Song Sheng sat on the horse in a daze. Before he could react, the young general in unicorn robes across from him strolled up to him, smiled at him, cupped his hands, and said, "But in front of General Song Sheng?"
"Ah! It's me..."
When he saw the general bowing to him, Song Sheng did not think that this man was the Duke of Fuguo. He thought in his mind: "The emperor's third daughter married far away from Ganliang. She must have been accompanied by a relative of the emperor or a military attaché, but I don't know who this person is." Is it a royal relative or a governor, that guy Lao San is really a bastard. He asked you to go to welcome the bride, and all the dignitaries came with you. You should have sent a message back in advance, which made Lao Huizi like this. So embarrassed."
Song Sheng thought about it, then he raised his hand and said: "I don't know what the next step is..."
Xia Xun smiled and said: "Your Excellency, Yang Xu, I have admired the name of General Song for a long time. I am truly lucky to meet him today!"
"oops!"
When Song Sheng heard that he was really the Duke of Fu, he was shocked. He quickly rolled off his saddle and dismounted from his horse. He hurried forward to greet him with military salutes, clasped his fists and said, "General Song Sheng, I have seen Duke Fu. I don't know that the Duke is in front of me. It's rude." I'm sorry, please don't..."
How could Xia Xun allow him to bow down? He quickly stepped forward to support him and said warmly: "Old general, please don't be too polite. The old general has been guarding Xiliang for more than 20 years, and his prestige is unrivaled in the world. His civil and martial arts skills, Yang Xu admires him very much. It is Yang Xu's honor to meet and work with the old general today! Yang Xu pays homage to his predecessors and heroes, and the old general deserves it!"
Song Sheng saw that he spoke sincerely and showed no pretense, and he couldn't help but feel happy. The sedan chair was carried by everyone, and the Duke of the country could treat him so respectfully and courteously, and in front of so many officials and subordinates. What a great honor!
Song Sheng laughed loudly, tightly grasped Xia Xun's hands with one big hand, and shook them hard. He turned around and saw his second son and a group of generals still riding on the horse in a daze. He couldn't help shouting: "I'm old and my eyes are dim, you guys should follow too." Don’t you have a bad look in my eyes? Why haven’t you dismounted from your horse and seen the Duke?”
Song Sheng's shout made the generals wake up. They quickly dismounted their horses one by one and came forward to greet him!
Song Sheng was a wise general as well as a fierce general. He was both wise and brave, and allowed both civil and military skills. To govern Xiliang, it was impossible to govern Xiliang only by knowing martial arts but not being good at literature. It was impossible by being gentle and gentle without using force. He only gave birth to a stubborn person all his life. , The Western Region cannot be governed, and a person who has no scheming will also be unable to govern the Western Region.
At the same time, he has guarded the Western Regions for more than 20 years without moving at all. With his current power and prestige in the Western Regions, as long as he raises his arms, he can demarcate territory for self-government and build an independent kingdom. However, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di Dai Xiongzhu always trusted him and never thought of transferring him to another place. Even Song Sheng repeatedly requested to resign and return to the court, but Zhu Di still did not allow it.
Facing the dangerous environment and complicated factions in the Western Regions, he needed both wisdom and courage; he was even more brilliant in his knowledge in the official field. If not for this, when Song Sheng arrived in Xiliang and failed to manage the place, he would have failed. He followed in the footsteps of his previous nine commanders; if he managed the place well, he would have to show his sharpness and arouse the suspicion of the court, so he had to retire long ago.
Song Sheng was able to guard the Western Regions for more than 20 years and achieve such great achievements. He was a frontier official with extremely skillful political and military skills.
Insight into worldly affairs is knowledge, and understanding of human feelings is writing.
Song Sheng did an excellent job in this great article on human relations and sophistication.
Xia Xun's actions today immediately won Song Sheng's favor. With his keen eyes, he could naturally see that Xia Xun's words were sincere. What's more, with Xia Xun's current status, there is no need to take pictures of him.
Flattery.
People are like this. Some people have been together for a lifetime, but they are also cold and indifferent, and it is difficult to get along with each other. Some people meet for the first time, and after a few words, they feel that they are very compatible. This is the case between Song Sheng and Xia Xun: they feel like old friends at first sight.
The two people chatted for a while, then climbed on their horses and returned to the city, supported by the generals. Under the biting cold wind, the sergeants wearing helmets stood silently, countless fluttering flags rustled in the wind, and the carriages and ceremonial guards
As soon as they move, they welcome the cavalry, escort the cavalry, and accompany the cavalry... Each square formation is orderly and orderly, slowly coming and going, the formation changes, its momentum is like a mountain, and the military power is shocking.
Xia Xun's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but praise: "Old General, is this the Ganliangjing Cavalry that is so powerful in the Western Regions?"
Song Sheng was also very proud of the elite cavalry he had carefully built. He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Exactly, the Duke is here this time with elite soldiers from the royal forest. If the general does not bring out the best soldiers, I'm afraid
I want to disappoint the Duke!"
Song Sheng said, smiling and looking at the 30,000 elite cavalry behind Xia Xun's ceremonial guard.
..., all kinds of weapons are available, the armor is bright, the saddles and saddles are neat, and the military power is very majestic.
With Song Sheng's vision of leading troops for many years, he could only take a fleeting glance and see the subtle changes in the team's hands, feet, limbs, and faces in the cold wind, as well as whether they responded smoothly to each other before marching, and he could tell a lot about their combat effectiveness.
I guess they stay together eight times. He appreciates this team very much.
Xia Xun laughed and said: "These 30,000 elite cavalry are one of the elites from the Beijing camp, and most of them have fought in the war. However, the terrain and geography of the Western Region, the four seasons of climate, and the characteristics of the enemy's combat are different from those in the Northern Xinjiang. They
You still need to practice more here before you can become a great person!"
Song Sheng said: "The Duke is too modest! In the end, it took more than twenty years to gather warriors from all ethnic groups who are good at bows and archery, and they trained many times to get to where we are today. Now, these 30,000 elite soldiers of the Duke are excellent."
If you are selected as the best, your personal combat power is naturally not bad, but now you can see that they are marching in perfect harmony, their actions and actions are seamless, they are as motionless as a mountain, and they move like a forest, it is evident that the Duke's ability in leading an army is evident."
Xia Xun thought to himself: "If I hadn't trained them in various ways along the way, I'm afraid you, Lord Song, wouldn't have said that."
Xia Xun said with a smile: "Old General, don't call me one by one. Yang Xu's nickname is Wenxuan. Old General, just call me Wenxuan. Otherwise, you can call me one by one by your mouth, Old General. Yang Xu is
I’m terrified!”
Song Sheng said happily after hearing this: "In that case, I won't be polite to you. Haha, Wenxuan, I became in-laws with the emperor today, and Princess Ancheng married into my family and became my Song family's daughter-in-law. Wenxuan's
My wife is the younger sister of the current queen, so we are also relatives, and we should be friends of the same generation. You don’t want to call me an old general. I call you Wenxuan, and you call me big brother. This is
A family!”
Xia Xun was overjoyed. He wanted to make friends with such a true hero, so he followed his example and immediately raised his hands and shouted: "Brother!"
Song Sheng threw his beard and laughed. By the time they arrived at the residence of the Marquis of Xining, the two of them were like old friends for many years, talking about everything.
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The Marquis Mansion of Xining has already made preparations for the wedding.
The entire mansion was draped in red and colorful, and the gongs and drums were played loudly.
Before rushing to the city, the princess's guard of honor stopped and was re-dressed. The various colored silks that had been prepared long ago were also tied to the carriage and horse necks. The princess's dowry also put on new clothes and hats.
.
The first thing Xia Xun did when he entered the city was to drink wedding wine.
The second son of the Marquis of Song Dynasty, and now the de facto eldest son, was getting married. Not only all the generals who were able to come, but those who could not come were also given generous gifts, including the leaders of the forts and villages, and the wealthy families.
Even the leaders and chiefs of Fan, Mongolian, Hui, Qiang and other ethnic groups came to congratulate him.
The wedding was held in a lively manner. Princess Ancheng's wedding added a touch of spring to this cool winter day.
The newly built Prince Consort's Mansion is right next to the Xining Marquis Mansion. The two mansions are connected by an archway. After the wedding is done here, they can be sent directly to the bridal chamber over there.
As Xia Xun's goddaughter, the little girl Tang Sai'er was also lucky enough to attend the wedding. As soon as they returned to the residence arranged for them by Song Sheng, the Marquis of Xining, Tang Sai'er said enthusiastically: "The bride is so beautiful!"
Xia Xun couldn't help laughing and said, "The bride is wearing a hijab. You've never seen her before, how do you know if she's pretty or not?"
Tang Saier pursed her lips and said, "That red dress is beautiful! There is a golden phoenix embroidered on it. When someone helps her to move, it looks like a cloud of fire is floating!"
On the side, Siren and Jeanne, two blond and blue-eyed beauties from Qiuci, who were moved by the scene, glanced at Xia Xun resentfully with their charming big eyes. Naturally, they did not dare to hope that one day they would be able to marry in glory, but they also
I hope there will be red candles in the bridal chamber and your husband will be with you!
They are the happy girls in the palace of Duke Fu, but in fact they are the private property of Duke Fu. Even if they get married, they cannot control it. According to the rules of ordinary wealthy families, their future prospects will either be that the owner takes over the house.
To be his concubine, you will either be sold to someone else, or you will always be a happy concubine in the palace. When you are old, if the master no longer likes to use them as decorations and is willing to be kind, he will receive a severance payment.
It's up to them to ask them to leave the house, marry someone, or join a music family.
Among various choices, they certainly hope to get the first result. No one has provided the eldest lady's maid, Qiaoyun, who has now been taken over by the owner. Although her status and treatment are not as good as those of Zi Qi, thank you two madams, they are not as good as Su Ying.
He and Xiaodi, the two concubine ladies, are the master's women after all. They have their own separate courtyard residence, and are assigned two maids to serve them. They are in charge of part of the family's property, and their monthly salary is higher than that of the maids in the inner house.
It is twice as high. If you have children in the future, the treatment will be even better.
Alas! Who said they were Mrs. Ming's personal maids? They were luckier than them in being near the water! The two girls were already ripe peaches, but they were never picked or tasted. They were lonely in spring and had not tasted them.
It's not that they are helpless. The music they play now lacks the joy and clarity of the girls back then, and instead becomes a little more lingering and melancholy.
This time, the Duke called them out and Mrs. Ming gave her explanation. The two girls were looking forward to it all the way. Unfortunately, the Duke never favored them. Maybe there were many inconveniences in the military tent along the way, but now
They have arrived in Gansu Town and have officially settled down. The two girls are worried about gains and losses. They glance at Xia Xun with a bit of resentment, maybe... and a little hungry...