The more Yuan Rui listened, the more confused he became: "How do you say this?" ”

Geng Tong raised his head and drank another cup: "Since the founding of Taizu, my Great Wei has been suffering from worm invasion, so I set up towns in the north to resist worms. In order to facilitate unified command of the war, the towns and towns will have great power in their localities, and it is inevitable that they will not lose their power in the long run. Now that the worm is no longer good, it's time to consider taking back the power of the town generals one by one, even Da Yongmou gave the Queen Mother an excellent excuse anyway, how could the Queen Mother not make good use of it? The creep in Geng Tong's mouth is the softness separated from the eagle by a mountain. Because of the blood feud with the Great Wei, the Wei people have always called them "worms", ridiculing them as insects with low intelligence and not thinking.

Yuan Rui had already admired the ground at this moment, and the haze in his chest was swept away: "Thank you for the old general's advice, but these are just the old general's personal guesses, and it is unknown whether the queen mother really thinks so." ”

Geng Tong suddenly played with his temperament: "Your Highness will have a drink with the old man first!" After a glass of wine, Geng Tongcai continued to explain: "In fact, it is very simple to confirm this matter, Your Highness, you only need to check whether there is an army movement in Yingyang's neighboring Zhuzhou towns in recent days to know the Queen Mother's true intentions. ”

After Geng Tong's order, Yuan Rui suddenly opened, secretly glad that he promised Cui Geng and the two to come out hunting today, it seems that there are some things that cannot be figured out by one person alone. The next Yen Rui entered the palace to find Yuan Yao to confirm, and sure enough, on the second day of Yuan Rui's visit to the Queen Mother, two envoys quickly whipped towards the two towns on the left and right of Yingyang - Longfei Town and Yuli Town.

Yuan Yao sighed: "It seems that you and my brother are still too tender, if you hadn't drunk Geng Tong yesterday, I'm afraid I won't know what happened when something happens." ”

Yuan Rui: "It's not too late to know. ”

Yuan Yao nodded: "Reasonable, speaking of the state assassin Hu Mo, I have seen it a few times at the queen mother's family banquet, and my appearance, knowledge, and knowledge are all mediocre, I didn't expect that my future queen would be his daughter." That's it! As long as you can be pro-government, what does it matter whose daughter it is? ”

Yuan Rui: "It's good that the imperial brother can figure it out, and it's been a while since the younger brother returned to Luoyang, and it's time to go back to Huaiwu to bring Captain Hua back." ”

Yuan Yao couldn't help but quip: "Captain Hua is strong in martial arts, and you still need to pick it up?" I think you're in a hurry to go back to your granddaughter! ”

Yuan Rui smiled slightly: "Sure enough, I still can't hide it from you, the imperial brother, so the younger brother will retire first." ”

After Yuan Rui left, Yuan Yao stood alone for a long time, as the Ninth Five-Year Honor, he was emotionally inferior to his younger brother Yuan Rui, maybe this is the price of being in a high position.

Luoyang city north of the mountain, Nantong Yiluo, as the capital of the Great Wei Dynasty, not only prosperous business, big city, small market, Sitong City, these three major markets Hu merchants everywhere, all kinds of commodities are available; What is even more admirable is that Buddhism is prevalent, there are many temples, and there are thousands of large and small Buddhist temples inside and outside the city. Among these thousands of Buddhist temples, the largest and most prosperous incense is Yongning Temple. Yongning Temple is located on the west side of Tongtuo Street in the city, not far from the palace city gate and the imperial city Xuanyang gate, Yuan Rui is a frequent visitor here, and the abbot master Jueyuan is a close friend. In the past few days, the Yongning Temple has held a few days of uncovered meetings, and Yuan Rui is present every day, and one does not fall.

On this day, Yuan Rui was listening to the two monks debating the Buddhist scriptures in the temple, Xu Yicheng hurried over, found Yuan Rui and whispered in his ear: "His Royal Highness the King of Changle, I can be regarded as looking for you, Your Majesty urgently summons you to the palace!" ”

Yuan Rui hurriedly went out with him. On the way, he asked carefully: "Does Gonggong Xu know what the imperial brother is urgently calling this king?" ”

Xu Yicheng wanted to speak and stopped, and after being entangled for a long time, he finally only said: "Your Highness will know when you enter the palace." ”

Yuan Rui couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Just yesterday, the dust finally settled after the election, and as Geng Tong expected, Hu Bizhu, the daughter of Hu Mo, the assassin of Bingzhou, finally stood out and became the mother of the Great Wei after many selections. According to Yuanyao, Yan'er is newly married at the moment, how can he have leisure to find him?

When he came to Bifeng Forest, he was surprised to find that Yuan Yao was sitting on the grass and drinking wine, his face was haggard, his eyes were bloodshot, and there were many wine jars lying horizontally beside him, some of which had not yet been opened. Looking up and seeing Yuan Rui coming, Yuan Yao seemed a little excited: "I heard that you haven't left yet, so I asked you to come over and have two drinks with me!" Come on, sit! As he spoke, he patted the open space beside him with his hand.

Yuan Rui turned to Xu Yicheng and said, "Father-in-law Xu doesn't have to worry, this place will be handed over to this king!" ”

Before Xu Yicheng could answer, Yuan Yao suddenly shouted at him: "What is the pestle doing there!" Don't bring a few jars of wine again! ”

Xu Yicheng saw that Yuan Rui also nodded, so he had no choice but to take the wine.

Yuan Rui sat down next to Yuan Yao gently, picked up a wine jar casually, raised his head and took a sip: "Where is the imperial brother making this trouble?" ”

Yuan Yao grabbed Yuan Rui's collar suddenly: "Do you know that my queen is Hu Bizhu, the daughter of Hu Mo?" ”

Yuan Rui: "Didn't the imperial brother already know?" ”

Yuan Yao looked up to the sky and laughed: "Yes, I did know this ending in advance, but I never expected it......" Speaking of this, he couldn't help but whimper, "I never expected that this person would not be so careless...... I thought that for the sake of pro-government, even if I wanted to sleep with a sow, I would not care, but it was only at the end of the day that I found out, and I found out that I couldn't do it......"

Listening to Yuan Yao's intermittent description, Yuan Rui gradually sorted out the ins and outs of the matter. After the ceremony ended yesterday, Yuan Yao returned to the dormitory drunken and hazy, only to see a black and fat woman in a dress sitting on the edge of the bed, and she suddenly woke up most of the time. After confirming that this person was Hu Bizhu, Yuan Yao looked at this queen who had defeated countless beauties and carefully selected, and had mixed feelings in his heart, and he was silent for a long time and only held back one sentence: "You didn't pick it up by Hu Bingzhou, right?" ”

I don't want this Hu Bizhu not only to be unbeautiful, but also to have a very hot temper, so when I heard this, I scolded Yuan Yao, why is Dawei now all supported by my Hu family, Your Majesty must not be rude to me; Miss Ben asked herself if she was worthy of you, Yuan Yao and the like. It's good that she didn't speak, but when she spoke, she revealed a row of violent teeth, which stimulated Yuan Yao's sensitive nerves even more, and her words were prickly, Yuan Yao immediately brushed her sleeves away, and came to this Bifeng forest to borrow wine to drown her sorrows, and drank and slept until today. remembered that Yuan Rui had not left Beijing yet, so he asked Xu Yicheng to find him.

Although Yuan Rui was very sympathetic to Yuan Yao in his heart, he couldn't find a suitable way to persuade him for a while, and after thinking for a long time, he finally spoke: "The heavens will descend on the people of Si and ......", and he felt that it was not very suitable when he said it, so he swallowed it back stiffly.

Yuan Yao shook his shoulder: "Don't show off in front of me, drink!" ”

Yuan Rui cried and laughed, and he really didn't know how to persuade Yuan Yao to solve this situation, so he had to drink with him silently, hoping that time could dilute his unwillingness.

At this moment, Hu Bizhu greeted the Queen Mother in Danyang Palace as if nothing happened. The Queen Mother saw that her former niece had successfully become her daughter-in-law, although her appearance was a little shabby, but after all, she was very relieved that she was from her own family, and she started to gossip with her: "The mourning family has not seen your father Hu Mo for many years, is he okay?" ”

Hu Bizhu bowed her head and replied: "My father is fine, Empress Dowager Xie cares." ”

The Queen Mother asked with concern: "Yesterday...... Is everything going well? ”

Hu Bizhu still spoke in a flat tone, and she couldn't hear any joy or shyness, or sadness and dissatisfaction: "Everything was fine yesterday, and the Queen Mother has a heart." ”

The Queen Mother chatted with her for a while, suddenly remembered something, and said to Aunt He beside her: "Aunt He, the golden silk brocade handkerchief that Mao Qingyu brought back from Sitong City a few days ago is finely made, and the mandarin ducks embroidered on the handkerchief are also very suitable for the occasion, so take it and send it to the queen!" ”

Seeing Aunt He slowly going out, Hu Bizhu asked puzzledly: "The Queen Mother has a noble status, why is there only one Aunt He by her side?" ”

The Queen Mother smiled: "Aunt He has been following the Mourning family since before she entered the palace, don't look at her as only one person, but even ten young palace maids may not be able to do it like her." ”

While speaking, Aunt He had already taken the Jinpa and presented it to Hu Bizhu, Hu Bizhu took the Jinpa, and without looking at it, she stuffed it into her sleeve: "Thank you for the reward!" ”

The unhappy look on the Queen Mother's face flashed, and then she continued to chat with Hu Bizhu as if nothing had happened. It wasn't until the middle of the day that she was let go.

Compared with the peace of Luoyang, the granary of the northern part of the Great Wei Dynasty - Yongxing Cang, thousands of miles away, is a different scene. Yongxing warehouse is one of the four major granaries of the Great Wei Dynasty, and there is a large amount of grain in Litun on weekdays to prepare for the needs of the famine year. The roads here are developed, and it is very convenient to transport grain from there to Yingyang Yuli in the north and Shuohengyan in the south. In the afternoon, on the road leading to Yuli Town, suddenly smoke and dust billowed out, and a large group of people appeared, galloping towards this side, and the number of people was at least 10,000. The soldiers who guarded the warehouse had never seen this battle, and hurriedly notified Yongxing Ling Jingxiu.

As the other party approached, Jing Xiu and the others saw that the leader was a general in military uniform, fifty or sixty years old, with a long beard and a tall posture, quite a bit of a fairy wind and bones. I saw him turn over and dismount, and said to Jing Xiu and the others who were standing next to the road: "In Xiayuli Town, you will be in Chenglie, dare to ask Jing Lingjun?" ”

Jing Xiu took a step forward: "Xia Guan Jing Xiu, I don't know what the general has to say?" ”

Yu Chenglie clenched his fists: "Jing Lingjun's words are serious, you and I have no relationship between superiors and subordinates, so how can I show it." It's just that this year, there is no food in Yuli Town, and the imperial court has transferred us to fight again. As the saying goes, if there is no food, you will not gather troops, so the general will bring the brothers to borrow some food from Jing Lingjun. ”

Jing Xiu's face was embarrassed: "Xiaguan has just received the imperial court's grain transfer order, and eighty percent of the grain stored here will be transported to Yunzhong, Liangcheng, and Shanwu counties for disaster relief, and the remaining two percent will allow Xiaguan to make it clear to the imperial court, please wait a few days for the general." ”

Yu Chenglie suddenly shouted behind him: "Nonsense! The last general has just returned from the clouds a few days ago, and the people are enough to support themselves, so why do they need almsgiving? The generals of Yuli echoed and became emotional.

Yu Chenglie signaled his subordinates to be quiet, and said to Jing Xiu: "Jing Lingjun has also seen it, everyone is angry, and the military and the civilian are more important, Jing Lingjun won't know, right?" Think again. ”

Jing Xiu paused word by word: "The soldier protects the people, and without the people, why is the army?" ”

Yu Chenglie: "Ling Jun really has unique insight, but now that the army is in front, I'm afraid that Ling Jun and these Peng subordinates can stop it." ”

Jing Xiu still maintained neither humility nor arrogance: "The duty is limited, the food is in the people, I hope the general understands." ”

Yu Chenglie laughed and patted Jing Xiu's shoulder: "Okay! You can say that again! Yu admires the backbone of the principled person the most, so that you can rest assured that our Yuli Army is not a rabble and will not mess around. ”

Jing Xiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to say a few polite words to appease Yu Chenglie's subordinates, when he suddenly felt a chill in his chest, and a long knife broke through his chest. His gaze extended along the blade of the knife, and he saw Yu Chenglie holding the hilt of the knife with a smile. Before his consciousness disappeared, he faintly heard Yu Chenglie's voice say: "We will transport the grain in a very orderly manner, so you can rest assured!" ”