Chapter 1311 Party
Chapter 1311 Party (Part )
The 20th day of the twelfth lunar month was a sunny day, dry and cold.
In the courtyard in front of the Xianju Palace, the aroma of tea wafts through the air.
The women gathered together to cook the Mengding tea presented by Sichuan.
Because the Queen was in mourning in Ganlu Palace, the Crown Princess Lu was the leader of today's occasion.
She smiled sweetly, showing some affinity, integrating into the larger group of the Shaw family. At the same time, she remained a little reserved, subtly showing the difference in everyone's status.
There were children running around, the older ones in front and the younger ones following behind, making a lot of noise and laughing.
Shao Fu was holding a jade tea bowl, feeling a little emotional.
Since leaving Nanyang and returning to the Shaw family, she remembered that her brothers also played together like this.
It was so happy back then. When one person was hit with a ruler, the others would comfort him and then play together again.
She searched everywhere but couldn't find her fourth brother. She only saw Crown Princess Lu and Prince Yan's Consort Mi talking together from time to time, and they seemed to be very close.
She sighed softly and took a sip of tea, savoring the bittersweet taste between her lips and tongue.
"Sister, your sigh sounds a bit fake." Mushroom Lady came over and said in a low voice.
Shao Fu narrowed his eyes and looked at his sister, saying, "How dare you make fun of me? I really love you in vain."
Mushroom Lady smiled and said, "Don't look for him anymore. The Prince Consort has gone to pick up Grandpa."
"Where is grandpa?" Shao Fu asked.
"He has been living in Yingqiu Courtyard recently for more than half a month." Xun Niang said, "When I went to see Yaren, I often saw Grandpa reading in the yard. Sometimes he was making tea for Wang Jieyu and Wang Ronghua, and sometimes he took them for a walk under the trees in front of the yard. Grandpa went there so often that Yaren was unwilling to do the women's work with me."
After listening to this, Shao Fu sighed again and said, "Grandpa is really the strangest man in the world."
"Yes." Mushroom Lady also said with emotion: "If it were the Han and Wei dynasties, the prince would have been given a title."
Shao Fu glanced at his sister and said, "You and Yaren are so close, are you going to do business with Liaodong in the future?"
"Ah?" The mushroom lady was a little dumbfounded, and subconsciously said: "Sister, I don't even know where to spend the money?"
Shao Fu was also a little dumbfounded.
My sister actually said that she didn't know where to spend money. Yidu County was not a good place, it was a remote and poor place, many people were still slashing and burning the land, and the output of the fief was only enough for my sister to support the people in the princess's mansion.
In other words, if she felt that the princess mansion granted by the court was not spacious enough, or wanted to buy a separate courtyard elsewhere, she might have to save money for many years.
Are you really going to spend your whole life guarding a house and a fiefdom with quite unstable output?
"You are so stupid." Shao Fu pinched his sister's ear and said, "If it weren't for my sister's Xuancheng Manor costing too much money, I would have wanted to build a ship and go to Liaodong to do business."
"What is there to buy in Liaodong?" asked the mushroom lady curiously.
Shao Fu pulled at his sister's fur coat and said, "Although your fur coat was a tribute from the Tuoba Xianbei, there are more fur coats in Liaodong. I heard that the grass and water there are more abundant than in Yinshan, and there are more forests, so there are more tigers, leopards, minks, foxes and the like. I think there is also a kind of fur coat from the sea, what is it called? Alas, I don't remember, it is the fur coat presented by the envoys of Goguryeo."
"Seal?" asked the mushroom girl.
The name "seal" was coined by Shao Xun. The name first appeared in history in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not popular. Later, names such as "water leopard" and "island cat" appeared, and various names coexisted for a long time.
"Yes, that's it." Shao Fu said, "How did you know?"
"Sisters Wang Jieyu and Wang Ronghua both have one, and even Ya Ren got one. They are very warm." Fungus Lady said, "It is also very light, much lighter than the one I am wearing, but it is warmer."
Because seals, sea otters, fur seals, sea lions, whales and the like mostly live in relatively cold waters, their fur has excellent warmth-retaining effects (high hair density) and is also waterproof, making it suitable for humid and cold climates.
In addition, the fur coats made from the fur of these marine animals are lighter and more wear-resistant while maintaining the same warmth. They are better than the fur coats made from the fur of land animals in terms of warmth, cold protection, waterproofness (in damp and cold environments) and comfort.
"That's it." Shao Fu said, "Where did the Goguryeo people get it from? It must be from Lelang and Daifang counties."
"Grandpa said that it was obtained from the Wokou land conquered by Goguryeo." said the mushroom lady.
"They are all similar." Shao Fu said, "You can think of a way to deal with it."
Mushroom girl was not very interested and just said a few perfunctory words.
On the other side, Lu and others quickly brought tea to the table and served snacks, while the men were discussing military and political affairs.
"I heard that Lord Li sent troops into Liaoxi (County) to plunder. Isn't it too early?" asked Miao Xie, a messenger under the emperor's command.
"There have been looting incidents every year. They were just robbing each other." Fang Lun, the Western Court Minister, said, "But the scale of this year's incident is indeed quite large. I heard that more than 2,000 cavalrymen were dispatched, including many elite garrison troops. They captured tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and captured thousands of people. Even if Murong Huang is dead, there should be a reaction."
Border robbery has never ceased in every dynasty, but most of them are too small to be reported. If there is no strong leader to restrain the tribes on the grassland, robbery is inevitable.
But sending out two thousand cavalry at a time has exceeded the scale of looting and has risen to the level of tribal conflict.
Li Chong, the governor of Youzhou, was a steady man. He would generally not do anything that would undermine the imperial court's policies. This time he did so, obviously with permission.
Judging from everything he did after entering Youzhou, everything was preparation for war.
For example, in Beiping County, a large fort was built, food and equipment were stored, and garrison troops were sent;
For example, they organized the young men of each tribe, often trained them, hunted them, and even executed those who disobeyed them to establish their authority;
For example, against the backdrop of the general disbanding of hereditary soldiers, he expanded the hereditary soldiers of Youzhou to 20,000 people, coordinated and allocated land for them, and asked Youzhou and even Jizhou counties to send soldiers to dig irrigation canals, level fields, build houses, etc. for the hereditary soldiers.
After several measures, the morale of the 20,000 infantry cavalry of Youzhou was greatly boosted. After being equipped with sophisticated equipment delivered from the arsenals of Fanyang and Yecheng, they were rigorously trained and had become quite combat-ready.
Although these 20,000 men are certainly not as capable as the 30,000 soldiers from Chang'an trained by Jin Zheng, they have no problem defending various forts and strongholds relying on Yanshan, and can be regarded as a qualified army.
Moreover, the existence of this hereditary army greatly enhanced the prestige of the imperial court in Youyan, intimidating the Hu chieftains and local tyrants, making them no longer as unscrupulous as before.
"Will Lord Li's actions make Murong Huang angry and humiliated, and he will send a large army to attack Youzhou?" asked Xu Xuan, the commander of Guangcheng Garden.
"Perhaps this is what Lord Li meant." Fang Lun said, "From Changli to Liaoxi, besides taking the Lulong Road, the only way is to cross the Liaoze Lake. Horse carriages cannot pass through there, and at most a few thousand light cavalry can come. I think Lord Li can handle it."
"If Murong Huang comes to Liaoxi, it will be difficult for him to attack Murong Ren." Miao Xie said, "He should not be able to abandon Liaoxi. Hundreds of miles of fertile land are extremely rare for Murong Xianbei."
"Yes, if we can wipe out all the enemy troops in Liaoxi, it will be easy to recapture Liucheng..."
Several people were talking to each other, while paying attention to the movements around them, especially the Crown Prince, King of Qi, King of Chu, King of Zhao, King of Han and others sitting in the corridor.
They surrounded the retired emperor, looking harmonious and respectful to each other.
The old man's eyes became more cloudy, and his brain did not seem to be working as well as last year. Often his grandchildren would say several sentences before he seemed to just react and reply with one or two sentences.
Only when the young princes and princesses came to play in front of him, did his eyes suddenly light up.
The princes were also quite tolerant of these children, especially the crown prince. When the four-year-old eighteenth prince Ji Lang (mother Guan Qiu) fell in front of him, the crown prince smiled and picked him up, wiping Ji Lang's tears.
Perhaps, these princes were too young and posed no threat at all, so the prince was more willing to show his brotherly warmth to them.
“Third brother, I heard that you have mastered the Sogdian language?” After putting down the halberd, the prince asked with a smile.
Shao Xu shook his head and said, "I also learned from Hu Shang for many years, and I don't know if it's correct. I can barely recognize the letters sent by the Western Regions Chief Secretary's Office (stationed in Loulan), but sometimes the handwriting is too sloppy and I can't understand it. Besides, there is more than one grammar in the Western Regions, and there is still a lot to learn. Suyi language is mostly popular among merchants. At the beginning of the year, I got a Kharosthi document, but I couldn't understand it. This year I am trying to learn it."
Kharosthi script was popular in some city-states in the Western Regions. For example, Loulan once used Chinese extensively during the Han Dynasty, but during the Later Han Dynasty, the country weakened and once evacuated the Western Regions in large numbers, losing control of the local area, and the Hanshu Crisis broke out. Therefore, Kharosthi script, which originated from ancient Gandhara, filled the gap.
By the time Cao Wei restored its rule over parts of the Western Regions, Kharosthi script had already become popular and now coexisted with Han script. Although Cao Wei and Sima Jin restored their rule over the Western Regions, it was mostly nominal, and the degree of control was obviously not as deep as during the Former Han Dynasty or the early and middle period of the Later Han Dynasty. The next time there was real in-depth control was when Lü Guang of the Former Qin Dynasty led his army to the west and defeated the countries in the Western Regions.
"Third brother is really studious." Crown Prince Shao Jin praised: "Father will have to rely on third brother when he manages the Western Regions in the future."
"The Western Regions have cattle, horses, alpacas, grapes and other fruits, so they don't seem that poor?" King Shao Zhang of Qi interjected.
"With trade routes, how poor can it be?" Shao Xu said with a smile, "There are quite a few people, but most of them have high noses and deep eyes. There were not many garrison soldiers in the Han Dynasty, and there have been many troubles in the Central Plains since the end of the Han Dynasty. The descendants of these people are even harder to find. Even if we find them, I'm afraid they won't be able to speak Chinese."
Shao Zhang sighed and said, "Actually, I would like to go to the Western Regions, but I heard that the sandstorms are a bit strong."
"Wind and sand are inevitable, but there are also places with abundant water and grass. Some luxurious rulers of the Western Regions have palaces full of silks, satins, and exquisite utensils. Of course, I have only heard of them, but have never seen them." Shao Xu said.
Those rulers of the Western Regions who lived a luxurious life were generally located at the crossroads of trade routes. They had oases in their own countries and could cultivate a lot of fertile land to support tens of thousands of people - the most powerful Kingdom of Kucha had more than 80,000 people during the Western Han Dynasty, and it is unlikely to exceed 100,000 today - and with taxes collected on both sides, becoming rich was not a problem.
But as Shao Xu said, no matter how rich the environment is, it is inevitable to eat sand. It depends on whether you can get used to it.
Perhaps for some people, being the ruler of a country with a hundred thousand people does not seem bad, but for the princes who have lived in the prosperous Central Plains since childhood, they may not think so.
When Shao Zhang was about to say something else, Shao Xun appeared outside the courtyard gate.
(End of this chapter)