Chapter 801 Jia Shifei Visits for Advice
What else could it be?
Of course, it’s because of the checks and balances among the subordinates!
Sun Shaozong went south to quell the rebellion and achieved unprecedented feats; Sun Shaozu went to the northeast for training and made many - these two brothers are now shining together and can be said to have stolen the limelight.
It’s okay for the cheap elder brother, after all, he is almost forty years old, and it is not an exaggeration for him to be a third-rank commander.
But Sun Shaozong is only in his early twenties, and he has already been a fourth-rank official. If he is released and performs some extraordinary deeds, will he be promoted to the third rank?
By the time he is thirty years old, Sun Shaozong should be qualified to be an official in one of the six ministries due to his experience.
What about waiting until you’re thirty-five or forty?
How could a military man like him, who had never taken the imperial examination, enter the cabinet?
Therefore, without the court's explicit statement, Sun Shaozong knew that unless there were special circumstances, he would definitely not have any chance of military merit in the next few years.
But my eldest brother might have a chance to go further.
Of course, he might not even be able to count on being a second-rank official in the Beijing Camp. At most, he could only be a second-rank deputy.
However, it is not easy to explain these principles to Liu Xianglian and Xue Pan.
Especially Xue Pan, this guy has never been able to control his mouth. If he really spreads Sun Shaozong's words, it would be a big joke.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong just made up other excuses - for example, the emperor wanted him to make some achievements in the Dali Temple, so he would not allow him to give up halfway.
Liu Xianglian was still a little skeptical, but Xue Pan was like a deflated ball, slumping down on a chair and muttering, "I wanted to fight with my second brother seven times in and seven times out."
"Come on!"
Liu Xianglian said, "Second brother, that's fine, but look at yourself in the mirror and see how you look like Zhao Zilong."
"What's different?"
Xue Pan pointed at his own face and said, "Isn't that the white-faced general referring to Master Xue?"
Well, although this fellow is big and strong, his skin is very fair, just like his mother, Aunt Xue.
Just as he was speechless about Xue Pan's shamelessness, he suddenly heard footsteps outside, followed by the respectful voice of a minor official: "Sir, Shuntian Prefecture Magistrate Jia wants to see you."
Jia Yucun is here?
What is he doing here at this time?
Hadn’t someone been sent to inform him and Jia She of the promise he received yesterday?
He was suspicious, but since a third-rank prefect came to visit, Sun Shaozong had to go and meet him for both public and private reasons.
So he told Liu Xianglian and Xue Pan to do as they pleased, and he went to the front hall to greet the guests.
…
After a few pleasantries and the host and guest sitting down, Sun Shaozong was too lazy to play dumb with Jia Yucun and asked directly, "Brother, you came here so early in the morning. Is there something wrong with the message I sent last night?"
But Jia Yucun shook his head and said sternly: "I came here today for public affairs and state affairs, not for my own selfish reasons."
Official business, state affairs?
Sun Shaozong was puzzled at first, then he leaned forward and asked anxiously, "Could it be that the owner of the black letter has done something shocking again?!"
If there is any official business that could make Jia Yucun rush over, it seems that this is the only one recently.
It was previously deduced that Ding Xiu might have become a subordinate of the owner of the black note, so Sun Shaozong became much more vigilant towards the owner of the black note.
This is because Ding Xiu is an unruly guy with a lazy personality. The person who can make him run around for several years willingly should not be underestimated.
Jia Yucun was stunned when he heard this, then he shook his head and laughed, "Brother, you misunderstood. Although I came here for official business, it is not the business of Shuntian Prefecture, but the business of the Ministry of War."
Official business of the Ministry of War?
After hearing what he said, Sun Shaozong remembered that he also held the title of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.
Serving concurrently as assistant minister of six ministries was a common practice for all the prefects of Shuntian Prefecture. However, it was just a figurehead position, as the real job they needed to worry about was the main job of Shuntian Prefecture.
Therefore, before Jia Yucun mentioned it, Sun Shaozong never thought about it in this regard.
Now that he had been reminded, Sun Shaozong could not help but frown and said hesitantly, "Brother, do you mean to learn about the situation of the six countries in southern Xinjiang from me?"
An old fox in the officialdom like Jia Yucun would naturally not be deceived by the rumors outside - so when he came to find Sun Shaozong, he certainly did not expect Sun Shaozong to go south to serve as a general.
Apart from this point , the only reason Jia Yucun came here for military affairs was to gather intelligence on the enemy.
"As expected, nothing can be hidden from my dear brother."
As Jia Yucun spoke, he bowed his hands to the north and said solemnly, "As the saying goes, one should share the emperor's worries while eating his salary. Yucun has been the Minister of War for more than two years, but he has been sitting in the post without doing anything. I feel very uneasy. This time, I heard that there was a change in southern Xinjiang, so I thought about doing my best for the country and the people."
Then, he stood up and bowed to Sun Shaozong: "So I hope you can give me some advice."
Hehe~
It sounds better than singing, but in the final analysis, isn't it just that he wants to share some of the credit with the soldiers?
However, since he was doing this under the guise of "serving the country and the people", Sun Shaozong couldn't refuse - especially since this job would definitely not fall on him, and it wouldn't be a loss to use some old information as a favor.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong gave Jia Yucun a brief account of what he had seen and heard in Qianxiang Country.
"Qianxiang is the strongest among the six countries, but it is also the most constrained by our Great Zhou. Zhenla was at a disadvantage at the time, so it was not given much attention by our Great Zhou."
"The Zhenla Kingdom and the Qianxiang Kingdom are enemies for generations. To be honest, it was only after my Great Zhou intervened that the two families finally stopped fighting..."
"In Qianxiang Country, everyone, young and old, speaks Chinese, while the other five countries still mainly speak the southern border dialect..."
"The queen of Si Huong is already old, but her prince is still young, only fifteen years old. In theory, he is the old king's posthumous son, but the people of Si Huong believe that he is the illegitimate son of the powerful minister Nguyen Phuc Trung and the queen."
Hearing Sun Shaozong talking about the private affairs of the Queen of Qianxiang Kingdom, Jia Yucun could not help but shake his head repeatedly: "When a hen crows at dawn, chaos will inevitably arise after a long time - plus the language barrier, it seems that the troops of Qianxiang Kingdom are the weaker link."
This is consistent with Sun Shaozong's judgment, but he still reminded: "Even so, Nguyen Phuc Trung is by no means an easy man to deal with. If you really underestimate Qian Xiang, you might end up making a mistake."
Jia Yucun nodded and said, "Please tell me more about the local customs, climate and geography there."
Although this old fox has a bad character, he still does things in an organized manner.
However, his presence did remind Sun Shaozong that although the court was unlikely to send him to fight in the south, it was very likely that he would be consulted.
It seems that after sending Jia Yucun away, we need to make preparations early.
