The 20th day of the twelfth lunar month is a sunny day, dry and cold.

In the yard in front of Xianju Hall, the fragrance of tea lingers.

The women gathered together to cook Mengding tea presented in Shu.

Because the queen was "depressed" in Ganlu Hall, today's occasion was led by the crown prince Lu.

She smiled cleverly, showed some affinity, integrated into the Shaw family, and at the same time maintained a little reserve, vaguely showing the difference in everyone's identities.

There were children running around next to them, with the older ones in front and the younger ones following behind, making noise and laughing.

Shao Fu was holding a jasper tea bowl and sighed slightly.

Since leaving Nanyang and returning to the Shaw Family, she remembered that several brothers were having fun together like this.

How happy it was at that time. When a person was beaten with a ruler, the others would comfort him and then play together.

Her eyes searched and searched, but she couldn't find the fourth brother. Only when she saw the Crown Princess Lu, she pulled Princess Yan and Mi, and she seemed to be intimate.

She sighed softly, sipped the tea, and savored the sweet and bitter taste between her lips and tongue.

"Sister, your sigh is a bit fake." Mummy walked over and said in a low voice.

Shao Fu narrowed his eyes and looked at his fellow sister, saying, "You dare to make fun of Sister, it's really a waste of love for you."

The mushroom girl smiled and said, "Stop looking for it, the prince consort is going to pick up the grandfather."

"Where is Grandpa?" Shao Fu asked.

"He has lived in Yingqiuyuan recently for more than half a month." said the grandmother, "When I went to find Yaren, I often saw Grandpa reading books in the yard. Sometimes I was making tea for Concubine Wang and Wang Ronghua, and sometimes I took them to walk under the trees in front of the yard. Grandpa has gone too much, and Yaren is unwilling to do maternity with me."

After hearing this, Shao Fu sighed again and said, "Grandpa is really the strange man in the world."

"Yes." Mummy also sighed: "If it were the Han and Wei dynasties, the prince would be granted the title."

Shao Fu glanced at his sister and said, "You are so good with Yaren. Will you have to do business with Liaodong in the future?"

"Ah?" Mummy was a little dumbfounded and said subconsciously: "Sister, I don't know where to spend money?"

Shao Fu was also a little stunned.

My sister actually said that she didn't know where to spend money. Yidu County is not a good place, it is in remote areas, and many people are still slashing and burning. The fief output is only enough for my sister to support one thousand people in the Princess's Mansion.

In other words, if she felt that the princess's mansion given by the imperial court was not lenient enough, or wanted to set up a separate courtyard in another place, she might have to save money for many years.

Just live your life by guarding a house and a fief with a fairly unstable output?

"You, you're so stupid." Shao Fu pinched his sister's ear and said, "If it weren't for the fact that Sister's Xuancheng Manor spent too much money, I would have wanted to build a ship to Liaodong to do business."

"What can I buy in Liaodong?" Qin Niang said curiously.

Shao Fu took the fur on his sister's body and said, "Although your fur was tributed by the Tuoba Xianbei, there are more in Liaodong. I heard that the water plants there are more abundant than Yinshan Mountains and there are many forests, so there are many tigers, leopards, martens and foxes. It seems that there is another kind of name in the sea. Oh, I don't remember it, it is the leather offered by the envoy of Goguryeo."

"Seal?" asked Muniang.

The name "seal" was named by Shao Xun. It was the first time in history that this name appeared in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not popular. Later, the names "water leopard" and "island cat" appeared, and the various names existed at the same time for a long time.

"Yes, that's this thing." Shao Fu said, "How did you know?"

"The Concubine Wang and Wang Ronghua have all the sisters, and even the Yaren got one, which is so warm." said the grandmother, "It's still very light, much lighter than the one on me, but it's warmer."

Because seals, sea otters, sea dogs, sea lions, whales and others mostly live in colder sea areas, the fur has excellent warmth effect (high hair density), is also waterproof, suitable for humid and cold climates.

In addition, these furs made of marine animal furs are lighter and more wear-resistant under the same warming effect. Whether it is warm, cold, waterproof (humid and cold environment) or comfortable, they are better than furs made of land animal furs.

"That's it." Shao Fu said, "Where did the Goguryeo people get it? It must be Lelang, who brought the two counties."

"Grandma said it was obtained from the Woju land conquered by Goguryeo." said Mu Niang.

"It's almost the same." Shao Fu said, "You can think of a solution on this."

Mummy was not very interested and just said a few perfunctory words.

On the other hand, Lu and others quickly brought the tea to the table and served snacks.

Men are talking about military and political affairs.

"Would it be too early to hear that Mr. Li sent troops to the western Liaoning (county) to rob him?" asked Miao Xie, a member of the affairs department of the school.

"In what year hasn't been the robbery? Just rob each other." said Fang Lun, the chief of Xiyuan. "But this year's scale is indeed quite large. I heard that more than 2,000 cavalry were dispatched, including many elite soldiers, and tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, mixed animals, and captured thousands of people. Even if Murong was dead, he should have responded."

Border plundering has never been stopped in all dynasties, but most of them are too small to be reported. And if there is no strong leader to restrain it, plundering will inevitably occur.

But dispatching two thousand cavalry at a time has exceeded the scale of robbery and has risen to the level of conflict of clans.

Li Chong, the governor of Youzhou, was a steady person. He was generally not very good at doing such things that undermined the major policies of the court. He obviously obtained permission to do so.

Looking at what he did after entering Youzhou, all of them were preparing for the war.

For example, in Beiping County, they repaired the fortress, hoarded resources, equipment, and sent troops;

For example, rectify the tribes of Teng Zhuang, often practice, hunt, and even kill disobedient people to establish their authority:

For example, under the background of the layoffs of the world soldiers, they expanded the Youzhou army to 20,000, and coordinated with them, allocated land and invited the counties of Youzhou and even Jizhou to conduct military service, digging irrigation canals for the world soldiers, leveling fields, building houses, etc.

After several measures, the 20,000 infantry knights in Youzhou were greatly motivated. After equipping with the excellent equipment sent from the arsenals of Fanyang and Yecheng, they practiced it carefully and became quite combat-effective.

Although these 20,000 people are not as good as the 30,000 Chang'an soldiers trained by Kim Jong, it is no problem to rely on Yanshan to defend various forts and villages, and can be regarded as a qualified army.

Moreover, the existence of this world soldier greatly enhanced the court's prestige in the land of Youyan, shocked a group of Hucheng and local tyrants, and was no longer as unscrupulous as before.

"Will Mr. Li do this to make Murong angry and send troops to attack Youzhou?" asked Xu Xuan, ordering the Guangchengyuan.

"Maybe this is what Mr. Li wants." Fang Lun said: "From Changli to western Liaoning, except for walking on the Lulong Road, he can only cross the Liaoze. The carriage cannot pass there, and at most thousands of light cavalry will come. I think Mr. Li can handle it."

"If Murong comes to western Liaoning, it will be difficult for Murong Ren to attack him." Miao Xie said, "He should not be able to abandon western Liaoning. Hundreds of miles of fertile land are extremely rare for Murong Xianbei."

"Yes, if you can annihilate all the thieves in western Liaoning, it will be easy to recover Liucheng-"

The few people said and said, paying attention to the movements around them, especially the prince, King Qi, King Chu, King Zhao, King Han and others sitting under the corridor.

They surrounded the Supreme Emperor, looking harmonious with kindness.

The old man's eyes became even more turbid, and his mind seemed to be not as good as last year. Often, when the grandchildren said a few words, he seemed to have just reacted and replied one or two more words.

Only when the young princes and daughters came to him, would there be a little more glitter in his eyes suddenly appear.

The kings were also quite generous to these children. Especially the prince, when the four-year-old eighteenth prince Jilang (mother Qiu) fell in front of him, the prince smiled and picked him up and wiped his tears for Jilang.

Perhaps, these princes are too young and have no threat at all, and the prince is more willing to show their brother's warm side.

"Three brother, I heard that your Su Yi (Sogdian) has reached great success?" After putting down Jilang, the prince asked with a smile.

Shao shook his head and said, "I have also studied with Hu Shang. I have been studying for many years, but I don't know if it's right. I can barely identify the letters sent by the Chief Secretary of the Western Regions (in Loulan) but sometimes my handwriting is too sloppy, so I can't quite understand them. Besides, there are more than one grammar in the Western Regions, and there are many things to learn. Su Yi's language is mostly popular among merchants. At the beginning of the year, I got a Lu Wen document for my brother, but I couldn't understand them. I am trying to learn this year."

Luwen is popular among some Western city-states. For example, Loulan once used Chinese extensively in the Han Dynasty, but during the Later Han Dynasty, the national strength weakened and once evacuated from the Western Regions in large numbers, losing control of the local area, and the Han Shu crisis broke out. Therefore, Faluwen, which originated from the ancient Jiandra, filled the gap.

By the time the Cao Wei period resumed its rule over some parts of the Western Regions, Lu Wen had already made great progress. Now he coexisted with Han Wen. Although Sima Jin restored his rule over the Western Regions, it was mostly nominal, and his control level was obviously not as deep as the previous Han Dynasty, nor as deep as the early Hanzhong period. The next time he really had to control it deeply, Lu Guang of the Former Qin Dynasty led his army to the west and defeat the countries in the Western Regions.

"The third brother is really studious." Prince Shao Jin exclaimed: "My father will rely on the third brother in the future to manage the Western Regions."

"There are cattle, horses, alpacas, and grapes and fruits in the Western Regions. It seems that they are not that poor?" King Shao Zhang of Qi interjected.

"Where can you be poor if you have a business road?" Shao smiled and said, "There are many people, but they are mostly high noses and deep eyes. There were not many soldiers in the Han Dynasty. Since the end of the Han Dynasty, there have been many descendants of these people, so it is even more difficult to find. Even if they find them, they may not be able to speak Chinese."

Shao Zhang sighed and said, "Actually, I want to go to the Western Regions to see it, but I heard that the wind and sand are a bit heavy?"

"Wind and sand are inevitable, but there are also rich water and grass. Some luxurious Western Regions kings have no shortage of silk, silk, satin and exquisite utensils in the palace. Of course, I have only heard of it and have never seen it." Shao said.

Those Western Regions kings who lived in luxury were generally at the forefront of trade. They had oasis in their own country, and they could reclaim a lot of fertile land and could support tens of thousands of people. The most powerful Kucha country had more than 80,000 people in the former Han Dynasty, and now it is unlikely that more than 100,000 yuan will be collected. When both sides collect taxes, wealth is not a problem.

But as Shao said, no matter how rich the environment is, it is inevitable to eat sand, it depends on whether you can get used to it.

Perhaps for some people, being a lord of 100,000 people seems good, but for princes who have lived in the prosperous places of the Central Plains since childhood, they may not necessarily think so.
Chapter completed!