Tang Ai and Guo Daoqing went to the hall and sat down, and the dozen or so Nan'an County and county officials who came to celebrate Guo Daoqing's New Year were all officials of Nan'an, familiar with all aspects of Nan'an County and county affairs, and with Tang Ai's permission, they all entered the hall and sat down.

A general who was not tall, about seven feet, wearing a red pleated hakama uniform, and wearing a five-grade seal ribbon, hurriedly ran in from the outside with his legs, went to the front porch of the hall, bowed, and said loudly: "The last general, Cao Hui, the commander of Nan'an, greets the envoy!" ”

"Captain Cao, how did you get here?"

"The prince of the government sent the official to the house of the last general, and informed the last general, saying that the king was coming, so the last general hurriedly came. Failed to greet the envoy, the crime of the last general, dare to beg the envoy not to blame! ”

"Come in, you have to shout when you talk from afar, you have to talk hard, and I have a hard time listening."

Cao Hui put the saber on the Lan Qi in the corridor, took off his clothes and went to the hall, entered the hall, and saluted again.

Tang Ai stretched out the feather fan, pressed it down slightly, and said, "That's it, you can find your own couch to sit on." ”

Most of the couches in the hall are even couches, only three or four single couches, and there is still a place for even the couch, but the couches are already sitting at this time. Compared with the single couch, even the couch is second-class, and Gong Cao, who sat in Nan'an County, who was under Guo Daoqing, gave up the single couch he was sitting on to Cao Hui.

Gong Cao can be said to be the highest status among the officials of the county government, and he gave up his seat, and the other two Nan'an county officials who sat alone also hurriedly got up and gave up their seats, which affected the officials who sat on the couch.

By the time the officials in the hall sat down again, it had been a long time of commotion.

Guo Daoqing noticed that Cao Hui's face was flushed, the two of them were seated next to each other, and he smelled a smell of alcohol from him, knowing that he must have been drinking at home before he came, so he whispered: "Captain Cao, it's okay, right?" ”

"Huh? What the? …… Oh, no, it's not a good day, isn't it a positive day? The soldiers in my camp had to come home to greet me for the New Year, but I couldn't refuse, and I had no choice but to put some wine and food to entertain them. I didn't drink too much. Cao Hui turned to Tang Ai and asked with a stammering smile, "Envoy, what about the New Year's Day today, why did the prince come to the Dao?" The last general was sent to the state capital to congratulate the envoy on joining the army in the New Year, and dared to ask the envoy if he had seen it? ”

Tang Ai shook his fan and smiled: "I received your gift, I didn't see your joining the army." ”

"A little bit of a gift, not worth mentioning. The last general is worried, I don't know if the gift is in line with the king's intentions? ”

Tang Ai nodded and said in an appreciative tone, "He! I, the officials of the four counties of Qinzhou, and more than ten people who have received my secret order, you are the first one to do this, and you have done a good job, and the gift is very much in line with me. I've taken it. ”

However, the gift that Cao Hui gave to Tang Ai was not gold, silver and jewelry, nor Meiji Zhuangnu, but an official document written by Qin Guangzong, the assassin of Puqin Qinzhou. "Whoever can find Qin Guangzong's handwritten text for me, I will give a heavy reward", this is a secret order issued by Tang Ai not long ago to Guo Daoqing and other military and political chiefs in the four counties of Qinzhou, Guo Daoqing and other officials, especially Beigong Yue, Zhang Daochong, and Yin Luo, all of them are military and political in this county, and their subordinates are abundant, and the time they have been officials in Qinzhou is much longer than Guo Daoqing and Cao Hui, the newcomers, and the three of them have been more or less planted in the counties of Qinzhou in Puqin, but they have not yet been able to complete this order. No one could have imagined that Cao Hui would actually be ahead of them, and the first one to do Tang Ai's order.

Because this order is a "secret order", among the officials present in the hall, except for Tang Ai, only Guo Daoqing and Cao Hui know, so Cao Hui did not directly say what gift he gave; Since it is a "secret order", it means that Tang Ai does not want irrelevant people to know, and therefore, he did not directly say what gift he received. The two of them said a few words like a dumb riddle.

Not to mention that the officials in the hall were confused, Guo Daoqing knew what was going on, he understood Tang Ai's words, and unconsciously glanced at Cao Hui's eyes, and said in his heart: "This Cao Xianzhi!" When was this decree made? How? I'm General Ning Yuan, Nan'an Taishou, and in theory, I'm his superior, and he didn't give me a breath, so he presented it to the envoy silently! Although he was a little dissatisfied, he was not angry because of this.

Cao Hui's cheeks became more and more red, suppressed his smug mood, and pretended to be modest and said: "The last general is nothing more than luck, and he was the first to complete the envoy's order. ”

"But your military camp in Chiting is not to my liking."

Tang Ai's turn was slightly abrupt, Cao Hui fell, hurriedly put away his smile, stayed on the ground, worked hard to live in two lap legs, made a deep bow in a dignified manner, and said: "The last general is bold, dare to ask the envoy, where did the last general do wrong?" Please give me a sign, and the last general will change it immediately! ”

"As you just said, today is the New Year's Day, and you and other officials have holidays,...... The officers in your battalion have also gone to your house, and you have arranged for food and wine, but you have not heard the way of leading the soldiers, and you want to share weal and woe, but why don't you give the soldiers in your battalion a day off? ”

"Envoy, the last general is taking into account the newly acquired land of Nan'an, the east of Qin Lu is eyeing the tiger, Qin Guangzong these days, secretly sent a lot of scouts to Nan'an County, meticulous work, to spy on the reality of our county, and vainly try to provoke the rebellion of the Qiang in our county, the last general and Guo Fujun, Wang Hujun for several days, has captured several people,...... In the specific situation, the last general and others have also been entrusted to the envoy, so in order to prevent chaos in the county, the last general did not allow the soldiers in the battalion to take leave. The last general's move was to stabilize the county, and he dared to beg the king to take a closer look. ”

"You don't have to go into details, I know it, but this holiday still has to be put on for a day."

"Envoy, why is that?"

Tang Ai looked at the full hall of officials and said to Cao Hui, "You come close." ”

Cao Hui agreed, bent down and went to Tang Ai's couch.

Tang Ai covered half of his face with a fan, leaned into Cao Hui's ear, and said softly: "My Qinzhou and Qin Yu are two or three months short, and half a year long, there will be a big war, what are you most afraid of when you fight?" The rear is not unstable, and the interior is in turmoil. Qin Guangzong not only sent a wide range of meticulous work to infiltrate Nan'an and provoke Qianghu, according to the report of Beigong and Zhang Er Taishou, Qin Guangzong also used the clan children of Ran monks and slaves to infiltrate Yinping and Wudu, trying to provoke the remnants of the Ran clan in these two counties to revolt again. Instead of waiting for them to cause chaos when our royal division and Qin Lu are in a fierce battle, how can we tempt them to chaos first, and our royal division will calm them down, and then calmly deploy, either defend or fight, to enemy Qin Lu? ”

"So that the great plan will be known! Only ,...... Envoy, if the last general ordered the soldiers to rest, then the Qianghu in the county did not make a disturbance? ”

Tang Ai said with a low laugh: "This is originally going down to the river to fish, and fishing a net is a net." If it makes a mess, it's the best, if it doesn't, we don't have to lose, and we'll wait for another opportunity. ”

Cao Hui responded: "The last general understands!" Asked Tang Ai, "Does the envoy have any other orders?" If not, the last general will arrange it now! ”

Tang Ai and Guo Daoqing said: "Old Guo, you tell them to go out first, I have some trivial matters to ask Cao Duwei privately." ”

Guo Daoqing agreed, so he ordered the more than ten officials to come out of the court and wait in the courtyard outside.

When all those officials left the hall, only Tang Ai, Guo Daoqing, and Cao Hui were left in the hall.

Tang Ai then opened his mouth and asked, "Cao Duwei, how did you get Qin Guangzong's handwriting?" ”

"So that you can know that when it comes to Qin Guangzong's handwriting, the reason why the last general can get it is all because of one person."

“…… Your mouth is full of wine and the smoke is uncomfortable, and you go back to your couch and sit down. When Cao Hui returned to the couch and sat down, Tang Ai waved his feather fan to disperse the smell of wine in the air nearby, asked Cao Hui, and then said, "Who is the loss?" ”

"This person's name is Zhao Mian, he was originally a subordinate general under Shi Ping's account, after Shi Ping's defeat, he was assigned to the prisoners, and he was assigned to the camp of the last general. This Zhao Mian is quite brave and clever, and the general will treat him well. After getting the secret order of the envoy, because he was a descendant of Qin Lu and a small name in the army under Qin Guangzong, the last general thought that he should have some acquaintances in the Qin Lu army in Tianshui County, so he called him to ask for advice. As the last general expected, he really had acquaintances in Tianshui County! ”

After conquering Qidao County that day, Tang Ai divided the prisoners evenly among the troops participating in the war, and Guo Daoqing also got some prisoners, he heard this, and thought: "It turned out that Qin Guangzong got it by surrendering people, but ......" couldn't help but ask, "Xianzhi, even if there are acquaintances, one, Zhao Mian is just a general, the official position is not high, and his acquaintances are also such military officials, separated from Qin Guangzong by several layers, and second, Zhao Mian has surrendered to our army, and he is in Nan'an, so, Qin Guangzong's handwriting, I'm afraid he won't be able to get his hands on it, right? ”

"What the prince said is exact! So the last general discussed with Zhao Mian and came up with a solution. ”

Guo Daoqing asked, "What way?" ”

He pretended to be a loyal Qin captive, and cut down the sword that the last general had rewarded him, and the last general beat him, imprisoned him in the camp, and said that he would be beheaded the next day. That night, he absconded from the camp and fled back to Tianshui. When he arrived in Tianshui, Qin Guangzong got Nan'an's reward for his meticulous work, and believed that he was really loyal to Qin, so he reused him, and also promoted him to a first-level official, appointed as the governor of the department, and made a great commendation. Zhao Mian took advantage of this to ask for advice from the Tianshui puppet state government and the senior officials and generals in the Qin army, but he finally stole the handwriting of Qin Guangzong, who was presented to the envoy at the end of the road. After stealing it, he immediately returned by stealth. …… The envoy was not the last general, and he refused to present this Qin Guangzong's handwriting as soon as possible, but when the last general got this handwriting, it was already the end of the year, so it happened to be a gift to the envoy. ”

Cao Hui and Zhao Mian used fraud, Zhao Mian fled back to Tianshui, completed the task, and sneaked back to Nan'an This story can be said to be more exciting. ”

Tang Ai was so fascinated by this that he forgot to shake the feather fan, and after listening, he immediately asked, "Where is this Zhao Mian now?" ”

"If you return to the envoy, you will be in the house of the last general."

"Oh, eat and drink at your house."

"Yes."

"Go and see if he's drunk, and if not, call him to me."

Cao Hui responded: "No." ”

Seeing Cao Hui walk into Cairo and leave the hall, Guo Daoqing roughly guessed the purpose of Tang Ai's summoning Zhao Mian to see him, turned his face back, and asked, "Envoy, summon Zhao Mian here, but for ......?" ”

"For what?"

"Investigate the process of Zhao Mian stealing Qin Guangzong's own handwriting, this son can be called surprisingly brave, but in order to transfer him to the waiting camp?"