Chapter 235 Bargaining

Chapter 235 Bargaining

Chapter 235 Bargaining
After Lao Pei entered Luoyang, he found that he had come to nothing.

The door of the Taifu Mansion was closed, with only a few guards and servants left. After a brief inquiry, it turned out that his daughter and Princess Lu of Fanyang went south to Guangchengze Villa together.

The villa is named "Tangli" because there are large areas of wild pears on the mountains near the villa.

The daughter once mentioned in a letter home that after the autumn harvest in August, she and Lu found a piece of land in the northwest of Guangchengze to build a manor.

Tangliyuan covers an area of ​​several hectares, and a small part of it has been built.

The name of Princess Fanyang's manor was "Liuhua", which was slightly larger than Pei's. It was managed and supervised by the concubines who came with Lu as a dowry.

The Lu family should be relatively wealthy.

The King of Fanyang ruled Yuzhou for many years, and later attacked Hebei, where he died suddenly at the age of 37. As he had no heir, he adopted Li, the son of the King of Nanyang Sima Mo, as his heir. However, Sima Li was still young and had always lived in Chang'an, and did not come to serve his nominal mother, Lu.

Lu had nowhere to go, so she got involved with her daughter. Most of the wealth of King Fanyang was in her hands, so it was no wonder that she had the money to build a manor.

Pei Kang stood at the door for a while, and the servants invited him to go in and rest. Old Pei waved his hand and went directly to Wang Yan's house.

The lights were already on at that time. When Wang Yan heard the news, he hurried out to greet him. After a warm greeting, he led him in.

Although Guo was stingy, she was still a person who cared about the occasion. She quickly ordered the servants to cancel the banquet that her family was going to eat and set up a new one.

It would take time to prepare the banquet, so Wang Yan and Pei Kang came to the study and sat down opposite each other.

"Zhongyu came to the capital with hundreds of his troops, it was quite a big event." Wang Yan said with a smile: "What's the matter? Liu Yuanhai is so stressed that he can't stay any longer?"

"Liu Yuanhai still knows the rules, so he won't go to this." Pei Kang shook his head and said, "After the Chinese New Year, I will go back to Hedong. It's nothing serious."

Wang Yan smiled and didn't ask any more questions. He just sat there, calm and relaxed.

Pei Kang's Qi-cultivation skills were not as profound as his, and he had never won a debate against Wang Yan when he was young, so he said, "I heard that Yi Fu built a villa in Guangchengze. It's really a pleasure."

"When I get old, I just think about the bright moon between pines, the clear springs, and spending my days leisurely, without caring about worldly affairs. Haha, I'm sorry to make Zhongyu laugh." Wang Yan chuckled, with a fascinated expression on his face, as if he couldn't wait to drop everything and enjoy the idyllic countryside.

"Guangchengze is close to the mountains. There are bandits in the mountains. Aren't you afraid?" Pei Kang asked.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

"The transformation of Guangchengze from a barren land to a beautiful place is all due to the efforts of one person."

"With the Holy Emperor above, and the governors of all the counties and states working together, this will eventually happen."

"Yi Fu!" Pei Kang didn't want to beat around the bush, so he spoke with a stronger tone.

Wang Yan laughed loudly and said, "I was just joking with you, why are you in such a hurry?"

"After Luoyang was occupied by Liu Yuanhai, Yi Fu was probably more anxious than me." Pei Kang said dissatisfiedly.

Wang Yan stopped smiling and asked, "Zhongyu, why did you come all the way here?"

It’s definitely not because of the war in Hebei.

Although Hedong County is not far from Luoyang, it is not too close either. Before Pei Kang set out, the fighting there might not have started yet.

He came to Luoyang with only two purposes, one was to meet Shao Xun, and the other was to meet Sima Yue.

Troubled times have arrived. The Pei family has been very active in the past two or three years, having changed their timid style of the past. Perhaps they are really being pushed into a corner.

Henei, Hongnong, Xingyang, Xuzhou and Yuzhou were successively taken, and the city was once very powerful.

But as the situation developed, Yuzhou was gone, Hongnong was gone, and even his hometown Hedong County fell into the hands of the Huns.

If the Xiongnu marched south in large numbers, could Xingyang and Henei be saved? Not necessarily.

With this calculation, the Pei family only has Xuzhou left.

But Pei Dun's talent is just that. Is it really enough for him to keep Xuzhou? Not necessarily.

From this perspective, in the end, the Pei family is very likely to lose everything, not even a single benefit.

However, if the Pei family is like this, how much better will the Wang family be?
Thinking of this, Wang Yan felt a little discouraged.

Chu Zhong went to Qingzhou to take up his post, but he fled back halfway, making a huge loss of face.

Pingzi was appointed governor of Jingzhou, but he only cared about drinking and having fun and did not care about state affairs.

Mao Hong accompanied the governor of Yangzhou and the King of Langya, Rui, to cross the river to Jianye, where the situation was also very difficult.

But in comparison, he has done the best. Building relationships, making friends, and striking a balance are the skills passed down in the Wang family. Maohong was still relatively immature a few years ago, but now he has learned a lot from his mistakes.

He is in a much better situation than me.

The Prince of Langya is weak in character, but he is obedient to him, so he can show his strength. In Luoyang, the Grand Tutor Sima Yue...

The Grand Tutor must be dissatisfied with himself recently, and he is also somewhat dissatisfied with the Wang family.

There are ready-made examples of what the Grand Tutor would do once he was dissatisfied.

After Pei Yuzhou was dismissed from office, Pei Yi, the prefect of Hongnong, suffered misfortune.

The Grand Tutor should not be able to touch me, so what about others?

Wang Yan calmed down and asked, "Zhongyu, just speak frankly. There is no need to hide anything now."

"Okay then." Pei Kang nodded and said, "After the Battle of Yemagang, Marquis Luyang's reputation grew day by day, catching up with Gou Xi. He may have some ideas..."

******
After the banquet, Wang Yan returned to his study.

The two daughters are reading books.

"Dafeng" was yawning continuously and his head was nodding, as if he would fall down if he was pushed lightly.

"Xiao Feng" read it very seriously, even stopping at a certain section for a long time and chewing it over and over again.

The youngest daughter is still the best! Wang Yan sighed. His only son was working as a staff member in Xingyang, and his old wife was only interested in managing the family business and accumulating wealth.

Sometimes when he was confused and wanted to ask someone for a different way of thinking, he could only turn to his youngest daughter.

"Boom!" Wang Jingfeng was startled and fell to the ground with a bang.

Wang Yan looked at her with disgust and scolded her, "If you continue to be so ignorant, I will just give you to the Marquis of Luyang."

Wang Jingfeng suddenly came to his senses when he heard this, and said with tears in his eyes: "Grandpa, even if you are anxious to marry me off, you can't choose someone like Shao Xun who is rude and unromantic."

"Ignorance!" Wang Yan was indeed not shameless enough to send his daughter away, but he said without thinking: "If Marquis Luyang was really so vulgar and uncultured, Empress Hui Yang would not visit every other day."

"Yang Xianrong?" Wang Jingfeng was stunned and stood there.

Wang Yan coughed and subconsciously felt that what he had just said was a bit too much.

He was always true to himself in front of his family and didn't hide anything. After all, it would be too tiring to wear a mask when going out and when going home. So sometimes he would accidentally reveal a lot of things.

Wang Huifeng was also a little surprised.

She knew Yang Xianrong and they had even been in contact when they were teenagers.

She knew very well what kind of person Yang Xianrong was.

There is no need to say much about her appearance and talent, they are all top-notch. As for her temperament, she is as proud as a white swan.

She didn't take ordinary scholars seriously at all. Even if she wanted to marry someone, she might not really respect her future husband.

After not seeing her for many years, Yang Xianrong has changed so much?
Of course, unlike her sister, Wang Huifeng’s impression of Shao Xun was not too bad.

She did not judge people by appearance. From her limited observation, she felt that Marquis Luyang was not the kind of arrogant person. Moreover, in his heart, he still had simple feelings, which was more than many people.

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Wang Yan sat down and got straight to business: "Hedong fell, Pei Zhongyu got anxious, and urged me to help Shao Xun and get some benefits for him."

"Is it Marquis Luyang who asked you to do this?" Wang Huifeng sat down and asked softly.

"Maybe." Wang Yan frowned and said, "But what good can he do?"

"Favors." Wang Huifeng said affirmatively: "Favors can be big or small. For a man like Marquis Luyang, he would rather owe someone a thousand pieces of silk than owe a favor to one person."

Wang Yan nodded and then shook his head.

Wang Jingfeng chuckled beside him, then quickly covered his mouth.

"Why is A Yu laughing?" Wang Yan looked at his eldest daughter helplessly and asked.

Wang Jingfeng carefully observed Wang Yan's expression, and after making sure that he would not be angry, he said, "My daughter still remembers the high-spirited look on Grandpa's face when he made the 'cunning rabbit has three burrows' plan a few years ago. Uncle Maohong was also there at the time, and Grandpa was full of pride and arrogance. At that time, Grandpa was very satisfied and felt that his plan had worked."

Wang Yan couldn't hold it in any longer, but he didn't know how to refute, so he could only smile bitterly.

He is not a serious scholar, but a famous debater. He is just old now. Twenty years ago, he did a lot of unruly things, and sometimes he was arrogant. Although he was only like this at home, it was inevitable that his relatives would see him.

"Pei Zhongyu dug more than three caves." Wang Yan complained.

Wang Jingfeng laughed again and said, "Two big holes, three small holes, let's get some..."

Wang Yan and Wang Huifeng looked at Wang Jingfeng at the same time.

Wang Jingfeng choked and lowered his head, not daring to speak.

"Grandpa, the Grand Tutor wants to appoint Ding Shao and Wang Bin as governors and provincial governors. Will the court agree?" Wang Huifeng pinched his sister secretly and asked.

"Of the three chief officials of the Secretariat, Gao Guang is the emperor's confidant, and I have confidence in Liu Tun and Shan Jian." Wang Yan said, "Liu Tun and Liu Changsheng have met Shao Xun once. Shan Jilun has a good relationship with Pei Zhongyu. Well, if we really talk about it, the reputation of Shao Xun and Pei Kang in the Secretariat is really not small. If the Grand Tutor returns to the capital, he will definitely clean up the Secretariat. If we don't take action now, it will be difficult for me to help the Grand Tutor in the future."

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Secretariat has been the most core power institution.

At the end of the Later Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Cao, was away on a campaign, Xun Yu was the Minister of the Chancellery.

The Ming Dynasty inherited the old system, and the Secretariat still oversaw national affairs.

Sima Yue, the Grand Tutor, had the title of "Recordant of the Secretariat", but he was not in the court and his influence was declining. The emperor took the opportunity to intervene in the Secretariat system and promoted Gao Guang to the position of Shangshu Ling. Liu Tun also leaned towards the court during the previous emperor's reign, and his intention to compete with the Grand Tutor was very obvious.

Even Wang Yan, after he resigned as Shangshu Zuo Pushe and was promoted to Sikong and Situ, still needed to rely on six Shangshu, Zuocheng and other lower-ranking bureaucrats, as well as his personal relationship with Gao Guang and Liu Tun to operate indirectly.

Of course, he has other means to exert influence, which are not known to outsiders.

In short, Sima Yue needed him. But he would not pin all his hopes on him. It was imperative to clean up the Shangshutai - Wang Yan seemed to have seen many tragedies of broken families and deaths.

"What does Shao Xun want?" Wang Huifeng asked again.

"He is putting on a show in Yecheng." Wang Yan said unhappily, "First he held a funeral for the dead soldiers and civilians, then he called together the elders to erect a monument to commemorate his achievements. In addition, he sent someone to send a letter of recommendation, including those with high moral integrity, those who are well-versed in classics and history, those who are fearless in the face of danger, those who are loyal and give advice, those who are brave and resourceful, etc. There are dozens of people in total, and the elders of Hebei all congratulated him when they heard about it. Finally, he also asked for the position of governor of Dunqiu."

"It's too appalling that he can't be a prefect at his age," said Wang Huifeng.

"He really can't be the boss." Wang Yan nodded and said, "But he can let someone else be the boss."

Wang Huifeng said "oh" and said nothing more.

She thought carefully about the things her father mentioned and found that Shao Xun was really methodical in doing things and took both public and private interests into consideration, which was much better than many people who only cared about their own personal interests.

However, there was still one thing she didn’t understand: What was Shao Xun’s purpose in doing so many things in Hebei?

It's impossible for him to stay there for a long time. Wouldn't that be making things difficult for others?

"Forget it." Wang Yan suddenly sighed and said, "Year after year, things have changed too fast. Shao Xun was never in my sight before, but now I have to help him. This world is really..."

Wang Jingfeng looked at his father sighing and suddenly shuddered subconsciously.

It's only been a few years? The relationship between my father and Marquis Luyang has become like this.

If something major happens next year, will you send yourself out?
Thinking of this, tears were about to flow out, and my hands subconsciously grabbed my thighs - uh, but suddenly I let go, it turned out that I accidentally grabbed my sister.

Hehehe, my sister’s thighs are not as strong as mine. Wang Jingfeng’s mood inexplicably improved.

(End of this chapter)