Chinese New Year

Chapter 495 Incentives
Shao Xun was quite surprised by Wang Xuan's miserable appearance, so he asked his personal soldiers to take him to bathe and wash up, and then found a quiet place in the backyard to wait for him to recover before discussing matters.

As Wang Xuan followed the servants along the way, he seemed to be lost in thought.

Mr. Chen was in the Nanyang Palace, giving orders and making arrangements at will, and everything was very natural, so natural that there was no flaw at all.

He recalled the subtle changes in his second sister's facial expression when she heard about Empress Hui Yang, and sighed in his heart: Lord Chen is good in every way, except that he likes to mingle with the princesses too much. He has a home wherever he goes, and can be served comfortably like a male host.

As he sighed, he looked at the stains on his body and actually felt a little envious.

Would Mr. Chen suffer such a punishment while traveling around Nanyang? Of course not.

If you are tired, you can go to Le’s Manor to have a rest. If you are really embarrassed, you can take a rest at Nanyang Palace.

Men, after all, still need women to take care of them. Alas, Mr. Chen should be a role model for our generation.

Shao Xun was also taking a bath.

After marching in the rain for a long time, he was naturally very dirty as he had no mudguards on. After finishing his official business, he took a comfortable bath.

Princess Liu of Nanyang took the dirty clothes away to wash, and then took out clothes from the package, only to find that they had been wet by the rain.

In desperation, he went to the closet and took out a white robe.

She gestured at the cupboard and found that Shao Xun's figure was similar to her husband's, so she happily picked one up and put it on the couch next to the bathtub.

"You've been in Nanyang for so long, are you tired?" Shao Xun asked softly with his eyes closed.

Liu was silent for a while, then said, "Everything is taken care of by my assistants. I'm not tired, but I'm a little scared."

"Who are you afraid of? Liang Chen?"

"He is just one of them. Liang Chen is ambitious, but I can see that he has the courage to kill people, but not the courage to control the whole mansion. He is always hesitant and indecisive." Liu looked at Shao Xun and asked curiously, "How did you dare to..."

"Xiao He, I dare to do anything to get ahead." Shao Xun glanced at Liu and said, "If I had served under Duke Pingchang at the beginning, I would also cling to you, please you, and protect you."

"You are not a good person." Liu blushed, then chuckled and said, "I am not a flower slave. If I knew you were thinking about me, I would definitely send you away."

"Yes, Hua Nu is different. She gave me a chance, and I owe her for the rest of my life." Shao Xun said with emotion.

Liu lowered her head, her expression somewhat dazed and a little resentful.

"That's the limit of my usefulness to you." After a long while, she sighed, "You set up a front so that the old people in the Nanyang Palace can have a fig leaf to deceive themselves. After a long time, they will leave the palace and work as officials for you. The refugees from Guanxi who are stranded in Nanyang come here for the Nanyang Palace. They won't stay for long and go to Runan to divide the land. Their lives become stable and they are grateful to you. In the end, I am old and ugly and have nothing..."

"I like beauty, but I am not a heartless person." Shao Xun said, "I was sorry for what happened back then. Now that I have you, I will never let you go. Whether you are willing or not, I have wronged you to live with me for the rest of your life."

The tone was not very good, but Liu Shi felt inexplicably relieved after hearing it, but she said: "You speak in this tone now, is it the same with Hua Nu?"

"It's time to go meet my sister." Shao Xun didn't answer and got up from the bathtub.

Liu took a towel and wiped him.

"Put our dear daughter to sleep early tonight." Shao Xun pinched her face and said.

Liu was about to refuse, but then she thought of Shao Xun coming in the rain to help her solve her problem, and she sighed inwardly that it was natural for a woman to serve a man, and making him feel more comfortable was also her duty.

After wiping, Shao Xun changed into a white robe. Before leaving, he said, "You can stay here for another year or so. Once you are stable, you don't need to stay here permanently. You can just stay here for a few months a year."

"Yeah." Liu responded softly, like a submissive little wife.

******
There were sounds of footsteps beside the lotus pond in the backyard.

A little girl secretly got up from the grass, with a few leaves on her head, looking very funny.

Wang Xuan looked into her eyes.

"Who are you and why are you here?" he asked.

The little girl was silent for a while, then said, "They say I am a princess, but my mother says I am not."

Wang Xuan's brain was a little out of order, but suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he asked, "Who is your father?"

The little girl stopped talking, lowered her head and played with her fingers, looking a little depressed.

After a long while, he finally said, "My mother said she likes me the most and will ride horses with me."

Wang Xuan asked, "Didn't he come today?"

The little girl was fooled and muttered, "You didn't ride with me."

Wang Xuan suddenly felt dry in the mouth, feeling that he had said too much and shouldn't have asked the little girl questions. What good would it do him if he knew this? If his father was here, he would have probably fallen asleep long ago and didn't see or hear anything.

There was another sound of footsteps not far away, and two maids hurried over, first bowed to Wang Xuan, and then hurriedly picked up the little girl.

The little girl didn't struggle and just followed him obediently.

Wang Xuan sighed and stared at the lotus pond in a daze.

Round lotus leaves are floating in the pond.

The evening breeze blows, and the pink crabapple flowers flutter and fall on the lotus leaves.

Occasionally, the sound of frogs croaking could be heard by the pond, as if they were also praising the beauty and tranquility of the lotus pond at night.

He returned to the pavilion where he had just sat.

Behind me is a bamboo forest.

The wind blew through the forest, and the bamboo leaves fluttered. The tender bamboo shoots broke through the soil, and even a few of them emerged from the pavilion, which was very cute.

The late-returning birds fluttered into the nest, and the chicks chirped and stretched their necks.

On the high wall behind the bamboo forest, soldiers stood silently with swords and bows in their hands.

Wang Xuan sighed. In troubled times, the pure land still had to be guarded by warriors. He lowered his expectations for this trip.

"Mei Zi seems to be worried about something?" A familiar voice came from not far away.

"Mr. Chen." Wang Xuan came back to his senses, stood up and saluted.

"Sit down." Shao Xun returned the greeting and came to the pavilion, sitting opposite Wang Xuan. The guards brought a table and poured the brewed tea for the two of them.

"It's been so hard chasing all the way." Wang Xuanxian complained.

"Why are you here?"

"Following the food."

"The grain supply is insufficient, the emperor should issue an imperial decree to reprimand you." Shao Xun said, "You are in charge of finances, and you ran from Luojing to Nanyang for such a small matter. If you spread the news, wouldn't it make people laugh?"

"There is a severe famine in the capital. If this continues, I'm afraid I won't even have the energy to laugh."

"Why is this so?"

"Mingsir, the imperial decree has been issued. The grain you promised..."

"I will give it to you." Shao Xun smiled and said, "How is the situation in Beijing?"

"The emperor absolutely refused to issue an edict." Wang Xuan said: "All the officials went to the Taiji Palace to plead with him, and the emperor was furious and did not go out for two days. Later, Princess Xiangcheng came in to persuade him, saying, 'Lord Liang knows the general situation and will definitely return the edict.' The emperor reluctantly agreed."

Shao Xun laughed.

Isn't this the end? Liang Fen even sold her house, which was a disappointment to the emperor.

"Two hundred thousand hu of millet and fifty thousand hu of beans will be shipped to Beijing next month," said Shao Xun.

"Can't you give me more?" Wang Xuan looked at Shao Xun with expectant eyes.

"How much grain do I owe the court?"

"Let's not talk about the rent and taxes, the grain debt is a million bushels."

"Return slowly, there's no rush." ​​Shao Xun laughed and said, "The war in Hebei is raging, and the emperor is sitting in the palace. Don't you have any strategy?"

"How can the emperor have the time to care about Hebei?" Wang Xuan said with a wry smile: "I heard that Liang Fen has left Wancheng. Is this true?"

"Mr. Liang is old. He has been governing Wan for two years and is exhausted. He has resigned from his post."

"What should I do?" Wang Xuan lamented.

Shao Xun was an outsider, so naturally he didn't need to listen to the emperor's nagging.

They were court officials, and they met the emperor every day. It is easy to imagine what would happen.

"It just so happens that I need to arrange a number of official positions." Shao Xun ignored Wang Xuan's worries and said, "More than 30 government soldiers and more than 10 Wancheng government officials. Well, I will also serve as the governor of Mianyang North."

"I'm afraid it's difficult." Wang Xuan said seriously.

In order to get the emperor to issue an edict this time, Wang Yan threatened with famine and persuaded all officials to plead in front of the Taiji Palace.

Even so, the emperor was still somewhat reluctant. Fortunately, Princess Xiangcheng pointed out that Liang Fen would not obey the imperial edict, which made the emperor reluctantly agree.

Now - haha, the emperor has discovered that he has been fooled, won’t the sky fall and the earth split?

You want to be an official? Dream on.

When Shao Xun heard this, he also started to think seriously about it.

If one ignores the emperor and appoints generals on one's own, officials who were once student soldiers will accept it, those who were killers in the government soldiers may or may not accept it, and officials from the gentry will definitely not accept it.

This is the value system. You need a court and an emperor.

Even if you establish a country and rule the country, it is better than appointing officials without any reason. After all, this is also a kind of righteousness, although the righteousness of the Xin Dynasty may not have been accepted by most people.

Before establishing a new dynasty, you can only use the righteousness of the old dynasty, which cannot avoid the emperor.

Sima Chi is much more troublesome than Liu Xie.

Or, change the emperor?
As soon as this thought came to Shao Xun's mind, he suppressed it because the time was not yet ripe.

Sima Chi is really mentally ill! Shao Xun became more and more unhappy as he thought about it, and said, "We won't distribute the grain for now."

"This..." Wang Xuan was horrified and said, "Mingsir, this cannot be done! The officials are innocent, they have already pleaded for you."

"If things are not settled yet, give up your official positions and I will distribute food later." Shao Xun said firmly.

"Alas, I can't continue to be the Minister of Finance." Wang Xuan lamented.

Shao Xun laughed and said, "Meizi, if you can't do it, don't do it. Come and help me. What do you want to do? After we conquer Qingzhou, how about letting you be the governor?"

Wang Xuan's heart moved.

Langya is right next to Qingzhou, and people often refer to "Qingzhou" and "Xuzhou" together, probably because the two places have a close relationship.

When my father arranged for Chuzhong to be the governor of Qingzhou, it was not without purpose.

If he could become the governor of Qingzhou, his assistants would all be old friends, relatives, and former officials of the Wang family of Langya. He would feel so comfortable in his job.

"Are you going to attack Qingzhou, sir?" he asked.

"We may attack Shi Le first." Shao Xun said, "But I will never go back on my promise, don't worry."

"When will that be?"

"Well. The Yang family of Taishan has repeatedly requested to attack Qingzhou. I heard that the Yang family is a family of two thousand officials and they know a lot of people in Qingzhou. If a large army attacks there, it will definitely be twice as effective with half the effort." Shao Xun said.

Wang Xuan was shocked.

"I still believe in the Wang family." Shao Xun looked at his expression, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "These are just a few small things, and they will definitely be easy to handle."

Wang Xuan was silent for a moment, then he cupped his hands and said, "I will return to Luoyang tomorrow to discuss this with my father."

"No hurry, no hurry, have some tea first." Shao Xun said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)