Volume 1 The Wind Rises Chapter 23: The two elders of the Fu family have their own thoughts
Niuxing Street in Kaifeng.
Here is the most luxurious mansion in Kaifeng Prefecture, built right next to the imperial palace and across the street from the east gate of the palace.
Looking across the entire capital, apart from this mansion, there is no other private mansion of this scale.
The owner of the mansion was none other than the father-in-law of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the famous King of Wei, Fu Yanqing.
This mansion was originally the old residence of Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. When Guo Wei became emperor, he gave his old residence to Fu Yanqing as a token of his favor.
Fu Yanqing was stationed outside all year round, and in many years he had only stayed in the mansion for less than a month.
Usually it relies on a few servants to maintain and operate.
That night, a carriage stopped at the Prince of Wei's palace.
A wealthy old man jumped off the carriage, glanced at Luan Jun beside him with a smile, and strode into the mansion.
The old man was the famous Fu Yanqing.
Fu Yanqing strode into the main hall. A noble lady came towards him and asked with some expectation: "How is it? How is Luo Youdu?"
Fu Yanqing looked at his wife and shook his head helplessly: "Not bad! I just looked at her from a distance and didn't say anything."
Madam Guo complained, "Oh, really. None of you care about Qing'er's future. Qing'er is already 23 years old, and my sister's daughter, who is one year younger than Qing'er, has already started looking for a husband."
The richer the family, the more frequent the political marriages, and the younger the daughters get married. There are many cases where a daughter is engaged right after she is born, or married off at the age of ten...
Fu Yanqing also had the common problem of lust among men, but he had deep respect for his wife who had shared his hardships with him. He said hurriedly, "Well, it's not that I don't care about Qing'er, but what can Luo Youdu find out after drinking so much?"
Lady Guoguo frowned and said, "Good wine, this is not good ."
Fu Yanqing said, "What do you know as a woman? That's called socializing. A person who doesn't know how to socialize can't accomplish anything great."
Lady Guo's eyes lit up and she asked, "So, it's just as the emperor said. This Luo Youdu is quite extraordinary?"
Fu Yanqing nodded and said, "Very extraordinary. At present, it seems that he is indeed worthy of a letter of introduction from me."
It turned out that after the night talk with Luo Youdu that day, Guo Rong felt that Luo Youdu was more and more unfathomable. Especially when it came to the overall situation, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He only regretted that he could not promote him to be in front of him so that he could have a night talk with him anytime and anywhere.
It happened that Queen Fu was feeling unwell and missed her parents.
Guo Rong came up with a plan. As the court's various policies were implemented, the talents he had were becoming increasingly insufficient. He was thinking about issuing the next imperial decree, asking all the officials in the court to recommend one person each, without regard for personal connections.
In order to prevent the ministers and officials from making random recommendations, Guo Rong came up with an idea. On the day of appointment, the names of the recommenders would be written down. If it was discovered that the recommended person was corrupt or incompetent, the recommender would be implicated as well.
When it comes to handling criminal law, Guo Rong is always unique.
It happened that the Khitan in the northeast was also unstable internally and unable to invade the south in the short term. Guo Rong invited Fu Yanqing and his family to come to Beijing secretly so that Queen Fu could reunite . At the same time, he also hinted to Fu Yanqing to help recommend Luo Youdu.
Fu Yanqing's prestige in the Great Zhou army is unmatched.
If Luo Youdu was a talent recommended by Fu Yanqing, the military would naturally not dare to act recklessly.
When Guo Rong was reminiscing about the past with his father-in-law and mother-in-law in the palace, he brought up this matter and praised Luo Youdu almost to the sky, as if he was comparing him to Zhang Liang or Zhuge Liang.
As Fu Yanqing got older, he attached more and more importance to his own reputation. On the surface, he agreed to Guo Rong's request, but deep down he felt that it was not very reliable.
Who are Zhang Liang and Zhuge Liang?
How can it be so easy to get?
What if he turns out to be a boastful person? After such a grand recommendation, if his true colors are revealed, I will be infamous for eternity.
He, Fu Yanqing, will become a laughing stock of the world.
Fu Yanqing then planned to meet Luo Youdu, or at least to observe him in person.
This was what Fu Yanqing meant, but Lady Guoguo on the side had a different idea.
A good girl is worried about getting married!
At first, Lady Guoguo felt that given her daughter's conditions, no one from a family above the Jiedushi level was worthy of coming home to propose marriage, and her eyes were raised to the sky.
But as time went by, Fu Qing'er, who was 23 years old, had already become a well-known "older leftover woman" in Daming Prefecture. Lady Guoguo became more and more anxious, and her standards became lower and lower.
At this point, after hearing Guo Rong praise Luo Youdu to the sky, he didn't care whether he was a seventh-rank official or not. As long as he was able to match his precious daughter, he didn't care about anything else. Anyway, apart from the emperor, there was no one in the Great Zhou Dynasty who could rival the Fu family.
"Well, Master, do you think Luo Youdu is suitable for Qing'er?"
There was a gleam in Lady Guo's eyes.
Fu Yanqing said seriously: "This is no small matter, we need to understand it in depth. After all, it concerns Qing'er's future!"
Lady Guoguo also thought it made sense, and went to the inner hall with some regret.
Fu Yanqing stroked his beard and said to the outside, "Come out, your mother is gone!"
An oval-faced little head popped out from outside the hall. Seeing that Lady Guo was really gone, she shyly squeezed into the hall, smiled shyly, and called out, "Daddy!"
"You!" Fu Yanqing shook his head and smiled lovingly.
Fu Qing'er said, "My daughter just saw Uncle Luan injured? This Bianjing is really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Uncle Luan is a rare and fierce general beside Daddy. Although foot combat is not his forte, he is not someone that ordinary people can match. He has only been in Beijing for a day and he has been beaten?"
Fu Yanqing smiled and said, "Take this as a lesson, so as not to be too arrogant and underestimate the heroes of the world."
Fu Qing'er frowned and said, "Luo Youdu is a scholar, how could there be such a powerful person beside him? Didn't the government say that Luo Youdu's father was persecuted in Jiangnan, and his mother's family was killed by Khitan dogs, leaving only him?"
"Yes!" Fu Yanqing pointedly said, "This is why the emperor thinks highly of Luo Youdu, and this is also why he urgently needs to be reused. Our emperor is a rare wise ruler, comparable to Emperor Taizong of Tang. In this temple, a group of brainless warriors are in power. The emperor wants to change this situation, and needs someone to control the military with civil power. He reused Fan Zhi, Li Gu, Wang Pu, and Wei Renpu, intending to suppress the military generals. In the end, it was completely unsuccessful, and Zhao Kuangyin alone made Wei Renpu lose face. Hey, if these few people were officials in my Daming Prefecture, I would chop off their heads with a knife and kick them like balls."
Fu Qing'er rolled , feeling a little disgusted with her father's vulgarity.
Fu Yanqing went on to say, "What's wrong with warriors? Their achievements were earned with their lives. Why do you think it's natural for a glutton to step on a warrior? And this Luo Youdu is experienced in dealing with things. He took over Kaifeng Prefecture in less than a month. He doesn't seem to have any prejudice against warriors and can even humble himself to get along with them. Only people like him can control the military with civil servants! This official is so powerful and has such a good eye for people. He is the best hero today..."
Fu Yanqing sighed deeply, but secretly glanced at his daughter.
