Chapter 17: Can I call home outside the Great Wall?
King Yan's tossing and turning caused Princess Yan to be dissatisfied.
Princess Yan said: "What's wrong with you? But what did you say to He Xi today?"
King Yan sighed and told everything about his discussion with He Xi. Finally, he said: "I think it is impossible to solve the two problems mentioned by He Xi. But according to what He Xi said, both are being solved? Could it be that I will see these in my lifetime? What about my father? In terms of merit, he is probably the first person under Emperor Qin and Emperor Tang Zong. No, Emperor Taizong of Tang will probably have to wait. But I really can’t figure out what to do?”
"Tell me, am I stupid?"
Princess Yan said: "I don't want to solve these two problems."
King Yan said, "Why?"
Princess Yan said, "I really think I don't know what it's like outside the Great Wall. How can you live on the grassland if you're sealed off? It's already cold enough in Peking. Is it possible that you have to go outside the Great Wall to suffer the cold once a year?" It’s unbearable to think about the heavy snow that has closed the door for several months.”
The more Princess Yan thought about it, the angrier she became and said, "I want you to go find He Xi to find a good place to make a fiefdom. There is no more desolate place in the world than Lingbei. Aren't you asking for trouble?"
King Yan said: "Actually, Saibei has not always been so poor. It was also very rich during the previous dynasty."
Princess Yan became even more angry. Said: "That was the previous dynasty's effort to use the power of the Central Plains to supply one place. Would my father do this?"
In fact, what made Princess Yan even more angry was that she actually understood one thing very well. No matter how angry she was, she could not change King Yan's decision. King Yan and Xu Da had some similarities in some things. They are all people who do big things and never think much about family matters.
No matter how unwilling she is, it's of no use.
As a woman, she cannot be the master.
She could only turn her back and ignore King Yan.
King Yan sighed. Just as Princess Yan expected, he was worried for a short while just for his wife, but after a while, he returned to his original contemplation.
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The next day, early in the morning, I got up to see He Xi off. He Xi was treated at Prince Yan's Mansion, and she felt much better, so she hurried back to Liaodong without mentioning it. The King of Yan was not idle either. He went to Song Guogong Feng Sheng and asked to go to Daning first to prepare.
After all, King Yan is a prince and has privileges compared to ordinary generals. As long as it is not too ridiculous, Feng Sheng will not refute King Yan's face. Nature allows it.
Within a few days, King Yan led his own three guards and more than 10,000 people to set off for Daning.
After leaving Songting Pass, the wind and snow suddenly became stronger. It's just a march, no need to rush. In order to avoid the wind and snow and save the soldiers, King Yan's army of more than ten thousand walked on the short road for more than ten days. When they arrived in Daning City, the soldiers were placed in ready-made barracks, and King Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
He immediately thought of what he should do and went to find He Xi's disciple, Lian Zining.
It's just that King Yan originally thought that Lian Zining was He Xi's disciple, and he should be famous in Daning. I asked several people in succession, but I never found out who Lian Zining was?
For a moment, King Yan was stunned.
I found an older person in Daning City to know where Lian Zining was. It was not in Daning City, but in a horse factory dozens of miles southeast of Daning City. Lian Zining was a nine-year-old. A stableman who raises horses.
Needless to say, King Yan was surprised at that time.
The person responsible for solving such a major problem turned out to be a mere stable boy. For a moment, King Yan felt that He Xi was lying to him.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s always worth taking a look.
So King Yan took a day off and left Daning City with more than a hundred followers, heading southeast. Daning City is located near Chifeng in later generations, and is covered by mountains in the southeast. The horse factory is located in a small mountain valley.
The mountain is not high, it can only be said to be hilly, but it can block the heavy snow. As soon as you enter the horse factory, the snow on the ground is an inch shorter than outside. Makes them a lot easier.
Zhang Yu took the first step and said, "Where is Lian Zining?"
A groom said: "Return to the master, Master Lian is behind."
King Yan got off his horse and said, "Go and have a look."
This is a quite large horse farm, probably raising thousands of war horses. King Yan came to the last row of stables. Saw a person. This man is very strange. He looked to be in his twenties or thirties, but there was some gray on his head. King Yan looked at it from a distance and thought it was snowflakes. But after taking a closer look, I was convinced that it was really white hair.
When Zhang Yu was about to speak, King Yan blocked Zhang Yu with a wave of his hand. Instead, he stepped forward and watched the man feed the horse.
He didn't feed the horse grass or beans, but something very strange, with many grass shapes in it. But it was soaked in thick juice, and the grass was a little shapeless.
King Yan was very surprised and said, "What are you feeding?"
War horses are the most important combat tools. King Yan is also a first-class horseman. In order to practice equestrian skills and cultivate a tacit understanding with the horses, King Yan insists on feeding the horses himself as long as he has time. He was no stranger to feeding horses, but he had never seen such a thing being fed to a horse.
It looks like poison.
The man said calmly: "This is storage. In the summer, the grass is cut, buried in the ground, watered, and sealed. In the winter, the cellar can be opened to feed the horses. It allows the livestock to have fodder in the winter. , it’s not completely successful yet. Half of the cellars have problems every year. Don’t ask me, I don’t know why. It can only be improved a little bit. Don’t worry, at most, some manpower will be wasted in the summer. It’s impossible to kill a horse.”
Then the man took a handful from the bucket with his own hands and ate it in three bites. He said expressionlessly: "Do you have any more questions?"
This person is none other than Lian Zining.
Lian Zining has been moving down step by step in the past few years in Daning.
He originally came to Daning as a secretary supervisor. At that time, with the aura of imperial envoy attached to him, no one in Daning dared to look down upon him. During this period of time, Lian Zining also did some work. For example, I wrote a lot of investigation reports on Daning and sent them back to the secretary's prison.
At this time, the secretary supervisor sent an order. Said that the higher-ups valued him. There is another important thing for him to return to Beijing.
But Lian Zining came to Daning because he had his own ideas, so naturally he didn't want to return to Beijing. Therefore, Lian Zining refused. Then the secretary supervisor removed Lian Zining. You know, although the Secretariat is presided over by the prince. But the prince has too many big things to deal with. Fang Xiaoru handled all the general affairs of the secretary supervisor.
Of course, and Fang Xiaoru couldn't find anything wrong in handling this matter. I asked you to go back to Beijing, but you didn’t go back. Lian Zining transferred to another place.
Although they are both seventh-grade officials, the seventh-grade officials in the secretary's supervisory department are completely different from the local seventh-grade officials.
In fact, at this time, if Lian Zining asked He Xi for help, he didn't even have to ask He Xi for help. There was always a solution if he asked the Imperial Academy for help. But Lian Zining didn't do that.
On the one hand, Lian Zining didn't want to stir up trouble because of his own affairs. On the other hand, Lian Zining felt that he could only continue to study, and other things were not really important.
So Lian Zining served as the seventh-rank counselor in Daning Dusi, responsible for the raising of various livestock.
Something went wrong soon.
Lian Zining made a batch of green storage materials, but I don’t know what went wrong. After being eaten by many war horses, they died. The higher-ups held Lian Zining accountable, and even hinted that Lian Zining could find some connections and the punishment could be lighter. But Lian Zining didn't look for it.
So, he kicked Lian Zining right here. Became a ninth-grade official.
Lian Zining’s green storage material is also famous and has a bad reputation. Some people even came over to see Lian Zining making a fool of himself. This kind of green storage material is for livestock, not for people. If people eat it, you can imagine the taste. Lian Zining has tasted it many times to prove that animals will not die after eating it.
His face remained calm and his heart stopped beating.
When King Yan saw this, he didn't know how to evaluate the man in front of him. However, from Lian Zining's few words, he already sensed a way to solve the first problem.
