"What's your attitude?" Guo Song was finally a little annoyed.

"What attitude do you want? I'm too busy to spend here with you, so you're either going to report it to me or you're going to take it! ”

"You-" Guo Song was so angry that he smoked.

At this time, a person walked out of the inner room, saw Guo Song at a glance, and was immediately surprised: "Brother Guo, why are you here?" ”

Guo Song was also slightly stunned, the person who walked out of the room inside was actually Liu Ji, Liu Yan's brother, who met in the Liang Mansion in Lingzhou, didn't he serve as the governor of Chuzhou? How in the military department?

Guo Song hurriedly bowed, "It turned out to be Liu Yuanjun, I haven't seen you for a long time!" ”

"Brother Guo is here to run errands?"

Guo Song nodded and glared at the staff member Wailang dissatisfied.

Liu Ji immediately understood, and smiled at Wailang: "This is my old friend, you go to get busy, I'll receive him." ”

Wailang turned around and left, Liu Ji took Guo Song to his official room, Guo Song asked with a smile: "Liu Yuanjun has been promoted!" ”

"I didn't get promoted, I was still the next rank of the sixth grade, but I was transferred from the history of the governor of Chu to the military department, I received you just now is Jiang Qian, the left outsider, I am the right outsider, Jiang Qian has some troubles at home, so the attitude is not very good, please forgive me!"

"It's nothing to do with family affairs!" Guo Song questioned.

Liu Ji smiled, "You just need to understand it yourself, the court is like this, the court officials look down on the magistrates, and most of the magistrates come to the court to do things respectfully, and they usually bring some local gifts, you come empty-handed, and the attitude is not respectful enough, of course the court officials will not have a good face, don't take it to heart, now it is the same to any temple." ”

Guo Song was really dissatisfied in his heart, but his face did not show it, he handed the report to Liu Ji, "Liu Yuanjun can accept it here!" ”

"Absolutely!"

Liu Ji took the report and flipped through it, and said to Guo Song: "This report is actually related to Anxi, it should be very important, I will hand it over to Cui Shilang early tomorrow morning, you leave an address, if there is something the military department may look for you." ”

Guo Song was stunned, and after a while, he asked: "I sent an envoy to Anxi and Beiting, doesn't the military department know?" ”

Liu Ji shook his head, "At least I don't know anything, it stands to reason that sending envoys to Anxi is a big deal, but no one has told us about it." ”

"Could it be that your colleague is in charge of this?"

"It shouldn't be possible, the military department will have a record, you wait, I'll check it for you."

Liu Ji got up and went out, and after a while he came back and said: "I checked all the records, and I asked a few colleagues, but everyone didn't know about it, it seemed that even our squire didn't know, everyone was surprised, I don't know where there was a mistake in this matter." ”

Guo Song finally couldn't hold back the dissatisfaction in his heart, and said to Liu Ji: "Although we set off in secret, after all, we got brand new armor and supplies, and the Son of Heaven named me the governor of Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, but I didn't even know about the military department?" ”

Liu Ji shook his head, "If I had known that you were the Governor of Anxi Prefecture, I wouldn't have called you Brother Guo just now, your appointment and mission are really ignorant of the military department, you should have been stuck by some of the links above." ”

Guo Song's pale and hypocritical smiling face suddenly appeared in his mind, and no one dared to get stuck except for him in the things that the Son of Heaven had explained.

Guo Song nodded, "Okay! Since the Ministry of War didn't know about this, I wouldn't report it to the Ministry of War, and I would report directly to the Son of Heaven when I turned around. ”

........

Coming out of the military department, Guo Song soon left the imperial city, Guo Song had an indescribable anger, they went through hardships, so many brothers were killed and wounded, and in the end, the imperial court did not have any records.

He didn't dare to say that it must be Won Jae who was playing ghost inside, but he was the most suspicious.

Guo Song then came to Guo Ziyi's mansion, to be honest, he didn't want to see Guo Ziyi, he couldn't explain Guo Ziyi's death in Chongqing.

But he can't help but come, and that's his responsibility.

After waiting in front of the mansion for a while, an old housekeeper led Guo Song into the mansion.

When I came to the back garden, I saw an old farmer wearing a straw hat pruning the flower branches in front of the flower bed, and the old housekeeper bowed forward and said, "Master, he is here!" ”

Only then did Guo Song recognize that the old farmer wearing a straw hat turned out to be Guo Ziyi, wearing a coarse cloth short coat and a pair of cloth shoes under his feet.

"I heard yesterday that the Western Expeditionary Army has returned, and I'm still wondering, when will Brother Guo come to visit me, a bad old man?" Guo Ziyi asked with a smile.

Guo Song stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, weeping and said, "Guo Song has come to ask Lao Linggong for his guilt!" ”

The smile on Guo Ziyi's face disappeared, and she asked suspiciously, "Could it be that the mission failed?" ”

"It's not! It's Chongqing, I didn't bring him back......"

Guo Ziyi was shocked, he looked at Guo Song blankly for a long time, for a long time, he smiled miserably, and let out a long sigh, "Okay!" I am proud of this child who sacrificed his life for the country and died a well-deserved death. ”

A teardrop finally rolled down his face full of vicissitudes, and the old housekeeper hurriedly helped him sit down, Guo Ziyi waved his hand again and asked, "How many of you came back in the end?" ”

"A total of seventy-five people have returned, and the others are all sleeping in the Western Regions."

Guo Ziyi sighed and said slowly: "The casualties are in my expectation, in fact, I also know that Chongqing may not be able to come back, but ...... You've done your job, haven't you? ”

"Yes! In the end, he lived up to the trust of the Son of Heaven and completed the task. ”

"This is something to be thankful about, and the sacrifice of soldiers is worthwhile."

"But... The attitude of the imperial court is cold. ”

Guo Song told Guo Ziyi about going to the military department today, and he was very sad, "I don't care if I, the head of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, do it or not, but what about the soldiers who have made contributions to the country?" What about the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country? When will the court be able to give them justice? ”

Guo Ziyi pondered for a moment, and said earnestly: "Justice is at ease in the hearts of the people, don't worry, I believe that the Son of Heaven will definitely give the soldiers an explanation." ”

"I heard that the Son of Heaven is seriously ill?"

Guo Ziyi nodded, "The Son of Heaven has not been in good health, illness is a common thing, he is now sick in bed, he really doesn't have the energy to ask about Anxi, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care, it's just that everyone hopes that he can recuperate with peace of mind, and I don't want to tell him about your return for the time being, as for the imperial court, some things are really distressing, and some people do not hesitate to damage the interests of Datang for the benefit of their own small group." ”

"Lao Linggong is talking about Yuan Zai!"

Guo Ziyi didn't deny it, just shook his head and said: "What they did, the Son of Heaven has been trying his best to tolerate it, but after Yu Chao was enmitage to the law, they thought they were heroes, and they were even more arrogant and arrogant, forming a party for personal gain, cronyism, greed for money and bribery, and doing whatever they wanted in the government. ”

"What does Lao Linggong mean by saying that it wasn't done by one person?"

Guo Ziyi nodded, "It's a group, the imperial court is called the Yuan Party, three of the five ministers occupy it, and many important positions in the imperial court are also controlled by them. ”

"But why hide it?"

Guo Song questioned: "What good will it do them to conceal my mission to Anxi?" ”

Guo Ziyi was silent for a moment and said: "Whether to recover Anxi has been the focus of the imperial court debate for decades, so that there are Jingbian factions and Annei factions, and the Jingbian faction is supported by a large number of frontier generals, such as me, Servant Bone Huaien, Li Siye, Bai Xiaode, Ma Lan, Duan Xiushi, etc., we advocate recapturing the Hexi Corridor, Anxi and Beiting, and restoring the Tang Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions."

The Annei faction was mainly composed of a part of the Guanlong nobles and a large number of civil officials, who advocated temporarily abandoning the frontier and concentrating financial and material resources to eliminate the division of feudal towns, and finally they had the upper hand, and the Emperor Taishang supported them, so why the Shuofang army has been insufficient is actually the result of this dispute between the two factions.

Now the important figures of the Jingbian faction are dying and retreating, almost all of them have disappeared from the imperial court, and the power of the imperial court is completely dominated by the Annei faction, but the Son of Heaven has shown his intention to recover the Western Regions, and naturally he has been strongly opposed by the Annei faction such as Yuan Zai and Wang Jin, and the matter of your mission to the Western Regions is naturally resisted and concealed by them, which is not that they are dissatisfied with you personally, but that they are dissatisfied with the intention of the Son of Heaven to recover the Western Regions. ”

"What about King Lu's attitude?" Guo Song asked again.

Guo Ziyi said lightly: "His Royal Highness King Lu's current attitude must be to support Yuan Zai, and when he ascends the throne as the emperor, that is another matter, you must understand, what is the most important thing for him now?" ”

Of course, Guo Song understands that the most important thing for Li Shi, the king of Lu, is to ascend the throne now, and in order to gain the support of Yuan Zai and other important ministers, even if he has the ambition to expand the frontier, he will choose to forbear now.

Guo Song had to sigh helplessly, "I have to wait for the Son of Heaven to recover now, there is no other way." ”

Guo Ziyi nodded, "This is also my advice to you." ”

After a pause, Guo Ziyi said slowly: "If you want to fight for fair and just treatment for the soldiers, then I advise you not to act hastily, and be sent away by some people like Huazi, once it becomes an official decision of the imperial court, even the Son of Heaven will not change in the future." ”

Jiang is still old and spicy, Guo Ziyi's last words made Guo Song wake up, he almost miscalculated, if it wasn't for Guo Ziyi's reminder, he would go to the court again, it is likely that Yuan Zai would be sent away with the lowest reward and bereavement, and finally the court decided to form, even the Son of Heaven is not good to change at will, how can they explain to the brothers at that time?

"Thank you for the reminder, I know what to do."

.........

came out of Guo Ziyi's mansion, Guo Song immediately came to Xishi and found Zhang Lei.

"I need a sum of money now, how much can you give me?" Guo Song pulled Zhang Lei to a secluded place on the street, and then asked straight to the point.

Zhang Lei scratched his head, "I have to ask the lady, I really don't know, you wait a minute." ”

Zhang Lei ran back to the store, and after a while, he ran back out of breath and said, "About 200,000 yuan, is it enough?" Not enough to take a little more from the jewelry store, most of our money is backlogged on ten years of sake and jewelry jade. ”

Guo Song calculated in his heart, "You don't need so much, just give me 130,000 yuan." ”

The imperial court was temporarily unable to give pensions to the fallen soldiers, but he Guo Song could not ignore it, a total of 225 people died in battle, and the families of each fallen soldiers were given 500 yuan for pensions.

As for the rewards for the seventy-five surviving soldiers, we can only wait for the Son of Heaven to recover.