After Duke Dingguo finished cursing, he felt refreshed. After taking a few steps, he suddenly became more powerful: "What do you think of Wu Ninghou's call for donations?"
Xu Xigao curled his lips and said: "It's just to show loyalty to the Long Live Lord! It's a pity that our family didn't think of this method, so we can only watch him come out on top!"
Duke Dingguo continued to walk forward slowly without looking back and said, "Is there more?"
Xu Xigao was stunned for a moment and then said slowly: "What else can there be? I can definitely win the battle, but I'm afraid I won't have a very good reputation if I'm good at provocations!"
After finishing speaking, Xu Xigao said mockingly: "That's right, he is also a noble person anyway, he doesn't need any fame!"
At this point, Dingguo Gong suddenly stopped and turned around slowly: "I know how to fool around in a day, and I can't think clearly! You can go and send Liu Haojia 20,000 taels of silver in person in a while!"
After hearing this, Xu Xigao couldn't help but open his mouth and said, "Ah?"
Duke Dingguo snorted and said, "Ah, what? If I tell you to go, just go! Also, when you come back, go to the ancestral hall and read the secret files of the ancestors in the ancestral genealogy!"
When Xu Xigao heard this, he became even more dissatisfied, and his face wrinkled up like a bitter melon! It was not until Duke Ding urged him again that he turned around and left unwillingly.
In fact, he was not dissatisfied with the 20,000 taels of silver. Twenty thousand taels of silver was nothing to Duke Dingguo. What made him unhappy was going to the ancestral hall to read the secret files.
Genealogy is an indispensable thing for a family, especially a big family! The genealogy not only records the names of which generations, but also records the major events that happened in the family every year in varying degrees of writing.
Come down. Write more about the important things and less about the unimportant ones.'
Especially for those who have made significant contributions to the family in history, or those who have reached a high position, their every move, everything that happens to them, and even the causes and consequences of the matter must be recorded in detail.
Clearly.
For such people, there are always many things that cannot be seen in the light, or how certain important matters are handled. Such things cannot be written down, and can only be recorded in the family's secret files. Such secret files can only be kept secret.
Show it to those who have the right to inherit the family, but others cannot see it even if they know it. Some people even don’t know that these things exist!
The reason for doing this is to hope that the heirs of the family can really learn something from the records of their predecessors. Moreover, it is very troublesome to read such secret files. There must be supervision by a family general. They are not allowed to copy or take out of the ancestral hall, let alone
damage!
However, the paper of those books that have been stored for tens or hundreds of years has become very brittle and will be broken if you are not careful. And the person who breaks it must be responsible for re-copying and binding, and must not use other people's hands, which is even more painful.
Yes! People who read secret files often have to copy a batch of pages again, which is very troublesome!
Two days later, Xu Xigao, who had been waiting in the ancestral hall, finally came out with a disgraced face! He couldn't wait to wash up and then had a delicious meal. Naturally, there was nothing good to eat in the ancestral hall, only dry biscuits and water, and at most he was given a piece of cake.
Pickles! After all, eating fish and meat in the ancestral hall is really disrespectful to the ancestors!
Just when Xu Xigao finally felt that he had come back to life, someone came to inform him that the Duke wanted to see him. He originally wanted to have a good sleep, but he had no choice but to go to the study.
Xu Xigao entered the study and greeted Duke Ding before sitting down at the table. What was rare was that Duke Ding actually picked up the teapot and poured him a cup of tea! Xu Xigao was flattered and took the tea without waiting for him.
After saying thank you, Duke Dingguo had already said: "Have you read all the secret files?"
Xu Xigao nodded and said, "I've finished reading it all! I've also copied and patched up the broken pages."
After being beaten, Wen Yan smiled and said, "What do you think?"
Xu Xigao said: "Let's talk about my thoughts. I finally figured out one thing. It turns out that you don't necessarily lose money in a war. As long as you win, the court can make a fortune. I don't know. Anyway, the general who leads the team will definitely make a windfall.
!”
Duke Dingguo smiled silently. This was an obvious thing to him. Otherwise, where did the wealth of Duke Guo's mansion come from? How could he really rely on the emperor's rewards to reward so many things? It's not a war.
It was obtained by plundering soldiers and forcing people to submit sacrifices during the war! However, these things cannot be recorded openly and can only be recorded in the family's secret files.
This is when Xu Xigao said: "Dad, what do you mean is that after this battle is over, we can get the money?"
Duke Dingguo glanced at his son and said, "Isn't this obvious? Our Ming Navy can be said to be invincible, how could we lose? As long as we put down the flag, in a blink of an eye, we will turn into pirates and come ashore to plunder. How much wealth will it cost?"
Can’t get it back? Just go out of the border wall and grab a batch of livestock and you can get a lot of money back!”
After speaking, Duke Dingguo saw his son's shining eyes and said, "Don't think about it at this time. No one has such great prestige and can rule so many people at the same time. Otherwise, do you think that such a noble person can't think of this? Moreover,
Now that the civil servants are in power, you will be accused of provoking provocations as soon as you come out of the border wall. Only the navy is under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family so that it will not be accused!"
Xu Xigao was immediately discouraged when he heard this, but then he said: "Then we can only watch Wu Ninghou being in the limelight! But will he steal our family's reputation among the nobles in the future?"
Duke Dingguo knew what his son meant, but he still glanced at his son before saying: "Count on your own fingers, how many noble families are related to our family by marriage? How many families have been in contact with each other for generations? How did he do it?
Rob?"
Xu Xigao couldn't help but laugh when he heard the words. Just as he was about to speak, he heard someone knocking on the door. Duke Ding immediately knew that something was urgent! Normally, no one would easily disturb the father and son when they were in the study. Dare they
There were only two or three people knocking on the door.
So Duke Dingguo sat up straight and said: "Come in."
As expected, the person who pushed in was the old housekeeper of Duke Guo's mansion. Just as he was about to salute, Duke Ding Guo stopped him and said, "No need to be rude, tell me, what is it?"
The butler put the things in his hands on the table with a confused look on his face and said, "Master, Your Majesty, this has just been sent by someone from the Wuning Hou Mansion."
Ding Guo Gong glanced at it, and the first thing he recognized was a pile of banknotes, which looked about 10,000 taels thick, and an envelope. The letter had been pulled out and placed on top of the envelope. I think the old housekeeper had read it beforehand.
Yes, that's why he has this expression.
Duke Dingguo took the letter, opened it, looked at it for a few times, and then laughed, and then handed it to Xu Xigao, who didn't know why. After he read it, he also said "Ah!?" in surprise.