Chapter 700: Funeral

Chapter 700: Funeral

Chapter 700: Funeral
It would take some time for the news from Taiyuan to be transmitted back to the south. Shao Xun, who was in Xuchang, had already started his next plan.

Rest and recuperation only allows the common people to take a breath and replenish their blood, but the layout of the upper echelons never stops.

On the eighth day of July, Shao Xun, who had been in Xuchang for more than a month, met Guanqiu Lu who had returned from Jiangnan.

"Although the Jiangdong nobles are willing to do business with us, the King of Langya is not willing to do so and has sent people everywhere to intercept us." Inside the former site of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Guanqiu Lu said, "It's a bit difficult now. The shop in Jianye is going to be closed down."

"Is it going to break?" Shao Xun asked.

"I can barely continue, but I have to change my appearance. I can't show up in public anymore. The Guanqiu family in Jiangnan has also started to bide their time, fearing that they will bring disaster upon themselves." Guanqiu Lu felt a little ashamed.

The Guanqiu clan in the north was small and scattered, and it could even be said that it had completely sunk. On the contrary, the branch that stayed in the south of the Yangtze River started with a few people, and gradually grew stronger and surpassed the northern branch, becoming the representative of the Guanqiu clan. However, for the sake of their family business, they did not dare to get involved in the dispute between the north and the south, which made Guanqiu Lu caught in the middle and difficult to live.

"How many talented naval officers have been recruited?" Shao Xun decisively ended the previous topic and asked.

"More than fifty people." Guanqiu Lu said, "Most of them are young men from various counties in Jiangdong. They are in Xuchang now."

"I will ask Yingchuan County to come forward and reward each person with ten pieces of silk." Shao Xun said, "Take them to Guangchengze to settle down. The waters there are vast and the best in Henan. Recruit some children of fishermen and start training first. The business in Jiangnan cannot be stopped. Just change the face and continue to maintain it, even if you give a little profit to the Jiangdong clan. It doesn't matter whether you make money or not. It's already a big profit to be able to get information and recruit talents."

"As you command." Guanqiu Lu said, "I will try my best to make as much money as possible."

The leader says that it doesn't matter whether you make money or not, he values ​​other aspects, but as a subordinate, you can't think that way. If you really make a loss everywhere, the leader will look down on you in his heart even if he doesn't say it, and it will be difficult for you to get promoted and make money.

Seeing him like this, Shao Xun smiled and said nothing more, only asking, "How is Jianye?"

"The King of Langya coordinated all parties and was qualified to be the leader of the scholars who had migrated south and the Jiangdong nobles. According to the Jiangdong natives who had contact with the Guanqiu clan, the King of Langya secretly preferred the scholars who had migrated south." Guanqiu Lu said, "In the past ten years or so, the number of servants, slaves, retainers, and farmhands brought by the scholars who had migrated south has increased to 400,000. Some counties were governed by the foreigners and resettled in scattered areas."

Qiao counties and Qiao counties were places where people who migrated south were settled.

The main source of land is land reclamation, which tries to avoid conflicts with local people in Jiangdong.

Of course, some were settled in mature developed areas, mainly through negotiations between the scholars who migrated south and the wealthy families in Jiangdong, and they managed to pry some of them off with great difficulty.

The process of land reclamation is naturally more difficult. For example, in Jiangxi, some people built farmland around lakes, which was not done overnight. For this reason, Jianye allocated a lot of money and grain to provide financial assistance, which was not easy.

Sima Rui and Wang Dao, the emperor and his minister, were very good at building relationships, smoothing things over, and soliciting sponsorship. They were very flexible and their bottom line was changeable, which was quite interesting.

"Last year on the twelfth day of the lunar year, the King of Langya held a banquet for his guests. During the banquet, there was a heated debate. You should have heard about it." Guanqiu Lu continued, "Zu Ti of Huaiyin submitted a memorial, saying that he had taken in tens of thousands of disaster victims from Qingzhou, and requested that they be organized into an army and march north as soon as possible. Wang Dun of Jingzhou also submitted a memorial before, saying that Hefei, Yiyang, and Xiangyang had won battles in succession in the past few years, taking three counties and capturing more than 20,000 people from Runan, Ruyin, and Yiyang. He believed that Lord Liang was not a concern, and requested that he mobilize a large army, stockpile food and weapons, and march north to Xinye, Runan, and Ruyin."

"What's the result?" Shao Xun asked with a smile.

"The Jiangdong nobles think it is not possible, because it is a waste of money and grain." Guanqiu Lu replied: "The military advisor He Xun said frankly that the shogunate will establish counties in Guangling, Jiangxia, Nanjun, Jiangling and other places this year to settle refugees from Qingzhou and Guanxi. The cost is too high, so please postpone the Northern Expedition."

"I knew it." Shao Xun laughed.

He Xun, Gu Rong and others were considered to be the Jiangdong nobles who treated Sima Rui relatively courteously.

After Gu Rong's death, He Xun became one of the leaders of the scholars in Jiangnan. Even he tactfully expressed his non-support. What else could Sima Rui and Wang Dao do?

At best we could squeeze out some money and food to house and feed the refugees we had gathered, and arm them a little, and that would be pretty much it.

The Northern Expedition was extremely costly and they were not happy about it.

Guanqiu Lu couldn't help laughing and said, "Your Excellency, don't worry about the south. A small fight might be possible, but it's extremely difficult to gather a large army to march north."

Shao Xun nodded.

If Henan was still in a fragmented state, such as during the Former Zhao and Later Zhao periods in history, when the southern army arrived, local gentry and fort owners would provide supplies, soldiers and equipment, then there would still be some possibility of a northern expedition.

Now that Henan is unified and people's hearts are generally stable, the Jiangdong nobles are no longer willing to try their luck.

The only breakthrough point in Jiangnan is in Jingzhou.

This place was taken over by the Eastern Wu relatively late, and was an outlier in its system, with a relatively strong overall aggressiveness. Because it was on the front line of the war, even if the Jiangdong nobles were unwilling, they had to pinch their noses to provide money, food, equipment, troops and even warships to finance its foreign wars.

Over time, it is possible to develop a military and political group spanning the two states of Jing and Xiang.

Wang Dun, Tao Kan and Gan Zhuo attacked Runan and Nanyang many times, and their fighting capacity was gradually improved. After a long time, would they be able to surpass Yang and Jiang states in Jiangdong?
"Zongru, take a break first and let your subordinates prepare the goods. After you have rested, you don't need to go to Jiangnan. Stay at the rear and train a few trusted people to travel back and forth between the north and the south." Shao Xun said, "I will remember your contribution. Do your work well and don't worry."

"Yes." Guanqiu Lu replied.

******
The light in the room was dim. Pei Lingyan sat by the window, quietly sorting out her father's belongings.

Calligraphy copybooks, letters, annotated books, etc.

Sometimes she would stare at a letter for a long time because it contained content about her.

After Duke Liang rose to power, many things could no longer be hidden and were carefully investigated. Especially after Sima Yue died, she gave birth to a child for him, and their relationship gradually became public.

At this time, Pei Kang had mixed feelings.

On the one hand, he served as an official for Liang Gong, ran around for him, did things for him, and stabilized the rear for him. On the other hand, based on traditional moral concepts, he also felt ashamed.

After all, his daughter was the mistress of Lord Liang, and it would be embarrassing to tell others that she was devoted to a former family general. This feeling was occasionally reflected in the letters between Pei Kang and the elders of the clan, highlighting a torment and helplessness.

After reading it, Pei Lingyan felt complicated for a moment.

Shao Xun walked over gently and held her in his arms.

"There is something in Hedong..." Pei Lingyan came back to her senses and said softly.

"Aren't you tired of dealing with military and political affairs all day?" Shao Xun said, "My wife is in a bad mood, and I don't want to care about politics anymore."

"Who is your wife..."

"We met sixteen years ago. In my heart, Hua Nu, you are my wife."

"Then why didn't you marry me?"

"Isn't this a coincidence?" Shao Xun said "ashamedly".

Pei Lingyan's mouth curled up slightly.

This man clearly has a strong purpose in every step he takes, but he says one thing to one person and another thing to another.

The two have been together for so many years and have three children. In fact, she no longer has the urgency, tension, and excitement she had at the beginning, and only the dullness remains.

Especially since he brought home one woman after another, all the love he had was consumed.

But he is still willing to pay attention to her mood, care about her, and accompany her, which is enough. When a man and a woman are together for a long time, it is like the affection between family members. There is a little warmth hidden in the ordinary, which makes people nostalgic.

I just wonder if the man in front of me will still remember the friendship we had today when the children grow up and enter the power arena?

"We've been in Xuchang for more than a month. Have you finished everything you need to do?" Pei Lingyan asked after the two hugged each other for a long time.

After Pei Kang passed away, Xuchang established a "Funeral Committee", which seemed to be a funeral activity, but was actually a political activity.

For more than a month, the funeral was just an excuse. Most of the time, he was meeting with scholars from all walks of life in Yuzhou, talking with them and constantly comforting them. After all, Shao Xun still needed them to provide supplies, manpower, livestock and at least one-third of the military weapons.

The two issues of honorary officials and land measurement caused unrest among the gentry in Henan and Hebei.

Some people rebelled, while others did not dare to rebel. However, some scholars from Yingchuan crossed the Yangtze River to the south and went to Jingzhou with their troops, farmhands, money and food.

Through this funeral activity, meeting and comforting the deceased, it always has an effect.

Now that the funeral is over and the political activities are over, it is time to set off to the next destination.

"It's done." Shao Xun said, "Next I'm going to Luonan to walk with you and cheer you up. As for government affairs, I'll ignore them. They're not as important as accompanying my beloved wife."

"Stupid emperor." Pei Lingyan smiled softly.

Shao Xun also laughed.

It turns out that all women fall for this, no matter if they are young girls or aunties.

Of course, he didn't really ignore government affairs and travel around with Concubine Pei. His purpose of going to Luonan was simple. After months of wrangling, he finally determined the pilot unit for the honorary officer: Luonan Prefecture soldiers, 14 defenses, 4,200 people.

Starting from next year, these more than 4,000 people can accumulate military merits according to the merit calculation rules when they go into battle.

Military merit can be used to posthumously confer titles on parents, confer titles on wives and children, offset punishments, exchange for official positions and land, etc.

The Luonan soldiers were Shao Xun's old subordinates. They were very powerful and could be traced back to the group of generals back then. They were also very loyal. He felt it necessary to go and see them and announce the good news to them.

In the future, after they have accumulated merits, there will always be people who will slowly be transformed from honorary officials to official positions, and these are all their basic base.

When there is no war, internal sorting never stops.

A large number of student soldiers entered the county and township levels and took control of the grassroots.

A large number of children from poor families and wealthy families are employed at the middle level. Although their positions are low, they have considerable power.

The upper class is dominated by aristocratic families, whose main job is to balance the various factions, reduce internal friction, and lower the risk of unrest.

He believes that the system he has been promoting will definitely bring about different changes to future generations after it has gone through a long period of running-in and become stable.

The most important thing now is to keep this new system alive, past its most fragile embryonic stage, and maintain it as long as possible, until it has its own vigorous vitality.

On July 15th, Shao Xun led his personal army to Liang County and moved into the long-lost Green Willow Garden.

(End of this chapter)