Chapter 325 His Majesty Wants Xue Rengui to be in Command
As soon as Li Ji entered the study, he went straight to the point: "Chengsi, do you know who the most popular person in the army is right now?"
Wu Chengsi thought for a moment and said, "It must be General Xue."
Su Dingfang shouted: "Yes, it's him. In the past few months, your Majesty has continued to reward Xue Rengui. Not only did he become Duke Ping, he also knighted several of his sons."
Li Ji said solemnly: "We both feel that in the future war with Tubo, His Majesty plans to let Xue Rengui take command."
Wu Chengsi was silent for a while and asked: "What is aunt's attitude towards this matter?"
Li Ji frowned and said, "Perhaps because Xue Rengui has always remained neutral, Her Royal Highness the Queen did not object."
Wu Chengsi was silent.
Su Dingfang sighed: "That boy Xue Rengui is indeed quite capable in fighting, but Lao Li and I both felt that it would be more appropriate for you to take charge, so when His Majesty asked us about our attitude, we did not answer directly."
Wu Chengsi felt a little heavy in his heart.
Although he did not think that he would be better than Xue Rengui when leading troops, he had the advantage of making good use of firearms. Especially against opponents like Tubo, artillery was more effective in attacking fortresses.
More importantly, Xue Rengui's biggest defeat in his life was against the Tubo people.
Li Ji twisted his beard and said: "If we strongly support you at this time, I'm afraid it will have the opposite effect. Chengsi, what do you think?"
Wu Chengsi felt the same way. He was now too sharp and could easily arouse the emperor's fear.
If you compete with Xue Rengui for the right to lead the army at this time, you are not sure of winning, and it is easy to put yourself on the fire rack.
After all, he was not sure of defeating the Tubo Kingdom. Even if he won the right to lead the army, the pressure would be great.
If you win, others will only say that you deserve it. If you lose, your lifelong fame will be in vain.
It would be better to let Xue Rengui go. It doesn't matter if he wins. After all, he is not from King Pei, and he has Xue Yujin's relationship with him.
If he loses, he can take over and there won't be so much pressure.
Thinking of this, Wu Chengsi said: "Since Your Majesty wants Xue Rengui to lead the army, let him go. Anyway, I am still young and I will still have a chance in the future."
Su Dingfang laughed and said: "Yes, you can take it up and put it down. That's what a good man should be like."
"Mr. Su is overly praised."
Li Ji smiled and said: "Chengsi, I heard that you are practicing navy in Yangzhou, not just to deal with a few pirates, right?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, my son-in-law does have other plans."
"You don't want to attack Japan, do you?" Su Dingfang glared.
Wu Chengsi's eyes lit up and he said coldly: "My goal is the Japanese country!"
Su Dingfang frowned, tugged at his beard, thought for a long time, and said: "Logically speaking, it is impossible to defeat Japan with only 20,000 naval troops. This is simply a fantasy."
He glanced at Wu Chengsi and saw that his face was calm, and then said: "But based on the battles you have fought in the past, you always have your own intentions in doing things. Tell me, do you have anything to rely on?"
Wu Chengsi smiled and said: "You can say that, but the thing hasn't been made yet, so I can only give it a try now."
Li Ji smiled and said, "I know you never do anything you are unsure of. Since you don't tell us, we won't ask any more questions."
Wu Chengsi suddenly said: "By the way, why didn't Mr. Liu come with you?"
Su Dingfang's face instantly darkened, and he said coldly: "Don't mention him."
"What's wrong?" Wu Chengsi asked hurriedly.
Li Ji sighed and said: "Didn't you file a petition to remove Yang Sijian from the position of naval commander some time ago? Liu Rengui sided with the prince in the court and accused you of doing something wrong. Old Su and I argued with him."
Su Dingfang said with a dark face: "Since this incident, we have cut off contact with him."
Wu Chengsi sighed deeply. No matter how selfless a person is, he has to consider his family in his later years.
The interests of Liu Rengui's family have been tied to the prince, just like the interests of Su Dingfang and Li Ji have been tied to him.
Friendship appears to be very fragile in the face of political stance.
From now on, Liu Rengui may not support him anymore.
After Li Ji and Su Dingfang said goodbye and left, Li Zhiying finally finished taking a shower.
"Husband, did grandfather leave so soon?"
In the bedroom, Li Zhiying looked in the mirror, asking two maids to take care of her hair, while asking Wu Chengsi in the mirror.
"Well, he asked us to come over for dinner in the evening." Wu Chengsi replied.
Li Zhiying smiled and said: "Husband, Yu Jin may come over later. I heard her say that there is a big lake in the palace. She asked me to go swimming in the lake together. Can you go with us?"
Wu Chengsi asked curiously: "When did you listen to what she said? When did she come over to ask you out?"
Li Zhiying raised her hand and saw a letter between her fingers. Wu Chengsi understood that Xue Yujin had sent someone to write a letter to make an appointment with his wife.
Just as he was about to answer, a maid from outside the door suddenly came in and announced, "Your Majesty, Your Highness the Princess, please come over."
Wu Chengsi waved his hand and said, "I understand." He turned to look at his wife and said with a smile, "Zhiying, look..."
Li Zhiying sighed and said: "Since my cousin invites you over, you can go. But we have to go to my grandfather's place for dinner in the evening, so you have to come back early."
Wu Chengsi agreed and left the small hall.
The entire palace is centered on Li Zhi's Qianlong Hall, accompanied by Wu Mei's Kunfeng Hall, and other palaces are distributed around the two palaces like stars over the moon.
Princess Taiping's palace is very close to Wu Mei's palace. Her palace is also larger than Wu Chengsi's, and this palace also has a nice name - Jinrong Palace.
Wu Chengsi walked north along the bluestone road. After turning a few turns, a palace with blue bricks and blue tiles appeared in front of him.
This is Jinrong Hall.
From a distance, you can see Princess Taiping leaning on the railing and looking over here. Behind her is a handsome man in his thirties, who is Zhang Gou.
Wu Chengsi quickened his pace, and Princess Taiping also held up her skirt and ran down the stone stairs.
After the two got close, Wu Chengsi was about to speak, but Princess Taiping jumped forward and hugged him directly around the neck.
Zhang Gou behind him lowered his head slightly after seeing Princess Taiping and Wu Chengsi hugging each other.
"Second cousin, how are you going to reward me this time?" Princess Taiping said with a smile.
When Wu Chengsi heard what she said, he knew that she had taken care of everything here. He pinched her nose and said with a smile: "You are my sister, shouldn't you do something for me?"
Princess Taiping corrected her: "It's not a girl, it's a cousin!"
Wu Chengsi didn't take it seriously, took out a jade hairpin from his sleeve and said, "This is a gift for you."
Princess Taiping smiled sweetly and said: "That's pretty much it. Where did this jade hairpin come from? Was it a gift from a small country in the south?"
Wu Chengsi's expression froze slightly, and he said, "Just take it for you, there are so many words." In fact, he took it when he seized the property of the Fire Phoenix Society.
He was too embarrassed to give such a thing to his wife, so it was just right to give it to Princess Taiping.
Princess Taiping didn't ask any more, she took off a luxurious and exquisite phoenix hairpin from her head and replaced it with the jade hairpin given by Wu Chengsi.
Then he took Wu Chengsi's hand and walked all the way to a room in Jinrong Hall.
Wu Chengsi and Princess Taiping's personal guards were guarding outside the palace, and the serving maids and eunuchs were also dismissed by Princess Taiping.
Suddenly, only Wu Chengsi, Princess Taiping and Zhang Gou were left in the palace.
Wu Chengsi immediately asked: "Zhang Gou, have you found your father?"
Zhang Gou nodded and said gratefully: "My father is in the palace, and if Her Royal Highness hadn't rescued him, my father would have been silenced by them."
"What's going on? Please tell me in detail what's going on here." Wu Chengsi asked with concern.
Zhang Goudao: "Back to Your Highness, it's like this. When we arrived at the palace, we found that it was being renovated. The general supervisor was in charge, and my father was disguised as a craftsman working on the renovation."
Wu Chengsi nodded. He had known for a long time that the King of Yue and the others were using the excuse of renovating the palace to set up traps.
"With the help of Her Royal Highness, my father and I secretly met and gave him your instructions. After my father completed the matter, he told me that they might have to silence him."
"After hearing about it, Her Royal Highness the Princess deliberately found a pavilion built by her father in the palace. She ordered people to call her father and praised him for the good work he had built. She also said that she would ask Her Royal Highness the Queen for a decree to commend him."
Wu Chengsi nodded secretly. In this way, they would not dare to silence Zhang Qiming easily, in case they would not be able to see anyone when Empress Wu summoned him.
Wu Chengsi asked: "Then where is your father now?"
"Three days before Your Majesty and the Queen came, my father was taken away by them and disappeared." Zhang Gou answered with his head lowered.
Wu Chengsi patted his shoulder and said, "If you bear with it for a few more days, your father will be fine."
Zhang Gou suddenly knelt down on one knee and said: "Your Highness, the common people hope to work under you. No matter what you ask me to do, I am willing to do it. Please take me in."
Wu Chengsi was silent for a while and asked: "What are you good at?"
Zhang Gou raised his head and said: "At that time, our ancestors were proficient in making gold, silver, iron and stone. Master Yang learned how to make gold and silverware, Master Xu learned how to make ironware, and my father learned how to make stone tools. Although I am not talented, my father's
I also learned eight points about my craftsmanship.”
Wu Chengsi's eyes were shining and he said, "You said Xu Changshi is good at refining iron tools?"
Zhang Gou was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes."
Wu Chengsi was overjoyed. What he needed most now was iron-making talents. Xu Yuanju was Yang Wulian's junior brother, and his skills were beyond praise.
Although stone tools are not as urgently needed as iron tools, they can also be used to build bridges and roads. Such infrastructure talents will not be as useful in building a country as the military in the future.
He immediately helped Zhang Gou up and said with a smile: "You can follow me from now on."
Zhang Gou said happily: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
Princess Taiping couldn't say anything for a long time, and finally couldn't help but said: "Second cousin, do you know where the stone monument is?"
Wu Chengsi's eyes narrowed and he asked: "Where is it?"
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "It's in Yanwei Lake!"
Yanwei Lake is located to the south of the palace. Although there are more than one lake in the palace, Yanwei Lake is undoubtedly the largest.
Xue Yujin came two days earlier and had a better understanding of the situation in the palace. Along the way, just like the master, he introduced the situation of Yanwei Lake to Li Zhiying.
"This lake is not only very big, but it is also connected to the Bian River through an artificial river. There is also a dock on the west side of the lake. I heard that most of the items for sacrifices were transported to Yanwei Lake by water." Sitting in a carriage.
Xue Yujin explained.
Li Zhiying said with a smile: "I heard Wu Lang say that those dragon boats for transporting sacrifices were built by the Luo family, one of the three major shipping merchants in Yangzhou."
Xue Yujin took the opportunity to ask: "I heard that Yangzhou is more beautiful than Jianghuai. Is it true?"
Li Zhiying smiled and said: "It's okay."
"What do you mean it's okay? I heard that Yangzhou's lacquer-backed gold flower mirrors are the most famous. Have you bought one to take a look?"
Li Zhiying shook her head.
"Have you always been to the four most beautiful places in Yangzhou, Wansong Mountain, Qianqian Dun, Ivory Forest, and Sunflower Hill?"
"I haven't had time to go yet."
Xue Yujin curled his lips and said, "It's probably your husband who didn't take you there."
Li Zhiying hurriedly explained: "No, I didn't want to go. By the way, he took me to eat squirrel mandarin fish, money shrimp cakes, ivory chicken strips and sunflower chopped meat."
Xue Yujin asked curiously: "Is there anything special about these four dishes?"
Li Zhiying covered her mouth and smiled: "I thought you knew when you mentioned the four great beauties."
Xue Yujin's face turned red as she said, "Tell me quickly, what's so special about these four dishes!"
Li Zhiying said with a smile: "I also heard about this from my grandfather. He said that the former Sui Emperor Yang Guang once took his concubines and civil and military ministers along the Grand Canal to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. When passing through Yangzhou, he wanted to see the Qionghua in Yangzhou."
"On the way, he also visited Wansong Mountain, Qianqian Dun, Ivory Forest and Sunflower Hill. When he returned to the palace, in order to commemorate this trip, he asked the imperial chef to make four dishes based on the four scenes."
Xue Yujin realized it and said, "Are those four dishes the four you just mentioned?"
Li Zhiying smiled and nodded.
Xue Yujin envied: "It's different after you get married. Someone will take you to eat delicious food."
Li Zhiying smiled and said nothing. Hong Ming next to her couldn't help but said: "Miss Yujin, is this inappropriate for you to say?"
Xue Yujin snorted: "Why is it inappropriate?"
"As long as you open your mouth, let alone your brothers, the other young men who are pursuing you will not rush to deliver food to your house." Hong Ming said with a flat mouth, she was really envious.
Xue Yujin shook his head and said with a smile: "You silly girl, those people are either the prince's party or the people of King Pei. If I get involved with them, your young lady will not agree to it."
Li Zhiying actually did not deny it and said with a smile: "That's not necessarily the case. If there is one person, I won't object."
"who is it?"
"Huainan Duke Li Fan."
Xue Yujin suddenly became unhappy and said: "That embroidered pillow doesn't have any martial arts skills. Who can think highly of him?"
Li Zhiying said: "I heard that he is respectful and upright, quite like His Royal Highness Prince Zheng, and he is also very knowledgeable."
Xue Yujin hummed: "What's the use of just being knowledgeable? It can't protect the family and the country. The man I'm looking for in the future must be, among other things, at least a hero on the battlefield."
Li Zhiying herself was happily married, so she wanted to find a suitable husband for her friend. She thought: "Wu Lang has many young generals under his command. We can discuss this matter with him some other time."
Not long after, the carriage arrived at Yanwei Lake. Li Zhiying and Xue Yujin got out of the carriage. As soon as they reached the river bank, they both frowned.
In order to make it easier to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the river bank, a row of wooden promenades were specially built here to connect to the river bank. On the promenade, there were men and women in colorful clothes standing in groups.
These people were either descendants of the founding heroes with titles, or relatives of the emperor, or children of the clan.
For the emperor, empress, and civil and military officials, this ceremony was solemn and solemn, but for these young nobles, this ceremony was more like an outing.
In fact, Li Zhiying and Xue Yujin also have this mentality.
If these people were just having fun, they wouldn't frown.
However, these people are watching a good show on the lake, a show that treats people as games.
Looking towards the lake, I saw two groups of people playing a water polo match.
The so-called water polo is to tie a wooden ball to a person's head. There are four people participating in the competition, two people in groups, one side and one boat.
One of them is responsible for rowing the boat, and the other is holding a wooden stick with a noose on it.
At the beginning of the game, the two boats started from the starting point like a race, and the person holding the water balloon was ten feet away from them.
Whoever hooks the wooden ball with the rope first and then drags it to the end point formed by the two wooden sticks wins.
This test not only tests the rowing speed of the rower, but also tests the skills of the hooking hand. It is very enjoyable to watch. It has to be said that the person who created this game is quite talented.
Li Zhiying was angry and surprised when she saw someone playing this kind of game on Yanwei Lake.
Not far away from the two of them, there was a handsome man in yellow who was talking to several women.
The women were all wearing gorgeous skirts and holding round fans in their hands. They were all of extraordinary temperament. Every time the man said something, they would cover their little mouths with round fans and smile coquettishly.
At this moment, the man in yellow suddenly noticed Li Zhiying and Xue Yujin. Without hesitation, he left the woman beside him and walked towards them.
"Miss Yujin, Your Highness the Princess, please be polite." The man in yellow approached and bowed his hands respectfully.
Xue Yujin glanced at him and said nothing. Li Zhiying smiled and said, "Mr. Huainan is polite."
This man in yellow is none other than Duke Li Fan of Huainan whom she just mentioned, and he is also the second son of Prince Zheng Li Yuanli.
Xue Yujin didn't waste much time and asked directly: "Hey, do you know what's going on? Why would someone play this kind of game here?"
Li Fan quickly pointed in a direction and said, "Look over there."
The two of them followed his fingers and immediately discovered a large boat on the lake. At the bow of the boat, someone could faintly see someone holding two canopies, and two women were sitting underneath.
Xue Yujin had sharp eyes and frowned: "It seems to be the crown prince's concubine and Princess Pei."
Li Fan smiled and said: "It was the two of them. The poor guy who was treated as a water polo offended these two people. Because both of them were vying to deal with this person, but no one was willing to give in, so they came up with this idea.
Whoever wins will be dealt with."
Xue Yujin said angrily: "You can still laugh. When you see them bullying people like this, why don't you stop them?"
Li Fan smiled bitterly and said, "Even if I want to stop them, they won't listen to me."
Li Zhiying looked at the river and saw that the man who was used as a water balloon had been tied around the neck with a noose on a wooden stick and dragged on the water.
"Who is that person, and how did he offend the crown prince's concubine and Princess Pei?" she asked.
Li Fan said: "It's a craftsman who will serve as a prisoner. It seems that the craftsman offended them because he refused to let them take a boat trip to the lake."
Li Zhiying was even more surprised. It was simply unbelievable that a small craftsman dared to stop the Crown Princess and the Princess.