The return of the son-in-law

The capital snow piled up half a person's height overnight, making many early risers scream cold.Guo Zhan'an stood straight at the door of the study in official uniform, next to the sound of little eunuchs sweeping snow, and the occasional sound of gasping for air.

After a while, just when Guo Zhan'an felt that his face was about to lose consciousness, a servant came out of the study room quickly, walked up to him, bowed and said, "Master Guo, Your Majesty welcomes you."

Guo Zhan'an didn't dare to be careless, and replied: "I have Mr. Lao."

He moved his hands, took out a pouch, handed it to the waiter, and said, "It's freezing cold, father-in-law, take it to drink tea."

The servant carefully glanced left and right, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he accepted it unceremoniously.As the saying goes, short-handed and soft-mouthed, he lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty is not in a good mood this morning, Mr. Guo, please pay more attention."

Guo Zhanan nodded and said, "Thank you, Eunuch."

The servant smiled and said, "If there is any place, Mr. Guo please."

Guo Zhan'an followed the waiter into the study room, and many memorials were thrown on the ground where he saw them, obviously Li Chonghao dropped them when he was in a hurry.

He pretended not to know, and said: "Your Majesty Guo Zhan'an pays his respects."

Li Chonghao said impatiently: "Get up."

Guo Zhan'an got up, stood on one side with his hands tied, and didn't speak.

In the end, Li Chonghao lost his anger and asked, "Are you used to living in Northwest?"

Guo Zhanan replied: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern. Apart from the fact that Xuzhou is colder than the capital and Tonghua County in winter, there is nothing that you can't get used to."

Li Chonghao laughed a few times, and said again: "How can you be worse than me as a young man? I also went to Xuzhou when I was young, and winter is nothing more than that."

Guo Zhanan did not defend himself, flatteringly said: "Your Majesty has dragon energy to protect the body, which is naturally not comparable to us. If Your Majesty can go to the northwest again, let the people in the northwest also be contaminated with some dragon energy for body protection. Going out is also a good story."

Li Chonghao scolded with a smile: "A scholar, you still believe in these things? Why, most of the people in Xuzhou are locals, and they can't adapt to the weather in Xuzhou?"

Guo Zhanan replied truthfully: "The past two years have been extremely cold in Xuzhou, and this year is even colder than last year. It snowed before the end of autumn, and many crops in the farmland were frozen by the snow before they could be harvested, not to mention those livestock. A lot."

Li Chonghao was a little surprised: "I think the taxes paid by Xuzhou in the past two years are the same as before. Why, what method did you think of to make up for it?"

Guo Zhanan said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty is wise, what the people handed over in the past two years is all accumulated by the people in the past few years. Every household has handed in new rice, and what the family eats is old rice; and those vegetables and fruits are all from the people. Saved from between the teeth."

Li Chonghao was unmoved: "You don't want to ask me to reduce taxes next year, do you?"

Guo Zhan'an hurriedly said: "Your Majesty misunderstood. The people of Xuzhou can live and work in peace and contentment in Xuzhou, all thanks to His Majesty's army. The soldiers' salaries also depend on these taxes. Whether it is me or the people of Xuzhou, I dare not I just want to ask His Majesty to fill some of the tax with other things, which not only relieves the pressure on the people of Xuzhou, but also wins His Majesty a good reputation for being considerate of the people."

Li Chonghao couldn't help being moved when he heard the last thing - anyway, he doesn't like the things that Xu Zhou handed in every year, so he can change it if he changes it.

Thinking of this, Li Chonghao asked Guo Zhanan: "What are your plans?"

Guo Zhan'an slowly explained: "I wrote to the Ministry of Household Affairs before and invited two dredgers to Xuzhou. The dredgers said that the soil and climate in Xuzhou restricted the development of agriculture. Even if we found a way to solve the water problem, the yield per mu would still It’s very low. So the lower officials are wondering if it’s possible to exchange iron ore for rice, vegetables and fruits.”

"Iron ore? Could it be the iron ore used by the Tatars to make weapons and armor?"

"Exactly."

Li Chonghao was really tempted now - the invincible Tatar cavalry relied largely on the special iron ore produced in the Tatar grassland.If Xuzhou can really get these iron ore, then his throne will be more secure.

However, Li Chonghao still had a layer of hesitation in his heart: "This iron mine is on the land of Tatar, how can the people of Xuzhou get it?"

Guo Zhan'an explained: "Now Tatar is in great chaos. His Majesty has provided food, horses, weapons and armor for Ningguhan's tribe, and they are fighting other tribes on the grassland. In addition, he also sent people to other tribes to spread rumors, which made other tribes panic. , now there are no tribes on the grassland that have so much energy to pay attention to us. I heard that there is an iron mine only three hundred miles away from Xuzhou. Because it is close to the border of our dynasty, the Tatar tribe did not dig much. It should be There are still a lot of iron ore in it. If His Majesty agrees, the people of Xuzhou can try it."

As he said that, Guo Zhanan took out a small piece of iron ore from his cuff pocket, and held it high with both hands: "In fact, I once sent someone to sneak over and picked up a piece of iron ore from there, and this is it."

"Bring it up and let me see."

The waiter next to him listened, took the iron ore from Guo Zhanan, and presented it to Li Chonghao.

Li Chonghao just watched, and asked the servant: "Shen?"

The waiter shook his head and replied, "It's heavier than ordinary iron."

Li Chonghao stood up and said, "Take my sword."

Another servant hurriedly took down the sword hanging on the wall, and offered it to Li Chonghao with both hands.

Li Chonghao drew out his sword and said, "Put this piece of iron ore on the table."

As soon as the servant put the iron ore on the table, Li Chonghao raised his sword to chop it!

After the sound, the iron ore was intact, but there was a small gap on the sword.

Li Chonghao was very satisfied: "It is indeed a good thing." He casually threw the sword to the servant, and said, "I agree with the conditions you mentioned. The first three months will be less, three thousand catties of iron ore per month Shi, I will send people from the Ministry of War to the northwest, and directly build weapons and armor in the northwest."

Guo Zhanan was overjoyed: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Guo Zhanan gave such a big gift, Li Chonghao couldn't say what he wanted to ask.Looking at the young man in front of him, he remembered the generals of the Di family back then.

"I still remember when I was sent to the northwest by my father. At that time, the general of the Xuzhou military camp was your grandfather. He and his two nephews were both generals. It's a pity."

Guo Zhan'an was taken aback, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty still remembers. My two uncles died in battle before I was alive, and my grandfather died for the country when I was three years old. When I was young, I dreamed of my grandfather, and I can still remember him. Smiling face. It's a pity that in the dreams of these years, I have completely forgotten the appearance of my grandfather."

Although Li Chonghao didn't like Guo Zhanan very much because of Li Shaojun, Guo Zhanan's grandfather took good care of him back then, and Di Wanyan was once included in the Queen Mother's selection by the current queen mother.Recalling the past, even Li Chonghao was a little more tender: "Forget it, people cannot be resurrected after death, so don't let down the expectations of your grandfather and uncles, and don't embarrass the Di family."

Guo Zhan'an heard that Li Chonghao said "Di's family" instead of "Guo's family", this time he was overjoyed from the bottom of his heart, and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your guidance."

Li Chonghao waved his hand: "I've read the booklet you handed in before. It's very good. You are a young man with a heart and mind. If you train in Xuzhou for two more years, you will definitely be extraordinary in the future. Go down first."

Guo Zhan'an is eager to leave immediately, and with Li Chonghao's evaluation, his future official career will be smoother.

It was inevitable that Li Chonghao would regret it temporarily, Guo Zhan'an responded, "I will resign."

When Guo Zhanan returned to the mansion, Guo Xiantong hadn't left the office yet, and Liu Feifei probably wasn't sure how Guo Zhanan had been in the past two years, so she didn't make trouble.

He went all the way back to his yard without hindrance. Huo Yu was taking advantage of the rare sun this afternoon to direct the servants to take out the quilts and robes in the room to dry.

"Brother is back." Seeing that Guo Zhan'an was back, Huo Yu asked the servants to continue their work while he greeted him, "Why didn't you see the news, brother, have you eaten yet?"

Guo Zhan'an said: "They wanted to pass the pass on, so I stopped them. Can anyone say that these two yard guards are negligent?"

Yesterday, the two guards of the yard let the people sent by Liu Feifei send the ham directly to the kitchen, and they haven't told him or Jia Huan yet. If the kitchen hadn't been cautious and told Jia Huan, the ham might have been delivered to him at some point. belly.

This made Guo Zhan'an extremely displeased——forget about the ham this time, if the poison is sent next time, will it be sent directly to the kitchen?

It's no wonder that Guo Zhan'an took Liu Feifei as a scourge to defend against. In fact, Guo Zhan'an almost fell into Liu Feifei's way several times during the years in the Guo Mansion, so he had to guard against it.Even if Liu Feifei gave some food to the son left by the former wife just to show her virtuousness this time, Guo Zhan'an would not appreciate it.

Huo Yu replied with a smile: "No one said they were negligent, and no one from the yard came in. I didn't go out today, but Jia Huan didn't say anything, so it's good."

Guo Zhan'an nodded, stretched out his hand to wrap Huo Yu's collar up, and said, "It's cold outside, even if there's sun, you're prone to getting sick in winter, why do you dare to come out without a robe?"

Huo Yu hurriedly explained: "I came out wearing a robe, but I was sweating all over, so I took off the robe."

Guo Zhanan glared at him and said, "Why don't you hurry back to the house now that you're sweating? When the wind blows, you'll catch a cold completely. Fuquan, take Master Huo back to the house."

Fuquan on the side agreed, and persuaded Huo Yu with a bitter face: "Young Master Huo, I can't persuade you, so you can give the young master some face and go back with me."

Huo Yu still refused to leave, and asked Guo Zhanan: "Does brother want to eat? Why don't I accompany brother to eat?"

Guo Zhanan shook his head and said: "No need, I have already made an appointment with the King of Qin, and I am going to visit his house. It's not too late, if you don't go, it will be dark, you go back to the house first, wipe off your sweat, and then change your clothes, Wait for me to come back to have dinner together in the evening."

Huo Yu heard that Guo Zhanan was going to Qin Wangfu, so he reluctantly followed Fuquan back to the house.

Guo Zhan'an asked Jia Huan to take out the special Northwest food and gadgets that he had prepared long ago, take a carriage from Guo's mansion, and go all the way to Qin Wang's mansion.

When we arrived at Prince Qin’s Mansion, the second housekeeper of Prince Qin’s Mansion personally welcomed Guo Zhan’an into the mansion, and said with a smile: “Young Master Guo is here, and my prince was still talking about it, saying that Young Master Guo must be useless, and I don’t need it myself. We are going to wait for Young Master Guo to come and use it together. The kitchen has already filled a table with good food, Young Master Guo please."

In the hall, after Guo Zhan'an sat down, Li Shaojun nodded to the second butler, who understood, and after the maids served the dishes, he led the crowd to retreat, and he even stood at the door after closing the door.

Li Shaojun got up to pour wine for Guo Zhanan and himself, and said with a smile: "Seeing that you are still in the mood to sit down and have a meal with me, it seems that you have gained something."

Guo Zhan'an didn't make any detours and said, "The emperor agrees."

"Really?" Li Shaojun was a little surprised, "I thought it would take more effort, but I didn't expect him to agree so quickly."

Guo Zhanan said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even if he doesn't value generals or the army, he won't give up."

Li Shaojun took a long breath: "Since this is the case, then we can plan the next step."

Guo Zhanan said cautiously: "Is the Ministry of War ready?"

Li Shaojun nodded, and said: "It's already agreed, as long as he asks the Ministry of War to send someone to the northwest to take over, it must be our people. After a month or so, we will be able to take out ours and test them."

Guo Zhan'an didn't know what he thought of, and sighed: "No matter what, there will be blood."

"No," Li Shaojun said, "now is not the right time, send these weapons to Ning Guhan, and let their people test them for us. Anyway, sooner or later they will have to replace them with new weapons and armor, instead of using ordinary ones, It’s better to use our new one.”

Guo Zhan'an understood the meaning of Li Shaojun's words as soon as he heard it, and he did not object to this opinion, saying: "Then let Jiang Yannian send it over in the old way."

"Okay." Li Shaojun raised his wine glass, "Today's work is done, let's do it first."

Guo Zhanan then raised his glass.

After drinking and eating, Guo Zhanan couldn't help mentioning Li Chonghao's rare reaction today.

After hearing this, Li Shaojun sneered and said, "I'm afraid he wanted to ask you about the crown prince today."

Guo Zhanan was startled, the original drunkenness was gone: "Really?"

"It's the Chinese New Year, whether it's the harem or the former court, there are people urging him to establish a crown prince. Do you think he is in a hurry?" Li Shaojun has long been used to it. Prince Yipin, if he still wants to continue playing with the balance, after the new year, Li Shaojin will recover again."

Guo Zhanan couldn't help frowning: "This is not good news."

"Of course not," Li Shaojun analyzed calmly, "Although I am a first-rank prince, the title does not depend on his preferences. With me here, Li Shaojin's future will not be too bad."

A gleam flashed in Guo Zhan'an's eyes: "It's a pity that Li Shaojin can't be moved now, or else he won't do anything and just let him be crippled."

This is something that can only be said in front of Li Shaojun, who wished that Li Shaojin would be abolished earlier, so that Li Chonghao would not bring him out to fight against him again.

But both of them understood that if something happened to Li Shaojin at this time, Li Shaojun must be the first to be suspected.Two smart people would not do such a thing that is not worth the loss.

"Don't be in a hurry," Li Shaojun reassured, "I've been waiting for so many years, and I'm not in a hurry. Anyway, I'm the king of Qin now, but I'm the fourth child in the palace. I'm afraid I'm more anxious than us."

These words inspired Guo Zhanan: "Since this is the case, it is better to let Li Shaojin play with fire*."

Li Shaojun poured wine for Guo Zhan'an again, and said, "There's no rush, we'll have a long-term plan after the new year."