To leave Baoyanzhai, Li Yanqing came to an infantry barracks in the east of the city, which is a small barracks that can only accommodate more than 1,000 people at most, and the 300 township soldiers led by Wang Gui are temporarily stationed here.

Although the Xiangzhou township soldiers have completed the escort task, they have made meritorious contributions to defend the envoys in Cizhou and should be commended, in addition, it is not easy for everyone to come to the capital, and by the way, they will take a holiday and rest for two or three days, and then return to Xiangzhou.

The gate of the barracks was unguarded, and there was a group of idlers standing at the door, stretching their necks to watch something, Li Yanqing walked into the barracks, but saw several soldiers wrestling on the playground, and the soldiers around them were constantly cheering and cheering.

At this time, Wang Gui, who was sitting among the soldiers watching the wrestling, saw Li Yanqing, and quickly got up and greeted him with a smile, "I thought you would rest at home today!" ”

"There are too many trivial things, how can I have time to rest?"

Li Yanqing looked around, "Why is the barracks a little deserted?" ”

"Most of the soldiers have gone out to visit the capital, and there are only thirty left here who have nothing to do with wrestling."

"Let's go! Let's go have a cup of tea. ”

"I'll put on my clothes and come."

Wang Gui ran back and put on a thick coat, and then he came to a small teahouse not far away with Li Yanqing, and the two sat down by the window, Li Yanqing asked for a pot of good tea and a few plates of good snacks.

Wang Gui took a sip of hot tea and said with a smile: "Is there any news from the report I wrote before?" ”

"The Privy Council has approved it, and the ministers will be able to approve it today and tomorrow, as long as it is approved, we will get the money, we are doing things for the Son of Heaven, it should be very smooth."

"Doesn't that mean finances are tight?"

"In terms of financial tightness, it means hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan, what is our more than 10,000 yuan?"

"That's right!"

Wang Gui nodded, "When I get the reward, I will take the brothers back, try to rush back to celebrate the Yuan Festival, to be honest, I don't like the capital at all, if it weren't for the pension of more than 20 casualties, it would be difficult to go back empty-handed!" ”

Li Yanqing laughed, "Don't like the capital at all? You're a bit insincere! ”

Wang Gui's face flushed, and he sighed for a while and said: "I originally didn't like Xiangzhou, I always felt that Xiangzhou officialdom was too dark, but I went to a Zhending Mansion with you, and then I went deeper, only to find that it was even darker, and the capital was no better?" It's better to stay in Xiangzhou, I'm still a local. ”

"It's not good that you can see through the world at such a young age!" Li Yanqing joked.

"It's not called looking at whether it's good or not, it's normal for people to mix it up for a few years first, and then find a way to get promoted if you have the opportunity."

At this time, Wang Gui asked again: "Do you think that this time the inspection report is sent, the imperial court will cancel the Northern Expedition?" ”

Li Yanqing sighed and said: "There are many people who oppose the Northern Expedition now, mainly for the Northern Expedition to increase taxes and make a lot of money, which leads to soaring prices in various places, so the local officials are especially against the Northern Expedition, it is said that many state officials have written against the Northern Expedition, and the pressure on the imperial court is quite great, but it is difficult to say whether the Northern Expedition will be cancelled in the end." ”

Wang Gui groaned and said: "I think if you leak the situation of this supervision, I'm afraid there will be more court officials who oppose it, do you want me to help you!" ”

Li Yanqing looked to both sides, lowered his voice and said: "This Northern Expedition may involve a dispute over the succession, which will cause a big storm in the DPRK and China, you just have to watch from the sidelines, don't get involved." ”

"Alright! I don't have much to do, anyway, I'm just a small local military attaché, and I am soft-spoken, but it's you, you are already famous for opposing the Northern Expedition, so you have to take it easy. ”

At this moment, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves outside, only to hear someone outside faintly shouting: "The southeast is victorious, Hangzhou is recovered!" ”

The people who were drinking tea ran to the window one after another, and Li Yanqing also looked into the street, only to see a team of cavalry carrying a red war report package coming from afar, this is an 800-mile urgent express, only to hear them shouting all the way along the way, "Hangzhou is a great victory, and all 100,000 bandit troops will be annihilated." ”

The people along the way suddenly cheered, and Wang Gui was quite surprised, "Lao Li, did you hear it, Tong Gelding actually won the battle." ”

Li Yanqing snorted disdainfully, "Leading more than 100,000 elite Northwest Army against 300,000 rabble, and only now has he won, if there is anything worth showing off, I will blush for him." ”

"Tong Gelding is preparing public opinion for returning to Beijing to receive rewards!" Wang Gui hit the nail on the head.

Li Yanqing was awe-inspiring in his heart, if Tong Guan returned to Beijing at this time, I am afraid that the situation would be even more delicate.

The news of Tong Guan's great victory in Hangzhou soon spread throughout the government and the opposition, and a will was passed out in the palace on the same day, promoting Tong Guan to the Taishi, changing the title to the Duke of Chu, and at the same time allocating millions of dollars, 500,000 silk horses, and rewarding the three armies, but did not ask Tong Guan to return to Beijing to report on his work, but asked him to make persistent efforts to annihilate more thieves.

The victory in Hangzhou was the first battle victory since the suppression of Fangla's rebellion, which meant that the imperial army took the initiative on the battlefield and began to strangle Fangla's army in an all-round way.

However, this news had little impact on the lives of the people in the capital, prices were still rising, and the hard life had to continue.

........

Early the next morning, Li Yanqing took an ox cart to the Planter's Mansion, on the one hand, he wanted to visit the former Enshuai, and on the other hand, it was also today's main task, he wanted to follow the Planter's Road to Caofu to propose marriage.

As soon as he arrived at the gate of the Planter Daoist Mansion, he saw the Planter Dao sitting in the carriage and beckoning to him, "If you don't come again, I'll leave by myself!" ”

The seed master is in good spirits, his face is ruddy, and he seems to be ten years younger when he returns to his hometown, Li Yanqing stepped forward and said with a smile: "Did the seed shuai return to his hometown to drink fairy tea?" How to be ten years younger all of a sudden. ”

The planter laughed, "There is no fairy tea, but the Wuding tea of Zhongnan Mountain has brought you two catties, and I will give it to you when I go back, you get in the car first!" ”

Li Yanqing got into the carriage of the planter, and the planter said with a smile: "Cao Ping, that nerd granddaughter I have liked since I was a child, but I didn't expect to become your wife, it's really interesting!" ”

"Chong Shuai and Old Man Cao have a good relationship?"

"When I was young, we were in the barracks together, do you think the relationship is good?"

Li Yanqing was very happy in his heart, it turned out that there was such a relationship, and he was even more of a fellow practitioner.

The carriage started, and after walking for a while, the planter asked: "I heard that you went to Hebei to supervise military resources, I guess the situation should not be very good!" ”

"I'm afraid it's even worse than the marshal thought, all kinds of military funds on the account are very sufficient, but the actual inventory of materials is only 30% of the account at most, and many of the ordnance is old and unusable."

The seed master smiled faintly, "It's normal, it's been like this since Emperor Zhezong, this is called the slack of armaments, the Northwest Frontier Army has been fighting with the Western Xia, and there is still some combat effectiveness, but the Hebei Border Army has not fought for a hundred years, you expect them to have strong soldiers and horses, sufficient grain and grass equipment, that is impossible, to be honest, I am not surprised at all." ”

"But that's it, the Son of Heaven and the imperial court still think about the Northern Expedition every day, as if the Liao army will look at the wind and surrender, and the Jin army is all Confucianism who knows etiquette and keeps promises, I am afraid that the final result will be that the wolf will not succeed, but will be devoured by the wolf, and finally the tiger and leopard will seize the door."

"You didn't say anything about it, I have been guarding the border for 50 years, and I have already seen through these barbarians, whether it is the party, the Khitan, or the Jurchen, they are all raccoon dogs, if the Jurchens destroy the Liao State, they will inevitably invade the south on a large scale, but the hateful court will also ally with them, how is this different from seeking skin with the tiger? This is called a scholar misleading the country! ”

Li Yanqing nodded silently, and he said to the seed master again: "There is a sentence in my heart about the humble position, please be sure to listen to it!" ”

"You say!"

"If the imperial court insists on the Northern Expedition, the Son of Heaven may order the marshal to go on the expedition, please the marshal is best to avoid it, and don't ruin his own reputation at the last moment."

The seed master didn't speak, and after a long time, he sighed lowly, "I only have my family and country in my heart, what is my own honor and disgrace?" ”

Li Yanqing's heart was shocked, he savored this sentence, and he suddenly had an indescribable shame in his heart, this is the real pillar of the country, and he is too far behind.

Seed Master Dao patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Today is your important day, we won't talk about this." ”

The carriage sped up and sped towards Caofu on the banks of the Jinshui River.

........

The six rites refer to the six kinds of etiquette in the process from the proposal to the completion of the marriage, that is, the acceptance, the name, the naji, the recruitment, the invitation, and the welcome.

Today, the master Dao went to Cao's Mansion as a matchmaker to propose, which is the first step, in fact, this is just a formality, Cao Ping and Li Daqi have already decided on marriage in advance.

However, even the form is extremely important, the ancients paid attention to marrying a wife, and the Ming media refers to today's marriage proposal, which must be open and let everyone know.

According to custom, Li Yanqing really doesn't need to go together, in case the woman refuses to agree, wouldn't the groom be embarrassed, but Li Daqi values etiquette and must let his son go to show his sincerity, because Li Daqi should have taken his son with him last time he went on a blind date, but Li Yanqing went to Hebei on business, so he has to make up for the lack of last time.

Seed Master Dao had already sent someone to deliver the post in advance, so when his carriage stopped in front of Cao's mansion, Cao Ping led his family to greet him from inside the gate, and today Cao Ping also specially invited Gao Shen to come as a witness.

The planter got out of the carriage and said with a smile: "I want to congratulate my brother on his son-in-law." ”

"Rejoice! Rejoice! ”

Gao Shen joked beside him: "You two are too anxious, you will say this when you want to drink the wedding wine!" ”

The three of them laughed together, and at this time, Li Yanqing hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Juniors see Cao Gong and Gao Gong!" ”

"Yanqing is here today!"

"Last time, the junior went to Hebei on a business trip, and he couldn't come with his father to ask Cao Gong for peace, and today I am here to make amends!"

"What is the crime that you go on official business, not on a hunting outing? Please come into the house. ”

"Wait!"

The seed master stopped Li Yanqing and said with a smile: "Wait until I finish the etiquette first!" ”

He took out a newly woven basket from the carriage and opened the lid of the basket, and inside was a wild goose with red silk tied with its wings and feet.

He solemnly handed the wild goose to Cao Ping, who nodded and solemnly took the wild goose, which expressed his willingness to accept the marriage proposal.