The dinner held in the West Garden of the Teaching Workshop was very lively. Because it was to see off the four imperial court officials who were about to return to Beijing, the pastoral government had made a statement when he explained the errand, and all the food expenses at the banquet were considered leniently. From the moment the teacher took over this trip, he immediately mobilized up and down and immediately began to prepare. Let's not talk about what you eat and drink, what sheep liver, deer lips, dove, swallow soup, what three days of incense, seven days of drunken Huo's liquor, flying in the sky and running on the ground, as long as you can get it, the teaching workshop has got it. The singing and dancing at the banquet were also carefully prepared, and the seven masters of the teaching workshop appeared together, singing books, major tunes, small orders and puppet shows, and took turns to perform.

Shang Cheng had something on his mind, but he was actually very impatient to participate in this banquet. But he is the fake governor of Yanshan, others may be able to hide, he has to come no matter what. Not only must people be present, but he must also do the friendship of the landlord and greet the four lords.

Fortunately, this kind of banquet generally has unwritten rules, the host earnestly delivers a speech and then the feast begins, three glasses of wine, the guests sincerely thank you, and then drink a cup together, followed by free activities, want to be able to write, want to be in season, the wine is in high spirits, and it is not a problem to learn to take off his hat and boots to play drunk madness in the former dynasty Li Shixian, as long as he can make a good article like Li Taibai to get a full house, everyone will not only not blame, but also praise: this is the real celebrity and self-style......

Now is free time. In the lobby, a celebrity in the teaching workshop is playing the piano. In the intermittent murmuring of the piano, the article everyone, the Ministry of Works, Chang Xiu Zhengman, chanted:

“…… Wine Fairy,

hidden city,

Hurry away,

The black clothes are not seen among the green mountains. ”

"Good!" Several of the scholars gathered around him cheered in unison. "The best thing is this last sentence 'black clothes don't see the green mountains'! Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait and serve another bottle for Wen Shigong! While speaking, someone had already copied Chang Xiu's song on a piece of paper and handed it to the singer who held the lamp, and after a while, the singer stood in the hall and sang babbling with the gentle and undulating silk and bamboo sound:

“…… The heart was in a hurry to leave, and the black clothes were not seen among the green mountains.

I was in a hurry to leave, and I couldn't see the green mountains in black clothes......"

In the repeated chanting of the last sentence, her voice became lower and thinner, and gradually became uninaudible, which was exactly the meaning of Chang Xiu's Xiaolingli Immortal who escaped into the green mountains and disappeared again.

This woman was so smart that she grasped the subtleties of this song in a moment, and naturally received a full applause.

"Good!"

"Wonderful! Wonderful order, wonderful sound, wonderful people......"

Chang Xiu immediately smiled and invited the singer to sit beside him, and poured her a glass of wine with his own hands. This also won everyone's applause and praise.

Shang Cheng raised the wine cup and compared it to the Chang Shilang on the opposite side, and took a sip of the cup with a slight dip in his lips, and put it down. Sang Xiu, who was sitting beside him, immediately picked up the pot and filled it for him; On the other side, the real slave who was supporting him immediately took two chopsticks with light garlic and shredded chicken and put them in a small bowl in front of him.

Shang Cheng nodded and whispered "thank you", and his mind turned elsewhere.

He was sitting in the head desk of the flickering candlelight lobby now, and he was a little bored. Although the left and right sides are red and leaning on the cui, surrounded by high-ranking officials and celebrities, the sound in his ears is clear, and the delicacies in front of him are chaotic, but he can't hear the good or bad guqin music, and he can't understand the puppet show in the major tune of singing. Even the two generals in the hall, Guo Biao and Zhang Shao, are also throwing pen to paper, taking off their clothes and armor and putting on splendor, and people who don't know the details can't tell the truth at all. When these people spoke, he couldn't even insert a word, and it was ugly to go up, so he simply leaned over and sat behind the case, holding the wine cup with one hand and supporting his forehead with the other, making a drunken and drowsy appearance.

It seems that he is the only one here, a fake monk and a fake admiral, who is dressed in a brocade shirt and pretended to be a scholar.

That's fine. He is famous for his good drinking, and now he is drunk to the fullest as if he is not drunk, and others dare not disturb him when they are idle, so he just takes this opportunity to sort out his thoughts again to see if he can win Zhang Shao's support.

However, he also realized that it was difficult to get Zhang Shao to change his opinion. It is estimated that he will have to fight with Zhang Shao and them for a while.

He sighed silently in his heart. He is not afraid of fighting in the ring, he is afraid that time will not wait for anyone, and if it drags on like this for ten days and a half months, even if he convinces Zhang Shao or he is persuaded by Zhang Shao, and then wants to make adjustments to the defensive deployment, I am afraid it will be too late......

What to do? Anxious, he picked up the cup and poured it down. The liquor immediately burned his throat.

Sang Xiu poured him again. He held the lamp, frowning, so worried that he didn't even bother to say the word "thank you".

He had to find a way to resolve the disagreement between him and Zhang Shao.

In his heart, although he did not agree with Zhang Shao's comprehensive defense plan, in fact, it was the most practical and desirable plan for him. The four northern guards of Da Zhao, the Bohai Yanshan Dingjin Longxi, have been defending against enemies on the grassland in this way for the past few decades. The gains and losses of this comprehensive and solid defensive strategy are not discussed for the time being, just one "benefit" is enough. He has merit in defeating, and he has rhetoric in defeat, and the worst will not leave people with a handle to hold him accountable, even if he can't do it in a fake position, he will still be a general with troops in another place.

But he didn't want to! He felt that he couldn't be wrong. As a military strategist, the king of Donglu Valley called this opponent Ba Yiyi could not see the benefits of attacking Yandong, and turned to Yanzhong and Yanxi. As for why the King of Donglu Valley suddenly appeared in the Great Tengliang Ministry, he believes that it is likely that the King of Donglu Valley has realized that something is wrong internally, and he must resolve or ease the internal contradictions before taking revenge on Yanshan. He even boldly speculated that because the next military operation direction of the Tuqi people was still in Yandong, the two western tribes of the Da Teng Liang Department and the Wannuer Department were still unlikely to get too many benefits, and most of them would complain about this operation, so the purpose of the Donglu Valley King rushing to the Da Teng Liang Department was probably to appease these two tribes......

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was very likely. In the end, he could even be sure that the fact should be that the military target of the Sudden Exhaustion was still in Yandong; The defense of the Yi line at the northeast end of Yan not only cannot be weakened, but also needs to be further strengthened!

However, what is frustrating is that all of his opinions and inferences are based on his knowledge and analysis of the Tuqi people and the king of Donglu Valley, and there is no strong facts to prove them, and it is difficult for others to accept them.

He needs to find a plan that can be accepted by others, and he needs a plan to ensure that Yanshan is safe.

He thought wryly. Before he knew it, he had drunk all the wine in the cup again.

At this time, someone came. It's the soldier's squire Zhenqiang. He sat down on the seat given to him by Kabuki Shinno, looked at Shang Cheng's face, and said with a smile: "Guarding the two beauties, why are you still drinking alone?" ”

Shang Cheng didn't answer this question, took the wine jug from Sang Xiu, poured a cup for Zhen Xiangman, and teased him: "You don't fight with Chang Wenshi?" ”

Zhen Qian smiled open-mindedly: "Don't fight!" Chang Wen's real name is true, I just made one, and everyone made seven or eight branches, which made it impossible to fight. Shang Chengwan said with a smile: "Chang Wenshi is a genius in the world, and his articles and poems are the best in the world, and you will not be wronged if you fight with him." In this way, when I turned around, I asked people to set up a screen in this lobby, and only one line of words was written on the screen: 'Guanzhong Zhenxiang, and Haozhou Changxiu Changwen is fighting here. 'How?' That's even more unjust. ”

Zhen Xiang raised his head and laughed. Sang Xiu and Zhennu were also amused by Shang Cheng's words.

Zhen Qian put down the lamp, and then glanced at the two kaki behind Shang Cheng. Hu Nu Sangxiu he has known for a long time, and he has met twice when he went to Beijing, and he admires this woman's singing and drumming skills. He has also heard about the relationship between this woman and Shang Cheng, if he meets Yan Drink in the private house, he will have to joke about Shang Cheng or two, but now that everyone in the mansion is watching, there is no way to talk about complimenting him, so he has to find a reason to persuade Shang Cheng to drink again alone One by one, he always congratulates him, isn't it? There was another kabuki he didn't know. glanced at the plum blossom makeup on the forehead of the real slave, and turned his face to look at Sang Xiu's forehead, and saw that Sang Xiu's forehead was also a five-point plum blossom, and drank half a cup of honey brewed three-day incense with a smile, and recited:

"Hanmei hates the late year, and Su Yan only goes to spring."

Shang Cheng's knowledge of literature is really limited, and the historical allusions in his poems are a little rarer, and he is a blind eye. After listening to the recitation of Zhenxiang, I didn't know the point at all, and I didn't know which dynasty, which generation, and which poet's work this was, so I asked him: "What do you mean?" ”

Zhenqian smiled and didn't answer, drank all the wine, looked at Sang Xiu and looked at Zhennu, shook his head and sighed, "It's a pity, it's a pity." As he spoke, he stood up, "I'll go and have a drink with Lu Bofu." I don't know when we will see each other again today......"

Shang Cheng dragged him down: "What's 'goodbye today, when will we meet again', you don't blush when you speak?" Save that for tomorrow morning! You will leave tomorrow, and Lu Bofu and I will definitely be sent to Shili Pavilion. He pressed him into his chair and said, "Don't be busy, I have something to ask you." As he spoke, he turned back and waved his hand at the two women with blushing faces. I'll talk a few words to the real adult, you girls can't listen. ”

After they took a few steps back, Shang Chengcai asked, "Zhang Shao and I sent a few official documents to the imperial court asking for reinforcements, do you know about this?" ”

Zhen Qian put away her smile and nodded. He hasn't received a copy from the Ministry of War yet, but he has heard Zhang Shao tell him about the incident.

"What do you think?"

Zhen Qian lowered his eyelids and said for a long time: "I'm afraid there will be a fierce battle." ”

"Then you go back and help us talk about it, and see if the imperial court can send one or two forbidden troops from the Liyuan camp?"

This time, Zhen Qian was very simple, and shook his head directly without even thinking about it.

"Why?" Shang Cheng asked him. Even if the Liyuan battalion bears the heavy responsibility of guarding the Beijing Division, it won't need more than 100,000 people in the 12th army, right? Sending an army of 10,000 or 20,000 people to Yanshan won't have any impact, right? He didn't think about the other Central Plains garrisons. The soldiers who can really fight in Dazhao are not in the northern four guards but in the Liyuan camp, and then in the southwest border, there are also several garrisons that can also fight. But you don't have to think about it, it is impossible for those southwestern garrisons to be transferred to the north to wait for them one by one, and they should be busy with next year's spring ploughing.

"There are twelve armies in the Liyuan battalion, but the two armies that participated in the northern expedition the year before last are empty shelves, and the military department still doesn't know whether the imperial court will cancel their establishment. There is another thing...... "Zhen Qian paused, probably thinking about whether he should tell Shang Cheng now. He pondered for a moment and said, "...... I shouldn't have told you right now. However, you are the commander of Yanshan, and you also have the position of a squire in the military department, so I think it doesn't matter if I talk to you now. He looked left and right very covertly, and saw that no one paid special attention to this side, so he smiled and raised the wine jug, first poured wine into Shang Cheng's half-empty cup, and said in a very low voice, "The imperial court has already made a decision to use troops against Nanzhao by next summer at the latest." ”

Shang Cheng was not very surprised by this decision, which was still confidential. Even if Da Zhao and Tubo discussed to jointly suppress Nanzhao, Da Zhao would still fight Nanzhao sooner or later. Nine out of ten times the ethnic minorities in the southwest rebelled, it was the Nanzhao who instigated them behind their backs, and if the Nanzhao was not submissive, it would be impossible for the southwest region of Dazhao to live in peace. But what does this have to do with the reinforcements that Yanshan hoped for? It may not be necessary to clean up a small country as big as Nanzhao, but also to dispatch the Liyuan Forbidden Army?

"The court has agreed that the commander of the Southern Expedition is General Xiao Jian, and the deputy marshal has not yet been decided." Zhen Qian stared at Shang Cheng meaningfully. Xiao Jian's designated deputy commander of the Southern Expedition was Shang Cheng; Except for Shang Cheng, the deputy marshal can't be anyone, otherwise he won't be printed. It is also tricky for the court to take this matter. Xiao Jian's prestige in the south is extremely high, and he has a strong deterrent to several small countries in the south. But Yanshan is also very important, in recent years, the conflict between Da Zhao and Tu Ji Ci has basically happened in this place, Yanshan is weak and strong, and it is actually more victorious and less defeated, it seems that Shang Cheng, the admiral, is indispensable for the time being...... Shang Cheng couldn't come, and Xiao Jian was unwilling to change someone else, so in the end, the prime minister's public office made a decision and allocated more than 30,000 people from 15 brigades from the Liyuan camp to participate in the southern expedition, and Xiao Jian reluctantly agreed.

"That's the way it is." Zhen Qian said, "You see, there are twelve armies in the Liyuan battalion, two of which are empty, and almost three armies will be sent to fight Nanzhao, where is the extra force for you?" ”

Shang Cheng grinned and said, "You really dare to do it, aren't you afraid of the emptiness of the Jingshi's defense?" Without waiting for Zhen Qian to answer, he added, "Maybe everyone didn't see the old man's true thoughts?" ”

Zhen Qian spread his hands and said embarrassedly: "What can you do if you see it?" Nanzhao is raging in the southwest, and this cannot but be fought. But the veterans all cared about their reputation, and no one wanted to go, and the court had no choice, so in the end they could only force the old man to go. No way, who made him the most prestigious in the south? ”

Shang Cheng is happy. The veterans don't want to fight Nanzhao, that's for sure. The veterans have neither lack of qualifications nor a lot of military exploits, who wants to go to the south to feed mosquitoes? Besides, if the war does not go smoothly for a year or two, there will be many people who say sour things behind their backs; If you are unlucky and encounter a small twist and turn, maybe the prestige of a lifetime will be in vain, and then it is really a waste of rice. He felt that the reason why Xiao Jian would ask him to be the deputy marshal of the Southern Expedition by name was not because he believed that he appreciated him, but because the old man knew that he would not be able to leave for a while, so he insisted so much......

Zhen Qian also smiled: "That's the truth." It's a pity that the old man did a lot of calculations, and he didn't count that Zhang Pu would ruthlessly give him three armies of Li Yuanbing. No, it's too late for him to think about it now. It's just that the old man is old, and the poisonous miasma in the south is heavy, in case there is a ......" It would be unlucky to continue to say it, so he stopped talking, was silent for a moment, and asked in a tentative tone, "Why don't you go to the south?" ”

"Okay! No problem! Shang Cheng said heartily, "You help me pass the current level of Yanshan first, and then I will go to the south when I turn back." But I'll also say it first, I'm going, I can't be a deputy marshal, and the three armies of the Liyuan battalion also have to be given to me. Otherwise, I would still continue to fight my Tu Ji in Yanshan. ”

Zhen Qian shook his head and laughed at any time. I really can't underestimate this monk, this is simply the same as Xiao Jian's statement! seems to be full of straightforwardness and happiness, but in fact, the meaning of the words is to avoid the southern expedition. Let him be the commander of the Southern Expedition, the Ministry of War dares to agree, and the imperial court can't agree, right?

The imperial court could not send reinforcements, so Shang Chengcheng could only find a way to solve the problem by himself. He asked: "Lao Zhen, the imperial court does not send reinforcements, I want to get a few battalions of border troops to be promoted to the guards, can this be done?" ”

"If it's not too much, it shouldn't be a problem." Zhen Qian thought for a moment and said, "There has been a precedent for this before. If the situation is critical, the governor's offices of each guard can decide on their own whether the border army will be promoted to the guard, and then make up a record for the military department. ”

Since he could decide this matter, Shang Cheng put some peace of mind first. He asked, "How many border soldiers can be promoted?" ”

"A brigade at most. No more, or it's going to be messy. Zhen Xiang said. He immediately warned Shang Cheng and said, "It is a five-battalion brigade, and the registered establishment cannot exceed 3,000 people, so you should not form a large brigade of seven or eight battalions, and there are fifteen or sixteen teams under one battalion." If you really dare to do this kind of thing, just wait for the punishment of the imperial court, and it is estimated that it would be good if you could mix up a position in the Dongting Water Master at that time. ”

Shang Cheng laughed. Of course, he didn't want to go to Dongting Lake to catch fish. It would be nice to have another brigade, although it was still not enough, but it could always be of some usefulness one by one, and before Zhenqian came to talk to him, he had just had a new idea.

Last time Li Shen was bad, he failed to pinch the king of Donglu Valley to death in the White Wolf Pass, and he still regrets it. This time, he was going to set another trap for the fox on the prairie......

Hehe, he's not afraid that this fox won't get in!