279 [Give service to bullfighting, crown plus three British]
Lapahan was afraid that his daughter would be lonely, so when Wang Yuan left Turpan, he sent another maid over.
This guy definitely has ulterior motives, because the maid is the embryo of a beauty, and is said to have Persian blood. She is the illegitimate daughter of a local wealthy businessman and a Persian dancer, and plans to give it to Mansu'er's second son as a maid. She has not yet been given away.
The reason is very simple, this girl is only eight years old!
The girl's father died when the city was destroyed. With the help of Wang Yuan's connections, La Pahan bought the girl and has been teaching her to speak Chinese for the past six months.
Strictly speaking, Wang Yuan is her father-killing enemy.
His daughter was married far away from the Central Plains, and her status belonged to the concubine. Naturally, she had to arrange a beautiful maid, who could help her daughter compete for favor, and they could be relied upon.
Wang Yuan didn't think much about it, thinking that the girl was raised by the Han family, so he just let Xiangxiang take it with him - who would care about an eight-year-old girl? Wang Erlang was not a pervert.
The wind and snow have subsided a little, so we set off to return eastward.
Xiangxiang sat in the carriage, turning her head to look back from time to time, but not daring to really open the curtain. She had lived a comfortable life since she was a child, learning dance, musical instruments and scriptures, and could also make some simple dairy products. Her destined destiny was to marry a certain
A noble man from Turpan.
Who would have expected that in such a dramatic change, she would marry to the Central Plains, a place she had no idea about.
"Miss, don't be afraid." Qiyun comforted her.
Qiyun is the Chinese name given to the eight-year-old girl by Zhang Zigao, which means beautiful and gorgeous clouds.
Xiangxiang asked in Chagatai: "There are only two of us, why do we have to speak Chinese?"
Qiyun said: "The fire master (the master) said that the general didn't like it, and asked the lady and I to speak Chinese and regard ourselves as Han people from now on."
Xiangxiang was silent. She was not against it, but felt that Chinese was too difficult.
Chagatai is the predecessor of Uyghur and Uzbek. It was once a common language in Central Asia and was even used by the Mughal Empire and Egypt. It has some Mongolian roots and absorbed Arab-Persian and
Uighur language is a branch of the Turkic language family.
At this time in Turpan, the Chagatai language and Chagatai script were somewhat close to the Uyghur language and Uyghur script of later generations. However, the words they spoke could barely be understood by the Mongolians in the north.
Xiangxiang was a little afraid of the future, but also had all expectations. She hugged her maid and said: "From now on, it will be just the two of us."
"Well, it's just the two of us," Qiyun said, "Miss, let's practice Chinese."
Although Qiyun is only eight years old, she is much more assertive than Xiangxiang. Her mother is a dancing girl. She was a slave snatched back by the war when Uzbek invaded Persia, and then resold several times to Turpan. She has not been abused since she was a child.
When her father saw her, he only taught her singing, dancing and musical instruments, and presented her to the nobles when she reached the age of nine.
Growing up in this kind of environment, Qiyun knew how to observe words and emotions at a very young age. Her real name was Kuoli Kuoci, which was actually Gulikzi, which means "flower-like girl".
Two girls, one fourteen years old and one only eight years old, sat in a carriage and practiced Chinese.
They have a small notebook in which they record daily expressions, and the pronunciation is marked on the side, but the phonetic notation is a little weird.
After practicing for a while, Xiang Xiang was really tired, so he took out his two-stringed harp and started playing. What he played was maqam, a formal and grand music form that later existed in Xinjiang, Central Asia, Persia, Arabia, Turkey, and North Africa.
and Spain.
Wang Yuan listened to the clanking sound in the carriage, and not only felt a little funny, he came to the Western Regions to fight, but when he returned home, he had an extra concubine and a maid.
The road was covered with snow and it was difficult to walk. After more than a month, Wang Yuan finally arrived in Suzhou.
There is only one guard general and some soldiers who defend the city. The deputy general led the main force to help defend Yansui.
Continuing on the road to Ganzhou, Wang Yuan met the Gansu soldiers who were returning. It was said that the little Mongol prince had withdrawn his troops, and the border areas of the Ming Dynasty were invaded for more than 200 miles. All the fortresses along the way fell, and countless local people were plundered.
The more than 100,000 Mongolian troops were not beaten back by the Ming Dynasty. Instead, they were robbed to their heart's content and swaggered back to the grasslands to spend the winter.
Many Shaanxi border generals were demoted and dismissed.
In order to strengthen the border defense, the Ministry of Revenue spent a massive hemorrhage of 180,000 taels of silver to transport grain and grass to Kaizhong in Shanxi, Hebei, and Liaodong. Another 25,000 taels of silver and 3,000 horses were transported to Shanxi to make up for the losses. Fifty thousand taels were taken out and shipped to Shaanxi for military pay.
In comparison, Xiliang King Zhu Dangqi is simply not as good as his little mother!
…
When he arrived in Lanzhou, it was already the Lantern Festival, and Wang Yuan spent the Spring Festival in Zhuanglangwei.
Although the other soldiers had returned to the capital long ago, he still had a thousand cavalry following him. These officers and soldiers had either been promoted one or two ranks, or had sufficient silver rewards, so they would not suffer any loss in fighting with Wang Erlang.
When they passed Jincheng Pass, Xiangxiang and Qiyun were both in the carriage until they finally got off the carriage outside Lanzhou City.
"What a tall and big city wall!"
The two interracial girls were shocked.
Xiangxiang muttered: "This must be the most magnificent city in the world. I don't know how Beijing compares to this."
Qiyun said: "Beijing should be bigger. It is the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty."
Don't blame them for their lack of knowledge. Turpan has been ravaged for hundreds of years, and all the majestic ancient cities have been abandoned. Even the king of the country, Mansu'er, lives in a small castle. Ganzhou and Suzhou along the way are also quite big, but the city walls are now completely It was built with rammed earth, and at first glance it looked like the dirt was cracking. How could it compare to the masonry structure of Lanzhou City?
Well, now Lanzhou still belongs to Shaanxi Province and is a strategically important city adjacent to Gansu.
Wang Yuan did not enter the city to disturb the local officials, but ordered his soldiers to camp on the spot. In addition to a thousand cavalry, there were also two thousand civilians following, all of whom were borrowed from Gansu Town. They had to go back after entering Shaanxi.
I didn't bring much food or supplies, so I relied on supplies along the way. I brought a lot of felts, and it was very warm to set up a tent and make a bed on the floor. Wang Yuan himself slept on a felt bed.
He asked Yuan Da to go to the city with his own handwritten letter, and soon Zhizhou came out to visit him in person.
"General Wang Zhi has been tired all the way, so why not go to the city to rest." Song Yi, the magistrate of the state, said.
Wang Yuan waved his hand and said: "I appreciate the kindness of the Governor of Song Dynasty. I am wearing armor and it is difficult to enter the city. I also ask the Governor of Song Dynasty to summon two thousand people to raise 200 stones of grain and some fodder. When we get to Gongchang Mansion, I will distribute them Rations bring them back."
Song Yi had no choice but to say: "I will make arrangements as soon as possible. Please ask Mr. Wang to wait for three to five days."
The two thousand people who came from Gansu went back the next morning. Wang Yuan waited for three days, and the magistrate of Lanzhou finally settled the matter, so he continued on his way with the local people and provisions.
Song Yi, the magistrate of the state, took local officials to see him off. Before he even set off, suddenly a number of riders came across the river.
"But Mr. Wang?" a eunuch shouted from afar.
Wang Yuan clasped his fists and said, "Exactly!"
The eunuch came to announce the reward. He stayed on the boat last night and was on his way early this morning. He happened to meet Wang Yuan outside Ganzhou City.
"The right minister of the Ministry of Rites, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, the young master of Zhan Shifu, Wang Yuan, listens to the reward!" The eunuch immediately jumped off his horse, opened the imperial edict and was about to read it out.
Wang Yuan was puzzled, hadn't he already received the reward? Why do it again?
The eunuch immediately read out the imperial edict, which started with some clichés, and then came to the real content: "...I will give you a bullfighting uniform, a crown of three yings, an additional salary of twenty dan, and a thousand qing of Changlu salt lessons..."
This was an additional reward. It is estimated that Zhu Houzhao was stimulated by the defeat in the north, which further highlighted how valuable Wang Yuan's victory in the Western Regions was.
With an additional salary of twenty dan, Wang Yuan's current salary has exceeded the legal monthly salary of a first-class official.
Not to mention the reward of 500 acres of fertile farmland in the suburbs of Beijing, he was also rewarded with a thousand salt quotas. This thing is hard currency and is worth money.
The most rare thing is the bullfighting uniform.
The first time Wang Yuan went to war, he was given a unicorn suit; the second time he fought, he was given a flying fish suit; some time ago in the Western Regions, he was still given a flying fish suit. Now, halfway through the journey, the emperor unexpectedly sent him a bullfighting suit!
Historically, Zhu Houzhao granted many ministers to him. This happened in the 13th year of Zhengde's reign. He went to fight with the little Mongolian prince in person, fought a great victory, and returned to the court victorious. Everyone who saw it had a share, and he was rewarded a lot.
heap.
It was still relatively rare at this time, but in recent decades, Wang Yuan was the first civil servant to be awarded a bullfighting uniform.
Moreover, it is also crowned with three heroes!
Ying is a swan feather dyed with indigo, which is used to decorate the hat. Wang Yuan could not wear a bullfight uniform to go to court, but he could wear three yings on his official hat to go to court. This thing had the effect of making people laugh.
In another time and space, Wang Qiong, Minister of the Ministry of War, had countless meritorious deeds, but he was only awarded one hero. With this hero, he could despise important ministers. Wang Yuan now directly crowned him with three heroes!
There is not so much emphasis on giving rewards on the way.
The marching felt was folded into a tribute form. After the eunuch read it out, he put the imperial edict up and took the initiative to retreat to the side to wait.
Wang Yuan immediately knelt down, kowtowed to the edict, then stood up and stuffed it into his arms.
"Congratulations to Mr. Wang!" Zhizhou came with his subordinate officials to congratulate him.
Wang Yuan cupped his hands and said: "Killing the enemy for the country is the duty of a minister. Please take your leave!"
A bunch of local officials watched Wang Yuan leave, filled with envy and admiration in their hearts. The emperor actually rewarded him with bullfighting uniforms and a fucking crown with three sterling crowns!
The eunuch caught up with him and said with a smile: "President Wang, your Majesty wants you to wear a bullfight uniform, crown with three heroes and enter the capital, so that the gang of people in the court can look at you."