Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 899 Unhappy
"I have this plan!" Wang Wenzuo nodded, "But it's too early to divide the territory now. According to my plan, we need to first establish a base in Xutuozhou to repair ships and store supplies. At the same time, we will send out more expedition teams to draw sea charts and maps, and then we can divide the territory!"

"Father is right!" Suda was originally worried that his father was too impatient and would end up with something that would fail to achieve the desired result. He was still thinking about how to persuade him, but he didn't realize that he was worrying too much and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"The Lord intends to divide the land in two directions!" Di Renjie said, "The new world discovered by Master Xutuo is one, and the other is in the southeast. In order to prepare for this, Master Yuanbao must first be transferred to the post of Governor of Jiaozhou to prepare for the next division of land!"

"Yuan Bao is the governor of Jiaozhou?" Su Tuo was surprised when he heard this: "Father, that place is full of smoke and miasma! And the journey is long. It will probably take more than half a year just to walk from Cangzhou to Jiaozhou, right?"

"Don't worry about that!" Wang Wenzuo said, "It's a long way to go by land, but it's much faster by sea! In the two years since you were away, the shipyard in Cangzhou has built several new types of ships that are faster and stronger than the ones you have now! In the future, the princes who will be enfeoffed in the southeast will use Jiaozhou as their base!"

"Use Jiaozhou as the base for the initiative?" Suda repeated Wang Wenzuo's words, feeling both fearful and excited. He could feel the grand vision behind what his father had just said, but he was also worried about the huge difficulties he faced.

"Xudao, are you worried?" Hu Liang said with a smile: "To be honest, I was a little worried when I heard my father talking about this just now, but when I saw my father practicing the flintlock rifle for us, I was not worried at all. It's a pity that I have to stay in Chang'an, otherwise I would have wanted to go to Jiaozhou or Sutuozhou!"

"That's right!" Yan Liang also laughed and said, "Huliang wanted to stay in Chang'an to guard the emperor. I begged my father for a long time, and finally my father was relieved and allowed me to participate in the attack on Yizhou (the ancient name of Taiwan) and Luzon (Luzon Island in the Philippines). I really envy you and Yuanbao!"

"Flintlock? What is that--?"

"We will be rehearsing at the parade ground tomorrow. You can come and watch it then!" Wang Wenzuo smiled and said to Di Renjie, "You should tell Xu Tuo about the rest of the arrangements, so that he won't know anything and will ask questions. It will be inconvenient for him to answer them one by one!"

"As you command!" Di Renjie responded, and said to Xutuo, "The master means that in the future, you will lead the route to Xutuozhou, while Yuanbao will lead the route from Jiaozhou, and Yanliang will lead the route to Yizhou and Luzon. However, the transfer of Yuanbao to the post of governor of Jiaozhou still needs to go through the court, and the paperwork process will take about half a year. So the master means to send a fleet from Cangzhou to Jiaozhou to open up this sea route first. Among all the princes, you, Xutuo, are the best person to command the fleet and take the sea route!"

"Will you let me open up this route?" Suta looked at his father, gritted his teeth and said, "Father, I will obey your orders, but I hope to have the right to organize the fleet and the crew!"

"Of course!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, "Since I've asked you to shoulder this responsibility, I'll naturally give you the authority you deserve. How about this! Right here, I'll appoint you as the captain of the tower ship, and the commander of all military operations at sea! If you need those ships, those people, and those equipment, you can write a document and report it to me, and I'll agree!"

"Then I will boldly agree to it!" Sutuo bowed to Wang Wenzuo. When he stood up, everyone around the long table congratulated him. For a moment, wherever Sutuo looked, there were smiling faces.

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Suta's residence was arranged in a side courtyard of the Hejian Palace. The courtyard was not big, but the room was spacious, the bed was clean and soft, and the best thing was that the courtyard was very quiet and no one came to disturb him. This was perfect for the exhausted Suta.

"You stay outside and tell anyone who comes that I'm resting. Wait until I wake up before you talk!" After settling down, Sutada said to his personal guard, Da Aton, a giant nearly two meters tall, taciturn, and powerful. Since the last ambush, Sutada has chosen this man and has been inseparable from him. Da Aton was wearing iron armor, with a sword and dagger on his waist. He nodded, wrapped his cloak tightly, and sat down at Sutada's door, like half an iron tower.

Suta was really tired. This journey was long and exhausting. Even though he was young and strong, he could not stand it any longer. The window of the room faced the yard, and he could see the mulberry tree. He unbuttoned his coat, threw himself on the soft goose feather cushion, and fell asleep quickly.

He was awakened by the quarrel outside the door. Sudatta sat up immediately. Outside the window, the setting sun cast a red glow on the roof of the Hejian Palace. He slept longer than he expected. A familiar voice came from the yard: "Damn it, you big guy, open the door for me!"

"Yuanbao? It's you!" Suta jumped off the bed and shouted, "Big Eaton, let them in!" As he spoke, he put on his coat, tied the belt with a dagger and a sword around his waist, and then opened the bolt of the heavy wooden door.

Yuanbao, who came in, was dressed quite gorgeously, with a scarlet Shu brocade robe and a golden crown for his hair, which formed a sharp contrast with Sutuo who was wearing a gray cashmere coat. He sat down on the table by the window and said, "Where the hell did you find this big guy? He ignored everything I said. When my men approached him, he put his hand on the hilt of his knife, like a male bear whose head was forced into a cave."

"Since it's a bear, it must be from its den!" Xu Tuo laughed. He poured a glass of water for Yuan Bao. "I can't help it. The place I go is full of dangers. The sailors on the ship are not good people. Good people won't do this. If I didn't have a scary guy by my side, my back would have been pierced by a dagger!"

"I don't think it's just to scare people, right?" Yuan Bao looked at the big Eaton standing at the door in awe. His forehead almost touched the door, and his thick body almost blocked the door tightly. As the son of Wang Wenzuo, he received strict cold weapon combat training from the best warriors in East Asia since he was a child. He can skillfully use horizontal swords, spears, bone flowers, two-handed swords, flails and other weapons to fight. But even he still had the instinct to turn around and run away when facing this giant.

"Haha! You can't use it anyway!" Sutuo smiled and said, "You should have heard about the transfer to Jiaozhou!"

"I heard about it!" Yuan Bao sighed in frustration: "It's always like this. As the person involved, I'm always the last one to know about my bad news!"

"Not really!" Suta laughed, "Father has already said that you will be the commander of the southeastern route!"

"Hair!" Yuan Bao spat with disdain: "Cangzhou was a barren land in the beginning. I worked hard to build it up over the years. After I finally got some success, they drove me to Jiaozhou, a barren land where criminals were exiled, and left the prosperous and beautiful Cangzhou to Asheng. Xutuo, in my father's eyes, you and I are the cattle and horses that open up the wasteland. Once the fertile land is reclaimed, it will be left to Asheng, and we will be driven to the new wasteland!" "That's not the case!" Xutuo laughed and said, "First of all, Cangzhou may not be left to Asheng. Besides, this time my father is going to enfeoff the princes, not only you and me, but also other brothers and the sons of meritorious officials will go. We are cattle and horses? Are others too?"

"Xudao, don't you see clearly?" Yuanbao sneered, "We brothers were sent to the island as soon as we learned to walk. We either studied or practiced martial arts from morning to night. The calluses on our hands piled up layer by layer. We were busy from dawn to dusk, and there was not a single day of rest. Brother Hu Liangyanliang, and us, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, we either served in the army, or joined the merchant caravan, went to the sea ship, and fought against the Ezo barbarians. Who didn't have injuries? Only Ah Sheng stayed with his mother from the moment he came out of the womb, dressed in fine clothes and fed delicious food. He was already the head of a county when he was just twelve years old. Damn, he had to ask others to wipe his shit and urine for him, which was a battle for a county. I tied my head to my waist, and I was only the governor of a state even though I was seven years older than him. Why? It's because his mother's surname is Cui, from a high-ranking family like the Qinghe Cui family. Our mother is just a barbarian woman from Sogdia? Father drove us to a smoke-filled and miasmic place where no one shits, just to leave Hebei to his precious son!"

"Are you jealous of Asheng?" Suta asked.

Facing his brother's calm questioning, Yuan Bao felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. He opened his mouth and snorted coldly: "Who is jealous of him? I just think it's unfair!"

"You are just jealous of Ah Sheng!" Suta repeated his judgment: "He is our younger brother. Besides, don't you feel it? Aunt Cui is very afraid of us!"

"Nonsense, who can't feel this? That woman wants to kick all of us brothers out of the house so that she can leave everything to her precious son!"

"No!" Suta shook his head: "You don't understand, if father really treated us like this, Aunt Cui wouldn't be so afraid of us."

"What do you mean?"

"It's very simple! Father will die eventually, and Ah Sheng is much weaker than us of the same age. Moreover, we all came from the island, and brothers Huliang and Yanliang now have their own businesses. If you were the aunt, what would you think?"

"You mean that woman is afraid that we will attack her and Asheng after our father dies?" Yuanbao asked.

"Well, wouldn't you be afraid if it were you?"

"But father is still in good health, right? Besides, Ah Sheng will grow up eventually, and she is from the Qinghe Cui family. The noble families in Hebei will definitely support Ah Sheng!"

"No matter how good your father's health is, he is already over 50, and he will only get worse day by day. Ah Sheng will grow up, but he is not like us. He has experienced life and death since he was a child. He may be better than us in poetry and writing, but he is definitely not as good as us in leading troops to fight and governing the people. Even if the Hebei nobles support them, how can they resist us brothers if they are surrounded by desperate people?"

"What you said does make sense, but doesn't this mean that the woman wants to kill us more?" Yuanbao asked.

"You really don't understand?" Suta sighed, "If it were just the two of us, Auntie might still want to find a chance to kill us, but how many sons does father have? At least forty or fifty, right? How could she kill them all? Not to mention that Brother Huliang married the emperor's sister, who is far away in Chang'an, and Brother Yanliang is the king of Japan, who is in Naniwa-kyō. Besides, over the years, we brothers have suffered a lot, but she didn't let us die, right? This shows that the woman couldn't persuade father at all, otherwise how could we be in this situation now?"

After hearing Xu Tuo's explanation, Yuan Bao's anger gradually subsided: "You are right. If father really wanted to deal with us, he would not let us become so strong. But I have worked so hard to manage Cangzhou to this point, but now I am asked to go to Jiaozhou. I am really unwilling to do so!"

"Well, no matter how wild Jiaozhou is, it's better than the New World, right? I was sent there, isn't that worse than you? Brother Yanliang is not much better than you, he wasn't angry when he was assigned to Yizhou and Luzon?"

"Humph, how do you know he's not angry? He's the most cunning among our brothers. He's always been like that since he was a child. I've never seen him angry! But he's also the most ruthless. He was the one who killed Heba Yong!"

"Okay, okay, why are you still talking about these trivial things?" Suta scolded, "I told you that Ayun is here this time, and he married our sister. If you say these unpleasant things in front of him, I won't agree."

"Ayun? Heba Yun? He's here too?" Yuan Bao's eyes widened: "Is this kid going to be enfeoffed too?"

"Why not? After all, his father was once my father's right-hand man and made great contributions. Moreover, he is our son-in-law, so we can't leave him out!"

"Damn it, I get so mad when I think about being on the same level as the son of a sinner!" Yuan Bao cursed, "Forget it, I'll just hide in your yard for a few days. Your name is Big Eaton, right? Lend it to me, and keep all the visitors outside. I'm sick and I won't see anyone!"

"Okay!" Xu Tuo knew Yuan Bao's temper: "Then I'll let Big Eaton help you watch the door for a few days, but don't go too far, just do it roughly!"

"Get out, get out, get out!" Yuan Bao jumped onto the bed and covered his head with the quilt. "You didn't lose your position as the governor of Cangzhou, but you sent me to a hellhole like Jiaozhou, and you want me to vent my anger for a few days? Are you still being reasonable?"

Xu Tuo called Da Ayton, gave him a few instructions, and then went out. When he reached the door, he looked back at Yuan Bao lying on the bed and thought to himself, "I didn't expect that after not coming back for a few years, there have been so many waves in Fanyang City!"