Chapter 468: Vow at the Ancestral Hall
As they were talking, the guard Ke Zhenxie reported: The chief steward of the navy, General Zhou, has delivered some items.
Zhao Yulin asked him to bring it over for inspection.
Ke Zhenxie immediately brought in an exquisite little wooden box. He opened it in front of the old scholar, and a fragrant aroma of tobacco hit his nose. Inside was actually finely cut golden tobacco.
Zhao Yulin was delighted and told his father that it was a good thing. He asked Ke Zhenxie to get rice paper, scissors and glue. He quickly wrapped the cigarettes and cut them neatly. He handed one to the old scholar, picked up one himself, lit it with a lighter and smoked it, and smiled and asked the old scholar to light one as well.
His mother coughed twice when she smelled the smoke in the room, and asked with a frown what it was. Why did San'er inhale such choking smoke?
He said with a smile that tobacco leaves have benefits, they can refresh, calm, relieve stress, and can repel and kill insects when placed in the fields. However, smoking too much can damage the lungs and is definitely harmful to health.
After that, he personally lit a cigarette for his father. The old scholar took two puffs with the mentality of giving it a try, and immediately started coughing non-stop. After a short pause, he started smoking again. Surprisingly, he was not averse to this imported product.
Maybe he has been in a bad mood recently, and taking two puffs of cigarette helps him calm down.
Zhao Yulin told his father: This is tobacco leaves found in Mayi country, and they are planted in Leizhou. But the tobacco made is not top quality, the top quality ones will not make my mother cough even if she smells them.
The old scholar didn't say a word in response. He concentrated on smoking, and the way he enjoyed the cigarette was even more concentrated than his mind.
Haha, Zhao Yulin couldn't help but admire.
He spread out the rice paper and continued to wrap up a few more cigarettes, then lit one and smoked it with relish as he went to the study.
Ke Zhenxie immediately delivered the latest military report: First, the Ministry of War ordered Wang Hanchen to lead troops to Lhasa City to replace Li Yunqing in guarding Tubo.
Second, the Ministry of War split the Eastern Group into Lai Chuanfang's Northeastern Group and Yang Xingyun's Eastern Group to deal with the Mengge Group of the Mongolian Army and Li Quan's Group in Shandong respectively. Lai Chuanfang was making every effort to build the Cunjin Dike.
Third, Lin'an Prefecture in Jiangdong was rapidly disintegrating. The Chengdu Xunbao published an imperial edict from the king Zhao Feiyan urging Liangzhe to recognize the situation and reunify as soon as possible. The announcement of the appointment of Xie Lingyun as the deputy envoy of the Ministry of Rites of the New Song Dynasty was like a catalyst for the disintegration of Liangzhe.
A large number of officials and merchants sneaked to Huating County at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the thatched houses in Shanghaipu were overcrowded. The garrison commander of Qingyuan Prefecture swore allegiance to the New Song Dynasty, and the Shenwei Army's South China Sea formation had already moved in and taken over the defense of Qingyuan Prefecture.
He was delighted by what he saw and kept saying: Good, very good.
Qingyuan Prefecture is the Ningbo of later generations. It is currently the largest maritime trade port in Liangzhe. If the Shenwei Army enters this place, Liangzhe will lose half of its tax revenue. The financial operation of Shi's son will be even more difficult.
Zhao Yulin was just feeling happy when he saw Master Lu leading Duan Xiaolin in.
As soon as Lao Lu sat down, he said that Prince Zhennan and the fourth young lady had returned.
Chengdu issued a low-interest loan of 5 million guan to Dali to help it rebuild after the war. The Prince of Zhennan came to discuss the purchase of new military equipment with Ge'er. Minister Miao of the Ministry of War was still out of town, so the Central Council asked Ge'er to commit suicide.
He then knew that Duan Xiaolin had gone directly to Chengdu to discuss state affairs.
The Dali Kingdom was originally going to win a great victory in its attack on the Yue Kingdom, but an internal struggle for military power on the border led to a mutiny in the new army, which gave the Yue Kingdom the opportunity to give them a severe beating and launch a beautiful counterattack, turning a pot of porridge into water.
In fact, the struggle for military power in the Dali army was entirely the result of careful planning by Yue State spies. The important officials of the Dali State all had retainers from Yue State, so they naturally had deep connections with Yue State.
There were many people among them who gave advice to the Gao and Chai families. They just took advantage of their jealousy of the powerful new army trained by Duan Xiaolin and their desire to annex them. As expected, their move worked.
Duan Xiaolin asked for equipment for 20,000 people and asked his third brother to agree to it no matter what.
Because their Dali army suffered heavy losses in the internal strife on the border this time, his new army was simply dispersed. Some defected to Dai Viet, some defected to the New Song, and only a few remained in the country.
What kind of country is this? Zhao Yulin almost laughed out loud, but suddenly he remembered that his brother Han Yongchao had rebelled in Jinzhou and almost caused his Shenwei Army to kill each other like in Dali, and he immediately calmed down.
Zhao Yulin simply said that he would give him equipment for 30,000 people , including iron barrel cannons and thirty mortars, with a standard configuration of 1,500 artillery shells.
Duan Xiaolin was very happy and thanked his third brother repeatedly.
However, Zhao Yulin said "but" again.
He said: "But these weapons are second-hand goods. Master Lu came to replace all the equipment of the Liangshan Prefecture garrison in person, and the replaced equipment was secretly transported to Dali. These weapons happened to be the ones that the Dali army was familiar with.
Then, we will transfer 10,000 old equipment from the Marine Corps of the South China Sea Fleet. These weapons are also the weapons that the Dali Army is used to using, including a large number of rapid-fire Zhuge crossbows. Although they are all old equipment and have not been used for a few years, we only charge 70% of the price of new equipment, okay?
When Duan Xiaolin first heard that it was just second-hand goods, he was a little disappointed. But after listening to his detailed explanation, he was delighted, especially because the price was 70% of the new equipment, which was very affordable. He was immediately overjoyed. He immediately promised him that the purchase cost of the weapons would be paid in full with raw jade stones, and the original price would remain unchanged.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that was his business, and discussed with Master Lu to follow the market. But there was one thing, it must be kept strictly confidential, why did they transfer military equipment from Liangshan Prefecture?
This is exactly the reason.
Duan Xiaolin and Lao Lu then realized that he had gone to so much trouble to play this trick just to keep it a secret and shut the Vietnamese people up.
After discussing business, he invited Lao Lu to have a drink together, but Lu Youpeng refused, saying that he would not attend their family gathering and that he would go to do errands for the Prince of Zhennan.
This sentence made Duan Xiaolin feel embarrassed.
In the past, Lao Lu was always called Xiao Linzi, Xiao Linzi.
Zhao Yulin and Duan Xiaolin went out and saw his sister Zhao Sihan talking with the old scholar, so they asked them to go out for dinner together.
Her mother immediately said: Let's go to the Jiangbei dock firewood chicken restaurant for dinner and invite Auntie and the others to come and have fun together.
Zhao Yulin would definitely support it, and the whole family went out to the dock to cross the river. After a while, they sat in the firewood chicken at the dock.
The old scholar saw that the four tables were full and his face was full of smiles. Si Niang told him cheerfully that several wives and beloved grandchildren had not come back yet.
The old scholar said happily that everyone was busy.
During the dinner, Duan Xiaolin toasted his eldest brother Zhao Yuqing and asked him what he was doing to make money recently. Haha, this is just asking about something else, and it immediately exposed a hornet's nest of the eldest family.
The aunt said unhappily that the whole family was busy, but her eldest brother was idle at home, lying on a chair every day staring at the sky, and he was almost becoming a fool.
The eldest sister-in-law immediately said to Zhao Yulin: Third brother promised to find a job for you, right? Third brother, tell me, what is a good job?
The old scholar said unhappily: This is a family dinner, you just came back and want to show off, why don't you be quiet. After he invited everyone to drink, he picked up the wine glass and drank.
Zhao Yulin immediately raised his glass to toast his elder brother and motioned Duan Xiaolin to drink.
He said there are ways to make money, and we can cross the river to discuss it later.
After being humiliated, Duan Xiaolin didn't want to get involved in this mess anymore. He told him that state affairs were more important and he had to go find Master Lu to discuss the details. They would part ways after dinner.
Zhao Yulin agreed to his request. After dinner, they said goodbye at the dock and the family returned to Cuiping Mountain. He asked all the elders to sit in the living room and told his aunt that it was not impossible to help Brother Yuqing. As long as he did a simple job for five or ten years, he could easily earn one million or five million strings of cash.
The aunt and the eldest sister-in-law's eyes immediately widened and asked two questions in succession: Are you serious? Does the third brother really have such a magic way to make money?
The elders of the family looked at Zhao Yulin in surprise.
His eldest brother was originally listless, but after hearing what Zhao Yulin said, he perked up. He sat up straight and leaned over to ask him, "Are you serious? Third brother, aren't you lying to me?"
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that it couldn't be false, as the elders were all testifying to it.
However, the eldest brother needs to do the next thing. He has to go to our Zhao Family Ancestral Hall and swear in front of the elders that he will walk the right path in the future. He believes that the eldest brother will keep his promise and will not let down our ancestors.
Zhao Yuqing looked at his mother with difficulty.
The old scholar immediately said that it was right. Yuqing had gone astray again and again, and he should be put under a tight ring. San'er's idea was good, so he asked Yuqing to go to the ancestral hall and set rules for himself in front of his ancestors.
The eldest sister-in-law thought it was an opportunity, so she went up to Yuqing and shook him to ask him to agree. Then she shouted to Zhao Yulin: Third brother, tell me quickly, what is your business?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said: "Why are you in such a hurry? Our eldest brother is still considering it. You don't need to work hard outside for this matter, as long as you can calm down and do it. He guaranteed that the eldest brother could easily earn 500,000 strings of money in five years."
This made his aunt and sister-in-law excited. The total value of the first wife's family's private money was only a few tens of millions of strings of cash. Even the business that was confiscated by the government was less than three million strings of cash in total, and it was Zhao Yuqing who spent half of his energy and used all means, even breaking the law, to get it.
Zhao Yuqing agreed immediately, stood up and asked his father to open the ancestral hall so that he could worship his ancestors.
Zhao Yulin doesn't care about these trivial matters.
He knew that swearing and making oaths were all lies. But considering that they placed the spirit tablets of "Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teacher" in the supreme position, he still had a bit of awe in his heart, so he asked Zhao Yuqing to go to the ancestral hall and swear to be a new man.
If Zhao Yuqing commits a crime again in the future, his aunt will probably not vent her anger on him because of the oath Zhao Yuqing swore in the ancestral hall.
The old scholar had already led everyone out to cross the river, and Zhao Yulin turned back to his study to handle official business.
