Zhao Xingde spread his hands and said: "The promotion of sergeants is a system in the army. The last general has nothing to say. The tone was vaguely resistant. Zhang Shanfu came up and reprimanded him, although Zhao Xingde didn't know what he meant? But there is not much restraint anymore. "I don't know each other, do you have an enmity with the surname Zhao?" He secretly said in his heart, "It's a big deal to retire and disarm, whether it's sailing and doing business, or setting up a factory to smelt iron." ”

Zhang Shanfu was silent for a moment, and suddenly said: "Do you want to have no quarrel with the world, 'the road is not good, take the pole to float in the sea'?" ”

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, and said in a low voice: "The last general does not dare to compare himself with a saint. But his eyes drooped, and the green tea roots in the bowl stood up in the water, like a group of sergeants who were gathering.

Zhang Shanfu stared at his face, accentuated his tone, and said in a deep voice: "Human nature is born with good profits. Hunger and cold wish to be full of warmth, hard work to be happy, poor to be rich, cheap to be expensive. It is difficult to fill the gully, give up its meat, and there is chaff next to it and want to steal it. Jie Zitui did not say anything, and died in hiding with his mother. Did you get a moment? Did you get a lifetime? Zhao Xingde looked up at him in surprise, but he heard Zhang Shanfu's words change sharply, and said in a deep voice, "For example, if a caravan is lost in the sand sea, and a sea ship is sailing in the sea, even if you know the road, you can't escape alone, so let everyone return to the right direction." Be powerful and indisputable, or pretend to think about what means of control, that is to trap everyone to death. You have done something in Lumei to capture the army, and you must be able to weigh the stakes in it. ”

Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice: "The last general understands. ”

Zhang Shanfu nodded, softened his tone, and asked, "If you lead an army by yourself, how will you deal with it if you encounter a shortage of food and salaries and a disagreement between friendly forces?" ”

Zhao Xingde was silent for a moment and replied: "If this situation happens, the general will fight on his own merits, and he must not delay military affairs." ”

"What if you try to do it, but you still don't allow it?" Zhang Shanfu's eyes showed a hint of fierceness, and he asked.

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, thoughtful, and muttered, "There will always be a way." Zhang Shanfu saw Xingde contemplating and thinking, and did not urge, and took a sip of tea unhurriedly. But he heard Zhao Xingde say tentatively: "Can the last general appeal to General Zhang, or through the second prince to His Majesty?" ”

Zhang Shanfu nodded slightly, and said slowly: "The children can be taught." Only with a back hand can others be feared. Don't think that this is unfair, people are not sages, who can be ruthless. In the army, the robe can be entrusted with life and death, and the husband must have advantages and disadvantages, and the favors that have been inherited over the years are far from being comparable to the usual. If you ignore it, you will be discriminated against. You have harmed yourself in vain, and even more so the sergeants who follow you. He paused for a moment and said with a smile, "Those who are fair will not believe one-sided words, if the old man is a person who abolishes the public because of private affairs, even if you don't come to make a statement, it is difficult to ensure fairness in handling things." ”

Zhao Xingde arched his hand and said, "Thank you General for your guidance." His face softened slightly, but he listened to Zhang Shanfu continue to ask: "If it is difficult to quench the thirst of the distant water, it will be difficult for Your Majesty and I to help?" ”

Zhao Xingde didn't understand his intentions, and said in a deep voice: "The last general is blunt, please also ask the general to show me." ”

Zhang Shanfu had a hint of complexity in his eyes, and said slowly word by word: "There will always be a way." He paused, and said in a deep tone: "The general is outside, and the king's order is not affected." He was ordered by the king to go out, and those who stood in the way were killed. Put away the pedantic atmosphere, whether you steal, rob or cheat, not only to complete the military affairs of the detachment, but also to try to save the sergeants under your command as much as possible. Got it? ”

Zhao Xingde was slightly stunned, and said in a deep voice: "The last general understands." But I don't know why Zhang Shanfu said this to himself.

Zhang Shanfu nodded, seeing that Xingde still had a puzzled look on his face, and did not explain in detail, he said in a deep voice: "Even if you don't understand it now, you will understand it in the future." Let's go back first. After saying that, he picked up the teacup and stood up. Zhao Xingde didn't dare to hold it up, so he hurriedly stood up and bowed to say goodbye. When he turned around, he heard Zhang Shanfu seem to say to himself: "So far, I think of Xiang Yu, I refuse to cross Jiangdong, become a king and lose a villain, but it's a pity that I have 8,000 children, Wu Xiao Yu Ji." ”

Zhao Xingde's body shook slightly, he couldn't help but didn't look back, and left Zhang Shanfu's study with heavy steps, his mind was in turmoil, thinking about Zhang Shanfu's words to warn him for a while, what was the intention, and then thinking about whether Zhang Shanfu's last chant of this poem had a deep meaning. He followed behind Li Ziweng, and he didn't look at the road, and suddenly hit someone else on his shoulder. I only heard a coquettish cry of "sigh" from the other side, and the person who came staggered backwards. Zhao Xingde said "not good" in his heart, and hurriedly took two steps forward, wanting to support the man, but was stopped by another person in front of him. Zhao Xingde looked up, but it was a woman with a noble temperament who was covered with frost, staring at him with a sullen eye. Behind the woman, a middle-aged man was supporting a woman in a green shirt, both of whom were looking towards her. The girl in the green shirt clutched her chest, thinking that she had been hit in pain. And Li Ziweng was standing on the side of the road, watching this scene in amazement.

Zhao Xingde hurriedly fell to the ground and apologized: "I was in a hurry on the way down, I bumped into the girl, I am ashamed, I am ashamed, and I ask the girl to forgive me." ”

"To put it lightly, everyone else is avoiding it, but you just bumped into it?" The woman still wanted to scold Xingde, but the middle-aged man behind her shouted: "The little sister is not injured, so forget about it." He smiled and arched his hand towards Zhao Xingde, his demeanor was calm, chic and generous, which was heartbreaking. Zhao Xingde hurriedly returned the salute, and the girl who was hit apologized again, and then left in a panic.

Zhao Xingde bumped into this, but his mind cleared up, although Zhang Shanfu's speech was unclear, but he was obviously still kind to himself. As he walked, he asked, "Brother Li, why did you avoid the side of the road just now, who is the person on the other side?" He was full of doubts, the sergeant's status was honorable, and even the general's family could not let the guard so respectfully avoid it by the side of the road.

"Blame me for only remembering to avoid the road." Li Ziweng lowered his voice and said: "The one who stopped Brother Zhao is the sister of General Zhang, the current crown princess. The crown princess has a noble status, virtuous and virtuous, and the one who stops her can only be His Royal Highness the Prince. "The royal family is guarded by the Dragon Tooth Army, and the Tiger Wing Army is only responsible for the safety of high-ranking officials in the Five Mansions, so Li Ziweng has not met the crown prince either, but his guess is reasonable.

Zhao Xingde smiled bitterly: "It seems that I am lucky." ”

The two walked to the horse tethering pile, and suddenly a strong wind blew, and in an instant, the clouds were thick, and the sky was as dark as dusk, and a shower was about to come down, Li Ziweng said: "The wind and rain are coming, Brother Zhao might as well take shelter in the house for a while and then go out." ”

Zhao Xingde couldn't help but secretly call out that he was unlucky, but said with a smile: "It's okay, when you march for a long time, the wind and rain will not stop when you are stronger than this." He didn't want to leave Li Ruoxue alone at home for a long time, turned over on his horse, turned around and hugged his fists and said, "Brother Li won't send it." Then he urged the horse forward. By this time the rain had begun to fall heavily. Li Ziweng watched him ride away in the rain, and said to himself: "Sure enough, it is a man from the Chengying Army." ”

In the house of Zhang's mansion, the prince and his wife and the third princess all met with relatives in the mansion, Zhang Caiwei asked Zhang Shanfu in the study, and then said to her husband that she came to the study to meet her eldest brother. Chen Chong has often been in Mobei in recent years, fortunately there is also Zhang Shanfu's brother in Dunhuang, and her sister-in-law is also very kind and gentle, which makes her feel like her mother's home.

Zhang Shanfu saw his little sister walk in, beckoned her to sit down, and without waiting for Zhang Caiwei to speak, he smiled first: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the first lieutenant, and this time when you return to Beijing, you should have more than half a year of training in the Protectorate Mansion, and you and your wife can also reunite for more time." In two years, the eldest brother will enlighten His Majesty and transfer him back to the Dragon's Tooth Army. ”

Although he was the eldest son in the family, he was born from his mother-in-law. At that time, Zhang Shanfu's father had not yet inherited the title of Duke of Chu, and the eldest lady Liu was the daughter-in-law in the mansion, in charge of the use of silver money and the rewards and punishments of many servants and maids, and was extremely powerful in the mansion. Because Liu was worried that Zhang Shanfu and his son Zhang Xi would compete for the foundation of the Chu State, Zhang Shanfu and his mother and son suffered a lot of harsh criticism and cold eyes from the clansmen, and only this young sister treated him as a brother. When Zhang Shanfu was in his twenties, his mother died of illness, and he walked out of the Guogong Mansion to join the army, experienced a lot of wind, frost, snow and rain, and rose from the commander of the tenth to the general, soaring to the sky. Among the many children of the founding family, he was the most powerful.

"Thank you, brother." Zhang Caiwei said softly, with a hint of apology in her tone, "My sister specially brought some of the local New Year's goods sent by my hometown. "The eldest brother Zhang Shanfu has always had a knot with the middle brother Zhang Xi, and the things sent by the Duke of Chu during the New Year's holidays are either returned or distributed to his subordinates. After Zhang Caiwei married Chen Chong, she grew older and more knowledgeable, and she felt that she had heard about the sinister situation of Zhang Shanfu's mother and son when she was a child.

"There is nothing in Dunhuang, but it is sent all the way, and it costs the people and money." Zhang Shanfu frowned and said, "I guard the world with sergeants, and the captain of the Protectorate Mansion keeps a close eye on the magnates of the Houmen. Having said that, every time Zhang Caiwei personally gave a gift, he accepted it for his own use and would not give it to others. When Zhang Caiwei was young, she secretly saved a big bag of sugar in her room and gave it to him, although Zhang Shanfu didn't eat it himself, but he used it to honor his mother who was sick in bed.

"It's all some wild meat from the mountains, and it doesn't take much effort to bring it with the goods of the caravan." Zhang Caiwei carefully avoided the word "in the house", and she said in a low voice, "This year is the death day of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Mrs. Fate, do you want to go back to worship?" My sister can make arrangements in advance. ”

Zhang Shanfu's pupils shrank slightly, it's been thirty years. He was silent for a moment, sighed, and said in a deep voice, "More is better than less." In Dunhuang remote sacrifice can be. If it weren't for Yu's lifelong wish to be buried in the ancestral tomb of the Zhang family of the Duke of Chu, Zhang Shanfu would even want to move the bones to his fiefdom in the Yue family.

In the past few decades, Zhang Shanfu has only returned to the fiefdom of Chu State, located in the east of Weiyuan Town, Shishan. Once I asked His Majesty for the order of my biological mother Yu's family, and moved her scenery into the Zhang Family Ancestral Hall. Another time was the death of his father, and he went back to attend the ceremony of his second brother Zhang Xi inheriting the title of Duke of Chu.