The Xie family, who held high positions, were able to guard Jianzhang Palace and dared to disregard its authority when angry. If the marshal hadn't returned to the palace, these people would likely have been transferred away by the clan under some pretext to receive rations elsewhere, rather than being executed directly.
"Go down." Xie Lanzhi knew the internal situation of the Xie family. It would be difficult to change the current structure in a short time.
Xie Jun left.
Xie Lanzhi then opened the little phoenix's folded booklet.
I intend to establish a department responsible for overseeing investigations, accepting imperial orders, and patrolling to apprehend criminals. It will be a directly subordinate agency of the Emperor.
It is called the Western Guard!
Xie Lanzhi: "......"
Little Phoenix wants to create the West Factory?
Although the Western Guard and the Western Depot differ by only one character, their power structures are essentially the same; they are practically the same thing.
She probably didn't teach Little Phoenix this, so it must have been created by Little Phoenix herself!
Perhaps it was her heavy reliance on the Censorate that inspired Little Phoenix.
Establishing the Western Garrison was indeed in line with the methods of a feudal emperor. Xie Lanzhi harbored complex feelings; she should have sensed it long ago, as she remembered much from the time she was taught, especially the point about not being detached from the masses.
She used it perfectly.
For example, Zhang Changle, a son of a concubine in the Zhang family, had a low social status, but despite his courage and resourcefulness, he had no opportunity to rise in the ranks. The new Xie army of Jianzhang Palace were all from the poor lower classes of the Xie family.
The top scholar in the imperial examination was also a son of a concubine, while the second and third place scholars came from the lower classes.
Unbeknownst to many, she had already been laying the groundwork for her own network of influence, not only through Zhang Changle, but also through other means. It was just that Little Phoenix chose to unleash her power on Zhang Changle.
Xie Lanzhi was both worried and gratified that such efficiency had allowed them to seize so much power in just one year.
Perhaps she should let her go out and explore on her own. Only by falling and learning from her mistakes can she accumulate experience for governing more quickly.
Xie Lanzhi delegated authority appropriately. She wrote the character "允" (allow) with a vermilion brush.
With the memorial now out, new policies will likely emerge in the area soon.
Wu Qiu entered at the opportune moment: "Marshal, the General's wife, Madam Wang, has arrived."
Xie Lanzhi put down the cinnabar brush and asked curiously, "Didn't I tell you to find some people with experience in disciplining children?"
The person they invited was actually Xie Guang's wife. Considering Xie Guang's two precious daughters, one a troublemaker and the other eloped, he and his wife didn't seem like well-behaved parents at all.
Wu Qiu didn't know why the marshal wanted to summon a married woman, so he could only compromise and ask the general's wife.
"Actually, Madam Wang also has two daughters, both of whom are outstanding women." Wu Qiu quickly ran out of fabrications.
Xie Lanzhi twitched her lips: "Wu Qiu, you can't lie through your teeth. If you didn't understand what I meant, you should have asked me back then."
Wu Qiu clasped his hands in apology: "Your subject is guilty."
"Never mind, it's just a small matter. Go ahead and do your work," Xie Lanzhi dismissed him. After Wu Qiu left, he also informed Wang Shi to go in.
Madam Wang entered, bowed slightly, and said, "Madam Wang greets the Marshal."
Xie Lanzhi had a chair brought over and said, "Please sit down."
Wang sat upright in her chair. Her gentle and virtuous demeanor made Xie Lanzhi somewhat suspicious. Thinking of the slap on Xie Guang's face, she thought to herself, "You really can't judge a book by its cover."
"What instructions does the Marshal have to enable the Wang family to serve you?"
Wang was generous and straightforward; she was the one who presided over the investiture ceremony for Little Phoenix at Chenxiang Mansion. Therefore, her first impression of her was quite good.
Unexpectedly, she would need to trouble her again this time.
Xie Lanzhi decided to give it a try.
She directly voiced all her worries about raising children, and how parents deal with their children's rebellious phase.
After listening, Wang did not answer first, but instead asked Xie Lanzhi a question: "Marshal, what is your relationship with the person you mentioned? Or when did you adopt a goddaughter?"
"This is a major event, why wasn't the clan informed?"
Xie Lanzhi was taken aback by the question and fell into deep thought. Yes, Wang was right. Had she missed the point?
Wang added, “Raising children is a woman’s nature, and children who grow up with their mothers from a young age will become more dependent on them.”
Xie Lanzhi didn't want to expose her problem with Xiao Fenghuang first, so she used other people as an example.
She said, "He's my brother-in-law. He's sixteen years old now, and he'll be of legal age in a few years."
"I'm sure you're aware of that child's personality, so when he reaches that age where he won't listen to anything and insists on doing things his own way, how should I deal with him? Or how should I teach him?"
The more Wang listened, the more convinced she became that the Marshal wasn't talking about the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince had been somewhat eccentric before the New Year, but since being punished with planting sweet potatoes along with Shang Guang, he had become much more humble. Even Shang Guang had changed considerably. He was definitely not the headstrong, rebellious type the Marshal described.
Wang was clever and didn't expose her. She replied to Xie Lanzhi, "Then Wang should first tell the Marshal about her own family situation. Wang's eldest daughter has been a bit spoiled since she was little, and her second daughter is also a bit spoiled."
“But the Xie family teaches their children by sending them directly to the military camp for training. After three to five years, no matter how unruly they were before, as long as they go to the military camp, they will definitely change their spoiled nature.”
They threw the man into the military camp.
On her throne, Xie Lanzhi imagined throwing the little phoenix into the military camp for training, only to have him emerge with a bronze physique and muscles, pointing a spear at her face. Full of arrogance, he declared war on her: "Lanzhi, taste my spearmanship!"
She couldn't help but tremble, pulling her hands into her sleeves and curling herself up into a ball. Even though it was a hot day, she still felt goosebumps.
This approach is completely unsuitable for Little Phoenix.
Little Phoenix was always a competitive person. She quickly learned to strategize and plan, and as for martial arts... she was already skilled in riding and archery. She had some martial arts skills. However, in the past two years, she had focused more on civil and political pursuits, so aside from archery, she rarely had any opportunity to use her martial arts.
"No. Is there anything else?" Xie Lanzhi shook her head.
At this moment, Madam Wang finally guessed who the marshal's adopted daughter was. It was that young mistress!
This mistress is extraordinary; she's completely different from the Xie family women.
The women of the Xie family were polarized: some served in the inner quarters, while others fought on the front lines. It could be said that the Xie women had a clear division of labor; those in the inner quarters would not interfere in the front, and those in the front would not meddle in the affairs of the inner quarters. Therefore, the Xie women, working together from both inside and outside, kept the Xie men firmly under their control.
Even at her worst, she'd be locked in a fierce battle with her volatile husband, neither side gaining the upper hand.
This mistress, who was supposed to manage the inner quarters, had extended her influence to the front quarters. Xie Shi should have opposed and impeached her for overstepping her bounds. However, Xie Shi mostly refrained from doing so because the simple rule that the inner quarters should not be involved in politics couldn't effectively restrain her like shackles.
Conversely, Xie Shi also had people she recruited and heavily relied upon in the Nine Jin, so Xie Shi's reputation was polarized, with some agreeing and others opposing. Every time the topic of the matriarch interfering in politics was discussed, someone would respond to the questioning by referring to her status as Princess Fengning and the ruler of the Nine Jin. So, over time, this deadlocked topic was rarely mentioned within the clan anymore, because bringing it up again would not yield any results.
Furthermore, since the matriarch did not interfere in the Xie clan's affairs, nor did she infringe upon the Xie clan's main interests, there was absolutely no reason to punish her.
As a result, the current mistress has become a mistress with real power. With court officials following her, she has become half the mistress of Tianjing. The Xie family dares not provoke the mistress.
Wang said, "Marshal, if she were a clever daughter, perhaps you wouldn't need to educate her at all, and you shouldn't interfere in her affairs every time."
Xie Lanzhi was very puzzled: "Why?"
Wang said, "Children of this age are all stubborn. If they want something, they will chase after it with all their might until they get it."
She knows that.
Is there anything else?
Wang said, "If it's the child the marshal wants to teach, perhaps you shouldn't treat her as a child anymore."
Xie Lanzhi felt that this sentence was the key. She had already quietly taken one hand out of her sleeve, picked up the cinnabar pen, and started to record on the Xuan paper under the folded paper.
Wang pretended not to see her little trick and said, "There are many ways for husband and wife to get along. For example, Lao Xie and I grew up together, and I know Lao Xie's personality very well."
“I can guess what he’s thinking, so he’s never hiding anything from me. However, there are times when I can’t see through him, not because I don’t understand him well enough, or because he’s changed.”
"Because I feel uneasy if I'm even slightly ignorant about him, we usually argue in these situations. But as we argue, we suddenly see things clearly and then make up."
Xie Lanzhi stared wide-eyed, looking fierce and menacing, but her hands were busy writing down every word Wang Shi said, just like a studious child.
Ms. Wang deliberately slowed down her speech: "Even husband and wife have little secrets. New little secrets can be found between husband and wife, but old ones can be exposed."
“Every time Lao Xie and I argue, it's because of the little secrets he keeps. Although I always find out they're nothing serious, I'm still very angry at the time. After the anger subsides, I realize that Lao Xie has always been a person with principles and wouldn't do anything out of line. Then I can understand him again.”
Xie Lanzhi's eyes shone brightly this time. Yes, Little Phoenix is also a very serious person who adheres to her principles.
So, during this time, Little Phoenix also had her own little secret? She suddenly felt an urge to know this little secret.
Wang then added, "Finally..."
Xie Lanzhi wrote these four characters exactly as they were written on the Xuan paper.
Changing the subject, Wang suddenly said, "The life between husband and wife also needs to be kept smooth so that the yin and yang of the backyard and the front yard can be balanced."
Xie Lanzhi paused in her cinnabar brush, her ears suddenly turning red. This small reaction caught Wang's eye, and she immediately swallowed what she was about to say, then focused on explaining some things to Xie Lanzhi.
Wang said in a low voice, "Even if I haven't made any mistakes and my wife hasn't encountered any troubles, she is still very irritable and behaving abnormally. Her behavior is not like usual."
"If she makes affectionate gestures and speaks to her husband, that should be a signal between the couple."
Husband...a signal between husband and wife. Xie Lanzhi's face turned as red as a tomato, but then she remembered how she hadn't understood Little Phoenix's hint. Suddenly, alarm bells rang in her mind—it's all over!!
Lady Wang had long seen that the Marshal was a man of few desires, and that he had almost no entertainment outside of the military camp and the imperial palace. Moreover, she had been a high-ranking figure since childhood, and had very few close female relatives around her. No one had taught her about matters between men and women, and the only thing she had learned was about menstruation.
The only woman he had was the mistress. So before the mistress became his woman, the marshal was like a clueless... novice.
“If I fail to satisfy my wife, then I start to lose all sense of right and wrong in these matters.”
The most difficult things to handle are those where there's no right or wrong to distinguish. Because once you get angry, it can go on and on.
Little Phoenix is an extremely restrained person. Even if her thoughts are not discovered, she will endure them. If she happens to encounter something that needs to be dealt with, she will channel all her energy into other areas.
Suddenly, images flashed through Xie Lanzhi's mind: Little Phoenix circling her chest with his fingertips, hugging her waist, and snuggling into her arms to sleep at night.
Also, because of the weather, even when the little phoenix snuggled into her arms, she would complain that it was too hot...
Little Phoenix's tone was cold and sarcastic at the time.
Her cold demeanor was even chillier than the winter weather.
A bolt from the blue struck her head suddenly, and her belated reaction left her stunned on the throne.
Wang thought to herself, "Just as I thought. It seems it's time for the Marshal... to become more like a righteous person. Maybe that way he'll be more approachable in the future."
It's often said that after starting a family and establishing a career, both men and women undergo a dramatic transformation, becoming more stable and worldly-wise. The former marshal was extremely tyrannical, so tyrannical that all he cared about was the battlefield; now, the marshal has finally changed, understanding the importance of family.
Wang looked at Xie Lanzhi with increasing respect, like an elder. She kindly reminded her, "Marshal, Wang doesn't understand how women stay together for life. I think it's similar to that of ordinary couples, perhaps with some differences, but the feelings are the same. If you really want to... you might as well put more effort into this aspect in the future."
"After all, a marriage can't be maintained solely by feelings. Doesn't that make the lady... too pitiful?"
"The call between men and women may be merely for procreation, but love is always uncontrollable. It is hard to resist."
These words kept echoing in Xie Lanzhi's mind, inspiring her like a divine revelation. Wang Shi, unaware of when, quietly withdrew from the hall.
Inside the hall, Xie Lanzhi stood there, stunned and unable to snap out of her daze for a long time.
Until Wu Qiu came in carrying a pile of folded documents, all of which were recently piled up and needed to be processed.