Chapter 201 The height of the temple (31)

The study room of the Hou Mansion of Daliang adheres to Hou Dayong's favorite pattern, and is located in the third house in the left wing room, while the main house in the courtyard is set up as a living room. Compared with other rooms, the study room has a thick curtain, which makes the light in the house slightly dim.

There is a Hu table, four Hu chairs, a row of bookshelves and a dark room in the study room. There is a map hanging on the wall, Daliang Hou Mansion Study room, Lingzhou Hou Mansion Study room, and the study room in Fengzhou before. The interior decoration of the study room in different places is basically the same.

Hou Dayong stroked his chin, knocked on the table, and said to himself: "Who put the second stone tablet? What is the purpose? Who can get the benefits? Who will be unlucky for this?"

Xiang Haier refers to Zhao Kuangyin. The old residents of Luoyang City all knew about this. The position of inspectors refers to Zhang Yongde, the chief inspector of the front office of the palace. The first stone tablet "Xiang Haier sits in the world" was created by Feiying Hall, and the second stone tablet engraved with "Calling Inspection is the Emperor" was somewhat out of Hou Dayong's expectations.

Hou Dayong passed all the important officials and generals in his heart. For a moment, he couldn't guess the purpose of doing this, and couldn't help but sigh: "The undercurrents are surging in Daliang City!"

Meng Shu had the Feiying Hall in his hand, holding all kinds of information in his hand, but had no clue about this matter. He did not make any guesses casually, but just waited for Hou Dayong to draw a conclusion or a new order.

Hou Dayong saw Meng Shu sitting calmly and asked, "There is no clue?"

Meng Shu shook his head and said, "This matter is really unexpected. I can't think of who will do this?"

After Hou Dayong became the governor, he developed the habit of waving hands. However, after returning to Daliang City, under the Sect of the Zhongshu, all those who worked with him were qualified prime ministers. The habit of waving hands was naturally useless. Today, facing Meng Shu, Hou Dayong waved his hand unconsciously and said, "There is no wind, no waves, and there is a cause. Those who throw the second monument must have a considerable amount of weight. The common people will not risk being killed in the nine clans to do this."

This judgment was naturally correct. Meng Shu couldn't help but nodded, expressing his agreement with Hou Dayong's opinion.

"Flying Eagle Hall needs to make some adjustments. You must master the abnormal movements of Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde, Zhao Kuangyin, Han Tong, Shi Shouxin, Li Jixun and other generals."

Hou Dayong was quite relieved of several civil officials, including the prime minister. From the history of the late Tang Dynasty to Liang, Tang, Jin and Han, civil officials could not become the protagonists of changing dynasties, and at most they played an auxiliary role. Those who usurped the imperial power were all generals with heavy troops. Now Zhao Kuangyin has left Daliang, but other generals in command of the army are still strong, and the front door drove the tiger. Maybe the wolf will come to the back door. Since Hou Dayong can come to this world for no reason, what else can't happen?

Meng Shu leaned over and asked, "Do you still use the old method? Do you use other methods?"

"It's still indirect monitoring, no need to add other means."

What is the method of "indirect monitoring"? It is when the Feiying Hall staff inquired about the news about these generals, and did not contact them directly. Instead, they learned about the situation of these generals through "indirect monitoring". The change in monitoring methods began in the fifth year of Xiande. It was mainly to hide the traces of the activities of the Feiying Hall, and local branches also basically adopted the "indirect monitoring" method.

The adoption of "indirect monitoring" has been considered after multiple considerations. Feiying Hall used to spend a lot of energy and achieved certain results in order to investigate the situation of the imperial guards. However, this method has three disadvantages. First, the risk is high, and if something happens, it is easy to implicate the Feiying Hall; second, the imperial guards are frequently conquered. The imperial guards who joined the Feiying Hall have been killed one after another, which has lost their efforts; third, Feiying Hall does not dare to provoke middle and upper-level officers easily, and most of the imperial guards are lower-level officers and sergeants, and they often do not get any useful land information.

Based on the above three reasons, after his five-year trip to Lingzhou, Meng Shu gave up the practice of planting nails in the imperial guards, and instead adopted the "indirect monitoring" method proposed by Hou Dayong.

"Indirect monitoring" usually uses five methods:

First, Fujia Store set up a shop that provides agricultural products for high-quality officials and nobles. Fujia Store uses the commercial network that has formed. It spends a lot of effort to search for high-quality grains from various places including the Northern Han, Southern Tang, Western Shu and other places. Then, a Fujia Grain Store was launched in Daliang City, which specializes in supplying high-quality officials and nobles at market prices.

The products of Fujia Stores have long become synonymous with high-end products in Daliang. All noble ladies in Beijing are proud of using Fujia Stores' products. This time, Fujia Store launched this Fujia Grain Store, which was immediately sought after by noble ladies, and their business was extremely popular.

The shopkeeper of the Fujia Wugu Store is not from Feiyingtang. He is a businessman who is good at communicating. With Meng Shu's intentional arrangement, he has had a passionate relationship with the housekeepers of many wealthy families in the capital and established a good cooperative relationship. The accounting clerk of the Fujia Wugu Store is a native of Feiyingtang. While he is preparing ordinary accounts, he also opened a separate account for each high-ranking official and nobleman. He recorded the amount of grain purchased every month. Based on this record, he can judge how many people there are in the high-ranking official and nobleman's family and how much grain they have to consume. If there is an abnormal situation, it will naturally be reflected in this record table.

Second, Feiyingtang opened a large car repair shop in the place where the dignitaries lived. The business of this car repair shop was extremely trivial, and it required not only repairing carriages, saddles and other big tasks, but also small tasks such as changing horseshoes. The car repair shop also set up a bookkeeper to register the repairs of these dignitaries, especially each time the dignitaries changed horseshoes, there were detailed records.

Third, eight military doctors from the Black Eagle Army were secretly transferred to treat trauma, and four Tongrentang semicolons were set up in the four cities of the east, west, south and north. In this way, Tongrentang could obtain a lot of useful land information.

Fourth, install personnel in front of the six military camps in Daliang City. These personnel do not have to do anything all day long. The task is to keep an eye on the gate of the military camp and report any abnormal movements of the military in a timely manner.

Fifth, Feiying Hall also sent more than a dozen people, often hiding in teahouses and wine houses to find out the news.

In the Feiying Hall General Hall, a department was established to summarize these objective records and give them to Meng Shu and Du Gang. Meng Shu thought it was important and reported to Hou Dayong. This is the operation process of "indirect control". The old method mentioned by Meng Shu refers to this "indirect monitoring" method. Hou Dayong is located under the Sect of the Zhongshu. He can obtain a large amount of information from formal channels every day. With "indirect monitoring" to obtain local information, one is positive and one is strange, and the information that Hou Dayong masters is extremely sensitive and comprehensive.

When Meng Shu said goodbye, Hou Dayong stood up and stretched. He looked at Meng Shu for a while and said, "Meng Lang is not like the big shopkeeper of a rich shop."

Meng Shu was a little puzzled. He didn't know what Hou Dayong was referring to. He looked down at his clothes. He wore a piece of silk from Chengdu Prefecture, which was a very expensive thin cashmere. When he went out, he wore a marten robe from the north. It was also a dress of wealth and honor.

"Menglang now takes charge of the Flying Eagle Hall and needs to carefully hide his identity. What is the least noticeable method? The best method of hiding is not careful disguise, but "sacrifice everyone". Consistent with the behavior of many wealthy businessmen is the best method of hiding. Any independent special business may attract other people's attention, do you understand?"

Seeing that Meng Shu was still confused, Hou Dayong said, "The shopkeeper on a slightly larger scale in Daliang City is not a yard full of concubines and a group of dancers. Meng Lang has no one with a concubine, which makes people feel alternative. Meng Lang can consider buying a few concubines, and putting it at home can also be considered as a decoration for the storefront."

In Dezhou, Meng Shu's eldest sister Meng Qing was forcibly taken away by the abbot of Wanshou Temple. When Hou Dayong and Fu Ying rescued Meng Qing, Meng Qing had been buried alive. At the same time, several young women were dug out. After watching this scene, Meng Shu fell to the ground softly on the spot. Although he later chopped the abbot of Wanshou Temple into meat paste, a shadow was left in his heart. Meng Shu later fell in love with Fu Ying, but Fu Ying was always the star in the sky for Meng Shu. With these two reasons, Meng Shu was not very interested in other women and got married and had children. It was just to complete the task of inheriting family traditions. The beauty that was within reach was not very attractive to Meng Shu.

Meng Shu smiled bitterly and said, "Although food, sex and sex, I am really not interested in female sex." However, Hou Dayong had already spoken, and Meng Shu could only express his opinion: "I will speak out now and say I want to find two concubines."

After Meng Shu said goodbye, Hou Dayong took out the "Anti-Sutra" from the study, and with the dim oil lamp, he was flipping through the thoughts while thinking about his thoughts. A second stone tablet appeared, and a huge rock pressed into Hou Dayong's heart.

This set of "Anti-Classic" written by Zhao Rui of the Tang Dynasty was also bought by Fu Ying before marriage. When Hou Dayong had no books to read in Lingzhou, he took it out and read it. Unexpectedly, he couldn't let it go at first glance. "Anti-Classic" and "Taibai-Yin Jing" became two regular books. The equipment, training and combat of the Tang army recorded in the "Taibai-Yin Jing" detailed the equipment, training and combat of the Tang army. "Anti-Classic" made a comprehensive explanation and summary of the wisdom and power techniques of the Tang Dynasty before the Tang Dynasty, integrating political science, strategy, talent and sociology, using strategy as the classics, history as the latitude, intertwined and versatile, and became a masterpiece. The writing was more flowing, and it was so refreshing to read.

"Those who know others are the king's way; those who know things are the way of ministers, those who are invisible are the king of things; those who are indecisive are the foundation of things."

Hou Dayong spent a long time thinking about this passage, especially the last two sentences, which rose to the level of philosophy: Invisible things are the masters of all things, and things that cannot see the source are the foundation of worldly affairs and human relations. When I first read it, I only felt that this was an empty word that was released from all over the world, but after experiencing it carefully, I felt that this was a great wisdom with overall thinking. Hou Dayong read this empty word several times, thinking about the political situation surging in Daliang City, and gradually became a little dazzled.

After a long time, when his stomach had already made a "gu, gu" sound. Hou Dayong then woke up and had not had dinner yet. Hou Dayong once set a rule: "I am in the study and do not disturb me if I do anything particularly urgently." Therefore, although it was getting late, no one dared to knock on the door.

Hou Dayong walked out of the study with an empty belly and took a deep breath of the cold air. Several big trees in the corner of the courtyard were shaking the leaves in the dark night with the wind. The trunks were tall and straight, and in the dark it was like a pillar that held the sky.

Seeing Hou Dayong coming out, Feng Sha hurried over, handed over a note and whispered: "Guo Jiong joined forces with Pochao Army and Richie Army to encircle and annihilate 4,000 Khitan troops west of Helan Mountain. From Juyanhai to Helan Mountain, the threat of the Khitans to Lingzhou was basically lifted." Hou Dayong returned to the study and read the note carefully. Then lit the note on the oil lamp. Seeing that the note turned into ashes, Hou Dayong said to Feng Sha: "Take a letter to General Shi and report the military situation of the Privy Council as much as possible. He only said that the Black Eagle Army and the Khitan Army had an accidental encounter, and had a small-scale conflict, and then repelled the Khitan Army that was invading the territory."

When Hou Dayong walked out of the study again, his stomach began to roar. The smell of food came from the main courtyard next door. Hou Dayong walked out of the small courtyard where he worked. Just when he was about to touch the empty gate of the main courtyard, he suddenly stopped, stayed at the door for a moment, then turned around and walked towards Qiuju's side courtyard.

Since Chunlan committed suicide, Hou Dayong has never been to Qiuju's side courtyard. Therefore, when Hou Dayong suddenly appeared in front of Qiuju, Qiuju seemed to be startled, and the needlework in his hand fell to the ground. Seeing Qiuju like this, Hou Dayong sighed in his heart, bent down to pick up the cloth falling on the ground. This was a coat worn by Xiaolu, with a few plum blossoms embroidered on it. It was very elegant. Hou Dayong gently patted the small dress with his hand, looked at the light, and smiled and said, "This is Xiaolu's clothes, it looks really good."

Qiu Ju took Xiao Lu's clothes at a loss and lowered her head and said, "Xiao Lu grows fast. She hasn't worn the new clothes in spring yet, but she is already small." Hou Dayong knew that he had neglected Qiu Ju for a while and said, "I'm so busy that I've been turning around every day. I haven't come here for a long time. Let's go and see Xiao Lu." According to the rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, children generally do not sleep next to their mothers, especially women with concubines. They should leave the bed for the husband who can come at any time, and their daughters cannot sleep next to their mothers.

Xiaolu slept very calmly, with thick black hair on the pillow, her mouth was tightly closed, and the little girl was already in her eyebrows and eyes. Hou Dayong looked at her daughter intently, and her heart was filled with love for a moment. He leaned over her daughter's forehead and kissed her gently. He pressed her cheek to her daughter's face. Hou Dayong only felt that her daughter's face was a little cold, and looked up and asked Qiu Ju: "Isn't there a fire dragon in this room? Why is it a little cold?" Qiu Ju still whispered: "There is only one earth dragon, and it has just started to burn. It takes a while before there is heat."

In Daliang Hou Mansion, there are complete heating equipment, especially in several courtyards such as Fu Ying, Qiu Ju, Chunlan, etc., there are two earth dragons in each room. After November, these earth dragons began to be used.

Hou Dayong shivered, and he reached out to lift Xiaolu's quilt, and saw that Xiaolu was covered with two quilts thickly. Judging from this situation, it seemed that there had been no earth dragon in this room for several days. Hou Dayong asked angrily: "Has the earth dragon been used for this period of time?" Qiu Ju replied carefully: "There is a ground dragon in this house a little damaged. It is temporarily suspended, saying that it will be used until it is repaired." Hou Dayong's face became gloomy and said: "How long has the earth dragon been broken?" Qiu Ju was a little afraid to look at Hou Dayong's face and said: "It's been six or seven days."

At this time, the temperature inside the house gradually increased, Xiaolu turned over and exposed one hand.

Hou Dayong knew what was happening in front of him. He said to the maid standing in the room with her hands hanging down, "Go and call Butler Qin here?" Butler Qin trotted to Qiuju's courtyard. As soon as he arrived in the courtyard, he was slapped heavily and turned toward him.

"It's really like you'll have to go to the house and unload the tiles without fighting for three days. You can see people with low ground."

Hou Dayong was fighting on the battlefield for a long time, and his hands were naturally extremely powerful. Qin Jiahe sat on the ground, his nose was bleeding, his eyes were filled with golden drums, and his mind was filled with golden drums. He heard Hou Dayong scolding and hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "The villain is stupid, please tell me clearly." Qin Jiahe was doing things in a good manner. After arriving at the Hou Mansion, Hou Dayong and Fu Ying were both polite to him, not to mention Qiu Ju and Chunlan. It was the first time he was slapped on the face. He was kneeling on the ground. He didn't know why Hou Dayong made a thunderous act. He was both nervous and a little puzzled.

"Qin Jiahe, why did Xiaolu's room's ground dragon break down for five or six days but not repaired?"

When Qin Jiahe heard this, he couldn't help but scold his subordinate Manager Wu. He had told Manager Wu about this a few days ago. He immediately realized that it must be Manager Wu who saw that Alang had not come to Qiuju's courtyard for a long time, so he was lazy in this matter. Qin Jiahe quickly kowtowed and told the whole story.

Qiu Ju stood beside him and didn't make a sound. Objectively speaking, Qin Jiahe was pretty good to Qiu Ju and Chunlan, but some servants changed their faces too fast when they saw the wind. November was already in here, and the ground was as cold as cold. Qiu Ju saw that Hou Dayong had no intention of letting Qin Jiahe stand up, and thought that he would still need Butler Qin in the future, so he explained: "It's not a fault for Butler Qin. He went to Xiaolu's room to see it two or three times."

Hou Dayong was clear about Qiu Ju and Qin Jiahe. His purpose of fighting Qin Jiahe today was to establish his authority for Qiu Ju, so as not to be cowardly from villains in the future. These villains could not make big waves, but Qiu Ju's life was not many big waves, and it was composed of one small thing after another. If he was wronged in small things for a long time, his life would be uncomfortable.

"Butler Qin, get up. In the future, let me explain to my servants that Qiu Ju is the owner of this family at any time. If such a thing happens again, don't blame me for turning against others."

Back at Qiuju's room, Qiuju sat by the bed, sobbing softly. Hou Dayong walked over, put his hand on Qiuju's shoulder, patted him caressingly. Qiuju leaned his head on Hou Dayong's waist and started crying happily. From Chunlan's accident to today, Hou Dayong has never appeared in Qiuju's courtyard. Qiuju was sad about Chunlan's early death. At the same time, for the sake of his and Xiaolu's future, he still treated himself the same as before. He couldn't help but be happy and sad, and could no longer control his emotions. He hid in Hou Dayong's arms and cried bitterly.

After a long time, Hou Dayong said, "Stop crying, I haven't had dinner yet. Today I really want to eat the noodle soup made by my wife." Qiu Ju raised her big flowery face and cried with a smile: "I'll do it now."
Chapter completed!