It was getting dark. After reading Yunxi's excerpts, Lao Zhu raised his head and said to Yunxi: "Do you think that this lecture on martial arts can really make these generals better able to lead troops in war and become more loyal to the emperor and patriotic?"
Yunxi said: "Grandpa, it's not just my grandson who feels this way. Song Guogong (Feng Sheng), Ying Guogong (Fu Youde), Xin Guogong (Tang He), etc. all said that the students who taught martial arts are better than those who didn't come to the martial arts hall.
I am much stronger and much more loyal to His Majesty."
Lao Zhu smiled and said: "It seems that the establishment of the martial arts hall was the right one. Yunxi, your original idea was good. In the past two years, you have been fully responsible for the affairs of the martial arts hall, and you have done a good job." Lao Zhu knew that it is not enough to have a good idea.
, whether something is good or not depends on whether it is well executed.
Yunxi said: "It is also the officials of the Wutang who work hard. My grandson asks grandpa to reward them."
Lao Zhu said: "You draw up a list of those who deserve promotions and rewards, and Grandpa will approve them."
It was already November of the 27th year of Hongwu. Yunxi had already passed his sixteenth or seventeenth birthday (virtual years), and he would be eighteen years old next March.
In the past two years, Yunxi has been mainly responsible for presiding over the affairs of the martial arts hall and discovering talents in the martial arts hall. The other thing is about paying for the food and sharing the land.
Although Yunxi did not handle these two matters on the surface, whenever something went wrong, Lao Zhu would deal with the problem while telling Yunxi why the problem occurred, as well as ways to prevent or solve it.
Yunxi, who didn't know much about the countryside, quickly became familiar with the countryside and learned about the many twists and turns in the fields.
When promoting the idea of sharing the land with each other and paying the grain as one, Lao Zhu was forced to kill many scalps, especially in Guangdong, where the clan power was strongest, and troops from other places were dispatched. Yunxi also persuaded Lao Zhu to general many of the people who had originally wanted to
Those who were executed were exiled to Hami and Liaodong.
Seeing that Lao Zhu was happy, Yunxi said: "Grandpa, my grandson has an unkind request. Please grant me your permission."
Lao Zhu said: "What does Yunxi want to do? Isn't it to save someone else's life?"
Yunxi said: "My grandson is not doing this this time. My grandson wants to travel to the north."
Lao Zhu was surprised: "Why do you have such an idea?"
Yunxi said: "The ancients said: Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. My grandson has never been out of Jiangning and Shangyuan counties when he is so old! And listening to grandpa's explanation always feels like seeing flowers in the mist, so my grandson goes there himself.
You can also take a look at various places to know the actual local conditions."
"Third, didn't grandpa say last time that he would send me to the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum to worship my ancestors after the New Year? My grandson thought he would take a look in the north."
Lao Zhu pondered for a moment and said: "It's okay. Grandpa often sent Biao'er out when he was alive. Grandpa is still in good health. What should I do if I just talk about the martial arts hall?"
Yunxi said: "Zuo Yude and Chen Xingshan can teach Gu well; and because he was afraid that the martial arts hall would be useless, he did not recruit a second class of students last year, so even if he waits for another student to come next year, it will not be enough.
It’s the first term, and now all the gentlemen in the martial arts hall have adapted to teaching, so there will be no problem; besides, my grandson is only going to the north for three or four months and will be back soon."
Lao Zhu thought for a while and said: "That's okay. Then you can also go to the ancestral mausoleum in Sizhou to worship. The ancestral mausoleum in Sizhou was built under the supervision of Biao'er himself when he was still alive. Pay homage to the ancestors and ask for their blessings."
Yunxi said: "Here."
Lao Zhu added: "But before you leave, there is one thing that must be completed."
Yunxi asked: "What's the matter, grandpa?"
"Your wedding ceremony."
Yunxi was choked. He imagined many things that Lao Zhu would do, but none of them were like this.
Lao Zhu ignored Yunxi's reaction and continued: "Not only is it your wedding ceremony, Yunying also has to decide on someone else."
Yunxi regained his composure. It was just a marriage! Although he had never been married in his previous life (in fact, he didn't even have a partner before time travel), except that the wedding was a little troublesome, it wasn't a big deal, and he was not short of money now.
He asked: "Which company does grandpa like?" The point is not who, but which company.
Lao Zhu said: "She is the daughter of Xue Ning, the commander of Jinwu's rearguard, who is hereditary to thousands of households. She is a member of Xue Xian's tribe. He has a pair of twin daughters. Grandpa plans to make the older sister the principal concubine and the younger sister the concubine."
Yunxi recalled that he went to Jinwu Qianwei's residence two years ago and saw a pair of sisters who looked very similar. They should be identical twins. They seemed to have the same surname as Xue, and were the cousins of Yang Feng and Qin Nan.
‘I remember those sisters were quite beautiful.’ Yunxi thought.
Then Yunxi was excited in his heart: These are sisters! And they are twin sisters who look almost the same. Yunxi doesn't remember any emperor who married twin sisters. This may be the first time.
Yunxi suppressed his excitement and said, "Grandpa, has it been decided?"
Lao Zhu said: "Well, even if you don't go to the north, grandpa plans to get you married next year; by next year you will already be eighteen, not too young. Biao'er got married at the age of seventeen."
"Grandpa plans to make Xue Ning a hereditary commander, but it is just a nominal commander. The future queen's natal family cannot be too low. Besides, Xue Ning has been diligent and talented over the years. If he hadn't caught up with the good times,
Nowadays, it is normal to have a commander’s worldly position.”
"And Xue Ning's eldest son is quite capable. Although his second son is young, he is also smart and can help him in the future."
Yunxi smiled bitterly. Lao Zhu is indeed not a democratic person, he just informed him. Although it doesn't make much difference to him who he marries now, he is still not used to it. In recent years, Lao Zhu has not put any restrictions on anything Yunxi has done.
, so now Yunxi is used to being at ease.
Yunxi thought again: Lao Zhu still chose the military general, not the civil servant selected for Yunxi in history, which shows that Lao Zhu should have accepted Yunxi's strategy of "expanding land to provide enough food"; but the one he chose was not from the Duke's family.
It seems that they don’t want to produce another descendant with too much influence.
Lao Zhu said: "But your sister Yunying's family, grandpa wants to go over the details with you."
"According to the custom in my hometown when I was a child, after my father passed away, the eldest brother was like his father, and his words were more important than my grandfather's words. Now that you are also Yunying's eldest brother, you should say a few words."
But even though he said this, it only meant that he hadn't told the family yet, and he didn't really want to consult Yunxi. Yunxi knew it himself, so if the family wasn't too bad, Yunxi wouldn't object.
.
Lao Zhu continued: "Grandpa plans to officially give Yunying a title. How about Princess Jiangdu? The family chosen for Yunying is Cao Che, the second son of Cao Zhen, Marquis of Jingchuan. Do you think that's good?"
Cao Zhen! Yunxi was greatly shocked. Yunxi didn't know what would happen to Cao Zhen, but because there was no such person during the "Jingnan" period, he should have been killed by Lao Zhu. But now Lao Zhu wants to make the leader of the Cao family
, it would be impossible to kill him.
After so many years in this era, there were members of the Chang family, and his three East Palace military attachés gave him half-truths and half-false explanations about the factions in the army. Yunxi also knew a lot about the affairs of the army.
Although Cao Zhen has a good relationship with Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu, because Cao Zhen is quite capable and has been in Bashu and Huguang for a long time, he actually has a small faction of his own, which is not considered a member of the Chang faction. Lao Zhu must be aware of this.
In addition, Yunxi's concubine's family is non-cliquey, so it can be said that Lao Zhu took great pains in selecting the person.
Yunxi thought it was pretty good, so he had no objection. Lao Zhu knew that Yunxi might not be at peace in his heart, so he stopped talking to him and asked him to go back to Wenhua Palace to calm down.
At this time, in the Xue family courtyard of Jinwu Qianwei's residence, Xue Ning was sitting with his wife, son, and daughters.
Xue Ning was summoned by Lao Zhu this afternoon and was told that his daughter was selected as the concubine and concubine of the grandson. It happened to be today. What a coincidence. Lao Zhu only informed her verbally and did not issue a formal edict. However, since Lao
Can the words coming out of Zhu's mouth be false?
So Xue Ning had ups and downs in her heart until she got home.
Fortunately, he was also a man who had been in officialdom for a long time. When he returned home, he asked his eldest son to come back as usual, and told the news when the whole family had arrived.
Xue Ning's eldest son, Xue Xiran, immediately stood up and said: "This is impossible! There are so many darkness in the palace, how can you let your sister go to such a place? What's more, both sisters are still trapped in the fire pit."
Xue Ning shouted: "Shut up! You can't comment on what His Majesty has already decided!"
Then he said: "Why do I want Yao'er and Yi'er to enter the palace?" At this point, he burst into tears. "Don't I hope that Yao'er and Yi'er will marry into a normal family like the daughters of other families, and can be a normal family?"
The head wife of a normal family can come and go frequently. But does our family have any choice?"
After hearing what his father said, Xue Xiran sat down slumped and started crying. Xue Ning's wife beside her was also full of tears.
Xue Ning's second son, Xue Xiyang, is less than ten years old. Although he is smart, he doesn't know why his parents and eldest brother are crying. He just heard that his two sisters are going to the palace, where His Majesty the Emperor lives, and to get married.
To the emperor's grandson. Is this emperor's grandson very bad? Why is everyone opposed to his sister marrying him?
Xue Xiyao and her sister Xue Xiyao also had red eyes. However, although Xue Xiyao is the same age as her sister, only sixteen years old (virtual age), she is much more mature than her sister. She said: "Father, mother and eldest brother don't have to cry. My sister and I are just
Whether she enters the palace or becomes the royal concubine, she will be the future empress of the Ming Dynasty, what's wrong with her."
Xue Ning's wife Wang knew that this was her eldest daughter's insincere attempt to comfort her. She came over and hugged her two daughters and cried, "My miserable daughter!"
After crying for a while, everyone stopped crying. Xue Ning said to her daughter: "Although I don't like you entering the palace, I am glad that you two sisters entered the palace together; you can support each other in the harem, and Yao'er is the princess.
There may not really be any problem. It’s just a pain for you.”
"No matter how much the sisters-in-law fight in the mansion, there is a limit; father will not marry you into a family with no rules at all; but although there will be no sisters-in-law in the palace to fight with you, the flash of swords and shadows will matter.
You have to worry about it.”
"I plan to ask an old nun who has left the palace to teach you tomorrow. This will save you from not understanding the rules of the palace and accidentally offending His Majesty or His Royal Highness the Crown Prince without knowing it."