Pei Gai led his army along the Huai to the west, and from time to time ordered to march quickly on the road, and even marched at night with torches—he had to train his soldiers in the ability to run long distances, and it was theoretically impossible to encounter a strong enemy at this time anyway—so that he had successfully arrived at the city of Qiaocheng after a journey of more than 800 miles, and in just twelve days. Zu Ti had already received the news that Pei should be coming in advance, and hurriedly gathered the generals and went out of the city to greet him. The two dismounted and held hands, and couldn't help sighing, Pei Cai looked at Zu Shizhi with a haggard expression, and there were many spots on his sideburns and beard, and he couldn't help but persuade:

"Zujun, Hu can't be extinguished, can't be recovered, the coming day will be long, please take care of your body."

Zu Ti smiled slightly bitterly: "I remember that there was a saying the day before yesterday, saying 'seize the day', and I remembered it in my heart." Now the Central Plains is swinging, the people are devastated and Hu Qi is both dilapidated and roaring in the suburbs of Chang'an, am I in a hurry? ”

Zu Li's eldest son, Zu Lian, crossed from his father to the north at the age of fourteen, and is now seventeen years old. He greeted Pei Gai with the courtesy he had for his uncle, and Pei Gai took Zu Lian's hand and praised: "Jiangmen Huzi, the country has added another pillar." "Since you kowtowed, uncle, I can't say nothing, after thinking about it, I took out a few copper coins from my sleeve and handed them to Zu Lian.

Zu Lian smiled and excused himself: "Although I am not yet eighteen, I have already performed the crown ceremony, does Pei Envoy Jun still regard me as his son?" ”

Pei Gai replied: "The new money I minted is called 'auspicious money' by the people, and it is said that Pei Zhi can be murdered." It's just a little bit of good lip service, so why not? I think Qing was born majestic, and tomorrow there should be a good horse to give away. ”

Zu Ti sighed lightly: "If in peacetime, when my son should be educated, but now he can only teach him to bow horses, if this is the case, let alone a country?" "Take Pei Gai's arm, say go, and follow me into the city.

So Pei Gai ordered the army to camp outside the city, and he took a few generals to follow Zu Ti into the city and came to the government office. The banquet had already been set up in the courtyard, and at that moment, the guests and hosts were seated, and Zu Ti introduced his subordinates to Pei Gai one by one - Pei Gai naturally knew those parts that had crossed the river, but there were still many generals who had just been recruited after entering the Yan, as well as the attached dock lord of the fort, Pei should have met for the first time.

Zu Ti is on the left, Pei Gai is on the right, each at the top, the first two columns, the left are Zu Ti's direct subordinates, and the right is the dock castle masters, which is really clear. As for Liu Yetang, Zhen Sui, and the six deputy battalion governors brought by Pei Gai, they were inserted into the left column - it can also be seen that the number of Wubao lords is much more than that of the regular ancestral army generals.

Half of Zu Ti's subordinates, such as Dong Zhao, Feng Tie, Han Qian and others, Pei should be familiar with them, after all, they have lived together in Jiankang and Huaiyin for a long time. The first meeting was met by newly recruited officials, including Sima Zhangchang, Zhou Hong, General Wei Ce, etc., as well as several servants of Zu Ti who came to join the army: Zu Zhi, Zu Yan and Zu Ji.

In addition, Zu Ti also accepted a concubine room in Qiaocheng, and gave birth to a concubine, named Zu Daozhong, who was not yet a year old, and also let Zu Lian take it out to meet Pei Gai. Pei Gai still took out two auspicious coins from his sleeve and stuffed them into the baby's swaddling clothes. Then he couldn't help sighing: "The Jun family is still like Xu Zidi, but it is a pity that my Pei family in Hedong, a wealthy family, is now withering......

Zu Ti hurriedly comforted him: "I heard that there are still uncles and uncles of your family in Kansai and Youzhou, how can you say that they are withering?" It's just that they are scattered everywhere because of the chaos of the world. And wait for us to rebuild the society, we can reunite, and we don't have to be sentimental. Then he smiled: "If it is a pity that the family is not rich, why not marry a wife and take a concubine as soon as possible, so as to expand the heir?" "I heard that you were married before crossing the river, why haven't you married for so long?

Pei Gai said with a wry smile: "It is true that the Du family girl has been decided, but when I first arrived in Jiangbei, when the road is blue, how can I have the energy to prepare for the marriage?" Last year, I already had the intention of marrying, but I learned the news of my brother's death from Li Tou......"

After all, he is not a person of this era, so although many customs and habits are deeply engraved in his mind because he absorbs the memories of this life, they really cannot be recalled at any time. As a result, I wrote to Pei's last year, saying that you should arrange for the Du family to send a daughter to Huaiyin, but Pei's refusal.

In fact, it can be regarded as a reminder, because Pei should not inform Pei of Pei Song's death, Pei said: "Etiquette, my brother should die for a year, how can I achieve marriage at this time?" Pei should have received a reply, and then he suddenly remembered that there was indeed such a thing in ancient times...... Although Pei Song has been dead for several years, after all, he has just gotten the news, so he should start mourning, even if he doesn't have to go to the funeral - he won't do it if he is killed - it is impossible to wear mourning clothes every day, but there is no reason to do happy events during this time.

The marriage has been delayed like this - but this is the custom at the time, it is a weekly etiquette regulation, although the Du family is anxious, but it is impossible to think about it.

Speaking of his marriage, Pei Gai didn't mention "Li Tou", and he heard someone crying at the banquet, and when he looked at it, it turned out to be Li Tou's old general Feng Chong. Pei Gai asked Zu Ti: "Chen Chuan has no form, he harmed Li Tou first, and he refused to rescue Zu Jun, and when he heard Zu Jun's writings to blame Chen Wu, what did he say?" ”

Zu Ti shook his head: "Chen Chuan is Chen Wu's uncle after all, what can he do?" However, the words were perfunctory, and he said that he had seized Chen Chuan's military power, and ordered him to reflect on it behind closed doors. I want Chen Chuan to come and apologize in person, Chen Wu is afraid that I will kill Chen Chuan, and I always shirk the blame......" and then gritted his teeth: "And when I take Henan, I will definitely take Chen Chuan down and send him to Wenyue, and Deqing will cut him with a thousand knives!" ”

Feng Chong immediately stood up, wiped his tears and arched his hand towards Pei Gai: "If there is such a day, please also ask Pei Yuanjun to allow the execution of the last general!" ”

The atmosphere in the seat became solemn, Sima Zhangchang quickly stood up, opened his words of comfort, and scolded Feng Chong, saying that today is a good day to feast Pei Yuanjun, how can you cry during the banquet? Get out of here, wipe away your tears and come back.

After Feng Pet went out, Zhang Chang took the lead in raising a glass for the two assassins. Immediately, everyone also came one after another to salute Pei Gai's wine-especially those dock castle masters, although it was still the first time they met, they all respected Pei Gai very respectfully. Pei Cai refused again and again, saying that he didn't drink much, so the owners of the dock fort said: "Pei makes Jun slightly touch his lips, and I will do it first as a respect." ”

The atmosphere gradually became brisk and harmonious, and it didn't take long for Feng Pet to come back, squeezing into the toasting line, and successively saluting Zu Ti and Pei Gai, and saluting very respectfully - it is estimated that it is mainly because Zu Ti stated in public that it is necessary to kill Chen Chuan to avenge Li Tou.

After three rounds of drinking, Zhou Hong also came to toast, and said to Pei Gai: "After Pei Zhijun's son and Gaomen, he must be highly educated. Today, there is this meeting, Encore has no poetry? I also asked Pei Yuanjun to give a poem to remember today's high meeting. ”

Before the words fell, I heard Zhen Sui shout: "Since there is wine and meat, why do you need any poems?!" ”

Pei Gai glanced at him fiercely, and then looked around at everyone again, and found that there were really a lot of expectant eyes on him. You must know that at today's banquet, most of them are old and coarse, but there are also a few scholars, such as Zhou Hong and Zhang Chang, and look at the ancestors and several servants have also read - the Zu family was originally a scholarly family, not a martial arts family - as for those dock owners, although they are all from a poor family, I believe that they are both the lords of a dock and the head of a clan, and most of them also know words, so it is inevitable that they have a vassal and elegant heart.

You must know that writing poetry is the fashion of the upper class, even if you are not a superior person, you can't help but want to get a little light. Yes, I don't know how to write poems, but if Pei Tingshi gives me a poem, I can recite it to others in the future, and then show off: Look, on the day of the achievement of this poem, I am also at the banquet, and I am honored, so who dares to say that I am not literate?

- Maybe only foreign barbarians like Zhen Tunnel are exceptions.

Pei should think about it, although he can't make poems, he was very interested in Tang poetry and Song poetry in his previous life - literature and history are not separated - he has memorized a lot. When he was still in Huying, he took the opportunity to sort out the paperwork and silently wrote down many of the poems in his memory for review—of course, they were all burned before leaving, and this could not be left in the hands of others—in case of future needs.

Because he considered that if he fled to Jiangdong, he would inevitably have to deal with those eunuchs and scribes, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape by writing poems; You don't need to be very talented, but if you can't get it, you will be ridiculed, for fear of affecting your reputation, and even more so your plans. But I didn't expect to really go to Jiangdong, so I only stayed for a few months, and I didn't get any chance of plagiarism......

Inexplicably, this opportunity suddenly came to the door. Pei Cai didn't plan to copy any more poems, but he pondered that even if he wasn't in Jiangdong, he still had to deal with the scholars, and although the need for plagiarism was reduced, it might not be completely zero. In that case, then I will have a song for you to worship and worship.

After a little mitting, he immediately recited: "The moon is born on the West Sea, and the air is strong and strong." Thousands of miles of Guanshan, the vast is not the same. The Jin soldiers received the county, and Huma peeped into the pavilion barrier. Smell the sorrow every night, press the sword and look north! ”

This is a copy of the work of the early Tang Dynasty poet Cui Rong, but Pei should have changed a few words. First, in the poem, it was originally "Han soldiers opened a county country", but at present, the founding name of the Huns is Han, and it is easy to cause ambiguity if you say "Han soldiers", so it is changed to "Jin soldiers"; Moreover, "opening a county country" means opening up the territory and expanding the territory, which is not in line with the current situation, so it is changed to "receiving a county country".

The second is that the concluding sentence was originally "recruiting people to look south", expressing the homesickness of the Chinese soldiers, Pei Gai changed it to "press the sword to look north", sweeping away the meaning of sorrow, and containing the ambition of eager to expel Hu Lu and make contributions.

You must know that the poetic style of the early Tang Dynasty directly inherited from the Wei and Jin dynasties, except for the difference in the meaning of some words and the tone of the words, there is basically no difference. Tang poetry began to change after the popularization of the metrical style, and then climbed to the highest peak of ancient poetry, and the metrical poetry was far away from the Wei and Jin dynasties; But theoretically, the scholars of these years are not completely unacceptable, and they may even admire: the middle four sentences are actually two or two battles, there is a style of endowment, ingenious!

After that, it will not be, the Song words are more slang and colloquialisms, and the long and short sentences are mixed, and even the same leaf rhyme is even more than the same leaf as the flat rhyme, even if it is 108,000 miles worse than the folk songs of this year, it can't be copied, it can't be changed, what "I hope people will last a long time", "startle a shoal of gulls and herons", can only rot in the stomach.

Cui Rong was the leader of the articles in the Tang Zhongzong period, but in terms of his poems alone, he may have to be excluded from a hundred in the Tang Dynasty. His work has a simple structure and popular words, although it is not of the highest quality, Pei Gai can easily write it down in his previous life, and bring it out to the guests. Most of the people in the seat are coarse, even Zhang Chang, Zhou Hong and others have never heard of his literary name, so I don't think it will be too cheap.

Sure enough, after chanting a poem, there was a burst of cheers on the spot, only Zhen Sui was still drinking with his head down, and it was estimated that he didn't understand it at all. Zu Ti also sighed: "I wait to look north every day, hoping that Hu Chen will rest still, but I don't know what year and month I can get my wish......" Pei Cai hurriedly picked up his wine glass to comfort and encourage him: "Zujun, there is nothing difficult in the world, as long as we do not change our long-cherished determination and persevere, there will always be a day to drive Hu Fudu!" ”

This banquet was drunk late, Pei Gai also had a little bit of alcohol, Zu Ti pulled him and said: "Wenyue, the contract has been a long time, and tonight should be like in Jiankang, sleeping with you." "Pei should say yes, yes—" Wait to be in bed with Zujun...... No, it's not a bed, in short, I have a heartfelt song, and I want to talk and confide with Zujun at night. ”

Everyone dispersed, Zhen and them had to go out of the city and return to the camp, while Pei and Zu walked into the inner room with their arms. Zu Ti also called out his wife Liu and Xinna's concubine - that is, Zu Daozhong's mother - and ordered him to meet Pei Cai. Pei Caixin said: "This is about to entrust his wife and children...... Theoretically, Zu Shizhi, you still have a few years to live, but you must hold on! ”

Then he ordered the servants to pour hot water in, and the two of them first cleaned their faces and then washed their feet. Pei Gai had just soaked his feet in the hot water when he suddenly heard a noise outside the door. Zu Ti frowned, and before he could ask, Zu Li's voice came: "Daddy, Pei Yuanjun, Zhen Yingdu and General Zhang have fought for some reason, and they all want to say that they are looking for their own Ming Gong to distinguish between Qu and ......."