Chapter 76: Everybody is a glutton
Facing Ah Che's question, Chu Xing was unable to give an answer.
Firstly, the question of talent disparity is really cruel, and secondly... he really is not in the mood!
Seeing that his general had personally formulated a new training plan for the girl, Chu Xing became anxious.
"General..."
"It's better to think about this matter in the long run..."
He repeatedly tried to interrupt, but the excited Chang Kuo didn't give anyone a chance to speak, and had already made up his mind: "It's settled. From tomorrow on, I will come here every day at dawn!"
Seeing Chang Kuo's impatient expression, wishing he could go back and sleep right away so that he could wake up at dawn tomorrow, Chang Suining asked, "... Father, are you not going to court?"
Chang Kuo's smile froze.
And the smile will not disappear out of thin air, it will only move from his face to another person's face -
Chu Xing, who also realized this slowly, was overjoyed and immediately said, "General, your time is not appropriate for the morning court session every day. I will let your subordinates keep an eye on the girl's martial arts training."
Chang Suining nodded: "Father, when you are free, just give me some pointers."
Officials below the fifth rank only needed to attend the grand court on the first and fifteenth day of the month, but Chang Kuo was a first-rank general of cavalry and had to attend court every day.
Chang Kuo sighed heavily.
The system of early morning court is so hateful that it has ruined his daughter's great cause! Isn't it a kind of trouble to hold an official position too high? In a short moment, many dangerous thoughts flashed through Chang Kuo's mind - including but not limited to some fantasies about how to be demoted.
As the winner, Chu Xing decided to stop while he was ahead: "However, the training of the girls should still follow the rules set by the general."
Chang Kuo had no choice but to repeatedly tell him: "You have to pay more attention and don't let the child down."
Chu Xing patted his chest and said, "General, just rest assured!"
Chang Sui'an at the side couldn't help but ask, "But Dad, aren't your arrangements a little too full?"
“Not at all.”
——The one who answered was Chang Suining.
Chang Kuo couldn't help but laugh: "Look at our Suining, how hard we work!"
"But my sister is a girl after all..." Chang Sui'an followed Chang Kuo out of the martial arts arena and said distressedly, "Ningning only practices martial arts for self-defense. She doesn't have to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy anyway, and she doesn't expect to be a general like you. She doesn't need to suffer this hardship, right?"
"Brother, you are wrong." Chang Suining walked forward while wiping his sweat, saying, "Why don't you expect to become a general? No one can predict what will happen in the future."
Since she chose to show off her extraordinary "talent", how could it be just for self-defense?
Chang Sui'an was stunned when he heard this.
Chang Kuo was also startled, but after a moment he laughed out loud: "Well said! Who says girls can't be generals and kill the enemy?"
The girl can also lead troops and fight in battles! He is more certain of this than anyone else.
Looking at the girl beside him, there was a hint of unreal nostalgia hidden in Chang Kuo's gratified eyes.
Chang Sui'an was in shock for a long time. His frail sister suddenly had the strength to uproot a willow tree, and now she even had the will to fight on the battlefield? Looking at his dumbfounded son, Chang Kuo smiled and snorted, "Did you listen, kid? In the future, the support of our Chang family may be supported by your sister!"
These half-joking words suddenly woke Chang Sui'an up.
This won’t do!
Supporting the door lintel is a very hard job! The young man secretly clenched his fists and made up his mind to work hard and not put the burden of the family on his sister.
But when he thought about his sister's talent, he felt hopeless that he could never catch up with her. In a desperate situation, he suddenly came up with a quick idea and saw a glimmer of hope called a shortcut -
"Ningning, think carefully..." Chang Sui'an came close to his sister and asked cautiously but with great yearning, "What happened to your brain?"
Chang Suining looked at him: "...Does Brother want to try it too?"
Chang Sui'an nodded hurriedly.
The same bad method... can you give him one too? He thought about it carefully. His sister's talent suddenly appeared after her brain was broken! He admitted that there was an element of gambling, but he really needed to try it out! Chang Kuo couldn't stand it anymore and slapped his son on the head: "It's already like this, how bad do you want to be!"
Chang Sui'an rubbed his head that had been slapped, thought about it carefully, and realized that there was not much room for harm in his brain, so he had to give up.
Chang Suining said, "Brother, you already have enough strengths. There is no need to take such a risk."
As for children, we should treat them equally and praise them more.
"Really?" Chang Sui'an's eyes lit up: "Ningning, then tell me, what are my strengths?"
Chang Suining pretended to think for a moment and said, "Hmm..."
Chang Sui'an looked at her eagerly, waiting for her answer for a long time, and couldn't help feeling a little uneasy - did this question really embarrass his sister? When he was thinking about saying something to change the subject, he suddenly saw the girl in front of him smiled, but her eyes were full of seriousness -
"Brother, you have a pure and innocent heart that is rare and precious."
Innocent heart? The young man blinked his eyes, and his mouth opened wider and wider, almost reaching behind his ears - if he had a tail, he would probably be able to shake himself up to fly.
Seeing his son's worthless look, Chang Kuo said, "This is incredible! Will these four words be engraved on his forehead?"
Chang Sui'an scratched the back of his head and laughed, "Hey."
The family walked forward, chatting and joking.
After separating from his father and brother at a fork in the road, Chang Suining returned to his residence to change his clothes.
"General, do you really want to train this girl to become a female general?" Chu Xing asked with a smile when there was no one else around.
Chang Kuo also smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's not that easy."
He is a father who loves and approves of his daughter. He is also a general who has been in and out of the battlefield for more than 30 years. He is not so blinded by his daughter's talent for martial arts.
If one wants to become a female general, talent in martial arts alone is definitely not enough.
"But it's good for children to have ideas." Chang Kuo said with a smile: "It's of course a good thing to dare to think. Things in this world are so difficult, and we always need people who dare to think and do. No matter whether it can be accomplished or not, just think about it first."
He didn't say this, he heard it.
Chu Xing had also heard of this, so he smiled and nodded, "That's right."
…
In the evening, the three members of the Chang family had dinner together in the dining hall.
Inspired by his daughter's talent, Chang Kuo was in a good mood and had a good appetite. He ate two more bowls of rice than usual.
Chang Suining ate one more bowl because he had practiced basic skills and horse riding and archery today.
Chang Sui'an was even worse. Seeing that he could not catch up with his sister in terms of talent, he could only work harder on his physique. The young man who had practiced martial arts for many years had a big appetite, and now he had a desire to improve himself, so he easily finished five bowls of rice.
Looking at the rice and soup bowls piled high, the maid's eyelids twitched slightly - even if they cut off her head and poured the food directly into her mouth, she would probably not be able to hold it all.
Seeing that the small wooden barrel used to hold rice was empty without a single grain of rice left, Chang Suining felt that this was a bit absurd. Out of his old habit of worrying about the army's food and wages, he subconsciously asked, "Father, where do the rice, vegetables and meat in the mansion come from now?"
Chang Kuo, who knew little about the trivial matters in the mansion, looked at Manager Bai.
"My dear, the rice grains include the rice from the court and the harvest from the farms. As for vegetables, meat and charcoal, they are not enough, so most of them are purchased from outside the palace."
Chang Suining nodded and asked, "How much surplus can be obtained from the rice and farm harvest each year?"
"The rest?" Manager Bai was stunned, his face seemed to say - what is that thing that I have never heard of or seen before?
Chang Suining: "…have you finished eating everything?"
Although the Chang family has few masters, the huge mansion and various farms need people to take care of them, so servants are indispensable. There are many old subordinates of Chang Kuo in the family, so the annual salary of 600 dan of rice is not enough, but according to Chang Kuo's current official position, apart from the rewards, he also has 1,000 acres of official land.
Even though the whole government governs the country with military law, in order to maintain their muscular bodies, everyone becomes a glutton... no, everyone is a good cook, but it is impossible for them to finish eating everything.
Seeing her confusion, Manager Bai explained, "Because there are not enough people who are good at managing those farms, the general decided to sell hundreds of acres of permanent farmland. The remaining farmland has not had good harvests in recent years, so there is no surplus grain left."
Unlike the official land that can only be rented out temporarily for cultivation, the so-called permanent land is private property allocated by the court and can be inherited and bought and sold.
Chang Suining looked at Chang Kuo and said, "Father doesn't need money, why do you want to sell the land?"
Chang Kuo recalled: "It's been a while... There should be a time when the military pay was tight and the silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue was delayed, so they asked people to sell some property to cover the military expenses-"
The Great Sheng Dynasty did not enjoy peace for several years. There were constant wars, both large and small, the national treasury was not full, and people in the court had different opinions. It was sometimes difficult to ask for supplies from the army.
It was common for the military to urge again and again and for the Ministry of Revenue to delay again and again.
"I did make up for it later." Chang Kuo said indifferently, "But I didn't go out of my way to buy back those farms. Not only are they difficult to manage, but the mansion doesn't lack them anyway."
Chang Suining seemed to be thinking about something.
Everyone has different strengths. Chang Kuo is rough but also meticulous, and his meticulousness does not lie in the trivial matters of managing the household property.
The Chang family doesn't have a mistress to take care of the inner house. There is only Steward Bai, who also came back from the battlefield, who is in charge of all matters big and small. It is inevitable that there will be things that he overlooks.
To put it bluntly, Chang Mansion is just a military base.
She thought for a while and said, "It's not a good idea to just sit there and eat up all the food."
Seeing that she was still worried about this, Chang Kuo was amused: "Sui Ning, don't worry about this. Your father's mountain is very big. It will be difficult to eat it all!"
Not to mention his salary, just the fact that he had fought for decades and won countless battles, big and small. When he followed the late Crown Prince, he never deducted any rewards, so he had accumulated a fairly generous fortune.
The family could eat a little, but other than food, they were never extravagant. The two children were not the kind of people who would spend money on their families. Even if they raised hundreds of pigs and fed them for ten lifetimes, they would not be able to eat up all the food easily! Because of this, they were used to not being particular about details.
Chang Suining said seriously, "That being said, everything in nature has its use. If you have something that can be used, you should make good use of it. If you just leave it empty and don't take care of it, isn't that a waste of nature's gift? Just like a farm, if you take good care of it and store rice and grain, even if you don't need it at the moment, it may not be useless in the future. Even if you don't need it yourself, there will always be people who need to feed themselves. No matter where it is used, it is better than leaving it idle and abandoned. What do you think, Dad?"
She said it seriously, and Chang Kuo also changed his expression to be serious: "Father thinks it makes sense."
Chang Sui'an also nodded in agreement.
Manager Bai also nodded and asked, "Does the girl have any good ideas for managing the family business and property?"
Under the gaze of everyone, Chang Suining thought for a moment and said, "Not yet."
There was silence for a moment.
Chang Suining coughed lightly and said, "As the saying goes, people learn things in different ways and each profession has its own specialty. Although I don't have a detailed and good plan, there are always people who are good at it."
Even if she had some so-called good ideas, they were only on paper. She had lived a very busy life in her previous life. She had learned a lot about military tactics and how to govern a country, but she really had no time to put them into practice, such as in farmland matters.
She has no experience, so if she is assigned a task blindly, it would be better for her not to do it.
Her teacher once told her that she didn't need to be good at everything, and no one could be good at everything. She just needed to learn how to select talented people, know how to use them, and make the best use of their talents.
Chang Kuo nodded, stroked his frizzy beard and said, "Sui Ning's words make a lot of sense."
Now that we have the idea, all we need next is to find someone who is good at this.
And it is obvious that this expert will not fall from the sky, we still have to find -
Although Manager Bai felt that it was a bit tedious and troublesome, since the girl had mentioned it, he nodded and said, "I will ask someone to pay attention to this matter."
At this time, Xier and Jiantong walked in from outside.
Xier said, "Girl, everything is ready according to your instructions this morning."
Chang Suining nodded.
The sword boy continued, "All the things we have prepared have been sent to the garden. Everything is ready. We are just waiting for the girl to come over."
Chang Suining stood up and said, "Go now."
"Let's go together." Chang Kuo also stood up: "It's a rare opportunity."
My daughter was still very young when she was brought back by His Highness, and she had no memory of her biological mother. This was the first time I heard her mention that she had dreamed of her biological mother and wanted to burn some paper money for her.
Even if we meet in a dream, it still counts as meeting.
Once they meet, they recognize each other, and once they recognize each other, it is considered an effective sacrifice.
Since it is an effective sacrifice, it must be taken seriously and no etiquette should be neglected.
This is Chang Kuo's idea.
So, after arriving in the garden, Chang Suining saw sacrificial objects piled up like a mountain.
Not to mention the paper money piled up half a person's height, there were also paper houses, sedan chairs, carriages and other objects. Chang Suining walked closer to take a closer look and found that the house was actually a large courtyard with five entrances...
Don't be too extravagant.
Chang Suining was silent for a moment, and could not help but say: "If this fire continues, he will definitely become the richest man in the area."
Chang Kuo sighed, "This is my first time visiting you. As the saying goes, the more gifts you give, the less blame you will get."
Chang Kuo said, taking the wine jug handed over by Jian Tong and slowly pouring it in front of the tribute: "Sui Ning Aunt, come out and collect the things."
Smelling the alcohol in his nose, Chang Suining thought about the weak woman he saw in his dream, and estimated that if the other party could really control it, she would be choked by now...
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(End of this chapter)
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