In the Datong General Military Mansion, in the martial arts arena in the front yard, a man was wielding a steel knife more than half a person long and fighting with several sturdy men.

Although he was an enemy, his sword danced like a wheel, and those men were not close at all, but were forced to retreat again and again by the continuous attack of the sword light. Suddenly, with his loud shout, several knives quickly collided together, making a continuous choking sound, and the war knives in the hands of these people were actually knocked away by him, and the people also staggered out, and it was easy to stabilize their bodies, but one by one they were already short of breath and their faces were red.

It was only at this time that the man's movements stopped completely, and it also made people see his figure clearly, it was the current Datong commander, Hu Sui.

As a general who was ordered by the imperial court to guard the border in Datong and guarded it for more than ten years, Hu Sui was not only good at using soldiers, but also praised by many border soldiers for his martial arts. The people who fought with him just now were all his own soldiers, but there was no possibility of leaving his hands to please, but even so, if he attacked him with five people, he still completely fell into passivity after more than 30 moves, and in less than 40 moves, he was completely defeated.

"Lao Zhuo, you have been a little refined recently, but you still pay too much attention to strength and ignore speed in your movements, so you can't dodge my knife. Niu San'er, you seem to have reservations today......" While handing over the knife in his hand to his relatives, while taking the sweat towel and wiping the sweat on his forehead and hands, Hu Sui commented on the state and problems of those opponents today, and said that everyone said yes again and again, and his heart was even more convinced.

And this was not the end, Hu Sui quickly picked up the strong bow that was more than half a man high on the side, and after taking a wolf's tooth arrow, he put it on the bowstring and pulled him away steadily.

Just from the moment he was holding his breath and concentrating, the muscles protruding from his arm could tell that pulling this bow had made him go all out. In fact, this is not an ordinary strong bow, but a hard bow with two and a half stones, and its range is more than two hundred paces away, which is not inferior to some firearms of later generations.

This martial arts arena is also specially built, covering an area of half of the entire general military mansion, so there are more than 100 steps before and after. At this time, a hundred steps away from Hu Sui, there was a wooden arrow target, as he exhaled and let go suddenly, the bowstring quickly rebounded, and there was a crisp sound, and at the same time, the wolf's tooth arrow on the string also swished out, and in the blink of an eye, it passed through a hundred paces of distance, and was directly nailed into the red heart the size of the bowl in the middle of the arrow target.

Hu Sui was not happy about his arrow at all, only to see him quickly take the arrow and shoot it, and if so, he shot five arrows in a row before finally stopping. At this point, his breathing was finally a little disordered. This kind of strong bow can be fired five more times after a battle, which shows the strength of its physique, and what is even more terrifying is that those five arrows all hit the bull's-eye, and it is not an exaggeration to say a hundred steps through Yang.

However, the surrounding people did not applaud and flatter a few words loudly at this time like ordinary subordinates, because they had long been accustomed to General Hu's exercises every morning, and it was not strange to see them.

This is the beginning of the day of Hu Sui, the general soldier of Datong, and only such tough people can guard this choke point for Daming. Just as he was about to change his clothes and go to several military camps in the city, an old servant came over: "Master, there is a young man outside the mansion who claims to be Lu Jin, the governor of Ulzhou, who asks to see him. ”

"Oh?" Hu Sui, who was putting on his official uniform, was slightly stunned, and after a thoughtful smile appeared on his face, he nodded: "Lead the person to the front hall, and I'll go see him." As he spoke, he waved his hand to the others: "Let's go to the military camps in the city first, and when I finish dealing with him, I'll come and meet you." ”

"Yes!" Several pro-soldiers hurriedly clenched their fists in response, and then strode away. As General Hu's personal soldiers, they not only have the responsibility to protect him, but also have a certain authority to supervise the affairs of each battalion.

After cleaning up the sweat and everything on his body, and changing his clothes, Hu Suifang walked to the front hall accompanied by two cronies. At this time, Lu Zhen had been waiting in the hall for a while, and he had already drunk a few sips of tea.

Since he arrived in Datong, he had some friendship with Hu Sui, and he also helped him, so Lu Zhen naturally wanted to come to visit. What's more, if he wants to achieve his wishes, Mr. Hu is also a hurdle that cannot be bypassed, so naturally he should come to meet him.

However, it was late when he came out of the government yesterday, so Lu Zhen chose to come to visit early this morning. Not only did people come, but they also brought some gifts - all of them were products of Jiangnan, more than a dozen pieces of silk, and twenty catties of Longjing tea.

In fact, in terms of value, these two gifts are not too expensive, and they are not even as good as the gifts he gave to his father-in-law and mother-in-law when he went to Chu's house before, and this is where Lu Zhen is clever.

Gift-giving in officialdom is a refined knowledge, and it is not something that can be given away casually. Unless the other party is greedy, the subordinate officials will only be rejected by people when they go to meet them and give generous gifts. But like Lu Jin, who just sent some specialties from his hometown, Hu Hu would laugh at it, after all, this was just a show of Lu Jin's respect.

Everything was just as Lu Zhen expected, seeing these gifts, Hu Hu didn't get too entangled, so he nodded and said, "It's for you to bother Lu Zhizhou." Then he gave his old servant a look, and asked him to accept the gift and put it inside.

And when he said this, Hu Hu's gaze at Lu Zhen was a little strange. In fact, the perception of the young man in front of him was quite complicated. If you want to pay attention to it, then there is naturally it. Whether it was Lu Jin's courage to defend Guangling as a civil official, or his courage to confront Xiao Ran, who held military power, it was enough for Hu Sui to take a look at him, not to mention the credit of the airship later.

But Lu Jin's performance in the capital after that made Hu Sui very dissatisfied. As a border general, of course, he wants to make meritorious contributions. Originally, he thought that Lu Zhen wrote that note to the imperial court, which proved that he was also an enterprising person, so after knowing that Wang Zhen took him to the capital, he was also full of expectations. Results......

After knowing that the final result will be the case, it is false to say that there is no complaint. But after thinking about it carefully, Hu Sui was able to understand Lu Jin's choice, after all, he was a military attaché, and he didn't want to get too close to a eunuch like Wang Zhen, not to mention that Lu Zhen was a civil official.

It is understandable that after seeing Lu Zhen again this time, he still has some bad feelings in his heart, so he has lost the closeness he had seen Lu Zhen before, but it seems quite raw. The two only kept a certain distance from each other, and there was no substantive topic to go deeper.

Lu Zhen also felt the other party's attitude, and gradually understood in his heart, so after some gossip, he tried to lead the topic in the direction he wanted: "General Hu, I wonder if the military ration raising of the garrisons in Datong is as difficult as it was a few years ago?" ”

"Huh?" Hu Sui's heart suddenly moved. originally thought that Lu Zhen was here just to set up friendship, after all, the other party had to be an official in Datong next, and if he could be good friends with himself, he would naturally have more security and a backer in terms of safety. But now it seems that this man has another purpose.

Hu Sui is not a reckless person who only knows how to use force, he knows the meaning of elegance when he hears the string song, so he said with a smile: "The problem of grain and grass has never been really solved." It's the imperial court, although everyone has done their best, but sometimes they still can't get it, so they can only borrow it from the yamen in various places. Why, Lu Zhizhou, did you come to talk to the general soldier about this matter because there was a grain loan from the army in the Ulzhou Yamen? ”

Knowing that the other party was tricking himself, Lu Zhen could only shake his head and say: "Of course not, in fact, even if it is really as the chief soldier said, the subordinate officials who are border officials will not be in a hurry to urge, after all, it is all for the sake of Datong and peace." After a pause, he finally said the following: "It is precisely because the lower officials knew the difficulties of the imperial court and the general army that they wanted to help solve it. ”

"Oh? In this way, Lu Zhizhou, do you have a way to help me solve the problem of food shortage? Although he vaguely guessed what he meant by leading the topic, Hu Sui still asked with some emotion.

"I don't dare to say that the method of going down to the official will definitely solve the current problem, but I can always give it a try." Lu Zhen seemed to say something modestly, and then said tentatively: "However, this move may cause criticism from others, so the lower officials don't know if it's feasible." ”

"Tell me about it." When he said this, he fished up Hu Sui's appetite, so he asked. To be honest, as the commander in command of hundreds of thousands of troops in Shanxi, Hu Sui's shoulders are really not light, and more than half of this comes from the food problem. After all, there is an old saying that the three armies go first before the grain and grass are moved, and as the commander, he naturally wants to ensure the supply of this survival for the soldiers below.

It is precisely because Lu Zhen saw this that he chose Hu Sui as a breakthrough. Now seeing that he was a little anxious to ask questions, he was a little more sure, and then he told him the plan he had been planning: "I don't know if Lord General has ever thought that in fact, it is not enough to rely on the imperial court to transport grain, we can use the power of the people to transport grain for the border soldiers." ”

"Huh?" Hu Sui was stunned for a moment when he said this, and then laughed again: "This is not easy to say." Although the imperial court has conscription to drive the people, most of them do things within their own rule, how can they let those people send food to the border regardless of their hard work? It's also too whimsical. As he spoke, he shook his head again and again.

"My lord, what you are talking about is transporting grain to Shanxi free of charge, of course it is not feasible. But what if it could give some benefit to the people who carry the grain? Lu Zhen also chased and asked.