[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

As soon as the first month is over, the ice and snow gradually disappear, and as soon as the spring breeze arrives, the grass grows and the warblers fly.

At this time, it was the 20th year of Qianyuan, and the emperor and empress had military power in their hands, and most of the ministers in the court were from the empress and the emperor.

The queen ordered Pingzhang and Lin Ruhai to lead the cabinet to supervise the country, and she herself led the Yellow Shirt Army who had made great achievements in the Pingnan War and the Black Shirt Northern Army who had been sitting in Kyoto to help the emperor. The Kyoto Garrison temporarily transferred the Third Army of the Sichuan Army go north.

Yongping Prefecture Linyu County, or another well-known name - Shanhaiguan.Since the spring of last year, Houjin soldiers invaded the important town of Youliao.

Outside of Shanhaiguan, the Great Zhou Army recaptured several small satellite cities, allowing various armies under its command to be stationed separately to confront the Houjin Iron Cavalry.

After spending a winter in which the ice and snow were not suitable for war, Houjin sporadically had small troops coming over to test it, but there was no return.

The new emperor of the later Jin Dynasty was named Jin Hongli (Aixinjueluo means gold, this article is directly translated into Chinese, and I don’t want to pretend to be mysterious, braid party, I’m sorry). The "Leading Party" traitorous group, Hou Jin's economy and intelligence were hit hard.The first emperor, who was originally a generation of British lords, was hit and his health deteriorated. He reigned for only 15 years and was passed on to the current emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty.Jin Xianli has been in power for seven years and has taken full power. For the survival and development of the entire empire, expansion is necessary.

Hou Jin would also be the master of luck in this time and space, so naturally he is not as easy to deal with as Annan.At the beginning of the battle, because the firearms were not fully in place, an overwhelming advantage was not formed.It was also at the beginning of last year when the Xining County King of Shuofang Army and the Hubei New Army attacked the Xianglan Banner and won a big victory, almost completely annihilating the Xianglan Banner, which greatly boosted the morale of Da Zhou.

Tu Yuanyi also knew that it would not be so easy. Seeing that the cold winter was coming, the Zhengbei Army entered the stage of stationing and defending the city.Although Tu Yuanyi misses his wife and daughter, it is his wish for two lifetimes to destroy Empress Jin, and he has no intention of returning to Kyoto at all if he survives.

A simple Shengjia Palace was built in Yongping Mansion, and Tu Yuanyi has lived here for half a year.

Tu Yuanyi was reviewing military memorials, and Li Dequan sent him a thick stack of letters written by the queen.In the past two years, the two had only passed on the letter from Hongyan, but fortunately, with their identities, the letter must be delivered as quickly as possible.

The queen always wrote him about the scenery in the south when she was free, and after the war, she wrote about the war and summed up the gains and losses.He would convene his subordinates to study and discuss these contents.

The generals also saw the Queen's cruelty, as expected of the Holy One who regards women in the world as nothing.For thousands of years, I am afraid that except for the Mongols, there is no one who is more ruthless than the queen.There is really no one among the Han people who occupies the land without leaving any people, and directly immigrates and divides the land.

Tu Yuanyi saw that even in winter, the opponent could not go south to attack with a large army. In this winter, in addition to routine training, it was the "Annan New Deal" that the whole army should learn to succeed.After studying, the morale of the whole army was greatly shaken, and the land, gold, and slaves were all assigned to the ranks and military merits after conquering the customs.The south has basically successfully cashed in, and the Pingnan army has received title deeds one after another, but the imperial court has to wait for the emperor to preside over other status and title awards.

With this kind of ideological education, the North Army now does not want to "defend the home and defend the country" defense, but to fully transform it into an active offensive thinking of "destroying the post-gold".

A military general like Xiao Jingyun, who came from a family and has read classics and history, can't help but think of the Great Qin Empire. The Great Qin Empire was a country with a military system that eventually wiped out the six kingdoms.One of the reasons for its demise is that the land distribution for military merits in the later period was not in place.The Pingnan Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty was a typical "military state system" that followed the Qin/Fa, and the queen also implemented the land policy in place, which is also an important reason why she stayed in the south for two years.

Xiao Jingyun also thought about it: No wonder this sister-in-law can still receive the support of her subordinates in such an era of ethics. This is an obvious Queen's intervention in military and state affairs, and the opposing force is simply not enough to shake her.

Having said that, apart from Xing Xiuyan and Tu Yuanyuan's letter, this time the letter to Tu Yuanyi also came from the Supreme Emperor.

It was also Xing Xiuyan who had some exquisite thoughts and asked the Supreme Emperor. The Supreme Emperor was very proud, but he still wrote three pages.Xing Xiuyan knew that the Supreme Emperor had abdicated for 20 years, and he was nearly eighty years old. Even if he could be like Qianlong, he could only live another ten years. As long as she was in the palace, she would be very filial in the details.

Seeing the old sage's ambition to prosper the Great Zhou culture in his letter, he probably got some inspiration.Tu Yuanyi thought to himself, he has been on the throne for 20 years, and after destroying Houjin, Tie Zhu can gain a certain amount of experience, so he can also pass the throne to him, so he can learn from the Supreme Emperor.

Xing Xiuyan talked about his handling of several important events in the court, including the construction planning of water conservancy and official transportation roads in the Spring Festival, the budget stripping of the Ministry of Households, and the contracting of the project by two famous "construction companies" in Sichuan, which will then be inspected and accepted by the Ministry of Industry.In the future, if there is a problem within the fixed period, the company will be responsible.For the sake of the company's future survival and development, we dare not cut corners too much.The construction company received the payment directly from the household department, and there was no such thing as local officials withholding money layer by layer.

Tu Yuanyi found that after breaking the old social organization structure, new things emerged, and the biggest contradiction before disappeared.Regarding the company's internal management and their struggle for power and profit, it is not the court's responsibility.

Tu Yuanyi saw Xing Xiuyan's modern love poem "When You Are Old" by Yeats at the back.

After seeing it, Tu Yuanyi couldn't help thinking, and realized that his wife was going to Yongping Mansion in three or four days.

He hurriedly asked Li Dequan to bring a mirror to the study.With his wife not around, he rarely even looks in the full-length mirror in the house on weekdays, let alone look in the mirror when he is in the study.

Holding a glass mirror, looking at the man who is still unparalleled in the mirror, at the age of 42, he looks younger than his peers.But he also understands that he will grow old eventually, and he suddenly feels that it is very stupid to be separated from her husband and wife often, how many fancy years do they have to waste like this?

He thought of the letter she wrote to the children again, and asked, "What did the princes do today?"

When Tie Zhu and Da Zhu were admitted to the Royal Academy, Tu Yuanyi had already given the two princes very vulgar names "Tu Wei Guo" and "Tu Wei Bang", but the other genealogical names were Tu Chang, Tu Chang, and Tu Wei Bang. Asahi.They haven't been crowned kings and gold books yet, and the two princes and the third princess have been brought up strictly and cannot be adopted.

"Uncle He Guo went out to patrol the city." Li Dequan had seen the three of them together.

Tu Yuanyi thought to himself: Why don't you learn common sense in the army and go to hang out with Yu Nu.When you come back, you must punish them well.

Xing Yunu was named Xing Cheng by Tu Yuanyi, and Xing Xiuyan joked about the name back then.

During the Northern Expedition, many children of the Royal Academy also temporarily suspended their studies and were brought out to practice.Of course, Yu Nu, the elder and junior of the princes, also followed.

Tu Yuanyi threw them into the army, but among them, his brother-in-law Xing Cheng was a very destructive kid, all kinds of powerful and unconstrained, and the officers and generals couldn't suppress him.

Tu Yuanyi had no choice but to make up his mind and let someone beat him ten times.

Later, he threw this rat shit out of the army and made him a temporary city patrol censor.This was met with the tragic and bitter protest of the brother-in-law who was raised by him as a son since he was a child, and Tu Yuanyi persuaded him privately and earnestly.

Because the emperor's palace is here, there will be spies in the city in Houjin, so the patrol and investigation of Yongping Mansion will naturally be stricter, and there may be a lot to do in this humble position.In the words of his queen sister, this is a position where you can pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger and counterattack with hanging silk.

Tu Yuanyi was just talking at first, but later he believed it himself.

Yu Nu's questioning nature is better than studying at the grassroots level of the army.

Yu Nu is really not messing around now, but playing a big game of chess. The two princes are also very interested and have no intention of studying under the barracks.

Yu Nu became the censor of the city patrol and wanted to do something big.Yu Nu is a person of extraordinary status, unruly, but he is bold, approachable, and absolutely not pedantic. He soon made friends with some people of all kinds and high schools, and inquired about many things in the city.

He figured out how many rich families there were in Yongping Mansion and what their relationship was.

There is a big businessman in Yongping Mansion, Wu Jindou. I heard that one of the daughters of the Wu family is also the concubine of the second son of Governor Ji Liao.Wu Jindou has been doing business in North Korea and Mongolia for a long time, and his family has a lot of money, but Yu Nu later met a man named Zhao Xiren through the introduction of a friend of all kinds.

This Zhao Xi secretly informed him that Wu Jindou was not only doing business with Mongolia and North Korea, but his biggest client was a Houjin man disguised as a Mongol.Because Zhao Xi was originally from a village in western Liaoning, Wu Jindou's eldest son, Wu Liang, escorted a batch of goods. When it rained heavily, he took shelter at his house.Zhao Xi had heard the conversation between him and the shopkeeper at night, discussing that the delivery of the goods was not easy, and he had to renegotiate the price with Mr. Fuhai.

The shopkeeper advised him to keep the reputation of the businessman, but Wu Liang said: "This is not an ordinary business, it is a life-threatening business. Now in Jiliao, how many people dare to do business with Houjin? Besides, they come from the Mongols, North Koreans will not buy things cheaply."

Zhao Xi was taken aback when he heard this. Although he didn't know about Da Zhou's economic blockade of the North, he knew that the Hou Jin Tartars were not good people.But whether it was Hou Jin or the Wu family, they couldn't afford to provoke them, so they had to close their eyes and ears and pretended not to know. The next day the rain stopped and the Wu family left. Zhao Xi also felt that he could forget about it.But the year before last Houjin suddenly attacked, burning, killing and looting, he went hunting in the mountains to save his life, but seeing Houjin robbers looting in the village, he didn't have the courage to go out hiding in the forest.

When he got home, his old mother, daughter-in-law, and son were all dead. He was furious with hatred, but there was nothing he could do.In order to survive, he fled to the city of Yongping Prefecture. Because he had no money and no fighting spirit, but because he knew how to hunt and had a bit of skill, he just dawdled in the three religions.When he heard his boss talking about the big men from the capital, he thought about it. He couldn't kill the Tartars to avenge his family, but he also had a way to defeat the traitors.

Yu Nu wholeheartedly wanted to make achievements in the history of patrolling the city, so how could he bear such gossip.But now even if the Wu family is ransacked, it will not be convincing without evidence, and Kuang can't listen to one-sided words, and they don't want to make an unjust/false/wrong/judgment.Yu Nu sent Zhao Xi away, in case it was true and the secret was not kept secret.

Yu Nu brought two princes who disguised as his servants, and made friends with some rich and big businessmen. The holy driver's office was set up in Yongping Mansion, and those businessmen were worried about finding their way.

Naturally, many of them included the Wu family.Today is the time for Wu brothers Wu Liang and Wu Jian and their in-laws Fan, Bao and Li's younger generations to entertain Uncle Guo.

In the private room of Xingyun Building, an unprecedented sumptuous food and drink was prepared to entertain him. Abalone ginseng stinging the stomach is nothing but monkey brains and bear paws.

Even the two princes pretending to be servants felt that these merchants were ostentatiously rich, and the flavors of the wine and food wafted to their nostrils, even their index fingers twitched.

The little Yu Nu seemed to be touted by those businessmen so much that he didn't know where the sun would rise. He was toasted, and he had to drink every cup.

Wu Liang said: "Uncle Guo is really a generous person. Uncle Guo gave us face, and we can't be ignorant of Uncle Guo's kindness. Several colleagues in our family are willing to pool 10 taels for the imperial court's salary, and ask Uncle Guo to forward it to us. Your Majesty, we have also prepared some other earthen rituals for Uncle Guo, and please accept it with a smile!"

Yu Nu said: "You are really loyal and good people, I, Xing Cheng, made you my friend!"

Li Chengdong is the next generation head of the Li family, and he married a young lady of the Wu family. He said with a smile: "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. We have no ability to go to battle to kill the enemy. We can only serve the court in this way. We really admire her." Holy lady, respect uncle Guo's character."

Yu Nu patted Li Chengdong's shoulder and said with a smile, "It's easy to say, easy to say!"

After drinking another round of wine, Wu Liang asked: "Uncle Guo, the situation is getting better now. I heard from my father that 20 years ago, we people in Dazhou were afraid of the coming of gold, and whenever peace talks were needed, the army was not at all Dare to fight them in the wild. It’s different now. Let’s say that last year we fought the gold-embroidered blue flag battle and defeated their [-] fine cavalry, but I heard how many of them died. Ordinarily we are How could such a big victory be achieved with the infantry as the main force?"

Yu Nu smiled lightly, his handsome eyes were playful, but he seemed to be wondering whether he could speak.Fan Jiansheng who was present poured wine for him again, and said: "We also admire the great Zhou Junwei, and we also want to learn a lot. Not everyone can be like Uncle Guo, who has seen everything."

Feather Nu stroked his forehead, as if he was too excited to suppress it, and said with his tongue out, "Although the Tartar cavalry are powerful, we have powerful fire/guns that can shoot through the Tartar armor. We still have great power." Yes, it can blow up the Tartar cavalry to pieces. So what kind of Jurchens are dissatisfied with [-] people, and they can’t fight when they are full. After driving Houjin back, it’s not like driving back now, we can blow up his upper capital.”

The people present couldn't help being astonished, Wu Liang said: "The record of annihilating a large army is unprecedented. Are the current firearms already this powerful?"

Fan Jiansheng said: "I don't know if you can let me see and see, and feast my eyes."

Yu Nu said: "Hey, even I can't pass on such a powerful military weapon."

Wu Liang said: "Could it be that Uncle Guo doesn't trust us?"

Yu Nu waved his hand and said, "I'm just a censor who patrols the city, and I eat and drink in Yongping Prefecture. I can't decide those things. However, I can ask my brother-in-law."

Uncle Guo’s brother-in-law, that’s the sage. These people want to know, but they also instinctively fear the emperor.They have heard how ruthless this majesty was in killing traitors in the early years.

But the few of them are located on the border, and they have always done business with the north. How can the profitable trade be prohibited by government orders?

If capital has a 50.00% profit, it will take risks; if it has a [-]% profit, it will dare to trample on all laws in the world; if it has a [-]% profit, it will dare to commit any crime.

Now in the trade with Houjin, the profit will never be less than [-]%, and Houjin is begging for it.

It is normal to earn more than ten or two million taels a year.

Yu Nu smiled slightly and said, "I'm not talking about my emperor's brother-in-law, but my other brother-in-law."

Tie Zhu and Da Zhu, who were dressed as servants, were rewarded with some dishes at another table. They were all smiling, gobbling it up, and their acting skills were excellent.

While eating abalone ginseng belly, Da Zhu said vaguely: "Young master, you asked General Xiao how many firecrackers and a gun, wouldn't it be easy to grab?"

Tie Zhu said: "That's right, let them see it, they don't understand, and they can't reveal any secrets."

Yu Nu pointed at them and smiled helplessly: "You two cannibals have short mouths, alas! I'll just ask my brother-in-law for some!"

Wu Liang and others present laughed and flattered them.

After drinking and eating, he took the carriage back, Yu Nu was really drunk.But as soon as the carriage went away, his eyes became clear, and he smiled at Tie Zhu and Da Zhu.

This can get 10 taels of military pay, of course they will not refuse, and on the other hand, if they dig deep, they can probably dig out traitors.This traitor probably also contacted the spies lurking in the city.

Yu Nu, Tie Zhu, and Da Zhu felt that they were about to make great contributions.

They got a letter from the south that Yuanyuan and Xiao Pan'er had been promoted to majors, and they were still leading the guards in Shenglong City to fight the assassins wisely, and killed them all.They have long felt shameless, but the three of them are rather pitiful and have never had a chance.

Yu Nu was kicked out of the army, no army wanted him to practice, and no one of the two princes dared to take them to the real battlefield.The emperor only let them learn some common sense of the basic level of the military camp. They are good at martial arts.

Tie Zhu knew that he was under too much attention. He was the eldest son of the queen mother, and his father often made him and his brother Da Zhu feel the same way. They ate and slept together when they were young. His father would also make him the prince if there was no accident.

But the younger sisters all have military merits. According to their positions and military merits in the south, she has obtained a thousand acres of fertile land, and the younger sisters have all killed people.He, the future prince, has nothing yet.

Dazhu also felt that he had lost face and had to do something to impress his father.