In the evening, the small hall of the main palace was brightly lit. A beautiful, graceful and elegant woman was waiting eagerly at the door.
This beautiful woman is probably in her early thirties, with beautiful features and soft lines, but she has a pair of black and bright eyebrows, which makes her look a bit more heroic than most women.
This is Yang Ji's current mother, concubine Dugu Min.
Although Dugu Min has a graceful and delicate figure, she is the daughter of a general and has a strong nature. She also lives in Guanzhong, where martial arts is flourishing. She has learned ancestral combat skills since she was a child. Men with good martial arts are like Not necessarily her opponent.
When she saw her son walking in the snow from a distance, a smile appeared on her face.
"Mother!" Yang Ji stepped forward and saluted. Mother and son, who also had sword-shaped eyebrows, stood together like siblings.
"Here we come." Dugu Min had a straight face, narrowed his eyes slightly, like a cunning fox, and suddenly said: "Kneel down."
Yang Ji didn't know what mistake he had made again, so he simply lifted up his robe and knelt down.
"I asked you to kneel down to eat, why are you kneeling at the door?" Dugu Min opened her big eyes and looked at him strangely.
"Auntie, you want me to eat?" Yang Ji opened his mouth so wide that he could fit two eggs in one mouthful.
Dugumin chuckled: "Of course you have to kneel down to eat. If you eat standing up, I don't have a problem with it."
"You win!" What can Yang Ji do with such an old woman on the stall?
Dugumin said proudly: "It's your fault that your knees are weak."
"Come on, my mother!" Yang Ji helplessly took the opportunity to stand up: "It's not that my knees are weak, it's just that I'm too lazy to bother; if you take out Aye's spiritual tablet, I'll kneel even longer."
Dugumin said: "You can also bring my Aye's spiritual tablet here."
"Uncle won't let me." The implication was that Yang Jizhen really wanted to move.
"That's because you are stupid. If it were me, I would say that I miss my grandfather's kindness... and talk a lot of nonsense that I don't even believe."
Not long after the mother and son were arguing and taking their seats, a group of maidservants who looked like mountains of flesh walked in at the door. They were all as thick as a bathtub and had trembling fat.
This was the "beautiful maid" that Empress Dugu gave to Yang Ji four years ago. She thought that Yang Ji, who was only twelve years old, was ignorant of beauty and ugliness, and she said colorful and touching words.
If Yang Jian hadn't tried so hard not to laugh, Yang Ji would have almost believed her lies.
Of course, the palace also has authentic beauties, and there are quite a few of them, but when Dugu Min first saw this group of chubby girls, he took all the beauties away with a loud bang.
Yang Ji has been able to study and practice hard these years without any distractions, and these "beautiful maids" who look like meat mountains are at least half of the credit. Over time, their aesthetic sense seemed to have declined, and they gradually discovered that they were cute and fat.
As these "beautiful maids" were busy arranging, Yang Ji knew that he would have hot pot tonight.
Hot pot was called "Antique Soup" in the Sui Dynasty. It can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It got its name from the "clunking" sound made when food is put into boiling water. With the promotion of hot pot, cooking technology has further developed, and various supporting cooking utensils and tableware have also evolved. It became rich and diverse.
In the large rounded hole in the middle of the table, there is a simple copper pot with a round bottom and a round top. The charcoal burning underneath emits a faint fragrance. The round copper pot above has a tiger spine coiled into a dragon shape, and a large fish head is attached to the part exposed above the water. As the hot steam rises, the 'dragon's mouth' seems to be swallowing clouds and spitting mist.
The table was soon filled with small jade plates containing sauce, minced garlic, mustard, pepper, turnip, chives, green onion and ginger, as well as deer tongue, camel bee, mutton, tiger meat, iron-eating beast's paw, and mushrooms. , winter bamboo shoots and other foods, the dishes of food are coded into the shape of petals.
When eating hot pot in a wealthy family, the maid usually boils the dishes and then delivers them to the owner's bowl. But both mother and son are very good carnivores, and they had no patience to wait. Before the dishes were served, they all poured the plate of tiger meat in front of them into the pot, then picked up the ivory chopsticks and started cooking.
Both are left-handed and have about the same speed.
When they were almost done eating, Yang Ji couldn't help but ask, "Mom, do you refuse the marriage?"
"Of course I refused." When Dugu Min knew that his son was arriving home today, he asked Su Yuniang, the steward of the inner palace, to tell Gongsun Huan about the proposal of marriage and let him convey it to his son, so he understood what his son was asking: "There are elders with such impure intentions, even if they have such impure intentions, That woman is the best woman in the world, and she can never enter our house."
"That makes sense." Yang Ji thought of how Gao Jiong had gone to great lengths to give his daughter away, and he said with some ecstasy, "Even Gao Jiong took the initiative to get married. It seems that I, the King of Wei, am quite outstanding!"
Dugu Min said disdainfully: "Gao Jiong is interested in your old subordinate Aye. If it weren't for this, he wouldn't even bother to pay attention to you if you showed up."
As soon as these words came out, Yang Ji suddenly realized.
The employment system of the Sui Dynasty was the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System and the Chaju System. Both had a recommender. Whoever recommends you to be an official is your great benefactor. For the person being recommended, the recommender is similar to The authority of the monarch, parents, and teachers exists, and there is a very obvious master-slave relationship between the two.
For the sake of their own interests, each faction will tacitly maintain this mainstream consensus. In order to stabilize their own faction, they will even exclude "traitors" from other factions. Therefore, except for a few "traitors" who have great talents, the more "traitors" they are, the higher they are. , more than 90% of the "traitors" were accused of "bad conduct", "bad morals" and other crimes, and sadly retired from officialdom.
It is precisely based on this situation that the people promoted by Yang Shuang have a strong color of "King Wei". As long as he continues to succeed, these people will be classified as King Wei. As long as they arrive in Daxing City, no matter for their own future Still feeling nostalgic, I would like to come to Prince Wei’s Mansion to pay my respects to Yang Shuang. Once Yang Ji enters the official career, those diehards who come to pay homage to Yang Shuang every year, even if they don't abandon their posts to join him, will regard Yang Ji as the leader.
What Gao Yan was interested in was obviously the "King Wei Clan" headed by Yang Ji, and even Dugu Min's natal family was included in his calculations.
Dugu Min's father, Dugu Tun, was originally a descendant of the Li clan in Longxi who served as a general in Qi State. Later, he was defeated and captured. He was made a subordinate and retainer of Dugu Xin, and was given the surname Dugu together with Gao Jiong's father, Gao Bin.
After Dugu Xin was forced to death by Yu Wenhu, everyone in the Dugu clan who was suppressed was in danger. Gao Bin and other retainers restored their original surnames to protect themselves. However, Dugu Tun not only did not restore their original surnames, but also worked hard with Yang Jian to rescue and protect Dugu Xin's bloodline. After Yang Jian replaced Zhou Li in the Sui Dynasty, the Dugu clan, who made a comeback, was grateful for Dugu Tun's kindness and officially incorporated Dugu Tun into the sect.
Although Dugu Tun has passed away, his eldest son Dugu Kai is the general manager of Yizhou, and his second son Dugu Sheng is a general of chariots and cavalry, both of whom are very important figures.
Since ancient times, uncles and nephews have had a close relationship and share weal and woe; if Yang Chi becomes Gao Jiong's son-in-law and firmly sides with Yang Yong, the Dugu brothers will still be assigned to Yang Yong even if they are unwilling to do so. Yong's side.
When Dugu Min saw that his son had realized something, he waved the maids in the hall to leave, and whispered furtively: "The deposed prince who has been the crown prince for twenty years has lost all his power. To them, you and your uncle are actually It is optional; but as long as you are neutral, it will be a huge blow to the new crown prince who is alone. I think this is the real purpose of Gao Jun's marriage with our family."
Yang Ji nodded: "Gao Jiong and the others used powerful forces to press the prince step by step in the front; behind the scenes, they used in-laws, inducements and other methods to win over neutral forces; these are two battles, one is righteous and the other is strange. Compared with The war between "Qi" and "Zheng" is undoubtedly more eye-catching, because whether it is Gao Qiong, He Ruobi, Yu Wenbi, Yuan Yan and others, all of them are important figures. Now that they join forces, they will inevitably inspire many The wavers come to their side.”
"That's true, but what's the use?" Dugu Min sighed: If Gao Jiong and the others had fought back like this before 'Deposing the Chief to Lici', the saint might have compromised; now that the new crown prince has been in office for two years, the matter has been decided. , whoever makes trouble with them will be in trouble. Just watch it. "
"Awesome, my mother." Yang Ji was greatly amazed. If he hadn't believed that Yang Guang would have the last laugh, he might have lost his claim under the raging general trend.
Dugu Min couldn't stand the praise the most. When his son said this, he immediately laughed triumphantly: "Of course."
Yang Ji, who is familiar with my mother's virtues, asked wisely: "Excuse me, female Zhuge, what should I do next?"
"Go and correct the attitude of your three golden-headed brothers. They don't have as powerful a strategist as me. They are likely to be influenced by Gao Jun, He Ruobi, Yu Wenbi, Yuan Yan and others, and thus misjudge the situation and make decisions that are difficult to save." It's a stupid thing. After you correct the stance of the golden-headed brothers, the prince will be grateful to you and appreciate your merits; after the prince ascends the throne, your benefits will be indispensable, and your golden-headed brothers will also be grateful to you. The key is that if one less golden head is lost, There will be millions more people staring at you in the future, so saving others means saving yourself, which can be said to kill three birds with one stone."
"My mother is wise." Yang Ji couldn't help but smile. The "golden-headed brothers" his mother called were his cousins Cai Wang Yang Zhiji, Teng Wang Yang Lun, and Tao Wang Yang Jing. Together with himself, the four brothers made up the four Big golden head'.
This nickname comes from Dugu Min's love for her son. She believes that the fragmented Turks are no longer the opponent of the Sui Dynasty. The next Sui Dynasty is very likely to turn from foreign wars to internal political struggles; as the son of the Sui prince, there is no way to avoid it. All kinds of political storms, if you don't have the ability to protect yourself, you will lose everything at least, or your life will be lost at worst. Therefore, she not only wants to train her son to be a war monster like her husband, but also wants to make him proficient in all kinds of skills.
Although Dugu Min had good intentions, his knowledge was boundless. No matter how smart Yang Ji was, he could not learn so much knowledge. The endless homework finally made Yang Ji lose his temper. However, Dugu Min neither beat nor scolded him. He just said that the only use of the prince is to be stepped on by others to climb up. On average, every golden head is stared at by tens of millions of people. If you don't learn various ways of survival, , There is no way to keep the priceless gold head on the item.
Although this statement may be exaggerated, the truth cannot be refuted. Yang Ji hasn't even officially received his blessing yet, so how can he be willing to be someone else's ticket for promotion? In addition, he was still young and couldn't do much, so he simply followed his mother's arrangements and learned various survival skills. From then on, privately, he became known as the "Four Golden Heads".
But on the other hand, his mother forced him to become a dandy. Her reason was also very good. She said that only a prince who wanted to be a prince or an emperor would win over people with the image of a humble gentleman and a courteous corporal. You, Yang Ji, are already a prince, what else can you do if you are not a bad guy? If you weren't a bad person, could you die a healthy life?
For Yang Ji, who lost his father when he was young, who can he trust if he doesn't trust his mother?
In fact, although Dugu Min is a bit unreliable at ordinary times, she is indeed a very competent and powerful mother.
Although she was just a widow who lost her father when she was young and her husband when she was young, she was able to manage her huge family business in an orderly manner. Not only that, but she also had profound political wisdom. She knew that her son could easily get killed if he went around beating people like this. If his son made a small mistake in the future, the small mistake would turn into a fatal disaster; she gave him back a long time ago. Yang Ji, who lives in the palace, often goes to the East Palace next door to be cute and strive for a good impression.
There was a serious disagreement between mother and son over the issue of holding thighs. Yang Ji not only did not go to the East Palace next door, but also went to the neglected Prince Jin's Mansion, for which he was beaten frequently. It wasn't until Yang Guang changed from the King of Jin to the Crown Prince of the Sui Dynasty that the endless beatings suddenly stopped.
"And your two uncles should also be reminded." Dugu Min said again.
Yang Ji smiled and said, "My uncle and uncle seem to be very smart, right?"
"It's not important. Even if they are on the side of the prince, it's equally unimportant. What's important is that as long as you remind them, you can take it for granted that they are on the side of the prince because of you. It doesn't matter if they don't admit it. , the important thing is that you can make the conditions as a matter of course; it doesn't matter if they don't agree, the important thing is that you can use this reason to find your grandma?"
Dugu Min, who smiled like a fox, seemed to feel that it was damaging to her image as a strict mother, and her face suddenly straightened: "I refuse Gao Jiong's daughter. But these people have great powers, if we are not careful and they It will be miserable for people to get married. So you should get married as soon as possible to save them from worrying about it."
"Of course I want it!" Yang Ji suddenly smiled: "Mom, you said in the letter that you have found your marriage partner, whose girl is it?"
"The Crown Princess's sister Xiao Ying, Pei Ju's daughter Pei Shuying, Zheng Yi's daughter Zheng Qiao..." Dugu Min reported the names of seven famous ladies in one breath.
Yang Ji asked: "What's the result?"
Dugumin said listlessly: "There is no result."
Yang Ji was confused: "Why is there no result?"
"My fortune tellers say that you and these seven famous ladies are not compatible."
"None of the seven match?"
"Yes!"
Yang Ji became suspicious: "I should be the legendary evil star, destined to live alone and without a partner."
"That's nonsense." Dugu Min said angrily: "What kind of evil star? It's obviously their bad luck."
"It makes sense." Yang Ji felt much better, and he said with a stern look: "I think the girls from my uncle's family are good, what do you think?"
"That won't work." Dugu Min said categorically: "Dugu women are known for being jealous. Your cousins are fine as equal wives, but they are absolutely not good for the main wife."
Only then did Yang Ji understand that my mother upheld double standards. Her son could set fires all over the city, but her husband couldn't even light a lamp. In order to achieve her goal of having more grandchildren, she even used herself as a negative example and asked, "Then whose daughter do you think is the best?"
"I'm not in a hurry, why are you in a hurry?" Dugu Min glared at his son fiercely.
"I'm not in a hurry, I'm just curious. You can look for it slowly. My requirements are not high, as long as I don't look like Princess Qin." Yang Jizheng's wife must be as magnanimous as Empress Changsun. Instead of objecting to her husband's taking in concubines, she actively offered them to her husband. concubine. And Yang Jun's first wife, Princess Qin, was so jealous that she poisoned her husband to death. Who wouldn't be afraid of such a daughter-in-law?
The status of women in the Sui Dynasty was extremely high, which was a continuation of the trend of the Northern Dynasties. Because in the Northern Dynasty, "many generals and ministers favored princesses, and princes also married descendants, so it was normal to have no concubines." So much so that in the Northern Qi Dynasty, "since there were no concubines in the entire dynasty, the whole world was almost the same." Wife... When parents marry a daughter, they teach them to be jealous, and when sisters welcome them, they must persuade each other to be jealous. It is a woman's virtue to control her husband, and it is a woman's virtue to be jealous."
Of course, there are also people who have groups of wives and concubines, but marrying only one wife is a trend among the upper echelons of society. The root cause is that this is a Xianbei tradition that has lasted for hundreds of years.
Women in the Northern Dynasties could not only bend bows and shoot arrows, but also fight close to hand. They could also seek officials for their children, fulfill their filial piety for their husbands, and seek officials for their husbands. They struggled with their husbands inside and out, making the world full of 'strong women' ’, derived from this is the henpecked style of men.
Although the Sui Dynasty was a unified dynasty, more than 90% of high-ranking officials had Xianbei blood. The essence was still continued by the Xianbei people, which also led to the Hu tribe's legacy of strong women being far from dead. Therefore, it is completely normal for Yang Jian to be afraid of his jealous wife, Yang Su to be afraid of tough women, and Yang Shuang to have only one wife. Even family tragedies such as Yang Su's wife Zheng Qiye suing her husband and Princess Qin poisoning her husband are nothing new.
"Of course." Dugu Min felt a little guilty. She had actually started proposing marriage for her son last year, but her son's reputation was so bad that no one was willing to marry her daughter.
This is not to say that there were no people who wanted to be the queen of the Sui Dynasty, but that the most important thing for high-ranking families was to be well-matched; for a prince like Yang Ji, a small family did not dare to climb the ladder, but the number of legitimate daughters from famous families who could become princesses was rare, and their parents both If he wanted to find a good home for his daughter, a notorious playboy like Yang Ji would not be considered at all.
It was not easy to meet seven court wives who were willing to get married. However, each of the ladies from a well-known family was not compatible with Yang Ji, resulting in the current embarrassing situation.
However, Dugu Min also had a solution. She couldn't deal with those famous families by herself, so she planned to leave this problem to Yang Jian, the king of a country and the head of a family. After she found a good candidate, Yang Jian would marry her.
The emperor granted me a marriage, who dared to complain?
At this time, Su Yunniang, the steward of the inner palace, came and bowed to the mother and son: "Yunniang has met the eldest lady and the young master."
Dugumin asked: "What's the matter?"
Su Yunniang replied: "Prince Teng invites the young master to have a banquet in Furong Garden at the end of tomorrow. This is the invitation."
Dugu Min looked very ugly and said coldly: "How did Yang Lun know that King Kong Slave was coming home today? Could it be that he was specifically watching our house?"
"I don't know either." Su Yunniang stepped forward quickly and handed the invitation to Yang Ji.
Yang Ji took it and looked at it, and explained to his mother with a smile: "Tomorrow is Brother Teng Wang's birthday, so he is not specifically watching us."
"Maybe it was because my sister passed away not long ago that he didn't dare to celebrate his birthday at home, so he went to Furong Garden, which is far away from the palace." Dugu Min's expression softened slightly and he said with relief: "In that case, it doesn't matter if you go."
"Yes." Yang Ji nodded. The other two golden heads should be there too, which saves him the need to visit them one by one.
————————
Two in one.
