The more Sima Tang thought about it, the more he couldn't think about it, and his face became very ugly.

Chen Ningmo didn't notice his face, and said with a helpless smile after a moment: "In this way, I'm afraid that this time I will lose Mr. Xiwen's trust, Sima Tang, I am going to write a letter for the teacher to explain the situation to Mr. Xiwen, and you will also stay with me to consider my words." ”

"Yes." Sima Tang nodded heavily, but he couldn't help but start to be proud in his heart.

You Cui Wenqing can be recommended by Fan Zhongyan and favored by him, but so what?

It's not that I have dispelled the idea of accepting you as a student with just a few words, and even made the teacher feel disgusted with your clumsy conduct.

Thinking of this, Sima Tang's jealousy suddenly dissipated a lot, and his heart began to consider the words to be written in the letter that he would write later.

Strive to make Fan Zhongyan feel that Cui Wenqing knows people and faces, but does not know his heart, his moral character is corrupt, he is frivolous, and he will eliminate all his good feelings towards him.

At this time, a maid trotted in in a panic, and before anyone arrived, her voice was already anxious: "Bachelor, the official micro-service private visit suddenly came to the Guozijian, and now it is almost in the courtyard." ”

"What did you say, the official family is here?" For the first time, Chen Ningmo lost his elegant and calm look, and stood up from behind the case, revealing a trace of surprise on his delicate face.

Sima Tang was also stunned, obviously unable to believe that the official family would actually pay a private visit here.

Without thinking too much, Chen Ningmo immediately said categorically: "It is really an honor for us to come in person from the official family, Sima Tang, you immediately follow the teacher to greet the official family." ”

Sima Tang has been an official for nearly a year, and he has never seen Chen Hong a few times, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but feel hot in his heart, and said: "Students obey the orders of their teacher. ”

With that, the two of them hurried to the gate of the courtyard, and as soon as they stood still and took a look, they found that several figures were slowly walking along the gravel path towards the courtyard.

The person at the head wears a black gauze with hanging feet, a gray-white round-necked robe, a merry folding fan in his hand, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a broad face, and a short beard under the chin, which is Chen Hong, the son of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Seeing this, Chen Ningmo took a few steps forward, made an extremely standard female salute to Chen Hong, and said loudly: "Chen Ningmo, a scholar of the Chenji Xiandian Hall and a supervisor of the country, has seen the official family. ”

Sima Tang also followed Chen Ningmo, and said in a loud voice: "Sima Tang, the scholar of Chenlantai, has seen the official family, long live, long live, long live." ”

Chen Hong folded the fan, and said with a smile: "I don't have to be formal for today's private visit, but I didn't expect Sima Zhuangyuan to be here today." ”

Hearing Chen Hong take the initiative to mention himself, Sima Tang's heart suddenly swelled with a feeling of excitement.

Speaking of which, it was the first time in his life that he met the official family outside the palace, and there were only a few people, if he could perform well, wouldn't it be able to deepen the good impression of the official family on himself?

Thinking of this, Sima Tang was even more excited, and Jin Liang calmed down his mood, and replied loudly in a calm and clear voice: "Qiqi Guanjia, not long ago, the teacher sent Weichen to Fuzhou for business, and today Weichen returned to Chang'an and specially came to repay his life to the teacher. ”

"I see." Chen Hong smiled, looked at Chen Ningmo and asked with a smile, "What's the matter, could it be that the imperial sister is interested in Fuzhou, so she specially sent your beloved disciple to investigate?" ”

It is not difficult to know the intimate relationship between the two with a sentence of "imperial sister".

You must know that although Chen Ningmo is the county lord, because she grew up with Chen Hong, Chen Hong has always regarded her as his own sister, so she is called the royal sister on weekdays.

Chen Ningmo didn't want to mention Cui Wenqing, who was already disgusting her, so she said with a faint smile: "Official, Weichen is just curious about the frontier situation in Fuzhou, so he ordered Sima Tang to go to investigate, and by the way, he helped Weichen do a private matter." "Standing here and talking is tiring, and the official family is invited to taste tea, and Weichen should have the best Mengding spring tea in Shudi." ”

Chen Hong has always known that his imperial sister is a well-known tea ceremony master in Luoyang City, and her skills in making tea and tasting tea are even more first-class, so he nodded happily and laughed when he heard this: "Okay, listen to the respect, I will taste your superb tea ceremony today." ”

After finishing speaking, Chen Hong walked into the courtyard accompanied by Chen Ningmo, Sima Tang and the entourage he brought, and he asked casually as he walked: "Sima Zhuangyuan, I don't know how you feel about your trip to Fuzhou this time?" ”

Sima Tang knew that it was time to show his talent, so he didn't have time to think about it, and replied calmly: "Qiqi official, in the opinion of the minister, Fuzhou is located in the northern border, bordering the Western Xia and Liao, and is an important strategic point for our dynasty. The two countries have not been able to set foot in Fuzhou for half a step, and the situation on the border is generally stable......"

Hearing this, Chen Hong nodded again and again, he waved the folding fan in his hand, and said with a smile: "Go on." ”

Sima Tang bowed slightly, and then changed his words, and began to talk about many drawbacks: "But according to the investigation and understanding of the minister during this time, the situation in Fuzhou has many things that are not optimistic, which is mainly reflected in five points, first, the war is frequent, the peasants are miserable, and the grain production has been very low, and even the military food of the Zhenwu Army needs to be purchased from outside; The second is the economic depression, the ministers all over Fugu County, the economic center of Fuzhou Prefecture, found that there are few vendors in the city, large merchants are rare, and the market is even more sparse, and there are not many people, so it can be seen that the people of Fuzhou are satisfied with a self-sufficient lifestyle and are not good at management; Third, is the problem of the establishment of the Zhenwu army, in fact, speaking of which, the Zhenwu army can be regarded as the border army of our dynasty against foreign races, but it is a pity that the number of soldiers is small, but the number of only 30,000 people, with the strength of an army to independently resist the invasion of Western Xia and Liao, it is very difficult, if you win, it is good to say, if you lose, I am afraid that Fuzhou and other places will be in danger......"

Chen Hong was obviously very interested in this point, so he actually stopped moving forward, turned around and asked seriously: "Sima Zhuangyuan doesn't think that the number of soldiers in the Zhenwu Army is not enough?" ”

Sima Tang Zhengrong said: "Yes, at present, our dynasty still implements the policy of government soldiers, with more than 600 Zhichong mansions all over the world to form the most basic military foundation, the government soldiers are busy farming, farming training, so the country has no permanent army, only in the border areas There are a small number of border troops, if there is a large-scale invasion from other places, our dynasty will take a long time whether it is the deployment and assembly of soldiers, or the preparation and transportation of grain, etc., and it will naturally lose the opportunity, therefore, the Zhenwu army stationed in the border area is too important, because the Zhenwu army is the first line of defense to block the alien iron cavalry, If they can't buy the corresponding time for the assembly of our court's soldiers, they are afraid that the iron cavalry of the Liao people and the Xixia people will be able to drive straight into the entire Hedong Road. ”

Hearing this, Chen Hong nodded again and again, and asked with interest: "Then Sima Zhuangyuan thinks what is the most appropriate number of soldiers in the Zhenwu Army?" ”

(End of chapter)