marquis of jingan

Chapter 1039 New People and New Objects

After returning home, Shen Yi, who had been running around outside for a whole year, finally got a few days to rest.

Because he has no real shortage in the court, he doesn't need to go to work in the Yamen. Except for occasionally going to the Ministry of War to find Lao Jiangtou to beat the autumn wind, most of the rest of the time stays at home and spends time with his family.

I don't even want to go out to socialize.

The court was also peaceful.

Apart from the impeachment and dismissal by Yushitai of a member of Zhongshushe and a few unremarkable officials, nothing else happened.

But the tree attracts the wind, he is now a newcomer in the imperial court, countless people visit him every day, invitations to invite him to dinner, like snowflakes, drift into Shen's house.

Master Shen turned a blind eye to these things, and he still did his own thing every day. When he was free, he slipped out through the back door and went to Dayifang to visit Old Man Gu.

In a blink of an eye, eight or nine days had passed since Shen Yi returned to Jiankang, and the time came to the 13th of the twelfth lunar month in Hongde's 28th year.

It snowed heavily.

It snowed heavily all day, and in the afternoon, the snow on the road was already nearly a foot deep.

Although Jiankang is not particularly south, it is generally considered to be south, and there has been no such heavy snow for many years.

After lunch, Shen Yi, dressed in cotton clothes, moved a chair and sat on the porch of his house to watch the snow.

Shen Yuan, with her younger sister, was running in the snow in the yard. It was the first time for the little girl to see such a heavy snow, running back and forth in the heavy snow, very happy.

Lu Ruoxi would urge the three of them into the house from time to time, but the three of them were unmoved.

After a while, Lu Ruoxi also felt a little helpless, she moved a small bench, sat next to Shen Yi, looked at Shen Yi who was in a trance, and asked, "What is husband thinking?"

Shen Yi looked at the snowflakes falling outside, and sighed slightly: "This winter, it seems to be colder than in previous years. Jiankang is so cold, and Xuzhou may be even colder."

Lu Ruoxi pulled Shen Yi's sleeve, and said softly: "My husband is afraid that the soldiers will not be warm enough to wear clothes."

"When I left, all the cotton clothes were sent out, not because I was afraid that they would not be warm enough to wear them."

Shen Yi was silent for a while, and said softly: "It's just that the soldiers of the Huai'an Army, most of whom are from the southeast, have followed me to the north since the fall of 11, and it has been more than two years now."

"I can go back to Jiankang every New Year's Eve."

Master Shen let out a sigh of relief, and sighed: "Among them, including those generals, most of them have never been home."

"Sometimes I just wonder."

Shen Yi held Lu Ruoxi's hand tightly, and said in a soft voice: "When will the battle be over, and rewards will be given to them, so that they can return to their parents happily, and the old and young are mixed up with errands, so these years of hard work have not been in vain. "

"But the battle, within three to five years, I'm afraid it will be difficult to finish it."

Lu Ruoxi patted Shen Yi's back lightly.

"My husband still has the heart of a scholar. I really don't know how he brought so many soldiers."

"It has nothing to do with reading or not."

Master Shen looked at his little daughter who couldn't walk steadily but was still flopping in the snow, and said softly, "It's just that everyone has different temperaments. I was born with this personality."

"But no matter what, the battle is going to be fought."

Shen Yi narrowed his eyes and said, "It's better for me to take them than others, after all..."

Before Master Shen could finish his sentence, Lian'er from the front yard hurried over, bowed her head to Shen Yi and said, "My lord, someone came from the palace and said His Majesty called you into the palace."

Shen Yi nodded first, then stood up from the small bench, stretched his waist long, then pulled Lu Ruoxi up, and said with a smile: "Let's go, Madam, I will help you change your clothes."

Lu Ruoxi first turned around and told Lian'er to take care of the two little guys, and then followed Shen Yi into the bedroom to change the official uniform. She asked as she walked: "It's almost the end of the new year, is there any real official from the court, Your Majesty, at this time, please What are you doing in the palace?"

While arranging the official uniform, Master Shen felt a little helpless: "My husband will not know until he enters the palace."

A while later, Master Shen was fully dressed, and when he was about to leave the house, he turned his head and said: "Zichang is still on business, Madam, please be more careful with your young lady, she is the first child, don't make any trouble."

Chen Youniang will be in labor within a few days.

In the past few days, Youwen Po has been staying at Shen's house, never leaving for a moment.

Lu Ruoxi nodded in response, and watched Shen Yi get into the carriage.

Master Shen's current house was the mansion of a minister of the Ministry of Industry back then. It was very close to the imperial city. Not long after, the carriage stopped at the gate of the imperial city. He took up his umbrella and walked towards the palace facing the heavier and heavier winter snow.

At the gate of the palace, the eunuch who greeted him was almost like a snowman. After seeing Shen Yi, he hurriedly welcomed him to the gate of Ganlu Palace.

Master Shen took the umbrella, handed it to the little eunuch, and then walked into the Ganlu Hall.

As soon as I entered the Ganlu Temple, a wave of heat rushed to my face.

Ganlu Hall is the emperor's study.

However, because Emperor Hongde liked this place very much, he usually stayed here most of the time, and even often stayed in Ganlu Hall at night. This place became the real administrative center of Hongde Dynasty, so there were many stoves in the hall, and it was as warm as spring. .

Not long after Shen Yi entered the Ganlu Hall, he saw the emperor who was talking to someone.

In front of the emperor, stood a strong man who was a whole head taller than Shen Yi, with extremely broad shoulders.

This brawny man, who looked about 45 or [-] years old, was wearing an official uniform of a military officer, ranking second.

Shen Yi stepped forward and bowed to the emperor: "My minister, Shen Yi, kowtow..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was stopped by the emperor.

The emperor first asked Shen Yi to stand up, then pointed at the big man, and said, "This is Pei Jun, commander of the Fifth Army Battalion."

His Majesty the Emperor looked at Shen Yi, paused, and then continued: "It is also the commander of the West Route Army that I carefully selected during these days."

"Come on, Shen Qing, and get to know General Pei."

The name Pei Jun was no stranger to Shen Yi, because it was written in detail in the information given to him by the emperor that he was one of the Five Military Battalions, that is, one of the five generals of the Imperial Army, and he was a hereditary marquis with the title of Marquis of Anyuan.

The generation of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong of Dachen had many meritorious officials and titles, so there were many generals left behind.

Most of these generals are princes, some are uncles, and they have basically joined the army for generations, and some have even joined the forbidden army for generations to defend the capital.

From the Great Chen to the present, almost ninety-nine percent of these nobles have been handed down from the two generations of the founding of the country, and the newly promoted titles are currently only the Zhao family of the Marquis of Anping and the Shen family of Jiang Du Bo.

Although these ministers are somewhat too old, they have one advantage, that is, they are absolutely loyal to the royal family and the emperor.

After all, the four words "Gonghou Wandai" means that the Li family will live with them forever, not the courtiers who will live with them forever.

When the royal family is gone, so is their noble status.

Because of this reason, these honorable generals are naturally loyal to the royal family, almost independent of the court, and most of the duties of guarding Yandu are entrusted to them.

The five members of the Fifth Army Battalion are all handsome, and all five are from noble generals, including three marquises and two earls.

After listening to the emperor's words, Master Shen stepped forward and saluted: "Shen Yi from the Ministry of War, I have seen Lord Pei."

Although Pei Jun is tall and strong, his face is not vicious, and his beard is quite neat. Seeing Shen Yi salute to him, Pei Jun quickly lowered his head and cupped his fists to salute: "Pei Jun of the Fifth Army Battalion, I have seen Lord Shen .”

The two looked up at the same time and glanced at each other.

Seeing the two saluting each other, the emperor clapped his hands with a smile and said, "Spring is here, and the masters of the Dachen and Liang roads are about to formally start the Northern Expedition."

"You two, get to know each other well, and when you go north of the Huaihe River in the future, you will also need to communicate with each other and become each other's horns."

The two bowed to the emperor in unison.

"The humble minister respects his life."

The emperor explained a few more words to the two people, and the two also had a brief communication.

At the end, the emperor waved his hand and said, "Okay, Pei Jun, you go back first."

"Other things, I will tell you in detail in a few days."

The Marquis of An Yuan knelt down to salute, and withdrew respectfully.

After Pei Jun left, the emperor stood behind Shen Yi, looked at Pei Jun's back with Shen Yi, and asked, "How?"

Shen Yi came back to his senses, then bowed his head and said, "Return to Your Majesty, very good."

The emperor looked at Shen Yi in surprise: "It's rare that you are finally willing to speak, what's the good news?"

Master Shen said without hesitation: "Auspicious snow heralds a good year, and the heavy snowfall in the past two days is auspicious. With this snowfall, next year's food supply will probably be stable."

"Of course it's good."

The emperor was stunned, then sighed helplessly, and continued: "I have chosen for a long time, Pei Jun is a man with a more down-to-earth personality and can listen to words, so I chose him to be the general of the West Route Army."

Shen Yi lowered his head slightly and did not speak.

The emperor looked at him and said, "Shen Qing doesn't seem very satisfied?"

"I dare not."

After Shen Yi paused, he said, "Your Majesty, I have read General Pei's information, and I think there is nothing wrong with General Pei."

"But General Pei's background will cause some problems."

Shen Yi said softly: "The century-old generals, all kinds of human relations, have been intertwined and cannot be clearly distinguished."

The emperor suddenly said: "Shen Qing is saying that Pei Jun will send his family members to the West Route Army?"

"If it's just the Pei family. That's fine."

"I'm afraid all the generals in Jiankang..."

The emperor touched his chin, nodded and said, "This is indeed a problem."

"I will ask Gao Ming to remind Pei Jun that he is not allowed to randomly arrange people."

Speaking of this, the emperor looked at Shen Yi with a smile on his face: "Shen Qing, you have worked hard to form the Huai'an Army in the past few years. I sent someone a few days ago to prepare a big gift for you in Xuzhou."

"After the Chinese New Year, when you return to Xuzhou, you will be able to see it."

Master Shen responded subconsciously: "You don't get paid for nothing."

The emperor laughed: "Shen Qing will like it."

Having said that, the emperor looked at Shen Yi, and said, "What's more, I have also arranged for the two soldiers Shen Qing needs, a total of 500 people."

"After the new year, I will go north with you."

In Xuzhou, apart from the army, Shen Yi also maintained a firearms workshop with hundreds of people, and in this firearms workshop, there were several foreigners who had traveled across the oceans.

It is more appropriate to say that this firearms workshop is a firearms research institute.

The last artillery update was when Shen Yi suppressed the Japanese in Yueqing four or five years ago. Not long ago, Xuzhou's Institute of Combining Chinese and Western Gunpowder finally made some new progress.

However, this new development is still at the drawing stage due to the lack of materials in Xuzhou some time ago and the lack of manpower.

Therefore, Shen Yi needs a group of craftsmen to send to Xuzhou to devote himself to mass production of real objects as soon as possible.

Speaking of this, the emperor was a little curious and asked, "What did Shen Qing say in the letter, what does the new generation of artillery look like? How powerful is it?"

Master Shen thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I don't know now."

"Wait until the real thing is made."

He cupped his hands and said: "I will send someone back to His Majesty."

The emperor looked forward to it, smiled and nodded.

"Honestly..."

He looked at Shen Yi with envy.

"Sometimes I want to go to Xuzhou with Shen Qing to have a look."