"When I first saw you in that pond newspaper, I thought you were a big tree, quiet and powerful."
"Big tree? This is the first time I've heard someone describe me like that."
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Taichang, the original General Military Mansion was opened.
Before dawn, a group of generals came to the residence of Marquis Pingliao carrying gifts.
Qiao Yiqi, Kang Yingqian, Song Yingxing, Mao Yuanyi, Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, Yuan Chonghuan, Ma Shiying, and all the military and political leaders from Kaiyuan were all present, and even Sun Chuanting, who had been convicted of a crime, came to join in the fun.
The General Military Mansion, which had been silent for a long time, was even more festive. Guard Zhang Chao told everyone that Marquis Pingliao slept late last night and had not gotten up yet.
Everyone first went to the side room to greet the fire, and three or two people sat around and chatted.
Bu Mu Butai and the fat maid Shaoyao were busy serving tea and pouring water.
Kang Yingqian stroked his beard, looked at the back of the Mongolian girl, and whispered:
"I was right at first. The little Tartars are indeed kind and virtuous. It was only the Marquis of Ping Liao who used Xia to transform the barbarians into..."
Qiao Yiqi approached his old partner and couldn't help but interrupt him:
"It's a pity that she had such a bad fate."
Kang Yingqian narrowed his eyes, full of concern.
Without waiting for Lao Kang to say anything, Qiao Yiqi took the initiative and said:
"There's trouble again in Mongolia. Many people died in Horqin, including all her family members. It's been such a troubled time."
~~~~
Although Liu Zhaosun wanted to rest for a few days, a group of thoughtful subordinates came to the house early to wish the young Shangguan a birthday.
"I'm only twenty-one years old, what's the point of celebrating my birthday? I'm not an old man in his seventies or eighties."
Liu Zhaosun complained in a low voice while putting on his robe.
Yang Qing'er chuckled, hugged Liu Zhaosun from behind, and helped her husband tie his hair into a bun.
"You are so rude. People are kind enough to wish you a birthday. They are ungrateful and make sarcastic remarks. No one will remember my birthday."
Liu Zhaosun heard that there was something in these words, turned around and touched the tip of her nose:
"Oh? How dare someone treat the daughter of a master who is a manager?"
Yang Qing'er curled her lips, took off the cherry-colored amber hair crown from her husband's bun, and played with it in the palm of her hand.
She saw at a glance that this hair crown was worn by Jin Yuji before, so she pretended to be angry and said:
"A husband is a big tree, and a big tree should not be frivolous. Throw away this frivolous thing of a woman."
Liu Zhaosun quickly begged for mercy and said with a smile:
"Okay, I don't dare to wait for Jinglue's daughter from now on. By the way, when is Madam's birthday?"
"The sixth day of the first lunar month."
"The sixth day of the first lunar month?"
"Yeah, everyone is busy celebrating the New Year, who cares about celebrating my birthday?"
"It's a date, I'll remember it, and I'll spend it with you this year."
After taking the decoction last night, my body recovered a little. I fell asleep with Yang Qing'er hugging each other. I fell into a drowsy sleep. I had nightmares in the second half of the night and woke up dripping with cold sweat. Fortunately, Yang Qing'er wiped his sweat and helped him drink the medicine. When Liu Zhaosun woke up this morning, he felt refreshed and his cold symptoms were gone.
The couple's eyes met each other, and Liu Zhaosun looked at his wife's pretty face, unconsciously filled with affection.
As he was getting into a good mood, there was a noise in the courtyard. Zhang Chao knocked on the door and said that everyone was here to wish Marquis Ping Liao a birthday.
This is Liu Zhaosun’s second birthday in Ming Dynasty.
Last year, I spent my 20th birthday with Jin Yuji outside Shenyang City. This year, I wanted to spend it only with Yang Qing'er, but it seemed hopeless.
Whether he was ashamed of Yang Qing'er or simply because he liked her, the way he looked at her was full of warmth and nostalgia.
"Eat a bowl of noodles first. My husband has just recovered from a serious illness, so he needs to take good care of himself."
Liu Zhaosun was still in a daze, but Yang Qing'er had already brought a bowl of steaming noodle soup.
There was a layer of mutton and chopped green onion floating in the bowl. It was his favorite noodle soup from a certain place in his previous life.
After taking the bowl and chopsticks, I felt the aroma of the noodles and started to eat hungrily.
"Eat slowly, I won't compete with you."
Yang Qing'er looked at her husband with heartache.
Liu Zhaosun slowly put down his bowls and chopsticks, raised his head and smiled:
"I forgot it was home, I thought we were at war, hahaha."
After hearing this, Yang Qing'er frowned and said anxiously:
"We agreed yesterday that after the Jiannu are destroyed, there will be no more wars in the future. We can't even think about it. Jin Yuji is about to give birth. Husband, you are a big tree. If the tree falls, what will we do?"
Liu Zhaosun nodded with a smile and continued eating noodles, a tear falling into the bowl.
He is not a militaristic person, nor does he feel the pleasure of killing.
However, the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop.
If Hou Jin is destroyed, there will still be Mongolia. If Mongolia is destroyed, there will still be Ming Dynasty. If Ming Dynasty is destroyed, there will still be the whole world.
Enemies will always appear in various forms unless you can really let go of your obsession.
Let go of your obsession and everything will be gone.
Even if the foreign enemies are eliminated, the battle will never end.
Once Kaiyuan's chariot is started, it cannot be stopped.
On that day, Sun Chuanting made a decisive killing move and slaughtered thousands of people without any objection. This shows that this army has deviated from the route he originally set.
The chariots rumbled forward, desperately crushing those who stood in their way.
If anyone dares to get off the bus midway, the end may be worse than Huang Taiji.
Either be pushed forward, or the tank must be reshaped.
The Intelligence Bureau must be established as soon as possible, and the Chinese Guards must expand in size. A group of new people must be promoted and the old people must be suppressed...
Perhaps Qiao Yiqi was right to let Yang Qing'er take control of civil affairs and lead Jin Yuji to fight in all directions.
Women should not betray.
Thoughts were flying and it was a mess.
"Husband, how can you rest assured that Jin Yuji is alone in Wendeng? This winter is extremely cold for some reason."
Liu Zhaosun took Yang Qing'er's little hand and walked out of the wing.
"Now that we have wiped out Jiannu, and the Kaiyuan army is so powerful, no one in the world dares to disobey, and the court does not dare to take action, so Jin Yuji is safe, and so is your father. In the spring of next year, I will go to Tianjin, Shandong, to pick them up return."
Yang Qing'er nodded. She had feelings for her power-hungry father, especially when Kaiyuan needed help the most, he went to Tianjin to be a soldier.
Liu Zhaosun didn't notice the change in her expression. He raised his head and stared at the gray sky. Feeling the cold weather, he murmured:
"It's because of the Little Glacier climate."
Noisy voices came from the side room. Yuan Chonghuan, Kang Yingqian and the others were noisy inside. Liu Zhaosun said to Yang Qing'er:
"Madam, go back first. I'll go see them and have dinner with you tonight."
Yang Qing'er took a few steps, turned back and said:
"Old Songtou told me to drink less, but your drinking capacity..."
Liu Zhaosun smiled at her and said:
"I know, I can only drink three bowls. I don't know how to drink. I have serious business to talk about today."
Zhang Chao led four guards to escort Ping Liao Hou to the front of the wing.
The room was noisy. After two years of military service, a group of civil servants followed Ping Liao Hou into a trance. They also acquired the habits of warriors, and their speech and behavior were quite heroic.
Zhang Chao opened the door, and when everyone saw Ping Liao Hou coming in, they quickly stopped talking and saluted.
The Eight Immortals table in the wing room was filled with various dishes. Zhang Chao leaned into Liu Zhaosun's ear and whispered that this was made by the cook brought by Kang Supervisor. He had tasted it and it was not poisoned.
Liu Zhaosun burst out laughing. These guards were really worried that the world would not be in chaos. If there was a slight rift between the superior officials, the subordinates would speculate maliciously. No wonder the power struggles between big figures in history were always so bloody, cruel and unexpected.
Two pictures appeared in front of Liu Zhaosun's eyes at the same time:
The Xuanwumen Incident and the Release of Military Power over a Drink of Wine
He waved his hand to dispel these distracting thoughts and asked everyone to sit down quickly. Seeing that everyone was standing still, he had to go to the top position and sit down first.
Qiao Yiqi was pushed to the second seat, and Kang Yingqian sat down next to Qiao Dazui, followed by Yuan Chonghuan, Song Yingxing, Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, Ma Shiying, and Mao Yuanyi.
Sun Chuanting sat alone in the corner.
Liu Zhaosun glanced at Sun Chuanting and asked Sun Chuanting to sit next to him. He shouted twice, but Lao Sun refused to go because he was too drunk.
Liu Zhaosun had no choice but to give up, looked around, and raised his glass:
"You all just returned to Kaiyuan yesterday, and you came here early this morning to congratulate me on my birthday. I can't bear it. You are all my confidants, and you are all older than me. Today is a family banquet, and there is no Marquis Pingliao. Treat each other as friends, come on, let me toast you all first! Congratulations on wiping out the slaves!"
Everyone raised their glasses and congratulated Liu Zhaosun on his birthday by taking advantage of the great victory of Kaiyuan Army.
Liu Zhaosun asked everyone to sit down and raised their chopsticks.
"Come on, let's all try the craftsmanship of Kang Xunjian's house."
Qiao Yiqi put down his wine glass and shouted:
"General Liu, since today is your birthday, we have already carried the gifts, so we should wait until the gifts are presented before having a feast."
So starting from Qiao Yiqi, everyone carried gifts one by one to congratulate Liu Zhaosun on his birthday. Everyone knew that he had just recovered from a serious illness, so the gifts he received were supplements such as ginseng and angelica.
Qiao Yiqi was the most generous. Two of his guards brought up a box of gold bars and ten boxes of high-grade Korean ginseng, worth thousands of gold.
This is equivalent to lending another eight thousand taels of silver to Liu Zhaosun.
Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and said with a smile:
"Jianjun Qiao, this gift is too heavy and I cannot accept it."
Qiao Yiqi said solemnly:
"These are my daily savings, and I have never been greedy for a penny. You and I have been together for two years, sharing life and death together, so what are some belongings? General Liu must accept them, and treat them as left for the families of the soldiers who died in the war."
When it came to this, Liu Zhaosun couldn't refuse, so he asked the guards to accept the things.
After Qiao Yiqi sat down, Kang Yingqian shamelessly approached him and reached into his sleeves with a smile.
Liu Zhaosun saw what he was doing and knew what he was taking out. He smiled and shook his head.
"Kang Jianjun, I am like this. If I take your magical elixir, I am afraid that my soul will return to bliss early, and then Kaiyuan will be leaderless."
There was a burst of laughter around him, Yuan Chonghuan patted his thigh and said with a smile:
"If Supervisor Kang is short of money, I can lend you some money."
Kang Yingqian ignored Yuan Chonghuan. In fact, his Diamond Powder now had a good reputation in Liaodong official circles and was equivalent to hard currency of gold and silver.
There are rumors that every time Kang Xunjian went to Shenyang to see Wang Huazhen for business, he would bring two bottles of this stuff, which was more effective than sending money.
Kang Yingqian waited until everyone stopped laughing, then placed the diamonds on the Eight Immortals table and clapped his hands outside the wing.
There was the sound of soft footsteps outside, and everyone looked out the door.
A moment later, a graceful and delicate-looking woman stood at the door and made a blessing to Liu Zhaosun, who was sitting at the top.
Liu Zhaosun didn't even look at the woman. He smiled dryly at Kang Ying and said:
"I accept Kang Jianjun's wish, but I'm not a womanizer, and my wife won't allow it. I'll be next."
After saying that, Liu Zhaosun raised his head and looked at Yuan Chonghuan.
Yuan Chonghuan stepped forward quickly with a wooden box in his arms, trying to squeeze Kang Yingqian away.
"You don't want Vajra Powder, and you don't want beautiful women either. Mr. Liu, do you know who this woman is?"
Lewen
