Daiyu of the Red Chamber raised a cat

Chapter 104

Hearing that the bead platform she wanted was ready, Daiyu hurriedly presented it.

The reason why it is called a bead stand, not a candle stand, is that it is not an ordinary candle, but a very rare and precious luminous pearl.Because Daiyu likes to read, she often leans on the bed and reads for a while before going to bed at night. After all, the light from candles is limited, and too dark light is not good for the eyes.And no matter how good the candle is, it will inevitably have a smoky smell, fearing that Daiyu would smoke her eyes, Zhou Hang specially asked Li Zhao to find eight of the best and largest night pearls in a private storehouse to illuminate Daiyu.

It was only then that Daiyu specially ordered someone to build a bead platform for the purpose of displaying night pearls.

Hui'er answered "Yes", and hurriedly turned around to open the box held in the hands of the little maid, and took out a very delicate and elegant bead stand from inside.Zicuckoo also hurriedly took another one, and held it together for Daiyu to have a look.

The bead stand is naturally extremely delicate, made of high-quality black copper, with a square base, and a little further up is a cone-shaped decoration, inlaid with gold and jade. From the top of the cone, there are two vines Branches, paper strips are made of red gold branches, leaves, small flowers, embellished with precious stones, and on the top is a small tray with a lotus leaf-shaped opening.

The craftsman who built the bead platform was also considered to be ingenious, and Daiyu liked it very much, so she told Huier and Zijuan, "Take it into my room quickly." The two agreed, and followed Daiyu into the room , put the bead table on the kang table according to the instructions.When Daiyu got on the kang, she asked Xueyan to quickly bring the Ye Mingzhu from Qianer's palace.As soon as she brought it, Daiyu took the box, opened it, and took out the Ye Mingzhu with her own hands and placed it on the tray raised high by the branches. It was not too big or too small, just right, and it complemented each other very well.

For a while, Xiao Xia asked outside, all the flowers and plants that the girl wanted were ready, but she wanted to take them in.

Daiyu ordered Zijuan and Huier, "Put the pearl platform and Ye Mingzhu on the table beside my bed." At the same time, she said, "Ask Xiaoxia to come in."

Xiaoxia is more tidy than before, with double buns, and a crabapple flower on her temples, her little face is flushed, her eyes are also watery, she walks in with a smile, knelt down and woke up with a big gift, holding her in her arms. Many blooming flowers of various colors.

Officials of the imperial court have a rest period, once every ten days, and Daiyu also has a rest period to learn the rules from the nuns and female officials, which is more than that of officials, once every five days.Today coincides with Xiumu, there is no need to learn the rules, and there are no major events in the mansion. Of course, there must be minor events. There are also 200 people in the Lin family. There must be dozens of pieces.However, these things are taken care of by the stewards, so she doesn't need to bother.

So when Daiyu was free, she saw the crabapple in the courtyard in full bloom, and thought that the flowers in the garden were probably already colorful, so she got interested in camellia.She cut a lot of crabapple flowers from the trees in the yard by herself, and specially ordered Xiao Xia to take a few maidservants to the garden to pick some flowers that bloomed well.

"Have pinched so much?" Daiyu exclaimed, staring at Xiao Xia who was excited, and said with a smile, "This kang table is small, so it may not be able to fit it."

Zijuan just put the bead platform in the inner room, when she heard the words, she hurriedly covered a piece of black cloth on the night pearl, pulled out the curtain, and said with a smile: "Girl, why don't you use the kang table at all, and spread a piece of cloth on the kang, and put those words on the bed." Put it on a cloth, so it won't get dirty and difficult to clean up."

Daiyu thought for a while and said, "Those flowers have just come down, and they are still stained with morning dew. Ordinary cloth is not waterproof, so it will get dirty."

Xueyan said: "Then find a piece of felt."

Zijuan poked her forehead with her finger, and said, "You little hoof, you came up with such a bad idea. Wouldn't it be wasteful to use such a precious thing as felt?"

As far as Xueyan could remember, she followed Daiyu's side. Although she was a maid, she had seen luxurious things since she was a child, and she didn't know the value of felts. Hearing this, she frowned deeply and asked in doubt: "Is felts also valuable things?" ? There are so many in our mansion!"

Zijuan said: "Nature is a precious thing. You grew up in a deep boudoir and didn't know the suffering outside. You only thought that felt was an ordinary thing, but you don't know that felt is available. You don't know how many animals you can get with such a big piece." fur." ​​She made a shape about three feet square with her hands, "Take it out and sell it, and it will be enough for ordinary people's homes to chew for a year."

Xueyan said "ah", "It turns out that this thing is so valuable, I didn't know it!"

Zijuan nodded, and Daiyu said: "So, you guys, don't play like crazy all day long, and think about the hardships of ordinary people outside. There is an ancient poem that goes, 'Who knows that every piece of Chinese food is hard work', Food needs to be cherished."

Everyone nodded unanimously, Daiyu ordered someone to spread a three-foot-square wooden plank on the kang table, put flowers on it, trim it carefully with small scissors, and asked who would use branches and flowers to make flower baskets.

Xiaoxia said she could weave, so Daiyu ordered her to sit on the edge of the kang and weave flower baskets.

When Xiaoxia finished weaving the flower basket, Daiyu had already pruned more than a dozen blooming flowers, and ordered Zicuckoo to take out the rest for the little girls to wear.After receiving the flower basket handed over by Xiao Xia, Daiyu carefully inserted the flowers into the basket one by one.Xiaoxia did a good job of weaving the flower baskets, and the flowers Daiyu chose were also beautiful. After a while, a very unique flower arrangement was freshly released.

All the maids should look good, Daiyu came to the yard with a flower basket, just sat down under the pomegranate tree, was about to slowly read a book and cook a pot of tea, when the green-billed parrot standing on the pomegranate tree suddenly yelled With the phrase "It looks good, it looks good!", it fluttered down and landed on the handle of the flower basket, and it still yelled "It looks good!" Its movement caused the other two parrots, which were keeping healthy under the eaves, to also fly over. One landed on the table next to the flower basket, and the other landed on Daiyu's shoulder, also shouting "It looks good".

Daiyu and the maids couldn't help laughing.

Zijuan suppressed a smile and said: "The slaves said that the flowers planted by the girl are beautiful, but the girl still doesn't believe it, saying that the slaves are flattering and flattering. You see, even the parrot said the same, so the facts speak louder than words."

Daiyu puffed her face and said, "How do you know you didn't instigate it?"

"Slaves are wronged!" All the maids pleaded guilty.

Just as he was talking, a clear and beautiful voice came, "It's so lively!"

Daiyu looked back and saw that it was Liu Shi, her father's concubine.Mrs. Liu is in her thirties, with a slightly plump figure and well-maintained body. She wears a loose robe and walks swaying in the wind, giving her a swaying appearance.However, it may be because the clothes are too incensed and low-quality spices, the breeze blows, and the fragrance is a bit choking.

Daiyu covered her nose indiscriminately, and said with a smile, "Auntie is here, please sit in the room."

Mrs. Liu bowed slightly, said hello to the girl, and said with a smile: "This fresh flower basket is really beautiful. I don't know whose hands are so skillful and the flowers are arranged so delicately. I would like to ask the girl to borrow this person for it. I'll put one in too."

After the sentence was finished, the air froze.

Mrs. Liu looked at Daiyu, then at the maidservants, and was about to say something when Daiyu said, "Xiao Xia made the flower basket, but I inserted the flowers. If Auntie likes it, I'll ask Xiao Xia to weave a flower basket for you too." She only talked about asking Xiao Xia to weave flower baskets for Liu Shi, not about arranging flowers for her herself.

The Liu family is just a concubine, and Daiyu is the noble daughter in the mansion, and she is also the future princess, so there is no reason to arrange flowers for a concubine's room.As a concubine, Liu's words were a bit presumptuous.After all, even if Daiyu didn't put the flowers in, but just a maid in Daiyu's room, she shouldn't say anything to put one in for her.Is the maid in the girl's room someone you can order as a concubine?

Mrs. Liu heard that it was Daiyu who inserted it, so she hurriedly pleaded guilty: "Miss, forgive me, I didn't know that the flower arrangement was made by the girl, I offend you..."

Daiyu said: "No problem..."

Inviting Mrs. Liu to sit down in the house, he turned around and ordered Zijuan to say, "I don't serve tea to my aunt yet!"

Zicuckoo hurriedly said "yes" and went to prepare tea.

Here Mrs. Liu took a look at Daiyu's room and said with a smile: "The girl's room has been decorated again... There are a few things there that I haven't seen since I came last time..." Pointing to the things on the multi-treasure shelf .

The things Liu was referring to were Coral Talk, Emerald Candlesticks, and several jade articles.

Daiyu lowered her head slightly, took a sip of her tea, raised her eyes and said with a smile: "I just picked out a batch of things from the shop just before, and my aunt came just in time. Send some over there. That way, it will save me trouble..." Then she called Zijuan, "Take Aunt Liu to the storeroom to pick some."

Mrs. Liu followed Zijuan to pick things up, Xueyan murmured in a low voice: "This Aunt Liu has become a little arrogant recently..."

Her voice was so low that no one else in the room could hear her except Daiyu.Although Daiyu heard it, she pretended not to hear it, and sent the snow geese to hang the flower baskets under the eaves of the corridor.While teasing the green-billed parrot, Daiyu thought, Mrs. Liu has been really proud recently, she never dared to be so presumptuous in front of her before.Daddy just went to stay with her for two nights, and her tail was upside down.

A stupid and short-sighted little Liu Shi is not worth Daiyu's concern.Daiyu would not think of her on weekdays, no, if she hadn't been in front of Daiyu frequently this month, Daiyu probably would have forgotten that there is such a person.

It is reasonable for an aunt without children to be greedy for property, and Daiyu has never treated them badly.It seems that the recent rumors in the house that her father wants to give her all her wealth as a dowry have still affected them, Daiyu thought.They were afraid that the Lin family's wealth would be empty, and they would not have any property after their father had lived for a hundred years.

But this is also understandable, after all, if a concubine without children does not have some property, life will be very hard.

In order to comfort the hearts of the two aunts in the mansion, Daiyu sent people to give them a lot of valuable utensils and jewelry.The reason for doing this is to appease and sympathize.Although this Aunt Liu has some unreasonable thoughts now, as long as her intentions are reasonable and she doesn't do anything outrageous, Daiyu doesn't want to touch her.After all, of the two remaining aunts in the mansion, only Aunt Liu can still see it, and Lin Ruhai has no intention of remarrying or accepting concubines, Daiyu doesn't want him to live too poorly.

-

In the palace, Li Zhaozheng was discussing matters with the cabinet ministers.

Because Zhang Shouzhong was seriously ill and unable to enter the palace, Lin Ruhai presided over the cabinet discussion instead of Zhang Shouzhong.

Zhou Hang is also there.Therefore, apart from the four cabinet ministers, the emperor and the crown prince participated in the discussion today, a total of six people.

We are discussing the troubles in the northwestern frontier, and at the time of the wheat harvest, the nomadic tribe Rongguo in the northwest border invaded the border and robbed the wheat of the common people. Because it was not a large-scale march, but a small group of troops invaded and left after looting. , The range of the invasion is very long, covering all the weakly defended suburbs, and the border generals cannot counterattack in a targeted manner.Li Zhao ordered the cabinet ministers to speak freely and discuss a practical measure.

The cabinet ministers said everything, such as scattered soldiers guarding every intersection, negotiated peace with Rongguo, gave them some property so that they would not harass the people, and even talked about training the adult males among the people. , as militiamen, and issued them weapons to make them defend themselves.

Lin Ruhai and Zhou Hang's point of view is that they should not only train the people, but also accumulate strength to attack Rongguo, disperse them, subdue them, and never dare to take a step into our Great Zhou Dynasty, so as to avoid future troubles.

If you just send soldiers to guard every intersection, Rongguo will definitely come over on Dakou Road. If someone takes a small path, or simply steps out a path in the mountains and forests, aren't you wasting the guards in vain?Although the method of training the militia can enhance the defense capability, the militia is not the opponent of Rongguo's well-trained and brave soldiers.

If you want to solve it completely, you must make them afraid, beat them to the bum, and dare not step into the Guanzhong, so that the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty can be completely stable.

Of course, it doesn't mean that we will go to war with them immediately.

What's more, it's too late to start the war this year. At present, we will start training the militia first, and then slowly accumulate strength, find opportunities, and make complete preparations.

After the discussion was over, all the ministers withdrew, leaving only Li Zhao and Zhou Hang.

Li Zhao patted the seat beside him and said, "Hang'er, come and sit."

Zhou Hang walked over and sat next to Li Zhao's body, because he asked, "Is the father really going to train the militia at the border?"

"Soldiers are limited. It is impossible to send troops to protect every household. It is a good strategy for the people to train themselves to defend their homes and the country, isn't it? Of course, it's not that they don't send soldiers, it's just a layer of protection."

Zhou Hang pursed his lips, stunned for a while, and said, "Father, there is a sentence, I don't know if I should say it or not?"

"There is nothing we can't say between you and my father and son, but it's okay to say it!"

Zhou Hang cleared his throat and said, "I think the reason why Rongguo dares to invade every year is because our general defense military is not strong enough. The reason why it is not strong enough is because the generals are often changed, so that the generals don't know how to fight. If you don't know the generals, and there is no basic trust between the soldiers and the generals, they will naturally not be able to work together in battle."

Li Zhao was very shocked that Zhou Hang said these words. He stared at Zhou Hang for a long time before saying, "Hang'er, your eyes are indeed vicious. Many people who have been officials for decades may not be able to see this." Speaking of this He sighed again, "Being a father, why don't you know? It's just that if the border guards are fixed, the combat effectiveness of the army will increase, but there will be another situation, that is, the border generals will become bigger, and the soldiers will become the border generals. Armed, it will form a separatist force, which is more harmful than Rongguo! The two evils are the lesser, there is no way..."

"Hang'er, remember, power is a huge temptation in this world. It's easy to let it go, but it's hard to get it back."

Zhou Hang's thoughts were still stuck on the phrase "the two evils are the lesser, there is no way to do it...", thinking to himself, isn't this just the reform of the army.Sure enough, regardless of ancient times or modern times, the supreme leader would not be at ease with the barrel of a gun in his hand.

However, if he wanted to increase his combat effectiveness without avoiding the situation of the warlords fighting in the Republic of China, Zhou Hang felt that he had to come up with a perfect strategy.

As for the surefire strategy, he only has a rough outline now, and he doesn't know if it can adapt to the ancient national conditions. He still has to discuss it with Sister Lin.

Thinking about Zhou Hang, he changed the subject and asked, "Father, is Zhang Shoufu really ill?"

Li Zhaodao: "What does it matter if it is a real illness?"

Zhou Hang was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, "That's right, it really doesn't matter, haha." After laughing, he asked again, "Why didn't my father approve his request to become an official?"

Li Zhaodao: "This is a long story."

Zhou Hang gave Li Zhao a cup of tea in a doggy manner, "Let's talk slowly if the story is long."

Li Zhao took the tea, took a sip with a smile, and said, "Zhang Shouzhong is a veteran of the three dynasties, and he was the Minister of the Ministry of Officials when your great-grandfather was in power. After the Supreme Emperor ascended the throne, Zhang Shouzhong was repeatedly used, until he became a scholar and a cabinet minister. He is very easy-going, even more popular than Zhang Yifeng. He has been an official for 50 years. His disciples are all over the world, and he is a veteran of the Supreme Emperor. Zhang Yifeng has no choice but to die. It chills the hearts of the ministers. What's more, he has worked in various departments of the imperial court. This person is very smart and has a good memory. The population, taxes, etc. of the imperial court are all in his mind. People, besides Zhang Yifeng, is him. The matter of Zhang Yifeng has already displeased the Supreme Emperor..."

"So that's how it is." Zhou Hang said, "But I think he wants to retire..."

"He wants to retire, but I won't let him retreat for the time being. I am not a ruthless monarch. As long as he doesn't play tricks, when the time comes, I will give him the honor he deserves and let him spend his old age peacefully." .”

Zhou Hang nodded, and Li Zhao asked what lesson Lin Ruhai taught him today.

Zhou Hangdao: "It's about the way of a sage king. It says that a sage king should treat his subjects kindly and not humiliate them."

Li Zhao nodded and said, "That's right. The emperor and his teacher are the ones, the king and his friends are, the overlord and his ministers are, and the country is subjugated and his servants. Only when the monarch treats his corporals and respects his subordinates can he make his subordinates feel grateful and dedicated. If you blindly humiliate and treat your subjects as slaves, then you will not be far from subjugation, you have to keep in mind."