Tuoba returned to the north of Daibei, how to appease Tuoba Beijin's dissatisfaction, there is no need to mention it.

At the beginning of August, as Xin Er's judgment, Huan Meng did not wait for the approval of the Jiangzuo court, and after going to the table of the Dao to cut down Shu, he set up troops and went to Shuzhong. Before Huan Meng sent troops, he first gave Dingxi to Dao Zhuwen, but he was not bold enough to use the name of the imperial court privately, but only asked Dingxi to send troops to assist in his own capacity.

Huang Rong and Zhang Gui had some small regrets, and they both said: "I knew that there was no imperial edict, and Huan Meng was defeating Shu, so the general could ignore it, and still attack Shuo!" ”

After receiving a conclusive military report that there were only about 20,000 Tang soldiers under the command of Huan Meng, and there were no more than 10,000 elite soldiers, the two regretted it even more.

Especially Huang Rong, he privately advised Xin Er: "Although Shuzhong has just gone through civil strife, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers who can fight, and the danger of choking the river, and it is also an enemy country. General, why don't you give up Shu, or capture Shuofang? ”

Xin Er rejected his suggestion, and Zhengse said: "If you don't believe in your words, you don't know what you can do!" I have agreed to assist Huan Gong in the war against Shu, how can I suddenly change when the matter is approaching?

"And I agreed to cut Shu, originally for my consideration of Dingxi. Compared with attacking Shuo, if Shu can be successful, it will be of greater benefit to my Dingxi. That is, the first battle could not destroy Shuzhong, and there was the main force of Huan Gong to attract Shu soldiers, at least our army could also defeat the three counties of Hanzhong, Zitong and Wenshan.

"In other words, even if Zitong and Wenshan cannot be defeated, I will concentrate my forces and give priority to capturing Hanzhong.

"Hanzhong borders Wudu and Yinping, and in the east of it, from this northeast to the top, two or three hundred miles is Xianyang, the capital of Puqin. As long as Hanzhong can be defeated, it will not only completely change the offensive and defensive situation between us and Qin, but also contribute to the stability of the three counties of Qinzhou, and will be able to carry out relatively smooth exchanges with Jingzhou and Jiangzuo through this place, which is also of great significance to the stability of the overall situation in Dingxi.

"Jing Huan, I will lead the troops south in a few days, you stay in Guyin, don't talk about military affairs, just guard me by the king's side!"

This time, the soldiers and horses who assisted in the felling of Shu, Xin Er, Lu Shuang, Pan Kuan and others discussed and decided to consist of three parts.

Part of it is the Linghu Qu Department of Qinzhou.

Part of it is the Koji Zhang and other departments that defend the southeastern counties, with Koji Lan as the general.

Some of them were transferred from the two divisions of Xin Er and Cao Fei in the Wangcheng garrison, including the Xianbei righteous servants of the bald and wild troops, the iron cavalry of Gao Yan Cao and other battalions led by Cao Fei, and the 2,000 foot soldiers of the Jian'er battalion.

The total is fifteen thousand soldiers and horses.

Tang Ai and Zhang Gui served as military staff officers.

Xin Er specially wrote a letter recommending Ling Hujing to join the army as a consultant, and asked him to also join the army.

Ling Hujing was not reluctant this time.

Because the reason why he suggested cutting Shu was to improve the mastery of military power by Ling Huqu, Fan Kuan and others, it can be said that the success or failure of cutting Shu was related to whether his idea could be achieved, so he readily accepted Xin Er's elimination.

Yang Chao, Yang Fu, Fu Qiao, Huang Rong, Yin Luo and other henchmen stayed in Wangcheng.

Yang Chao used the position of "recording affairs to join the army", whether he was an assistant or a surveillance, to help Yan Kuan deal with daily government affairs. Yang Fu stabbed the chief official to manage the security of Guyin. Fu Qiao used the book order to grasp the secrets; Huang Rong is a regular attendant and serves in the palace. Yin Luo used to test Cao Cao's history and control the promotion and dethronement of officials in the country.

With a few of them in the court, Xin Er can go out with confidence.

As for the military power of Wangcheng, Xin Er and Cao Fei both left about half of their own foot cavalry, which was enough to compete with the Koji Shuang Division.

After listening to Xin Er's lesson, Huang Rong no longer talked about giving up the idea of cutting down Shu and still attacking Shuo, and respectfully agreed.

After sacrificing and other military salutes, everything is ready, the day before the army, Xin Er was summoned to the palace, and resigned from Zuo.

Instead of meeting at the Four Seasons Palace, the Zuo clan summoned him to Lingjuntai.

Before Xin Er arrived, Zuo had been waiting in the small hall for a long time.

Xin Er had already disarmed and removed his sword at the palace gate, dressed in a pleated hakama, wore leather on his upper body, took off his boots outside the palace gate, and entered with white socks.

Zuo's pursuit of the "thrifty" policy, did not place ice cubes in the hall to cool off, but although it is a small hall, it is also quite spacious, and there is no one in the hall, it just rained a few days ago, the temperature is not high, the wind outside the hall blows in, but it is not hot.

Bow down.

Zuo said: "The general is now a courtier of the Son of Heaven, and he is no longer a courtier of my Dingxi Domain, so there is no need to make such a big gift!" ”

As usual, Xin Er meticulously carried out the etiquette.

He stood up, but unlike usual, he did not bow his head, but raised his head without respect, his eyes fell on Zuo's face, and said, "How dare the minister forget his roots!" One day as the queen mother, and the queen mother for life! ”

Zuo didn't know what he thought, he was a little shy, and said, "The general is really loyal!" ”

"The Queen Mother summoned her ministers, I don't know why?"

"You're going to go on the expedition tomorrow, I want to ask you, are you ready?"

The sacrifices and other military salutes have been performed, and the preparations for sending troops have of course been completed long ago.

Xin Er knew that the Zuo family had summoned him to the palace, not to ask about the preparations for sending troops, because he was not surprised by the Zuo family's question, and replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, everything is ready!" ”

Zuo saw that Xin Er wore two dang, the lower left position embroidered two peonies, one red and one purple, contrasting with each other, above the peony, obliquely opposite, is a black eagle with wings spread, peony embroidered very good-looking, lifelike, but the eagle is a lot more ugly, the wings are crooked, there is no divine horse. If you take this eagle down and show it to others, you are afraid that it will be mistaken for a sparrow.

Zuo couldn't help but smile and asked, "General, is the eagle you have on the two pieces embroidered by God?" ”

Xin Er secretly raised his thumb and thought to himself: "In the end, I often see Shenai and know her craftsmanship!" ”

He replied helplessly, "The Queen Mother's eyes are like torches, and they are indeed embroidered by God's love." Every time the minister goes out to fight, Jia Luo has to use cooked cowhide to make two hands for the minister. These two dang are made by Jia Luo himself, and these two peonies are also embroidered by Jia Luo himself. God loved to see it, said that flowers and plants, no manhood, and said that the minister's expedition this time was to fight for the country, and he should have to carry the clouds into the sky, capture rabbits and foxes, and extinguish the rebellious will, so as to add an eagle to the minister. It's embroidered like this. The minister didn't want to wear it, she forced the minister, she couldn't wear it. But it made the Queen Mother laugh. ”

Zuo Shi was envious, and said: "When I married God's love to you, God's love was still young and reluctant, and I told her that the general is a benevolent person and will not treat her badly." And the general and God love each other, and the husband and wife are happy, which is really enviable. The next time God loves to enter the palace, I will ask her face to face to see if she is still willing or not? Do you want to thank me? As he spoke, he pursed his lips and smiled.

Xin Er said: "The minister is seven or eight years older than Shenai, just let her more." Glancing at the palace maid and eunuch at the entrance of the hall in the distance, he took two steps forward, took a speech, and said softly, "God's love is delicate and savage, and the queen mother's gentleness and generosity, graceful demeanor, she is far beyond her reach." The minister had the audacity to beg the queen mother to give her some parables when she summoned her again. ”

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Zuo seemed to have plucked up courage, his eyes were like horizontal waves, and he said, "General, please come closer." ”