Chapter 1091 Meeting
Chapter 1091 Meeting
At the end of April, the weather gradually turned warmer.
Shao Xun has been back for more than half a month and has been recuperating in the palace, while also urging the children to study literature and martial arts.
One day, he was fishing on a boat in Tianyuan Pond when the eunuch Hou San came to report: the grandparents and grandchildren of the Shen family had arrived.
Pei Lingyan's expression remained unchanged as she picked up the tea foam in the mist.
After hearing the news, the seventh daughter Mian Niang popped her head out from behind Pei, holding up her skirt, and walked to Shao Xun's side like a happy lark, whispering: "Grandpa! Grandpa! Please don't chase me away, okay? I'll just hide."
Shao Xun patted his daughter's head lovingly and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Mian Niang smiled and then looked at her mother timidly.
Pei seemed to feel her daughter's gaze and nodded slightly.
Mian Niang felt as if she had been pardoned and went to the next cabin with a smile.
Shao Xun put down his fishing rod and sat back at the desk.
Pei poured him a bowl of tea and said softly, "Actually, why do you have to do this? Jinggao is an old man, and his granddaughter is indeed a good match. Since you intend to do something in Jiangdong, how can I not understand the general situation?"
"It was a good decision to marry you back then." Shao Xun chuckled.
"Marry?" Pei Lingyan rolled her eyes at him.
Shao Xun chuckled and said, "In my heart, it means marrying you."
"I'm fifty years old and I no longer believe these nonsense." Pei Lingyan said.
"When I first met you, you were only in your twenties..." Shao Xun said, seeming to be lost in memories: "You were so beautiful."
Pei Lingyan was no longer convinced by this and said, "So you had evil intentions at that time."
"Yes." Shao Xun said shamelessly, "Liu Qia falsely accused me of being a traitor. If you don't let me go, I will kidnap you. With my ability, after I surrender to Liu Yuan, I can easily become the Prince of Pingjin, the Minister of the Court, or the General of Zhendong. Then I can marry you legitimately, give birth to a few children, and then go to Hedong to see what the Pei family says."
"If you surrender to Liu Yuan, it's hard to say what will happen to the world, and it's hard to say what will happen to the Pei family..." Pei Lingyan sighed and said, "Perhaps Shi Le, Wang Mi, Cao Yi, and Zhao Gu will be suppressed by you. After Liu Yuan's death, Liu Cong will not be suspicious of Shi Le, but you. Even if you surrender to the State of Jin, you will not be truly trusted. No one will come to save you in times of crisis."
"But then I can marry you, it's totally worth it." Shao Xun said: "If there is a next life, I will try, but you have to remember me."
Pei Lingyan was amused by him at first, and then she felt an indescribable emotion.
This man always makes her angry first and then makes her soft-hearted.
In this life, I have experienced wealth and glory, experienced the displacement of turbulent times, and finally returned to peace.
The man in front of her controlled everything, and no one could go against his will. The status between them had long been reversed, but the man still cared about her feelings and tried to tell some clumsy jokes to make her happy.
Perhaps, if there is a next life, he will really marry her.
Pei Lingyan picked up a plate of snacks and placed it in front of Shao Xun.
Shao Xun picked it up and tasted it, then said with a smile, "It tastes like honey."
"Your Madam Wang sent someone to deliver this, the best honey from Dongmugen Mountain." Pei Lingyan said calmly.
Shao Xun came closer and chuckled, "There's only my Madam Pei here..."
Pei Lingyan finally couldn't do anything with him anymore, so she looked straight ahead and stopped talking.
After a moment, Shao Xun got up and left, pedaled to another boat, picked up a new fishing rod, and continued fishing.
Not long after, Shen Ling also came.
Shao Xun nodded and motioned for him to sit on the stool next to him.
"Jing Gao, do you know that there are members of the Shen family who have been exiled to Jingzhou?" Shao Xun asked.
"I heard about it." Shen Ling said, "Wuxing Shen's selected 5,000 strong men to reinforce Tao Shiheng, but they were withdrawn by Shanxia halfway and later sent to Wuchang. However, the war was over, so they were transferred to Baling County for reclamation. I don't know when the 5,000 Shen's men will be able to return to Wuxing."
"If I send you south to Jingzhou, would you be willing?" Shao Xun asked.
Shen Ling was somewhat surprised and said, "I am old now and I am afraid I cannot live up to your majesty's trust."
"Le Hongxu will enter the court sooner or later, and you can take his place." Shao Xun said, "Of course, there is no rush for this matter. We have to wait until our children's marriages are settled before we can talk about it."
Shen Ling was speechless.
I just brought my granddaughter to show Concubine Pei, and they started talking about marriage. It seems that the emperor has already made up his mind, and you have to agree even if you don't agree.
"Your Majesty, do you want to pacify the Shen family?" Shen Ling asked.
"There are dozens of wealthy families in Jiangnan, most of them cannot be pardoned." Shao Xun said, "But if we say that no family can escape, it is too much. With my ability, I can still pardon a few families. The Shen family has become a criminal family, unable to serve as an official, and can only work for their lives. In this case, why should they guard the border for the Sima family? If we can persuade them to surrender, they will definitely have a good ending in the future."
Shen Ling was silent for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty is wise. The Shen family has reached this point, and there is no reason for them to work for the Sima family any longer. Although I have been away from home for more than 20 years, I am a descendant of the Shen family, and I do not want to see my family members suffer. Your Majesty is magnanimous, and the Shen family has heard of it. Why not surrender? I am willing to act as a middleman and persuade them to surrender."
"We can do this secretly, don't rush." Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "The last time the Shen family started an uprising, I was anxious. If they raise the banner of rebellion now, I will not be able to respond across the river, and they will definitely be suppressed by Zhuge Hui's troops. Let them be calm and take their time."
"Yes." Shen Ling cupped his hands and replied.
"Does the Shen family have any naval talent?" Shao Xun asked again.
"Yes." Shen Ling recalled, "The big families in Jiangnan have more or less people who are familiar with naval warfare. In the past, when the Eastern Wu conquered the four directions, they often ordered the tribes to send out troops to serve as naval and land soldiers. If my guess is correct, there are people who are good at naval warfare among the Shen family's private soldiers stationed in Baling."
Shao Xun became interested when he heard this and immediately said, "You can recruit a few of them to Jiangling. I will be very useful to them."
"Yes, sir." Shen Ling replied.
Shao Xun's face showed obvious happiness.
Of course, the 5,000 Shen family private soldiers cannot surrender as a whole, at least not now, but it is not impossible to lure some of them over.
In fact, in Zhuge Hui's eyes, this kind of thing is actually very normal: they are all people who were exiled, so it is normal for them to flee. During the Three Kingdoms period, due to the brutal internal struggle, it was not uncommon for the generals of the Eastern Wu and even the royal family to lead their troops to the north to surrender in the Wei and Jin dynasties.
"I want to trade with Jingnan, and then..." Shao Xun and Shen Ling talked for a long time until Hou San came over quietly again.
"How is it?" Shao Xun did not hide it and asked directly.
"Pei Guipin was very satisfied and gave Madam Shen several gifts," Hou San replied.
Shao Xun glanced at Shen Ling happily and said, "Jing Gao, how is it?"
"This is a blessing for our family." Shen Ling had no choice but to agree with a smile.
"Since you have no objection, the matter is settled. I will let Taichang and Honglu work together to handle it, the sooner the better." Shao Xun said with a smile.
……
The Shen family's grandparents and grandchildren left soon.
When getting ashore, Shao Xun took a glance and saw the girl from the Shen family wearing a red dress, with her head lowered. Her face was even redder than her clothes. He immediately burst out laughing.
Not long after, Mian Niang came over with an excited look on her face and said, "Grandpa! Grandpa! Stop fishing and listen to me."
"What does my dear girl want to say?" Shao Xun put down the fishing rod and asked with a smile.
"Miss Shen is so beautiful. She speaks in a soft voice, just like a lady from a noble family." said Mian Niang.
"She is a lady from a wealthy family." Shao Xun said helplessly, "You don't think that the people of Wu are all ungrateful, do you? Shen Jinggao has been in the North for more than 20 years, and his talent and learning are quite good."
"Ah? Oh!" Mian Niang's excitement faded a little, but she was still very happy. She walked around Shao Xun and chattered non-stop: "Third brother is still in Yecheng, Grandpa, please ask him to come back."
While he was speaking, he was sometimes on Shao Xun's left, sometimes behind him, and sometimes on his right, without stopping.
Shao Xun smiled as he continued to hold the empty fishing rod. Listening to his daughter's "chatter", he felt quite peaceful in his heart.
That's what being with family is all about, and he enjoys it.
Mian Niang talked for a long time, but when she saw that Shao Xun was only focused on fishing, she lost interest and stopped talking. She just asked the palace servants to bring a stool and sat beside him to watch.
"Why isn't your good girl talking?" Shao Xun asked.
"Grandpa, are you going to let our third brother go to Jiangnan?" Mian Niang suddenly asked.
"Why do you say that?" Shao Xun was a little surprised.
"Brother, if you marry a girl from Wu, won't you be going to Jiangnan?"
"Nothing." Shao Xun said, and then asked: "Who told you?"
"My daughter guessed it herself." Mian Niang said, blinking her eyes.
Shao Xun hummed and said, "Grandpa doesn't have that idea now. Has your third brother ever written to you?"
Mentioning this, Mian Niang was a little embarrassed and said, "I wrote it, but I couldn't recognize all the characters, so my mother scolded me."
Shao Xun couldn't help laughing and said, "You must study hard in the future."
This is the difference between a son and a daughter.
Mian Niang was eleven years old and could not recognize all the words on the letter, so Shao Xun just encouraged her to study hard in the future. But if any son was like this, he would definitely let him know why the flowers were so red after the whip had already been used.
"What did Nian Liu say to you?" Shao Xun asked.
"Third brother said too much, I can't remember it for the moment." Mian Niang said a little embarrassedly: "I only remember that he met a few Sogdian merchants and talked with them in Sogdian. He is also writing a book "Xiyu Shiyi" and I heard that it is almost finished."
"Oh?" Shao Xun was a little surprised.
Sanlang Nianliu could speak Xiongnu, Xianbei, Wuhuan and Jie languages, and later learned Sogdian. Shao Xun admired his enthusiasm very much.
Moreover, Shao Xun had also heard about his contacts with Hu merchants from the Western Regions.
Apart from anything else, this matter is very consistent with the major policies of the country and is also to Shao Xun's liking.
Shao Xun felt a little guilty when he thought about forcing a wife he had never met on him.
"Grandpa, my third brother also hired some weavers in Sangziyuan, and they wove a lot of beautiful brocades. The Hu merchants praised them highly and were willing to buy them at high prices." Mian Niang said again: "And, and -"
"Anything else?" Shao Xun couldn't help laughing when he saw Mian Niang's adorable expression with a frown on her face as she thought deeply.
"The Hu merchants brought a few wool-spinning looms from the Western Regions." Mian Niang said, "Third brother said that the people in the Central Plains don't spin wool very much. We can learn from others' experience. We can get looms from the Western Regions. After mutual discussion, we can make great improvements and spin woolen cloth in the future."
Shao Xun was stunned. This really showed his sincerity.
Mian Niang continued, "Third brother also said that if he could weave the best woolen cloth, he would send it to the capital immediately. Grandpa was always on the battlefield, often in bitter and cold places, and he couldn't live without this kind of cloth. He also prepared some for the eldest brother, the second brother, the fourth brother, the fifth brother, and the sixth brother. Everyone had one."
"Everyone has it?" Shao Xun couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah." Mian Niang nodded.
Shao Xun hummed again, then smiled and said, "Mian Niang, since you are speaking for Nian Liu like this, he will really spoil you in the future."
Mian Niang giggled and said, "Grandpa, you love me the most."
Shao Xun was so happy that he didn't even notice that the fishing rod was dragged to the middle of the pond. He smiled and said, "My dear daughter is so good. Grandpa can't help but spoil her."
After saying that, he stopped fishing.
After thinking for a while, he realized that Nian Liu had been in Sangziyuan for quite some time, and it was time to call him back to Luoyang. If he was really good, he could be entrusted with important tasks after he got married.
(End of this chapter)