The lobby of the back house.

Lu Yuan has been away from the house for nearly a month, but the room is still clean and tidy, needless to say, it is naturally Lu Yutong's credit.

Lu Yuan touched her little head to show approval, looked at Qin Youyu and said:

"There is one thing I haven't told you, in fact, Ning Guohou plans to abandon Tang and join Wu, this time he sent him silver, he has regarded me as a confidant, and I also participated in the discussion of military strategy, which is why I stayed in Ning Guo for so long!"

Qin Youyu didn't seem surprised, and said with a smile: "He really has different ambitions. ”

"How do you know?" Lu Yuan exclaimed, this is an important secret, if the imperial court also knows, Ning Guohou and himself have only a dead end.

"Don't worry, it was Qin Quan who told me, he was going to take refuge in Zhao Kuangyin, thinking that sooner or later he would fight with the Southern Tang Dynasty, so he decided to find out the deployment of the Southern Tang Dynasty's troops, and inadvertently found that the focus of Ning Guo's army deployment slowly shifted from Wu Yue to Jinling Mansion, and then he knew that Ning Guohou had different ambitions."

Lu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Right now, with Ning Guohou's forces staring at Sanzhou, the imperial court shouldn't be able to find anything, but we must also hurry up to strengthen our strength, otherwise once Ning Guohou makes a move, we will face a war." ”

Qin Youyu also realized the seriousness of the matter, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Lu, don't blame me for pouring cold water on you at this time, I don't think Feng Yanting can do anything." ”

"So what do we do if you want us to?" Lu Yuan didn't know that Ning Guohou would fail, but now that he was coerced by him, it was difficult to stay out of it.

Qin Youyu looked at Lu Yuan, his mouth opened a few times, but it was closed again, Lu Yuan saw her like this for the first time, and said slowly: "There is something to say, but it doesn't hurt to speak." ”

Qin Youyu lowered his head and said: "Right now, the best way for us is to report this matter to the imperial court, and the imperial court will not be able to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and it should not be again-"

"No! Although Ning Guohou is not a good person, he has always treated me well, how can I harm him behind his back! Lu Yuan shook his head and interrupted.

Seeing that Qin Youyu bowed his head and was silent, Lu Yuan walked up to her, put his arm on her shoulder and said:

"Yu'er, I know that according to your nature, you will never say such things for your own sake, you are dedicated to my own good, how can I not know, but even if we die, we must not do such a thing."

"But if you want to achieve great things, sometimes you have to give up something." Qin Youyu said quietly.

"I don't know, but as long as you give up the same, you will give up more and more, everything around you will be regarded as a bargaining chip, I am afraid that in the future I will become a person who can even give up the people I love around me." Lu Yuan said in a low voice.

Lu Yutong didn't understand anything else, only heard Lu Yuan want to give up the beloved around him, and shouted: "Brother, you can't abandon me." ”

"Don't worry, I won't abandon you." Lu Yuan touched her head and smiled.

With a relieved smile on his face, Qin Youyu said softly: "Brother Lu, you are right, if one day you really give up on me, I would rather die now." ”

Lu Yuan didn't say anything more, smiled and hugged her in his arms.

After a while, the two put away their emotions and continued to discuss, Qin You said: "Since Brother Lu doesn't want to turn his back on Ning Guohou, then we can only follow him to make trouble." ”

Lu Yuan said in a deep voice: "This can only be done, right now Ning Guohou has allowed me to form 5,000 soldiers, but we have to figure out our own way for the food and salary." ”

Qin Youyu said happily: "That's the best, there are five thousand soldiers and horses, you can do your best!" ”

"Can we afford to raise so many people now?" Lu Yuan asked.

Qin Youyu silently calculated for a moment and said, "Five thousand people will probably pay more than two thousand taels of silver a month, nearly a thousand stones of grain, adding up to about three thousand taels of silver. Counting the taxes just collected, there are nearly 10,000 taels in the county government treasury, and my younger brother and I have more than 6,000 taels of military salaries combined, which can last for nearly half a year. ”

Raising soldiers really wasted money, Lu Yuan sighed in his heart, and said: "The antique calligraphy and paintings in your bamboo house can be sold when you have time, and you should be able to sell it for another three thousand taels." In addition, all the silver in the public treasury should be exchanged for grain, and at least 10,000 stone of grain should be stored in the granary. ”

Qin Youyu nodded and wrote it down, and said with a smile: "You're hungry, I'll make you fried bamboo shoots!" ”

Lu Yutong hurriedly slid down from the chair and followed, "I'm going to make fried meat with bamboo shoots too!" ”

Seeing the two of them walking towards the kitchen, Lu Yutong also grabbed the front, and Lu Yuan had a smile on his face.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door and entered, but it was Sun Shaoqing and Qin Quan, Sun Shaoqing walked quickly to him, hugged his arm, and said with a smile: "Brother Yuan!" ”

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just haven't seen you for a long time, and I miss you a little." Sun Shaoqing said with a smile.

Qin Quan coughed a few times behind him and said, "Brother-in-law, sister-in-law of the Sun family." ”

Sun Shaoqing heard him call himself like this, and his heart was slightly happy.

"Brother-in-law, I want to ask you for someone." Qin Quan said.

"Who do you want?" Lu Yuanqi said.

"Come in!"

As Qin Quan's voice fell, a person walked in from outside the house, this person was extremely tall, and he had to lower his head before he could enter the door.

Lu Yuan saw that this person was quite familiar, and was thinking about where he had seen him, so he heard Qin Quan say: "This person's name is Chu Nu, and he was originally a horseman under the sister-in-law of the Sun family. ”

No wonder it looks familiar, isn't it Sun Shaoqing's groom? When he was recruiting family members in Sun's mansion, Sun Shaoqing's carriage came and went, and the coachman was tall and strong, this was the person, and he occasionally met a few times later.

"The 100 horses that the sister-in-law of the Sun family gave to the regimental training camp before were better than the horses I bought myself, so I knew that the Sun family had a master of horses." Qin Quan said with a smile, it was because of Sun Shaoqing's sending the horse that his attitude towards her changed greatly.

"Do you want him to help you raise horses?" Lu Yuan asked.

Sun Shaoqing thought to himself, no wonder he suddenly came to me and asked me to bring Chu Nu to see Brother Yuan, but I didn't expect that he actually wanted to accept Chu Nu under his command.

But for the sake of him calling himself a sister-in-law, I will answer him, Sun Shaoqing thought to himself, and said lightly: "Chu Nu, you will follow Captain Qin in the future." ”

Chu Nu looked at Sun Shaoqing in a daze, with a reluctant expression.

Sun Shaoqing smiled slightly, and comforted him with kind words: "If you raise horses well, it will be like serving me." ”

Qin Quan saw that the two of them had misunderstood, and said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, I didn't let him raise horses, I wanted him to be the head of the capital under me." ”

Sun Shaoqing looked at Qin Quan in surprise, she always felt that Chu Nu was just a horseman, could it be that he would still fight?

"As long as Qing'er agrees, I have no opinion."

"It's rare that Captain Qin can afford him, and I have no opinion." Sun Shaoqing smiled and said to Chu Nu: "Thank you Captain Qin yet!" ”

Chu Nu sighed secretly, it seemed that he was destined to be unable to escape from the battlefield, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Thank you Captain Qin." ”

Lu Yuan saw that Qin Quan was about to say goodbye and leave, and said, "Your sister is cooking in the kitchen, you can stay and eat together!" ”

Qin Quan smiled: "Thank you, brother-in-law." ”

Sun Shaoqing was shocked when he heard this, and asked, "Is she cooking in the kitchen?" ”

"yes, what's wrong?"

"Brother Yuan, you take me to the kitchen, and I'll make it for you." Sun Shaoqing snorted.

Lu Yuan smiled and said: "They are probably almost ready, I will taste your craft another day, this time I will sit honestly and wait for the food!" ”

Saying that, he moved the dining table to the middle, moved a few more chairs, and Qin Quan also went over to help him.

Sun Shaoqing thought that he had never cooked, and if he did it now, he would lose face, so it was better to go back and learn cooking skills and cook for Brother Yuan in the future, so he sat down honestly.

It didn't take long for Qin Youyu to enter the lobby with a plate of fried bamboo shoots in his left hand and a large bucket of rice in his right hand.

"Where's the rain pupil?" Lu Yuan asked.

"When she heard that there were guests again, she said she needed to cook more, and sent me to greet them." Qin Youyu said with a smile.

Lu Yuan laughed when he heard this.

After another half an hour, Lu Yutong was performing acrobatics, holding a plate of vegetables in each hand, and a wooden bucket on her head, bending her iconic braid.

Lu Yuan hurriedly stepped forward to help her pick up the rice bucket, and asked Qin Quan to call the father and son of the Hou family.

Qin Quan went to a trip, only saying that neither of them was at home, Lu Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, let's eat by ourselves." ”

"Chu Nu, you don't have to wait for me here, let's go eat out!" Sun Shaoqing commanded.

"What are you doing outside, let's eat together." Lu Yuan greeted.

Sun Shaoqing subconsciously resisted, she was born in a big business family and had a deep sense of hierarchy, but since Lu Yuan had spoken, it was not good for her to come against him, so she had to say: "Then you stay and eat together." ”

"Thank you, Miss." Chu Nu said in a low voice.

So Lu Yuan's family had a rare lively meal, Sun Shaoqing and Qin's sisters and brothers borrowed the dinner table, and the relationship grew by leaps and bounds, Lu Yuan drank a few glasses of wine with Qin Quan and Chu Nu, and Chu Nu gradually talked more.