While Chang'an was busy preparing to abdicate, the Guo Song Mansion in Zhangye City was packing up things and preparing to move.
A few months ago, when Guo Song led his army to the southeast of Henan Province, he ordered his wife to start packing her belongings.
It's not easy for Guo Song to move now. There are too many things in his house, including Zhang Lei's large amount of money, which requires at least a thousand camels to move.
Fortunately, a large number of items are placed in the box itself, so there is no need to pack them away. The main thing is to pack some soft things. [81 Chinese website www.x81zw.cn] Even so, Xue Tao and the maids have been busy for almost two months.
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This morning, Min Qiu was helping Dugu Youlan pack the things in her room. Min Qiu didn't have many things, so she had already packed them. So she helped his wife and Dugu Youlan pack their belongings.
Although Min Qiu is Xue Tao's dowry maid, she has a close relationship with Dugu Youlan. Dugu Youlan has a straightforward personality and basically has no scheming, so she is easy to get along with. Min Qiu has a soft personality. Their personalities complement each other and they get along very well.
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There is another very important reason. Min Qiu is a little afraid of Xue Tao. After all, she has been her mistress for many years. In front of Xue Tao, Min Qiu has always behaved and did not dare to go too far. But when Dugu Youlan was with her, she was not so
Great mental pressure, very relaxed and comfortable.
"Sister Youlan, do you think our move will be temporary, or will we not come back in the future?" Min Qiu asked worriedly.
Dugu Youlan pursed her lips and smiled, "Looking at what you said, how can anyone move temporarily? It must be gone forever, otherwise what are you going to do for a few months?
Min Qiu sighed softly, "After living in Zhangye for so many years, I really can't bear to leave."
"What's so good about Zhangye is that you can only stay in your room in the winter. At least you can go out for a walk in the winter in Taiyuan."
"But I don't understand why you want to move to Taiyuan?"
Dugu Youlan thought for a while and said: "It should be that my husband's goal has moved eastward. In the future, he will have to deal with Hebei and the Central Plains. We are too remote in Zhangye and it is very inconvenient. Especially in winter, we are simply isolated from the world and cannot take care of it."
Hedong is very unfavorable, so we have to move to Taiyuan before winter this year."
"I finally understand."
While the two were chatting, Xue Tao led Guo Weiwei in and said, "You two have such a leisurely chat, why don't you go and help me? I'm going to be very busy over there."
Guo Weiwei pursed her lips and said dissatisfiedly: "Mom, even I want to catch a young man."
Everyone smiled, and Xue Tao lightly tapped her on the head, laughing and scolding: "I'll let you pack your things, okay? You have a lot of beads on strings. If you don't want them, just give them to me."
"If you don't give it to me, it's mine."
Dugu Youlan said quickly: "I'll be fine here soon. Let Min Qiu help you clean up first, and I'll come over to help you soon."
"Okay then! Minqiu, come with me first. Weiwei, follow me and don't pester me all the time."
Min Qiu smiled and said, "Weiwei, let me hold your hand."
Guo Weiwei took her mother's hand and started to complain, why her mother forced her to draw all day long, didn't give her a break, and even got scolded if she couldn't draw well.
Xue Tao was too lazy to pay attention to her and walked quickly to his study room.
The study was also in a mess. The table and floor were all covered with beautiful jade, worth at least one or two thousand yuan. Min Qiu was stunned and asked for a moment, "Madam, how come you have so many beautiful jade?"
"I don't know, I guess they all belong to my husband. I moved them all here. Please help me clean them up."
Guo Weiwei couldn't help but said: "They are all white stones. Can't we just throw them all into the box?"
"nonsense!"
Xue Tao glared at his daughter, "These are all mutton-fat and beautiful jade, and they are very precious. How can you waste things casually?"
She dragged out a large box, which was full of small cloth pockets. Xue Tao said to Min Qiu: "Put each piece of jade in a pocket, tie the outside with a rope, and then carefully put it in the wooden box."
Min Qiu stuck out her tongue, no wonder the madam wanted to help herself, thousands of pieces of jade, how long will it take to clean up.
Just as she said, Min Qiu knelt down and started to collect the jade stones. Guo Weiwei also squatted aside to help. While she was collecting them, she looked at the jade stones and kept exclaiming: "What a beautiful jade! It's just like a piece of grease. Mom, give it to me."
I’ll give you two bucks!”
"Then I'll give you two pieces and you can pick them yourself. Min Qiu, you can also pick a few pieces and play with them yourself if you have nothing to do."
"Mom, I want these two pieces!" Guo Weiwei was very discerning and picked out two top-quality mutton-fat jade pieces at once.
Xue Tao sighed in his heart. Like father, like daughter. He really had a talent for appreciating jade, but he took the best one away.
"Weiwei, how do you know which two pieces are good?" Xue Tao asked curiously.
Guo Weiwei smiled slyly, "Because Mom specially put them aside, I knew they must be good jade."
Xue Tao rolled his eyes, he was so cunning, who did he learn this from?
"Those two pieces of jade are no good. They are your father's treasures. You can exchange them for two other pieces."
"I'm daddy's baby too!"
Xue Tao picked two smaller pieces and gave them to her, "These two pieces are made of red leather, and your little hands can just hold them. Those two pieces are too big for you, please return them to mother."
Guo Weiwei had no choice but to return the jade to her mother, holding two egg-sized red-skinned mutton-fat jade in her hand. She also liked these two jade. Under the sunlight, the red skin and white flesh looked extremely gorgeous.
"The two jade stones are very valuable. You should put them away. If you don't want to play with them, put them away together with your beads."
When talking about her daughter's string of beads, Xue Tao's tone was a little harsh. The jewels in her daughter's box were so precious that few women in the Tang Dynasty could compare to them. Even the precious emerald that her husband had collected for a long time was worthless.
It's time to put it in my daughter's jewelry box. My husband is really partial.
"I know, I know, make sure you put it away and won't lose it."
Minqiu was very aware of the value of these mutton-fat jade, so she picked up two smaller pieces of jade and planned to give one piece to each of her nephews as an heirloom of the Zhang family.
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Ten days later, Guo Song's family was finally about to set off. In order not to disturb the people and cause unnecessary discussion, they chose to set off at night. They were accompanied by many family members of officials, including Pan Liao, Cao Wannian, Zhang Qiu'an, Liu Zi, etc.
There are nearly 500 people including more than 30 middle and high-level family members.
At two o'clock in the morning, when the people in the city were asleep, they took carriages out of the city and came to the military camp.
After all the family members gathered in the military camp, at the fifth watch, the team finally set off, escorted by 10,000 cavalry. It first arrived at the Huizhou Yellow River Pier. The family members took a boat instead, followed by 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 camels loaded with luggage.
Walking along the banks of the Yellow River.
Five days later, the team arrived at Huizhou. At the Huizhou Pier, everyone got on the boat. It would be more comfortable to take the boat. There were more than a hundred boats, all of which were Qianshi passenger ships. They were collected from all over the east of the river and could basically accommodate
More than five hundred people.
In addition, there are some valuable personal belongings that are also loaded on more than 300 cargo ships behind. The entire fleet of passenger ships plus cargo ships totals more than 500 ships.
Xue Tao took Dugu Youlan, Zhang Minqiu and their two children on a large passenger ship. This was the largest passenger ship and cost about 1,500 dan. There were also several personal female guards and seven or eight maids and nannies.
Follow them too.
The cabin is very spacious, divided into a living cabin and a sleeping cabin. The wooden boards on the floor are cleanly washed, and you can walk around the cabin with bare feet.
At dawn, the fleet set sail. The fleet sailed along the water. No trackers were needed. The boatmen only needed to master the direction. At this time, the morning light was hazy, the sky showed a gray-green color, and in the distance was the half-lit city wall on the bank.
This is the time of great heat, but the summer in Longyou and Hexi is not hot in the morning and evening, and there is even a hint of coolness.
Xue Tao couldn't sleep, so she simply got up and went to the living cabin. She sat down at the small table by the window and poured herself a cup of herbal tea. She heard footsteps and turned around, only to see Dugu Youlan walking out.
"You can't sleep either?" Xue Tao asked with a smile.
"Well! I prefer a bed. If I don't sleep on my own bed, I can't sleep." Dugu Youlan said, sitting opposite Xue Tao.
Xue Tao poured her a cup of herbal tea and said with a smile: "This is interesting. You used to be a person who ran around, but you still recognize your bed?"
"What I didn't recognize before is that after I came to Zhangye, I started to get worse. I was obviously very sleepy but couldn't sleep." Dugu Youlan yawned sleepily.
"Then let's take a nap at noon! It's hot at noon, so it's just the right time to catch up on some naps. I also plan to take a nap at noon."
"Sister, where should we stay in Taiyuan?" Dugu Youlan asked curiously as she took a sip of tea.
Xue Tao thought for a while and said, "My husband seems to have told me that he lives in Jinyang Palace."
Dugu Youlan was startled, "Jinyang Palace is the palace of the Emperor. Isn't it treason to live in it?"
"We can't talk about it now! The world is in such chaos, and tyranny in feudal vassals and towns is commonplace. Even Zhu Si lives in Xingqing Palace, who cares about such trivial matters."
Speaking of this, Xue Tao pursed his lips and smiled and said: "These are my husband's original words. I am just repeating them."