Chinese New Year

Chapter 1455 Brothers
The two brothers only spent one day together in Jicheng.

On the second day of the seventh lunar month, Shao Zhang personally escorted Hu Tou out of the city.

"Why go to such lengths, elder brother?" Shao Yu sighed. "We've already escorted them for seven or eight miles."

Shao Zhang was slightly embarrassed and said, "I'll also take a look at the branch's business stalls."

Shao Yu wanted to laugh again. Spending two days with his elder brother had improved his mood considerably.

"How much money have you made in the past few years, elder brother?" Shao Yu asked casually.

"It's only a little over 20,000 strings of cash a year," Shao Zhang said helplessly. "I don't know if it's because the people in charge of my Prince's Mansion are incompetent or what, but that's the amount we've been working on, and we can't raise it any higher. Last year, two ships sank off the coast of Chongqing, and not only did we lose all our money, but we also lost half of the boatmen we had painstakingly trained."

"How did it sink?" Shao Yu asked.

"They were almost in port when a strong wind blew them down. How unlucky is that?" Shao Zhang sighed again and said, "Several ships also sank that day in Chongqing. Maybe it was just fate that they were destined to sink at that time."

"How does elder brother plan to spend this money?" Shao Yu asked again.

“Recruit some young, strong men without families to support, and expand the royal guard to two thousand. Anyway, my father said we can get weapons from the Youzhou armory, so why not take them?” Shao Zhang said.

Shao Yu didn't say anything.

For people like them who are to be sent to distant lands, it is best to recruit those who are fifteen or sixteen years old, have no ties, and are all alone. After training them for a few years, they will become a fighting force as they grow older, and only they are likely to go with them to distant lands.

“Training troops is the right thing to do,” Shao Yu said. “Eldest brother is no weakling; he should cultivate good relations with military men to prevent any internal strife. If that’s not possible, then we must use the right people. A few months ago, Lü Han returned to Liaodong after his campaign and said he encountered Murong Huang’s son, Murong Ke, in the Later Cheshi Kingdom. This man is only nineteen years old, yet he is already very experienced in leading troops. What’s even more remarkable is his extreme loyalty; he’s truly an anomaly in the Murong family. Third brother, if you can win him over with goodwill, he will be of great use. I heard he’s already looking for a wife for Murong Ke; he’s showing great concern.”

“My third brother is not actually a weak man,” Shao Zhang said. “He trained two thousand soldiers in Ji County, led the Yellow Head Army during the Liao campaign, marched from Linyu Mountain, and fought several battles along the way to Tuhe and Xiandu. Later, he rallied the Tuoba Xianbei rebellion, beat drums to cheer them on, and reorganized the Shuozhou hereditary army. In truth, he has more experience in battle than I do. He just prefers reading, writing poetry, and financial planning.”

Shao Yu did not refute.

They all came from the war years, so who among them really knows nothing about military affairs? Whether they are experts or not depends on who they are compared to.

Only Gaochang is relatively chaotic, and the snow-capped mountains separate the north and south. The south is better; Gaochang Prefecture itself is relatively stable, and Yiwu Prefecture can be said to have been established from scratch, so it will be relatively stable in the future. To be honest, even if we gather scattered Hu people and exile criminals to settle in Yiwu, gradually increasing the population, it is better than directly accepting a place full of Hu tribes with intertwined interests. Yiwu may be more stable than Gaochang in the future.

The area north of the snow-capped mountains is more troublesome because there are many nomadic tribes north of the desert, which are difficult to control. The best-case scenario for the third brother in the future is probably to control the relatively fertile agricultural areas on the northern slopes of the snow-capped mountains, and then entangle with those tribes across the desert.

Actually, this is not bad. At least the two prefectures of Gaochang and Yiwu south of the snow mountain are safe, aren't they?

"That's all." Seeing that they had reached a three-way intersection, Shao Zhang dismounted and said, "We part today, but perhaps we will meet again someday."

"We will surely meet again someday." Shao Yu also dismounted and tightly grasped his brother's hand.

******
Heading south from Jicheng, the road is smooth and easy.

Especially when traveling across Hebei, the boundless plains, the densely packed cities, military towns, and villages, and the children and teenagers everywhere, all demonstrate that the population and wealth of this land are gradually recovering, and the national strength is growing step by step.

The accompanying guards were also somewhat surprised by the scene.

Most of them were from Youzhou, and even though they lived nearby, very few of them had ever ventured south to Jizhou, especially to the densely populated counties on the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains.

What a wonderful place!

However, when they passed through various counties and saw the military cities of the Right Flying Dragon Guard and the Left Dragon Tiger Guard, their hopes vanished.

They had all experienced the campaign against Liaodong, and they knew very well the fighting strength of the Fubing (府兵).

To put it arrogantly, their fighting strength is about the same as that of the local militia. To be honest, they are actually a notch below, at least not as good as the local militia or the Imperial Guards at present.

With the abundant wealth of the Central Plains, it could support over 100,000 soldiers and 62,000 imperial guards. No matter who it faced, as long as the commander-in-chief was not incompetent, it would be invincible.

Shao Yu watched all of this with an air of composure.

As the saying goes, "He who has no desires is invincible." Right now, he is only thinking about building up his eleven counties in Liaodong, accumulating strength little by little, and winning people's hearts.

His former formidable enemy, Goguryeo, was nearly wiped out, and now he is still licking his wounds and quietly rebuilding his national strength. In his life, barring any unforeseen accidents, his primary enemy will only be Goguryeo, and perhaps also the Xianbei and Wuhuan of Pingzhou.

With the support of the imperial court, Liaodong Kingdom was very confident and could even be a sharp knife to pierce the soft belly of Goguryeo.

Without powerful backing, our current national strength is far behind that of Goguryeo. Of course, if our elder brother can establish a foothold in Lelang and Daifang counties and provide some assistance, the situation will improve significantly.

As they traveled and pondered, in mid-July, the large group arrived at Fangtou, where they crossed the river and headed south.

While waiting to cross the river, Shao Yu even took the time to look around the area.

The Fu family, once a Di people, seems to be gradually losing influence in Fangtou.

Their descendants either entered the imperial court as officials or were "recommended" to serve as officials in Henan. Very few people remained in Fangtou, and most of them were distant relatives.

This generation of Di people may still have some lingering affection for the Fu family, but in another ten or twenty years, the Fu family will likely be swept away by the winds and rains.

Unable to maintain the tribal organizational structure, ordinary tribespeople came into contact with the village chiefs, township officials, township heads, and county magistrates appointed by the imperial court, instead of the tribal chiefs who had managed them for generations. This destined the Fu family to become a thing of the past.

Even if the Di people rebelled again twenty years later, they might not necessarily support a member of the Fu family. Even more bizarrely, it's not impossible that they might support a local township head, county magistrate, or prefect.

The power of the registered population, combined with the environment of the Central Plains, was ruthless. It's just that many emperors since the late Han Dynasty had been too appeasement-oriented towards the Hu people and rarely used this tactic. However, my father, who unified the country, no longer faced external threats and had the conditions to do such a thing.

Therefore, Shao Yu also thought of his Liaodong Kingdom.

Over the past two years, at his urging, many tribal nobles have begun to build estates, combining farming and animal husbandry, and have gradually tasted the benefits.

To be fair, although the population they controlled was beginning to settle down, they still couldn't be considered fully registered households. While the counties in Liaodong had conducted household registration surveys, the authenticity of the household registrations held by each manor was a matter of opinion.

To be precise, these Hu chieftains were beginning to develop in the direction of the powerful clans of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and were still far from being truly registered commoners.

But they are definitely moving in a positive direction, that's for sure.

On July 16, the entire army crossed the Yellow River. After resting for one night, they advanced westward along Puyang, entered Xingyang, passed Chenggao Pass, and entered the territory of Henan Prefecture.

On the 22nd, when the dark blue-green city of Luoyang could be seen in the distance, it was already dark.

Shao Yu looked sadly at the tightly closed city gate and had no choice but to rest outside the city for the night.

On the 23rd, he hurriedly entered the city with only a few subordinates.

******
Inside the Nine Dragons Hall, Shao Xun looked at Wang Huifeng, who also appeared ill, and asked softly, "Have you fulfilled your expectations of me back then?"

Wang Huifeng had lost a lot of weight and looked rather listless. After hearing Shao Xun's words, her eyes were slightly bewildered as she said, "Back then, I would have been satisfied as long as Your Majesty recovered the former territories of the Sima Jin dynasty and spared the people from war. But Your Majesty has done much more. Not only has Your Majesty recovered all the former territories of the Sima Jin dynasty, but you have also taken over Liaodong, the Tuoba Xianbei, Henan, and the Western Regions, making you a force to be reckoned with throughout the world. This has already exceeded my expectations."

"Since the end of the Jin Dynasty, the world has been plagued by troubles and frequent disasters. Your Majesty has also undertaken water conservancy projects and managed river channels, so that the people are no longer completely helpless in the face of natural disasters. In addition, you have managed the Jiangnan region, which has brought in countless households and facilitated the transport of goods from the south to the north, greatly benefiting the people..."

At this point, she turned to look at Shao Xun and said, "But I can't keep up with your thoughts anymore. I only feel that you want a lot and have changed a lot, and I gradually can't understand you anymore. Perhaps you are right, because you have succeeded."

Wang Huifeng walked up to Shao Xun, reached out and touched his face, and said, "I am very satisfied."

Shao Xun was somewhat embarrassed to meet Wang Huifeng's gaze.

This extraordinary woman, who transcended her own social class and genuinely cared for the people, was repeatedly blackmailed by him for "rewards," and he thought he had outsmarted him.

Perhaps Wang Huifeng was looking at him with a mixture of helplessness and amusement at the time.

Thinking of this, Shao Xun felt somewhat unwilling and even more dejected.

What are you so vain about? Wang Huifeng wasn't afraid of death. The only reason she would submit to you was because you happened to be able to clean up the mess and reduce the suffering of the world.

Thinking about this, Shao Xun found it somewhat amusing. Men, in some ways, don't seem to be much different at fifteen or fifty—they're both equally boring.

“I’m neither a good person nor a kind person.” Shao Xun gently grasped Wang Huifeng’s hand and sighed, “When I become ruthless, even I am surprised. I have no bottom line and am capable of anything. Sometimes I have a lot of unfounded worries, and I’m also a bit too concerned about saving face, which has caused trouble for many people. People say I’m ambitious and eager for quick success, and there’s some truth to that. Some people say I’m senile, which isn’t entirely wrong either. Right and wrong can only be judged by future generations. But at this moment, I’m still very happy to receive your affirmation.”

Wang Huifeng smiled slightly, and was about to say something when the eunuch Hou San came to report: The Prince of Yan has entered the palace.

"Have him come over here quickly!" Shao Xun said happily.

Wang Huifeng looked at Shao Xun quietly, a smile playing on her lips.

(End of this chapter)