The Prosperity of Jingdi Chronicle

At the end of the autumn of the sixth year of Hongqing, Wei Minwen, the son of the Marquis of Yongning, reappeared on the streets of the capital after disappearing for a full year.

Regarding Wei Minwen's whereabouts this year, the news from the Wei Mansion is that he went to the ancestral house in Hexi to recuperate. As for whether others believe it or guess secretly, that's another matter.

Wei Minwen returned to Beijing this time for two reasons, one was business and the other was private.The official business is naturally related to the northwest side, but the private matter is because Wei Laohou is about to celebrate his [-]th birthday, and he came back specially to pay his respects.

As soon as he returned to the mansion, before he washed away the dust of the journey, he was urgently summoned by the emperor to have an audience.The emperor was in a hurry to see him, and he was also in a hurry to finish his official business, so that he could relax and reunite with his family, so he washed in a hurry, changed his clothes, and followed the people into the palace to answer the emperor's inquiries.

After more than a year of infiltration and investigation in the northwest, the news is almost there, but the opportunity that the emperor wants has not yet been obtained.

They conceived a plan there, but it would take a lot of time and a lot of money to implement it. They sent him back this time to find out how much time the emperor could give them and to ask for financial support.

"The rule over the Great Wall is that once the princes become adults, they will entrust the slave herdsmen and pastures, and let them leave the king's tent to establish themselves as tribes. The king of Beidi Khan is now 51 years old and has twelve princes under his knees. Eight princes have left the king's tent and have their own tribes. There are also four princes who are minors. The youngest ten The second prince is only three years old this year, his mother and concubine are of high status, both mother and son are very much loved by King Khan."

Wei Minwen reported to the emperor in detail the situation of the Beidi royal family, the princes' age, personality and hobbies, the identities of the princes, mothers and concubines, the forces behind them, and the scattered news of the princes and concubines. These things are the basis of the whole plan, so He took the trouble to narrate it in detail.

"The ministers thought that King Khan's tent could lead all the tribes under his tent, firstly because he was the most powerful of all the tribes, and the king's tent had the most slaves and herdsmen and the most fertile pastures, and secondly, because the tribal chiefs Convinced support."

Wei Minwen's words were basically nonsense, but Jing Li smiled knowingly when he heard him say that, because he already knew what his courtiers were going to do after hearing this.

If the royal family of Beidi always advances and retreats with one heart and one mind, his great cause of the Northern Expedition may be forged with the lives of countless soldiers, so he needs a suitable opportunity to send troops. This opportunity requires Beidi's cooperation. Of course, if they refuse to cooperate , can only think of a way to make them cooperate automatically.

Such an opportunity is difficult from bottom to top, but from top to bottom, the destructive power is astonishing.And inciting infighting, especially royal infighting, is always the quickest way to achieve your goal.

"Is there a suitable target?"

"Lord Luzhu and several other adults initially selected three targets. One is the brother of King Beidi Khan, the second is the eldest prince of Beidi, and the third is the third prince of Beidi. The tribes of these three are all below the king's account. They are large tribes, and they also have extremely high prestige among the chiefs of the tribes, and there are many forces behind them to support them. However, the opinions of the adults are different, and this plan is time-consuming and labor-intensive. So this time, when the dispatcher comes back, I implore His Majesty to make a decision."

"Don't worry about it taking a while. I can afford to wait for three to five years. I believe that with the ability of your lord, I will definitely not let me wait for ten or twenty years." Jing Li pondered for a moment, and put After going through the relevant content of these three goals carefully in my mind, I suddenly asked, "If I remember correctly, this third prince of Beidi is the brother of the twelve princes?"

"Yes."

"Let's choose him. It is inconvenient for the Ministry of Finance to intervene in this matter, but I will give Xie Meng a secret decree, ordering him to fully cooperate with your plan."

Except for the executor, the less people who know about this kind of secretive activities, the better.Although Wei Minwen has only entered this business for only a year, he has already understood the key points. He also understands the reason why Xie Meng, the magistrate of Chuzhou, cooperated with the emperor without going through the Ministry of Household Affairs.

However, he was very curious about the reason why the emperor made a decision so quickly. The three candidates had their own advantages and disadvantages. During the discussion, everyone had great differences, and they still couldn't convince each other. Why did they get into the hands of the emperor?

"Can I know why His Majesty chose him?"

"One is because of the location of his tribe. Most of the prince's tribe borders Chuzhou. Of course, the main reason is that he is the most unwilling of the three. Once he has the opportunity, he will definitely not let it go. "Jing Li calmly explained to him.

As a child of the royal family, he can understand the mood of the third prince very well.

The same father, the same mother, just because of the different order of birth, has a completely different life, if there is no chance, he may accept his fate, once the balance is artificially broken, the third prince suddenly becomes stronger If the price rises, the storm that will be set off is really worth looking forward to.

Not reconciled?

Wei Minwen recited it silently in his heart, and had to admit that this reason was enough.

After the audience was over, Wei Minwen immediately sent a message to Chuzhou, and finally let go of his worries, and began to have the leisure to worry about the trivial matters in the mansion.

He will spend the winter in Beijing, and leave Beijing after the beginning of spring. In this way, he will have about three months to stay at home, except to help the mansion over there prepare for the birthday of Lord Hou. There are also a lot of things for him to worry about in the house, what should be collected, what should be placed, what should be replaced, what should be repaired, to take care of such a big mansion seriously, he spends on it every day, and he still thinks there is not enough time.

However, the situation in the mansion was much better than he had imagined, everything was almost the same as when he left, and it was still in order.

It was because of everyone's connivance over the years that his father became a shopkeeper who didn't have to worry about anything. There was really no one to help him, and he had to be his own housekeeper, and he could manage it in a decent manner.

This was Wei Minwen's conclusion after wandering around the mansion.

Of course, with these thoughts in his head, he obviously didn't realize one thing, that is, he himself is obviously one of the many indulgers, if he hadn't learned to worry about everything at a young age, and everything was done properly, he Father has no way to be the hands-off shopkeeper these years, so in fact he has no right to complain about these things.

Apart from household chores, these days, Wei Minwen is also busy visiting and visiting everywhere. Although the people who come and go are relatives and close friends, it is not an easy job for such a family to run down.

In the interval between being guests, he also had several banquets in the mansion, and half a month had passed after he was busy with the exchanges, and he finally had to take a rest and go to a different courtyard outside the city to stay for a few days.

His family's other courtyard was not built on the side of the West Mountain like many princes and nobles, but in a small town called Anfeng, which was some distance away from the Xinggong, but very close to the Tanjia Village. It takes about a quarter of an hour to ride a horse.

Now that he was here, Wei Minwen naturally went to Tanjia Village again, presented various gifts to the uncles and uncles, and went to burn a stick of incense to the ancestors.

The unexpected joy of this trip was that he learned from his uncles and uncles that Qi Yuanheng Qi Shibo returned to Tanjia Village from Jiangnan for a temporary stay. Another half day passed.

When he returned to Anfeng Town, he found that the other courtyard was also very lively. Besides Minshi, his family, there was also a teenager drinking tea in the living room. Min Shi's head was against his head, and he didn't know what he was muttering.

When the guests saw him coming in, they all stood up. Wei Minwen felt a little dizzy when he saw them. The servants in the other courtyard only knew that these guests were sent by Lord Hou, but no one knew who they were. Now that his father is not here, naturally no one will introduce him.

"The two are..." In desperation, he could only let the guests introduce themselves, but ignored the faux pas.

"I'm Xiao Zhenting." The boy bowed his hands to him, and after he finished speaking, he turned to the young boy, ready to introduce him.

"I'm Jing Ke." Before he could speak, the young boy imitated his example and answered first, bowing his hands in a salute.

"Your Highness Sixth..." Wei Minwen and Xiao Zhenting were stunned when they heard the words.

Wei Minwen came to his senses, and wanted to perform the national ceremony, but Jing Ke was determined not to accept it, clamoring to return it with a family gift, how could Wei Minwen dare to accept the prince's gift, but the two of them gave way back and forth, but they didn't perform the ceremony, and finally Taking advantage of her young age, Jing Ke yelled for elder brother Minwen to hug him, but she leaned on him and refused to get up. She insisted on letting Wei Minwen hug him and sit on a chair.

As soon as the host and guest were seated, Jing Ke couldn't sit still anymore, and rushed to Wei Minshi's side, asking Minshi's brother to hug him, and soon the two of them huddled together on the same chair, muttering again.

Wei Minwen and Xiao Zhenting were chatting, at first they didn't notice what they were muttering, but when a word occasionally caught his ears, his face couldn't help but change color.

"Wei Minshi, don't talk nonsense to teach His Highness bad." He scolded.

He listened carefully, his family, Minshi, was actually teaching the little prince how to fight in groups, how to fight in groups, where it hurts, where you can't see the wound, all kinds of fighting secrets, Minshi taught them all in this way. little prince.

"Brother Minwen, you say what you want, don't worry about us, anyway, you literati will not understand the great ambition of our warriors to be invincible all over the world." Wei Minshi did not take his reprimand very seriously.

"Be invincible all over the world? Have great ambitions? I think you will be honest when uncle comes back and beats you up." Wei Minwen didn't know what to say about him.How old are you, why do you still like to fight so much? It’s fine for you to fight all the time, but now you want the Pope to fight. What is this?

"That's right, I'm playing the invincible hand of all family studies now, and the sixth highness is the invincible hand of Zongxue. After the two of us join forces, we will be the invincible hand of the world. Sixth Highness, books and pianos are not suitable for us. Let's go play in the yard and let them be arty here."

"Wei Minshi, you..." Wei Minwen was so angry that he had nothing to say for a moment, and could only watch helplessly as they walked out of the living room hand in hand, and quickly disappeared without a trace.

"Brother Shi, don't worry. It's okay, they are still young, it's normal that they can't sit still, let them go out and relax." Xiao Zhenting hurriedly comforted him, telling him not to be angry.

He didn't expect that when he came to visit this time, he would run into Wei Minshi, and he and His Highness the Sixth Highness hit it off so quickly. They were going to get closer together. Let's work harder.

Just like that, the first day of their future long friendship began.

Wei Minwen originally came here to enjoy his time, but he didn't expect that there would be visitors, let alone these two guests, who were like brown sugar, staying at his house and never leaving. The father sent them here, and with his special status, even he couldn't find an excuse to kick them out, so he had to cheer up and deal with them carefully.

Fortunately, Xiao Zhenting's speech and behavior are very suitable for him. As for the prince, he is almost like a wild horse that has taken off his stiffness. When he is partnered with his family, Min Shi, they are like two little monkeys, and this place is about to turn upside down. God, but they hang out together every day, as long as the boys take care of them carefully, and when it's meal time, they will be picked up, washed, cleaned and fed, and he doesn't need to worry about it. This day will last two or three days .

When everything in the other courtyard was almost done playing, the two little monkeys decided to go outside to play again. Because they were restrained by him and were not allowed to go out, they kept walking around him, praising this and that. , hoping to encourage him to go along.

"Brother Minwen, shall we go catch crabs? Sister Qiuhong said it was fun. You haven't caught crabs this season, and you are too embarrassed to tell people that you have been out of town. Ke'er promises not to do it, just watch from the side Brother Min Shi also promises not to do anything."

It was the time when the crabs were plump, and the little maid who served at the crab banquet yesterday said something redundant, and the two little monkeys remembered it in their hearts. Ke came to lobby.

"Your Highness promise not to do anything?" Wei Minshi whispered in his ear, he could pretend he didn't hear it, but Jing Ke would be fine.Wei Minwen put down the book in his hand, hugged Jing Ke on his lap, looked him in the eyes, and asked him to make a promise.

"Ke'er promises that if Ke'er moves around, the crab will bite Ke'er's hand." Jing Ke heard the looseness in his words, and immediately nodded to swear.

Wei Minshi also promised not to move around.

"Okay." Anyway, being idle is idle, Wei Minwen finally nodded and agreed to take them out to relax after seeing that they both made such a promise.

Catching crabs is a very simple job. Bring a few pieces of bamboo for digging pits, a few bamboo baskets for holding crabs, and a few boys who can find crab holes, and you can start.

Many young men in the other courtyard here are from farming families. Going up the mountain to dig out bird nests and go down to the river to catch fish and crabs is a common trick. Wei Minwen only ordered to go down for a cup of tea, and the housekeeper went back and forth to get everything ready. up.

Anfeng Town is not a big place, and there are large tracts of farmland when you get out of the town. A few young men from nearby villages are leading the way, and the guards sent by the palace to protect Jing Ke have also changed their outfits. Set foot on the ridge.

Crabs usually come and go where there is water, and the river is too dangerous, Wei Minwen denied it, so the boys took them to search the ditches beside the farmland.

"Dig this, this must be a crab hole." Jing Ke's status is very important, Wei Minwen didn't dare to let him run around, and kept holding his hand.He couldn't run up and down like Wei Min did, he could only look around the ditch with his eyes wide open, and now he saw a small hole, and immediately asked the boy to dig it down.

"Your Highness, this hole is too small to be a crab hole. If there are crabs that often come and go, the hole will be smoother and there will be water marks." The boy who was in charge of following Jing Ke's command thought that it could not be a crab. After listening to his instructions, he went forward to dig the hole immediately, and sure enough, after digging for a while, he finally got to the bottom, and there was nothing inside.

"Your Highness, don't worry, look for it again." Seeing Jing Ke pursed his lips, Wei Minwen immediately comforted him.

"Haha, what a big crab." Suddenly, Wei Minshi's laughter came from over there. He grabbed a crab and showed it to them as if offering a treasure, which made Jing Ke's mouth even more flattened.

"This... this... wow... catch it... wow..." Under Jing Ke's command, a big crab was finally dug out here.

This crab was more likely to escape, and the digging boy missed it for a while, and the crab crawled to Jing Ke's feet.Jing Ke was squatting on the ground directing, and when he saw this, he was anxious, so he pressed his hand down.He had caught the crab, but he didn't expect that the crab would fail to run away, so he felt ruthless, and he started to compete with his fingers by waving the big turtle.The ruthless crab's strength is extraordinary, and it also has ten fingers connected to the heart. Jing Ke yelled "Wow", and the circles of his eyes immediately turned red.

"Okay, I promise not to do it, but if I do it, I will bite your hand." Wei Minwen muttered in his heart, and quickly ordered everyone to help, finally getting the crab off Jing Ke's finger .

"Brother Minwen, Ke'er can't walk anymore, hug me." After she calmed down, Jing Ke raised her bundled hands to let Wei Minwen hug him, her eyes were still red.

Seeing that he had finally learned his lesson, Wei Minwen was also afraid that something would happen to him again, so he hurriedly picked him up, never daring to let him down again, and only let him command from above.

That's it, after catching crabs for more than an hour, they finally returned with a full load.

After returning, Wei Minwen ordered someone to hold a chrysanthemum appreciation feast in another courtyard, and the crabs he caught were the real delicacy. That night, Jing Ke's stomach was full and round again.

Although his finger was injured this time, he still had a good time playing, and kept talking about catching crabs again, but he left the palace for many days, even if it was the order that the Grand Commander asked for him when he came out, it has already arrived It's time to go back to the palace.

Before leaving, he lay on his elder brother Minwen's lap, dawdling for a long time, until he promised again and again that he would take him to catch crabs next time, and then embarked on the journey back to Beijing unwillingly.