Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"Six hundred armored soldiers and seven hundred sailors?" A cold light flashed in Yang Quansheng's eyes: "Okay, okay, Master Xu Tuo has such courage, how can I stop him? When do you plan to set off?"

"It's hot now, and most of my men are from the north, so I plan to wait a month or two until the weather is cooler before setting off again!" Sutuo said, "Besides that, there are two more things I hope Yang Gong can agree to!"

"what's up?"

"The first is status. I came south this time just to explore the sea route, and I have no official position assigned by the court. If I were to use troops, I'm afraid it would be unfair and unreasonable, so I hope Mr. Yang can give me a status; the second is that although the ship is fully equipped with armor and weapons, if we want to go out, we still lack some medicines to relieve the heat, as well as guides and slaves. I plan to recruit and purchase them in the Guangzhou market, and I hope you will agree!"

"Official assignment, right? This is simple. Secretary Feng, what do you think is a suitable one?" Yang Quansheng smiled. He didn't care about Xutuo's request. As the actual highest military and administrative chief of the five prefectures in Lingnan, he had the power to confer official titles below the fifth rank on behalf of the court. He only needed to report to Chang'an afterwards. Not to mention that there were so many local barbarian chieftains. Whether it was to reward their loyalty or to mobilize their troops, giving them various official titles was a matter of a word. Not to mention Wang Wenzuo's son, who had to bring his own dry food to Jiaozhou. What was a certificate of appointment worth?
"Master Xutuo is the son of the Prince of Hejian, so he must be an official. He has more than a thousand elite soldiers and eight warships, so he can form his own army!" Feng Sheng said with a smile, "In my opinion, it would be better to give him a military title and let him be the commander of the army, and then disband it after the mission is completed! What do you think, sir?"

"Well! That's it!" Yang Quansheng said with a smile: "As for the military call, let's use the Qing Navy! To clean up the thieves overseas in Jiaozhou!"

"Thank you, Mr. Yang, for giving me the military command!" Suta stood up and saluted.

"Well! As for other matters, you can hand them over to this Feng Jishi!" Yang Quansheng said: "His family is a big family in Lingnan, and he knows a lot of things very well!"

"Then I'll trouble Mr. Feng!" Xu Tuo saluted Feng Sheng. Feng Sheng hurriedly returned the salute and said, "I dare not, this is all my job!"

"Then let's do this!" Yang Quansheng yawned. He was obviously a little tired after talking for a long time. He walked to the door and stopped. "Master Xutuo, I'll be frank with you. Before your official certificate comes down, you are my guest. I will naturally treat you with courtesy. Since you have asked for this military title, you are a soldier under my command and must be bound by military law. You must think clearly about the pros and cons. It's not too late to regret now!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Yang, Sutuo will understand!" Sutuo said respectfully.

Yang Quansheng lowered his head, his eyes slightly closed, and his body rose and fell with the carriage. Feng Sheng thought he had fallen asleep, so he let out a long sigh and was about to think about issuing an official certificate to Xu Tuo, when he suddenly heard Yang Quansheng say, "Mr. Feng, do you think the son of the Prince of Hejian is a dragon? A tiger? Or a dog?"

"Why do you say that, sir?"

"Anyone who is not a fool would be on guard against what I said before I left! That Sutuo must have heard it!" Yang Quansheng said in a deep voice: "But his reply is either arrogant or courageous. Do you think it is the former or the latter?"

Feng Sheng fell into silence. After a while, he said, "Reporting to the envoy, this is the first time I have seen this person today. I did not feel embarrassed. He is truly an extraordinary person!"

"He dared to go to Jiaozhou to fight against the rebels with more than a thousand people. He must not be an ordinary person!" Yang Quansheng sighed: "Well, you have to be careful next time. Don't try to restrain the tiger and end up being eaten by it!"

"I remember this subordinate!

After sending Yang Quansheng back home, Feng Sheng was relieved. He was born in the Feng family of Lingnan. His grandfather was Feng Ang, the grandson of Lady Xian and Feng Bao. He pacified Lingnan during the transition from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and then surrendered to the central government. He was named Shangzhuguo, the governor of Gaozhou, and the Duke of Yue. He owned eight states, including Gao, Luo, Chun, Bai, Ya, Dan, Lin, and Zhen, and was the undisputed first noble family in Lingnan. After Feng Ang's death, in order to weaken the influence of the Feng family, the central government of the Tang Dynasty issued a decree of enfeoffment, dividing Feng Ang's territory and tribes into several parts and enfeoffed Feng Ang's sons. By the time of Feng Sheng's generation, he had no tribes and territories from his father, so he could only work as a staff member here with Yang Quansheng. This time, he followed Yang Quansheng to see Xu Tuo, and he was quite emotional. If he was born thirty or fifty years earlier, wouldn't he be like the son of the Prince of Hejian? Why should he live under someone else's roof and be driven by others?
"But so what? Taking a thousand people to Jiaozhou, with an old fox like Yang Quansheng behind him, there is a high probability that he will not come back!" Feng Sheng smiled.

"So what? At least he died on the road to building his own career, unlike you, who follows this fat old man all day and wastes your time!"

"I am just waiting for the right moment to strike. Going to Jiaozhou now would just mean death!"

"When our ancestors came to Lingnan, it was dangerous. If you keep waiting like this, you will never see your coming!"

"That's better than throwing yourself into death!"

There seemed to be two little people arguing loudly in Feng Sheng's mind. One was mocking Feng Sheng's cowardice and his lack of the spirit of his ancestors, while the other was defending himself. Feng Sheng himself was like an unrelated third party, watching silently without expressing any opinion.

When Feng Sheng returned home, his wife was already there to greet him and escort him to the dinner table. While pouring wine for her husband, she told him the rumors she had heard from her acquaintance: the prices of grain and ironware in the market were rising; Arab merchants were lowering the prices of myrrh and cardamom; the barbarians in Ya and Dan states were becoming unstable again; and the king of Linyi (the ancient name of Champa) had begun capturing elephants earlier than in previous years and on a much larger scale.

"The Linyi people want to send troops to attack Jiaozhou again!" The speaker was Feng Sheng's eldest son. He was only eleven or twelve years old, with a pair of bright eyes and the kind of confidence and vigor that is unique to boys of this age. "These barbarians want to take advantage of the situation again. We must teach them a lesson this time!"

"Don't talk while eating or sleeping, have you forgotten?" The wife scolded her son, then turned her eyes to her husband and asked worriedly, "Is the situation really that bad? Husband, if the Linyi people also send troops, should we hide away?"

"This is Guangzhou!" Feng Sheng wiped his mouth and answered slowly, "It's still far from Jiaozhou, not to mention Linyi. Besides, the previous dynasty sent troops to conquer Linyi and destroyed its capital. After that, this country has been very submissive. Don't worry about it!"

"The previous dynasty, but that was seventy or eighty years ago, right?" The wife asked, "I'm afraid the King of Linyi has long forgotten about it. Now there are rebellions everywhere in Jiaozhou. Will they--" "No more drinking. Serve me a bowl of rice!" Feng Sheng put down the wine glass. His wife was stunned, and then she realized that her husband did not want to discuss this topic anymore. She obediently went to the side to serve the rice. The child next to her interrupted with interest, "Father, don't worry. Wait for me for another five or six years. When I grow up, I will lead the army to conquer Linyi and kill all those barbarians!"

Feng Sheng couldn't help but laugh at his eldest son's childish words. Before he could say anything, his wife hit him hard on the back of the head with a rice spoon: "You are so young and don't know how high the heaven is and how deep the earth is. You killed all the barbarians. Did you see those Kunlun slaves on the road? They are all black and curly-haired, like evil ghosts. The Linyi people are born like that. They can be beaten to death from a distance. Do you still want to fight them?"

"That's all! It's a good thing that he has this ambition. He is worthy of being a descendant of our Feng family!" Feng Sheng smiled and patted his eldest son's shoulder: "But ambition alone is not enough. If you want to defeat the barbarians, you must not neglect the civil and military virtues. You need to work harder on your studies!"

Seeing that his father not only did not scold him but also encouraged him with kind words, the child nodded excitedly.

After dinner, Feng Sheng came to the yard. The heat of the day had disappeared, and the wind blowing from the river was mixed with the fragrance of flowers and trees, which made Feng Sheng refreshed. Compared with ordinary staff in the Jinglüe Mansion, he naturally had many more channels of information. He didn't really care much about the current situation in Jiaozhou. Although the Feng family was known as a prominent family in Lingnan, its roots were a branch of the Changle Feng family. She was once the queen of Northern Yan. Later, the Feng family married the Tuoba family of Northern Wei for several generations and became a powerful relative of the Northern Dynasty. The Lingnan Feng family was a branch that fled south after the demise of Northern Yan. They were taken in by Liu Song and later settled in Lingnan, forming their own lineage.

From the origin of the Feng family in Lingnan, it is not difficult to see that although it is a prominent family in Lingnan, it is different from those native barbarian leaders. Its vision and strategy of dealing with the world are completely different. When others encounter chaos in the Central Plains, they immediately raise troops to rebel, and then either claim to be kings or march north. The successive leaders of the Feng family in Lingnan are very clear about the overall advantages of the Central Plains dynasty over the local separatist regimes in Lingnan. Therefore, after the chaos in the Central Plains, they usually regard themselves as temporary trustees, while protecting the territory and the people, and sending people to the north to observe the situation. Once the Central Plains has a master, they will immediately become vassals, and generally speaking, the Central Plains dynasty will accept their surrender, commend the Feng family's behavior, and recognize their various political and economic interests in the local area. The Feng family's loyalty is not to a specific person or a dynasty, but to the ultimate winner of the chicken game in Northeast Asia, which is the result of a rational understanding of the actual power comparison. Therefore, Feng Sheng was not so concerned about the movements of the Linyi Kingdom. In his opinion, as long as there were no problems within the Tang Dynasty itself, it was only a matter of time before the King of Linyi or Jiaozhou were suppressed. All he had to do was to see the situation clearly and then place a bet at the right time, rather than acting rashly and being involved too early.

"We should wait a little longer. After all, that Sutada is not even the governor of Jiaozhou!" Feng Sheng said to himself.

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At noon the next day, Feng Sheng appeared at the door of Xutuo's residence. He also brought a full set of documents and official seals of the Qing Navy: "Your official seals are all here. As for the officers and clerks in the army--" Feng Sheng smiled and said, "Please tell me the names so that I can have the clerks copy them down!"

"Thank you, Secretary Feng!" Xu Tuo smiled and put the official documents aside. "Actually, there's no need to rush. The weather is so hot, it will take at least a month to set sail for Jiaozhou!"

"How dare I delay since Envoy Yang has given the order!" Feng Sheng said with a smile, "Master Xu Tuo is so devoted to his country, and I admire him very much!"

"A sincere heart to serve the country?" Sutuo laughed, and stopped laughing after a while: "I asked around yesterday and found out that Feng Jishi is the descendant of Feng Baogong. I am so sorry for my disrespect!"

"I dare not!" Feng Sheng smiled slightly: "My ancestor is indeed Feng Baogong, but it has been several generations, and his descendants are many, so it doesn't matter!"

"Really?" Suta laughed. "So, Mr. Feng and I are somewhat similar. My father has many sons, about 40 to 50 of them, and I am just one of them!"

"Forty or fifty people?" Feng Sheng was surprised: "The Prince of Hejian is indeed..." Having said that, he didn't know how to praise him for a moment, and could only laugh dryly: "Not ordinary people can do that!"

"So you don't have to wonder why I want to go to Jiaozhou!" Xu Tuo said with a smile, "My father has so many sons, so if he doesn't make some achievements, just one son is of little use! Maybe he is not even as good as you, Mr. Feng!"

"No, no!" Feng Sheng spoke modestly, and his gaze towards Xutuo also changed subtly, at least the envy and jealousy he had before were gone. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Master Xutuo, how much do you know about the situation in Jiaozhou?"

"I have asked some merchants and scholars who escaped from there these days, and I know a general idea!" Xu Tuo said, "The matter should not be as simple as what Envoy Yang reported to the court!"

"Even Envoy Yang would not report everything about Lingnan to the court!" Feng Sheng said, "Otherwise, the Five Prefectures Governor would not be able to do his job!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Your father also started his career in the border areas, so he probably didn't report everything to the court, right?"

Suta was stunned when he heard this, then he laughed and said, "That's right, I made a mistake!"

"Master Xutuo!" Feng Sheng said, "I dare to ask you a question. You are going to Jiaozhou with a thousand men. I am afraid that you are a little too arrogant, right?"

"When my father went to Japan, he had less than a thousand men under his command!" Suta smiled and said, "Besides, I heard that the noble chiefs in Lingnan are greedy for bribes. Is it true?"

"That's right!" Feng Sheng nodded. "That's true. Most of the chieftains in Lingnan value wealth more than land. Besides, trade is booming, so the chieftains value wealth very much. If you plan to use money to pave the way, it will have a miraculous effect! But these chieftains are not unsophisticated. They don't care about a few pieces of Shu brocade and a few hundred copper coins!" (End of this chapter)