Zhao Junsheng inspected the border defense at the border, and when he surveyed the terrain in Jieshi Mountain and mobilized the local army and civilians to build the pass, Hua Mulan had already returned to Pingcheng with the right wing army for more than ten days.

Her right wing army suffered heavy losses in the war to the east, and was almost abolished, but fortunately, the establishment was still there, and she took the remaining more than 2,000 people as the base, with the support of Zong Ai, it only took seven days to recruit enough full recruits, and the weapons, armor, grain and grass were quickly received, and then began to train intensively.

Compared with Mulan, the lieutenants and Genga and several other generals who fled back to Pingcheng in embarrassment did not have the good luck of her, until half a month after returning to Pingcheng, they were still the commanders of the light pole.

Genga's right guard and the captain's escort originally had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and there were still at least more than half of them when they evacuated Dragon City, but in the process of retreating, almost all the troops were wiped out, and the two of them were able to escape back under the desperate protection of their own soldiers.

After the first few days of intense training, Mulan took a rare day off, took her soldiers around the street, bought a few boxes of rouge gouache and came to Wan Yutong's tailor shop to see her.

Wan Yutong was very happy that Mulan could come to see her, and invited her to the backyard for tea.

"Miss Wan, the business of your shop should be better than before, right?" Mulan drank tea and asked casually.

Wan Yutong said: "It's always been the same." Wait, how can I listen to Mulan, you have something to say! ”

"No, I asked casually!"

"No, although you asked it casually, you asked it subconsciously. Do you think that when my father is promoted and becomes a knight, there will be more people who will beg him, and the business on my side should be better? "Wan Yutong.

Hua Mulan hurriedly waved her hand: "No, no, I definitely didn't mean that!" But even this is normal, the world is full of people who tend to be inflammatory! ”

Wan Yutong said: "You also know that my tailor shop only does the business of the rich, and ordinary people can't afford to wear the clothes I make, which turns most people away, so there are so many people in Pingcheng who make clothes from me, and others can't do it if they want to convince my father through me!" ”

After speaking, Wan Yutong shook his head and said: "Don't look at my father's high official position now and his military power, in fact, I'm worried about him!" ”

"Why?" Mulan couldn't help but wonder.

Wan Yutong knew that Hua Mulan was not an outsider, nor was she a person who liked to chew the root of his tongue, so he said: "You should know what my father was promoted, now he is a party of Zong Ai, Zong Ai This person is actually not optimistic about him, this person is too vicious, leaving no room for it, and his pattern is too small and narrow-minded, I am afraid that he will not be able to stay in power for long, you say that if he falls, won't my father be able to stay out of the matter?" ”

Hua Mulan said: "Zong Ai is indeed narrow-minded, I also know all this, you say that he acts viciously and leaves no room for error, why do you have such an evaluation of him?" ”

Wan Yutong was quite surprised: "You don't know? ”

Mulan looked dazed: "What do you know?" Is something going on? I have been staying in the barracks for more than ten days to train the soldiers, and I have never gone out, and I really don't know what happened to the government and the opposition! ”

"No wonder!" Wan Yutong sighed, "You should know that although His Majesty the Emperor is young, he has six brothers, and three have died in succession in these days, one of which was executed by Zong Ai on the grounds that they had offended the Emperor in words, what do you say a three-year-old child knows?" He didn't know what it was to be taboo! The other two died inexplicably, one fell into the pond of the Imperial Garden and drowned; The other one died of poisoning while eating, and now the government and the opposition are talking about it, and many people think that the two children were also secretly sent to death by Zong Ai, because no one else has this motive except him, the emperor is only four years old, it can't be the emperor's order, right? ”

Hua Mulan couldn't help but gasp when she heard Wan Yutong's words, she didn't expect that such a big thing would happen in the palace after she hadn't left the barracks for more than ten days.

If the little prince who was drowned and died of poisoning and the little prince were secretly instructed by Zong Ai to do it, Zong Ai is indeed too vicious, but after all, this is just a folk rumor, and no one is sure whether it is the truth or not.

Hua Mulan knew that Zhao Junsheng had a deep connection with Zong Ai, if Zong Ai planned to coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes to control the court and command the world, he was afraid that he would be attacked by the Xianbei nobles, although he was a person around the emperor, but after all, he was a Han man, and the emperor was too young, if there were Xianbei military nobles to get rid of him in the name of the Qing monarch, he could resist it?

Hua Mulan returned to the barracks with anxiety after saying goodbye to Wan Yutong, but she quickly adjusted her mood, Zhao Junsheng's connection with Zong Ai was secret after all, if it weren't for her relationship with Zhao Junsheng, she wouldn't know; Besides, the real decision in the court now is that the Empress Dowager Bao has the highest right to speak, and Zong Ai is now just a vicious dog at best.

"General, Genga sent someone to invite the general to the banquet tonight!" Fan Daniu, a female soldier, came up to report to Mulan, she is a strong but flexible woman, with great strength and special food, and her appearance is very fierce among women.

"Oh?" Hua Mulan took the invitation card handed over by Fan Daniu and opened it and looked at it, it turned out that today was the first birthday of Genhe's second son.

"Big girl, the second son of the Yuanhe family is one year old today, you go to prepare a little congratulatory gift, we can't go empty-handed when we go to eat and drink!"

Fan Daniu promised: "Okay, General!" ”

Mulan washed up, didn't eat dinner, rode a horse and took a few personal soldiers to Yuanhe's mansion.

"General Hua is here, and Yuan is far away!" Yuan He stood at the gate and said to Mulan with a smile.

"They are all officials of the same dynasty, and they are comrades who have fought together, General Yuan is too polite!" Hua Mulan returned the gift with a fist, and said to the gift in Fan Daniu's hand next to her: "Little He Yi is not a tribute!" ”

"Inside, please!"

There are a lot of guests here, many of them are ministers and generals of the imperial court, after all, Genga is not an unknown person, although his current situation is a little bad, but the emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, although some officials do not climb the dragon to join the association, but they don't want to offend him, now the court is the time to employ people, maybe when Genga will be reused.

Mulan was invited to a side hall, and she found that there were several people in this side hall, these people turned out to be generals and colonels who participated in the Eastern Crusade War, and these people were all idle at home and had no new positions, which made Mulan feel very strange.

Among these people, the highest official position and title is the captain, he saw Mulan come in, got up and clenched his fists: "General Hua is here, please take a seat!" ”

Several other generals also stood up and greeted each other with fists, and Mulan smiled and saluted one by one.

At this time, the servants and maidservants began to bring wine and food, and the wine and food were very rich.

Not long after, Yuan He hurriedly walked in and hugged his fists to everyone: "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for you, there are too many guests, and it's not busy until this time, come on, Yuan respects you!" ”

He walked to the throne and poured a glass of wine and signaled to everyone, and then drank it all, and most of these generals were bold people, and they all dried up in one gulp.

Yuan He sat down again and greeted everyone: "Eat vegetables, eat vegetables, please forgive me for inconsiderate greetings!" ”

"Brother Yuan is polite!" The generals shouted.

As soon as a cat pees on its stomach, there are more people talking.

"Hey, we've been back for more than half a month, and we're still at home, and the court doesn't talk about rebuilding the Zongzi Army, so it's not a matter to be so idle!" Wu Liansang, the deputy general of the Yuan Zongzi Army, said with a bitter face.

Sima He Ruoqing, the former Wangshi Army, also sighed and said, "Who said it wasn't? By the way, General Wei, don't your guards have any plans to rebuild? ”

"Why not? I have written to the imperial court to request the rebuilding of the protectors, but the imperial court has not approved it for a long time, if the imperial court does not approve, does not allocate money, food, weapons, armor, bows, crossbows, arrows, etc., how can this protector be rebuilt? The lieutenant generally said and shook his head with a wry face.

Yuan He said to Hua Mulan at this time: "General Hua, all of us have written to the imperial court to request the restoration of the system, but the imperial court has not approved it, why can your right wing army be able to recruit troops as soon as they return to Pingcheng?" The imperial court gave both money, food, and ordnance materials, and the recruitment was full in just a few days, do you have any way? ”

Hua Mulan shook her head: "Where do I have any way, I led the army back to Pingcheng and wrote to the imperial court to ask for the allocation of money and food to supplement the soldiers, but I didn't expect to get the approval the next day, I don't know how it could be so fast!" ”

Yuan He, Wei and the other generals all looked at each other when they heard this, what was going on? Isn't it because of Zongai's special care?

Seeing this, Hua Mulan comforted everyone and said: "Everyone, I don't think you need to worry, maybe the imperial court has the consideration of the imperial court, such as my right wing army, although the losses are heavy, but after all, the foundation is still there, as long as there are enough soldiers to replenish, plus the support of money, food and ordnance materials, it will soon be able to become an army!" But your armies are different, your structure has been destroyed, to rebuild not only need the support of money and ordnance materials, but also a large number of generals, officers, civil officials, scribes and other people to re-build the framework, but it is not easy to get these people together, and there is no ready-made direct appointment, and it also needs to be drawn from other armies, but the court has its own law for employing people, and it is impossible to appoint someone to a new official position casually, it still needs to be investigated, right? It takes time to do this! ”

Genga, Wei and others admit that Mulan has some truth, but they all feel that things are not so simple.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Hua Mulan said: "Everyone, now that the Empress Dowager Dou is in power, since you have no response in the book, why don't you ask to see the Empress Dowager?" ”