Chapter 319: Questioning
What should the children of a military family be like?
When the peace talks were successful and it was confirmed that the area 200 miles north of Lake Baikal was all Dazhao's territory, Concubine Nan'an sat in her own ancestral hall, looking at the tablets of several generations of previous kings, and sighed softly.
Who was Jia Zhen a year ago? Even the salt merchants from Jiangnan who came to Beijing to present gifts dared to find ways to trip up his family.
In this capital city, who doesn’t know that he is a bad cook?
But in the blink of an eye...
The Concubine Nan'an thought carefully about the differences between Jia Zhen and her son, and finally came to only one conclusion: Jia Zhen is very incompetent, but he is not a coward.
He would hit wherever Shen pointed, without any compromise.
But she wished she could write a letter every day, but her son only saw her nagging.
Concubine Nan'an sighed, lit a stick of incense and put it in the incense burner.
Over the past month, Concubine Nan'an felt that her son was hiding something from her, but no matter how she asked him indirectly or openly, he refused to admit it.
"Go, invite the prince."
The Concubine Nan'an sent people to investigate. Although there was no real evidence yet, based on her understanding of her son, she knew that it was all true.
Why did the two ships carrying valuable treasures sink?
How can there be so many coincidences in this world? The Concubine Nan'an had already guessed it.
Because of this, she often couldn't sleep at night.
The emperor is a tolerant man.
I have endured what ordinary people cannot endure and have achieved what I have today.
The reason why we are not moving the Nan'an Palace now is because the palace handed over power when it was most needed.
If my son doesn't change..., all future generations will suffer from him.
On this day, just like Concubine Nan'an, she was touched and wanted to teach her children and grandchildren a lesson.
…
At Rongguo Mansion, Grandmother Jia's mood has been very delicate these days.
She had never thought that Jia Zhen, who was almost following the same path as his eldest son Jia She, would one day end up in his current position.
A second-rank official in charge of the Dragon Guards! It would be a lie to say I'm not envious.
She always thought that Zhen'er would be like her eldest son, who could only inherit the legacy of her ancestors and stay at home relying on her title.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Zhen'er became different.
During those days, Grandmother Jia was at home taking care of her grandchildren and could do nothing but sigh.
Although Lian'er's position as the doctor of the armory is very good, how long will it take for a fifth-rank official to be promoted to the second-rank?
This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that the current Jia family can no longer be as close to the royal family as the previous two generations. Zhen'er is already serving the emperor. Even if Lian'er is very talented, it will be difficult for her to get promoted by accumulating seniority, unless she is transferred to a local place.
But even if you are transferred to a local area, it will take at least 20 to 30 years to be promoted to the third rank.
Not only that, but the same thing will happen to Zhu'er the examiner in the future.
This is an unwritten rule in official circles, one to avoid suspicion, and the other to prevent royal suspicion.
Alas~ Grandmother Jia had finally persuaded herself at home and suppressed the loss in her heart. She was happy for the family and parachuted in a second-rank official. But then she heard the news that Jia Zhen was beaten in the ancestral hall by Shen.
The old lady's heart...
Don't mention how angry I am.
Zhen'er had to go to court, but Shen ignored her and didn't give her any face. Not to mention whether the emperor would be angry, how would others view Zhen'er? Not only was he beaten by my mother, but he was also beaten in the ancestral hall. Anyone would know that he had committed a serious mistake!
The first thing Jia Mu did when she heard the news was to tell her son to quickly block everything and not let it get out. However, she didn't expect that her eldest son disappeared after going out. When she called Feng, the housekeeper, she said that the news had already spread everywhere and it was Shen who ordered people to spread it.
The old lady was so angry! In the past, she thought that her eldest son and Jia Zhen were both bad people, but now, she thought that Shen was even worse.
This will end Zhener's career!
The family finally got a real second-rank job.
The Jia family has two duke's mansions, but only Lian'er has an actual fifth-rank position, which is really not worth mentioning.
It's rare that Zhen'er has the emperor's favor. If Shen does this, what if the emperor dislikes Zhen'er and then dislikes Lian'er? Besides, who says that the descendants of a family of military generals have to shed blood and sweat to expand the territory like their ancestors?
The negotiations between Dazhao and the Luosha people have been going very well. Is it so easy to take fifty miles of land?
Grandmother Jia felt that Shen was being completely unreasonable.
So many senior officials in the court remained silent.
Liu Zhi was just a crazy young man. He was like a newborn calf that was not afraid of a tiger, so he dared to ask for so much land from the Russians.
After hearing the news outside, the old lady tossed and turned all night.
She was just angry that she couldn't take Shen to the ancestral hall and beat her up.
Even if she wanted to curse at someone, she couldn't say anything too harsh.
When people get old, they become useless and people dislike them.
Not to mention that Shen was only her niece's wife, even if she was her own daughter-in-law, she couldn't be like her and do things in front of a room full of servants without giving them any face.
So the old lady just suffered by herself.
I want to talk to my daughter. She has been frowning these past two days, and it is obvious that she is also worried about her sister-in-law beating Zhen'er.
In order to prevent her daughter from feeling more sad, she had no choice but to suppress it.
But I didn’t think…
In the blink of an eye, everything is different again.
Zhen'er's ten blows caused the Russians to retreat two hundred miles.
Is it because she is old and her brain is not sharp enough, or is it that the wars fought by the Duke back then were all fake? "old lady!"
Xing came in with a beaming face, "Someone has come from Khalkha. Master was invited by Zhen'er to entertain the guests. I heard that they sent quite a few gifts. What do you think, should we go over to congratulate the eldest sister-in-law and have a family gathering at the same time?"
What? Grandmother Jia was a little dazed.
Someone from Khalkha came so soon? "Where's your fourth sister?"
The eldest daughter-in-law is stupid and can easily be led astray. So as to whether to go to the East Palace, Grandmother Jia decides to listen to her daughter.
"My third and fourth sisters have been worried about Zhen'er for a few days. Not long after they came back from your place today, they went out together again. They must be on their way back now."
Grandmother Jia: “…”
She looked at her eldest daughter-in-law who was beaming with joy, paused, and said, "Do you also think that Shen was right to beat Zhen'er that day?"
ah? How to ask her this question?
Xing was stunned for a moment, and said, "Isn't that right? The master brought Lin Zhixiao and others to help spread rumors that day. When Yingchun came back to pay her respects in the evening, she also said that it was only ten strokes of the cane. Her elder brother Zhen could bear it."
Grandmother Jia: “…”
This second girl, who lives with her, never comes to talk to her.
She exhaled lightly, "Okay, let's go to the East Mansion and visit Yingchun and the other kids."
While they were talking, in fact, not only Khalkha had sent gifts, but all the Mongolian tribes had come over in great joy.
…
Tianjin, the prefectural prison.
Ichiro Ishii and Keiya Nakamura have lost a lot of weight, especially Keiya Nakamura, whose belly has disappeared.
Although foreign boat workers are still looking for work at the docks to support themselves, the people of Dazhao are becoming more and more xenophobic, and it is difficult for them to support themselves.
Hideki Takeshita, who came in yesterday with a basket of steamed buns made of three-grain flour, said that they were bullied by the people here at the dock. They were only given half of their wages. If it weren't for Prefect Yu who specially asked someone to protect them, they might have been killed long ago.
Ichiro Ishii knew why the man surnamed Yu protected the boatman.
It's not that he is so good, but that he is preparing to drive them out of the country.
Without the boatmen, they couldn't return to Japan.
Huh~ Dazhao completely ignored them!
According to Hideki Takeshita, the peace talks with the Rakshasa Kingdom are going extremely smoothly.
"It should be soon."
Grand Minister Nakamura Keiya gnawed on a steamed bun that had long since gone cold, sighed, and said in a low and quick voice: "The Rakshasa Kingdom is useless."
They followed the wrong person.
He thought he could get a share of the spoils and walk away with a piece of meat from Dazhao, but he didn't expect to bring humiliation upon himself.
"It actually helped Da Zhao a lot."
If it weren't for them, would Dazhao have the ability to go to war with Mongolia and the Jin people in the north on all fronts?
"These days, the emperor of Dazhao is probably smiling even in his dreams."
Nakamura Kei also felt very uncomfortable.
At the beginning, he came here with great vigor and confidence! But now, even if you want to talk in prison, you have to be alert to your surroundings.
“We lost.”
For so many days, no ninja came to rescue them.
Before coming, in order to prevent any accidents, they sent two teams of ninjas to provide support at any time.
"Now we can only hope that the Rakshasa delegation can come with us on their return journey."
If they travel by land, their return journey will be difficult.
"...When two countries are at war, envoys will not be killed!"
When saying this, Ichiro Ishii seemed to be a little out of breath.
Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, this place has always been a country of etiquette.
He originally believed that no matter what, as members of the diplomatic corps, they did not have to worry about their lives.
But since coming ashore, it has been like a nightmare that never ends.
Ichiro Ishii glanced covertly at the three big men in the cell.
They were beaten from the boat by the man surnamed Yu and thrown into jail. In jail, they were beaten by these three men from time to time.
They thought the Rakshasa envoys would be better off than them, but the man surnamed Yu blocked them on the boat and even sold their guns in exchange for water and food.
After finally arriving in Beijing, I still have to eat and drink my own food.
He promised Dazhao three hundred acres of land.
Ichiro Ishii never thought that Da Zhao would be like this.
"Not killing the envoy?"
Nakamura Kei also felt very regretful. He shouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.
Wouldn't it be nice to stay at home and be his master? It’s hateful that once the arrow is shot, there’s no turning back.
"So what are we now?"
Another one died of illness the other day.
Although he is just a servant, the fox feels sad when the rabbit dies!
"Where are our two teams of ninjas now? And in Jiangnan..."
Nakamura Keiya was furious, "Kaneda Shoji is such an idiot, we are all implicated by him."
Ishii Ichiro: “…”
"He should have just died with a bang."
It’s a pity that he didn’t die, but instead harmed all of them.
"What Da Zhao lacks now is a blatant order to kill the Japanese."
Although there was no explicit order to kill the Japanese, secretly... the martial artists in Dazhao were already doing it.
"The Jia family rose to prominence through military exploits. They understand better than the emperor the consequences of letting us go."
The emperor might expel them for the sake of the country's reputation, but that might not be the case for the Jia family.
"Ishii, Dazhao has always hoped that we could increase the supply of copper and iron."
This was the only solution Keiya Nakamura could think of. "We want to go back alive... The best way is to ask the Emperor of Dazhao to send someone to protect us."
Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to return to his hometown.
"…Do you really think so?"
The copper and iron exported to Dazhao accelerated the development of Dazhao's firearms.
Ichiro Ishii originally wanted to cut some, or use this as a condition to get more things back from Dazhao.
"If you were the Jia family and had the ability to kill your enemy, would you let it go?"
Both of them talked in low voices.
Nakamura Keiya said: "Anyway, I will not let go."
If he could really go back alive, he would definitely send people to avenge the Jia family and Yu Zhijian for imprisonment.
In addition to the Jia family, the person that Nakamura Keiya, as the Prime Minister, hates the most now is Tianjin Prefect Yu Zhijian.
This bastard stripped them of their wealth bit by bit, took their silver, and added another cannon to Tianjin.
Damn thing.
If this gets back to China, it will be a lifelong stain on him.
"Only the protection of Emperor Dazhao can make the Jia family fearful."
Both he and Ishii were of high status and could help Emperor Dazhao obtain the copper and iron he urgently needed.
"Shi Jing, let's write a joint letter to Yu Zhijian!"
He hated Yu Zhijian to death, but he had to use him to let the Emperor of Dazhao take a look at them.
"……good!"
Ichiro Ishii was silent for a moment and then agreed.
He really had enough of sitting in this cell.
When the jailer who brought food came again, the two men nodded and bowed, went straight to the point, and told them about exporting large quantities of copper and iron to Dazhao.
Since copper and iron were involved, the jailer did not dare to delay and reported it immediately.
Yu Zhijian was very excited, but he suppressed it for the time being.
Just now, Jia Min from the capital wrote to his wife, saying that the peace talks were successful.
Da Zhao completely defeated the Rakshasa Kingdom.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't excited.
Although he did not participate in the peace talks, the peace talks were able to go so smoothly. According to his wife and Jia Min, it was because he first punched the Russians on the head a few times, stunned them and made them fearful.
So much so that Mrs. Shen used her own son to scare the monkey, and the monkey was immediately scared to death.
Not only was the 'outer' monkey frightened, but the 'inner' monkey was also frightened.
Prefect Yu had never met Madam Shen, but now he felt that Madam Shen was a wonderful person.
Even if the emperor beat Jia Zhen instead, it wouldn't have such a miraculous effect! Now that Keiya Nakamura and Ichiro Ishii want to exchange the copper and iron that Daisho urgently needs for his freedom, it is obvious that they are also aware of their situation.
Prefect Yu tugged at his beard and said, "Don't worry about what they say, just leave it alone for now."
Do you want the food on the plate to jump out? All the prefectures along the coast are dealing with the Japanese. If we let Ishii and his men go back, it is very likely that they will turn against us immediately.
As for copper and iron...
No matter how much of this stuff Dazhao has, it will never be too much.
That……
Yu Zhijian walked around the room in circles, and when he finally stopped, he gave a speech in a very proud and eloquent manner.
If he could label the Japanese envoys as accomplices in the assassination of the Jia family, then Dazhao should hold Japan accountable.
Do you think they can't attack us because there's the sea between us? Traveling by sea is indeed risky, but the newly returned Nangharwei is said to be not far from Hokkaido.
Moreover, it is not that far to go from Weihaiwei to Korea, use Korea as a springboard, and then attack Japan.
Since they had charged him with a crime, they would not give him the copper and iron, so Dazhao had to get them himself.
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