Chapter 245 The Talents of the Duke of England
"You, don't be so serious." Zhao Xing patted Zhang Guifen's hand.
"Your Highness loves me, and I understand that. But now I have to go to the palace every day to listen to my mother's teachings, so 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 the Eastern Palace to talk to you? The families of other concubines have visited them, but your family didn't go. You should set an example every time, but you can't be too strict on yourself. You don't go home to visit your relatives, and you don't let your relatives go to the Eastern Palace to visit you. What should other concubines do?" Zhao Xing said.
Although Zhang Guifen has a straightforward personality, she is still very restricted because of her status.
I am afraid that I have done something wrong and always think too much.
Zhang Guifen fell silent after hearing this. She naturally knew the story of Zigong redeeming someone.
"Now that we have arrived at the Duke of Yingguo's mansion, you should talk to your mother and tell her to go to the Eastern Palace as usual without having so many concerns," Zhao Xing said.
"Thank you, Your Highness. I understand." Zhang Guifen smiled sweetly.
After chatting along the way, the carriage stopped at the gate of the Duke of England's mansion.
The British prince and his family had been notified and were already waiting at the door.
After the greetings, Zhao Xing and others were welcomed in.
"I heard that Duke Yingguo caught a cold recently. Is he feeling better now?" Zhao Xing asked with concern.
"I was fine after a night's rest and I'm well now. Thank you for your concern, Your Highness." The Duke of England bowed.
"Duke Yingguo is still strong and healthy at old age, which is a blessing to the court," Zhao Xing praised.
After arriving at the main hall and chatting for a while, Zhang Guifen found an excuse and left with her mother and sister-in-law.
It was Zhao Xing who took the initiative to suggest coming back today, so he must have his purpose.
Zhang Guifen did not ask any questions, but considerately gave them space to speak.
After Zhang Guifen and the others left, only Zhao Xing, Duke Yingguo and his son, and some servants were left in the hall.
"Father-in-law, Zhong Huai will be going to the northwest to take up a post soon. Although Zhong Huai is very talented, he lacks some experience. I would like to trouble you to give him some advice." Zhao Xing said.
When there were many people around, Zhao Xing would always call him Duke of England, and only in private would he call him father-in-law, which was considered giving Duke of England enough face.
This was the purpose of his visit to the British Palace this time.
The Song Dynasty’s frontier imperial guards had a rotation system, but the rotation was for soldiers, not generals.
The border troops are rotated every three years to prevent military generals from buying people's hearts and turning the troops into private armies.
But this has a disadvantage, which is that the soldiers do not know their generals, and the generals do not know their soldiers.
This ignorance does not mean no knowledge at all, but rather a lack of sufficient understanding.
As the Art of War states, knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle. Although this is very effective in preventing generals from gaining power and becoming self-reliant, it leads to a lack of knowledge of oneself.
However, Zhao Xing had no way to solve these problems for the time being.
He asked the Duke of England to give some advice to Gu Tingye, with the purpose of letting him talk to Gu Tingye about the factions and some generals in the Northwest Frontier Army.
In fact, Gu Yankai knew all this best. After all, he had been in charge of 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 knew the situation in the Northwest best was Duke Ying.
As the number one person in the army, Duke Ying also served as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council. No one in the entire Song Dynasty knew the various situations in the army better than him.
The Duke of England might not be willing to let Gu Tingye come over himself, and only Zhao Xing could do it himself.
"I do have some experience. Since Your Highness has asked, I will naturally not hide anything." The Duke of England said after a slight hesitation.
Zhao Xing personally asked him for help, so he naturally couldn't refuse.
"Thank you for your hard work, father-in-law." Zhao Xing smiled and said, "After Zhong Huai left, his original position became vacant. I want him to take over Gu Tingye's position."
Zhang Feng has been in the Eastern Palace for many years and is still a captain.
The reason why he failed to get promoted was also due to Zhao Xing's deliberate act.
The purpose is to temper Zhang Feng's character.
Zhang Feng was originally just a member of the Zhang family. Now that he has been adopted by the Duke of Ying, 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 become arrogant because of the change in his status.
If Zhang Feng was someone else, Zhao Xing would not bother to think so much, but given Zhang Feng's status, he would definitely be used in the future.
Not to mention his relationship with Zhang Guifen, just for the sake of the Duke of England's prestige, he had to use him for the sake of showing it to others.
"Since my son is working in the Eastern Palace, Your Highness will take care of everything," said the Duke of England.
When Zhang Feng went to the Eastern Palace and came back to tell him about Zhao Xing's arrangements, he actually already understood Zhao Xing's purpose and did not remind Zhang Feng.
In the past few years, Zhang Feng had not been promoted for a long time, and he felt somewhat restless.
However, in recent years, Zhang Feng has grown older and his temperament has become much calmer.
…………
In the main hall of the backyard of the Duke of Ying's mansion, Sun took her daughter's hand and asked about her recent situation in the East Palace.
Zhang Guifen responded one by one with a smile.
Sun knew her daughter's personality. If Zhang Guifen was forcing herself to smile, she would definitely not be able to hide it. She could feel that her daughter's smile was from the heart, and she felt relieved.
"By the way, a few days ago, the second son of the Ningyuan Marquis family went out hunting and killed a big insect. The skin was preserved very well, so he presented the whole insect to Your Highness. Your Highness gave the prepared skin to his daughter and asked her to give it to her mother."
Zhang Guifen waved her hand, and the maid accompanying her quickly brought the leather up.
"Your Highness is interested."
Tiger skin is nothing. Even if it is kept in good condition, it is rare, but you can always buy it as long as you are willing to spend money.
After Emperor Taizu gave up the military power with a toast, although the power of the lords was not as great as before, in order to appease these lords, the rewards and treatment were very generous.
Many of today’s lords were awarded titles later for their military service and are not comparable to the earliest batches.
Families like the British government have no shortage of money.
A tiger skin is nothing; what matters most is the thought behind it.
Sun happily took the tiger skin and began to examine it.
"Mother, this insect skin has no damage on its entire body. It is really rare." Liu exclaimed.
Perhaps because Zhang Guifen was the Crown Princess, the Duke of England did not choose a family of equal status when choosing a wife for Zhang Feng.
After all, with the Zhang family's status, there are not many people who can match the Zhang family, and each of them is considered to be in a high position and powerful.
If you marry into such a family, it will inevitably arouse suspicion.
Liu was born in the Earl's Mansion, but her family had long been in decline. Her family was only slightly better off than the Yuan family of the Earl's Mansion of Zhongqin, and was far inferior to the Earl's Mansion of Yongchang.
Therefore, Liu's knowledge was limited, and she had never seen such a rare tiger skin.
"Yeah, even I haven't seen anything better than this."
Sun handed the tiger skin to Liu and said, "Take it and send it to my room."
"Yes!"
Liu knew that Sun had something to say to Zhang Guifen, so she deliberately found an excuse to send her away. Otherwise, this kind of thing could be done by the servants, and there was no need for her to come.
So he took the tiger skin, bowed and left.
Zhang Guifen also realized her mother's intention. After her sister-in-law left, she sent away all the accompanying palace maids and eunuchs, leaving only mother and daughter in the room.
"Fen'er, you and His Highness have been married for so long, but your stomach still hasn't reacted?" Sun asked, holding her daughter's hand.
"Mother, why are you so anxious?" Zhang Guifen blushed and said, "My daughter has only been married for half a year, how can it be that fast?"
"How can we not be anxious? One of the concubines in the Eastern Palace is pregnant." Sun said.
"Mother, I am the principal wife. A concubine's child cannot shake my position. Besides, it's not like I can't give birth." Zhang Guifen said indifferently.
"That's what you said, but the emperor only has one child. Even though this one is not a legitimate grandson, the emperor will definitely be very happy when it is born. And you haven't gotten pregnant yet, so it will definitely have an impact."
Sun said, "I heard that the eldest daughter of the Sheng family had a daughter but couldn't get pregnant. Later, the old lady of the Sheng family asked Old Lady He from Baishitan to take a look. Not long after, she got pregnant and gave birth to a boy not long ago. Why don't I send someone to invite Old Lady He to take a look for you?"
"Mother, there is no way I can keep this secret. If it gets out, people will laugh at my daughter, right?" Zhang Guifen shook her head.
"Oh, why are you afraid of being laughed at at this time? The joke is that you haven't gotten pregnant yet. When the time comes, you can find an excuse to come back, isn't that enough?" Sun said.
Zhang Guifen hesitated for a while after hearing this and nodded.
Although she didn't feel any sense of urgency, her mother meant well and if she didn't agree, it would not be good for her mother to keep worrying.
"It's settled then. I'll send someone to invite them. When the person arrives, let your sister-in-law go to the East Palace and tell you, and then you can come back." Sun said.
…………
In the front hall, after finishing the serious business, Zhao Xing started chatting about military strategy with the Duke of Yingguo.
While talking about military strategies, Zhao Xing indirectly brought up the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia.
Originally, Zhao Xing thought that the Duke of Yingguo, the number one man in the army, was more due to the prestige of the Zhang family in the army.
He did not have a very intuitive feeling about the British prince's abilities.
After all, the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Western Xia had been at peace for many years.
During the Song-Xia War, Duke Ying held a low position and had not shown any talent.
Since the Song-Xia War, there has been no war since then, except for some minor frictions on the border.
But the last time Duke Yingguo was stabbed, Zhao Xing saw Duke Yingguo's true ability.
He set his sights on Hehuang because of Wang Shao's "Plan for Pacifying the Rong", and the reason why Wang Shao was able to write "Pacifying the Rong" was because he traveled to the northwestern border and went deep into Hehuang.
He had a deep understanding of the situation and geography of the northwestern border, as well as the conditions in Hehuang, which eventually led to the creation of "Plan for Pacifying the Rong".
However, the Duke of Ying had been in Bianliang for the past twenty years, and the strategies he put forward coincided with the historical "Plan for Pacificating the Rong".
Zhao Xing even suspected that he had been studying the border situation of the three kingdoms of Song, Liao and Western Xia over the years.
However, the emperor had no intention of mobilizing troops, and the court was unable to do so due to various circumstances, so he did not offer any advice.
The Duke of Ying actually realized 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 while discussing military strategies.
(End of this chapter)