I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 85: Eating melons up close, so exciting!

Ming Dynasty, the tenth year of Hongwu.

In the afternoon.

After Song Shen finished today's classes, he left the office and returned to his study.

He sorted out his thoughts for a moment, then said to the outside:

"Lan Yun, please go to next door and ask Censor Zhang to come over. Tell him that I had an appointment with him yesterday."

Lan Yun quickly responded and left.

This time, Zhang's doorman, who had seen how much his master valued Song Shen, went to pass the message very readily. Zhang Wei was also very efficient. Not long after, he arrived at Song Shen's door in a carriage, as if he was waiting for him to go out.

Song Shen was pushed to the side of the carriage in a wheelchair by Lan Yun. Just as Lan Yun was about to help him get on the carriage, he was stopped by Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei smiled at her and said:

"Today we are going to the vicinity of the military camp. Although you are Ziwei's maid, you are still a girl after all, so it is not convenient. Let me take care of him today."

"Don't worry, I will definitely bring Ziwei back safely!"

Lan Yun looked at Song Shen hesitantly:
"Sir, this..."

Song Shen nodded with a smile:

"Just listen to Brother Ming. Lan Yun, you should wait at home. It's really not a suitable place."

…………

On the carriage.

Song Shen asked curiously:
"Brother Congming, where is this military camp? Is it far away?"

Although he had long known that he had forgotten his past, Zhang Wei still felt speechless every time he realized this in a concrete way.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Weicai said:

"We have three major camps in the capital, which are under the jurisdiction of the Grand Commandery. There are two camps, one inside the city and one outside the city. The one outside the city is bigger, but the one we are going to today is the one inside the city."

"It's in the north of the city, a little further north than the Imperial College Jiming Mountain, closer to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, but not yet out of the Jinchuan Gate."

"It will probably take two or three quarters of an hour to get there. If you feel sleepy, you can take a nap. I'll call you when we get there."

Song Shen nodded thoughtfully.

But he did not intend to sleep, but asked another question:

"Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask you something before, but I forgot it then. I just remembered it now - you said before that I was with the Xu family kid who took you to drink Shaodaozi. Which Xu family kid was it?"

Zhang Wei: …

Zhang Wei holds his forehead:

"Which other Xu family kid could it be? How many Xu families are there in the imperial court?"

"Of course it's the eldest son of Duke Wei, Xu Yungong!"

Song Shen wished he could go back to the tutoring class right now to look through the materials.

Of course he knew that the Duke of Wei was Xu Da, and he also knew that Xu Da's family had several sons, such as Xu Huizu, Xu Zengshou and so on, but he just couldn't remember any Xu Yungong.

The children of the Xu family are also interesting.

The eldest brother, Xu Huizu, fought desperately against Zhu Di during the Jingnan Campaign. Although he did not die at that time, his final end seemed not to be very good. He was imprisoned by Zhu Di for several years and then died. Xu Zengshou, on the contrary, became Zhu Yunwen's henchman and was very loyal to his brother-in-law Zhu Di. He had been secretly passing messages to Zhu Di during the Jingnan Campaign. Zhu Yunwen killed him after finding out, but he was posthumously named Duke Dingguo by Zhu Di, and his descendants all enjoyed the blessing.

In addition to them, there are also people named Xu Yingxu and Xu Tianfu, but they are not very famous.

As for his daughters... From what I remember, it seems that most of Xu Da's daughters were granted marriages with princes. The most famous one was the eldest daughter Xu Miaoyun, who married Zhu Di and became the queen. The most bizarre one was his sister Xu Miaojin, who was said to have been favored by Zhu Di. In order not to marry her brother-in-law, she became a nun.

It seems these are the only children in the Xu family?

Ever since he became an amateur tutor, Song Shen has tried his best to collect information about the Ming Dynasty, but he has searched over and over again in his mind and still can't figure out who Xu Yungong was.

How come I have no impression at all?!
Song Shen scratched his forehead, feeling a little guilty:

"Brother Congming, you know, I have forgotten a lot of things. I have no memory of Xu Yungong at all. Even if I wasn't blind, I probably wouldn't recognize him if he stood in front of me now."

Zhang Wei sighed. Ziwei was indeed miserable...

"It's nothing. Everyone who should know about your eyes and amnesia knows about it. Even if Xu Yungong didn't recognize you when he met you today, he wouldn't think too much about it."

After thinking about it, Zhang Wei said:
"He is only about seventeen or eighteen years old this year. Since Duke Wei has been stationed in Beiping, he is now the head of the Xu family in Yingtian. Yun Gong is actually in a difficult situation. His biological mother died of illness many years ago. Later, Duke Wei remarried and married Xie, who was not a simple person. By the way, these are all heard from my wife. You just listen to it, and don't tell others nonsense."

Hearing that Zhang Wei seemed to be introducing Xu Yungong and the Xu family, and that they were relatively detailed unofficial history and gossip, Song Shen's blind eyes almost lit up.

He quickly said:

"I definitely won't tell anyone. Brother Congming, look, have I interacted with anyone else besides you recently? Impossible. Don't worry, I'm very tight-lipped!"

Zhang Wei secretly complained——

You think there is no one else, because in your eyes Chen Guorui and Chen Biao are both my relatives, but they are His Majesty the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. If they hear about this and then spread it to the Xu family, can I still survive?
But he also agreed with Song Shen's words that he kept his mouth shut. Even though his temperament had changed after he lost his memory, he felt that Song Shen was still the same as before, with good character and not often talking about others behind their backs.

So Zhang Wei thought about it and lowered his voice:
"It's like this. Duke Wei originally had a wife, whose surname seemed to be Zhang. She died not long after giving birth to Yun Gong."

"Your Majesty had a good relationship with the Duke of Wei back then, so he arranged a marriage. Do you remember Zhu Wenzheng? He was your Majesty's nephew, and later he got into trouble and was put under house arrest. But before he got into trouble, he had a very high status, so your Majesty played matchmaker and arranged a marriage between Zhu Wenzheng's sister-in-law and the Duke of Wei, who is now the Duke of Wei's wife, Xie."

"Although if there is a stepmother, there must be a stepfather, but in the circle of ladies, Duke Wei has a good reputation, while Concubine Xie is not so good, except that she is very fertile. Yun Gong now has five brothers and sisters, four of whom are hers, and she just gave birth to a baby this year!"

"Think about it yourself. Yun Gong is the eldest son, but none of his brothers and sisters are from the same mother. Even if he sets the rules, how long can these rules last?"

Song Shen was stunned.

In his previous life, when he was surfing the Internet, he often saw wicked netizens saying things like "a good person gives birth to eight children", and his scalp tingled when he thought about it. He didn't expect that in ancient times, there were people who could give birth continuously. If they had many wives and concubines from different mothers, it would be fine, but one mother could give birth to four children, which was too outrageous!
Maybe, there are more than four, and there will be more children in the future?

"…Amazing! Duke Wei is still as skilled as ever, and his wife is also amazing."

After holding it in for a long time, Song Shen bowed and asked again:
"You just said that the lady had a bad reputation in that circle. What circle was it exactly and why was it so bad? Can you tell me?"

Zhang Wei looked at his expression.

My goodness, this guy is indeed blind, but now he is listening to the gossip with his eyebrows raised, and his blind eyes have widened a circle, obviously he is enjoying it.

That's right, no one doesn't like to hear this, even colleagues in the government office and civil servants, when they hear others talking behind their backs, they wish they had eight ears, not to mention Song Shen who stays at home doing nothing every day.

He shook his head and explained:

"You haven't married yet, otherwise you would know. If the court officials have close contacts or are of equal status, the wives will often get together occasionally to maintain social interactions for the men. This is the circle among the wives."

"Although my official position is not very good, because I am a student of Song Longmen, I have contacts with many civil officials, and among those people there are also several provincial governors. Their wives have contacts with people of the Duke of Wei's level, and in turn they have contacts with my wife and others. Through this back and forth, I know a lot."

"As for Madam Xie, I heard she has a bad temper and is prone to bickering with others. She never speaks well of Yun Gong or the illegitimate son Xu Jia Erlang. She only talks about how her own sons Xu Tianfu and Xu Zengshou are good at literature and martial arts. She also says that her eldest daughter married the Prince of Yan and that she missed him a little. In fact, she is showing off that her family has a princess."

"But everyone is not stupid. The most outstanding ones in their family are the eldest son and the eldest daughter. It is true that the eldest daughter married well, but what good is a married daughter? If something happens at home, can she fly back from the north? As for Xu Tianfu and Xu Zengshou, one is young and weak, and the other is even younger and only knows how to have fun. The future of the Xu family can only depend on Xu Yungong!"

"It's already like this, Duke Wei is stationed outside to guard the border, and she still doesn't help Yun Gong... Oh, I don't know what to say."

Song Shen was stunned by what he heard and wished he had a handful of melon seeds to eat while listening.

As he listened, he compared the information about Xu Yungong with the information he had looked up, and then found that if he ignored the matter of Madam Xie, these things were exactly the same as those of Xu Huizu.

If it's the same person, why are the names different?
and many more.

Song Shen thought about it again - these days, it seems that there is still a taboo in naming, especially among a small group of people with higher status.

Zhu Yuanzhang later appointed Zhu Yunwen as the crown prince, and Xu Yungong's name was the same as Zhu Yunwen's, so he had to change his name...

The truth is clear.

Xu Yungong is Xu Huizu.

Song Shen was eating melons and also found out Xu Yungong's information. He felt much better and couldn't help but sigh:
"If you put it that way, then this lady of the Xu family is really a disaster. Even though Xu Yungong and I don't know each other yet, I feel that he is really miserable!"

Zhang Weiyi slapped his head:
"Hey, if you want to meet him, he's in the barracks all day long, training with the others. You might actually run into him today! How about when we get there, I'll find him for you, and then we can drink Shaodaozi together?"

Song Shen raised his hands in surrender:
"No, no, I'm going to find the burning knife for another use. I won't drink. The doctor said I can't drink!"

Zhang Weiqi said:

"You don't want to drink the Shaodaozi, are you going to use it to pour over the dishes?"

Song Shen chuckled:
"You'll know then."

(End of this chapter)