The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 109 My Ancestor Was a Genius
Zhao Rui's aunt, Ni, was a concubine of high rank.

She was a concubine's daughter from a collateral branch of the Ni clan of Wuyue.

Back then, Lady Jiang, the wife of the Marquis, had not conceived for three years after marrying into the family.

The old marquis then arranged for his son to take a concubine.

Wu and Yue were the most prosperous regions in the world.

As a concubine's daughter from a collateral branch of a thousand-year-old family, Ni's dowry included a ten-mile-long red procession.

She's lucky too.

Within three months of being brought into the Marquis's mansion, she and the Marquis's mistress became pregnant one after the other.

On the day Aunt Ni gave birth, the mistress accidentally fell.

On the same day, the two women gave birth to the eldest son born to a concubine and the eldest daughter born to the Marquis of Ningyang.

Zhao Rui, the eldest son born to Aunt Ni.

Because he bore a striking resemblance to the Marquis of Ningyang and was the first male heir in the household, he was greatly favored by the Marquis of Ningyang.

Aunt Ni was wealthy and powerful, and with a son by her side, she was considered the third most important person in the Marquis's mansion.

who knows.

Having grown up pampered, Zhao Rui is truly incapable of enduring even the slightest hardship.

It took me seven or eight years of stumbling and reading through just three books, three hundred and one thousand, before I could truly understand them.

His physique also resembles his father's.

He should have been a martial arts prodigy like his father.

He is also talented.

He's just a piece of trash!
When they were seven or eight years old, they were made to squat in a horse stance, but they couldn't stand for even half an incense stick's time.

He is neither good at literature nor at martial arts.

As they grew up, they became quite adept at eating, drinking, and having fun.

With a doting mother like Aunt Ni around, he never carried less than a hundred taels of silver.

The group of spoiled young masters in Huaiqing Prefecture loved to hang around him.

I coaxed him into playing, and treated him like a sucker.

At an age when she was curious about everything and full of energy, she was taken to a brothel and lost her virginity as soon as she ejaculated.

After that, the young man, having tasted the pleasures of a woman, was not about to give up.

When he encounters a beautiful woman outside, he tries to bring her into the Marquis's mansion.

Before the engagement was even finalized, there were already five concubines in the courtyard.

Three of them were redeemed from brothels.

One of them was a little white flower who sold herself to bury her father.

Another one was bought from a theatrical troupe.

period.

Zhao Muyun discovered that his eldest son, born out of wedlock, had been spoiled by his own mother.

I've tried hitting and scolding them, but they haven't improved at all.

The Marquis of Ningyang had a wife, a concubine, and several maids in his harem.

At the age of thirty-three, he only had two sons and a daughter.

Every child is precious.

Don't kill them easily!

Speaking of their Ningyang Marquis's Mansion...

If his ancestors had produced a spoiled brat, perhaps the emperor would have felt more at ease with his family.

But now.

He couldn't possibly hand over such a large manor to his daughter, who would be the next generation's strongest warrior, could he?
Speaking of Zhao Muyun, the highest-ranking general guarding the border city.

We must mention their most remarkable ancestor.

The first page of Zhao Muyun's family genealogy features his ancestor, Zhao Mao.

The family genealogy records that he was exceptionally brave from a young age and was skilled in riding and archery.

Zhao Mao has a special identity.

He was the son of the leader of the 128 guards of Emperor Taizu of Bei.

He began following his father at the age of ten and made outstanding contributions in dozens of major battles that overthrew the Yuan Dynasty government.

During his youth, he carried Emperor Taizu of Bei out of piles of corpses several times.

He grew from a boy into a young man amidst the flames of war.

In his early twenties, he had already become one of the generals most familiar with the situation on the northern border.

At the same time, Zhao Mao's name also became a nightmare for the Mongol Tatars.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Zhao Mao was one of the military officials who assisted in the founding of the dynasty.

He was granted the titles of Grand Master of the Palace and Pillar of the State, and was further enfeoffed as Marquis of Ningyang, and later promoted to Duke of Ningguo, with an annual salary of three thousand shi (a unit of grain). This title was not inherited for five generations. This continued until the main Mongol army was completely defeated and rendered powerless to resist.

Zhao Mao was also ordered by the emperor to command the soldiers of the garrisons in Gongchang, Pingliang, and Biancheng.

From then on, troops were stationed in the border town.

At the age of thirty, he became a high-ranking official in a region.

The most remarkable thing about Zhao Mao is not that he achieved fame and success at a young age.

This Duke was a renowned centenarian in the history of the founding of the State of Bei.

Starting with Emperor Taizu, he served a total of eight emperors and was the most steadfast royalist in the Bei Kingdom.

He also had a son with his 28-year-old concubine when he was 73 years old.

He passed away at the age of 95!

Many of his descendants also became great generals.

However, most of them died on the battlefield.

The Ningyang State Duke's Mansion has been passed down through eight generations and nine generations.

By the time of Zhao Muyun's generation, he was demoted to Marquis of Ningyang.

The Zhao family was undoubtedly still like local tyrants in the border town.

The previous five generations of dukes lived quite comfortably.

Our ancestors fought battles their whole lives, and they accumulated a considerable fortune.

However, the Zhao family also had a family rule of generously rewarding soldiers, which remained in place.

Throughout history, the heirs of the Duke or Marquis of Ningyang were all married off by imperial decree.

Most of the women who were betrothed by the emperor were daughters of civil officials.

The main focus is on someone with outstanding talent and character.

After these women married into the Zhao family, they almost all had to give up their dowries in order to ensure that their biological children could live the life befitting a Duke's mansion.

The current wife, Lady Jiang, was the grandfather of the Imperial Academy Chancellor.

When she had just come of age, her meticulous brushwork painting of butterflies and flowers won high praise from a master court painter.

With her relaxed features and slender figure, suitors flocked to her door.

Unexpectedly, this very flower bud was given to Zhao Muyun by Emperor Beiwen.

From then on, a talented woman was paired with a rough and brute.

The dowry items from prominent families were mostly ancient books, paintings, and other valuables.

These ancient books would be worth a fortune if they were put on the market.

But who would sell a family heirloom?
Jiang's beauty and talent indeed captivated Zhao Muyun for two years.

In the third year after their marriage, no infants cried in the Marquis's residence.

The old marquis grew anxious.

He's eager to have a grandson.

He was eager to return to Shangdu with his wife to retire.

This is how the old Marquis taught his son:
“My son, by your grandfather’s generation, our Ningyang Marquis’s mansion was just a facade! Your grandmother and your mother were not good at worldly affairs. The reason I let you take a woman from the Ni family of Wuyue as a concubine was to connect with this thousand-year-old family.”

Zhao Muyun: "So, you're selling your son for money?"

The old Marquis, heartbroken and indignant, scolded his unfilial son:

"How difficult can life be for the Marquis's family? The imperial court hasn't paid military salaries to the border region for over a decade."

Our border town has a garrison of over 40,000 households and more than 100,000 soldiers.

With so many mouths to feed, the military farms simply cannot supply enough grain!

Zhao Muyun was so scolded that he dared not utter a sound.

If he is to be the head of the Marquis's mansion, he must shoulder the responsibilities that come with it.

Ever since Aunt Ni entered the Marquis's mansion.

Specialties from the border town, such as Helan inkstones, Tan sheep pelts, wolfberries, and licorice, have already been sold to various parts of Jiangnan by the Ni family's caravan.

Trading local specialties a few times a year can bring in a profit of around 200,000 taels of silver.

It's certainly not enough to pay the wages of 100,000 border troops.

Some of the money would be used to buy rice and grain directly from Jiangnan and transported back to sell to the families of soldiers at a fair price.

Another portion was used to procure winter cotton-padded clothes and leather boots for the border troops, as well as to update some weapons.

and so.

The importance of the profits from the Ni family's caravan to the border town is self-evident.

Even if Zhao Rui, the eldest son of a concubine, is a playboy.

Even though Ni, this concubine, often caused trouble for the mistress.

Zhao Muyun and his wife really couldn't punish this mother and son too harshly.

(End of this chapter)