After following Duan Huaixian to Du Chuijiao's house, Zhao Xingde would often go to the sergeant's house, he inquired about the sergeant's family background, sometimes very casual, after the training, he went to the house to sit for a while, sometimes very solemn, and specially bought some small gifts for the children and their families.

With the visit again and again, many things that Zhao Xingde had never imagined were like a raging flood after the floodgates were opened, surging towards him. The retired sergeant was worried about being mobilized because of the expansion of the war, and said worriedly, "I have just done a good job of giving the field, and it would be a pity if I abandoned it again." "Some sergeants have a bad temper, they don't understand the laws of the imperial court very well, and they don't have a shadow to take refuge, so they rely on money to support their families. Sergeants generally marry later than shades. Like Du Fujiao, who has many heirs, is worried that the family property is not enough, and Liu Zheng has been worried about having no heirs, and the expedition is imminent, looking for the secret recipe for having a son all day long. Zhao Xingde comforted him and entered the Chengying camp, maybe he could earn enough money to retire. Zhang Changling plans to start a small business after retiring, but he is worried that he will lose money. The previous generation of Chen Yongqi's family moved to Hexi from Kanto, and he never went to the frontier to receive the land, renting the fields, and his son became a sergeant, but the old man was very content. "In my life, I have eaten 30,000 full meals, and it is worth it."

In the Kanto region, whenever people talk about the soldiers of the Xia Kingdom, a group of bloodthirsty tiger and wolf soldiers with a human head in their left hand and a captive under their right arm come to mind. However, as he learned more and more about the lives of the sergeants, the young, the old, the Sven, and the vulgar, Zhao Xingde felt that even the most enthusiastic sergeants of Jinjue had an instinctive vigilance to start a war, and they were worried about bloodshed, the emptiness of the treasury, and the fear that after a long expedition, Yinhu would switch to someone else and lose care for his family. Sergeants are, in essence, just another group of men. Imperial court orders were usually ordered by sergeants to instruct Kamido to follow, and all the sergeants said that the orders of the Prime Minister's Office were becoming more and more complicated, which made many sergeants very stressed. In order to preserve the water and soil, encourage innovation, cultivate improved seeds, and popularize technology, the Prime Minister's Office issued dozens of government decrees with subsidized silver money, and the sergeants calculated how much direct benefits they could bring to the shade households, and then let the shade households enforce the decrees, and go to the government to receive the subsidy money on behalf of the shadow households, so as to indirectly increase their own income.

Zhao Xingde sometimes had to run three or four sergeants a day, and sometimes he had to accompany the sergeants to find the state and county yamen, and even go to the inquisition to theorize. Fortunately, many of the sergeants in Ming Hongdu have not yet married and are not from Hexi, otherwise, he really would not have time to accompany Li Ruoxue.

It was dark that day, and when Zhao Xingde returned to his house, he found a carriage and horse parked at the door, and the groom saluted him respectfully. When Zhao Xingde stepped into the threshold, he felt that there was a refreshing fragrance in the courtyard.

The evening breeze floated, and the wind chimes hanging on the courtyard veranda jingled. Li Ruoxue sat opposite a lady with a noble temperament, and when she saw Zhao Xingde walk in, her eyes showed a look of joy, she stood up to greet her, and said in a low voice: "This is the Mrs. Lu I mentioned to you." After speaking, Zhao Xingde also came in and sat down, and introduced his husband to the distinguished guest.

The ladies of the high gate of Xia Guo did not shy away from receiving foreign guests, and wore veils when they went out, mostly to prevent their cheeks from wrinkling their cheeks and looking graceful. Mrs. Lu nodded to Zhao Xingde and said with a smile: "This dignified person is Zhao Gongzi." My sister is really blessed. Although she is not young, her voice is still crisp and pleasant. He also said: "The slave family and Sister Ruoxue hit it off at first sight, and they often come to the house to disturb, which really adds a lot of trouble to the house." ”

Zhao Xingde heard Li Ruoxue say that Mrs. Lu's husband is also in the army, and he is busy with official duties all the year round, so he arched his hand and said: "Where, where is the arrival of Mrs., it only makes Peng Shen shine." After speaking, he sat next to Li Ruoxue, poured lotus seed heart flower tea for the two of them, and said with a smile: "This is the new tea that I picked with Ruoxue in Shouchangze the day before yesterday and just made it." ”

Mrs. Lu took a sip of the teacup and said in a low voice: "Zhao Gongzi is really a considerate person, and he is a little similar to the husband in my family." "When you finish drinking, place the teacup squarely on a coaster made of reed leaves.

Zhao Xingde was politely saying a few words, but he heard another voice coming from outside the door.

"This is Zhao Xingzhi, Brother Zhao's residence? The deceased Chen Kang took the liberty to visit. ”

When Mrs. Lu heard Chen Kang's voice, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. Zhao Xingde confessed to her, got up and walked to the door to greet her. As he walked, he muttered secretly in his heart: "I haven't looked at the yellow calendar, is today an auspicious day for relatives and friends?" ”

Chen Kang was looking at the carriage and horse at the door, and when he saw Xingde, he smiled and said, "Sure enough, it's here, Brother Zhao, your place is so quiet." He didn't see Zhao Xingde either, strode into the room, and saw two female dependents sitting in the middle of the hall, and he was even more stunned when he saw Mrs. Lu.

Mrs. Lu also turned her head to look at him at this time. After Zhao Xingde introduced them separately, Chen Kang bowed deeply to the ground and said, "Junior Chen Kang, see Mrs. Lu." "The demeanor is extremely respectful. Li Ruoxue didn't know his identity, and regarded it as usual, but Zhao Xingde's heart was slightly puzzled.

Mrs. Lu also smiled and returned the salute. Chen Kang was a little restrained, and he didn't sit down until Zhao Xingde beckoned him to sit.

Zhao Xingde also asked Chen Kang about the recent situation of the Liao State and the Song State. Chen Kang told him that Yang Yanqing, the general of the Song State, had recovered Gaoyang Pass, and that the border between Song and Liao had returned to the scene before the Liao people entered the north of the Kou River. It's just that because the Song State cut off trade, the Liao State did not gain any benefits in the invasion, and the Khitans in Nanjing Province were full of complaints.

"On the contrary, it cheapened my country's businessmen, and took the opportunity to do business with both Song and Liao." Chen Kang said with a smile.

In addition, the southeast camp deployed Wang Yan to command the army of 150,000 to the south, and a new general named Yue Fei of Xiangzhou joined the army under Wang Yan, and now he and Han Shizhong were the strikers of the left and right armies, and repeatedly defeated the Mingjiao army. At present, there are no large numbers of Mingjiao thieves in the southeast prefectures and counties, and the Mingjiao rebellion can be regarded as basically pacified. Wang Yan dispatched the congregation to suppress the remnants of the Ming Sect. However, often as soon as the officers and soldiers of the brigade left, there was a resurgence of the remnants of the Ming Sect thieves. Some county officials were all rushed in and smashed by Diao Min, and the officials and soldiers were late. There are also county orders that were assassinated, and I don't know who did it.

The Marshal's Mansion of the Southeast Battalion was stationed in Xiangyang, because sporadic rebellions and wars still occurred from time to time, and the army of 10,000 was also stranded in the south of the Yangtze River. Wang Yan was more tolerant of the scholars involved in the exposed case, and Chen Dong and others kept running to make contact, and the Lishe is now gaining more and more momentum in the southeast prefecture and county, and many Qingliu gentry who are not among the forbidden party members of the imperial court also regard themselves as members of the Lixue Party.

Yelu Dashi was appointed by the Emperor of Liao to stay in Nanjing, but looking at the situation, it seems that the emperor thought he was troublesome and found an excuse not to let him return to Beijing. Recently, the Jurchens have also made a lot of trouble in Liaodong, and the generals of the Tokyo Province of Liaoguo have been ambushed several times. There are faint signs of alliance between the Jurchen tribe and the anti-Liao Han army, and the Liao emperor is still sending more people and horses to Liaodong to quell the chaos.

When Zhao Xingde and Chen Kang were talking, the two women continued to talk about the topics that Shicai had not finished talking about, what snacks in Luoyang, brocade in Shu, makeup mirrors in Chang'an, jewelry in Kangguo, etc.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mrs. Lu and Chen Kang said goodbye one after another. After the two left, Li Ruoxue said to Zhao Xingde with a smile: "Mrs. Lu is really polite, she made a special trip to bring me a pair of embroidered shoes in Shuzhong." After speaking, he tried on the shoes given by Mrs. Lu. The sole of this shoe is carved from sandalwood, about three inches and five minutes thick, and after the woman wears it, she is tall and slender. The lotus step moves gently, and with each step, the incense powder hidden in the sole of the sandalwood shoe will leak out a flower-like incense powder. The smell of a sweet fragrance filled the room.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "This Mrs. Lu is an elegant person. He reached out and hugged Li Ruoxue's waist, but found that the beauty felt as if it was different from usual. Li Ruoxue is petite, snuggled in Zhao Xingde's arms like a bird, these embroidered shoes make people a few inches taller, her eyes are facing Zhao Xingde's gaze, her pretty face is slightly red, and her low-hanging eyelashes tremble slightly.

Chen Kang followed behind Mrs. Lu, walked out of the Zhao family's mansion, walked a few more steps, bowed down and said, "The younger generation is abrupt, disturbing my uncle's visit to friends, and asking my uncle not to blame." It turned out that this was Prime Minister Liu Yi's wife. When Chen Xuan, the current emperor of the Xia Kingdom, had never ascended the throne, he and Liu Yi were close friends, and the two families were good friends, so Chen Kang always called Liu Xiang's wife Lu as his uncle.

Mrs. Lu smiled: "Your Highness is always so formal. She paused, and then said softly: "The queen said that you don't go to see her all the time, I see that you have made a handsome friend like Zhao Gongzi, and your behavior is also very moderate, not like she said." ”

Chen Kang was reminded by her, only to remember that he hadn't entered the palace to see his mother for two days, and said with a slight shame: "The kid is not filial, Uncle Xie reminded him." ”

The crown prince of Xia has a strict order of succession, although Chen Kang is not the crown prince, but he is deeply loved by the queen, and the depth of love is not exempt from responsibility, the queen often complains about him in front of several friends such as Mrs. Lu who visited the palace, and Mrs. Lu also reminded him casually. The carriage returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the servant told her that the Prime Minister was still in the palace and had not returned, Mrs. Lu couldn't help but sigh softly, she often went to Li Ruoxue to sit there, and saw her as if she was alone in the empty boudoir when she was young, and she was a little more close and sympathetic out of thin air.

At this time, in the Linquan Palace on the bank of Shouchangze, Emperor Chen Xuan personally presided over the court meeting, and the important ministers of the court gathered together. In addition to Prime Minister Liu Yi, the five generals of the General's Mansion have reached three, General Zhang Shanfu of the Marching Division, General Wu Ting of the Military Intelligence Division, and General Xie Yuan of the Baggage Division. Lu Qingzong, the general of the Anbei Military Division, made a special trip back from Mobei, and Xu Wenhu, the general of the Anxi Military Division, made a special trip back from the river to discuss the matter of starting a war with the Rus' State.