Chapter 132 Chapter 132 is the life she has lived since she married into the Ji Mansion...
Fang Ying understood. The casual conversation was over, so she continued, "If I could choose, I'd like to be a school official."
"That's good," Ji Yanlang agreed. "Selecting talents for the country or educating people is both extremely noble."
Fang Ying smiled and nudged him: "You're even giving your comments seriously."
Ji Yanlang also laughed, and then asked, "Speaking of which, has your second cousin sent any letters? Did he take the exam again this year?"
"I don't know." Fang Ying shook her head. She had never been back to her parents' home. She had always sent someone to deliver the gifts for the Winter Solstice. She had no contact with her stepmother at all. Fang Quan had never mentioned her maternal grandparents' home when he came to visit.
"I'll ask my cousin someday; he should know."
Speaking of her eldest cousin, Fang Ying suddenly remembered to ask, "Will his battalion be laid off?"
Ji Yanlang said, "Don't worry, my cousin is one of the best soldiers in that camp, and I'm watching him."
Fang Ying nodded, and seeing that it was getting late, she put down the book, asked Ji Yanlang what he wanted to eat, asked someone to go to the kitchen to order food, and asked the wet nurse to bring Hong'er over and play with him for a while.
Ever since Li went to Zhenzhou, she took away many servants who were proud of their hard work and contributions. Fang Ying and Yue Qing'e had their work done much easier. The cook in the kitchen never said a word to them. If they wanted to eat something, no matter whether it was mealtime or not, they could just send someone to tell them.
Therefore, although Fang Ying often missed her mother-in-law, she still felt that this period of time was the most comfortable and enjoyable time she had experienced since she married into the Ji family.
Of course, this comfort is also inseparable from the mutual love between her and Ji Yanlang.
His changes in bed and his suggestion to read military books together during the day really made the two of them close, and Fang Ying finally realized what it meant to be in love and inseparable.
Happy times always pass quickly. The New Year passed in a blink of an eye. During the Lantern Festival, Ji Yanlang kept his word and took Fang Ying and his niece Huaiyun to watch the lantern festival. Within two days, the imperial edict to reduce the army came down.
Things turned out just as Ji Yanlang had expected. The current military downsizing did not involve their newly formed cavalry. Not only that, in February, the emperor toured Xijing again and selected several of their battalions as escorts.
"Or I can take you there secretly." Ji Yanlang hugged Fang Ying, reluctant to let her go.
"I really want to go and see what Luoyang looks like." Fang Ying smiled sideways.
Ji Yanlang lowered his head and kissed her, saying, "Then you can disguise yourself as a man and pretend to be my follower..."
Fang Ying exposed the truth and said, "Don't try to bluff me. Can a bodyguard bring followers?"
Ji Yanlang buried his face in her neck and laughed twice, then sighed softly: "No, I can only put you in my bag."
Fang Ying reached out and pinched his waist. Ji Yanlang begged for mercy. The two of them laughed and joked for a while, then lay down again. He said, "I'm worried that the emperor will want to move the capital again after he leaves."
"Yes," Fang Ying recalled, "the last time I visited Xijing, I mentioned moving the capital and reducing the military at the same time."
Ji Yanlang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly sat up: "Yes! How could I have forgotten about this!"
Fang Ying was startled by him at first, then laughed and said, "So you didn't think of it from the perspective of disarmament."
Ji Yanlang looked at her sideways and shook his head: "I just remembered the last time I went on a western tour... So, in the past two years, the emperor has never let go of this thought."
"Didn't you say that Kaifeng is a place of war and defense, with no strategic location to defend? Perhaps moving the capital would be a better option?"
"Whether it's good or not, we can't figure it out," Ji Yanlang lay down again and sighed, "but this is a serious matter. Putting aside other things, if we really move, what will happen to our mansion? The three of us brothers are all officials in the court. Do we all have to move to Luoyang?"
"Yes, all the government offices, civil and military officials... and the King of Qin," Fang Ying exchanged a glance with Ji Yanlang. "We've just put everything in order in Kaifeng Prefecture... Is the King of Wei accompanying us this time?"
Ji Yanlang shook his head. "They only mentioned Prince Qi and Prince Cai." He thought for a moment, then added, "Now it seems that the proposal to move the capital, along with the disarmament, could not have been proposed by Prince Wei. Even if he did propose it, it certainly couldn't have been his idea."
Fang Ying agreed: "The emperor must have had this idea for a long time. The Hu people have invaded repeatedly in the past two years, and even I can see that retaking Youyan is not a matter of a day or a night. If we plan for the long term, perhaps..."
"I suddenly remembered that when we escorted the deposed King of Chu, didn't we go to Xijing to pick up the Queen? At that time, I heard that the Luo River had been dredged and that grain was being transported there. It was just still shallower and narrower than the Bian River. But as long as the emperor is determined, they will spare no manpower and material resources..."
Ji Yanlang thought for a moment and finally said, "I have to write a letter to my father tomorrow."
Fang Ying agreed that if they really wanted to move the capital, their family had to make preparations early.
The next day, Ji Yanlang went to the camp and consulted his superiors to get some information. He came back and told Fang Ying, "I'm afraid this is about 50% confirmed. Half of the troops who will be assigned to the wing army during this troop reduction will go to Luoyang."
"Dredging the river?"
Ji Yanlang nodded: "I think so. Are you going to visit the princess soon?"
Fang Ying asked: "You want to?"
"If this is true, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin should have known about it long ago, but just in case...should we warn him?"
"I'll send someone to say hello." Fang Ying said.
After leaving this matter to her, Ji Yanlang no longer worried about it. He asked someone to grind ink and wrote a letter to his father. After Fang Ying had made arrangements, he asked her if she wanted to write a letter to her mother to say hello.
"Wouldn't it be better if you wrote a few more words? Mother would be happier reading your letter than mine."
"I'm having a hard time writing this." Ji Yanlang smiled bitterly, "You know me, it's harder for me to pick up a pen than a gun."
Fang Ying remained unmoved: "Then I should write more."
Ji Yanlang had no choice but to write the letter himself. After he finished, he heard that his second brother had returned home, so he went to discuss it with him and his fifth brother. The three brothers had dinner together, rewrote the letter, and sent it out early the next morning.
The car Zhou Congshan sent to pick up Fang Ying would arrive a little later.
"I originally wanted to bring you a few days later. Isn't your family's Ji Liulang going to accompany me?" Zhou Congshan said with a smile when he saw Fang Ying, "Have you packed your bags?"
Fang Ying smiled and said, "Isn't his luggage simple? He can just pack a few sets of clothes."
As she spoke, she looked at her friend and saw that her cheeks had become rounder and her figure was more pregnant. She praised, "The princess looks better than the last time I saw her."
The last time was when Zhou Congshan just found out that she was pregnant. She and the King of Qin concealed the good news until the middle of the twelfth lunar month, when the palace summoned Zhou Congshan for a festival, and they reported it to the emperor and empress.
The emperor was very happy and asked Zhou Congshan to rest assured and take care of her pregnancy. All sacrificial ceremonies and worships were cancelled. She lived in seclusion and rarely went out, so it was naturally not appropriate for her to invite Fang Ying over if there was nothing else to do.
"I see that you look really good and cheerful." Zhou Congshan took his friend's hand and sat down beside the couch together.
Every time Fang Ying looked at herself in the mirror recently, she felt that she looked more radiant than before, but she couldn't respond to her words, otherwise she would definitely be laughed at. So she just smiled and asked Zhou Congshan how he was feeling recently.
"It's been fine, but my body has become heavier and heavier, and my back and waist often ache." Zhou Congshan raised his hand and gently stroked his waist. "I feel tired even when I sleep."
"It's getting warmer now. Going out for a walk in the yard will help. The more you stay in the room, the more tired you'll feel."
Zhou Congshan nodded: "I saw that you wrote some notes about your pregnancy."
"When the sun gets higher, I'll go for a walk with you."
"What? Is there really nothing left for you to take care of at home?" Zhou Congshan joked, "You'd better pack more luggage for Ji Liulang. He might be gone for several months."
Fang Ying was surprised: "How many months will he be gone? Didn't he come back less than two months last time?"
Zhou Congshan only kept his trusted aides by his side, and without reservation, he said bluntly, "The emperor still wants to move the capital."
She really already knew it. Fang Ying breathed a sigh of relief: "You really made us guess it."
Seeing this, Zhou Congshan looked her over and asked, "You're not here for this, are you?"
"Half of it." Fang Ying said, also feeling that she was too worried. "We are just worrying for no reason, just in case..."
Zhou Congshan understood her intentions and said with a smile, "I was wondering why you sent someone here at this time." He then assured his friend, "Moving the capital is a matter of national importance. Since the emperor has this intention, he will definitely discuss it with His Highness and the important civil and military officials."
Fang Ying came to her senses: "Yes, I was really confused. Your father is also here." If they had to wait for them to inform him of such an important matter, the King of Qin, the prefect of Kaifeng, would have lost his position long ago.
"You're probably thinking about what happened that year again, aren't you?" Zhou Congshan shook Fang Ying's hand. "In fact, His Highness also agrees with moving the capital."
"Really?" Fang Ying was surprised. "Where's your father?"
"He's actually not very supportive. But the emperor has made up his mind. Xu Xingjian was dismissed from his position years ago, mainly because he opposed moving the capital. My father was afraid that if he insisted on his own opinion, the emperor would think he was in cahoots with Xu Xingjian. Plus, His Highness also agreed with the idea of moving the capital, so he kept quiet."
"Xu Xingjian was dismissed from his position because of this?" Fang Ying was even more surprised. "He went out for a banquet during the New Year's holiday, and everyone said it was because of a dispute with Prime Minister Pang."
Zhou Congshan said, "That's not wrong. He and Pang Wenzheng were indeed at odds. Pang Wenzheng offered the emperor ten strategies, the first of which was to move the capital."
The Ji family was a family of military generals and surrendered generals, so they had little contact with the prime ministers in the court. However, Fang Ying knew that Xu Xingjian was an old acquaintance of the emperor's private residence. He had served in the shogunate when the emperor was still a governor, and he also made contributions when the emperor ascended the throne.
On the contrary, it was only after Xu Xingjian was dismissed from his post that Fang Ying heard that Pang Wenzhen, the Prime Minister who suddenly gained the favor of the government, was a Jinshi from the Former Jin Dynasty. He had been a civil servant until the defeat of Youzhou and became a minister of state.
She went home and reviewed the whole thing with Ji Yanlang, and finally said, "The princess said that His Highness read Mr. Pang's ten strategies and felt that they were good ways to govern the country, so he agreed to move the capital."
"That's good."
Since the emperor and his son are of one mind, the officials have nothing to worry about and can just follow his orders.
Fang Ying added summer clothes to Ji Yanlang's bag, and two days later she took her daughter with her to see him off.
Everything that needed to be said had been said in the past few days, so Fang Ying just held her daughter's hand, waved at him, and said, "Take care."
Ji Yanlang pinched Hong'er's little hand and sighed, "When I come back, I'm afraid our Hong'er will call me daddy." After saying this, he turned around quickly for fear that Fang Ying would be sad, "Let's go, wait for me to write to you."
Fang Ying watched him walk out of the second door until he was out of sight, then she returned with her daughter in her arms.
It was not the first time that she sent Ji Yanlang on a long journey, but it was the first time that she felt empty in her heart as soon as he left home.
When she returned to the room, she put the child on the couch and looked around. She felt the room was even emptier. Fortunately, Hong'er was unwilling to be lonely and kept babbling. Soon, Fang Ying laughed out loud.
"Luckily I have you, a little clingy guy."
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The author has something to say: Xianggong is a respectful title for the prime minister; Canzhi Zhengshi is considered the deputy prime minister.
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