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Chapter 104: Attacking Hou Shu and Reclaiming Homeland
When Li Yi arrived at the porch of the government office, he found that the drizzle had stopped at some point.

And standing under the porch was a eunuch wearing a crimson round-necked robe.

The other party was followed by several followers.

Li Yi glanced at the eunuch's attire, which was of a standard only worn by those of the fifth rank and above.

Considering that the person Zhang Yongde just mentioned might be "Eunuch Qu", it means that the other party is at least a eunuch at the level of Internal Attendant.

However, before Li Yi could speak, the eunuch's face lit up immediately when he saw him coming out, and he quickly walked up to him.

"I am Qu Tai, the eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Nice to meet you, Li Du Yuhou." This eunuch Qu behaved very respectfully and took the initiative to salute Li Yi.

Judging from the eunuch's reaction, it seemed as if he had seen Li Yi before and recognized him at a glance.

Li Yi suppressed his doubts and said politely, "It turns out to be Eunuch Qu. I apologize for not coming in person to welcome you."

The other party was a fifth-rank eunuch. Although his rank was lower than his own, he was sent by the queen after all, so he still gave him enough respect.

"It was raining just now. Why bother waiting outside, Eunuch Qu? Just come in and find me."

As he spoke, Li Yi politely invited the eunuch Qu to come in and chat.

Qu Tai said with a smile: "The Palace Front Office is a confidential place. A mere eunuch like us dare not barge in."

After hearing this, Li Yi remembered that after experiencing the lessons of the eunuchs' chaotic politics in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the status of eunuchs had long been different.

After all, everyone knows the consequences of Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu's reversal of history.

What's more, military men are in power now, and the military regime is about who has the bigger fist. What are the eunuchs?

Not to mention a fifth-rank eunuch, even a third-rank eunuch supervisor would not dare to enter the Dianqiansi office without permission.

Li Yi smiled and said, "It's okay. I'll take Eunuch Qu in, and no one can say anything."

The two then entered Li Yi's official room.

After sitting down, Qu Tai took the initiative to speak: "I am here on the orders of Her Majesty the Queen to discuss the marriage with Li Duyuhou."

The marriage has already been decided, what else is there to discuss?
Li Yi was stunned, not knowing what this meant.

Seeing this, Qu Tai quickly explained, "Last time, Her Majesty the Queen said she would act as a matchmaker for Marquis Li Duyu. Now that His Majesty has granted the marriage, Her Majesty the Queen has ordered me to act as a matchmaker and help Marquis Li Duyu propose to the King of Wei."

After hearing this, Li Yi suddenly realized that the marriage was arranged by the queen, but given the queen's noble status, it was naturally impossible for her to act as a matchmaker herself.

And this eunuch Qu Tai acted as Li Yi's matchmaker on behalf of the Queen... This solved a difficult problem for Li Yi, as he was originally worried about the matchmaker.

After all, the person he is marrying is the daughter of King Wei, so the matchmaker proposing the marriage must not be vague and must at least have a certain status.

Qu Tai was a fifth-rank official and was chosen by the empress, so he was just right for the role of matchmaker.

"I am deeply grateful for the grace shown to me by Her Majesty the Queen!" Li Yi pretended to salute respectfully in the direction of the inner palace.

The queen was quite worried. On the one hand, she decided to marry her sister to him, and on the other hand, she had to play the role of matchmaker. In the end, it was Li Yi who got the biggest benefit.

Next.

Qu Tai discussed the specific procedures of the marriage with Li Yi again.

Since ancient times, wealthy families have followed the six rituals in their weddings.

One is called Nacai, which means that the man's family asks a matchmaker to go to the woman's family to propose marriage. After the woman agrees to the marriage, the man prepares gifts and sends them to the woman's family.

The second is to ask for the name, which means the man’s family asks the matchmaker to ask the woman’s name and date of birth.

The third is Naji, which means the man takes the woman's name and birth date and then performs divination in the ancestral temple.

The fourth is Na Zheng, also known as Na Bi, which means the man’s family gives the betrothal gift to the woman’s family.

On the fifth day, the date is requested. The man's family chooses a wedding date, prepares gifts and informs the woman's family, asking for their consent.

The sixth is the wedding, when the groom goes to the bride’s house to marry her.

The Queen had explained to Qu Tai about the six rites. The necessary procedures must be followed, but considering that Tokyo is far away from Daimyo Prefecture, it is not easy to travel back and forth, so in order not to delay things.

Therefore, the six rituals process was divided into three parts.

Among them, Nacai, Wenming and Naji are one trip, Nazheng and Qingqi are one trip, and Qinying is the last trip.

Qu Tai went to the house to handle the first two trips, but Li Yi had to go himself to pick up the bride for the last trip. After all, he was the one who married the wife, and he couldn't let others do it for him if he wanted to bring her back.

But even so, the entire process still takes several months.

The Queen can send people to assist with the six rituals, but Li Yi will have to figure out the specific arrangements and the money to spend on them himself.

Generally speaking, the betrothal gift when paying the betrothal gift is the bulk of the gift, while the gifts brought when proposing marriage are just a token of appreciation.

But she was the daughter of the King of Wei after all, and the marriage was arranged by the emperor, so the gifts for proposing marriage could not be too small. Li Yi gritted his teeth and directly asked the internal attendant Qu Tai to take most of the things that Guo had bought to Daming Mansion.

At the same time, he also took out one thousand strings of cash as a gift.

The total value of these treasures is at least four or five thousand strings of cash.

Five days later.

After a series of preparations.

On the orders of the empress, the eunuch Qu Tai set off for Daming Prefecture with several carts of gifts to formally propose marriage to the second daughter of the King of Wei on behalf of Li Yi, the commander of the cavalry in front of the palace.

With the emperor's blessing of marriage, the proposal naturally went smoothly.

The main thing is that it takes time on the road.

It was already mid-February when Qu Tai returned from Daming Prefecture. He also brought back Fu Erniang's maiden name and birth date, which were sealed in a gold-embossed wedding invitation.

Only then did Li Yi know that Fu Er Niang's real name was Fu Jinding.

However, because Li Yi was born in a very humble family, his adoptive father died early. Not only did he not have a family temple to worship his ancestors, he didn't even know where his ancestral grave was.

Therefore, Li Yi naturally could not send the calculation of birth date and selection of wedding date to the ancestral temple for divination.

They could only adopt the same method as ordinary people, find a famous fortune teller in Tokyo, and spend a lot of money to set a date.

However, when calculating the birth date and eight characters, there was a small episode -

"This lady's birth date is incredibly auspicious. She's destined to be extremely wealthy and powerful. Tsk tsk, it's a great blessing for you to marry her!"

"Huh? Sir, your horoscope... is strange, why does it say short life... Oh no, that's not what I meant. How strange."

The fortune-teller couldn't help but take a closer look at Li Yi's face, frowning and saying, "But your face doesn't seem to match your horoscope. Could it be that you misremembered your horoscope?"

Li Yi shook his head and said, "My mother told me my birth date and time. I don't know if it's right or not."

The old Taoist priest pondered and said, "If the eight characters are correct... although your eight characters are not very auspicious, if they are matched with this woman's eight characters, it will turn bad luck into good luck. In the future, you will definitely be extremely rich!"

"According to the Taoist priest, the wedding date should be set on the eighth day of the fifth lunar month. That day, the sky is bright and the water is favorable, which is conducive to fire and drives away evil, and it is just right for the two of you to have a good match."

——Originally, Li Yi was skeptical about fortune-telling.

He half believed it because he was a transmigrated soul. Many things are difficult to explain clearly with science, but it’s not that there is no possibility of metaphysics.

His doubts were naturally due to the education he received in his previous life, which made him inherently skeptical of metaphysics.

But thinking back to the scene of that day and the words of the old Taoist priest, Li Yi felt that maybe there really was God's will?

According to the old Taoist priest, his horoscope indicated that he would be short-lived... This was indeed true. If Li Yihun had not traveled through time, the original owner would definitely not have survived.

As for saying that Fu Erniang has a noble fate, it is absolutely true. Isn't the identity of the daughter of King Wei noble enough?

What's more, in history, Fu Erniang became Chai Rong's second wife and became the queen who ruled the country.

"That old Taoist priest is really a bit weird. Could he really be able to tell fortunes?"

Thinking of this, Li Yi shook his head. Even if there really is such a thing as fate, you have to fight for it yourself. Otherwise, if you just lie at home and sleep all day long, no matter how big the pie is, it will not fall on your head.

He couldn't help but sigh again and muttered, "I don't know if it's destined or not, but I'm really short of money right now!"

The wedding date has been set, but we will go to Daming Prefecture to deliver the betrothal gifts in a few days.

This matter made Li Yi very worried.

Last time I proposed marriage, I gave a gift of several thousand strings of cash. This time, the betrothal gift must be more, not less. At least I have to pay out 10,000 or 20,000 strings of cash.

But even if I skin him alive, I still can’t come up with that much money!

Li Yi's current income is indeed not low, but he hasn't received his high salary for a full year, and his family assets are too meager... If he saves for ten or eight years, with his salary, it may not be difficult for him to take out 10,000 or 20,000 strings of cash.

But it is certainly not possible now.

"Forget it, there's no point in imagining this, let's eat first."

The government provided lunch while Li Yi was on duty. After eating, he left the Dianqiansi office directly and prepared to visit the headquarters of various departments of the Dianqiansi.

The generals only did two things on weekdays when they were "at work": either they stayed in their official rooms and slacked off, or they took their personal soldiers to inspect the military camps under their command.

Of course, if there is nothing important, patrolling the camp is actually a form of slacking off.

Thinking about the betrothal gift, Li Yi took his men to stroll around the military camps of various troops. Just as he was leading Li Hanchao and his party around Xuande Gate and heading towards the camp of the Inner Palace Guard.

However, he met an old acquaintance outside the imperial city.

"General Song?"

Li Yi saw a familiar figure and immediately called out to the other person.

Song Rengong was about to get on the carriage when he heard someone calling him. He subconsciously turned around and saw a strong young man in a brocade robe riding a horse, followed by several armored warriors.

He was stunned and felt vaguely that the young man looked familiar.

Li Yi rode forward and chuckled, "General Song, don't you recognize me?"

The person standing in front of him was the military officer from Kaifeng Prefecture who was sent to handle the case in which he accidentally killed his cousin Zhao in the first month of last year.

As they got closer, Song Rengong suddenly realized that he had a very deep impression of this young man.

He immediately reacted and bowed respectfully, saying, "This humble official greets Li Du Yuhou!"

Li Yi sat on his horse, bowed and returned the greeting, and asked, "General Song is in such a hurry, is there something urgent?"

In fact, as a military general, he should not interfere too much in the affairs of civil officials. If there is any emergency, the Privy Council will naturally notify him. However, since they are meeting acquaintances, it is okay to ask a few more questions.

Upon hearing this, Song Rengong did not hide anything and explained the whole story in detail.

It turned out that early this morning, some people from Qinzhou rushed to Kaifeng to seek justice from the Emperor of the Great Zhou. They said that the Shu court was harsh and the people were living in dire straits. They wanted the Emperor of the Great Zhou to stand up for the people and send troops to take back their homeland.

This matter involved a huge number of issues, and the Kaifeng government office could not make a decision, but it could not allow these people to cause chaos, so it did not know what to do for a while.

As the legal officer of Kaifeng Prefecture, Song Rengong was in charge of the public security of Tokyo City, so he went to the imperial city in person to ask the prime ministers for instructions.

"Is this happening ahead of schedule?" Li Yi couldn't help but frown after listening to Song Rengong's narration.

If he remembered correctly, in history, before Chai Rong ordered the attack on Hou Shu, the people of Qinzhou did go to Kaifeng to submit a petition.

But that happened after March of the second year of Xian De.

It is only the end of February now... Li Yi is not worried about the early or late occurrence of the incident. History has already deviated anyway. His main worry is that he is about to get married. What if he can't make it in time to attack Hou Shu?
Song Rengong didn't know what Li Yi was thinking. He sighed to himself, "My lords said we should let the people into the inner city and that Kaifeng government office shouldn't interfere. But if something goes wrong... Sigh!"

"General Song, don't worry about this. Just do as the gentlemen say."

Li Yi chuckled. The history books were vague about the Qinzhou people going to Kaifeng to petition for the return of their homeland, and basically just glossed over it.

But in his opinion, this seemed like a show... Qinzhou was thousands of miles away from Tokyo City, but a large group of people crossed the state and county and arrived in Kaifeng without any hindrance. There was not much noise along the way. It was not right no matter how he thought about it.

What is even more bizarre is that Tokyo was the capital of the Later Zhou Dynasty. A group of people from the "enemy country" came in openly. Aren't they afraid that some of them had bad intentions?

Li Yi chatted with Song Rengong for a few more words, and then let him go.

"Let's go and see what's going on."

After saying that, Li Yi urged his horse forward, and Li Hanchao and others hurriedly followed.

As soon as the group turned near the Suzaku Gate, they saw a group of people coming into the inner city in a mighty manner.

Judging from their attire, they are indeed ordinary people, about a few hundred of them.

The group was making a lot of noise and seemed very excited. It was quite an intimidating scene. Li Yi wanted to ask, what do you want to do? Who ordered this?
Li Yi and his men moved aside. A group of common people passed by, shouting things like, "The Qinzhou government is exploiting the people and squandering their wealth." "The Shu government is extremely corrupt and incompetent, irritating both heaven and man."

Others shouted: "Shu took advantage of the Central Plains' emptiness to forcibly occupy Qinzhou. Please ask the Emperor of the Great Zhou to reclaim our homeland..."

It has a bit of the posture of a later demonstration.

At this time, a personal guard muttered, "These people are really brave. Aren't they afraid that the government office will arrest them?"

Hearing this, Li Yi smiled but said nothing.

However, he was thinking in his heart that in history, Chai Rong first attacked Hou Shu, in fact, he wanted to seize the four states of Qin, Cheng, Jie and Feng. Once these four states were lost, Hou Shu would lose its bridgehead to the east.

It is said that Shu is easy to defend but difficult to attack because of its natural geographical barriers. However, while defending against foreign enemies, it is also easy to get into a situation where you cannot escape.

By taking over the four states of Qin, Feng and others, the Later Zhou Dynasty could control the passage out of Shu at a very small cost and completely block the Later Shu Dynasty in Shu.

This was to prevent Hou Shu from stabbing him in the back.

Southern Tang was Chai Rong's real strategic target, and attacking Hou Shu was just to pave the way for attacking Southern Tang.

However, these are still too far away for Li Yi at the moment.

He just felt that he now had one more thing to worry about... The problem of the betrothal gift had not been solved yet, and he also had to worry about attacking Hou Shu.

Li Yi was still hoping to gain military merit by attacking Hou Shu and be promoted to Jiedushi!
(End of this chapter)