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After the New Year, it was the fifth year of Xianding in Song Dynasty.
This is the year of Jiazi, the year of the rat.
On the third day of the first lunar month, the sky was dark and Li Xia opened his eyes.
The festive atmosphere of the New Year had just passed. He calculated that it had been eight years since he was reborn, and this was the ninth year.
Fortunately, he is still very young, only twenty-four years old.
But if you consider the many ideals you want to achieve in this life, you still have a sense of urgency.
Just when Li Xia wanted to get up, Han Qiaoer had already put a hand on him.
"Brother Li... I won't exercise today. I'll just lie down with Qiao'er for a while..."
Her voice was all garbled, but Han Qiaoer actually hadn't woken up yet, looking lost in the lake.
Compared to the dark and skinny little girl back then, she has become a woman, with delicate and fair skin, a bit of blush still remaining on her face, and strands of hair.
Li Xia also wanted to hug her and lie there for a while, but after looking at the dim light coming through the paper window, he asked instead: "How about Qiao'er getting up and doing morning exercises with me too?"
"No, I'm pregnant."
Two years ago, Han Qiaoer envied Zhang Wenjing for not having to do morning exercises. Now she can finally skip morning exercises with a clear conscience. Although she has always skipped morning exercises.
Li Xia said: "It's just that my period hasn't come yet, so it doesn't necessarily mean I'm pregnant."
"Definitely is."
Twenty-year-old Han Qiaoer is actually still like a child who has not grown up. With Li Xia's pampering, she just wants to play every day. A few days ago she was playing hide-and-seek with Nian'er. But this is not the same as her wanting to have a child.
Do not conflict.
In any case, she didn't plan to go for morning exercises. As soon as she turned over, she fell asleep again before she could even close her mouth.
Li Xia stood up and left the bed of warm and fragrant soft jade.
…
The long sword passed by with a wave, and was pushed back onto the weapon rack again, making a "crack" sound.
The weather was still very cold, and Li Xia's body was already steaming. It was Tang Anan who helped him wash up and change clothes.
Entering the hall, they saw that Gao Mingyue and Nian'er had already arranged breakfast.
Li Xia was not particular about food. There were only two cooks in the kitchen of Prince Qin's mansion who had followed him since Qingfu County, and they had no skills. Breakfast was nothing more than noodle soup or various cakes with milk and eggs.
If there is any difference from ordinary people, it is simply because he has the respect of the King of Qin and needs to guard against being poisoned.
"Wen Jing and Qiao'er are sleeping in again and won't wait for them."
Now Gao Mingyue and Nian'er are pregnant, but their bellies are not very visible yet.
Gao Mingyue sat there and peeled an egg for Li Xia, and asked: "Yesterday, when you came back from the front yard, did you see the two young ladies who were chatting with me?"
"Huh? Not very impressed."
"The third sister of Wu Zhonglang's family, the younger sister of Hu Jinshi who is studying and teaching in Xingyuan Prefecture, do you think they are beautiful?"
"Standing next to you, they pale in silence, I'm serious."
Gao Mingyue was a little annoyed but then glanced at Li Xia happily, and said: "I still hope that you can recruit a few more ladies."
Li Xia understood what this meant...
Assuming that he really accepts the third sister of the Wu family now, if he wins the world in the future, the third sister of Wu will at least be a concubine. If he gives birth to a son again, not to mention fighting for the throne, at least he will have a king.
Then Concubine Wu, who was born in Huzhou and whose ancestral home is Ningguo, can represent many people in Jiangnan. At least when there is a problem, someone will come forward.
This is no small matter.
Today, everyone is helping Li Xia fight for the world. Will Li Xia favor the south or the north tomorrow? Or when someone wants to fight for the interests of his hometown, will there be someone around Li Xia who can help him and say a good word?
In the affairs of the world, the concern is not about the few but about the inequality. Nowadays, one of the princesses in the Qin Palace is from Dali, and the two concubines are both from the north.
As for Tang An'an, although Nian'er can be regarded as a Lin'an person, he was born in poverty and cannot actually represent the Jiangnan scholars.
Not only to represent interests, but also various ideas and etiquette.
For example, Tang Anan would say to Li Xia, "Refugees are so pitiful" because she was born among refugees. But she would not say to Li Xia, "Sister Jiang is too immoral" when she saw Jiang Di, because
She has not been educated in the etiquette of a lady.
Only when Li Xia accepted a lady like Sister Wu, would someone remind King Qin that "it's not good to run around", "it's not good to eat watermelon on the roadside", "it's too dangerous to go to the battlefield in person" and so on.
Many people hope that the King of Qin can accept some ladies from Jiangnan.
Of course, maybe there is not so much thought, but it is possible that there are many daughters of vassals who want to marry Li Xia.
Li Xia does not object to this matter. As long as it is necessary, there is nothing he can't do.
But it's not necessary right now, it's far from the time when he is needed to appease the people of Jiangnan.
And if you look at personal preference, Sister Wu doesn't look pretty, and is a bit dull and boring.
Li Xia then replied: "No, don't pay attention to them. Now they want to meddle in my private affairs. It's better to let them handle official affairs in peace."
Gao Mingyue then whispered teasingly into Li Xia's ear: "Then...if An An becomes pregnant too, there will be no one at home to play with you."
"The Indestructible King of the Great Village"
Since the war came to an end last year, Li Xia has finally stopped traveling. Gao Mingyue and Nian'er have become pregnant one after another. Last month, Zhang Wenjing got pregnant again. In the past few days, even Han Qiaoer said that her menstruation has stopped.
If everything goes smoothly, Li Xia will have a total of six children in the second half of this year.
Maybe in three to five years, the number of his children will be ten.
The days are peaceful...
When Li Xia left the back house, he couldn't help but turn his head and look at the armor hanging there. He remembered that the last time he wore armor was during the military exercise in October, and he was busy with Guanzhong Water Conservancy after that.
He reached out and touched it. He had not worn the armor for two months and there was already a thin layer of dust on it.
~~
When he arrived at the front office and sat down in the hall, Li Xia first asked: "Is there any new news from the Military Intelligence Department?"
"Your Majesty, no." Guan De responded in a low voice, "Xiangong Han is already waiting for me in the meeting room."
Li Xia nodded, first picked up the official document on the eucalyptus and took a look at it.
What the Military Intelligence Department handed over was still the same trivial matters as yesterday, and there was no information about anything related to the grassland and Brother Ali.
He approved several official documents and then moved to the meeting room.
Han Qi'an was sitting there sorting out documents. He stood up and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, have a prosperous New Year."
"If you are born in Jiazi, the world will be prosperous."
Li Xia would only make jokes about this Year of the Year with people he knew well, and then said: "Let's discuss this year's plans first."
This is an old habit. Every year, Li Xia will summarize the past year and plan for the new year. The Hantai shogunate will hold a meeting before the New Year.
To sum up last year, it was to defend Kublai Khan's offensive and vigorously reclaim Guanzhong; this year it is much simpler. What Li Xia said was "development and accumulation."
What he lacks most is accumulation.
Ever since he became the captain of Qingfu County, he has almost never stopped expanding. He has been squeezing out all the manpower and material resources to fight the war as much as he has.
Just like a gambler, every time he bets all his money on the gambling table, he will immediately move on to the next bet after winning. Li Xia is always winning, so he has won from nothing to his current wealth in the shortest possible time.
But in this process, he did not have time to accumulate. A few years ago, he was gambling penny for penny with the Yangtze River bandits. He had just gained some wealth, but he had to play a gamble with Kublai Khan for a thousand gold a penny.
You can’t afford to lose, so you need to accumulate...
"This year we can finally take a breather." Han Qian said: "There should be no war."
"If there is a chance, Xingqing Prefecture or Yan'an Prefecture can still fight."
"After all, it is a small battle outside the country." Han Qian asked with a smile: "It is rare that there is no enemy invading the territory for a year. It has never happened since the king entered Shu, right?"
Li Xia said: "I'm not used to it."
"You can't get used to it even if you want to." Han Qi'an didn't know whether he was joking or smiling bitterly, and said, "I'm afraid these two years will be my last chance to breathe."
"Well, it seems that the battle for the throne has come to a decisive stage. No matter who wins, they will definitely attack with all their strength."
At this point, Li Xia began to think about the situation in the northwest again, and said to himself: "I think Kublai Khan should win, but even if I have enough reasons to make this conjecture, it is still difficult to determine what happened on the battlefield."
"I can't be sure." Han Qi'an said: "We are thousands of miles apart, how can we be sure?"
Han Qi'an was not interested in the Mongolian Civil War and had already picked up his documents and was preparing to discuss with Li Xia.
"Five thousand miles."
"What?"
Li Xia said: "Not ten thousand miles away. According to what Yelu Xiliang said, the Chagatai Khanate set up its tent in Ali Mali. This is also the place where the decisive battle between Ali Buge and Ahuru took place. It is about five thousand miles away."
"What's the difference between more than five thousand miles and ten thousand miles? It's impossible for the king to send troops to Ali Mali."
"Well, I don't have the strength." Li Xia said: "It can be seen that Alibu's strength is actually far superior to mine."
"It's not that he's incompetent in terms of strength, he's incompetent as a person." Han Qi'an sighed: "He is still competing with Kublai Khan for the throne, but he has to turn around and fight to the death with his former followers..."
Having said this, he didn't know how to comment on Ali's lack of brotherhood. Han Qian shook his head.
"Your Majesty, there are very few variables in the Western Region. We just hope it can give us a few years to survive and cope with the war in the future."
The topic finally moved from Brother Alibaba back to business.
What needs to be done is simple to say, but very tedious to do.
"This year's several plans include developing fields and increasing grain, which are people's livelihood; building forts, training troops, raising horses, smelting iron and making firearms, which are national defense; rectifying the administration of officials, maintaining political clarity, and doing things efficiently, which are political affairs. Other than that,
, in order to govern the Han people, Kublai Khan still knew how to preach that 'whoever practices the Chinese way will be the master of China'. How can we deal with the Mongolian and Semu people but we also have to have some opinions..."