Chapter 494 Jia Cong's Birthday
"I have received your order!"
"Order the rear army to build siege equipment as quickly as possible, the more the better!"
In the era of cold weapons, catapults, ladders and the like were absolutely a huge deterrent for sieges. Otherwise, facing a towering city, who knows how many soldiers and horses would be needed to fill it.
"I obey your command!" Wu Qing, Marquis of Dongchuan, also stood up and responded.
"Hou Jing, Liu Bin, the two of you will lead your troops to Tongchuan Prefecture and Suining Prefecture to receive food and fodder!"
"Shi Si, Shi Ci, the two of you will lead your troops to Longzhou, Langzhou, and Guozhou to recruit able-bodied men!"
If the grain is transported from Shenjing, not even 30% will be left. Therefore, the court has ordered that in addition to transporting some grain from Shenjing, the rest of the grain will be divided into two parts, one part will be directly requisitioned from nearby prefectures, and the other part will be transported from the Jiangnan area.
Although the journey from Jiangnan to Sichuan and Shu is also long, it can all be done by water. Food and grass can be collected from Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Jinling, then transported west along the river, and then along the Minjiang River to Chongqing Prefecture. Then, it can be changed to the Jialing River and transported north to Suining Prefecture and Guozhou area.
Although the consumption is also not small, it is much better than land transportation.
In order to transport food and fodder, Jia Cong wrote to the court this time, asking the Xue family's Feng family to participate!
The Feng-branded trade routes stretched throughout Daqian, making transporting grain and fodder a breeze. Furthermore, at Jia Cong's suggestion, the Xue family directly approached the court, offering no fees, simply to contribute to Daqian's well-being. After all, Daqian's treasury struggling, and profiting from the national crisis would be counterproductive.
Even if the Xue family spends hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, it is definitely worth it.
Emperor Longxing was naturally satisfied with the Xue family's understanding. His in-laws had given him face, so he couldn't let them suffer any loss, right?
Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue was ordered to handle this matter. Although it was not easy to directly come up with a large amount of silver and money now, it would definitely not be difficult for the court to make money if they wanted to. The Ministry of Revenue informed Emperor Longxing that it could compensate the Xue family with salt vouchers instead of silver, and Emperor Longxing naturally agreed.
Since ancient times, salt merchants have always been the wealthiest. Whether it was official salt or private salt, it represented extremely lucrative profits. However, salt and iron were a monopoly of the imperial court, and without a strong foundation, it was difficult to get involved. Even with the Xue family's wealth, they had no way to get involved in the salt trade. But now with the imperial salt permit, it was hard for the Xue family not to become wealthy.
As for the able-bodied men needed for the army, they could only be recruited from nearby states and capitals.
Large armies require a vast number of auxiliary troops and able-bodied men, often several times the number of the main army. For example, Jia Cong's army of over 100,000 soldiers required at least 200,000 to 300,000 able-bodied men and auxiliary troops. Fortunately, Sichuan and Shu have a large population; otherwise, recruiting such a large number of able-bodied men would have been a real challenge.
…
Inside the imperial palace, in Fengzao Palace, the queen sat in a chair in a daze, and this expression had lasted for the entire morning.
Yuanchun hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and whispered, "Is there something on your mind, Your Majesty? Are you missing His Highness?"
The Queen sighed softly, "I don't know where Xiao He'er is now."
"Didn't His Highness write to the Empress a dozen days ago, saying that he was in Pingyang Prefecture? He should have passed Chang'an by now."
"Hey, today is Xiao He'er's birthday!" said the queen softly.
Yuanchun was stunned, and then she understood why the Queen was in a bad mood today.
In fact, according to the Jia family, Jia Cong's birthday was on the third day of the eleventh month. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, this date was two months off from the actual date. Today, the third day of the ninth month, was exactly Jia Cong's actual birthday.
"Your Majesty, how about issuing an order to have Miss Xue and Miss Lin enter the palace to accompany you for a banquet? This would also be a way of celebrating His Highness' birthday."
The Queen thought for a moment and said, "Alright, then let Zhou Gui go. However, since we're going to have a banquet, why not make it lively and invite everyone we can."
"Girls Lin and Xue will naturally come, and Yuanyang and the other three will come as well. Um... and there's also girl Baoqin, the girl from the Shi family, and your three younger sisters. Tell them that I'm inviting them to the palace for a banquet."
These people are either daughters-in-law or future daughters-in-law, or at least candidates for daughters-in-law. Naturally, the Queen will not overlook any of them.
Moreover, it is indeed a happy thing to have so many little daughters to accompany me.
Although my son cannot be with me on this day, wouldn’t it be a joy to have my daughters-in- with me?
After thinking for a moment, the Queen continued, "The two who served me tea when I visited your residence earlier, please come along. I accepted their tea, so I will give them a small banquet today."
As she spoke, the queen internally resented her son. Having many daughters-in-law was a good thing, but this little monkey didn't know how to behave. As a mother, if she neglected to do so, her son would inevitably be blamed in the future. However, inviting all of them would be a violation of protocol. She had no choice but to find an excuse to help her son.
Although Yuanchun was surprised, she naturally did not refute it. She immediately called Zhou Gui to convey her order.
Zhou Gui came all the way to Rongguo Mansion. After the announcement was made, Jia Mu went out to greet him with some suspicion. Now that her grandson was not at home, why did the Queen Mother send someone to announce the decree?
"Greetings, Lady Zhong!" When they arrived at Rongxi Hall, Lady Jia spoke first.
Zhou Gui hurriedly said, "Old Lord, there is no need to be so polite. I am here on the orders of the Empress to invite your daughter to the palace for a banquet."
"Oh?" Grandmother Jia was stunned. "I wonder which girl from our house the Queen invited? And why?"
Zhou Gui smiled and said, "The second, third, and fourth young ladies of the mansion! Miss Lin from the Lin family, the two Miss Xues from the Xue family, Miss Shi from the Shi family, the three concubines of the Marquis, and the two who served tea to the Majesty when she came to the mansion last time."
"It's nothing special. It's just that the Queen is bored in the palace, so she invited the girls to the banquet to liven things up."
"Please wait a moment, my Excellency. I will have someone bring them over to listen to your orders!"
"There's no need to go to such trouble. Her Majesty gave the order orally. She instructed all the girls to get ready and come forward. I will ."
"Alright, thank you for your kindness!"
Grandmother Jia called Amber to pass the message to everyone, while she herself stayed in Rong Xi Hall to chat with Zhou Gui.
At this moment, the girls had just finished their meal and rested for a while before gathering in the back building, waiting for the nanny to arrive and learn the etiquette. As they were chattering, they saw Amber rushing over.
"Hello, ladies! The old lady asked all the girls to dress up and change clothes immediately, and then go to the palace for the banquet."
