On the winter solstice of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Guanzhong Plateau was a busy scene.
It is approaching the middle of winter, and it seems that a gust of wind blows out of nowhere, and the cold comes with it, freezing the Wei River and causing the entire Guanzhong to fall into an ice hole.
But the Guanzhong plateau was very lively. The cavalry was galloping in all directions, shuttling between the various military camps. There was an endless stream of carriages and horses coming from the west, and herds of cattle, sheep and horses blocked the official road.
In the Marshal's Mansion, a solemn investiture ceremony had just been held.
Du'erboda came to Taiji and was officially awarded the position of Minister of Military Affairs by Liu Chengzong, who allowed him to establish the Hexi Military Affairs Office in Xining and take charge of the military training of Hexi military and civilians.
The actual scope of responsibility of this position is actually the same as what Tatsurai did earlier at the Military Training Guard, except that the division was famous.
The ceremony is solemn simply because it symbolizes that Dalai Taiji, who was born as a general, has officially entered the center of the Marshal's Mansion with his outstanding military exploits and talents.
One thing to say is that the center of the Marshal's Mansion is quite crowded.
Because the power structure of this freak is not a pyramid, but a flagpole with a huge base.
On the pedestal, discipline and hierarchy were strict, but on the flagpole, people began to call themselves brothers again and became more open to negotiation.
Just like the generals and ministers in various places, they took advantage of the winter moon to rest their troops, handed over the defense areas of their troops to their deputies, and rushed to the new base camp, Xi'an Prefecture, to participate in the grand gathering. The banquets continued for days.
Especially in Lanzhou, his father Liu Xiangyu and his younger brother Liu Chengyun, as well as the governor of Gansu Province Cao Yao, led a group of generals to arrive in Xi'an. Liu Chengzong even held a banquet in the Palace of Qin for three days to welcome his brother.
In fact, it didn’t take three days.
Liu Chengzong and Cao Yao met again. One was a separatist warlord occupying the northwest, and the other was the governor-general who ruled a province in Gansu.
At first, the two of them were sitting in the side hall, and they could still rely on their identities. Cao Yao reported the situation in Gansu quite seriously, and Liu Chengzong listened carefully while pressing tobacco in his porcelain pipe.
But I don’t know what happened, but when Liu Shishi handed over the pipe, the two of them laughed a few times, and the familiar feeling returned.
The grand marshal and the governor's poise and dignity were all thrown aside. They just ran to the main hall where the banquet was held. The wine was strong and the meat was cut. A few drunkards were dancing and dancing to the point where they even started wrestling in the hall.
In the end, I didn’t even remember what we talked about the day before when I woke up. I just felt my mouth hurt from laughing.
Liu Xiangyu and Chengyun came the next day, held the banquet again, and repeated the process.
Of course, the only difference is that Liu Chengzong's mouth still hurts from laughing, but Chengyun's whole body hurts from being thrown.
There was no way, Cheng Yun had actually worked very hard to learn martial arts in the past few years, but it was obviously not wise enough to challenge Liu Chengzong, the big boss of the Marshal's Mansion, right from the start.
Later, he challenged Cao Yao, which was even more unwise. Liu Chengzong's Baoding wrestling was taught by Cao Yao.
In the end, in order not to lose face, Chengyun targeted the Crown Prince of Beiyuan. By virtue of his age advantage of being eight years older, Chengyun threw his nephew Ezhe, who had just turned fifteen, under his feet.
Ezhe's wrestling skills are really average.
Liu Chengzong took his adopted son with him and wanted to raise him to be a talented person. He already had too many things to learn from the Yulin camp and the gang officials, so he could not bother to practice wrestling anymore.
The family had been separated for a long time, and now they finally got together. After another two days of commotion, everyone's long-suppressed emotions were finally released and gradually subsided.
Of course, it is gratifying to reunite with old friends at a grand banquet.
But Liu Shishi’s real enjoyment will come after this.
There was a lot of joy in the Qin Palace’s bedroom at night.
Liu Shizi lay on the couch, leaning his side on Bai Liuxi's kneeling legs, comfortably enjoying Fan Sanlang's back squeeze, stretched out his left arm, and Yun Jiaoyue pinched his fingers.
His right hand was wandering by the couch, teasing three kittens with their tails raised and swaying left and right.
The old lady was getting old, so the old lady made a cat room for her in the back bedroom.
These three little guys are the cubs sired by Mr. Meibang this year, and they are quite dangerous when they are born.
The worried and frightened old lady caught the culprit, Li Hua's servant from Prince Su's Mansion in Lanzhou, confiscated the tools of the crime and turned him into Master Li Hua.
Cats in the Daming Palace are organized. According to tradition, the female cat is called so-and-so girl, and the male cat is called so-and-so boy. If the cat is castrated after being stabbed like this, he will be promoted to master so-and-so.
However, the servants, maids and masters only have a staff and are responsible for food, food and housing, but no salary.
If you want to be awarded an official title and have the qualifications to receive rewards with the internal officials during festivals and festivals, you have to be very favored and be called a so-and-so manager.
These two little guys are no exception. The old lady named them according to tradition.
One of them looks very similar to Mei Mei, and she is also a calico female cat. She was originally called San Yatou. Because she was very well-behaved, she was given the position of cat steward and stayed with the old lady.
The other two are males, because like Liu Chengzong, they expanded in an all-round way and went out in all directions. They were busy occupying the territory all day long and urinated everywhere in Prince Su's palace. The strong women in the palace often cleaned them due to exhaustion, which made the old lady unhappy and took them to Prince Qin's palace.
Lost it to Liu Shizi.
The old lady can keep the rewards and punishments unclear, but Liu Chengzong will reward the generals who are keen on conquering and plundering the land for their merits. How can he behave like he is being called around and ordered to serve as a servant all day long?
Therefore, on the first day when the two cats fell into the hands of Liu Chengzong, they inherited their mother's shadow and were appointed as the chief and deputy managers of the royal palace's rodent control team. From then on, they were no longer treated like ordinary cats, and were given the honorific titles of "raccoon control team" and "orange control team".
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Liu Shizi was enjoying it with his eyes narrowed when he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Why do I suddenly want to take Ezhe with me?"
While the family was having dinner in the evening, Mr. Liu suddenly mentioned that he wanted to take Liu Chengzong's adopted son Ezhe with him.
Liu Shizi didn't take it seriously at the time. He was holding one in each hand and teasing Ping An and Ningjing. They were just having fun. How old were the two little ones?
He just casually said that Ezhe was by his side and he was doing a good job.
Ezhe did a very good job in escorting and handing over Lian Guoshi's coffin.
But now he thought about it, thinking that his old father might be missing his elder brother, or maybe it was reminding him that he was going to have a grandson.
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But when he heard what he said, Fan Sanlang's answer was beyond his expectation: "Actually, this was Su Tai's idea. She wanted Ezhe to stay with her father, but she didn't dare to tell you."
Su Tai is Ezhe's biological mother.
"Is there anything I dare not say?"
Liu Chengzong frowned slightly. Things that others dare not tell him are usually not good for him.
The more this happened, the more he wanted to know.
He then said to Yun Jiaoyue: "Where's Su Tai? Yun Niang asked her to come over."
But as soon as Yun Jiaoyue agreed and stood up, she heard him say again: "Forget it, don't go. I'll find her again tomorrow. Sanniang will tell me what's going on first. Why is Ezhe going to his father's house?"
"Su Tai wants Ezhe to learn music from his father."
Liu Shixin said this was really strange.
Putting aside the fact that I am older than him and whether he understands music or not, Ezhe is my adopted son. Where does he plan to find a way out?
Just listen to Bai Liuxi say: "Music is just an excuse. As long as it's useless, Su Tai is willing to give up philosophy. She doesn't want her son to learn anything at all."
Liu Shizi wondered: "Why is this?"
"Sister Su Tai is very smart." Yun Jiaoyue said: "She is afraid that you will kick them and their son away. Even if Ezhe is uneducated and has no skills, he eats, drinks and has fun every day and has no ambition, he will not make a big mistake."
"But if you learn too many things and get up to lead the troops and dismount to govern the people, it will be a big deal if something goes wrong."
Liu Chengzong frowned unconsciously when he heard this statement.
However, he was not angry, and just asked in a low voice: "I agreed when I was young and let Ezhe learn music from him?"
Sanlang said: "That's not true. My father-in-law said that we should hire a good gentleman for Ezhe. He will learn the skills and become the prefect in the future."
Liu Chengzong's brows relaxed. He promised Lin Danhan that he would raise Ezhe to be a talented person. What kind of pillar would he be if he studied music with him?
But then he was stunned for a moment: "I'm older, and I have to hire a teacher specifically for E Zhe. Why doesn't he teach himself?"
Upon hearing this, both Fan Sanlang and Bai Liuxi Yunjiaoyue laughed. Bai Liuxi said with a smile: "My father-in-law said that he came to teach, which is a bad omen."
"What's this...oh!"
Liu Shishi was stunned as he said this. It turned out that Fourth Master Liu was not confident in his teaching level.
If you teach your son to rebel against your father, you are afraid of teaching your righteous grandson to rebel against your son, right?
"Who are you going to ask to teach you?"
"I don't know." Yun Jiaoyue, Su Tai and others often go hunting and have a good relationship. When Liu Chengzong asked this question, he knew that he was relieved and said with joy: "In the end, it will probably be up to the handsome man to choose.
.”
Fan Sanlang was much calmer. He squeezed his shoulders and said, "There is no rush in choosing a husband. But Ezhe has grown up. As adoptive parents, it is time for him to find a lady from a good family to marry him."
"Ezhe, are you getting married?"
"A kind family?"
Liu Shizi patted Fan Sanlang's leg, asked her to get off him, climbed up in a hurry, crossed his legs on the couch and counted with his fingers for a long time, and finally raised his head and said: "The requirements are too high, I can do both."
Very rare."
The Marshal's Mansion is certainly not a valley of villains.
You can still find some good people.
But there are some who are virtuous, some who have high moral standards, some who are like individuals, and naturally there are also quite a few who are married.
But want to find someone who can combine four characters, and also have a girl to be married to?
It's too difficult.
The three ladies couldn't help laughing when they saw him thinking hard about finding a good man.
Unexpectedly, Liu Shizi suddenly became energetic, raised a finger and said: "Hey, I really found one!"
"who?"
"There was a handsome old gentleman named Yan Zhi in Suzhou. His mother-in-law died in childbirth seventeen years ago. He vowed not to marry again and to raise his two children alone."
"You don't know that he wants money but not money, people and no one, land but not land. He works very hard to raise his children. He is a respected and righteous husband in Suzhou."
"When I was fighting in Gansu, he was recommended by his friends to join our army. He should be in Suzhou now... Strange, why did I put such a person into the army?"
Liu Chengzong shook his head, then applauded and said: "Tomorrow, at dawn, I will go to Governor Cao and ask Yan Zhi. If he is alive, I will write a letter to see if his daughter has left the cabinet."
"this……"
The three ladies looked at each other.
This man wants money but no money, no one but no one, and no land. He sounds like an unlucky guy who was forced into the army by a war disaster.
Isn’t it too small-minded?
However, none of them dared to say it. Finally, Fan Sanlang said: "With our backgrounds, the three of us don't have any sectarian views, but Su Tai used to..."
"It doesn't matter, I was thinking about Yan Zhi just because of my family background."
Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "After all, life will be spent between two people. For Yan Zhi, who is so affectionate, my daughter will definitely do it."
He originally wanted to say that if I am so affectionate, my daughter's love brain will definitely not escape, but when the words came to his lips, he still turned into: "Well, tutoring can't be bad."
"As for the official title, what's the issue? As long as Ezhe is happy and others are willing, I can give him the title that Su Tai thinks his in-law should have."
Liu Chengzong spread his hands and almost killed everyone with a good family status in the northwest. Those who were not killed were tortured to the point where they no longer had a good family status.
As for the generals and colonels who are high-ranking officials in the Marshal's Palace and are well-paid, there are young men and women there. Where can I find a suitable home for Ezhe's daughter?
Ezhe's status was inherently sensitive, and even if his general had a suitable daughter's family, Liu Chengzong would not be willing to let him marry him.
What's more, even if his old brothers really have such a daughter of school age, what kind of tutoring can they have?
It's really not as good as Yan Zhi.
"Unless you find a female queen from Han, Su, and Qin, there are quite a few."
Liu Shizi shook his head as he said this: "I don't mind, it just depends on whether Su Tai dares to take it."
Bai Liuxi glanced at Yun Jiaoyue, and they both shook their heads and said, "I'm afraid I wouldn't dare."
Just kidding, Su Tai was so eager to protect his son that he didn't even have the guts to let Ezhe lead the army. How could he dare to find a female queen from the Ming Dynasty royal family as his daughter-in-law?
Liu Shishi can actually understand Su Tai, and this is because he must be on guard against others.
At present, as the marshal's army has established garrison brigades, each brigade has more than a thousand Mongolian cavalry, which has overthrown the aristocratic power of the Northern Yuan Khan Court.
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After all, the Mongolian tribes where the Marshal's Mansion is located in Qinghai don't have many old, weak, women and children. Marrying an aunt in Qinghai in the past two years has been a luxury.
Not only the ordinary herdsmen, but also the Chahar nobles, whose tents were abandoned at sea during the war with Oirat, many of them remarried bachelors from the Marshal's Army.
But I really can’t blame others. Lin Dan, the Great Khan, marched sparsely, and his troops were all over the place in Qinghai. Not to mention that many people did not come back during the war. Great Khan Bintian and Liu Chengzong were all sweating before they came back.
After all, the situation at that time was too chaotic. There were Oirat's troops overseas, smallpox in Bajiao City, and Chahar's army was in dire straits.
The Khan had died, and all the ladies had remarried. Naturally, the mothers-in-law and children who stayed at sea thought that everyone was dead and had no food and clothing, so of course they remarried.
This caused the nobles who later ran back and were captured and released by Oirat to feel quite resentful.
When Liu Chengzong was in Qinghai, people did not dare to speak. As soon as Liu Shizi led his troops to the east, horse bandits broke out in Qinghai.
In fact, it was a relatively good environment back then. After all, there were women, but as competitors, the bachelors of the Marshal Army were relatively powerful.
Nowadays, there are only so many women in Qinghai. Those who can marry have already married. Those who have not escaped to their mother-in-law can only fight for the number of troops in a marshal's garrison brigade. They can obtain rich and noble titles with swords and go to the Han Dynasty.
Ask for an aunt.
In this situation, who can care about Ezhe?
But Liu Chengzong didn't have such evil intentions. If he wanted to kill them, he would have killed them all before Lin Danhan died.
Since he promised Lin Danhan, he will keep his promise and provide Ezhe with adequate food and clothing for the rest of his life.
Liu Chengzong shook his head slightly, then opened his hands to hug the three of them into his arms, saying: "We can talk about the adopted son later, but we should find a legitimate son now."