Chapter 74: The message came back from the temple, and Dorji went to thank the Tu...
After returning from the temple, Dorji went to pay his respects to Tushetu Khan. Muxue was not idle either, writing furiously, writing a memorial to the capital.
Because it was a secret letter, and there were some things she didn't want Dorji to know right away, she would send people out from time to time to check whether her husband had returned.
Writing under the candlelight made even her eyes tired. After finishing and putting the boxes in place, she lay down on the desk and took a nap, waiting for Dorji to come back.
In her dream, she seemed to hear singing again, vaguely the same singing that Dorji had sung tirelessly on the cart back to the city. She recalled the singing and felt a little guilty.
There was a thick stack of letters and memorials, filling up the locked memorial box.
Last year, Mu Xue specially transferred four people from the guards to form a communications team. They don't have to do other things on weekdays and are specifically responsible for transmitting messages.
It was just dawn when the postman under her command had already ridden away on horseback with the memorial box, leaving a day earlier than Tushetu Khan's postman.
In the capital city in autumn, the sky is high and the clouds are light, it is a refreshing season.
Emperor Kangxi has moved back to the Forbidden City from his summer resort of Changchun Garden. The front courtyard of the palace is busy and he dares not slack off.
When the eunuchs in the inner memorial office saw the words "Kulun urgent" on the memorial box ticket and the golden seal of the Fourth Princess, they immediately numbered the memorial box and sent it to the Southern Study Room along with the newly received secret memorials from Suzhou Weaving and others. The eunuchs in the Southern Study Room arranged the memorials according to the habit of His Majesty the Emperor, and waited for His Majesty to come.
The imperial court was over. It was already chenshi. The western clock pointed to eight o'clock, dong dong dong.
Emperor Kangxi, who was being helped by a palace maid to change from his court robes to his daily clothes, glanced at the Western clock. After changing his clothes, he stretched his muscles and walked towards the imperial desk filled with memorials and petitions.
There were not many memorials today. Kangxi picked up the one on top, which was from the Minister in Charge of the Imperial Household Department. It said that the merchant who had previously requested to deal in copper had "successfully returned from mining in Japan" and handed over 10,000 taels of silver as a savings.
Although the amount is not much, it is still a small income, and it can help to alleviate the problem of copper expenditure. This job is not bad.
Kangxi's eyes swept over the words "Royal Merchant Fan" and he tapped his knuckles on the desk. He had an impression of the Fan family. During the Third Expedition against Galdan, they did a good job in transporting grain, and now they are also doing a good job in handling copper. He vaguely remembered that a secret report mentioned that the method of using business to make up for copper seemed to be directed by the fourth princess behind the scenes. I don't know where this girl came up with this idea when she was in the grassland. She is really smart.
Come to think of it, this saved money can also be considered as the fourth girl's filial piety to her father.
Kangxi picked up the imperial pen and wrote the three words "got it" with a relaxed look on his face. He was a little relieved that his daughter had grown up and could hand over the family income.
Speak of the devil, and he will appear. The next letter was a memorial from the fourth girl. He took a look at it and it was quite thick. He wondered what was written on it.
When he opened the envelope with a silver knife, the smile on Emperor Kangxi's face immediately disappeared.
What is the Tushetu Khanate doing? How could it allow the remnants of Galdan to scare his daughter!
And as for Galdan, even though he is dead, there are still hidden dangers.
He frowned, picked up the teacup beside the table, took a sip of tea, and then continued reading.
Liang Jiugong, the eunuch who was serving at the side, saw the expression on His Majesty's face and was startled. What happened in Mobei again? He even breathed more lightly, fearing that he would attract His Majesty's attention.
Liang Jiugong quietly watched His Majesty's every move. Although he frowned, he looked down and nodded slightly.
I guess if the princess wrote something that he agreed with, the situation might not be that serious.
After reading the long letter and the memorial, Emperor Kangxi ordered: "Send the Minister of War and the Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs to see you in the afternoon."
“Yeah.”
Liang Jiugong agreed and immediately retreated to the outer room, asking his disciple at the door to pass on the message.
To the east of the Forbidden City, there is Dongjiangmi Lane, where the Lifanyuan is located.
Wenda, the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was scolding his subordinates: "Your rules are too crude. This is the first time that the three tribes of Mobei have come to the court to serve in the New Year. We must treat them with caution. Where will they live, how will they be paid, and how will they be guided to see the Emperor during the New Year? Everything must be clearly stated. They are not like the princes and taijis of Khorchin, who are already familiar with our rules. Some of them have never even been to the capital!"
"If you continue to mess around like this, these people will be embarrassed and lose face in front of the emperor. Damn it, I will be scolded too! If I am scolded, you can't escape either!"
Just as he was cursing angrily, he suddenly heard someone say, "Someone is coming from the palace."
Wen Da's face changed, and he pointed at his subordinates and said, "Go back and revise it for me. Burn this copy."
Then go to greet the envoy.
Upon hearing the summons from His Majesty, Wen Da immediately sent someone to prepare a horse to go to the Forbidden City. When he dismounted at the inner city gate, he happened to meet the Minister of War, Maer Han, who was also in a hurry.
"Are you also here because you were summoned, sir?" Wenda asked.
"That's right," said Malhan.
The people around His Majesty have always been tight-lipped and unwilling to reveal anything easily. The two of them were not quite sure why His Majesty summoned them, and they had many guesses in their hearts. Now that they met, they had a vague idea.
Mostly it’s about things in Mongolia!
Trembling with fear, the two did not even have lunch, just waiting in the pavilion. Taking advantage of this time, Wenda had already gone over the things in Mongolia in his mind. The tribes in the south of the desert, Khorchin, have been very well behaved recently. I haven't heard of any trouble. It's not winter yet, so if there is a heavy snow disaster, the report on natural disasters should not have been sent in yet. What could it be?
The Lifanyuan naturally had its own personnel and some Mongolian merchants recruited by the court to collect information on the grasslands. However, most of them were distributed in the grasslands south of the desert. After all, it was only a few years since the northern desert surrendered. In the previous few years, there were still wars and wars, so they really couldn't reach out.
It was when the Fourth Princess went north to Mobei the year before last that she brought some merchants with her. Some of them brought back news. By comparing the news reported by the Khalkha jasaks themselves and the map of Mobei drawn by the Western missionary, they were able to roughly sort out the news about the three tribes of Mobei.
Wenda thought, if something really happened and the news had not yet reached him, then it could only have happened in the Mobei area.
Finally, they were summoned, and Wenda and Malhan knelt down and kowtowed to greet them.
"Get up? Talk."
"Thank you, Lord."
The two men stood up, lowered their heads and listened respectfully.
Kangxi's voice rang out: "My fourth princess was attacked on her way back to Kulun from Guihua City more than a month ago."
This one sentence made Wenda's head buzz and he started to have a headache.
What is this? Where did this happen? How is the princess? If something happens, it will cause a big mess.
"Fortunately, there was no danger. Dunduobu Dorji wiped out all the bandits. It has been found that the remnants of Galdan were bandits who mistakenly thought it was a caravan attack."
Wenda and Malhan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that the princess was not hurt. However, there were still many troubles. The most important thing was to see how His Majesty would deal with this matter.
"My princess proposes to set up a military post between Guihua City and Kulun. The post will serve as a support for each other, and the beacon will be sent to each other to detect the surrounding situation and guard against enemy threats. At the same time, it will also facilitate the travel of merchants, so that the south and north of the desert can communicate with each other and goods can flow freely. What do you think?"
Wen Da said: "It is indeed a good thing. If there is a military post station, the news from Mobei can be conveyed to the emperor more quickly."
Malhan clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness is far-sighted and far-sighted, which is a blessing for the country. However, the military station is so far away, and the annual cost of silver is at least 60,000 to 70,000 taels. The post station on the official road from Kulun to Zhangjiakou is already under construction, and it costs a lot of money. Can we wait a little longer for the post road from Guihuacheng to Kulun?"
Kangxi suddenly laughed: "What you said is actually what the princess mentioned in her memorial. She said that even if there is no money allocated to her, she can find a way to build this post road - as long as I give her an imperial edict, saying that the post road from Guihua City to Kulun should be built."
No money, just the will?
What is this operation?
Malhan was stunned for a moment.
Does the Fourth Princess know what she is talking about? To support a post road, a huge amount of silver is needed every year. Even if the Princess took out all the silver from her dowry, it would only be a drop in the bucket!
The Fourth Princess had never heard of any good reputation in the palace before, but now she spoke freely. Did she think that after the marriage, Mobei would obediently offer money and grain and generously help build the post road?
However, he saw that His Majesty did not have a strong attitude of opposition, so he hesitated and said: "This... this... the princess is young, and perhaps she does not know the difficulties involved."
Kangxi said, "I originally thought so, but the princess said that it would not harm the court's money, and begged me to give her a chance to try."
Malhan's mouth twitched, and he said, "Really? Haha, you are very courageous."
Anyway, as long as he is not forced to collect money everywhere, it is none of his business.
Kangxi turned around and glanced at the memorial on saving money, and said, "It's harmless anyway, let her try."
After discussing matters with the Minister of War and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kangxi met with some other ministers to resolve the rest of the government affairs.
It was already late, and when it was time for dinner, the Jingshifang brought in a green card.
Kangxi directly turned over Concubine Yi's name card.
Night fell over the Forbidden City. When Concubine Yi received the news, she was watching the Eighth Princess embroidering.
Because Concubine Min Zhangjia had just passed away, the Thirteenth Prince and the Eighth Princess lost their mother. The Thirteenth Prince was fine, as he was already sensible, but the Eighth Princess was still only twelve years old, so Kangxi ordered Concubine Yi to bring her to the palace to raise her.
Concubine Yi looked at it for a while, then smiled and touched the Eighth Princess' hair: "You are very skillful. Look at this lily flower, it is so realistic. Your fourth sister is so old, but she can't embroider like this."
As she spoke, she became a little disappointed: "I wonder if it's snowing where your fourth sister is at this time."
"Does Concubine Yi miss Fourth Sister?" asked the Eighth Princess.
“A little.”
As they were talking, they heard that Kangxi had turned over the name of Concubine Yi, so Concubine Yi hurriedly ordered the nanny to take the Eighth Princess back to the side hall to rest, and she washed up and prepared to welcome the emperor.
Kangxi entered the Yikun Palace, took Concubine Yi's hand, and walked into the palace: "I want to tell you something. I think that Mobei has not been pacified for a long time and is still unstable. The fourth girl requested to live in Guihua City, and I agreed. I ordered people to build a princess mansion for the fourth girl in Guihua City, and she will live there in the beginning of next spring."
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