Han Du opened the land deed and checked it over. The land deed states in detail that the real land is only 800 acres, and the remaining 200 acres are offset by barren hills and river beaches, with the consent and seal of Yingtian Mansion. After confirming that it was correct, Han Du collected the land deed.
He took out a few rolls of treasure notes, four hundred guan, and secretly stuffed them into Hu Da's hands. Han Du said, "It's hard work for you to make a trip. You go and have tea."
Hu Dayong noticed Han Du's movements, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly tried his best to evade, "Well, there is no need... Mr. Hou, there is really no need..."
He, Hu Dayong, didn't do this because he was counting on Han Du's money. He paid such a high price, so he naturally had a greater purpose. I want to take this opportunity to climb up to Zhenhaihou Mansion. As long as the Han Mansion accepts this great gift from him, he will have the opportunity to find the Han Mansion in the future, and he will naturally turn this opportunity into a relationship with the Han Mansion.
But there are people outside, and each mountain is higher than the other. He, Hu Dayong, wanted to use this to gain access to the Han Mansion, but Han Du himself was not willing. Give him money directly, and force money into the relationship between him and yourself.
The advantage of this is that in the future, Han Du can use Hu Dayong to advance, attack, retreat and defend. If Hu Dayong's request is reasonable, Han Du can help him out of today's affection. But if Hu Dayong is too ambitious, then Han Du can also use these treasure notes to make trouble.
Maybe the money Han Du gave was not enough to buy so much land. But no matter how much money it is, as long as Hu Dayong takes over, the nature of the matter will change from friendship to transaction.
In other words, Han Du took this opportunity to take the initiative in this matter.
Hu Dayong naturally understood that he could not accept the money, but as a fourth-grade official, how could he refuse Han Du? Under Han Du's repeated insistence, Hu Dayong could only reluctantly accept the treasure note.
Suddenly they had more than 2,000 acres of land. The Han family happily returned home in a carriage. Mrs. Liu was especially happy. They were thinking about what to plant in such a large amount of land and how to plant each type of land. How many should be planted.
Hu Dayong was left alone, standing messy in the wind with four hundred banknotes, wanting to cry but without tears.
...
The excitement in Liang Guogong's mansion finally subsided slowly.
At this time, Han Du came to the door with a gift list. I originally thought that I had been to the Yongchang Hou Mansion many times and there should be no problem. Who knew that I was stopped just as I walked to the door.
"Stand! What are you doing? Don't you know this is the Duke of Liang's mansion? How can you be allowed to break in?" A guard saw that Han Du didn't even say hello and was about to walk into the mansion. He suddenly stood up and held the handle of his knife. , stopped Han Du aggressively.
Han Du looked himself up and down and made sure that he was wearing marquis clothes today, not regular clothes. He tugged at his robe to indicate what he was wearing, raised his eyes and said to the guard: "Look clearly, we are the Marquis. Can't I still go in?"
Unexpectedly, after listening to Han Du's words, the guard not only did not move away, but said with an even more contemptuous expression: "This is the Duke of Liang's Mansion, what does the Marquis mean? The number of Marquises who have come to the mansion in the past few days ranges from 100 to 80."
Han Du suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked at the guard in front of him speechlessly. I don’t know how many handu there were in the Ming Dynasty, but there were certainly not eighty, or even
Not even fifty are still alive.
Just when Han Du's face darkened and he was about to get angry, the former butler of Yongchang Hou's Mansion and now the butler of Liang Guogong's Mansion saw Han Du being stopped at the door and hurriedly walked out.
"Master Marquis is here? Oops, Marquis Zhenhai, you are here." The butler smiled with a smile on his face, holding up a corner of his gown, and hurried out the door, hunched over in front of Han Du with a smile on his face.
When the guard saw the butler treating the man in front of him so grovelingly, he was stunned and stunned.
When the housekeeper saw that the guard was still blocking Han Du, he immediately cursed: "I'm blinding you. This is the Marquis of Zhenhai, my sworn brother. Get out of here."
"Oh, oh..." When the guard heard Han Du's identity, he was so frightened that he quickly moved aside, lowering his head and not daring to face Han Du again. He was even afraid that Han Du would remember his face. , meaning to settle accounts with him.
After scolding the guard and leaving, the butler said to Han Du with a smile on his face: "My father-in-law has been talking about the Marquis these days. The Marquis has come at the right time. Please come in quickly."
In front of the housekeeper, an old acquaintance, Han Du couldn't get angry, so he had to follow him in first. After passing the gate, Han Du took out the gift list and handed it to the butler, "I am very happy that my brother has been granted the title of Duke. This is a small tribute from us."
The butler took the gift list with a smile and said politely: "What is the relationship between the Marquis and the Duke? I will be happy enough to be able to come and talk to the Duke. Please come!"
Han Du followed the housekeeper to the inner hall, where Lan Yu was sitting with all the food and wine on the table.
When Han Du saw Lan Yu, he immediately smiled and walked in with his hands in hand, and congratulated: "My brother's wish for many years has come true. Congratulations."
A smile appeared on Lan Yu's face, but she said with a bit of complaint: "We thought you wouldn't come because you don't care about me, Duke Liang."
Han Du smiled and shook his head, walked to sit next to Lan Yu, reached out and poured himself a glass of wine, saluted Lan Yu, and said, "Isn't it because I know that my brother has been very busy the past few days and has no free time. No, As soon as I heard that my brother was quiet here, wouldn't we come?
If the elder brother still has complaints, how about the younger brother punishing himself with a cup of wine as an apology to his elder brother? "
As he said that, he was about to drink the wine in the glass, but he was held down by Lan Jade's sharp eyes and quick hands.
Han Du didn't understand what Lan Yu meant and looked into his eyes doubtfully.
Lan Yu smiled and said, "It's not your duty to apologize to us, it's our duty to apologize to you, my dear brother."
"Brother, this..." Han Du wanted to speak, and even more wanted to break free from Lan Yu's hand. But how could he, a scholar, be a match for Lan Yu, a fierce warrior on the battlefield?
I just feel like the iron pliers on the back of my hand are clamping down, and they won't budge no matter how hard I try.
Lan Yu held up the wine glass with her other hand and toasted Han Du, "Tsk, tsk, this drink is for you to plead for us. To be honest, it felt uncomfortable to be locked up in prison. At that time, we didn't know what else we could do. You can't come out. You are such a righteous brother that you can kneel outside the Fengtian Palace for three days and three nights holding the imperial seal to plead for our mercy."
After finishing speaking, Lan Yu let go of Han Du's hand.
Han Du then said with a smile: "Brother, when I was in prison, wasn't it my brother who took action to save the lives of the Han family? This is what I should do."
"The First Clan"
animal husbandry
Shi heard Han Du coming and came over quickly, just in time to hear the conversation between Lan Yu and Han Du. Recalling that Lan Yu was imprisoned after returning to Beijing, the entire Yongchang Hou family was panicked, but they were helpless. Even begging His Highness the Crown Prince for mercy was in vain. Mu, the matron of the house, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. . In the end, it was because Han Du begged for three days and three nights that the emperor released Lan Yu and named him Liang Guogong. The dark clouds in the sky cleared at the moment he received the imperial decree.
Mu, who knew the inside story, was beyond words to express her gratitude to Han Du. It was precisely because she wanted to thank Han Du that Mu hurried over after learning that Han Du was coming.
Now hearing what the two said, Mu recalled the original crisis situation, her eyes turned red involuntarily, and she silently stepped forward to fill Lan Yu's glass of wine.
"Han Du has met Mrs. Sister-in-law." Seeing Mrs. Mu standing up, Han Du quickly stood up and saluted.
"We are all a family from now on, no need to be so polite." Mu's eyes were filled with tears, feeling grateful to have gained a new life after going through hardships and obstacles.
Lan Yu quickly pulled Han Du to sit down and said with a smile, "Yes, we will all be a family from now on."
Han Du picked up the wine glass again and congratulated Lan Yu: "Congratulations to my brother on the title of Duke of Liang."
Having been interrupted by Lan Yu just now, the etiquette is finally fulfilled.
Lan Yu also smiled and responded to Han Du.
But when it came to being named Liang Guogong, Lan Yu seemed a little unhappy. Even in front of Han Du, her face couldn't help but darken.
"What? My brother has been granted the title of Duke of Liang, aren't you happy?" Han Du smiled and said jokingly.
To Han Du's surprise, Lan Yu sighed heavily after hearing this, looked back at Han Du and said seriously: "Of course we are happy in front of other people. If we are not happy, we have to pretend to be happy."
"What's wrong?" Hearing Lan Yu say this, Han Du suddenly felt that the matter was serious. The wine glass in his hand couldn't help but be put down.
Lan Yu sighed heavily again, held the wine glass and pondered for a while, then said in a calm tone: "The emperor granted us the title of Duke of Liang, but took away our military power."
Han Du was stunned when he heard this, what? Lan Yu's military power was also taken away?
Lan Yu looked seriously into Han Du's eyes and said: "Brother, tell me, I am a military general, and I will do nothing but march and fight in my life. Our military power was suddenly taken away. To be honest, this is worse than It will be even more uncomfortable if you kill us."
Han Du didn't know that Lan Yu valued military power so seriously, so he raised his eyes to look at Mu on the side in confusion.
When Mu saw Han Du looking at him, she nodded towards him with pleading eyes, hoping that Han Du could persuade Lan Yu. Since Lan Yu was deprived of military power, even the joy of being named Duke of Liang was quickly diluted. He spent the whole day drinking in the house and complaining from time to time.
In this case, what would happen if the emperor knew about it?
Therefore, when Han Du came today, Mu wanted to ask Han Du to help persuade Lan Yu.
"To be honest, if we knew that the emperor would take away our military power, we might as well not be the Duke of Liang and just be the Marquis of Yongchang." Lan Yu complained while pouring drinks into her mouth.
Seeing this, Han Du quickly waved his hand to stop Lan Yu. He smiled and said, "Brother, even if you are a drunkard, you can't drink like this."
