Long live the general

When the first day of classes started in Taixue Palace, Huo Yi was already nestled comfortably in Xiaojiao Palace.

Zhou Zhenzhen really missed Huo Yi very much, and sometimes even when he was sitting face to face, that inexplicable emotion would be even stronger.

When Huo Yi first came back, they still had a lot of things to deal with, and the two of them didn't have much communication.

Now that everything is settled, the two of them suddenly? Not so busy.

Zhou Zhenyan asked about the Hetao area. Although there was a report from Gongsun Yang, he still wanted to hear Huo Yi's thoughts.

Huo Yi then went to the Hetao area and stayed there for three full months, at first to clear the snow, and later to resist the sudden attack of the Huns, until the defense system of the Hetao area was initially established.Zhou Zhenzhen not only ordered the construction of Shuofang and Wuyuan counties, but also rested and reorganized the city walls built by the Xia Dynasty, heightened and reinforced them, so that the beacon towers on the entire northern border continued.

The Hetao area has slowly entered the right track, and the foundations of the two border counties have been laid. Every time Huo Yi passes by, he seems to be able to see the two growing border towns.

There are tall buildings rising from the ground in the north.

He described to Zhou Zhenyan the endless grassland, horse grass fluttering in the wind like water waves, meandering rivers, herds of cattle and sheep wandering on the grassland, the sky is vast and endless, and the round sunset seems close at hand.The horses could run unscrupulously. Soon, when the snow melted and the grass sprouted green again, the farmers bent down to cultivate the fields without worrying about the invasion of the Huns.

Life exists in that grassland.

Zhou Zhen smiled? Listen to him with a smile? These distant scenery, although this is his territory, but he has never left Chang'an City.

"I want to go there too..." Zhou Zhenyan said involuntarily, but soon he came to his senses. For him, as the king of a country, where to go is very motivating. thing.

Usually Zhou Zhenzhen stayed in Ziwei Palace, surrounded by hundreds of people, besides the servants, maids, imperial guards, and a group of servants waiting for him at any time, etc.When the emperor of the Xia Dynasty went out for a tour, he brought more than 2 people. Wherever he went, he had to make preparations at least two months in advance.

Zhou Zhenxie wanted to see with his own eyes the territories and people under his rule.

Unless he is no longer the emperor of Dai Viet if he wants to keep things simple.However, the emperor has always been a life-long career, but few people are willing to hand over the position before death.

Zhou Zhenzhen and Huo Yi chatted for a while again, without a fixed topic, and occasionally fell silent, thinking separately, both of them felt relaxed.

This year is the third year of Emperor Yuanding's accession to the throne. In the past three years, Zhou Zhenyan's attitude towards Huo Yi has never changed, and he is as trustworthy and sincere as ever.

From the perspective of an emperor, Zhou Zhenzhen is really worth it? Entrust the admirable emperor.

Huo Yi thought, if Zhou Zhenzhen was not the emperor, maybe they would have more things to talk about. They were already very good at talking, and they had the same and different ideas in many aspects. Ideas can also be complementary.

That night was Huo Lingyue's first day back from Taixue Palace, and Cong Yunmeng specially prepared a table of meals.

Huo Lingyue also looked very excited, and the excitement was beyond words, talking about what happened today.It was indeed Tao Jiamu who gave the lecture in the morning. She used to listen to Tao Jiamu talking all over the place in the yard alone. It was the first time that she was listening to so many people. It gave her a different feeling.Of course, the content of Tao Jiamu's lectures has been restrained a lot, at least not like in the Huo's yard, where he has no words and dares to say anything.

Everyone in Taixue Palace is seated according to the official positions of elders, and Huo Lingyue and Li Feng are quite close to each other.In the afternoon, I took them to the school field in Ziwei Palace for training. Huo Lingyue exaggeratedly described how big the school field in Ziwei Palace was. A man of martial arts is also a school lieutenant in the army, and he is very good at riding.Children like Li Feng and Huo Lingyue have already possessed excellent riding skills, and they are quite the limelight on the school grounds.

Huo Lingyue also talked about a few classmates who had a profound influence. Except for those princes, most of them were still low-key.She said enthusiastically, "The man named Zhou Yunshen is very interesting. Although he has never shown a strong side, whether it is knowledge or martial arts, he is very average. He just stays behind alone in silence, but Huo Lingyue always I can't help but pay attention to him.

"He's like Uncle Tao who sees through the world of mortals." Huo Lingyue raised her chin and looked at Huo Yi, thinking that she actually saw the shadow of her little uncle in Zhou Yunshen.

Obviously, on the surface, they are two completely different people.

Probably some deeper similarities.

Cong Yunmeng happily listened to Huo Lingyue's report, and felt that her granddaughter had stepped into a new level of life. She watched this child grow up, and in the blink of an eye, so many years had passed up.

After Huo Lingyue left, Cong Yunmeng looked at Huo Yi and said slowly, "Xiaoyue has grown up."

"Yes." Huo Yi didn't have a sense of crisis at this time, and said with emotion: "The little girl is really different every day." Huo Lingyue is still a little more mature, and the girl who jumped from the wall seems to be far away from now up.

Cong Yunmeng glanced at him: "Xiaoyue is so old, how much time will she spend in Huo's mansion in the future? It will be less and less, after getting married, it will be difficult for her to see each other again."

How could Huo Yi think of such a far place, and quickly said: "It's still early? She's only eleven."

"It's getting late, when a girl is fifteen years old, she's the age to marry." Cong Yunmeng said faintly: "What about you, until now you don't even have a bosom friend."

It's over, this is the third time Cong Yunmeng mentioned this matter.There are only three things, it seems that his mother is serious? Don't worry about this matter.

But when it comes to confidantes, Huo Yi actually thinks that he and His Majesty are quite confidant... The moment Zhou Zhenyan's face appeared in his mind, Huo Yi shivered and broke out in cold sweat.

This is too scary!

Cong Yunmeng was still asking, Huo Yi hurriedly fooled him, because of the previous scene, his mind felt chills.

terrible!

He forced himself to forget the thought.

After that, Huo Yi went to court every day as usual, went to the barracks to train soldiers, and went to the palace to chat with Zhou Zhenyan.Huo Lingyue went to the Taixue Palace every day. Their class time was about the same as the court time. Huo Yi simply sent her off every day and walked directly to the front hall from the "inner palace that no one else can enter" ?.At first, he still felt that this was not good and violated the rules, but the rules were set by the emperor. After Zhou Zhenyan took him for two trips, Huo Yi got used to it.

After Huo Lingyue went to the Taixue Palace for a week, her enthusiasm gradually faded, and she became a step-by-step state.

The main reason is that she found that what she learned in the Taixue Palace was far less exciting than what she had learned before.Whether it is knowledge or martial arts, she surpassed the others by a large margin, to the point where she wondered if the other students were hiding their clumsiness, but she was the only one who showed it stupidly, but it didn't look like it no matter what.

And she slowly discovered that, except for Li Feng and a few people, she really couldn't get along with those noble children.

The Taixue Palace gradually divided into different circles.

There are a group of people headed by Prince Huai'an and Prince Chuhai each, and a few people headed by Huo Lingyue, and the rest are silently grouped together without any sense of presence.

There was also Zhou Yunshen who was separated from the crowd.

Back then, Prince Huai'an and Prince Chuhai were dirty, so the rest were forced to stand in line. Among them, Huo Lingyue was a maverick, and those princes never made trouble for them.

When they were in class, besides the regular teacher, there were other people who would give lectures, even Zhao Cheng, Gongsun Yang, etc. were pulled over. In the afternoon, Huo Yi and Qiu Hongguang would occasionally play guest coaches, This is "very rare" for other people, but Huo Lingyue feels more and more - this is the same as before.

In the past, Huo Yi would teach her the art of war and battlefield experience, along with some principles of life, Qiu Hongguang would teach her sword skills, and some things that only he dared to do, Tao Jiamu would teach her Confucianism-based schools of thought, even Zhao Cheng and Gongsun Yang would occasionally chat with her.On the surface, the two had a cold relationship with Huo Yi, but they were very caring when they met Huo Lingyue in private.

The only difference is that His Majesty the Emperor will sometimes come to observe and conduct random assessments by the way.

Zhou Zhenyan was very satisfied with Huo Lingyue, and even Huo Lingyue's entire small circle fell into his eyes.

After an assessment was over, he suddenly asked Huo Lingyue what he thought of the current land annexation issue, and how to deal with the behavior of local tycoons who stayed away from Chang'an and refused to listen to Wang Ling.

These two questions seem to have nothing to do with each other. Many people don't understand why the emperor would ask such a question.

Some people didn't understand, and some people understood but didn't know? How to answer, their suspicious eyes were on Huo Lingyue, and the whole Imperial Academy was silent.

Huo Lingyue replied: "These two questions sound unrelated, but they are actually the same question. Local power needs to be supervised. In places far away from the central government, after a hundred years of accumulation, those wealthy families have a very high reputation. , their words are more useful than the local bureaucrats. During the snow disaster just three months ago, Shang Shuling Gongsun Yang was strongly obstructed by the local tyrants in order to prepare disaster relief resources, and even almost died there. To the bureaucrats Shangshu Ling Gongsunyang, who has the ability to supervise, is like this, let alone other people."

As for why she knew? These things, of course, were told to her by the adults themselves.

"At the beginning, Shang Shuling set up an investigation system to strengthen the control of the central and local officials, but it only treated the symptoms but not the root cause. The local tyrants are more difficult to manage than the officials. If they cannot be managed, the land annexation will continue to deepen."

Having said that, there are already many people who can't keep up.

Zhou Zhenyan looked at her with interest: "What do you think? How should we solve this problem?"

Huo Lingyue showed no timidity in front of the emperor: "The problem of land annexation is essentially unsolvable, and can only be properly suppressed, because its existence is due to human nature."

Zhou Zhenxie: "How do you say?"

"When the Xia Dynasty collapsed and Dai Viet was established, there were fewer people and more land. Naturally, there would be no such contradictions. But over the past hundred years, because of the policy of cultivating health and wellbeing, the number of people has doubled, but the land has not increased. , which led to the tense situation of people and land. In order to encourage land production and trade, Dai Viet implemented private ownership of land, which resulted in a large number of rentier classes. With benefits, of course they would want more? Farmers at the bottom run out of water to fish, and there are more and more barren fields? Farmers rely on farmland to produce, which also produces a large number of refugees."

"Shuofang, Wuyuan moved [-] refugees here, provided them with farm tools, and let them own the wasteland they reclaimed. This can relieve some of the pressure, but as time goes by, a new rentier class will also emerge there. .”

She suddenly covered her lips, as if hesitating, can she say the next thing? Zhou Zhenyan looked at her with gentle eyes.

"I think that the imperial court should control the land transactions so that the landlords cannot reap the land without restrictions." She felt that this statement was a bit naive: "The other thing is, for the existing wealthy families, their power and prestige come from Locally, as long as they are allowed to leave their hometown, their power will be weakened."

"Every hero in the world, annexing his family, in the name of chaos, must be forcibly relocated... I think it would be good to move to Chang'an."

Zhou Zhenxie's words were already a bit of a joke: "I can't say? Let them move, and they will be willing, right? There will be a lot? The article will scold me."

"Look for a reason." Huo Lingyue's mind was very clear: "Just say? Building an imperial tomb or something."

Many emperors have started to build the imperial mausoleum since their registration. Zhou Zhenzhen has not started to do this. He first used the money to build the arsenal, and then built the Taixue Palace.

Zhou Zhen stared at her for a while, then suddenly thought regretfully, if this girl's surname is Zhou Duo?

Many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but his expression remained calm. After a while, he thought again that the surname Huo is not bad.

When the emperor is different from any position in the imperial court, his base of power is no longer a certain class, a certain place, or a certain force, but all classes and people of the entire country.

The relationship between the different classes must be constantly balanced.

What he is planning is not a person's rights, but how the great country will continue and how the people can get over it.The establishment of Taixue is just to have more in the future? Can people write articles? Of course not, it is to popularize certain concepts and cultivate learned people for the country. After that, there will be more and more people in Taixue Palace? After a hundred years, it will inevitably be another scene.

Similarly, is the arsenal built just to forge weapons to prepare for the Northern Expedition? The arsenal represents the most advanced productivity in Dai Viet. Farm tools that can make farming faster and more efficient have been gradually extended to every corner of Dai Viet , Zhou Zhenxie conveyed his attitude of emphasizing innovation.

The investment now is for the benefit of a hundred years later.

But things definitely cannot go according to Zhou Zhenyan's ideas, such as the country's tight treasury and the social turmoil brought about by his various reforms. At some point in the future, he may even make a move? If you lose, you will do something that will last forever.

In fact, Zhou Zhenxie needed an excellent heir more than his father, Emperor Yueyun.

This question and answer made Huo Lingyue and the others more prominent in the entire Taixue Palace. Everyone in the Taixue Palace had different expressions. The disciples of those aristocratic families lowered their heads. How many other students are there? How many? How little is a little bit confused about what happened. Zhou Yunshen Looking at Huo Lingyue, he noticed that the boy named Li Feng was also watching her.

When I went to the school grounds in the afternoon, Zhou Zhenyan also went with me. I saw Huo Lingyue wearing a lean hunting suit and hitting nine out of ten arrows on the field. It is involuntary to follow her.

It is very similar to Huo Yi ten years ago.

Since then, Zhou Zhenzhen has often come to Taixue Palace to see Huo Lingyue, and sometimes even asked her some thoughts on political affairs. Although Huo Lingyue's thinking is still extreme and naive, it has already revealed that It is a piece of rough jade that can be polished.

In fact, if Tao Jiamu and Huo Yi hadn't been influencing her, Huo Lingyue's thoughts would have been a little more extreme.

Zhou Zhenzhen sometimes taught Huo Lingyue some ways of being a king in a joking manner. The direct teaching from His Majesty the Emperor was the only thing Huo Lingyue felt that was different from before. high angle.

Rumors began to spread in the palace that His Majesty the Emperor preferred the Huo family to the Zhou family.

When Chang'an was suitable for farming, the arsenal provided a new iron plow, and someone below offered new seeds to the emperor. The farmer said that this kind of seeds would mature faster and could be compared with the current rice In exchange? Farming.

On that day, His Majesty the Emperor brought a large group of people to the open space in the back mountain of Ziwei Palace, and used a new iron plow to dig trenches and break the soil, and then buried new seeds in the soil.

This kind of behavior has existed since ancient times. It is a ceremony performed by the emperors of all dynasties to encourage farming. You see, the emperors have farmed the fields themselves, so the people below will naturally have to work harder, and there are officials in charge of this.

This official position is very idle, and I only do two days of work a year, once reminding His Majesty to cultivate, and once reminding His Majesty to harvest.

Usually watering, irrigation, fertilization and pest control will not be done by His Majesty himself!

Zhou Zhenxie's farming this time was to spread new farm tools and new seeds, but after planting, he also felt a little strange in his heart, and asked the farmer: "How long? How long will it take to mature?"

"In three months," said the farmer?

Zhou Zhenxie thought it could be faster, he patted the soil, as if staring at the seeds inside through the soil, and unconsciously smiled.

Just as he was trying to drive the development of farming in the whole of Dayue, Huo Yi returned to Huo's mansion, and what Cong Yunmeng gave him was the picture scroll.

Huo Yi inexplicably opened it, and inside was a gentle and beautiful beauty in costume.

Huo Yi: "..."

Whether it is a blessing or a curse, it is a disaster that cannot be avoided, and this day has finally come.

Huo Yi still wanted to struggle, and said with difficulty: "Mom, didn't I say it before? This is not urgent, I don't want to drag other girls..."

"My son, how can there be a drag?" Cong Yunmeng said with a flat expression: "Yaoer, mother is already at this age, and the only wish is to see you get married. There is a caring person who can take care of you. Take care of you, tolerate you."

Huo Yi's heart sank, and he asked tentatively, "Mother, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, it's just a feeling." Cong Yunmeng's eyes were slightly red: "Yaoer, you can't live alone for the rest of your life."

"mother……"

She held Huo Yi's hand. Huo Yi could feel the soft and cool skin on his mother's hand. Cong Yunmeng's palm was warm. Her strength wasn't that strong, so Huo Yi still followed her and left.

Cong Yunmeng took him to the study room. There were many scrolls in the study room, which must be all kinds of pictures of beauties. Huo Yi felt powerless for a while, so he heard Cong Yunmeng say: "Everything they brought It’s here, mother didn’t read it, it’s up to you to like it.”

Huo Yi said in a low voice: "Mother, how can you find a bosom friend just by looking at the portraits."

Cong Yunmeng sat down and asked him, "What kind of person do you like?"

Huo Yi sorted out the language: "Regardless of appearance and identity, people who have what they want to do and put in effort, have a strong heart, firm will, clear goals, are serious and responsible, and have a flexible mind..."

"And tenderness and kindness." He added at last.

Cong Yunmeng glanced at him strangely: "Is this your standard for finding a wife for yourself?"

"Isn't it..." Huo Yi said seriously? "I like this kind of person."

Cong Yunmeng is as good as he is: "That's fine too. There will be a poetry meeting tomorrow, and all the girls of the Chang'an family will participate. You can go to the poetry meeting to see if there are any people who are strong in heart, firm in will, clear in their goals, and serious and responsible." .”

Huo Yi let out a cry?

Cong Yunmeng said: "I've already contacted you, you can go directly tomorrow."

Huo Yi: "Mom, do you think I look like I can write poetry?"

"Although it is a poetry club, there are also activities such as riding and shooting." Cong Yunmeng patted him on the shoulder: "Tomorrow is Xiumu, Yaoer, go and perform well."

Huo Yi was forced to get up the next morning, and was tossed around by Cong Yunmeng all morning, then got into the carriage and threw him to the bank of Qinhe Liu.

The poetry meeting is held here.

Huo Yi felt that he was being watched like a monkey? Cong Yunmeng did dress him up carefully today, wearing a black slim-fitting robe, his thin waist was very conspicuous, and he took good care of it for a while? In the end, the advantages of the bone phase were brought into full play, and her complexion improved a lot? There was even some flesh on her cheeks.

He stood there for a while, and everyone who passed by, regardless of gender, couldn't help but look at him, and couldn't bear to look away.

Huo Yi thought to himself that I am really a monkey.

He wanted to live and die in embarrassment, wondering why he stood here and was surrounded by people watching him.

He would rather go to the palace to discuss the increasingly serious economic problems with the emperor.

Just when he was about to find a chance to escape, there was an exclamation from the opposite side.

The voice was very familiar. Huo Yi looked over curiously, and Zhang Laiqian, a very well-dressed Dasinong, was looking at him in surprise.

Huo Yi: "..."

He looks so calm, no one must know? His heart is silent? Screaming.

"This, this is not Wanhu..." Zhang Laiqian showed a look of sudden realization, and Huo Yi walked over quickly, and desperately gave him a "silence" gesture.

Zhang Laiqian chuckled, and asked him, "Why did General Huo come here? I haven't seen him before. Alas, as expected of the Marquis of a Thousand Households, he took away all my charm as soon as he came here."

The author has something to say:

Met a colleague at a blind date.