British Mansion

When Cao Yuanjiang came out of the old Guogong's office, he saw three young people coming over with a smile and a straight mouth.

These three people are Cao Yuanjiang's three younger brothers - the sixth brother Cao Yuanlang, the seventh brother Cao Yuanchao, and the eighth brother Cao Yuantao.

Lao Guogong only has two sons in his life, the eldest son died early, did not leave a bloodline, the second son of the British prince, that is, Cao Yuanjiang's father, gave birth to eight sons, according to the name are rivers, rivers, lakes, seas, waves, waves, tides, waves, and because this generation is a distant generation, so a far word was added in the middle.

These eight brothers, led by Cao Yuanjiang, joined the army one after another when they grew up, and gradually broke out some fames and became the Eight Tigers of the Cao family in Gyeonggi.

However, the eight tigers of the Cao family are of different ages, Cao Yuanjiang, who is the eldest brother, is forty-one years old this year, the second Yuanhe and the third Yuanhu are also nearly not confused, and the fourth and fifth are also over 30 years old.

Only the three brothers are the youngest, the old sixty-twenty-seven, the old seventy-twenty-two, and the youngest eighth Cao Yuantao is only nineteen years old, only three years older than the eldest brother Cao Yuanjiang's son.

It is precisely because of such a large age gap that Cao Yuanjiang is very spoiled by the three younger brothers and his son, and the three younger brothers also regard the eldest brother as their own father, several of them are called brothers, and the love is deeper than that of father and son.

Today, when Cao Yuanlang and the three of them saw that their eldest brother was promoted, they formed a group and came over to congratulate him.

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Although Cao Yuanjiang's personality is calm and dignified, he has been neglected by the imperial court for many years, and now he is suddenly reused, and he has an important position, and he is a little happy in his heart.

In front of his grandfather, the old man Cao Wei, he didn't dare to show his arrogance, for fear of being blamed by his grandfather, but looking at the young brothers in front of him who had grown up with one hand, he sincerely congratulated himself.

Cao Yuanjiang couldn't hold back the joy that had been suppressed for a long time, and showed a happy smile.

"You boys, I really don't know the severity, you haven't been on duty yet, you don't stay well, how dare you sneak back and let grandpa know that you have to be whipped."

Although Cao Yuanjiang's words were scolding, the smile on his face couldn't be suppressed at all, the Cao family brothers knew that he was not angry, and they didn't care, and they smiled and interjected a few words, and shouted for the eldest brother to treat him.

Looking at the younger brothers who were playing tricks, the smile on Cao Yuanjiang's face became softer and softer, and he said.

"Okay, wait for the third and fourth children to come back in a while, let's go to the champion building to get together, and I'll treat you."

The eight tigers of the Cao family, now only six are serving in the capital, the second Cao Yuanhe is the chief soldier of the first government in Gyeongju, and the fifth Cao Yuanbo is serving as a deputy general in a town guard in Jizhou.

Soon after, the third and fourth elders of the Cao family returned to the Guogong Mansion on duty, how to talk to the eldest brother Daoxi happily, seeing that the sky was slightly dark, Cao Yuanjiang sent someone to tell the old Guogong and his wife to go on a trip, and then took the five brothers to the Zhuangyuan Building.

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Champion Building

One of the top ten restaurants in the capital, in the time of Taizu, it was an ordinary restaurant, and later accidentally stumbled into a sick person when he tried the spring festival, and later this person raised the high school champion, and it was the first three yuan and the first since the Northern Jin Dynasty.

Champion Lang knew the grace of the newspaper, made a name for the restaurant in the capital, and said that the reason why he was able to be the champion of high school was because of the blessing of the restaurant, which caused many people to come to the restaurant to eat, in order to get the joy of the champion Lang.

Later, the owner of the restaurant took advantage of the heat and renamed the restaurant as Zhuangyuan Building, and held a special wedding banquet, known as Juxi Jifu, which completely made a name for itself in Gyeonggi.

Over time, the champion building has also become the number one choice for wedding banquets in the capital, and if there are any good things and happy events at home, they all like to get together in the champion building, which is considered to be auspicious.

Cao Yuanjiang was promoted today, and he held a banquet with his brothers in the family to celebrate, so he naturally listed Zhuangyuan Building as the first choice.

Because of the "koi" character set created by itself, the business is booming, and ordinary people can't find a way to eat here, that is, some big eunuchs have to book in advance if they want to hold a wedding banquet.

Cao Yuanjiang was born in the British government, and he himself is a general of Pingxijiang, and his status in Beijing is not low, so naturally there is no need to book in advance.

As soon as he showed up with his brothers, his own shopkeeper personally led Cao Yuanjiang and others into an idle private room, and then arranged for two clever guys to serve the food next to him.

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It didn't take long for the wine and food to be ready, and the six brothers began to eat, drink and laugh in the private room.

Cao Yuanhai, the fourth elder of the Cao family, served in the Jiumen Admiral's Mansion and was the commander of the Sipin Beijing Battalion, with tens of thousands of troops in his hands, and was the most prominent one of the Cao family brothers except Cao Yuanjiang.

Because there are a lot of subordinates, Cao Yuanhai has a wide range of contacts, and he is the most well-informed, at this time, when he was half drunk, he squinted his eyes and waved away the waiting guys, and his voice was lowered.

"Big brother, I heard that this morning, the ministers of the Imperial Study, for you, the frontier envoy Yamen, were arguing, and King Duan and King Jing's people were about to fight."

The third master, Cao Yuanhu, was in the forbidden army, and nodded when he heard the words: "I also heard that this morning, my subordinates were worthy brothers at the palace gate, and I saw King Jing's ugly face when they left the palace, and it seems that they suffered a loss in the imperial study." ”

Cao Yuanjiang frowned slightly, although he had the highest official position among the brothers, he had no real power in his hands, so he was not as sensitive to the news in the palace as the third and fourth children, at this time, he listened to what the two said, and secretly muttered in his heart.

His grandfather, Lao Guogong, was a veteran of the Three Dynasties and had been a general of the Northern Jin Dynasty for more than ten years, and his prestige and influence in the army were very wide, which caused Emperor Liyang, who had just ascended the throne, to be very jealous of the Cao family.

In order to protect himself, the old prince had to retire in advance, but he still did not dispel Emperor Liyang's scrutiny and vigilance of the Cao family.

Cao Yuanjiang, as the eldest grandson of the British princess, the three generations of the Cao family, was also implicated, although the official rank was repeatedly promoted, but there was no real power in his hands, but several younger brothers below him, although he did not rise high and fast, but from a lot of real power in hand.

Cao Yuanjiang originally thought that he would waste his life, just waiting for the future to inherit the British dukedom and wait for death with a false title, but he didn't want to be suddenly entrusted with a heavy task by Emperor Liyang for no reason today.

Before, he was patronizing and happy, and he didn't have time to think about it, but now that he calmed down, he immediately noticed that something was wrong.

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It stands to reason that the old prince is still alive now, and there is still a lot of influence on the army, Cao Yuanjiang is his designated successor, once he holds real power, those who gathered under the command of the Cao family at the beginning, thinking about the incense of the old prince, I am afraid that Cao Yuanjiang will not hesitate to take refuge and help.

At that time, it won't be long before Cao Yuanjiang will be able to re-knead the British public line, which was finally broken up by the imperial court.

Why did Emperor Liyang do such a thankless thing, if he really missed the old love and wanted to reuse the Cao family, he could wait for the old prince to die, and then let Cao Yuanjiang take charge of the army.

At that time, the old prince died, and he didn't press it, and those Cao family subordinates were at most helping, but eighty percent would not take refuge in Cao Yuanjiang.

Acting in this way will neither bury the talents of the Cao family, nor will it allow the British public family to reappear in the rivers and lakes, which is a safe policy for the imperial court.

Instead of now, deliberately promoting Cao Yuanjiang is not like reuse, but wants to use Cao Yuanjiang and the British public system to balance...... Or to suppress a certain force.

Cao Yuanjiang's face changed several times, and he didn't hide these words in his heart, but said them to several brothers, and now the faces of all the brothers in the Cao family sank.

"Driving wolves into tigers, Your Majesty is really a good means." Cao Siye gritted his teeth and snorted.

Emperor Liyang suppressed Cao Yuanjiang and promoted and reused the brothers under him, the original intention was to divide the feelings between their brothers, but he didn't want the Eight Tiger brothers to be friends and brothers, and they were very united.

At this time, listening to Cao Yuanjiang guessing Emperor Liyang's plan, the Cao family brothers, who had no good impression of Emperor Liyang because of their suppression of their eldest brother, could no longer hide the disgust in their hearts, and ridiculed loudly, and the sixth master Cao Yuanlang, who had a straightforward personality, scolded even more.

"I also said how he changed his temperament, is it possible to see the benefits of my eldest brother, I was waiting here, my grandfather was a general for three dynasties, and he worked all his life for their family, loyalty, birth and death.

Now he is calculating our brother like this, and in the future, under Jiuquan, I will see how he will explain to Taizu and the first emperor. ”

"Sixth brother, you've drunk too much."

The seventh master Cao Yuanchao was startled when he saw that his sixth brother was shocked, and hurriedly dragged Cao Yuanlang and covered his mouth, and the third master even took out a dagger directly from his boots, opened the door and looked around, and saw that there was no one around, so he put away his blade.

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"Sixth, be cautious outside, don't bring disaster to your family." Cao Yuanjiang looked at the sixth master Cao Yuanlang with a serious face, and warned in a cold voice.

Cao Yuanlang has always been bold, but he is very respectful and afraid of his grandfather and eldest brother, seeing Cao Yuanjiang's reprimand, he immediately became honest, covered his mouth and stopped talking.

At this time, Cao Yuantao, who had not spoken, finally spoke: "Big brother, who do you think Your Majesty wants you to deal with." ”

Cao Yuanjiang's eyes moved slightly: "I heard that my deputy envoy was added later, then it is estimated that His Majesty's purpose should be for me to balance Qi He and Yan Kui."

Among them, although Qi He is the main general, he has no substantive military power in the border army, and our family and the Qi family are also old acquaintances, and they have a lot of private contacts, Your Majesty should not rest assured that I will be confronted with Qi He, so my target should be Yan Kui. ”

"That's right."

Although the eighth master is young, his vision is very unique, and he reminded his eldest brother: "Yan Kui has risen in the frontier and has gone through several wars in the three provinces, not to mention the 80,000 horses under his command in Beiling, Nanling and Hongyang He also have a good influence.

If the Yamen wants to achieve something in the border army, Yan Kui, the deputy envoy, will never be able to get around.

Qi He is okay, he occupies the position of a main general, and Yan Kui is not easy to deal with him, but eldest brother, you are the same deputy envoy as him, and you have no military power in your hands, if you want to take some power from him, it is inevitable to fight him.

Yan Kui is very strong on the border, if the eldest brother is against him, he is likely to be suppressed by Yan Kui, if he wants to seize power, he must use the connections of the British Mansion, and then the British Duke will compete with Yan Kui, a new star in the border army, plus Qi He, the main general.

The three parties have their own advantages and disadvantages, and no one can dominate the border army, which is exactly in line with the needs of the imperial court. ”

Cao Yuanjiang listened to his eighth brother's analysis, his eyes flickered, it seemed that his trip to Xinjiang was not as smooth as he thought before............