A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1279: A Bed Full of Hu

During the Chinese New Year, Wu Huaiyu specially sent someone to Sanyuan countryside to bring Old Wu to Chang'an to celebrate the New Year.

The brothers Huaiyi and Huailiang also returned to Beijing to celebrate the New Year this year, and their home was particularly lively.

Lao Wu turned 78 after the Chinese New Year, but he is still in good health. His hair is all white, and his eyebrows and beard are all white. He is leaning on a rhinoceros stick, and looks like an immortal.

Huaiyu's younger brothers have now grown up one after another, and some of them have married.

"Second Mother is a person of little fortune,"

In the glass sun room of the Taiwei Mansion, Lao Wu mentioned Wu Meiniang and sighed, "Before when I was in Longqiao Countryside, I often heard people say that she would definitely be the Crown Princess in the future, and would become the Queen and the Mother of the Country, and the Prince of Longxi born to her would be the Crown Prince in the future."

"But unexpectedly, a fire took her away. She was still so young."

Wu Huaiyu was peeling oranges for Lao Wu. The oranges were tribute from Jiangnan West Road. They were bright red, festive and beautiful, and tasted very sweet.

Wu Mei’s death was a great loss to the entire Wu family.

But no one really knew the cause of her death, and no one knew what Wu had done.

"Your sister's eldest daughter is blessed with a good life. She suffered a lot when she was young, but now she has finally reaped the rewards of her hard work. She has grown from a sparrow to a phoenix and has become the Crown Princess."

Wu Erniang and Han Yingsu, naturally, are closer to each other as nieces.

"Auntie is virtuous and dutiful," Wu Huaiyu gave her evaluation. If she had not been a non-competitive person, even if Wu Mei had fallen, it might not have been her turn to become the Crown Princess. The Emperor also valued her character, especially after learning from the example of Wu Mei, which made Han's value even more prominent.

The death of Wu Meiniang put an end to the prophecy about the Wu family in Chang'an.

The Wu family still stands firm.
On this day of Xiaonian,

The Wu family was divided into two groups, Huaiyi and Huaiyu, each went to worship at their own ancestral temple. Huaiyu's younger brothers all went to Huaiyi's side to join in the worship.

Wu Huaiyu brought his sons to offer sacrifices at his family temple.

They offered pigs, cattle and sheep to their ancestors and after a grand worship, they returned from the suburbs.

People from both sides gathered at the home of Huaiyi, the boss of Yong'anfang, to celebrate the New Year and have a reunion dinner on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

"The angel has come to announce the decree."

The angel came to announce the decree of promotion for Xuanwu Huaiyi. Last year, he first defeated Chebi Khan at Jinshan, captured the king and destroyed the country, then led the Anxi Army eastward to Mobei, and defeated Xueyantuo Yinan Khan again at Yudujun Mountain, killed Yinan and his eldest son Yemang in battle, beheaded 5,000 people, captured more than 30,000 people, and seized countless miscellaneous livestock.

Afterwards, he led his army to sweep the Xueyantuo tribes in northern Mobei, capturing countless prisoners.

With these two great achievements,
The court commended him for his merits and rewards, and now the rewards have been given.
His title was promoted from Duke of Shixing County to Duke of Song, and he was granted a fief of 300 households, and his eldest son was granted the title of Baron of Shixing County.

Huaiyi's wife, Cheng, was also granted the title of Lady of Song.

It is really double happiness on this auspicious day of the Little New Year.

Huaiyi led his wife and children to express their gratitude to the emperor excitedly.

The Wu family also has two dukes in one family.

Previously, Wu Huaiyu and Wu Shigui were both dukes, and later both served as prime ministers, which was regarded as a beautiful story. The only other family with two dukes in the same country were the An brothers of Wuwei and the Xue brothers who were later granted the title of duke.

As for uncles and nephews serving as prime ministers, there have been precedents. Du Yan and Du Ruhui, uncle and nephew from the Jingzhao Du family, both served as prime ministers, but Du Yan was only a county duke.

Now Wu Huaiyi has also been promoted to Duke, which means that the Wu family has three Dukes in total.

This New Year’s Eve dinner was extremely lively.

Old Wu also couldn't stop smiling. Looking at the children and grandchildren in the hall, he sighed and said, "Compared to last year's New Year's Eve dinner, there are many more people in our family this year."

This year, Wu Huaiyu's seven sons got married and six of his daughters were married.

Lao Wu and Huai Yi also have several children who are married.

So this year, when the whole family gathered together for the New Year, there were more than a dozen daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law, and many of them had bulging bellies. We will have more children next year.

Of course, there were also fewer people. This year, more than a dozen daughters of the Wu family got married. They could no longer spend the New Year's Eve with their families, but had to celebrate the New Year at their husband's home.

"My eldest sister, second sister, third sister, and fourth sister all brought a lot of dumplings in the afternoon. I heard that there are all kinds of fillings such as mutton and beef."

The married sisters sent a lot of homemade dumplings to the family. As the hostess, the eldest sister-in-law also arranged for the kitchen to prepare them early, including steamed, boiled and fried dumplings of all kinds.

The dumplings are delicious.
And the atmosphere during the Chinese New Year is even better as families gather together and have fun.

"Firecrackers are being set off, cover your ears!" Hunchback Zhao Cheng informed everyone with a smile.

Boom, boom, boom,
The sound of firecrackers adds a festive atmosphere to this moonlit night.

After the meal, Fan took her sisters-in-law Cheng, Wang and others to chat with Lao Wu's concubine Wang and others. Wu Huaiyu also sat with his brothers to drink tea and chat.

"How is Sanlang doing in Xunyang?"

The third brother is now becoming more and more powerful as an official. As Xunyang County's magistrate was promoted to a higher-ranking county last year, he was also promoted to the sixth rank. Although he is still wearing a green robe, his demeanor has improved.

"It's getting more and more convenient. Xunyang is a good place, a water and land port, and a commodity distribution center in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Many bulk commodities such as porcelain, tea, salt and cloth are distributed here. The court also set up a customs office there. Now the Xunyang port is becoming more and more prosperous, and Xunyang is changing every day." The third brother was very excited when talking about this. Although Xunyang's current development relies on its location advantage brought by the water and land ports, Xunyang's political stability and social harmony are mainly due to the staff team assigned to him by Wu Huaiyu, as well as Wu Huaiyu's early friendly cooperation with the wealthy and powerful merchants in Jiangzhou.

However, he has actually been paying attention to the performance of the third child in recent years. He has been growing and is indeed studying hard and working steadily.

The former fat boy is now becoming a bureaucratic elite.
"I heard that there is some unrest in your backyard?" Wu Huaiyu asked, holding a teacup. The third brother was embarrassed. He married Wang Xueshi's daughter from Hedong, a woman of the Five Surnames. Although Wang Xueshi's branch belongs to the Taiyuan Wang branch, it is also called the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

The marriage was arranged with the help of Wei Zheng. At that time, the third son could marry a girl from one of the five surnames, which could be considered a bit of a high-class marriage. If Wang Xue Shi's family had not fallen into poverty and he had been obsessed with poetry, books and wine, he might not have been willing to marry into the Wu family, a new noble family at that time.

After Wang married into the Wu family, she was pretty good in every aspect, except that she was a little jealous, which might be the character of Shanxi people. Huailiang had been very successful in recent years, he passed the imperial examination and became a county magistrate, his brother was the prime minister, and he was young, so even if his rank was low, he had a bright future.

In recent years, the third brother took a concubine almost every year, and the backyard became more and more lively. He also kept some Silla maids, Persian girls, etc.

This is a very normal thing among noble families, but Wang was not very happy about it.

Especially since she was the legal wife, she could not accompany him to take office and could only stay in the capital. It was the concubines who often accompanied Huailiang. The couple lived in different places, and their feelings were easy to fade. They were definitely not as good as the concubines who lived with them day and night, especially when they were so young.

As a result, Huailiang returned to Beijing and had not been at home for long when the backyard became restless and chaotic. The main reason was that Wang was dissatisfied with the concubines, and his concubines, relying on their daily favor and the fact that they had given birth to children for the third son, became a little too proud and did not take the eldest wife, with whom they were not usually together, seriously.

Wang is a woman from one of the five surnames, so she can't bear this kind of humiliation.

"Third brother, don't do anything to favor your concubine and neglect your wife," Huaiyu reminded him. Although the official careers of the Wang brothers were mediocre, even with Wu Huaiyu's help, the highest official they held now was only a governor of a lower state, and Master Wang was still only a small official of the sixth rank in the capital.

Huaiyi also smiled and patted the third brother on the shoulder, "If you can't even manage your own house, how can you manage a county or a state?"

The third brother blushed a little after being scolded by his two elder brothers, "Brothers, I will teach them a lesson when I get back."

"Don't talk about teachings, but there are still rules to follow, especially respecting your wife. When your sister-in-law married you, she was marrying down. Now you are away on official duties all year round, and she is staying in Chang'an with the children. You should be more caring and considerate, write more letters to your family, and send more gifts.

When you come back to Beijing, you need to show more care and love to your wife. "

Huailiang laughed and said, "The one I admire most is my second brother. You have so many wives and concubines in your backyard, but it has always been so harmonious."

"Hahaha, that's it." Wu Huaiyu said with some pride.

Men of this era are all chauvinistic. After all, Wu Huaiyu is a man from later generations, and he does not have a natural sense of superiority towards women.

In this regard, the eldest brother Huaiyi is much worse, he has a bit of a steely straight man feeling. Fortunately, the eldest sister-in-law Cheng is not a delicate and thoughtful daughter of a noble family, but the daughter of the great devil Cheng Yaojin, who is also capable of wielding swords and guns.
Back then, Old Cheng had originally taken a fancy to Huaiyu and wanted to make him his son-in-law, but Wu Huaiyu fell in love with Fan Xuanfu first.

However, after my eldest sister-in-law married my eldest brother, the couple got along surprisingly well.

My eldest brother has taken in seven or eight concubines over the years, but they were all controlled by my eldest sister-in-law. My eldest brother doesn't care about these things. He is in charge of the outside affairs, while his wife is in charge of the inside affairs. Cheng has the final say on all family affairs.

I heard that my eldest sister-in-law Cheng had trained a female army at home, selecting a group of strong maids to train in spears, clubs, swords and knives, and implementing semi-militarized management in the mansion. In the past, there were concubines who relied on the favor of the eldest brother and gave birth to sons, and they were a little ignorant of the world.

As a result, the eldest sister-in-law directly implemented the family law and beat her with a stick, almost killing her. Afterwards, although she was not sold by the traffickers, she became completely obedient. After this, all the other concubines of Huaiyi also became obedient.

The third brother didn't want to talk about those things in the backyard. He felt it was shameful that a grown man couldn't control his wives and concubines.

"I heard that we are going to conquer Liaodong next year. Your Majesty will lead the expedition in person?"

This is no longer a secret.

After all, Su Dingfang directly raided southern Liaoning and captured Beisha last summer. Now Li Daozon is stationed in Beisha and serves as the governor of Jian'an, and Zhishisili is the governor of Jinzhou and is stationed in Qingnipu. With these two giant Buddhas, southern Liaoning was prosperous and peaceful last year.

Although the Goguryeo people were scared and sent people to ask for peace, this cowardly behavior would not win them any sympathy.

The news that the emperor was going to lead the army had already spread in Chang'an.
Countless noble sons are now trying to find ways to join the emperor's expedition team and win fame. It would be even better if they could show off in front of the emperor.

"The orders for our shipyard in Jiangzhou have surged," said the third brother.

Jiangzhou already had a traditional shipbuilding industry. Later, when Wu Huaiyu was granted the title of governor of Jiangzhou, he integrated the shipbuilding industry there and united the local wealthy families. The Wu family also built a larger and more advanced shipyard there.

Today, Jiangzhou's shipbuilding industry can be said to be very impressive. Many ships on the Yangtze River and Ganjiang River are built in Jiangzhou's shipyards.

A duck knows first when the river water warms in spring. Although the expedition to Liao had not yet begun, the shipyards along the coast and some shipyards along the Yangtze River had received many orders.

These included purchase orders from the imperial court as well as many orders from the private sector.

Everyone knows that the next direction of Liaodong is a hot spot, and there is a big pie waiting to be divided there. Whoever goes there first will gain the upper hand.

"Well, we will conquer Liao next year. In the next few years, there will be a great demand for ships, whether for the imperial court or for private commercial use. You can focus on supporting shipbuilding and related industries."

"Can we get some orders for military warships and transport ships?" the third brother asked with a smile.

"Go to the Ministry of War later, and I'll write you a few notes to greet them."

The largest shipyard in Jiangzhou belongs to the Wu family. If this matter is done well, it will not only improve the political achievements of the third brother, but also bring real benefits to their own family.

"Erlang, will you follow the emperor to conquer Liao next year?" Huaiyi asked.

Wu Huaiyu nodded. He didn't want to go, but the emperor forced him to go, so what could he do?

"I also want to participate in the Eastern Expedition, but I'm afraid I won't have the opportunity." Huaiyi really wanted to make new contributions.

Both brothers have now been granted the title of Duke, but Wu Huaiyu has been planning his retreat while Huaiyi is still actively moving forward.

"If you really want to go to Liaodong, I will speak for you in front of the Saint."

"Okay," the emperor conferred the title of Duke of Song on Huaiyi, and also gave him 300 households in real fiefdom, and gave his eldest son a nominal county baron title. Huaiyi was so grateful that he wanted to repay him with his life.

After playing with his children and grandchildren for a while, Lao Wu felt sleepy and dozed off. After all, he is old, and sometimes he can’t even tell who is who among all the children in the family.

Dalang Chengsi covered his grandfather with a blanket and then came to his father's side.

Soon Erlang Chengye and Sanlang Chengzhi also came over.
"Yeah, I also want to go to Liaodong next year." Chengye spoke first.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and said, "A newlywed like you, are you willing to be separated from your lovely wife?"

Chengye said, "I want to achieve great things."

As the son of Wu Huaiyu and the son-in-law of Zhangsun Wuji, although he is a bastard of the Wu family, he now has the title of county marquis and is a sixth-rank Qianniu Beishen. He also commands a troop of one hundred cavalry at the Xuanwu Gate.

But he also knew that behind the envious eyes of others, there was also jealousy, thinking that he was just born into a good family and married a good wife.

The young Wu Chengye wanted to gain fame and honor. He was the second son in the family, and his father was also the second son. His father also went to the Longyou battlefield at the age of 18 to gain military merit and earned a title.

He also wanted to follow suit and prove himself.

Seeing his eagerness, Wu Huaiyu did not stop him. "You are a thousand-cow attendant, and you lead a hundred cavalrymen. You are the imperial guard of His Majesty. Since you want to go, you can follow His Majesty when the time comes."

"Thank you, Aye." Erlang thanked his father first, and then made a request, "Can you let me go to the front line camp, even if it's just a brigade or a team."

"No," Wu Huaiyu refused this time, "I can only help you go to Liaodong, but if you want to go to the front line, you have to rely on your own ability."

(End of this chapter)