The First Family of the Red Mansion

Chapter 5 The Founding Emperor, Suspected Transmigrator

"The four courtyards at the back, the East Courtyard is arranged for the heir of the Rongguo Mansion, that is, Master She."

"The West Wing Courtyard is for the future residence of the Duke of Rong's other descendants. The courtyards behind the Central Wing Courtyard are where the Duke of Rong and his female relatives live, where they are taken care of by maids and servants..."

With Jia Dun's explanation, Liu Hu also understood the layout of the entire Rongguo Mansion. According to the rules, all unmarried children of the Rongguo Mansion would live in the Rongguo Mansion, and the heir would live in the East Wing Courtyard after he grew up.

When the other sons grew up but were not yet married, they would temporarily live in the West Courtyard. After they got married, they would move out. The legitimate sons would be arranged to live in other courtyards next to the Rongguo Mansion, while the illegitimate sons would be arranged to live in a courtyard across the street.

The three courtyards are connected by a moon gate, while the front and back courtyards are separated by a hanging flower gate.

Jia She, the heir of the Rongguo Mansion, was already thirteen years old at this time, although he was not yet married. He was also a companion to the Crown Prince and had moved to the East Wing Courtyard.

The second son, Jia Zheng, is still with his parents and is being taught elementary education by Lady Rongguo because he is not yet of age to be tutored by a tutor and prefers literature to martial arts.

Lady Rongguo was the eldest daughter of the founding Marquis of Baoling and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. She came from a traditional scholarly family and had a great fondness for Jia Zheng, who loved literature, since he was a child. Therefore, she did not send him to the clan school, but instead kept him by her side and personally nurtured him.

The youngest son and the eldest grandson are the old woman's lifeblood.

This is probably why, after Jia Daishan's death, Grandmother Jia favored the second branch of the family.

Moreover, in Grandmother Jia's eyes, only the son born to Jia Zheng was her eldest grandson, which is why she loved Jia Baoyu so much and truly regarded him as her lifeblood.

After arranging accommodations for Liu Hu in the front yard of the West Wing, Jia Dun took him to the West Wing. The guards only came to the West Wing when they were resting; otherwise, they were either on duty or training in the East Wing.

No wonder Liu Hu heard faint snoring from several rooms earlier; those were probably his personal guards resting.

Even though the west courtyard was already quite spacious, it was only after arriving at the central courtyard that Liu Hu truly appreciated the grandeur of the Rongguo Mansion.

Liu Hu estimated that the west side of the courtyard was about fifty meters wide, while the central courtyard was twice the size of the west side.

Liu Hu also saw the three-bay gate with animal head decorations, but unfortunately he couldn't see it from the outside. From inside the courtyard, it just seemed a little wider and taller.

As for the two lions in the original work that had been clean for a hundred years, Liu Hu regretted that he had not been able to see them.

Upon reaching the central courtyard, they finally saw the other guards. A dozen or so guards, clad in armor and with swords at their waists, walked along the stone path in the courtyard.

Aside from glancing at Liu Hu at the beginning, he stopped paying attention to the two after seeing Jia Dun. Throughout the entire process, apart from the clanging sound of armor plates colliding, there was not a single other sound.

As Liu Hu continued forward, he discovered that in addition to the armored soldiers, there were also soldiers in armor holding halberds standing at each intersection.

Seeing Liu Hu's curious expression, Jia Dun explained, "The central courtyard is where the main family members of the Rongguo Duke's mansion live, so there is always a captain leading a team to guard it. Moreover, if distinguished guests come, it will not be a loss of face."

"Then the East Wing and the West Wing..."

Before he could finish asking, Liu Hu laughed. Those soldiers in the West Wing were resting, not dead.

If a bodyguard doesn't even have this much awareness, he might as well go home and take care of his children.

As for the East Wing Courtyard, that's where the personal guards train. What could possibly drive a villain to do that?

Looking at the Rongguo Mansion now, so orderly and heavily guarded, and thinking about what would happen to it later, Liu Hu couldn't help but sigh: "The world changes so easily, things can rise and fall in an instant, it's all just like that..."

Liu Hu had no intention of interfering with the Jia family's affairs. In Liu Hu's view, the Jia family had only themselves to blame for what happened later.

For the sake of our current relationship, we should take care of those innocent people in the Jia family later.

Before even reaching the East Courtyard, the rising and falling shouts could be heard through the moon gate.

As soon as Liu Hu entered the East Courtyard, his eyes lit up. If the scenery of the West Courtyard was as delicate and graceful as that of Jiangnan, and the scenery of the Central Courtyard was as majestic and grand as that of the Central Plains, then the East Courtyard was as vast and rugged as that of the North.

The front yard of the entire East Road is estimated to be 80 meters wide, and half the depth of the other two roads, estimated to be 100 meters.

There is a row of stables in the northeast corner, where more than a dozen horses are kept. In the northwest corner, there is a small gate connecting to the second courtyard of the central courtyard, but the gate is locked now.

There is a row of side rooms on the east side, and in front of them are rows of weapon racks, which are fully equipped with all eighteen kinds of weapons.

In the corner, there were stone weights of varying sizes, and a group of burly men dressed in thin clothes were slamming and wrestling them.

The large open space in the middle is where the personal guards practice riding, archery, and weapons on a daily basis.

It's not an exaggeration for Jadun to say that this is a small training ground.

"Commander Jia! And who is this?"

Just then, a burly man in his thirties handed his bow and arrows to someone next to him and looked at Liu Hu with a puzzled expression.

"Commander Sun, this man was personally summoned by the lord. We've arranged for him to train with us."

"Greetings, Commander Sun!" Liu Hu greeted, clasping his hands in greeting.

"Oh?" Commander Sun asked with a puzzled look, then asked with a suspicious expression, "What do you have that would make the commander take a liking to you?"

Liu Hu clearly sensed Sun Baihu's malice: "I haven't offended him at all!"

Although he was puzzled, he still respectfully replied, "This humble one does not know either."

"Alright, I don't care how you got in, but once you're here, you have to follow the rules."

"Sun Yijie, hand over the command of General Liu Hu to me. Stop being so arrogant."

Seeing that Commander Sun was not giving him face, Jia Dun also became impolite and glared at him angrily.

Upon hearing this, Sun Baihu's face turned pale and then red. He clenched his fists and then loosened them, repeating this several times. Finally, he took a deep breath, turned around, and left.

"What are you looking at? Get back to training! How are you going to protect your commander on the battlefield?"

After shouting a command to the soldiers watching the spectacle, Commander Sun snatched the bow and arrow from before and, as if venting his anger, fired at the target.

"Tch!" Jadun said disdainfully, "A bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong, a sycophantic scoundrel."

"Come on, let's go pick out some clothes first, and I'll take you to train after we finish eating."

They followed Jia Dun to a side room to pick out a set of clothes that no one had ever worn before, changed into suitable clothes, and then the two returned to the west courtyard.

"Thank you so much, Commander Jia, for taking care of me today!" Liu Hu said gratefully before returning to his house.

"Hehe!" Jadun waved his hand dismissively. "If you really want to thank me, just treat me to a meal sometime when you have time."

"Definitely!" Liu Hu assured him.

The house arranged by the Jia family was about 15 square meters. Although it was not big, it was enough for Liu Hu to live in alone. It was fully equipped with a table, chairs, bed and bedding.

Liu Hu quickly washed up and lay on the bed, reflecting on what had happened to him that day.

In my past life, I always criticized online novel authors for writing nonsense. How could an ordinary person who transmigrates end up getting entangled with this prince and that princess? It was all pure fabrication.

But when it comes to yourself, you realize that reality is often more fantastical than fiction.

He was just a farm boy who had transmigrated and only went out once, but he caught the attention of the Emperor and the Duke of Rongguo, and they refused to let him go back.

"Wow! So every time traveler is destined for great fortune?"

Although it deviated somewhat from my plan, at least I achieved my goal.

Although the meals prepared by the Jia family for their personal guards were simple, they were characterized by large portions and high oil content.

At first, Liu Hu felt embarrassed to take too much, but seeing that all the big men around him were eating happily and had no time to pay attention to others, Liu Hu simply started eating as much as he wanted.

After eating three times the amount of food others had, Liu Hu finally let out a satisfied burp.

It had been almost half a month since he transmigrated, and he finally had a full meal. The heartfelt satisfaction he felt made Liu Hu feel lighter and more energetic.

"You're a good kid, a promising talent."

A burly man in his thirties, wearing light armor, came over and patted Liu Hu on the shoulder a few times, saying with a smile.

"Zhang Manzi, don't bully the newcomer! This kid has been chosen by the lord!" Jia Dun, who was not far away, hurriedly came over and shouted after seeing the soldier.

"Hey, isn't this our Dun-ge'er? Which eye of yours saw me bullying someone? I just came over to say hello to this kid. I even praised him just now. You can ask him if you don't believe me."

Unlike Sun Yijie, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, the soldier did not care about Jia Dun's identity at all, and instead replied confidently.

Looking at his innocent expression, if it weren't for the pain in my shoulder and the oily handprints on his new clothes, I would almost have believed it myself.

Liu Hu grinned and nodded to Jia Dun.

This made the soldier standing nearby's eyes light up: "Commander Jia, why don't we let this kid join my team? He's just my type."

"Come on, it's no use telling me. The general only told him to train with us, he didn't say where he would be assigned. I can't make that decision."

"Liu Hu, hurry up and come with me after you finish eating. You don't know anything, so you should start practicing."

Liu Hu noticed that Jia Dun seemed a little afraid of this soldier and didn't want to stay by his side for long.

"Stay away from that Zhang Wannian from now on. That scoundrel is a real nuisance. He'll drive you crazy if he gets involved with you."

On the way to the training ground, Jadun muttered to himself, seemingly trying to justify his earlier behavior.

"Zhang Wannian is one of the three personal guards of the commander, besides me and Sun Yijie from before."

"That old scoundrel, relying on his good skills and being favored by the general, does all sorts of dirty tricks. I can't be bothered to lower myself to his level."

Jadun cautiously looked around, and seeing that no one was around, continued to speak in a low voice.

Liu Hu's eyes lit up: "That centurion is very capable?"

Jadun seemed a little unwilling, but a hint of admiration appeared on his face: "He's very powerful. In the entire Lantian camp, there are very few people who can beat him in a one-on-one fight."

"More than ten years ago, I followed the old Duke on a northern expedition to the grasslands. He once led three thousand cavalrymen and wiped out a 30,000-household tribe of the Tumed. Based on his military achievements, he should have been ennobled and appointed as a general long ago. Unfortunately, after the war, this old scoundrel secretly hid a Tumed chieftain's Khatun, which was exposed to Emperor Taizong."

"Although Emperor Taizong eventually bestowed the Khatun upon him, he could forget about any other rewards."

"hiss……"

Upon hearing Zhang Baihu's heroic deeds, Liu Hu couldn't help but gasp.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, having learned from the lessons of the Ming Dynasty, it was decreed that in the army, hoarding spoils and taking credit for others' military achievements were both punishable by death.

This Zhang Baihu was not only spared from being killed after hiding another Khatun, but Emperor Taizong even rewarded him with that Khatun. Just how much merit did this guy make?

"How do you compare to that centurion?"

Jia Dun stared at Liu Hu with a grim expression, and said somewhat awkwardly, "So-so, maybe 30/70."

That's not bad either. If Zhang Baihu is on par with Zhao, Guan, and Zhang, then Jia Baihu is at least on par with Gao Lan.

I just don't know how I'll be able to fight Zhang Baihu during the autumn expedition to the north!

Liu Hu followed Jia Dun to the drill ground with a heavy heart, but Sun Baihu was nowhere to be seen.

He instructed the others to continue training, then Jadun went into a side room and soon returned with a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"Do you know how to use it?"

This Liu Hu is really skilled. Although he only has a hunting bow at home, which is not as good as the military bow in Jia Dun's hands, and he only has three iron arrows.

But the original owner had at least practiced archery, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to go into the mountains with his father and brothers.

Hearing from Liu Hu that he knew how to use it, Jia Dun handed over the bow and arrows in his hand: "Want to try?"

Let's give it a try!

Liu Hu took the bow and arrow and found that it was much heavier than the hunting bow at home.

After raising the bow to get a feel for it, Liu Hu drew an arrow, held his breath, and fired at the target fifty meters away.

"Boom!"

Liu Hu looked at the target and secretly felt a pang of regret. Although the arrow hit the target, it didn't hit the bullseye.

"I'm still a bit rusty!"

"Tsk tsk!" Jadun clicked his tongue at this moment: "Not bad, the standard one-stone bow in the army hit the target on the first try."

"This thing is a one-stone bow, with a maximum force of a hundred jin, not a stone."

Hearing Jia Dun's praise, Liu Hu asked in surprise. Liu Hu knew from his intuition that this bow had at most a hundred catties of force, and definitely not a stone of force.

"That's right! Our dynasty stipulates that one hundred catties equals one shi." Jia Dun could tell that Liu Hu had misunderstood, so he explained.

"When Emperor Taizu came from humble origins, he understood the inconvenience caused by the chaotic weights and measures in various regions throughout history. So he ordered people to search for all the measuring instruments from past dynasties and stipulated that two Qin jin equaled one jin, one jin equaled ten liang, and one hundred jin equaled one shi."

"Then a pound of gold was used to make a six-sided square field (cube), with its edge length set at one inch, three li as one inch, ten inches as one foot, ten feet as one zhang, one hundred li as one step, and five hundred steps as one li."

"Use this as a custom-made product, and then distribute it widely throughout the world!"

Wait a minute, Liu Hu was a little confused at this moment. If he remembered correctly, two Qin jin were equal to one jin in his previous life, which was five hundred grams.

One week's jin is equivalent to one city jin in later times. That unit of length was based on a cube made of one jin of gold. So how much is one inch?

Then, ignoring Jia Dun beside him, Liu Hu squatted down and pointed to the ground: "The density of pure gold is 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter..."

Looking at the calculated results, Liu Hu couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be that Emperor Taizu was in the same line of work?"

If calculated in pure gold, the side length of this cube is 2.96 centimeters. However, due to limitations in smelting technology, the purity of gold at this time was approximately 90% to 95%.

The measurement standards of the Great Zhou Dynasty were already very close to those of later generations.

"My knowledge is still limited. If I knew more about the deeds of the founding emperor, I could be sure whether he was truly my colleague."