Chapter 243 The Talents of the British Duke
"Don't worry so much." Zhao Xing patted Zhang Guifen's hand.
"Your Highness feels sorry for me, and I understand. But now, I have to go to the palace every day to listen to my mother's teachings, and I don't have time." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
“If you don’t have time, can’t you send someone to ask your mother to go to the East Palace to talk to you? The other concubines and their families have all gone to visit, but your family will not go. Lead by example every time, but you can’t do it to yourself either. The requirements are too strict. If you don't go home to visit your relatives, and you don't let your relatives visit you in the East Palace, what should the other concubines do?" Zhao Xing said.
Although Zhang Guifen has a cheerful temperament, she has great constraints on her because of her status.
If you are afraid that you are not doing well, you will always overthink it.
Zhang Guifen was silent after hearing this. She naturally knew the allusion of Zigong's redemption.
"When you arrive at the British Palace today, tell your mother that you should go to the East Palace normally and don't have so many worries." Zhao Xing said.
“Thank you, Your Highness, I understand.” Zhang Guifen smiled sweetly.
After chatting all the way, the carriage stopped at the gate of the British Government House.
The British family was notified and had already been waiting at the door.
After greeting each other, Zhao Xing and the others were welcomed in.
"I heard that the British father-in-law has been infected with the cold recently. Are you feeling better?" Zhao Xing asked with concern.
"I'll be fine after a night's rest. I'm fine now. Please forgive me for your trouble." The British Duke bowed.
"The British husband is strong and strong, which is really a blessing to the court." Zhao Xing praised.
After arriving at the main hall and chatting for a while, Zhang Guifen made an excuse and left with her mother and sister-in-law.
Zhao Xing took the initiative to come back today, and he must have his purpose.
Zhang Guifen did not ask, but thoughtfully made room for them to talk.
After Zhang Guifen and the others left, Zhao Xing, the British father and son, and some servants were left in the hall.
"Father-in-law, Zhonghuai will go to the northwest to take up a post in the near future. Although Zhonghuai is very talented, he is somewhat lacking in experience. I would like to trouble my father-in-law to give him a few words of advice." Zhao Xing said.
When there are many people, Zhao Xing always calls Mr. Yingying, and only in private will he call him father-in-law. This can be considered as giving Mr. Yingming enough face.
This is the purpose of his coming to the British mansion this time.
The Song Dynasty's Frontier Forbidden Army had a rotation system, but the rotation was of soldiers, not generals.
The border troops are rotated every three years to prevent generals from buying people's hearts and turning the army into a private army.
But there is a disadvantage in this, that is, the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers.
This ignorance does not mean ignorance at all, but a lack of sufficient understanding.
It is said in the art of war that if you know yourself and your enemy, you will be victorious in any battle. Although this is very effective in preventing generals from relying on their own troops, it also leads to the inability to know yourself.
However, Zhao Xing has no solution for the time being.
He asked the British minister to mention Gu Tingye, in order to let him talk to Gu Tingye about the factions and some generals in the northwest frontier army.
In fact, Gu Yankai knows these best. After all, Gu Yankai has been in charge in the northwest for many years.
However, there was a conflict between Gu Tingye and Gu Yankai, and Gu Tingye was unwilling to ask Gu Yankai.
Apart from Gu Yankai, the person who knows the situation in the northwest best is the British public.
As the number one person in the army, the British Duke also served as deputy envoy to the Privy Council. No one in the entire Song Dynasty knew the various situations in the army better than him.
Let Gu Tingye come over by himself. The British Duke may not be willing to say it. Only Zhao Xing can speak in person.
"The veteran has some experience. Since His Highness has spoken, the veteran will naturally not hide his secrets." The British Duke said after a slight hesitation.
Zhao Xing asked him for help in person, so naturally he couldn't refuse.
"Then it's my father-in-law's fault." Zhao Xing smiled and said: "After Zhong Huai left, his original position became vacant, and I wanted him to take over Gu Tingye's position."
< br>Zhang Feng has been in the East Palace for many years and is still the captain.
The reason why he failed to get promoted was because Zhao Xing did it deliberately.
The purpose is to polish Zhang Feng’s temperament.
Zhang Feng was originally just a descendant of the Zhang family, but now he is adopted by the British Duke, and he will definitely inherit the title in the future.
At the same time, he is also the future patriarch of the Zhang family.
In addition, Zhang Feng was still young at the time, and Zhao Xing was worried that he would feel inflated because of his change in status.
If Zhang Feng were someone else, Zhao Xing would not be too lazy to think so much, but with Zhang Feng’s status, he will definitely be reused in the future.
Not to mention his relationship with Zhang Guifen, just because of the British public's prestige, he must be reused if he is shown to others.
"Since Quanzi is serving in the East Palace, everything will be arranged by His Highness." The British Duke said.
Back then, Zhang Feng went to the East Palace and told him Zhao Xing's arrangements when he came back. In fact, he had roughly understood Zhao Xing's purpose and did not remind Zhang Feng.
In the past few years, Zhang Feng had not been promoted, and he felt somewhat impetuous.
However, Zhang Feng has grown older in recent years and his temperament has become much calmer.
…………
In the main hall of the backyard of the British Palace, Mrs. Sun held her daughter's hand and asked about her current situation in the East Palace.
Zhang Guifen responded one by one with a smile.
Ms. Sun knew her daughter’s temperament. If Zhang Guifen forced a smile, she would definitely not be able to hide it from her. She could feel that the smile on her daughter's face was from the bottom of her heart, and she felt relieved.
"By the way, the second son of the Ningyuan Hou family went out hunting a few days ago and caught a big insect. The skin was well preserved, so he dedicated the whole big insect to His Highness. Your Highness He gave the prepared leather to his daughter and asked her to give it to her mother. ”
Zhang Guifen waved, and the accompanying maid quickly brought the leather up.
"Your Highness is interested."
Tiger skin is nothing, no matter how intact it is, it is rare, but as long as you are willing to spend money, you can always buy it.
After Emperor Taizu released his military power after drinking wine, although the rights of the lords were not as good as before, in order to appease these lords, the rewards and treatment were generous.
Many of today's lords were granted the title after having made meritorious service in wars, and are not comparable to the first batch.
Families like the British Mansion have no shortage of money at all.
A tiger skin is nothing, the most important thing is the intention.
Sun happily took the tiger skin and began to look at it.
"Mother, this big insect skin has no damage on its entire body, which is really rare." Mrs. Liu exclaimed.
Perhaps because Zhang Guifen was the crown prince, when the British father chose a wife for Zhang Feng, he did not choose a well-matched family.
After all, with the Zhang family's family status, there are not many people who can match the Zhang family's family, and everyone is considered to be in a high position.
If you marry into such a family, it will inevitably arouse suspicion.
The Liu family was born in the Earl's Mansion, but the family has long been in decline. It is better than the Yuan family in Earl Zhongqin's Mansion, but not as good as the Earl's Mansion in Yongchang.
So Liu’s knowledge is limited, and she has never seen such a rare tiger skin.
“Yes, even I have never seen anything better than this.”
Mrs. Sun handed the tiger skin to Mrs. Liu and said, "Take it to my room."
"Yes!"
Mr. Liu knew that Mrs. Sun had something to say to Zhang Guifen. He said that he deliberately made excuses to send her away, otherwise the servants would just do this kind of thing, and there would be no need for her to come.
So he took the tiger skin, bowed and left.
Zhang Guifen also noticed her mother's intentions. After her sister-in-law left, she sent all the accompanying maids and eunuchs out, leaving only mother and daughter in the room.
"Ferner, you and His Highness have been married for so long, and your stomach still hasn't responded?" Mrs. Sun asked, holding her daughter's hand.
"Why are you so anxious, mother?" Zhang Guifen said with a slight blush on her face: "It has only been half a year since my daughter got married, how can it be so fast."
"How can we not be anxious? Some of the concubines in the East Palace are pregnant. ." Sun said.
"Mother, my daughter is a royal concubine. Being a concubine cannot shake her status. Besides, it's not like she can't have children." Zhang Guifen said nonchalantly.
"That's what I say, but the official family only has one heir, Your Highness. Even though this child is not a legitimate grandson, when it is born, the official family will definitely like it very much. You are not pregnant for a long time, so it will have an impact. .”
Mrs. Sun said: "I heard someone said that the eldest girl from the Sheng family was unable to conceive after giving birth to a daughter. Later, the old lady of Baishitan He invited the old lady of the Sheng family to take a look, and she became pregnant not long after. I will give birth to a baby brother soon. Why don’t I send someone to bring Mrs. He over to take a look at it for you?”
“Mom, how can I keep this kind of thing a secret? If word gets out, no one will laugh at my daughter. ?" Zhang Guifen shook his head.
"Oh, what's the joke at this time? It's a joke that you haven't been able to get pregnant. Then you can just find an excuse to come back once, okay?" said Sun.
After hearing this, Zhang Guifen hesitated for a while and nodded.
Although she has no sense of urgency, her mother means well. If she doesn't agree, it won't be good for her mother to keep worrying.
"Then it's settled. I'll send someone to invite them later. When they arrive, ask your sister-in-law to go to the East Palace to tell you that you'll come back later," said Sun.
…………
In the front hall, after finishing business, Zhao Xing chatted with the British Duke about the art of war.
By talking about the art of war, Zhao Xing made innuendo and talked about the Liao Kingdom and Xixia.
For the British Duke, the number one person in the army, in Zhao Xing's opinion, the prestige of the Zhang family in the army was more important.
He didn't have a very intuitive feeling about the British public's abilities.
After all, the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Xixia have been at peace for many years.
At the time of the Song-Xia War, the British public position was not high and they did not show their talents.
After the Battle of Song and Xia, there has been no war so far. It is just some minor frictions on the border.
But the trouble the British Master made last time made Zhao Xing see the British Master's true ability.
He focused on Hehuang because of Wang Shao's "Pingrong Policy", and Wang Shao was able to write "Pingrong Policy" because he traveled to the northwest border and went deep into Hehuang.
Having a very good understanding of the situation and geography on the northwest border, as well as the situation in Hehuang, finally produced "Pingrong Policy".
However, the British Duke has been in Bianjing for the past twenty years, and his strategies coincide with the historical "Pingrong Policy".
Zhao Xing even suspected that he had been studying the situation on the borders of the Song, Liao and Xixia kingdoms over the years.
It was just that the officials had no intention of sending troops, and the court was unable to send troops due to various circumstances, so he did not offer any advice.
The British Duke was actually aware of Zhao Xing's purpose, but he did not hide it from Zhao Xing. He told Zhao Xing what he had been thinking over the years by talking about the art of war.
(End of this chapter)