Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 361 5.43 I can’t bear the imperial edict of a fourth-grade gentleman.
Volume [-]

5.43 I can’t bear the imperial edict of a fourth-grade gentleman.
This chapter has caused misunderstandings among many gentlemen. How could the author, who writes about harems, treat his own sister badly?

Relying on the unparalleled speed advantage of the [-]-material clipper ship in the age of sails, the originally planned sailing time was shortened by less than half, and we arrived in the capital on August [-]th—of course, it was just people arriving, and all kinds of luggage, soil, etc. Regardless of the specialty products, it will take at least three days to arrive, but this does not affect normal life.

"Brother Zhou, I have sent someone to my house in advance to deliver the news. I think Mrs. Xue, Sister Baoqin and the third sister are all eager to see what happened. Are we?" Zhao Qiying asked with a smile as soon as they entered the inner city.

"You take Sister Lin, Qingwen and Xiuyan back first." Unexpectedly, Zhou Yang shook his head and interrupted him, "There is a more important thing - my family can meet each other anytime. The difference is It’s just one day earlier and one day later, but there are some things I don’t want to delay at all and I must ask them immediately.”

"Is it His Highness's side?" Zhao Qiying paused slightly.

"Li Xiong, Li Hu, follow me!" Zhou Yang nodded solemnly and waved to Li Jia brothers to set off.

"Sister Qiying, what's the trouble with Brother Zhou?" Lin Daiyu in the carriage couldn't help but asked worriedly, "I just heard you mention 'Your Highness'?"

"Don't worry, sister Lin. There won't be any trouble there with His Highness Yongchang." Zhao Qiying quickly smiled and comforted her, "What's more, there are not only princesses there, but also Miss Xue. Brother Zhou has to go there anyway."

"I see." Lin Daiyu's voice stopped and she stopped asking any more questions.

Not to mention the discussion among the girls, the Li brothers all have top-quality horses. Zhou Yang even rides his bloody horse. In addition, the time is approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are almost no obstacles along the way, and in a short time Then we arrived at the "Guo Mansion".

"Here?" Leaving the Li brothers waiting in the front yard, Zhou Yang was quickly led into the inner courtyard. He saw Princess Yongchang, who was bored and lying on a recliner under the flower stand, reading a book. "It seems that the second room of the Xue family is there." You have come up with something new. After you set off, my people rushed to deliver the message from Jinling [-] miles away, but they only arrived this morning, less than half a day faster than you."

"You guys go out first." Zhou Yang frowned and glanced around. Fortunately, the servants serving in the courtyard were all Princess Yongchang's absolute confidants. There was no one who didn't have a good eye. They all looked to the Princess for instructions. After receiving a nod, they quietly exited the inner courtyard. , and even helped close the courtyard door, "Rong'er, do you even want to interfere in my backyard?"

"Ever since you got involved with me and later did many things in my name, you can't discuss any 'private matters' here with me." Princess Yongchang threw aside the novel in her hand. , stood up and snuggled into Ai Lang's arms, "It will be even more so this time after you came back and entered the Beijing Camp."

"You, what can I say?" Zhou Yang smiled bitterly and hugged the girl tightly, carrying her back to the recliner and sitting down, "Of course I know that I owe you a lot in this life, and I am not ready to be separated from you again. But you can't go too far. If my guess is correct, Sister Bao may have been coaxed and frightened by you into giving up our engagement, right?"

"She is a merchant's daughter, and she cannot afford to be a fourth-grade nobleman." Princess Yongchang did not mean to hide it at all, "Forget about anything else, let's just talk about the special situation of the woman around you, Bing'er, you can ignore it. You don't have to mention the young mistress of the Rongguo Mansion, just one. Although Jia Zanshan is just a concubine, he wants to make her a concubine. If Xue Shidu is the main wife, have you considered the attitude of the Rongguo Mansion?
I understand what you mean. That first-class general is indeed not difficult to solve, but many things are not so simple. What's more, you will soon be the fourth-rank real minister, and you are in the capital, at the feet of the emperor. However, the place behind him is empty. If there is no reassuring expression, it would be difficult for me to talk to my brother. "

"The position has been decided?" Zhou Yang was shocked.

"The commander of the left guard of the front army of the fifth army camp also leads all the military affairs of the front army." Princess Yongchang moved a little and changed into a comfortable position in Ai Lang's arms. "It can be said that she has real power in the entire capital. It is rare in the history of the Zhou Dynasty. There is a precedent for holding a position other than Wu Xun; not to mention that you are just a weak official, which is rare in the history of the Zhou Dynasty."

"So high?" Zhou Yang was obviously stunned. Even his best guess was that he was just a commander in the surrounding camps, such as Tongzhou Camp, Jinmen Town, or even farther away like Chengde and Baoding. But he has never considered serving in the Beijing camp. Even if Princess Yongchang mentioned it once, he didn't take it too seriously. Another point is, "Do you still have to take care of the entire front army?" "Just pretend you don't know." Yongchang The princess rolled her eyes at him angrily, "The three major battalions of the Beijing camp each have their own establishments, and the three general soldiers have the power to conduct special operations; the three thousand battalions and twenty thousand elite cavalry are divided into four guards, and the four commanders are all Born in Wu Xun, the Shenji Battalion was divided into left and right wings, with left and right general soldiers. Han Chuan, the inheritor of Jinxiang House, was the left wing general.

As the name suggests, the Five Military Camps are divided into five armies, front, rear, left, right and center. Each army is divided into two left and right guards. The custom is for the commander of the left guard to "concurrently lead all the military dispatches of the front army", but it is only an extra salary, unless authorized in wartime. , otherwise you don’t have to worry about not intervening in Youwei’s military affairs. Anyway, your stations are far apart, so you don’t want to have any special friendship. "

"Understood." Zhou Yang nodded in agreement, and realized that this was still the so-called "way of balance" in the feudal era. "In this way, according to the convention, each guard has five thousand households under his jurisdiction, with a total strength of six thousand soldiers. many."

"You have a beautiful idea." Princess Yongchang interrupted him angrily, "All the guards commanders of the fifth military camp only have three thousand households under their jurisdiction. The names of the other two thousand households are only used in wartime. They are used in peacetime. It is vacant; you can also arrange some additional direct subordinates or even governors, such as your favorite artillery or cavalry, etc. You must not violate the rules."

"So, the positions of the other two thousand households can be given to some people?" Zhou Yang smiled sarcastically, "After removing some empty salaries and empty shelves, a guard with a nominal staff of more than 6000 people may actually only have 2000 people. Duo, we haven’t even discussed the training situation yet, the Tian family treats the military so harshly, aren’t they afraid that no one will be available at the critical moment?”

This is really not nonsense. There are more than 2000 guards per guard, and ten of them are more than 2. Including some troops directly under the general military officer, the entire fifth military camp has an establishment of more than 5 people. In fact, only a little more than half of them are in force. It is consistent with the situation introduced by Chen Yejun when the civilian officials were clamoring for "disarmament."

"You are quite courageous, you dare to say anything." Princess Yongchang rolled her eyes at him, raised her head and said, "Go and let Mr. Xue read over to you - now that the business is done, it's time for you two to get close to each other. , I will check the arrangements in a few days and ask Yongjing to come out to meet you, and then "

"What about you?" Zhou Yang hugged Her Highness the Princess, lowered his head for a long kiss, and then let go after a while and said, "After you finished talking about this and arranging that, have you ever considered yourself? Although I also understand that you I don’t care about these status things, but I really haven’t thought about what will happen in the future.”

"No, I don't care!" Princess Yongchang pushed him away smoothly, straightened her clothes and said, "For example, there is still a big trouble between you and me. Have you thought of how to solve it? Don't do it. Dead Hand, although I don’t care about his life or death, if he really dies unexpectedly, even if outsiders don’t dare to do anything about it, I’m afraid it won’t be easy to deal with his reputation.”

"It's easy to kill him, but don't kill him." Zhou Yang was obviously a little annoyed, and he also understood that Princess Yongchang was talking about the consort Huang Sheng, "Rong'er, his reputation is bad enough now. When Grandmaster Huang Xu left him His valuable connections have now been almost completely destroyed by him; the Huang family was not able to say that it was a rich harvest, and more than half of it was thrown into various buildings.

Now Huang Sheng, apart from that miserable life, I really can't think of anything else worth killing; or, in other words, do you still expect me to make him commit suicide in shame?Even if he had some dignity, I am afraid he should have died long ago, but he is still living well."

"That's your business." Princess Yongchang smiled and gave him a wink, then turned around and took Xiangfeng back to the bedroom. Because the door to the inner courtyard just opened, Xue Baochai entered the courtyard with an excited expression, "As I said, You two, please stay close to each other, there are many rooms in this courtyard, choose one for yourself!"

Zhou Yang ignored the arrogance of Her Highness the Princess and turned to look at Xue Baochai who had already walked in front of her with a complicated expression. She obviously had a thousand words in her heart at this time, but she couldn't say them out. In the end, she couldn't help but threw herself into Ai Lang's arms. , tears kept falling from the corners of his eyes like broken beads, but he still didn't say a word.

"Baochai, I've wronged you!" Zhou Yang smiled bitterly and hugged his sister tightly. He also didn't know what to say, because he understood that the difference in status between the two of them was so great that it was completely irreparable. "You Don’t worry, no matter what happens in the future or what I need to face, I swear I will never let you down!”

"Brother Zhou, ugh——" No matter how dignified and open-minded Xue Baochai was, she couldn't help but cry in grievance. The difference between the wife and the concubine was as big as heaven and earth, but neither she nor Zhou Yang could do anything about it. No matter what Princess Yongchang said, she, a merchant's daughter, simply couldn't bear the imperial status of a fourth-grade Gongren, and she couldn't do well even if she could barely hold on.

"Let's go inside and talk!" Zhou Yang sighed helplessly and pulled the girl into the bedroom.

(End of this chapter)