Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 351, The Cycle of Mountains and Rivers

Although he didn't know Meng Liang's reasons for doing so, Fang Yong had no reason to refuse a plan that could only benefit him.

Compared to Zhang Haicheng, the situation was much smoother for Hua Xiu, the governor of Hubei.

Hua Xiu and several other important officials agreed to the imperial decree to return to the capital to report on their duties. There were a few details that needed to be discussed, but the basic intentions had been reached.

Most of the local powerful families did not oppose Hubei's submission. A few families, perhaps due to old grudges with the Huaiyin Army or their inability to accept Fang Yong's policies, chose to resist.

These people were only a minority and didn't amount to much, so Fang Yong didn't take them seriously.

The city defenses of Xiangyang have been agreed to be handed over, and the Xiangyang defense deployment map has already been submitted as a gesture of goodwill.

The official handover date was set for ten days later.

The handover of such a large city defense would take time, which Fang Yong could understand.

Zhai Xun's side has already established a foothold in Xi'an and eliminated the henchmen spread by Liu Xiang.

He is currently setting up defenses in the mountain passes and passes near Xi'an.

The local situation is complex, with varied terrain, and many areas have changed significantly from the landscape recorded by Emperor Taizu of Daxi. Local officials are mostly incompetent and fail to report on this, and the official maps are less accurate than those privately drawn by the Jiao family. This has rendered some of the initial defensive deployments unusable, and Zhai Xun is gradually revising them.

In Liaodong, news of Chu Yuqi's serious illness spread widely.

However, it's hard to say whether it's true or false.

This wasn't the first time Chu Yuqi had been seriously ill.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is currently investigating this matter closely.

Specific details haven't been obtained yet.

Shen Tu's trading company was established very quickly.

Most of the members have already been won over.

Merchants had a low social status in this era, and with Fang Yong's endorsement, Shen Tu easily gathered many business tycoons from various places.

With Fang Yong's brand established, even if it meant losing money, these big businessmen were willing to flock to him, let alone make money. Only the Kong family, with its thousand-year-old heritage, remained unmoved by this.

Fortunately, after Fang Yong approached Kong Zhaolin, Zhaolin sent a letter of divorce home, and the Kong family quickly responded.

The Kong family assigned two relatively capable collateral relatives to handle this matter.

One was named Kong Qinglin, and the other was named Kong Qingke.

Although neither of them came from the main branch of the Kong family, they were both officials with official titles and had previously served as officials in the Da Xi dynasty.

For a former official, being in charge of business is clearly a disgrace.

But the two had no other choice.

The reason for this was that after Fang Yong took over Shandong, the Kong family cooperated with him. Fang Yong gave the Kong family two counties in Jizhou and Yizhou, which were deeply controlled by the Kong family. In return, the Kong family voluntarily gave up their control over Shandong and resigned a large number of official positions to Fang Yong.

Under these circumstances, the number of official positions within the Kong family was greatly reduced. Many members of the main lineage and some clan elders were not assigned official positions, let alone the two branch lines.

Therefore, the two were assigned to take charge of the trading company.

Although they had heard that this trading company was very important, prejudice in people's hearts was like a mountain that was not easy to change. Even after joining Shen Tu's trading company, Kong Qinglin and Kong Qingke still looked down on the other members of the company.

It should be noted that the other members of the business association were all prominent businessmen whose commercial influence extended throughout the province. They were all influential figures in the outside world. However, when such figures offered tea to Kong Qingke, Kong Qingke merely picked it up and put it down, making a perfunctory gesture, but in reality, he did not drink a single drop.

The businessman surnamed Qiao from Shanxi sat back down with a grim expression.

Kong Qingke was equally displeased.

"Ha, a bunch of greedy merchants, stinking on money, trying to serve tea, they can't even speak properly, they've tainted the fine tea with the stench of money! If it weren't for the Prince's sake, he wouldn't even bother to offer a token gesture..."

All parties seemed to have encountered some minor problems, but overall things were progressing steadily. Fang Yong observed for a while and, finding no major issues, let things develop as they were.

Back in the palace, I'll continue to spend time with Daiyu today.

Instruct the imperial kitchen to prepare zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for lunch.

Daiyu was copying a piece of calligraphy, "A Record of Observing the Frost on the Earth and Wood" by Dong Qichang from the pre-Ming period. This is an article by Dong Qichang that sharply comments on the past battles of the Ming army. It is a rare and unique copy. Fang Yong found it interesting and took it out of the Da Xi Treasure House. He admired it for a few days and then put it aside. Unexpectedly, Daiyu brought it over.

However, Daiyu was clearly distracted at this moment.

The reason was that Fang Yong had spent the whole day with her yesterday and thought he wouldn't come today, so Daiyu didn't dress up. Her black hair was just draped over her shoulders, and her eyebrows were not drawn, so she was inevitably not beautiful.

It's too late to do your makeup and draw your eyebrows now.

Daiyu had no choice but to continue copying, and as she put pen to paper, she absentmindedly asked:
"Dragon Boat Festival has passed, why are we still eating zongzi today?"

Fang Yong shook his head inwardly.

What reason could there be? They've never eaten it before.

However, he didn't say that. Instead, he walked to Daiyu's side and said:

"A few days ago, we ate zongzi to commemorate Qu Yuan. Today, we're eating zongzi just to eat with my sister."

Daiyu felt a deep sense of shame upon hearing this.

Honestly, he's a feudal lord who controls several large states, yet he's still like this...

Fang Yong wrapped his arms around Daiyu's slender waist from behind and teased her:

"My younger sister's calligraphy copying has a style reminiscent of Wang Duo!"

Dong Qichang wrote in regular script, and his brushstrokes were smooth and graceful.

Wang Duo's calligraphy style includes some running-cursive script, which is generally incomprehensible to the average person.

When Daiyu's mind is in turmoil, she naturally cannot write calligraphy as smooth and elegant as Dong Qichang's.

Lin Daiyu, furious, pinched Fang Yong hard and said:
"My brother is so mean, he's teasing me again!"

Fang Yong kissed Daiyu's lips directly.

Take advantage of her when she's not paying attention.

I made zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for lunch, along with other dishes, but I'll mainly talk about the zongzi here.

There are differences in the types of zongzi between the north and south.

In the south, there are meat-filled zongzi and sweet jujube zongzi, while meat-filled zongzi are rare in the north.

Besides these two types of zongzi, there is another type used by ordinary people, called white zongzi.

This refers to a type of rice dumpling that has absolutely no extra filling and is entirely wrapped in glutinous rice and bamboo leaves.

This type of zongzi is inexpensive and suitable for ordinary people. The glutinous rice has a richer, more delicate aroma and is quite popular in northern regions.

Fang Yong was used to the first two types of zongzi, so eating this one now felt novel.

Moreover, it can be dipped in granulated sugar to enhance the flavor, which is quite nice.

Of course, white sugar is not cheap, and ordinary people may be reluctant to spend it.

However, Fang Yongzheng is developing domestic industrialization, which is just beginning. He is focusing on heavy industries such as steel first, and once those are developed, it will be time to move on to light industries.

Mass production of white sugar will not be a problem in the future, and the price of white sugar can be easily driven down, making this delicacy affordable for ordinary people.

Fang Yong himself belongs to the autocratic ruling class. He cannot be as great as those people in his previous life. All he can do are these insignificant little things.

While eating, some sugar granules accidentally landed on Lin Daiyu's clothes.

"Don't waste it!"

Fang Yong spoke up.

Daiyu blushed, "You...don't...eat slowly..."

(End of this chapter)