When I was about to arrive at the Four O'Clock Palace, I ran into the official who went to the Zuo clan first.

The official said: "Duke Ming, the queen mother is not in the palace, only the king is there." ”

The Four Seasons Palace is the place of governance, before the Linghu Feng, including the Linghu Yong and other successive Dingxi kings during the reign, except for the court meeting, banquet or political time, usually do not come to the Four Seasons Palace, but after the Zuo Dynasty came to the court, it was rain or shine, especially in the past two years, every day will go to the Four Seasons Palace, smelling that Zuo is not there, Xin Er is not surprised, and asked: "Didn't the Queen Mother come to the Four Seasons Palace today?" ”

"The palace said that the Queen Mother seems to be slightly ill, so today and the future."

"Slightly ill? What's the disease? ”

"The palace didn't say it, and I didn't know it."

Xin Er groaned, and said in his heart: "I met the Queen Mother the day before yesterday, why are you sick today?" But I don't know what makes me uncomfortable? I was not very relieved, and said, "I want to report to the Queen Mother that the matter is very important, so let's do it, since the Queen Mother is not in the Four Seasons Palace, let's go to Lingjuntai." When the emperor got the order, he was about to drive, and as soon as he thought about it, he said, "Wait." After thinking about it, he changed his order and said, "I will go to Lingjuntai in a while, and I will still go to the Four Seasons Palace, and ask to see the king first." ”

The ox cart restarted and went down the street, and in a short time, it was outside the palace at four o'clock.

Xin Er got out of the car, walked through the ditch outside the palace, went to the palace gate, and told the Lang official on duty about the palace ban. Lang Guan asked him to wait and hurried to Tongyu. The discerning palace gate official took the couch and asked him to sit temporarily, but Xin Er did not sit, so he stood upright outside the palace gate, waiting for Ling Hule's summons. The sky is high and the clouds are light, the breeze is slightly warm, under the spring sun, but in front of the majestic four-hour palace gate, a ganlang official, in front of the guards, wearing a beam crown, wearing a cyan official robe, Xin Er, standing solemnly, as if respectful.

Lang Guan, who went to the courtesy, ran back and said, "Gong Xin, the king is invited." ”

"There's Lao Jun."

This Lang official's surname is Sun, and he is Sun Yan's grandson, and he replied respectfully: "Where do you dare to be a 'laborer'?" Xin Gong please. ”

After speaking, he led the way in front and guided Xin Er into the palace.

Ling Hule was not in the main hall of the palace, but in the translation hall of the palace. The Four Seasons Palace occupies a very wide area, and it takes more than a quarter of an hour to walk from the palace gate to here. When Xin Er arrived, Ling Hule, Kumarosh and the others had already received the report in advance and were waiting in the courtyard outside the hall. Looking at it, the courtyard is not very large, at this time it is full of people, half of them are bald monks, about ten ten, three or four are Tang monks, the others are Hu monks of the Western Regions, and there are two secular teenagers standing in front of the monks, one is Ling Hule, and the other is Chen Bucai.

"The ministers have come to see the king."

"The ground is dirty, general, please get up."

Xin Er stood up, patted the dust on his knees, and said with a smile: "How can the king have Yaxing today, come here to watch the translation of the scriptures?" ”

"Lone didn't come to see the translation of the scriptures, and my mother was unwell, so Lone Int came to Kumarosh and asked him to read some scriptures and pray for my mother."

"What disease did the Queen Mother have? Why hasn't the minister heard of it? ”

"It's not a serious illness, I got up this morning, I was a little sick to my stomach, and my mother didn't want to alarm the general, so I didn't send an official to inform the general."

If it is nausea, it seems that it is indeed not a serious illness, maybe it is just a bad food, Xin Er's heart was relieved for a long time, his face was as usual, and he said: "The minister asked to see the driver today, because there is an important military matter, and the Queen Mother must be played, please make a decision as soon as possible." Since the Queen Mother was only infected with a small illness, there was no major problem, so the minister waited to go to Lingjuntai to ask for a meeting. ”

"What is the important military business?"

"I'm about to play with the king." Xin Er glanced at Kumarosh and the other monks, and said, "King, let's go indoors and talk about it, okay?" ”

Ling Hule just asked casually, but he didn't expect Xin Er to reply to him, but he didn't react at the time, he was surprised, and said, "Okay, okay." ”

Xin Er, Ling Hule, one after the other, moved to the side school in the courtyard, Kumarosh and others did not keep up, still waiting in the courtyard.

Chen Bucai didn't follow in, and guarded the door, acting as a guard.

"General, what is the important military business?" Without waiting to sit down, Ling Hule couldn't wait to ask.

Xin Er told Ling Hule the information on Zhang Seng Cheng and Zhang Guiyu, and after speaking, he said: "King, if the judgment of the ministers is good, it will be half a month as soon as possible, and a month at the latest, Pu Qin may invade my Qinzhou." Pu Qin since last year's Guandong strategy, successively conquered Luo, Ye and other famous capitals in the world, Murong clan retreated, in the current turtle shrinking Youzhou, it seems that it is powerless to return to the sky, Pu Qin will dominate the northern country! If Pu Mao uses the strategy of attacking the east and the west this time, and attacks our Qinzhou, then this battle is bound to be a bitter battle, and it is impossible to hold it only by relying on the garrison of Qinzhou, so reinforcements and so on need to be arranged as soon as possible, so as not to delay the military aircraft, this is the important military affairs that the minister said. ”

"I will gather in the west, Gao Yancao, Luo Dang, all the generations, all ten thousand enemies, if the general, Lu Shuang, Cao Fei, the famous handsome of the habitual war, the sharp of Longzhou Malaysia, the mighty sea, is it comparable to the white captive? If you really dare to offend my Qinzhou,...... Forget it, don't talk about it. Ling Hule sat on the couch and was sullen.

"But the king wants to do it himself?"

Ling Hule said complainingly: "General, you and your mother both said that Lone is still young, but at the beginning of last month, didn't the servants wait for the ceremony to ask the court to discuss Lone's wedding?" The proposal is set for this year. General, how can there be a child in this world who is about to get married and is still a child? Lone is no longer a child! Lone really doesn't understand, why do mothers and generals still treat Lone as a child? ”

Ling Hule's marriage has already been decided, and the choice is a girl from a cold family in Guyin,—— said that it is a cold family, of course, it is not an ordinary people's family, this cold door is relative to the door valve, the right surname, but because Ling Hule was young before, although the queen's candidate has been decided, the wedding has not yet been held. Last month, after the New Year's Day, there were Fan Dan and a few courtiers in a letter, saying that Ling Hule has no brothers, "the royal family is thin", which will harm the fundamental solidity of the country, and according to Ling Hule's current age, the people have been married more, because of the request to give Ling Hule a marriage within the year, in other words, that is, I hope that Ling Hule can give birth to an heir as soon as possible, and the more sons, the better.

What is the original intention of this invitation by Yan Dan and others? Self-explanatory. According to the analysis of Yang Chao and others, it is nothing more than an attempt to prove that Ling Hule has reached adulthood by marrying Ling Hule, thus laying the groundwork for Ling Hule's pro-government.

But only on the surface, the reason they put forward is reasonable, the so-called "the country is unstable without reserves", although the fox is still very young, but the previous Qin Dynasty, it is not uncommon for the monarch to die at a young age, he is the king of a country, there are no brothers, in order to ensure the stability of the country, it is necessary to work the heirs as soon as possible. This reason, occupied the name. Therefore, Xin Er did not object, but from last month to now, there have been too many military and political affairs, and this accident has not yet been specifically discussed.

Hearing Ling Hule's words, Xin Er said: "King, how dare the minister treat the king as a child? Only the minister is still that sentence, 'the ominous weapon of the soldier, has to be used as a last resort', I want the minister to follow the first king in the past, in the pig Yeze and Guo Baiju fierce battle, lost the horse and fell to the ground, if it were not for Lan Baozhang desperately rescued, the minister was dead! After the ministers invaded the Western Regions, they were surrounded by 100,000 Hu cavalry from Qiuzi, Wusun and other countries in the Western Regions. How can the king's golden body easily take such a risk? ”

"Pu Mao can lead the troops into battle, why can't he be alone!"

"Chief Pu Maodi, vulgar and vulgar, how can he be compared with the dignity of the king and my Tang Dynasty and my lord of Dingxi? And Pu Mao led the troops to battle, because of the civil strife of the Murong clan, he was sure of victory, but this time the battle of Qinzhou, the minister was not completely sure. ”

"......, general, I heard that Tang Ai is outstanding, and with him in Qinzhou, will this battle be lost?"

"In ancient and modern battles, there have never been generals who have been invincible in a hundred battles, such as Meng Lang, Shandong Jieshi, Pu Badger Sun, etc., are all Pu Qin generals, which should not be underestimated."

"What battalion does the general plan to transfer to aid Qinzhou?"

"The minister foolishly transferred the battalions of the royal city such as Yancao, Luo Dang, Bald Boye, and Zhao Xing to help, and transferred the soldiers and horses of the eight counties in the southeast and the Shu land in Hanzhong to help, I don't know if it should be? Please also ask the Queen Mother and the King to decide. ”

"Who do you want to fight this battle for?"

Xin Er smiled and said, "Is there a candidate for the king?" ”

"How does the general look at Koji Shuang?"

"Koji Ling is in charge of the middle office, and he can't be moved lightly."

"Where's Cao Fei?"

But it was said that it was clear that Tang Ai was in Qinzhou, and Ling Hule also said that he heard that Tang Ai was outstanding, but why did Ling Hule not mention Tang Ai as the main general, but first said Lu Shuang, and then Cao Fei?

This is because in the Dingxi Army, in addition to Xin Er, there are only two people, Lu Shuang and Cao Fei.

Needless to say, the current sect master of the Koji clan, his sons and friends are all over the army, and he has the great merit of destroying Ran Xing before. As for Cao Fei, although he lacks military strategy, he is the general who led the troops left by Linghu Feng, and the battle of Qinzhou last time, borrowing the light of Tang Ai and Xin Er, and finally he is also one of the heroes, and he is now a hussar general, the second rank of the official residence, and he is the highest military rank in the whole army in Dingxi.

When Xin Er was young in his previous life, whenever he saw the monarch in battle, sometimes he would not choose an excellent general, but he would choose a person whose talent was obviously not very high as the main general, and he would be puzzled.

Putting aside trust, the main reason why those monarchs do this is the reason for the old saying: no matter how good their talents are, no matter how outstanding their military strategies are, if they don't have enough qualifications and prestige, then they really can't be the main generals.

That's how Tang Ai is.

The last time to fight Nan'an, it was a small war, a total of only 10,000 foot cavalry were used, and it was okay to use Tang Ai as the main general, but this time Pu Qin attacked Qinzhou, it would obviously be a big war, and the soldiers and horses that needed to be used were far from the number of 10,000 people.

Don't talk about Tang Ai, when Meng Lang of Pu Qin, as Pu Mao's teacher and Qin court's important minister, led the troops to fight Zhao Yanli, wasn't Gou Xiong still unconvinced? Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, this time to aid Qinzhou, we can only choose one of the two main generals, Lu Shuang and Cao Fei.

After all, Ling Hule grew up in the royal family, although he was not in power, he still had this insight under the influence of his ears and eyes.

Xin Er had already decided that the main general of this battle had already been thought of, and when he heard Ling Hule's inquiry, he was actually waiting for Ling Hule's question, and immediately said: "The king is wise, and the minister also thinks that this aid to Qinzhou must have Cao Fei as a general." ”

Bi juvenile temperament, is eager to get the recognition and praise of adults at an age, especially in the early years of distress, Xin Er's rescue, protection, in the subconscious of Ling Hu Le has caused a huge impact that cannot be ignored, not intended to be recognized and praised by Xin Er, so that Hu Le is overjoyed, although he has grown into a childish face with a happy smile.

He made persistent efforts and said, "General, there is one more person to recommend." ”

"Who?"

"Chen Bucai."

"Chen Bucai? What does the king mean? ”

"Chen Bucai followed Gu to learn the art of war, it has been several years, every time he talks about military affairs with Gu, he is the head of the way, and it looks like that, but last time his mother taught Gu, saying that fighting is not a joke, it is a real sword, not a hundred and ten people who can learn it by practicing alone in the palace, Gu pondered his mother's teachings, and felt that his mother was right, so he pondered, and I don't know if this Chen Bucai has real talent? I wondered if I would let him go out to participate in the actual battle? Let's see if he can do it. Ling Hule said as he paid attention to Xin Er's expression, and after speaking, he put his hands on his knees, leaned forward slightly, and waited expectantly for Xin Er's answer.

“…… What office does the king want to give him? ”

"He can't ride and shoot, he can't charge into battle, or let him join the army as Cao Fei's secretary?"

"Since the king wants to try Chen Bu, he has no soldiers, a bookkeeper, and a book, but if he doesn't try it, he should be consulted to join the army."

Linghu Le was overjoyed and said, "Did the general agree?" ”

Xin Er smiled and said: "The king's order, how dare the minister disobey?" ”

Compared with the last time in the Four Seasons Palace, the answer of the monarch and the ministers in the Translation Hall today, it can be called a harmonious atmosphere and a happy monarch and ministers.

When he came to the Four Seasons Palace to see that Ling Hule's purpose had been achieved, Xin Er was worried about Zuo's body, so he didn't stay long, and talked to Ling Hule for a while, looking for an opportunity to resign.

Ling Hule sent him out of the door.

At the door, seeing Chen Bucai, Xin Er passed by his side, turned back, and asked, "Are you the son and nephew of Duke Chen?" ”

Xin Er would talk to himself, which Chen Bucai didn't expect, so he hurriedly bowed down and replied, "Back to the general's words, yes." ”

"What about the small print?"

Chen Bucai was stunned, and he didn't know what Xin Er meant by this question, and replied: "It's not a small character." ”

But it is the same as Li Liang's nickname.

Xin Er said: "You are the king's close minister, this little character is very indecent, the king cherishes you very much, I'll change it for you, Xiao Bao Ke also." ”

Leaving behind the dumbfounded and inexplicable Chen Bucai, Xin Er bowed to the rhetoric of the fox music, did not let Kumarosh and others send each other, went out of the palace by the same way, arrived outside the palace, got on the ox cart, and ordered to go out of the middle city and go to the north city. The city gate in the south of the north city is the palace gate of Lingjuntai, called "Duanmen", get off outside the end gate, Zuo's has been reported early, wait for a long time, the eunuch in the palace comes out, welcomes Xin Er into the palace.

Lingjuntai is a dormitory, except for sometimes coming with Linghuyan when he is summoned, Xin Er rarely comes here alone.

Compared with the palace of the four time palaces, the palace castle of Lingjuntai occupies a smaller area, with a circumference of less than two miles.

In the palace city, not only the palace, the pavilion is lined up, the pond pond, the flowers and trees are dotted, and in the north of the palace city, there is an orchard, called "Xuanwu Garden", these years, all kinds of fruits in each garden, such as grapes and other ripe seasons, Zuo will send people to send a lot to Xin Er; In the east of the city again, it is a beast garden, raising a lot of rare birds and beasts, the bone surprise, red deer, civet cat, etc., which are special products of Longdi, are all in the garden, and the lions, peacocks, white elephants, pandas and other birds and beasts brought back by Xin Er from the Western Regions and Shu are also among them.

Xin Er is the palace city from the south, the orchard, the beast garden, are not on the road to the Yongshou Palace where the Zuo family lives, and walked quietly for a while, to the Yongshou Palace. Zuo's love and maid are full of wishes, and the Brahman realm is waiting outside.

Xin Er stopped at this time, and said hesitantly: "Is the Queen Mother in the palace?" ”

Fanjing said in a coquettish voice: "Yes, the Queen Mother invited the general to enter the palace." ”

"As a foreign minister, it is not easy for me to enter the queen mother's bedroom. I have an important military matter here, please help me present it to the Queen Mother. I am here waiting for the decree of the Queen Mother. ”

Fanjing, full of wishes, returned to the palace, reported Xin'er's words to Zuo's, and soon came out, it was still Fanjing who spoke, she said with a smile: "The queen mother said, although the monarch and ministers, how can the Wang family have no relatives?" The general is not an outsider, and my son-in-law is also, so there is no need to be restrained, please invite the general into the palace. ”

Ling Huyan is Ling Hufeng's younger sister, and broadly speaking, Xin Er is the son-in-law of the Dingxi royal family.

Xin Er happily obeyed his fate, and after following the graceful and swaying Sanskrit realm, and after fulfilling his wishes, he took a tiger step and entered the palace in a pretentious manner.