The next day was Sunday, the workshop where Yang He worked was on vacation, so Yang He could take a day off. Because the night has something on his mind, Yang He and Fu Chou to the early hours of the morning to fall asleep, the morning two people sleep more deeply, until a knock on the door, Yang He and Fu Chou woke up from the bed.
The one who knocked on the door was a domestic servant of Wei Zhong's family. Knowing that Yang He was taking a rest today, Wei Zhong had sent someone to invite Yang He and Fu Cultivation to be guests of Wei's family.
"My family's third son invites you to enjoy the plums in his residence." The servant sent to invite you handed over the invitation, the servant was a bit old, seemingly in his forties.
Although Wei Zhong is the eldest son of his family, he ranks third among his peers in the Wei family, and the Wei family all address Wei Zhong by his ranking.
"Please wait a moment, my brothers and I will go immediately after organizing." Yang He asked the Wei family servants to wait outside the dormitory first in the gatehouse, which had a guard, where there was a fire pit, and it was more comfortable for people to stay inside than to wait in the dormitory courtyard.
Fu Chou stared at the back of the distant servant and frowned. "Brother Yang, this old servant looks strange."
"How strange is it?" Yang He didn't pay much attention to the Wei family's old servant.
"This servant looks at the two of us, as if the more he looks at us, the more the smile on his face grows." Fu Chou couldn't say why, it was just that the expression of growing fondness on the old servant of the Wei family's face made him wonder.
"Fu Di, it's probably because Big Brother Wei is on good terms with you and me, that the Wei family's old servant is so solicitous." This servant who came to invite each other was unfamiliar, Yang He hadn't seen it before, but the invitation in the servant's hand was real, printed with the Wei family emblem and with Wei Zhong's handwriting on it.
"It was my humble brother who was overly suspicious." Fu Chou felt that he was overly suspicious when Yang He said that.
In fact, Fu Chou's feeling was right, this aged family servant came to the academy to deliver the invitation with a purpose. This servant was not a servant of Wei Zhong's family, but a steward of Wei Shuxing, a relative of Wei's family at the mouth of the throat.
The steward's wife is Wei Shuxing's youngest concubine's nurse, this concubine's appearance research beautiful, Wei Shuxing had wanted to marry his daughter with Wei Qing or Huo Sizhong, only Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong have no intention of marrying, the matchmaking did not succeed.
Wei Ji daughter Wei Kou not only looks outstanding, talent is also good, from childhood to follow the eldest brother's husband to study literature, schoolwork in the eldest brother above, only for the woman, Wei Shu Xing does not encourage the daughter in the academic success, only want to set up for the daughter of the Wei family to help the marriage.
Wei Kou and Huo Sizhong and Wei Qing met at the banquet, the age of but fifteen, because Wei Shuxing want to use his daughter to draw Huo Sizhong and Wei Qing, he introduced the two with Wei Ji female, the results of Wei Kou Huo Sizhong and Wei Qing two people do not have a reflection, but on the contrary, to Huo Sihua attention, the more you know of Huo Sihua, the more you adore Huo Sihua.
Zheng Yuming in the first half of last year issued to the local documents, requiring local encouragement of women to participate in the examination of the matter by the Wei Ji daughter know, Wei Kou at home began to toss, making noise to enter the North-South College for further study. Wei Shuxing originally thought that his daughter was fooling around, believing that a noblewoman of betrothal age should not show her face, but he came to his senses under the doorkeeper's words.
Regardless of whether it is the South College or the North College, the students of those colleges will be the pillars of the state of Wu in the future. Once every three years, most of the students who can pass the promotion exams come from the two colleges, and those who pass the promotion exams will be assigned to various departments or local governors like Huo Sizhong, and the future of these people is unlimited.
If Wei Kou goes to the academy to further her education, she will have more opportunities to come into contact with students. With Wei Kou's excellent looks and good background, she will still be worried about finding a golden son-in-law. After Wei Shuxing thought it through, he became positive about his daughter's enrollment in the academy. North and south two colleges, Wei Shuxing think that the king's capital of the north college students than the south college students high gold. He first sent a letter to Wei Zhong's uncle, asking the clan to take care of his daughter, and implicitly revealed his meaning. Wei Shuxing arranged his daughter's place of residence and selected a reliable servant for her. The husband of Wei Kou's nanny was a powerful steward of the Wei family, and also Wei Shuxing's beloved, and this couple was sent by Wei Shuxing to work as stewards for his daughter. Wei Shuxing's intention did not let Wei Kou know, only carefully instructed the old servant, let the old servant pay more attention to the outstanding students of the North Academy, especially the cold family of that kind.
Wei Kou good knowledge, with good grades passed the exams, become one of the twelve female students in the North College, as desired with the heart of the idol Huo Sihua became a fellow student. Wei Kou success in the North College after further study, only feel their eyes seem to open the door to another world, every day to learn to learn not happy, to the North College of male students simply do not pay attention to, which can be shouldered the mission of the old servant was anxious, the old servant so that their wives to remind their wives to think about more life-long affairs, but unfortunately, Wei Kou is that he is a fish out of water, which is willing to distracted to think about things outside of the classroom.
Since Wei Kou himself did not care, the old house servant could only be anxious. After hearing that Wei Zhong was going to invite two outstanding students to be his guests, the old house servant was moved and volunteered to deliver the invitations. Yang He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, with decent features, and Fu Chou was fair and clean, both of them were very talented, the house servant was very satisfied with them, and secretly felt that both of them were qualified to be the son-in-law of their own master, so he didn't know if these two were destined to be with Wei Kou or not.
Yang He and Fu Chou packed up and got on the four-wheeled carriage sent by the Wei family to meet them and go to the Wei Mansion. From the North College to the Wei Mansion, you have to cross half of the royal city, people come and go on the streets, and the four-wheeled carriage can't go too fast on the streets, so Yang He and Fu Chou sat on the carriage, but they could enjoy the streetscape of the royal capital at ease. Almost an hour later, the four-wheeled carriage arrived at the Wei Mansion.
Wei Mansion was originally a clan of the royal family of Wu Kingdom, this nobleman was slightly involved with Yi Ji's rebellious party, the nobleman's fiefdom was taken away because of the crime, but the private property was not confiscated because of Zheng Yuming's kindness. Without their fiefdom, the nobles had no income, and the maintenance of the several estates was very difficult. In order to save money, the nobles sold all their estates except for the main house and an estate, the largest of which was bought by Uncle Wei Zhong.
Wei Zhong and uncle's family is the same living together, although the property is large, Wei's family all live in but a little crowded, Wei Zhong's uncle and high price will be the property around the residential buy through, repair, now the scale of the property, early than when the big double, even the door of the property, but also more than twice as much as the original grand style, the Wei family of the deceased family, it seems to be more than the Wei country did not perish before the rich and powerful.
"Haha, two wise brothers, half a month's absence, I miss you so much!" Wei Zhong heard the porter's report and rushed to the door to welcome them.
Wei Zhong years ago to escort Wei Kou back to the throat mouth of the city pool for the New Year, and Wei Kou two people only live in the throat mouth of the city pool for three days, and hastily return to the royal capital, spare the throat mouth of the city pool to the Kang City of the avenue repaired for a large part of the time, this round trip on the road or to spend eleven or twelve days to come back to rest for only one day, Wei Zhong was busy to catch up with his schoolmates.
Yang He and Fu Chou were also happy to see Wei Zhong, who had been away for a long time, and the three of them greeted each other separately, exchanging pleasantries all the way into the house.
The Weijia family was so rich that coal was burned to heat the rooms through copper pipes, and Yang He and Fu Chou felt warm as soon as they stepped into the house.
"Reporting to Sanlang, the head of the family has invited your guests to the main house for tea." Wei Zhong, Yang He and Fu Chou had just sat down when Wei Zhong's uncle sent someone to invite them.
"Two wise brothers, my uncle has long wanted to meet the two of you, please two wise brothers go with Zhong." Wei Zhong's own father was mediocre in talent, but he was self-aware and put his elder brother at the head of everything at home, even the responsibility of teaching his son was shifted to his elder brother, Wei Zhong was close to his uncle and respected this elder very much. The hot-water bottle presented to him by Yang He and Fu Chou was honored by Wei Zhong to his uncle.
"My two shall go forward to pay our respects!" Yang He was also curious about Wei Zhong's uncle, he felt that Wei Zhong's uncle was considered a legend, after all, this person's vision was quite sharp, before Wu had developed, he was optimistic about Wu, he brought his clan and all of his possessions and defected, and after defecting to the king's capital, after only two years or so, he was integrated into the business world of Wu, and he opened merchant firms and factories in the king's capital and in Ulsan, and Wei's clan's wealth quadrupled over these two years or so.
Wei Shuqing and Wei Shuxing were of the same age, both in their forties. Like Wei Shen, he wore a long, beautiful beard and looked not like a businessman, but rather like an elegant scholar.
"The two maesters have a great appearance and outstanding knowledge, it is fortunate for the Wei Mansion that Sanlang has such outstanding friends!" Wei Shuqing smiled as he greeted them at the entrance of the hall.
"Uncle's fallacious praise, the younger generation is ashamed of it." Yang He and Fu Chou went forward to greet each other while being modest under their breath.
"Quickly please come inside and sit with each other." Wei Shuqing invited the two to enter the room and sit down, with Wei Zhong accompanying them.
The sitting furniture of Wei family is very peculiar, not the bushes and tables of the past, but a kind of backrest chair with armrests on both sides, in the center of the living room there are two backrest chairs that can only sit for one person, between the two chairs there is a coffee table, on the left and right sides are long backrest chairs that can sit for three to four people, and in front of the bench there is a long coffee table. The seats were covered with furry animal skins, which made it warm and comfortable to sit on. On the long tea table there was green tea poured by Wei family servants, and the utensil for tea was a transparent glass cup.
Yang He has lived in Kangcheng for nearly two years, many valuables have been seen in the stores, know the value of the glass cup in front of you is not expensive, drink tea, the heart is a little apprehensive, for fear of accidentally breaking the cup.
"Uncle, it is said that many of the neighboring vassal states have had many thieves in recent years, making it very unsafe to travel on the road, is this true?" Fu Chou was concerned about his relatives at home and wanted to learn about the situation in Tang from Wei Shu Qing.
"Well, good, these two years, the road bandits mountain bandits more and more, Wei family merchant bank, can take the waterway, try to take the boat to transport goods." Wei Shuqing stroked his beard and shook his head, at the end of last year, the home of a merchant fleet in the territory of Qilu encountered a few banditry, the escort guards dead or injured half, only to escort the goods to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, a river mouth, take the south port of the merchant ship to return safely.
"Is the waterway very safe?" Yang He asked the question, he came to Wu and stayed in Kang City all the time, he hadn't seen the big boats in Nambu yet, in Yang He's mind, the boats were very small, they couldn't even withstand the big waves and winds lapping at them, so a small boat would be very safe to travel in a big river? Yang He saw the big river, there are a few sections of the river is very turbulent, some small boats, a little inattentive to the whirlpool swallowed without a trace.
"The waterway is very safe, the ships made in Nanbu are very large, with protection on board and sails to accelerate them, no one can beat them in the river, but it is a pity that the kings of Qi and Lu were afraid of such large ships, and did not allow more than 1,000 materials of large ships to enter the interior, and in vain they wasted the good waterway." Wei Shuqing lamented.
"Uncle, that the monarchs of Qi and Lu are reasonably afraid of our country's big ship, I think that the big ship is unrivaled, if it is loaded with soldiers, it can easily reach the hinterland of their country." Wei Zhong spoke with a big grin, and when he finished his sentence, everyone in the hall was violently shocked.
"Did only the kings of Qi and Lu limit the size of the ships? Did the Tang Kingdom not react to this?" Fu Chou's heart is anxious, the king of Qi and Lu are very bastard, for a gold mine to fight for more than ten years, so that both sides lose, such a bastard king has found the threat, is not the Tang Kingdom Lord did not find? The king of Tang was a good ruler in Fu Chou's heart. The dozens of acres of land and a few slaves at Fu Chou's home were the rewards that Fu Chou's father got from following the king of Tang on his campaigns. However, Fu Chou's father lost his life because he followed the king of Tang again to invade the Kingdom of Wu. Fu Chou's education on loyalty to the king made him refuse to face the king's mistakes, and he only counted his father's death on the heads of Chu Chao Hui and Zheng Yuming.
"Tang?" Wei Shuqing shook his head. "That Tang King was defeated in the battle of Shan Au on the East China Sea coast, and Wu had long ago set a treaty with Tang that Tang shall not interfere with Wu's merchant ships. Speaking of which, I really admire the Duke and the Great General, these two have a long term vision and anticipate things like God." Wu's merchants walked in the Tang Kingdom, and the Tang Kingdom could not inspect or collect taxes.
After Wei Shuqing finished, Yang He and Wei Zhong nodded their heads in agreement, only Fu Chou bowed his head, embarrassed and hated the King of Tang for being too short-sighted and setting up a treaty that humiliated the country, and with Wu controlling the waterways, it was a breeze to advance into Tang with a large army.
"Uncle, the Wei family merchant firm often travels to various countries, what do you think of Qi and Lu?" Yang He decided in his heart to receive his family to Wu, with only a trace of hope for his homeland.
"Qi Lu two countries people do not want to live, many places have been deserted, starving people burst dead wild for wild beasts to devour, but those princes and dignitaries life is still luxurious, and do not think about how to save their children, I think that there is a big chaos there." Wei Shuqing sipped a mouthful of clear tea, nowadays such a peaceful day is what the Wei clan seeks.
"Pandemonium! Is it really unavoidable?" Fine sweat broke out on Yang He's forehead.
"Yang Xian Di, are you worried about your family?" Wei Zhong couldn't help but be concerned when he saw Yang He looking like this.
"Not bad, my humble brother is precisely hung up on them and wants to receive them to live in Wu." Yang He smiled bitterly.
"Yang bachelor's former residence where, just write down the address, I can let the merchant bank steward is responsible for going to pick up to Wu." Wei Shuqing had long stored the idea of drawing Yang He and Fu Chou together, and also took Wei Shuxing's instructions to heart. In order to deepen his feelings, he immediately took the matter over.
"This is a dangerous matter, how can we put the Wei family business firm in danger!" Yang He excused himself, the Wei family merchant company had already tried their best to avoid encountering bandits by taking the waterway, if they went to pick up his family they would have to walk ashore, and that would lead to many dangers.
"Yang Xian Di, you and I are like brothers, how can we be so outgoing?" Beside him, Wei Zhong's face sank, loudly scolding Yang He.
Wei Shuqing also nodded his head repeatedly, thinking that his nephew was right in rebuking him, panicking Yang He to make amends again and again.
"Fu Di's family also has relatives in Tang, right? Take them all together this time, Tang is also very chaotic, and it's not safe for Fu Di's relatives to stay there." Wei Zhong turned his head and asked Fu Chou.
Fu Chou's throat was dry, and his lips wriggled a few times without making a sound. Seeing Fu Chou's hesitation, Wei Zhong could not help but shout angrily, "Is Fu Di going to put his loved ones in danger and not care?"
Fu Chou bowed his head, "My humble brother wouldn't dare."
Wei Zhong was satisfied. "In that case, the two virtuous brothers will write down their addresses, and after the beginning of spring, my family's merchant bank will go north, and around April, we will be able to bring the two virtuous brothers' relatives to the royal capital."
Fu Chou followed Yang He to write the address, his heart was mixed, put down the charcoal pencil, only to feel his mouth dry and thirsty. He reached for a cup to quench his thirst with tea, when a woman's cheerful laughter suddenly came from outside the door. Fu Chou was so shocked that the cup in his hand slipped to the ground, and the cup, which was worth twenty to thirty gold, was immediately shattered into pieces.