Do you know: I have a different surname: Wang, uncle Minglan.

Chapter 355 Sheng Family Meeting
It was early November in the third year of Kaiwu.

More than ten days have passed since Wei Yuan settled down in the Sheng family.

During this period, he never went to the Privy Council.

But in early March of the following year, Wei Yuan will launch a northern expedition.

Now is the critical moment for the court to allocate food, supplies and discuss matters related to the Northern Expedition.

Since Wei Yuan, the real leader, is not in the Privy Council, who should the officials consult?
Wang Anshi has personally gone to Jiangnan to preside over the reform plan.

Firstly, most of the food and fodder for the Northern Expedition next year will be obtained from the south of the Yangtze River.

Secondly, in order to redistribute land, they suppressed the gentry in Jiangnan and demanded food from them.

For fear of causing civil unrest, he had no choice but to come to Jiangnan in person.

Fan Chunren was a hands-off boss. In his words, he would ask Wei Yuan about war matters and Wang Anshi about people's livelihood matters.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with me.

Some officials could understand it. He was the prime minister, so how could all matters have nothing to do with him?

But the key is that he has no say in the matter!
Therefore, officials from various departments had no choice but to come to Sheng's house to ask to see Wei Yuan.

Over the past few days, Wei Shuyi has become increasingly thinner and weaker, and looks like he is dying.

Wei Yuan was a man who was used to seeing life and death, but the person who was about to pass away was the elder sister who raised him.

He did not want to sacrifice public interests for personal ones, and he wanted to be with his elder sister during the last moments of her life.

Therefore, they had to hold a meeting in the main hall of the Sheng family to handle all matters related to the expedition.

Everyone in the Sheng family, such as Sheng Minglan and others, did not dare to approach the main hall of the Sheng family.

At this time, Jingshu, Muger and Qiji were playing outside the hall.

Minglan and Zhang Guifen were watching them nervously.

Because Wei Yuan was discussing matters with officials from various departments in the hall.

"Taifu, 800,000 laborers will be recruited from Huainan and Liangzhe to transport grain. It is expected that 300,000 dan of grain will be delivered to Yanmen starting from January."

"Marquis Wei, the Ministry of War submitted a memorial to the Emperor yesterday, seeking your opinion and that of yours. Should we allow the 100,000 soldiers in the Eastern Camp to rush to Yanmen first?"

"There are rampant bandits in the area of ​​Jinghu South Road. They have raised the banner of rebellion and we need someone to suppress them. Who should we send as the general and which troops should we send to encircle and suppress them?"

"."

They talked about current affairs in an orderly manner.

From this aspect, it can also reflect the power that Wei Yuan currently holds.

As long as it is related to war and requires mobilizing troops, even if it is the government, they have to ask him in advance.

In a sense, the power held by Wei Yuan has surpassed that of the so-called regent.

There are many rumors among the people that among all the ministers in the court, only two people can shoulder the great responsibility of caring for the people of the world.

One is Wang Anshi, and the other is Wei Yuan.

"Pan Shu, the eldest son of the Duke of Han, will lead 10,000 troops from the southern camp to quell the rebellion."

"We can also recruit some civilians from Henan Prefecture to make up a million people, and send all the food and supplies to Yanmen as soon as possible."

"This time, we want to surprise the Liao Kingdom. Whether we can successfully take over the two states depends on this northern expedition."

"Don't move the soldiers in the Eastern Camp yet. If the Ministry of War has any more documents, you don't need to submit them to the Secretariat. Send them to me first. After I have read them, I can give them to the emperor for review."

"Do you have anything else to do? Take advantage of today to resolve all the accumulated issues one by one."

With just a few words, Wei Yuan finalized some major events that would affect the country's destiny.

At this time, the Minister of Revenue Haizhou suddenly said:

"There is one more matter, which is not an important matter of the court. It is a personal puzzle of mine. I hope that Lord Wei can answer it."

"According to the headcount ratio, minus the food and grass consumed by the laborers when transporting food, 300,000 dan of food is enough for an army of 300,000."

"And this time, the Marquis of Wei asked the court for 600,000 dan of grain."

"The Marquis of Wei is the head of the family, he should know the difficulties of being the head of the family. It is difficult to get 300,000 dan of grain. It would be too difficult to get more."

Wei Yuan glanced at him and said calmly: "Since it is your personal confusion, then keep it. If there are difficulties, find a way to overcome them." "The north is bitterly cold. We have been discussing this expedition since two years ago. Why are you only talking about the difficulties now? What have you been doing?"

Hearing this, Haizhou's face looked a little ugly.

Wei Yuan slowly stood up, looked at everyone, and said, "The Sheng family has prepared lunch. It won't be too late to discuss other matters after lunch."

After that, he left here.

Afterwards, the ministers in the court began to discuss again.
"One million civilians would be a huge drain on the country's strength."

"The Marquis of Wei knows very well that the court is in a difficult situation now, yet he still presses us so hard. Alas!"

"Okay, stop complaining. When the Marquis of Wei and the Emperor discussed matters before, they said that we have difficulties, and the Liao Kingdom has even more. Now is a good time to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun."

"I hope that I can see the recovery of Yanyun in my lifetime."

"."

Haizhou stood up and was about to walk away.

Seeing this, those people hurriedly asked:

"Where is Minister Hai going?"

"Shangshu, don't you want lunch?"

"."

Hai Zhou said, "You guys sit down first. Since I'm here at the Sheng family, I have to go see my sister."

Hearing this, several people suddenly realized and laughed one after another:
"I almost forgot that Mr. Hai's sister married Sheng Changbai."

"Sheng Changbai is a successful young man."

"What are you so proud of? Without the support of the Grand Tutor, he wouldn't be where he is today."

"."

Hai Zhou asked around and found out that Hai Chaoyun was busy in the kitchen.

He was led by the servants of the Sheng family to the kitchen, where he met his sister.

I saw her cooking some delicious food.

Although it hasn't come out of the pot yet, the aroma is already wafting.

Hai Zhou sniffed it and said with a smile, "I have been craving for this bite of food for a long time."

Hearing this, Hai Chaoyun turned his head and asked, "Brother? Have you finished your meeting?"

Haizhou leaned in to look at the food in the pot, "Braised koi? Not bad."

Hai Chaoyun shook his head helplessly and said, "People say that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. How come you don't care at all?"

Hai Zhou said, "When did I ever care about those things? What about Changbai?"

While cooking, Hai Chaoyun responded, "It's not over yet."

"You look so sad, is it because things are not going well?"

Hai Zhou sighed immediately, "Our Lord Wei doesn't care about our life or death at all."

"So serious?" Hai Chaoyun asked curiously.

Hai Zhou said bluntly, "When we were discussing matters just now, I heard Taifu Wei say that he plans to have Sheng Changbai accompany the army as a military advisor, and that he will rush to Yanmen as a grain transport officer in the early spring of next year."

Hai Chaoyun was immediately shocked, "Changbai is weak, how can he endure the long journey north?"

Hai Zhou spread his hands, "It's not my call."

After Hai Chaoyun prepared the food and asked the servants to move it to the main hall, he went to find Zhang Guifen.
"Aunt, the journey north is really difficult. I'm worried that Changbai's body can't stand it. Otherwise, you can talk to Uncle Wei and ask him not to let Changbai go with the army to the north."

Hearing this, Zhang Guifen glared at her.
"How can women like you and I be allowed to interfere in the affairs of the court? Besides, others can go, but your Changbai can't?"

After saying that, she looked at Jingshu who was playing the piano beside her and murmured:

"You and I are the same. Why would I want your uncle to go to the Northern Expedition?"

(End of this chapter)