Dingxi Wangdu Guyin, Zhongcheng, Xin Gongfu.

In mid-February, just after the second day of the cold meal, Zhang Sengcheng, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Zhang Gui, the director of the Department of the Ministry of War, jointly went to the outside of the house to ask to see Xiner. The two of them were different from the other officials who were waiting outside the mansion, and they didn't wait too long before they were summoned by Xin Er, and the two handed their swords to Wei Shu and other officials, and hurriedly entered the mansion.

After the wall, there is a newly erected stone tablet in front of it, which is inscribed with the words "Erfeng Erlu, the people's fat and people's ointment; The people are easy to abuse, the heavens are difficult to deceive "sixteen characters,—— these sixteen words are from the pen of Xin Er, on its structure, not as good as the works of Fu Qiao, a famous calligrapher in Longzhou, etc., but the pen is strong, but it has a heroic atmosphere, and then bypass this stele, it is the courtyard outside the main hall of the Xin Gongfu.

The pond water in the courtyard is clear, the goldfish swim and play, the grass in the flower pond is green, there are spring flowers open, or pink yellow or light red, the faint fragrance floats, the scenery of mid-spring, but Zhang Seng Cheng and Zhang Gui don't care about appreciation, go along the bluestone road, go to the front of the hall.

Zhang Gu was unable to walk, and Zhang Seng Cheng was walking fast, so he had to take two steps and wait for him for a while, urging him: "Changling, hurry up." ”

"I'm already fast."

"The military situation is like fire, I'll go to the hall first!"

Without waiting for Zhang Gu to answer, Zhang Seng Cheng took a big stride, walked quickly to the porch in front of the hall, and said loudly: "The lower official Zhang Seng Cheng asks to see Ming Gong." ”

A clear voice sounded in the hall, and it was the voice of Xin Er, who said, "Qing, please come in." ”

Zhang Seng Cheng took off his shoes and entered the hall.

Xin Er sat on the couch behind the desk, put down the pages he was reading, smiled and looked at Zhang Seng Cheng, and said, "Why is Qing here?" But what are the military affairs? Seeing Zhang Gui, who was still "trekking hard" in the courtyard, he motioned to the attendants in the hall and said, "Why don't you go and help Zhang Jun?" ”

The waiter agreed and hurriedly went out to help Zhang Gui.

"Please take a seat."

Zhang Seng Cheng stepped forward first, presented the roll of paper he was holding in his hand to Xin Er, and then sat down on the couch.

"What is this?"

Zhang Seng Cheng replied: "Hebei has made an urgent report that has just arrived. Ming Gong, Pu Mao sent troops south to attack Nanyang! The main general will be Pu Badger Sun, favored Yao Tao, Ran Seng Nu, and Lu Ming, claiming to have 50,000 foot cavalry, although this 50,000 is an imaginary number, but after careful investigation from afar, through the size of their garrison, the size of the march, and the number of cooking smoke when they were sleeping and eating, it was judged that there were at least 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. When the information came out, this Qin army had just left Ye County, and the estimated distance was estimated, and now, it should have almost arrived in Luyang! ”

The roll of paper was held by Zhang Seng Cheng all the way, wet and relished, and his hands were sweaty outside.

Xin Er unfolded, the paper is densely packed, all the numbers are written, from the paper alone, I don't understand what it means at all, this is the "reverse cut code" made up by Xin Er, each number corresponds to a fixed word, the initials of the previous word are combined with the finals of the next word, forming a new word, but there is no need for Xin Er to decipher again, the back of the paper has been translated by Zhang Seng Cheng content, he carefully read the translated words, that is, Zhang Seng Cheng said thosely.

After reading it, Xin Er put the paper on the side, called the waiter to fetch a towel, and wiped his hands.

Zhang Gui limped, and finally with the support of the two attendants, he arrived outside the hall and said breathlessly: "Xiaguan Zhang Gui, please see Ming Gong." ”

"Changling, come in."

Zhang Gu entered the hall and bowed dignifiedly.

Xin Er told him to sit down.

After Zhang Gu sat down, Xin Er returned the towel to the waiter, and after such a while, he brushed up his thoughts and said: "The main general Pu Badger Sun, favoring Yao Tao and others, will ride two to thirty thousand on foot and attack Nanyang in the south,...... The news was sudden. ”

Zhang Seng Cheng said: "Yes, so after receiving this information, Xia Guan and Changling hurried to report to Ming Gong." ”

"What do you think about this?"

Zhang Gui and Zhang Seng Cheng came from Zhongtai, Zhongtai is not far from the Xin Gongfu, instead of taking the car, but also waiting for the car to be ready, it is better to come over on foot, so they came on foot, in order to catch up with Zhang Seng Cheng's footsteps, Zhang Gui did his best, his forehead was sweating at the moment, he took the towel handed by the attendant in the hall, wiped the sweat slightly, stabilized his mind, and said: "Ming Gong, the turtle is foolish, this eight or nine times out of ten, it is Pu Mao, Meng Lang's plan to deceive me!" He gasped for breath.

"Oh? What do you mean by that? ”

Zhang Gui said: "Pu Mao is using troops in Yangping and Guangping, and suddenly divides his troops to the south, and it is not a few soldiers and horses, but as many as 20,000 or 30,000 horses, which is unreasonable!" This is one of them. Although the terrain of Nanyang County is critical, there are only 10,000 soldiers and horses in Nanyang in the Jingzhou Department of Huan, which can not pose a huge threat to Luoyang and other places. The main general of this Qin army, Pu Badger Sun, Jiuzhen Tianshui, favored Yao Tao, Ran Sengnu, Lu Ming, or was familiar with the Qiang chieftains of Nan'an, or the old masters of Wudu and Yinping Qiang chieftains, or fought with our army in Longxi, all of which are related to our Qinzhou, and this is the third. ”

"Changling, what do you mean?"

This is not only the opinion of the turtle, but also the opinion of Zhang Shangshu, both the turtle and Zhang Shangshu think that this is very likely Pu Mao's plan to attack the west! Ming attacked Nanyang, and its meaning was really my Qinzhou. ”

"So you two hurriedly reported to me."

Zhang Seng Cheng said with admiration: "When I received this information, Xia Guan immediately remembered that at the end of last month, when Xia Guan was discussing with Chang Ling, Yang Jun and Ming Gong, Ming Gong had said that he suspected that Qin Yu was attacking Yangping and Guangping in the north, maybe it was deliberately done for us to see, their real intention was to attack the east and west, take Jizhou as a fake, and want to counterattack my Nan'an and other counties is true. ”

There is a way to be "preconceived", the reason why Zhang Seng Cheng and Zhang Gui made the same judgment in the short period of time after seeing the information, and agreed that this was probably the smoke released by Pu Qin, and what Pu Mao really wanted to fight was actually Qinzhou in Dingxi, and a large part of the reason was due to the suspicion that Xin Er had told them at the end of last month.

Xin Er didn't have any smugness, he pondered for a while, picked out two pieces of paper from the case, asked the waiter to show them to Zhang Seng Cheng and Zhang Gui, and said, "Look at this." ”

Zhang Seng Cheng had a high official position, and the attendants gave it to him first.

Zhang Seng Cheng looked down and asked, "Ming Gong, what is this?" ”

"What Ba Ruo can present to me is a letter from Qu Yuanguang to him."

"And Qu Yuanguang?" Zhang Seng Cheng glanced at the ten lines, read the letter, and passed it to Zhang Gui, who was sitting under him, with anger on his face, and said through gritted teeth, "This traitor! Lu Shuihu actually has someone who infiltrates him? Ming Gong, the lower officials dare to ask for the appointment and investigate this matter thoroughly! We must dig out all the Hulu who dared to communicate privately with Qu Yuanguang in Lu Shui Huzhong and eliminate traitors for the country! ”

However, the letter written by Qu Yuanguang to Ba Ruoneng is a "letter of surrender".

In the letter, Qu Yuanguang tried his best to advocate the strength of Pu Qin, saying that "the king has laid down Ye County, the land of Hebei, is about to be in the bag, the Murong family is poor in the twilight, and there is no day to die, Youzhou will also be included in the king's land, Rao He Hun evil and high power, but also bow down to the ministers, and wait until Daqin covers the northern land, collect the strong men of Youyou and Yan, the grain of Ziji and Henan, and take a corner of the west in the west, which is as easy as a hand", and persuade Ba Ruo to be a "wise man" who sees opportunities and knowledge, it is best to take refuge in Pu Qin now and give Pu Qin an internal response.

That's all there is to it, the key thing is that in this letter, and Qu Yuanguang also wrote at the end: "Xin Agua tyranny and cruelty, taking away my pasture, migrating my people internally, collecting heavy taxes, forcibly conscripting the army, looking at the letter of the lords of the Lushui tribes and Yuanguang, there are many grievances!" When my Great Qin King arrived, all their departments were willing to greet each other, the king rewarded and punished strictly, and the merit would be rewarded, if the father did not set things right as soon as possible, he would fall behind, and Yuanguang was afraid that the day of the destruction of the country in the west, I and the canal department would be difficult to dominate Lu Shui! is not only for the family, but also for the clan, looking forward to the father's concern. ”

These few sentences reveal a message, that is, the chiefs and nobles of Lu Shuihu's various tribes seem to have a lot of private correspondence with Yuanguang.

Zhang Gui also read the letter, held the letter in his hand, touched his sparse beard, thought for a while, and said, "Shangshu and please calm your anger." Ming Gong, in Yuanguang's letter, those who persuade you to surrender and pull out are just that, as for the others, they may not be true. ”

Zhang Seng Cheng was still angry, and said: "Hu Lu is not my race, greedy and unjust, and many repeated!" And I heard that Lu Shuihu Zhubu has indeed complained about the imperial court collecting taxes and levying his Ding Zhuang as soldiers in recent years, how can it not be true? ”

Lu Shuihu was migrated to the inland parts of Longzhou, and has settled in the pastures of Jiankang and other counties for several years, not only in terms of taxes, the Dingxi Imperial Court has begun to collect them normally, and in these years the Dingxi Southwest and Northern Wars, the losses of the soldiers in the army are not small, and the new policy of "Lang General's Mansion" has not yet been popularized in the whole Dingxi, and it is not yet possible to "hide soldiers in the people, and call them to be able to fight", so in order to ensure the number of standing troops, they can only expand the source of recruits, and they have also begun to recruit,—— although the recruitment is semi-mandatory, Anyone who has three or more young and strong people will send one soldier, but these Lu Shuihu Dingzhuang, who were conscripted into the army, objectively speaking, were treated well, and Xin Er did not treat them according to the standards of the camps, but according to the standards of "athletes".

Zhang Gu said: "Although the Lu Shuihu tribes have complained in recent years, they have been in power since ancient times, who can do everything? No matter how good the policy is, there will always be people who are dissatisfied, and it is not surprising that there will be some complaints. According to what the turtle heard, the overall situation of Lu Shuihu was relatively stable. After all, although the state made them registered and compiled households, listed as Qi people, and levied taxes on them, but the taxes were not heavy, and the Ministry of Industry also specially sent officials to teach them to plant pasture, the production of one acre of pasture grass is enough for the amount of several acres of weeds, in the case of heavy snow in the deep winter, the state and try its best to allocate and save grass to help them survive the winter, compared to the days when they were on both sides of the Lushui River, they could only rely on weeds to feed and herd sheep by the sky, and Lu Shuihu Mu is really much better today, and as for those who are conscripted into the army, the country treats them well every day, and in case of war, all meritorious service will be rewarded. Same as the Tang people, there is no discrimination, Lu Shuihu soldiers have been promoted to military officials because of their merits, and there are also quite a few, I heard that Lu Shuihuli, and there are brothers competing to join the army, or take the initiative to ask to join the army, in short, only a very small number of people complain.

"And in Qu Yuanguang's letter, 'The letter of the Lord of Lushui and Yuanguang has many grievances', the turtle steals it and thinks it is not credible."

After a pause, Zhang Gu added, "Discord and discord are commonly used. Ming Gong, Shang Shu, capture Qin and my enemy country, and Qu Yuanguang's rebellion, will not dare to communicate with Ba Ruo Neng, his letter to Ba Ruo Neng, must have been written with the consent of Pu Mao, Meng Lang, etc., these words in the letter, maybe out of Meng Lang's instructions, is Meng Lang's discord plan, Meng Lang is trying to deceive Ming Gong to kill the Lu Shui tribes, in order to provoke Lu Shuihu, Beishan Xianbei, Southeast Zhuqiang and the miscellaneous Hu and I Dingxi centrifuge. ”

Zhang Gui is in charge of the intelligence system of the Ministry of War, Lu Shuihu's internal situation, he knows better than Zhang Sengcheng, what he said is well-founded, and the inference is reasonable, Zhang Sengcheng listened, thought for a while, and his anger gradually subsided, and said: "If it is said to be a discordant plan, it is not impossible." "Ask Xin Er," dare to ask Ming Gong, what is your opinion? ”

Xin Er picked up the information that Zhang Seng Cheng brought, and then clicked on the letter from Qu Yuanguang in Zhang Gui's hand, and said, "My opinion is, can you look at these two things together?" ”

"What do you mean by this?"

"If you can only receive the letter from Qu Yuanguang here, then the Qin army will go south to Nanyang, it seems that the two things have nothing to do with each other, but if you think about it, will it be a coincidence?"

When Zhang Seng Cheng and Zhang Gui heard this, they all fell into deep thought.

Zhang Seng Cheng thought about it and muttered: "Ming Gong is talking about ......"

"I see that the two of you have a good judgment on Qin Junming's attack on Nanyang, which means that my judgment of Qinzhou is good. At this time, if Ba Ruo can receive a letter from Qu Yuanguang, Changling's guess is also right, this is Pu Mao and Meng Lang's divisive plan! This is called a double sword, while picking Lu Shuihu, Beishan Xianbei and others to centrifuge from me, wanting me to have civil strife in Long, and sneaking into Nan'an on the other hand. ”

Zhang Seng Cheng took a cold breath and said: "If it is as Ming Gong expected, then this Meng Lang is scheming and terrifying!" He asked Xin Er and said, "Ming Gong, how do we deal with it?" ”

Xin Er had already thought of a way to deal with it, and he said calmly: "There is no impermeable wall in the world, and if the content of Qu Yuanguang's letter spreads, even if I don't doubt the adults of the Lushui Tribes, the adults of the Lushui Tribes will inevitably be suspicious and uneasy, and will be afraid that I will suspect them. ”

"Then Pu Qin may be feintting to attack Nanyang and actually attack my Qinzhou?"

"Immediately spread thousands of miles, ordered him to take strict precautions, and then instructed Hebei and Guanzhong to work carefully, and be sure to pay attention to the movements of the Pu Badger Sun Department at all times."

Zhang Seng Cheng asked: "If Qin Yuguo attacks my Qinzhou, from Nanyang to Tianshui County, it is only eight hundred miles, and it is only ten days, and the Pu Badger Sun Department may launch an offensive against my Qinzhou. ”

"The deployment of reinforcements will be handed over to you and Changling, and tomorrow you two will present the transfer and deployment to me; I will pass the book to them now, and within three days, it must be properly arranged. Xin Er's words were concise and to the point, and after assigning the task, he remembered something, so he said, "After you two return to Zhongtai, you will first go to meet with Koji Ling, and tell him, I will invite him to come and see him." ”