Chapter 1153 Family Matters
“This time, if the operation goes well, Jingzhou’s food supply channels will be almost completely under our control.”
Feng Duhu took out a breath and looked at Deng Liang:
"After this incident, Jincheng won't have to watch it so closely as it does now. Is Wei Zhe really not planning to come to Chang'an?"
Deng Liang shook his head, smiled, and rejected Feng Duhu’s kindness:
"My mother is not in good health and should not work too hard. I plan to let her spend her old age in Jincheng."
“I heard it’s relatively cold here in Chang’an. My mother is from the south, so I’m afraid she’s not used to it. It’s more comfortable to live in Jincheng.”
Feng Duhu nodded:
“That’s right. As the saying goes, if you are young, you can’t go to Sichuan, and if you are old, you can’t leave Shu. If you really want to provide for your old age, Jincheng is indeed more suitable.”
Deng Liang was speechless:
“Brother, I always feel something is wrong with what I said. It’s understandable that I can’t leave Shu when I’m old, but what does it mean if I don’t go to Sichuan when I’m young?”
Feng Duhu said half-jokingly:
“Sichuan has beautiful mountains and clear waters, a suitable climate, and is surrounded by mountains. Living in it is leisurely and contented. Young men who are not strong-willed may easily lose their fighting spirit.”
This time Deng Liang didn’t know if he thought Feng Duhu was joking or if he really didn’t agree:
“I don’t think so. For example, I have been waiting for this day to control Jingzhou’s grain this time.”
As he spoke, there was fighting spirit in his eyes:
“My younger brother and his family are all from Jingzhou, especially the adults and my mother. They are old. Their biggest wish is to return to their hometown in Jingzhou in this life.”
“Brother, if we really control the food supply in Jingzhou, then the day when the Han will regain Jingzhou is not far away, right?”
Deng Liang’s eyes were filled with light.
"Don't worry. It's better to destroy Wei first. It's not easy to fight if we only go down to Jingzhou from Yong'an."
If it were easy to fight, the late emperor would have defeated them long ago.
If we say to attack Yong'an from Jingzhou, it is very difficult.
So attacking Jingzhou from Yong'an is seven or eight points of difficulty - especially with Lu Xun.
“A thousand miles of rivers and mountains return in a day” is just a poet’s romance.
In fact, from Yongan to Jiangling, not only the mountain road has eighteen bends, but the waterway also has eighteen bends.
Taking the waterway, there are many dangerous waters and dangerous shoals.
Taking the land route, there are also many rugged mountain roads.
It is a very big test for the morale and logistics of the army.
But Feng Duhu also knew that without the suppression of the prime minister, many people in the Jingzhou faction were already starting to make moves.
Let alone the big man now, he is not the big man before.
The Wei State is about to be defeated by the Han Dynasty. The successive victories over the years have swelled not only the territory, but also the confidence.
For some people, conquering another Wu country is no longer unimaginable.
“Besides, the students who went to Jiangdong to learn boating skills have not come back yet. Some actions should not be overdone.”
"After waiting for so many years, I don't care about waiting a few more years." Deng Liang was still calm, "It's just those students. I remember they should be back this year, right?"
"I have to study for one more year." Feng Duhu said with a smile on his face, "Who asked the Wu people to borrow so many things? Just treat it as interest."
Horses, food, armor, and weapons.
The grasper has a short hand and the eater has a soft mouth.
Having taken so many things from the big man and letting the students of the college stay for one more year, can Emperor Wu still say no?
When Deng Liang heard this, he calculated the time of correspondence between Chang'an and Jianye, and he understood:
“Is this Ma Youchang’s idea?”
"Exactly." Feng Duhu nodded and said with some emotion, "I sent Ma Youchang to Jiangdong, but I didn't expect him to achieve this step."
Nowadays, many people in Jianye know that there is a famous scholar in Jingzhou who does not stick to trivial matters and is free and easy.
You can make friends with traffickers and pawns at lower levels, and talk and laugh with powerful officials at higher levels.
He is a warmhearted and generous person.
Even people like Lu Yi, the school secretary and secretary of the school, can be friends with him and even call him "Mr. Ma".
"Ma Youchang is also a person that the Prime Minister values after all. Although he may be exaggerating, and he may not be good at leading troops, he should be considered talented."
Hello, celebrities, don’t they mostly rely on their words?
During his lifetime, the Prime Minister often talked with Ma You from day to night.
It can be seen that Ma Youchang is also a good talker.
May not be able to speak eloquently, but if you are eloquent, you should be able to afford it.
Deng Liang looked at Feng Duhu again and said with a smile:
“Besides, wouldn’t it be embarrassing for anyone who has the support of his elder brother and Xinghanhui to still not be able to do something?”
Feng Duhu also laughed, and he pointed at Deng Liang helplessly:
"Weizhe, between you and me, there is no need for such praise."
“This is not flattery.”
Even though it has been more than ten years since he called King Feng Gui as his brother, Deng Zhi’s eyes still showed some admiration:
“A few years ago, my brother supported the Wu State School Affairs Office. Who would have expected that the School Affairs Office would be able to help us so much now?”
"Actually, I didn't expect this." Feng Duhu waved his hand, but he didn't take any credit. "I just thought that the school affairs office would cause trouble in Wu State."
“I like what the enemy hates, so I thought of supporting them, but I didn’t expect that it would actually open a hole in the Wu Kingdom.”
For Sun Quan, the school affairs office is called retainers in a more pleasant way, and domestic slaves in an unfavorable way.
There are many similarities with the **** group during the Second Emperor Huanling of the Later Han Dynasty.
The biggest difference may be whether there are two ounces of meat in the crotch.
Both of them existed depending on the imperial power.
If you are favored, you will be above the Nine Qings; if you are out of favor, you will be below the Nine Abyss.
But regardless of whether they have two ounces of flesh or not, they are still a group of villains who manipulate power and seek personal gain.
Otherwise, Pan Jun would not have been provoked to threaten to kill Lu Yi.
It can be seen from this that the resentment of the officials of the Wu State towards the school affairs office is comparable to the resentment of the scholar-bureaucrats towards the eunuchs during the calamity of the Party in the Later Han Dynasty.
Pan Jun, who wanted to kill Lu Yi, was originally an official in Jingzhou appointed by the late emperor.
After the Wu people attacked Jingzhou, all the generals, officers and officials of Jingzhou surrendered.
Especially Pan Jun, who was not only deeply trusted by Sun Quan, but was also reused.
Pan Jun also reciprocated the favor and was extremely loyal to Sun Quan.
In troubled times, this kind of thing is nothing.
After all, good birds choose trees to roost in, and wise ministers choose their masters to serve.
But from Ji Han's point of view, he is a little bit worried.
So in King Feng Gui's view, since Pan Jun is so loyal to the state of Wu and can't wait to kill Lu Yi, I must support him.
I can't disgust Sun Quan now, but I can still disgust you, the loyal ministers of Wu.
"Lu Yi and others asked me for personal favor, but they are loyal to Sun Quan after all."
“If one day they find out that their brother has another purpose, what will they think?”
Feng Duhu smiled proudly:
“I guess there won’t be such a day. Anyway, I never thought about asking Lu Yi and others to do anything for us.”
“Based on what the school administration has done in the past, what they want to do is actually something we are happy to see come to fruition.”
"Anyway, the Han Dynasty no longer needs Wu's cooperation to deal with the Wei thieves. I don't expect Sun Quan to lead his troops to attack Hefei."
“So it’s better to let Lu Yi take charge of the school affairs office and let Wu State continue to suffer from internal conflicts.”
Others dared to think of dealing with the Wei thieves and the Wu state at the same time. Feng Duhu felt that it was normal for a big man to be able to deal with the Wei thieves alone, right?
Deng Liang was in Jincheng for a long time and didn’t know much about the central hub.
Hearing Feng Duhu's words at this time, he had already understood something.
It seems that the Han Dynasty has too much hope that Wu will not retaliate.
In other words, the princes in the court believe that the current Han Dynasty can destroy the Wei thieves on their own.
In fact, those who had this kind of confidence were not only the princes in the court, but also the mistress of Weiyang Palace.
“You don’t want to marry a girl, but you want to marry a princess?”
Empress Zhang sat on the bamboo mat and looked at Mrs. Feng Zhang with a slightly displeased look on her face:
“What does Feng Mingwen think? He doesn’t like his daughter to be...a princess?”
Originally I wanted to be the queen, but I think now is the time when Your Majesty is in the prime of life.
I am still very young, so it would be a bit bad to let a daughter of the Feng family become the queen.
So I subconsciously changed my words and said she was the Crown Princess.
“He was not unhappy, he just doted on his daughter and said he wanted to let her make her own choice.”
Although both sisters have the surname Zhang, one is now Liu Zhang and the other is Feng Zhang.
The right lady naturally wants to speak for her Alang.
“Besides, it’s just a marriage. There is no difference between marrying a prince and marrying a princess..."
Before the right lady finished speaking, she was directly interrupted by the queen:
"What do you mean there is no difference? Can marrying a prince be the same as marrying a princess?"
“That’s not what you said before.” Mrs. Right muttered unconvincingly.
“You said that was before!” The queen raised her voice and glared at Madam Right, getting a little annoyed, “Now you are Madam Right!”
“Even if your Majesty marries another princess to the Feng Mansion, what is the significance of that?”
“But if the prince marries a daughter of the Feng family, and you are in the Feng family’s house, then they become one with each other, do you understand?”
“I don’t understand!” Mrs. Right also had a bad temper. She deliberately did not look at the Queen. “The relationship between Alang and Your Majesty as a monarch and a minister is extraordinary.”
“Sister, you are so troubled, so you have to ask someone to marry your daughter over so that you can feel at ease?”
"What nonsense are you talking about? What do you mean by being troublesome? Why am I worried?"
The queen scolded her. Seeing that the right lady's face was not good-looking, she knew that she was angry, so she couldn't help but soften her tone:
"You and I are biological sisters. Why do I want the prince to marry a daughter of the Feng family? Don't you know the reason?"
"This matter is not only good for the prince, but also of great benefit to the Feng family."
“Since you have married into the Feng family, you should also make good plans for the future of the Feng family…”
As soon as the right lady heard what the queen said, she immediately became more and more impatient:
"What plans does the Feng family need to make? To put it bluntly, even if the Feng family starts over from scratch, are they afraid?"
“What has Alang relied on to make his fortune over the years? When did he rely on marriage?”
“Sister, I am a member of the Feng family now. You always ask me to do these things. Have you never thought about how difficult it is for me?”
Thinking of her dilemma in the house, she felt more aggrieved:
“I didn’t say that I didn’t want to get married, I just said that I both like her. A Lang’s words have reached this level, sister, don’t you understand?”
"What good does it do to the prince that you have been hiding him in the palace? What is the difference between this and being born in a deep palace and growing up with the hands of a woman?"
"The late Emperor started his career in the early days, fought throughout the world for decades, and finally established his country in Shu. Your Majesty was born in troubled times, and was almost lost in the chaos of the army when he was a baby."
“I grew up in Jingzhou when I was young, and later followed the late emperor to Shu. It is not easy to ascend the throne at a time of crisis without losing my crown.”
"Where's Alang? Few people can match him in both civil and military affairs. Madam Zuo of the Feng family, Your Majesty personally conferred the title of General Zhendong."
The right lady pointed at herself again, "Even if I am the right lady, it's not too bad, right? I have assisted Alang with merit in these years."
“Tell me, if you are born into such a family, what will happen to you?”
"And what about the prince? Has he seen with his own eyes what it is like outside the palace? Ever since he was a child, you have wanted to hold him in your hands at all times, so as not to let him suffer any injustice."
A sister has had such a son with great difficulty for many years, so it is understandable that she dotes on the prince.
“As a courtier, Alang is really not qualified to comment on matters in the palace, but as both adults, do you think he will trust his daughter and leave his daughter in the hands of the prince?”
The right lady said this in a crackling voice, and then she let out a long breath.
I just feel that some of the grievances and resentments that have been buried in my heart for a long time have finally come out.
The Queen did not expect that Mrs. Right’s emotions would suddenly burst out.
She looked at Zhang Xingyi blankly, as if she felt that the girl in front of her was a little strange.
It’s just that she is a female hero after all.
“Born in a deep palace and raised by women’s hands?”
The queen repeated the words of the right lady with a complicated expression on her face.
Since the words have been spoken, the right husband no longer hides and tucks them in, and says:
"Born in a deep palace, raised in a woman's hands. He has never known sorrow, nor has he known worry, nor has he known labor, nor has he known fear, nor has he known danger."
The words come from "Xunzi·Ai Gong".
“Sister, you don’t know, the Feng family’s education is very strict, even if Ah Chong is the eldest son, even if they are both girls.”
"But if the two of them don't learn well, it's common for them to be beaten. Moreover, the tiger girl of the Guan family does it herself, and she barely has to be hung up and whipped with a riding crop."
“The prince has grown so big, are you willing to let him get beaten once?”
The queen stared at the right lady and suddenly asked:
"Are these words said by Feng Mingwen, or are they what you think in your heart?"
The right lady didn't seem to understand the meaning of the queen's words, and the look on her face was full of indifference:
"Sister, are you looking down on me too much? Alang and I have known each other for more than ten years. Don't I still understand what kind of person he is?"
"Others are interested in the position of Crown Princess, so would he? In comparison, he would rather want his daughter to marry a good man."
"You mean, the prince is not a good man?" The queen's face had become a little gloomy.
“Whether he is a good man or not, who can tell if he is still young now?”
Others are afraid of the Queen's appearance, but Mrs. Right is not, and she has the confidence not to be afraid:
“Now we are just two sisters here. Sister, let’s talk privately. My nephew, sister, do you think he can become a good man if this continues?”
(End of this chapter)