Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 291 Funeral in Yangzhou
Since Huan Xi asked Xi Chao to manage the relationship with Huan Wen's generals on his behalf, he certainly trusted his vision.

The two kept talking until late at night. From Xi Chao's words, Huan Xi had a general understanding of the civil and military affairs of Chu, especially the new rising stars.

The next day, even though he slept very late, Huan Xi still got up early. After crying and paying homage in front of the mourning hall, Huan Xi went straight outside the city to greet a guest who came to express his condolences. It was Zhou Fu, the governor of Yizhou.

In the past ten years, Zhou Fu rarely left Yizhou, and now he came all the way, not just to express his condolences.

In fact, Kong Xian's funeral was not a social occasion. Now Zhou Fu came in person, and the governors from other states also sent envoys to express their condolences, but some of them had not had time to arrive because of the long distances.

"Weng Zhou, after ten years of separation, do you still recognize your old friend?"

Because it was the time of mourning, Huan Xi could not smile in public, but Zhou Fu could still feel the joy of reunion from his tone.

"How dare you forget the prince? I just wish I couldn't always be by his side."

With that said, Zhou Fu asked about Zhou Youniang. He cared more about his granddaughter than Zhou Chu, his son.

Huan Xi replied:

"Daohe (characterized by Zhou Fu), thank you for your hard work along the way."

Huan Xi's life in Xiangyang was boring and boring. No matter how good he was at dancing, he would never be able to make friends with the guests who came from afar to express their condolences and the ministers of Chu at such a period and on such an occasion.

After that, he and Huan Xi sat on the left and right sides of Huan Wen.

"In this case, I would like to stay in Xiangyang for a while, not only to see my granddaughter, but also to meet the Qilin son of the Huan family.

Huan Wen has heard this sentence of condolences from many people, but the pain of losing his mother cannot be easily healed.

"Why did Zhou Weng ask me? I ordered Jiang to go south and took his young lady with him. Zhou Weng will be able to reunite with her in a while."

The two chatted for a while and then entered the city hand in hand. After paying homage to Kong Xian at the Duke of Chu's Mansion, Zhou Fu was led by Huan Xi to a secret room, where Huan Wen was already waiting.

Huan Xi rarely interrupted, Huan Wen and Zhou Fu basically talked.

After all, Zhou Fu was Huan Wen's general. It can be seen from the name he called Huan Xi that he was not calling Liang Gong, but the prince.

Zhou Fu heard this, nodded and said:

"As the saying goes, a tiger's father has no dog son. Both his father and ancestors are heroes in the world. I think it won't take a few years for the Huan family to have another young hero."

Zhou Fu bowed first and said:
"Please also express your condolences, Mr. Chu, and take care of yourself."

Huan Wen said, motioning for the two of them to take their seats.

Today, Huan Wen, Huan Xi and his son met with Zhou Fu in a secret room. They were not talking about business matters, but just talking about personal affairs. The reason why they avoided outsiders was because they were worried that they would get too involved in the conversation and lose control of their expressions for a while, which would cause criticism.

For him, the only thing he could do during the mourning period was to express his grief for his grandmother's death.

Days like this passed by in a flash. Huan Xi followed Huan Wen and his uncles to greet him, thanked countless guests, and finally welcomed his wife and children.

Xie Daoyun and his party arrived in Xiangyang the day before the funeral. They were not only accompanied by Zhou Youniang, but also Xie Daoyun's parents, Xie Yi and Ruan Rong.

Xie Yi and Huan Wen have long since settled their differences. They are both old friends and in-laws. Now that Huan Wen has lost his mother, he has to pay a visit both emotionally and rationally. Zhou Fu held his young mother in his arms. The young woman was a little afraid of life. She was born after Zhou Chu went to Chang'an, so naturally she did not recognize her grandfather.

It wasn't until Huan Xi told her the identity of the person in front of her that Zhou Youniang hugged her grandfather's neck.

As for Aman, he cried bitterly in the mourning hall. However, he was not as angry as Fu Jian and could not vomit blood in public. However, all the viewers were moved. Even Huan Wen also sighed to Huan Xi in private:
"You insisted on leaving Aman in Chang'an and raising him by yourself. Now it seems that you were right."

With Huan Wen's sophistication, he could certainly see through that Aman's sadness was not genuine, but he didn't care.

Whether Aman is filial or not is something Huan Xi should consider, and what does it have to do with him, Huan Wen.

On the contrary, Aman was able to learn a bit of Huan Xi's charm at such a young age, which made Huan Wen very happy.

He was not afraid that when Aman grew up, the palace would be very deep, but he was afraid that Aman would be born in a deep palace, would be stronger than a woman's hands, and would develop a weak and innocent character.

In the future, Aman will inherit the Huan family's legacy, so how can he not have a city government.

This is why when Huan Xi was in Weiyang Palace, he knew that Aman was crying on purpose, but he still suppressed his true thoughts and praised him as a 'good boy who is sincere and filial'.

Of course, you cannot rely on acting skills alone to defend your country, otherwise Yang Guang, the eternal best actor, would not have ruined his country in the Sui Dynasty so quickly.

Therefore, Huan Wen changed the subject and reminded:

"No matter how busy you are with military and political affairs, you must not neglect Aman's studies."

Huan Xi knew this well. He nodded in agreement and asked someone to bring Aman over so that Huan Wen could take the test on the spot.

Huan Wen held his eldest grandson in his arms, asked him kindly what books he had been reading recently, where he had read them, and then chose topics from them.

The questions were not very difficult, but Aman was still a six-year-old child after all, so he might not be able to answer some of the questions, but it was enough to satisfy Huan Wen.

The next day was the day of Kong Xian's funeral. Kong Xian would not be buried in Xiangyang. The funeral procession had to rush from Xiangyang to Xuancheng, Yangzhou (today's Xuancheng, Anhui).

Huan Wen's father, Huan Yi, was killed in Xuancheng that year. His remains were collected by local people and buried in Dongmendu, a small town in the north of the city. There is a Huan Gong Temple in the city, which is worshiped by local people.

Now that Kong Xian died of illness, he naturally had to be buried with Huan Yi.

The ancients paid great attention to the burial of the dead. Unless there were special circumstances, they would not move the grave easily for fear of disturbing the souls of the deceased.

Xiangyang is destined not to be the future ruling center of the Huan family. It is impossible for Huan Wen to move Huan Yi to Xiangyang first, and then invite his elders to come out and move their coffins to Luoyang.

And Luoyang now belongs to the front line, and they are even more worried about being disturbed by the peace of the Huan Yi couple and having their parents' graves dug up.

Therefore, Kong Xian can only be buried in Xuancheng for the time being. When Luoyang is safe, he and Huan Yi can move the tomb there.

Xuancheng belongs to Yangzhou. Although the people of Xuancheng are grateful to the Huan Yi, for safety reasons, they naturally have to have military guards to prevent the men of the Huan family from being taken away.

When 50,000 elite Chu cavalry marched towards Yangzhou escorting the coffin, although they knew they were attending the funeral of Kong Xian, King Sima Yu of Kuaiji still had trouble sleeping and eating because of this, fearing that Huan Wen would take the opportunity to invade Jiankang.

While secretly preparing for war, he sent an envoy up the river to pay a visit to Huan Wen, hoping to find out what he really thought. This envoy was none other than Wang Tanzhi.

(End of this chapter)