Golden Branch

The sage was delighted and with a wave of his hand, he conferred the title of Duke of Qi on Lou Yu, who had just celebrated his birthday and was fifteen years old.

The title of Duke is nothing, but the word "founding a country" is extremely precious.

Like Lou Jin, Lou Yu became a founding father of the country.

Moreover, Lou Yu’s fiefdom was Qizhou, which was the fiefdom of the saint before he ascended the throne.

Its importance can be imagined.

However, the sage chose a state from his former fiefdom and gave it to Lou Yu, which shows how much the new king liked and valued Lou Yu.

Lou Yu, before even returning to Beijing, had already become the hottest new upstart in the capital!

The situation of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion is somewhat delicate.

Duke Anguo Lou Jin was the late emperor's confidant. However, as the late emperor moved to the Daming Palace, his confidants were either questioned, dismissed from office, had their property confiscated, or defected to a new master.

There are also some confidants who, for various reasons, have not been liquidated, but are not reused either.

Being sidelined, excluded, and left on the bench... Lou Jin is one of them.

All the soldiers under his command were deceived by the unfilial son.

As a general, if he has no soldiers, he will be a commander without troops.

After the old sage abdicated, the court underwent a round of purges. Even if Lou Jin could still stand in the first row, he was just a decoration.

It is just a name, but no real power.

The saint did not settle accounts with Lou Jin, but was very polite to him.

However, Lou Jin still felt the sadness and loneliness of the collapsed building and the fallen trees.

The Anguo Mansion, which was so prosperous and bustling a few days ago, suddenly became deserted.

The Anguo Mansion must be thankful that the mutiny was over and many families were punished. Every day, there were powerful people being questioned and their property was confiscated.

The silence of the Duke of Anguo's Mansion was not so conspicuous.

After all, no matter what, Duke Anguo was not like other confidants of the former emperor, who had their property confiscated and were exiled. He was still Duke Anguo and the general!

At most, he is not as glorious as the confidants of the King of Qi.

Those brave generals and counselors who followed the King of Qi suddenly became the new elites that all the families and forces in the capital vied to make friends with and curry favor with.

As one grows stronger, the other declines; the east wind prevails over the west wind.

The decline of the Anguo Mansion seemed so natural.

Without the support of noble ladies, Dugu couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and filled with endless regret and self-blame.

"My dear, it's all my fault! It's me, it's me--" How stupid!

She thought they were just two old things locked in the warehouse, not military tokens, so she lent them to her son.

How could she have imagined that with just a set of armor and a long spear, A Yu could deceive a hundred thousand soldiers.

What Dugu had never expected was that Lou Yu would actually plot against her.

He is only fourteen, oh no, he is fifteen this year.

Although he has grown up, he is still a young man after all.

A teenager actually dared to take advantage of his mother's guilt and cheated the Lou family's army away.

He, he even went to the battlefield!

Nothing will happen to him, right?

He has been studying all these years.

Can he, can he command those brave generals of the Lou family to resist the brutal Turkic cavalry?

Dugu did blame Lou Yu for being an unfilial son, but she was also worried about her son.

After all, he was her own flesh and blood, and she had owed him for many years—

Wait, Lou Yu said that day that as long as she lent him the Lou family heirloom, neither of them would owe each other anything.

Don’t owe each other anything?

what!

What a good thing that we owe each other nothing!

She is his biological mother and has given him the grace of giving birth to her. How can she just say that they “don’t owe each other anything”?

...Dugu was probably too provoked. He was not a smart person to begin with, and after the incident, his mind was full of messy thoughts.

When I was talking with Lou Jin, my thoughts went astray.

He says whatever he thinks of, and whatever he says becomes distorted.

Facing such a wife, Lou Jin remained exceptionally emotionally stable.

The reason is simple. Ever since he met Jiaojiao, he knew that this woman was a simple and kind person.

And what he liked was Jiaojiao's fragility and inability to take care of herself.

She was like a dodder, clinging tightly to him.

He was the only one in her eyes and heart.

Jiaojiao's biggest and only act of rebellion was her escape that year.

The reason she ran away was because she believed Mrs. Cui's nonsense.

From then on, Lou Jin knew that Jiaojiao was easy to deceive and would believe what others said.

But he just likes it.

Therefore, when the Dugu family used Jiaojiao as bait to lure him into the emperor's camp, he knew it was a conspiracy by others, but he was still willing to join the game.

This time, it was because of Dugu that Lou Jin fell into his current embarrassing situation, but he still did not blame Dugu.

Why blame her?

That's just the way she is.

But he still put his life and property in her hands.

It was Lou Jin's fault that he was plotted against.

Furthermore, this is not necessarily a "calculation" -

Even if Lou Yu was adopted, he was still Lou Jin's son.

Lou Yu's closeness to the Qi Wang family was also Lou Jin's plan.

Now, Lou Yu is plotting against his own father for the sake of King Qi, but Lou Jin doesn't really care at all.

The meat is rotten and is also in the pot.

The King of Qi, to whom Lou Yu was loyal, ascended the throne. Lou Yu will surely have a bright future, and this glory still belongs to the Lou family!

"I don't blame you. You have a kind heart, so that bastard took advantage of you!"

Lou Jin curled the corners of his lips and reached out to hold Dugu's hand.

She is a woman in her thirties, having given birth to three children, but she still has a cute face, clear eyes, and a naive innocence of the world.

She is delicate and beautiful, and her every frown and smile can touch his heart.

Dugu originally had a frown on her face, a bitter expression on her face, and tears welled up in her eyes, but she immediately calmed down after hearing Lou Jin's comfort.

A pair of beautiful fox eyes, without any charm, only intelligence: "My dear, really? You, you don't blame me!"

"Of course I won't blame you! If you want to blame someone, blame that little bastard!"

Although young, he is very brave, worthy of being Lou Jin's son!

Haha!

Well done!

If Lou Jin were Lou Yu, he would do the same.

However, Lou Jin was not sure whether he could be as decisive and brave as his son when he was fourteen years old.

This kid, like him, has a ruthlessness in his bones, just like a wolf in the wilderness.

He had already become a famous scholar's disciple and a well-known talent, but he was still planning to lead troops to fight.

In Lou Jin's opinion, it was very easy for Lou Yu to borrow the Lou family heirloom from Dugu.

After all, Jiaojiao is too easy to fool.

Moreover, the Lou family heirloom is not really omnipotent.

If Lou Yu did not have real ability and could not truly convince and intimidate the arrogant and powerful generals of the Lou family army, he would not be able to mobilize the army even if he had the tiger talisman.

Lou Jin knows the soldiers he brought with him well.

Lou Yu must have demonstrated enough strength and charm to impress those veteran soldiers who had been through many battles.

The Ming Guang Armor and Fang Tian Ji, inherited from the Lou family's ancestors, are nothing but dead objects.

The one who really made a difference was Lou Yu himself.

This kid——

Pity.

He was destined to have no chance with the Lou family army.

In other words, there will no longer be the Lou family army in the future dynasty.

This was not the first day that Lou Jin knew Yang Chong. He had followed Yang Chong since the uprising.

Yang Chong was a natural born king, with extraordinary wisdom and military genius.

He himself is an invincible general. When he sits on the throne in the future, he will not worry about his subordinates being "more successful than him" like the previous emperor did.

Haha, Yang Chong himself is the greatest contributor to the Dayu Dynasty.

No one can match his military achievements.

He has nothing to fear, and he won't have to hide his bow after the bird is dead.

However, Yang Chong would not kill meritorious officials, but he would not allow the existence of the so-called "X Family Army".

All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the soldiers in the world can only be surnamed Yang.

The Lou family army will not be destroyed, but it will no longer be as famous as it was in the past.

Even if Yang Chong did not take action, Lou Jin would take the initiative to hand over the military power at some appropriate opportunity.

He will continue to lead troops to fight, but he will not have a 100,000-strong Lou family army.

And Dugu clan, although it would indeed bring him trouble, it could also provide him with a certain degree of protection.

A man who does not take care of himself and is obsessed with beauty will most likely not have any "big ambitions".

There is no need for Lou Jin to deliberately defame himself, as he is the confused person that many people believe he is.

He has the title of founding county duke and the official position of general, which is already the pinnacle of his career.

The subsequent wealth and splendor of the Lou family were the responsibility of Lou Yu.

With the support of Lou Jin, Lou Yu will surely make the Lou family prosperous and become a prominent family.

Soon, Lou Jin's expectation became a reality——

At the young age of fifteen, Lou Yu was granted the title of Duke of Qi, breaking the age record of founding fathers in the Dayu Dynasty and even in the past few hundred years.

As expected, the Lou family did not decline.

Dugu was also extremely happy when she heard the good news.

She forgot her resentment towards her son and began to regard herself as the mother of the Duke of Qi.

Dugu even began to think: A Yu is fifteen years old and has established a career, so it’s time for him to get married.

There are many virtuous ladies in the capital, and there are also many young noble ladies of the same age as A Yu.

There are even noble ladies from the royal family and clan... Well, I have to make a careful consultation for A Yu and choose a bride for him that is perfect in every way.

……

In July, Lou Yu's army returned to the capital.

Lou Yu did not rush to the Duke of Anguo's Mansion to return the things, but went to the palace first to pay homage to the saint and the prince.

"Get up, we are not outsiders."

The saint was very happy to see the heroic young man.

He waved at Lou Yu, motioning him to come over and sit down.

Lou Yu stood up, looked at the saint, then looked at Crown Prince Yang Rui who was sitting below him, then respectfully came over and sat down below Yang Rui.

The saint said "not an outsider", but he really didn't regard Lou Yu as an outsider.

In other words, the matter he wanted to discuss with the prince happened to be related to Lou Yu.

"That girl, Ajiu, has indeed made great contributions. And A Jiang is most worried about her——"

The saint continued with the previous topic.

When Lou Yu heard the word "Ajiu", his eyes lit up.

Fat girl?

The saint wants to reward the fat girl?

Concubine Jiang had become Imperial Concubine Jiang, and Lou Yu had heard of her reputation as the new emperor's favorite concubine even when he was in the border town.

Love the house and love the dog. Even if it is just for Concubine Jiang, the saint should give the fat girl a title.

Not to mention, the fat girl has her own contributions, and she also has a brother like Lou Yu.

Seeing Lou Yu's expression, Yang Rui smiled, "Aye is right, I also think Ajiu should be rewarded."

Even if you don't consider Concubine Jiang's face, you should still consider Lou Yu.

This kid would mention Wang Heng in nine out of ten letters written to him.

Yang Rui naturally knew his little thoughts.

Well, seeing how hard Lou Yu worked, Yang Rui not only did not remonstrate with the Saint's partiality, but instead gave him a push:

"Just make her a princess, and give her the title Langya!"