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After Zhang Xiu was placed and explained to him clearly the precautions in the grain protection army, Li Xu rode out of the camp alone. It was already late, so he rode very fast, and almost in the blink of an eye he left the camp behind, and the man and the horse melted into the brilliant sunset at the same time.

For the frontier places outside the Great Wall, March is still early spring. The evening breeze was a little cool, forcing people to tighten the silk on the thin felt shoulder again and again. The sunset on the horizon with the color of salted egg yolk warms people's faces and hands, and people always have the urge to throw away all their clothes and embrace this spring color naked.

The spring breeze is proud, and it is most appropriate to use this word to describe Li Xu's current mood. At the age of sixteen, he became a school captain, and in the entire Upper Valley County, there are almost no second civilian children who can do it. In the past, he looked down on his companions, such as rushing to the door to ask for help, and that little bit of busyness was almost his own effort. Thinking of his cousin's grateful gaze, he couldn't help but get a little carried away, so much so that he turned a deaf ear to the violent sound of the horse bell beside him.

"Boy, do you seem to be happy?" A sour voice suddenly sounded beside him, which frightened Li Xu to shiver.

While holding the handle of the knife, Li Xu saw clearly the person next to him who was trying to ride a horse parallel to him. Slim, long waist, handsome face, long eyebrows. A pair of big eyes under the long eyelashes are sparkling and smart, which makes people know at first sight that he is a peerless wise man.

"I've seen the Captain of the Pony!" Li Xu gently took the reins, and then bowed. He remembered the name of this man, and when he met His Majesty the Emperor in the morning, this person stood at the end of the civil official ranks. Among a large number of civil and military personnel, he is the most handsome and dignified. The elegant taste revealed between his words and demeanor overshadowed Li Jiancheng, the eldest son of Tang Gong, who was known for his elegance.

"It's not above the court, why do you call me an official!" The man gently knocked the horse's belly so that the mount could keep up with the speed of the black wind. Judging by the tip of his nose and the kind beads of sweat on his forehead, the chase had exhausted him enough. Telle Biao is a famous horse on the grassland, although Li Xu did not urge it to send out its full strength, and it is not something that ordinary war horses can easily follow.

"Lord Yuwen, do you have something to do with the end of the search?" Li Xu thought about it and asked a little guardedly. It's not a smart thing to deal with people who are too smart, and his experience over the past year or so has made him warn himself. Moreover, this smart man was born in Yuwen's family, the son of the old general Yuwenshu, and the son-in-law of the current emperor.

"I am a benevolent person, you can call me a benevolent brother!" Horse Governor Yu Wenshi didn't care about the taste of respect and distance in Li Xu's speech, smiled, and asked.

"Don't dare, how dare the last general mess around!" Li Xu shook his head lightly and rejected Yu Wenshiji's kindness.

"You feel like you can't climb high, do you?" A hint of mockery appeared in Yu Wenshiji's eyes, although it was a flash, it was still keenly captured by Li Xu.

Next, Yu Wenshiji's words pierced his ear like a blade: "But you think you are the son and nephew of Tang Gong, why don't you feel that you are climbing?" ”

"Captain Horseman!" Li Xu pulled the reins hard and took the mount. The black wind that was running on Xing's head was strangled very unhappily by the head, and his front hooves were raised high. Immediately afterward, there was a strong protest.

"What a wild horse, I don't know who is tamed!" Yu Wenshi ignored Li Xu's angry gaze and praised himself.

"If you have something to say, please tell me in person, if Li has offended the adult, Li is willing to make amends to the adult!" If the gaze can kill, at this moment, the head of Yu Wenshi and his body has already flown into the air. The surname Yuwen must not be a good thing, since He Ruomei left that day, Li Xu has thought so. Today, Yu Wenshiji's demeanor strengthens this belief.

"You hadn't seen me before this morning, and I hadn't seen you. Just now I was walking a horse outside, and I saw you running by, and I suddenly remembered a question? Yu Wenshi said with a faint smile, "With Tang Duke Li Yuan's family background, why would he choose a commoner to be his nephew." And this nephew did not hesitate to cut off his future for the sake of the Li family! ”

"Lord Captain Horse, I am from the same clan as Tang Gong, and this relationship can be checked on the genealogy. His Majesty the Emperor promoted me this morning because I had made some modest contributions, not because I was the son and nephew of the Duke of Tang! Li Xu's eyes widened and he emphasized angrily.

He didn't rely on Tang Gong's power to be promoted, although Tang Gong's support was very important, but he did do a lot of things in the grain protection army. He hated the Woo Scholar and the kind of gaze that seemed to know everything, and even more so his self-righteous tone. Compared to these, Yuwen's disgusting surname is much more insensitive.

"Really?" Yu Wenshi looked Li Xu up and down, and asked in a low voice. "There are so many descendants of General Fei, why did Tang Gong Li Yuan recognize you as a nephew, don't you think it's strange at all?"

"I just wonder why the Captain of the Pony suddenly cares about coming down!" Li Xu really couldn't stand the other party's cynicism, and fought back angrily. "Why did Tang Gong recognize Li's nephew, Li was not interested in knowing. I only know that Tang Gong is not thin on Li, and Li will live up to his expectations in this life! As for what outsiders think, Li really can't care! ”

"Now you say that Tang Gong is not thin on you, who said just now that his future comes by merit?" As if he was born to embarrass others, Yu Wenshi continued to provoke Li Xu's anger.

"If there is no promotion from Tang Gong, Li will not be able to enter the grain guard battalion. If it weren't for Tang Gong's recommendation, Li wouldn't have seen the emperor! This is a fact that no one can deny! Li Xu trembled with anger, and his chest rose and fell. If the horse governor doubts Li's skills, he can let the horse go. Li will not let you down! ”

"What, I poked you in the sore spot, do you want to kill someone?" Yu Wenshi looked around, making a frightened look.

"Don't dare, Li is stupid, I just want to find a faster solution!" Li Xu was extremely angry, but a trace of clarity appeared in his mind. Yu Wenshiji's purpose is to sow discord, and if he is not fooled, he should be angry. Therefore, no matter how many doubts there are in your heart at the moment, you must do your best to show your loyalty to Tang Gong. Only in this way can the bored person not find the crack to start, and his plot will not succeed.

"If the things of the world were solved with the mouth, instead of using the knife, wouldn't there be a lot of blood shed!" Yu Wenshi looked at the continuous military camps on the west bank of the Liao River, and his words were meaningful.

"Li hopes that the adults will dare to hold such a high opinion in front of the emperor!" Li Xu finally caught a handle from the other party and counterattacked.

"The truth is the best way to tell the truth, but most of the time it doesn't sound good!" Yu Wenshi shrugged his shoulders, indifferent to Li Xu's blow. "Just like what you said in front of the emperor in the morning, and what I said in front of you tonight, they are all truthful, but they only cause trouble for themselves!"

"Li didn't dare to bully the king, besides, the emperor didn't think Li was vulgar this morning!" Li Xu didn't understand the meaning of Yu Wenshi and the first half of the sentence, so he shrugged his shoulders and retorted like the other party.

"If everybody fools one person, you tell the truth. The guy who gets fooled by the guys will definitely not be grateful to you! Perhaps because of the lack of words, Yu Wenshiji's tone softened a little, and explained to himself.

"No matter what the adults say, Li will not be grateful to the adults, just when it is in the evening breeze!"

"What if I told you that the emperor originally wanted to grant you an official position equal to or even higher than Liu Hongji, but because you said that you were Li Yuan's nephew, you changed your mind again?" Yu Wenshi looked at Li Xu's eyes and asked with a smile.

"Tang Gong has the grace of knowing Li, the saint is the king of a country, and his bearing is very imaginable. As for the official position, Li is young, and there will be promotion opportunities in the future, does Captain Horse think so? Li Xu looked at Yu Wenshi lightly, his eyes as clear as a lake.

No matter how shocked you are in your heart, you can't show it on your face. Xu Dayan's words echoed in his ears. Li Xu didn't know if he could do it, but at this moment, he decided to do his best.

It didn't take long for him to see disappointment on Yu Wenshiji's face.

"Little one, I don't know if you're telling the truth, but you're smarter than you seem!" After being stunned for a while, Yu Wenshi said abruptly.

"Adults have said that telling the truth best reveals the truth, and most cases are scary but not good!" Li Xu's answer was full of Zen wit.

"You're funny, little one!" Yu Wenshi smiled lightly, his gaze softening more and more, "I am beginning to understand a little bit why Tang Gong is trying to woo you, and why General Mai is also so good to you!" ”

"It's better for someone to be nice to you than for everyone to look at you and hate you, do you think that's the case?" Li Xu also smiled, and his palm slowly released the handle of the knife. He found that it was often more effective to put a blade on his tongue against the Yuwen and such people.

"That's right, especially when you have value that people value." Yu Wenshi nodded, and his gaze turned to the city wall in the distance.

On the city wall, the sound of painted horns could already be heard from afar. Huaiyuan Town is about to close the city gates, and the nobles who enter the city later will have to stay outside the city for the night.

"I'm leaving, I'll come back to you another day!" Yu Wenshi hugged his fists at Li Xu and said.

"Be careful!" Li Xu grinned and returned the salute. The other party is older than him and has a higher official position than him, but he has not received the slightest respect from him.

"It seems that the truth is really not good!" The scholar turned his horse's head and ran quickly towards the city gate.

"What do you mean?" Li Xu asked with a smile at the other party's back.

It was already a little dark, and the setting sun was trying to let the last rays of light shine through after the sunset. Hundreds of miles of company camps, everywhere resounded the slang songs of the soldiers of the Eastern Expedition, one after another, very lively.

But the excitement is someone else's, and at this moment, Li Xu has nothing.

Note 1: Uncle, an honorific title given to her husband's brother by an ancient woman.

Note 2: Mai Tiecane, the general of the Great Sui. He has a rough temperament and is angry. When he was young, he was a thief, and after being caught by the government, he was demoted to a slave and given to Emperor Nanchen as an umbrella slave. Lao Mai gave the emperor an umbrella during the day, and ran a hundred miles away to kill people at night. After killing and admitting it, come back and continue to play the umbrella. He was recognized and sued to the government, but the government did not believe it, because he was never absent from work. Later, he was set up a trap to expose the truth, and Empress Chen was reluctant to kill him and was relegated to other places. After Chen's death, he joined Yang Su's army, and was promoted to a general, and died in Liaodong in the eighth year of the Great Cause.

Note 3: Yu Wenshu, the father of Yu Wenhua. In order to help Yang Guang seize the throne, he was the chief general of Goguryeo.

Note 4: See Book of Sui? Military system.

Note 5: The six armies of the Son of Heaven are the six armies of the inside, the outside, the front, the rear, the left and the right.

Note 6: Gao Yuan, the name of the king of Goguryeo at that time.

Note 7: Three Counselors, i.e., three times a month, you can see the emperor. Six ginseng, nine ginseng, and so on.

Note 8: Since the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, soldiers wearing military uniforms have bowed their hands to the emperor and stood solemnly as a formal etiquette. I saw a military general wearing heavy armor kneeling for the emperor on TV, and I really don't know how he stood up after kneeling down in armor of more than 30 catties.

Note 9: The four counties of the Western Regions, i.e., parts of present-day Qinghai, Gansu and Xinjiang. The West Sea is Qinghai, and Shanshan is near Lop Nur. In the fourth year of the Great Cause, Yuwenshu incorporated the four places into the territory of the Great Sui.

Note 10: Emperor Yang of Sui had strong schizophrenic characteristics, sometimes he was a corporal of courtesy, and sometimes he was jealous of his ability. He was able to strategize and send soldiers to defeat the Turks and Tuyuhun, but he was also confused, which led to the defeat of Goguryeo. In the official history, he had many fewer concubines and children than Li Shimin, and there were fewer private palaces than Li Shimin, but the consequences of governing the country were diametrically opposite.