In the early morning, the golden autumn sun shines through the treetops, spreads over the rooftops, and scatters in the courtyard, and the merchant village, which has been sleeping for a night, gradually wakes up from the silence of the night. Amid the cries of roosters, barking dogs, chirping birds, chirping dolls, and the cries of women, the men carried hoes and dragged the fence out of their yards. They stared at sleepy eyes, yawned, and walked slowly toward their land. In the midst of this hustle and bustle, another lazy and calm day began.

At this time, Shang Cheng had already crossed the Gujia Zhuangzi and went to the official road.

Before the hour, there were basically no cars and horses on the official road, and occasionally there were one or two people, all of whom were greedy for the smoothness of the official road and were willing to take a long detour. Looking at the empty avenue running through the north and south, Shang Cheng suddenly became interested, the whip swept back lightly, knocked the reins under his feet and shook again, and the green horse, which had been with him for three years, excitedly snorted twice in a row, and jumped out with a kick on his hind legs. Lao Dao and Li Feng and a few guards were the first to follow, and then they spurred their horses to hurry up, and in the sound of broken horse hooves, six people and six horses rode away......

The green horse is one of the best war horses in a thousand, since last July to the present, a whole year has not been much in a mane and hooves, today is a rare opportunity to spread a joy, naturally is in high spirits, four hooves tossed and galloping, less than half an hour, thirty miles of land was left behind. It wasn't until he saw Hu Guanji in the distance that Shang Cheng couldn't finish tightening the reins. He stretched out his hand and patted the young horse's neck lightly twice, both in praise and with a little comfort, and turned back to the old knife who came up and said, "This horse usually runs less. He had only come out for thirty miles, and he was sweating all over his body. ”

The old knife stared at Qing Cheng twice, smacked his lips and said, "Horse's, the same as the blade." Don't sharpen the blade, a lot of grinding, be blunt, cut people without moving; If the horse is not allowed to run, it will not run. ”

Lao Dao's Chinese language was extremely unfluent, but the meaning was very clear, Shang Cheng patted him on the shoulder vigorously, and praised him loudly: "Unexpected, really unexpected, your knowledge has increased during this time." That makes a lot of sense! Hey, that's it, if the knife is not sharpened, it will rust, and if you don't eat meat, you will be thin! Several of the guards heard him and laughed along.

Huguanji is also regarded as a large market town outside the city of Beijing, although it is said that the prosperity and wealth cannot be compared with the market towns in the east, west and south directions, there are thousands of households, and there are merchants from Yanshan Dingjin, these northern Weizhen prefectures and counties to stay and rest, so it is also more lively and noisy than the general foreign prefectures and counties. Today is a big gathering, far and near around the four towns and eight miles of the village households are carrying baskets and burdens to sell things for living money, east and west to the north and south up and down the four roads, everywhere are black pressed human heads, pigs, sheep, cattle, human feet and animal hooves kicked up the loess half a day high, half of the market town is shrouded in ash and dust; Cows roaring, horses neighing, pigs humming, and people selling food and drinking, lost dolls in the crowd calling their sons and calling their fathers, all kinds of sounds form a noisy world...... It was at this time that a large convoy also came to join in the fun. The momentum of this convoy was extraordinary, and there were more than a hundred and ten guards alone, all of them stuffed with bulging pockets in their arms, some on horseback and some on foot, all of them were sturdy men in short clothes and trousers; Thirty or forty oxen-driven carts shook their whips and shouted back and forth through their throats, and more than four hundred oxen spewed heavy breath and dragged more than twenty carts slowly from south to west, and the big iron-nailed wheels made a squeaky sound that made people sour the roots, pressing a deep mark on the dirt road. The twenty or thirty errand servants in the town were also all dispatched, waist knives, iron rulers, chains, water and fire sticks, and all the household items they could bring out, sweating profusely......

Shang Cheng and the others didn't know about this big team. They dismounted at the entrance of the town, led the war horses and walked for a while, seeing that there were more and more people in front of them, walking more and more slowly, and finally almost all of them stood still, although they did not know what was happening in front of them, but they thought that it would be impossible to walk through the market town in a short time, so they planned to turn back and go back the same way and go around again. As a result, when I turned my head, I saw that people were crowding people one after another, and I didn't even want to walk back for a while.

Shang Cheng squeezed out a sweat in the crowd, thought about it, and felt that it would be half an hour before he walked out of this Hu Guanji. Rather than walking twenty or thirty miles under the scorching sun to reach his own county mansion, it is better to find a shady and idle place in the town to rest until the end of the year. He tilted his face back and touched it from side to side. On the left and right are the households of the market town, almost all of them are buying and selling at the door, and they are basically small shops selling needles, threads, brains, and coarse tea and light rice. He didn't care about the size of the shop, the key was to find a proper place for a few horses...... Thinking about it, I saw a large restaurant with four facades and triple eaves corridors not far in front of me, and there it was!

The people who do things in the restaurant are all smart and clever people, Shang Cheng's eyes just looked over, and two guys in the door immediately greeted him quickly, shaking the towel to dust Shang Cheng, and asked, "The old customer has worked hard." Excuse me, are you staying in the hotel or tipping this time? As he spoke, his eyelids swept over a few horses. Seeing that they were all military horses branded on their buttocks, the two of them exchanged glances without saying a word, and the corners of their mouths invariably showed a wry smile......

Shang Cheng pretended not to see the expressions on the faces of the two guys. He knew that the men were seeing them as local garrisons. The discipline of the garrisons of the Beijing Division was the same; It may be better than the Yanshan Guard, but it can't be any better, there may not be many bad acts of robbing and looting, but there must be a lot of things to take advantage of a few catties of good wine for a meal. He had heard this kind of thing many times in Yanshan; Some lawsuits even went all the way to him, and he scratched his head when he held it. There's no way, as long as this kind of thing happens, don't ask, nine out of ten times must be a soldier who is causing trouble, if it's not a phlegm obsession, which ordinary people dare to provoke a soldier? The barracks, that is, the hornet's nest, provoked a group that could get out. Especially like Yanshan, the temper of the garrison of Weizhen is even greater, because no one knows when they go out and won't be able to come back, so they are a little unsatisfactory, and they can do all kinds of bullshit. Moreover, life in the military is boring and boring, and all kinds of rules are both numerous and strict to the point of harshness, and if you stay in the military camp for a long time, you will be contaminated with some anger on your body, and if a confrontation occurs, a small thing is likely to become a big thing at that time. He didn't have any good solutions to these things that the soldiers had committed. He was not arrogant enough to think that he could reform all kinds of bad habits of the feudal army with his own hands, and he did not have the ability to mold this army into a pacesetter in the construction of spiritual civilization, so he could only follow the rules of the army. There are several people who should be beaten with military sticks, whips who should be whipped, and those who cut off their heads and hung up to show the public, but they can only be a little better at the time of punishment, and after a few days, everything will be as usual, and the same is a small right and a small turmoil. Over time, he became accustomed to nature. Now, when he saw the distress and worry on the faces of the two restaurant guys, he couldn't help but feel that this kind of scene was a little familiar. He even thought amusefully, should he call the guys from the military department over to take a good look at them and see if they had anything to say, and then suggest to them that in the newly finalized "Da Zhao Mabu Water and Land Drill Code," should they still need to add content related to the building of spiritual civilization?

He walked into the restaurant in a cranky way.

Li Feng ordered the men in the back: "Hurry up and arrange a clean Accord upstairs, if there is anything delicious to eat, just send it regardless of the price." ”

"!" Shang Chengtou scolded without replying, "It's been less than two hours since I had breakfast, who can eat it now?" ”

Li Feng immediately came to his senses, patted his forehead and laughed: "It's a mistake, it's a mistake." They are all used to eating in restaurants. One by one, first serve a few pots of good tea and soup, and send some seasonal fruits. ”

It was only at this time that the guy finally interjected: "Generals, we are a song shop here, it is not, this is not a restaurant." ”

Li Feng said impatiently: "The song shop is the song shop, what can it be." Doesn't the song shop teach guests to order tea and dinner? It doesn't make sense. He asked in a low voice, "Since it's a song shop, let me ask you if you have any handsome little ladies?" ”

The guy looked at his expression and listened to his tone of words, and suddenly couldn't cry or laugh. The people who come and go in this song shop on weekdays are either noble businessmen or literati, and they are also a little famous, who knows that these outsiders they meet today are so vulgar that they actually see this place as a green building and a red hall. He smiled bitterly and explained: "General, we are here to ...... song."

"I know this is a song shop." Li Feng glanced at him.

"We're here for the song." The man's voice fell heavily on the word "song shop".

Shang Cheng listened to Li Feng's conversation with his buddy with a smile, and walked up the stairs, still saying cool words in his mouth: "Li Feng, you and I have been spending a lot of time, why are you still a dirt bun?" The guys have made it clear, this is not the Qinglou, if you want to find the little lady, do you want me to give you a half-day vacation? Actually, I think the girl from the Cuiping Building at the entrance of the town is pretty good, why don't we go there and rest......" He originally wanted to make fun of Li Feng, but suddenly looked up and saw a person standing at the top of the stairs, staring at him condescendingly.

Yes? It's Chen Pu! How did this guy end up here at this time?

Shang Cheng swallowed the remaining half of the words back into his stomach, smiled and nodded, and said, "When did you come back?" As he spoke, he staggered up the stairs in three steps and two steps.

"There's a convoy in front of me transporting money, and I'm blocked, so I've come here to clean up. It's just autumn, the weather is still hot during the day, and I said that I would rest and wait for the sun to go west, who would have expected to meet you. Chen Pu turned around and led Shang Cheng into the Accord he wanted. Her guard, Kyau'er, and a few female guards were also in the pavilion, and when they saw her and Shang Cheng walking in together, they knew that they might have something to say, so they bowed in unison and withdrew. When everyone went out, Chen Pu sat down and asked with a smile, "If I hadn't happened to meet you here, I wouldn't have known that you actually had other acquaintances in this episode." ”

Shang Cheng raised his head and laughed, took a bowl and poured most of the tea soup, shook his head and smiled, "Isn't this talking nonsense with Li Feng?" And he said, "I guess you're going to stay in Gyeonggi until the cool of autumn." There were still words hidden in his words, but he didn't expect Chen Pu to understand. From before Duan Si was promoted to the commander of Sanjiang, the competition between the king of Jinan and the king of Chengdu for the crown prince gradually intensified. First of all, Shang Shu, who was close to the king of Chengdu, went into battle shirtless, and knocked out one of Gu Shi's old subordinates to make a seat for Shangguan Rui, although in the end it was Duan Si who came out to snatch the command of Sanjiang, but the signal of the king of Chengdu and Yan Gu joining forces was very obvious; Immediately after the outbreak of the Pingjicang fraud case in Chang'an, an uncle of the king of Chengdu was imprisoned for questioning; Then someone exposed the seven murders of Huzhou, and more than a dozen court officials in Huzhou Mansion and two counties who covered the lid fell together, and the Dali Temple who was responsible for inspecting this public case was broken Shaoqing's eyes were like pillars, and he unrelentingly pointed the spearhead at Jiangnan West Road to observe that this is the person of the king of Jinan, and it is obvious that Xiang Zhuang is dancing the sword with the intention of Pei Gong...... Shang Cheng felt that the current situation in Jingshi was so complex and changeable, and Chen Pu's brain was slow, and if she didn't pay attention to saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing, she might get into trouble with her two brothers and bring some disaster to herself, so it was better for her to stay away. Like the Gyeonggi camp, the place is good, far away from the city, and it is a military camp, and she has no chance to find a muddy puddle to jump in and roll in the mud.

"I came back before the July Festival." Chen Pu said.

July Festival? Autumn? Shang Chengleng paused. The second day of the seventh month is the beginning of autumn; Doesn't this mean that Chen Pu has been back for ten days?

When Chen Pu saw the expression on his face, he knew that he wanted to be wrong, so he said, "It's not Liqiu." The beginning of autumn here in Beijing is the beginning of autumn, not like the customs of Yanshan and another name. The July Festival is the Daughter's Day. ”

Shang Cheng suddenly realized. He was deeply impressed by the Daughter's Day, a local festival unique to Shangjing. Last summer, he entered Beijing with the grassland autumn strategy, because it happened to coincide with the Daughter's Day on the third and fourth days of the seventh month, and the king did not have a holiday for hundreds of officials, so he had to wait stupidly in the inn for two days.

Chen Pu continued: "Recently, my mother's health has not been very good, and I didn't go back to Gyeonggi Daying after the holidays, and I stayed with her in Daechi for a few days. The day before yesterday, the doctor diagnosed and said that there was no more obstruction, and I came back. As a result, when I got home, I received a notice from the Ministry of War, saying that I was going to attend a meeting tomorrow. She looked at Shang Cheng and asked, "What about you, what are you going to do?" You don't really want to go to something, do you? ”

Shang Cheng shook his head and laughed dryly, indicating that it was just an occasional joke. He said, "What can I do?" It's not like you, I went to the military department to participate in this meeting of the "Horse Walk Water and Land Drill Code". He smiled wryly. This meeting is the same with him or not, but he can't help but go.

"What do you mean?" Chen Pu didn't understand, and stared at him with big eyes.

"This meeting was held twice last month." Shang Cheng drank all the tea soup in the cup in one gulp, stretched out the bowl and asked Chen Pu to help him renew it, a self-deprecating smile appeared on his mouth, and he exhaled and said, "Whoever taught me is Shangzhu Guoli, this kind of meeting is indispensable to me, I am not allowed to take leave, and I can't go if I want to." Let me tell you, in fact, this "Code of Conduct" was finalized at the first meeting. But it is useless to just finalize it. The Ministry of War wanted to find a team in the forbidden army to come out for a audition, and the Prime Minister's Office was also anxious to see the effect, but there was a big difference in which team to come out for the audition. Yan Gu wanted to recommend his own people, and Yang Du also wanted his children to go to the army, but no one was willing to fall behind, so he was so deadlocked. The last two meetings were because the two of them did not give in, so nothing came of it, so they had to hold a third meeting. ”

Chen Pu knew that the contradiction between Shang Cheng and Yan Gu was very deep, and he and Yang Du were opponents who broke their heads, and they expected him to help someone say a fair word, which was obviously asking for fish in Yuanmu. Therefore, she only asked: "Gu Poyang didn't help Yang Du say a word?" ”

Shang Cheng looked at her very strangely and said, "Gu Poyang helped Yang Liehuo say a lot of things, but Yan Gu was not alone, Zeng Ao was on his side. Anyway, he is also the secretary and deputy minister of the Ministry of War, Zeng Ao is better than Gu Shiding when he speaks, right? He still hasn't said a word. Yang Du is really old, and he can't hold back his strict feeling at the meeting; If it weren't for Gu Shi's help, and Gu Shi's voice being very loud recently, maybe Yang Du would have lost a long time ago.

Chen Pu was silent, and carefully sorted out all the words that Shang Cheng said in his heart. But she didn't think of any taste or idea, and after thinking for a while, she refilled Shang Cheng's cup with some tea soup and asked, "Why don't you recommend one or two?" ”

Shang Cheng glanced at the former boss and former colleague beside him...... is still a colleague, and then he moved his eyes to the picture of the lady hanging opposite. A total of four ladies are depicted on the painting, one station and three seats; The one standing held a flask or teapot or something, and the one with a low brow was obviously a maid serving three women kneeling on felt mats; Three ladies, one holding a flute, one stroking the qin, and the other holding a handkerchief in his hand wiping the instrument......

Chen Pu followed his gaze and stared at the picture of the lady several times, but he really couldn't see what mystery was hidden in this painting, so he couldn't help but want to ask. Shang Chengxian said: "This painting should be the technique of the Tang Dynasty, right?" ”

"Huh?"

"You look at this method, and then look at this figure, the faces of the three women sitting on the ground are round and full, the body is also plump and strong, and the temperament is graceful and noble, these are the characteristics of the paintings of ladies in the Tang Dynasty." Shang Cheng dug out a few marginal comments from the depths of his memory, nodded and said, "It seems that this painter's skills are not bad, and he is quite the essence of Tang painting." ”

Chen Pu was a little baffled. This kind of painting is made for 800 dollars in the east and west markets, and you can have as much as you want, and if you buy more, the store will make some profits, which can be related to the good skills? She immediately understood that this was Shang Cheng's nonsense. He didn't want to answer his question, so he made up nonsense to fool himself.

Although she saw through Shang Cheng's tricks, she didn't expose him, but stared at him with a smile and didn't speak.

In fact, Shang Cheng didn't want to tell her, but he was sluggish and insensitive to his comrades-in-arms, and he really felt that he really had nothing to say. But just as he didn't want to go to a meeting and had to go, he had to say it if he didn't want to say it now. He found that Princess Changsha was already holding the teacup in her hand, and she was about to drop the cup in the next moment. It's nothing to drop a cup, you can't lose a few bucks, the point is that if the cup doesn't fall to the ground but falls somewhere else, it's not fun...... He stared at Chen Pu's hand holding the cup, shook his head, and said with a grin: "Can I still recommend people?" When the first paragraph of the fourth section hadn't gone to Sanjiang, some people were saying that I had too much appetite and too long my hands, and seeing that I didn't even let go of the water master, is this okay? He stopped talking, glanced at Chen Pu, drank the tea soup in the cup in two or three sips, took a long breath, and was silent for a moment, then looked out the window at the thatched huts and tiled houses that overlapped high and low from far and near, and continued what he had just said, "Fortunately, this is your recommendation, and Duan Si has a reason to go, otherwise, even if your father spares me, the Prime Minister's Mansion will not let me go." ”

Chen Pu was so frightened by his words that he shivered. She just recommended Duan Si, how could she endanger Shangcheng? She stared at Shang Cheng for a long time, making sure that this time he was not lying to coax herself, so she cautiously asked, "Won't it?" I'm just recommending a Sanjiang commander, is the consequence really that serious? ”

Shang Cheng rolled his eyelids and glanced at her, snorted and said angrily, "What do you say? I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, I was ready to resign and go back to the countryside at that time. Of course, the matter is nowhere near as serious as he says it is now. The greater reason why Duan Si was able to go to Sanjiang was because the safety of the millions of loans needed to be guaranteed; It doesn't have much to do with him. But he can't speak on the matter of the "Drill Code", let alone fight for the interests of Yanshan, which is also the consensus of everyone.

Chen Pu asked anxiously: "Then, you can't really have anything, right?" ”

"It's okay if you don't speak. It's good to stay in the capital for a few years with peace of mind. Shang Cheng said angrily. At the moment, he is afraid that he will not stay for a few years, maybe he will stay like this for more than ten years and decades in the future.

"There shouldn't be any consequences, right?" Chen Pu furrowed his brows and tried to imagine what kind of bad consequences this would bring.

Shang Cheng grinned. Of course, there will be troubles, but there will not be serious troubles, at least no one will die. The most likely result is that he fell into the kind of situation that the old county king of Qinghe suffered, he could say anything, but nothing he said......

If only there were no terrible consequences! Chen Pu immediately put a lot of heart. She immediately asked about another thing that she was very concerned about: "I estimate the days, and it's almost time." Do you think there will be any accidents? ”

Shang Cheng wanted to laugh, the corners of his mouth twitched and he held back, stared at the clear tea soup in the bowl with his eyelids lowered and said, "Accident? No way. The biggest accident can only be an accident. As long as Duan Si's ship did not sink at sea, and half of the two thousand men and horses could reach the shore, there would be no accidents. ”

"But I've always felt frizzy in my heart these days, and I can't calm down......"

Shang Cheng wanted to laugh again. A few years ago, when Sun Zhongshan was still a sentry chief, he once said such things to him, and then he asked him to help find Yang Douer to talk about marriage...... It's been a few years, and now that I think about it, it looks like it happened yesterday. He smacked his mouth and said, "That's trouble." The news was passed back from Dongwei, not to mention that it would take four or five months to wait, but you have suffered in the past six months. ”

Chen Pu knocked his finger the table, glared at him and said unhappily, "Are you serious?" We're talking about military affairs! ”

Shang Chengden was choked on the tea soup, and a mouthful of water was sprayed into the ground. He coughed so hard that he even had tears coming out of his eyes. It was not easy to stop coughing, and he blinked and said, "What I said is the right thing." Sailing on the sea depends on the direction of the wind, where does the north wind come from in this autumn? At least until October, news of the East Wa will come back. He wiped the snot and tears from his face, took a few breaths, and said, "Don't worry. I still know Duan Si's ability, as long as he can go ashore, there is no possibility of defeating the battle. Duan Si made a surprise attack lightly, and it was not easy for him to lose this battle against a small country like Dongwei. ”

"Can you guarantee that he won't lose?"

Shang Cheng did not hesitate to guarantee the ticket: if Duan Si loses, he will ...... He ate the table!