Samar next year.
, I will at least allow you two to serve as generals." Yunxi said.
"I'm waiting for the order." The two of them immediately bowed and agreed, especially Cao Xing, whose eyes were shining brightly as he agreed happily. He originally liked fighting very much, and he didn't want to have to go to the border with Yunxi.
I'm naturally happy to hear that there will be a war next year.
"Cao Xing, Yang Feng, I will give you two names at the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion first. What exactly will you do? I will assign them to you after I have discussed with you all," Yunxi said again.
After giving instructions on this matter, the three of them said a few more words. Cao Xing and Yang Feng were about to bow and leave. But Yunxi said, "Yang Feng will stay for now. I still have a few words to say to him."
After Cao Xing retired, Yunxi stood up from the bed and walked around the house. At the same time, he said to him seemingly unintentionally: "I heard that someone in your family fell ill yesterday. Please ask your uncle's family, which is the queen's mother's family, to find a doctor to see a doctor.
?”
"Yes, the official family." Yang Feng agreed with some confusion.
"Who is sick?"
"It's my wife-in-law." Yang Feng said with a sad look on his face: "Before I returned to the capital, my wife-in-law fell ill and didn't recover for several months. I thought her illness would get better after I returned from Datong.
Who knew it would be worse."
"In order to get my wife's illness cured as soon as possible, I invited famous doctors all over the capital. I also invited several imperial doctors when the imperial doctor was not on duty, but nothing improved. In the end, I had to ask my uncle to hire the most skilled doctor from the imperial hospital.
The imperial doctor comes to see you."
"But by this time, my wife's illness has become too serious and cannot be saved. Yesterday, Ban Wan died of illness." Yang Feng was a little sad. He and his wife had an arranged marriage, but after so many years of getting along, there was always some affection, not to mention that they still have a relationship.
a son.
"I made a mistake." Yunxi said, "In that case, why didn't you tell me earlier? Ask for a few days off?"
"Your Majesty, I am returning to the capital to report on my duties. You cannot ask for leave without even seeing the official in person. You must listen to the official's instructions in person before I can ask for permission to take a few days' leave." Yang Feng said.
"In this case, I will grant you ten days' leave and we will wait until your wife is buried." Yunxi said.
"Thank you for the gift, Your Majesty." Yang Feng said. Although a husband has to serve his wife for a year, in ancient times, when a wife passed away, the husband did not have official mourning leave, which was completely different from the death of parents, grandparents or even uncles.
Yunxi comforted him a few more words, and suddenly asked: "Yang Feng, since Shuren has passed away, who will take care of your son now?"
"I will let my mother take care of me for the time being." Yang Feng felt a little strange, but still replied: "I am the eldest son in the family, and my younger brother is still young. Although he has already settled on a family, he has not yet married, so I gave the child to my mother to take care of him.
.Chen’s mother is not too old yet and can still take care of her.”
As he spoke, he said with a slight distress: "I will always marry again in the future, but I am afraid that the wife I remarry will not be good for my children. I have heard of such things. I just hope to find someone with good character."
The talent is good.”
Yunxi didn't say much, just comforted him a few words and asked him to retreat.
As soon as Yang Feng left the door, Wang Xi rushed out. While pouring tea, he said to Yunxi: "Guan, why don't you speak frankly to him?"
"As soon as his wife passed away, I told him that it was too unseemly. Let's wait a few days and wait until his wife is buried. Anyway, according to etiquette, it will take a year for him to marry again, so there is no need to worry." Yunxi.