It was getting late, and the sunset in the west cast the afterglow in the small courtyard of the public house, and the gray tiles on the small gatehouse were also covered with a layer of golden red. In the beautiful sunset, a melodious horn echoed in the barracks, startling the finches that foraged for food in flocks and fluttering between the barns and grain hoards.

When the soldiers brought the night dinner, Shang Cheng was still talking to Wen Mu.

At present, the topic is no longer Wen Mu's various encounters in the past half a year, but he is listening to Shang Cheng say some things about Yan Shanwei.

Just as Wu Yuzi had previously rumored, the reason why Shang Cheng left the state city was because of a fierce conflict between the Central Plains soldiers and the Yanshan soldiers in a military camp in the north. But Wu Yanzi's news is also hearsay, in fact, it is not the whole truth of the matter, there were many people involved in that brawl, but there were no dead people, only two or three were really injured, and they were all Yanshan soldiers. The barracks and this granary are the same, it is specially vacated to house the Central Plains soldiers, the army village of two or three thousand people, the Yanshan soldiers have only one outpost, and one hundred and ten people are driven by the Central Plains soldiers, and many people are trembling after Shang Cheng arrives and comes back from outside the military village...... What's even more ridiculous is that when Shang Cheng received an urgent report from the Wei Mansion and rushed to deal with it, he couldn't find out the cause of the brawl, and many guys who participated in the fight said that they saw their own people being beaten before they went up to help. was busy until the next morning, Shang Chengcai finally understood what was going on: a Shenwei army commander felt that a Yanshan recruit was pleasing to the eye, so he said that he wanted to teach that kid a lesson, but instead he was taught a lesson by several fellow recruits, and the captain felt embarrassed, so he ran to call someone, and just like this, the matter finally got bigger......

Wen Mu asked, "Then how did you deal with it in the end?" ”

Shang Cheng smiled bitterly and shook his head. What else could he do? You can't cut down the captain of the Shenwei Army for this, right? had to hang it up and whip it twenty times, and asked that guy to apologize to a few injured Yanshan soldiers, and then punish him for half a year, and then settle the matter.

Wen Mu smacked his mouth and didn't say anything. After all, Shang Cheng's time in the army was too short, and his promotion was too fast, so he was not clear about many laws in the military.

Shang Cheng saw that he was silent, so he continued to ask while serving him vegetables: "Do you think I did this too lightly?" ”

Wen Mu said bluntly: "Yes." You're doing that, it's not exemplary. If such a thing happens in the army, according to the ban, those who take the lead in making trouble and those who injure people should be beheaded, and the rest should be put in ear parade camps or flail for three to ten months, depending on the severity of the situation. ”

Shang Cheng did not immediately refute his friend's opinion. What Wen Mu said was almost the same as the advice made by the two officials of the Wei Mansion at that time. But they all looked at it purely from the point of view of the ban in the army. Things are nowhere near as simple as they think. He broke a piece of bread and chewed it slowly, and after a long time said, "What you said is not wrong. But more than one of the same things has happened, and if you want to deal with them all according to the way you say, how many people will be killed? We should think about it, why is this happening? Since the defeat of the grassland last year and the retreat of the army to Yanshan, except for a few brigades that participated in the great victory in Yandong, the rest of the troops, whether they were Yanshan soldiers or Central Plains soldiers, have become frizzy and irritable, and the matter of stealing chickens and dogs has never stopped. There are also those who speak strange things, those who speak sour words, those who are passive and slack in their duties, and those who preach everywhere that the Turks are invincible...... There are people who have anything to say, and the brave and strong men who have only been added to the guard army in winter and this spring can't train with peace of mind. He stared at Wen Mu for a moment, then lowered his head again, "Do you think that cutting off the head of that captain can make those people shut up and reverse all this?" ”

Wen Mu had no way to answer this question at all. Although he was not a big man, he also knew that the impact of the grassland defeat was far-reaching and heavy. At present, the various armies in Yanshan, including the teams from the Liyuan battalion, are in a very low mood; In particular, the imperial court's reluctance to announce the punishment of Xiao Jian and Li Wei, who were directly responsible for the defeat of the army, made the living officers and soldiers feel cold. At the moment, there was a sense of war weariness everywhere in the barracks.

He somewhat understood Shang Cheng's approach. He frankly admitted that he had just made mistakes and was biased in his thinking. However, he also pointed out that the military law was formulated to make the soldiers obey it, and if everyone is like Shang Cheng who does not abide by the law, then what else do you need to do with the military law? Moreover, Shang Cheng did this, which did not help to establish his personal prestige in the military, and maybe it would be counterproductive, making people mistakenly think that he was a soft persimmon who was easy to pinch......

Shang Cheng laughed. He asked Wen Mu: "Do you think that if I do this, I am just a soft persimmon?" ”

Wen Mu thought about it seriously, and smiled embarrassedly. He now respects his friends even more. Aside from their friendship, Shang Cheng's thoughts and practices alone made him feel admired, and he felt that there were many things to think about and learn from on his own......

"However, you are right," Shang Cheng said solemnly after laughing, "I did not punish those troublemakers in accordance with military law, and it was my mistake. He beckoned to Suza at the door and said to him, "You write it down, go back and tell General Zhang of the Weifu that I have mishandled the affairs of the Lingquan Military Village and will be fined for three months." ”

"Yes! Go back and tell General Zhang of the Wei Mansion that the matter of Lingquan Military Village was mishandled by the commander and fined him for three months. ”

Wen Mu, who was watching from the side, was so surprised that he couldn't even speak. He and Shang Cheng have known each other for a year or two, and they have not seen much but they have become close friends, and this is the first time he has seen Shang Cheng handle military affairs. Shang Cheng's approach was beyond his expectations, and everything was obviously not up to standard, but he couldn't find any mistakes or omissions at all, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it seemed reasonable......

He was looking down and thinking nonsense, Shang Cheng didn't listen carefully to what he said next, and when he reined in his mind, he heard Shang Cheng say:

“…… After two days of walking, I felt that water conservancy could not only be carried out in a few counties in the north. Except for the southernmost counties, there have not been a few rains since the beginning of spring in other places, not to mention Pingcheng, which has always been dry, even around Yanzhou, there are some signs of water shortage. You see this Xiaoxi River next to the grain depot, and the water volume is not even half of that of a normal year. It's still spring, and the grass on both sides of the river is dry and yellow, and I don't know what the drought will look like if it gets to Futian......"

Wen Mu calmed down and said, "The amount of water under this river cannot be accurate. Farmers are afraid that the spring drought will delay the growth of crops, and there must be dams and barrages in the upper reaches to store water. I have worked as a farmer at home, and I know that everyone is afraid of drought, so I should plan ahead. ”

"What you say is the truth, there is indeed a dam built upstream of Xiaoxigou. In fact, not only Xiaoxigou, but also Xiaonan River, Daxi River, Baihe River and Liangshui, the situation is similar everywhere. Shang Cheng nodded. He then frowned and said worriedly, "It's because of this that the situation is even more worrying." The river is blocked upstream, so what should be done downstream? ”

Wen Mu Yileng. He really didn't expect this to happen, so he didn't know how to answer. He hesitated for a moment before he said, "Now let's assert that this year must be a year, I'm afraid it's a little early, right?" ”

Shang Cheng sandwiched a large piece of sauced beef into Wen Mu's bowl, put down the chopsticks, and said, "Everyone knows that God's affairs are not clear, but it is also true that Gu Yu did not rain that day. Nowadays, it is rumored everywhere that there will be a major drought this year, and people everywhere are panicking to build dams on the river to store water, and as a result, there is a water shortage in places where there should not be a shortage of water. Do you think, if the farmers in the downstream have no water, they don't sprinkle all the gas on the people in the middle and upper reaches? He didn't know what he thought of, he was stunned with his chopsticks, and he didn't know that the chopsticks were pestle into the sauce bowl, and he sighed for a long time and said, "I won't tell you, several villages on the other side of Liangshui have already fought for the river water, and people have died." If the weather goes dry again......"

Wen Mu said: "The government should come forward to coordinate this matter. ”

Shang Cheng smiled bitterly and said, "The proclamation of the Admiral's Mansion was sent out at the beginning of the month...... "But what effect can just a proclamation make?" He didn't know the situation in the distant prefectures and counties, but could he not know the situation of several neighboring counties in Yanzhou? The yamen of the counties posted notices all over the streets, and even the larger market towns posted notices, but the villagers were illiterate, who would tell them? The officials and scribes are all nested in the yamen, who can guarantee that the contents of the notices will be enforced? Taking a step back, even if someone reasoned with the farmers and the yamen handled it properly, the problem of water shortage was not solved after all, and the shadow of drought still threatened this land that had just passed the sword army......

There were many things he couldn't tell Wen Mu. For example, on the matter of road construction, the Wei Mansion and the Border Military Mansion rarely agreed, but Lu Ji and Di Xu, two guys who couldn't get their heads out, stood together against him, and at the critical moment, the old prefect Tao Qi resolutely did not express his position on the grounds of rectifying the complicated affairs of Yanzhou, and the matter could only be put on hold first. Another example is the construction of water conservancy. Obviously, the drought has affected Yanzhou City, and Lu Ji still bites to death, so he can only allocate money and food to work in several counties in Yanbei first. There are also bandits. In the first month, the Ministry of War agreed that Yan Shanwei would select a group of middle- and lower-level officers from the Central Plains soldiers who were about to be repatriated to supplement the various armies and enhance the combat effectiveness of the three armies......

Alas! He sighed silently.

Of course, he knew where the root of the problem was. The bad thing is the word "fake position" in his status as a commander. Before he really accepted this position, neither the civil nor military officials of Yanshan would really be of the same mind with him, and they would not easily state their position until they figured out the true thoughts of the imperial court. In fact, from the day he became a false admiral, rumors of his dismissal and transfer continued; Recently, there is a rumor that he will be transferred to the Liyuan camp to be a military commander, because it also involves a general of the Zhuguo who has just left Yanshan, and it is said that that person has said some good things for him in the court, so this news is more credible, and it is more determined that the officials have more to do than less. Doing more things means making more mistakes, before the situation is not clear, everyone is still wise and self-protecting, anyway, it is impossible for a blind man to leave Yanzhou, the mountain is high and the commander is far away, he can't control us!

and Li Shen, who is far away in Duanzhou. He has the credit of Yandong's great victory, and he didn't become a governor as he wished, he was originally a high-minded and arrogant person, and now he is even more ......

His anxious and sad appearance fell on Wen Mu's eyes.

Wen Mu was shocked to find that after not seeing him for more than half a year, a few thin crow's feet quietly climbed into the corners of Shang Cheng's eyes. He didn't know what it was that made his friend so anxious, but he immediately made a decision: he was going to stay and help Shang Cheng no matter what!

Wen Mu's decision made Shang Cheng overjoyed. Zhang Shao told him several times that there was a lack of people in the Wei Mansion who were familiar with military Chinese affairs and could do things in a down-to-earth manner, and now that they are good, this problem can be regarded as solved! Wen Mu has led soldiers, fought battles, worked as a clerk, and worked in the camp for a long time, and has dealt with various yamen of the Health Department, and is familiar with personnel, so he is really a good candidate!

However, at the moment, he did not immediately tell Wen Mu about this arrangement. Although he was sure that Zhang Shao would be happy, before that, he still had to listen to Zhang Shao's opinion. He said, "You register in the barracks first, and I'll ask the Wei Mansion to arrange an actual errand for you as soon as possible." We'll talk about the details in more detail when you're settled. ”

After eating this meal, Shang Chengcheng and Wen Mu said goodbye.

He still has something to do, he wants to go to Xuntian Guan's house in Yanyan Town to visit the two old people. This Guan family and the Xuntian Guan family of Ximazhi are relatives of the Lianzong, and Guan Xian and Jiang Shuban, who he has always been thinking about, live there. Both of them had come to take part in the upcoming Yihai Enke Township Examination......