Just as Zhu Youzhen was reading the chapter alone in the Qingxi Book House, Lu Xiangsheng, who had just been dismissed, had already ridden into Chengtian Town, a military town on the border between Zhili and Shanxi.

After several days of galloping, Rao is a good horse like Wu Mingji has been tired and sweaty. His servant Gu Xian couldn't help but whisper: "Master, we are not taking office immediately, why are we in such a hurry?" Besides, although the master is no longer in the army, he still has the title of secretary of the military department, and he is not inferior to his Zhou Yanru's official character, why should he let the master..."

"Presumptuous!" Lu Xiangsheng glared at Gu Xian, and said solemnly, "Elder Zhou Ge is an official of the imperial court, how can someone like you shout at his official secrets?" Now that my excerpts are flying all over the sky, don't trouble me anymore! “

Gu Xian shrank his neck in fright, and quickly shut up, but he was very unconvinced. A few days ago, Lu Xiangsheng obviously led the army to destroy the thieves in Yangzhou and Chuzhou, especially a fire in Yangzhou, which wiped out almost all the nearly 200,000 thieves, and also personally beheaded the bandit leader "Lao Hui", what a great credit this should be!

However, Nanyang City was broken and Zhu Yousong escaped, these two things happened thousands of miles away, but Lu Xiangsheng had to take responsibility for them, and was dismissed by the emperor from the post of governor of five provinces and four prefectures. As soon as the will arrived in the army, none of the soldiers from top to bottom were convinced, not only did the commander Lu Xiangsheng feel unfair, but at the same time, he felt that he had fought so bloodily, but in exchange for such a result, they all felt angry in their hearts.

Why didn't Lu Xiangsheng feel aggrieved? However, out of character, even if the officialdom was frustrated, he never complained a word, but on the contrary, he still conscientiously did the aftermath of such work as extinguishing the fires, relocating prisoners, and reorganizing the troops before a new intention arrived. Especially for Luo Rucai and other troops who led the remnants of the army to flee to the nearby mountains, the order did not require that they be attacked immediately, and the officers and soldiers really did not have the ability to pursue and suppress them anymore, but Lu Xiangsheng still sent a reconnaissance force to closely monitor the movements of the thieves, so as not to suddenly change the thieves and catch his successor off guard.

Nanjing Military Department Shangshu Wang Zaijin, Yangzhou Governor Shi Kefa, Pingnan General Li Laiheng, as well as Hao Yongzhong, Cao Wenzhao and others all wanted to be upset about Lu Xiangsheng, but they were all persuaded by him. When the emperor's decree to appoint cabinet minister Zhou Yanru as the supervisor and order Lu Xiangsheng to return to Beijing was sent by the court, everyone saw Lu Xiangsheng off, and the bad-tempered Hao Yongzhong, Liu Quanzhong, Huang Degong and others finally couldn't help but scold their mother.

Especially Huang Degong, he scolded even more: "This class of shameless things, if you don't have other skills, you will follow the saint and slander!" The saint is too, Lord Shangshu has such a small number of troops on hand, Gu Dong can't take care of the west, and it's already quite good to be able to fight like this! Oh, Nanyang lost the blame for Lord Shangshu, and Zhu Yousong ran away to blame Lord Shangshu, could it be that Lord Shangshu is Nezha, with three heads and six arms? Or is it said that Master Shangshu is a monkey and can produce a clone? “

Everyone listened to Huang Degong's words and wanted to stop them, but Lu Xiangsheng was amused first, causing everyone to laugh out loud. After a while, Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said, "Huang Qianhu, you can't say that. Since the Holy One entrusted Xiangsheng with the military affairs of the Governor, Xiangsheng had to take on this important responsibility and be responsible for all the consequences. Don't just think about our difficulties, but talk about them, and the Holy One is the hardest. The Holy Lord transferred all the soldiers who could be transferred to Xiangsheng, in such a difficult situation, the supply of food and military supplies has never been interrupted, is it possible to say that something is wrong, and the responsibility must be passed on to the court and to the Sheng? As soon as he thought of the sin of the saint, Xiangsheng felt like a thousand arrows piercing his heart, and he hated to apologize for his sins with death! …“

As soon as he said this, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes turned red, and everyone lowered their heads in shame. Wang Zaijin hurriedly encouraged: "Jiandou doesn't have to be sad, and you don't have to be depressed. The saint is a wise man, and he knows people the most and makes good use of them. Jiandou returned to Beijing this time, according to the old man, maybe it was a blessing or a curse, maybe the saint had another appointment, and it was not known. ”

After saying goodbye to everyone with tears, Lu Xiangsheng did not bring any entourage except for the servant Gu Xian, and entered Shandong via Xuzhou, wearing stars and moon day and night every day, and it took only four days to rush to Jinan Mansion in Shandong. From Jinan along the official road to the north, you can go straight to Beijing, which is also the fastest route into Beijing.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived in Jinan Mansion, he learned that the new supervisor Zhou Yanru was going to enter Shanxi by way of Jingcheng, rushed to Shaanxi to suppress thieves, and asked him to go to Jingcheng to "hand over military affairs". Lu Xiangsheng had to rush from Jinan to Jingcheng, but this was going in the northwest direction, which was equivalent to a lot of detours. When he hurried to Jingcheng, he learned that Inspector Zhou went to Chengtian Town to go to Qingqing and nostalgic for him, and asked him to go to Chengtian Town again. Zhou Yanru's new official took office, and the faction was so big, he didn't give Lu Xiangsheng any face, no wonder Gu Xian complained.

When I arrived at Chengtian Town, it was already midday, and the city gate had already closed. Gu Xian went to call the city and reported the name of Lu Xiangsheng, but the officers and soldiers guarding the city were lazily unwilling to open the city, and they were anxious and threw down a sentence in a weird manner: "What Lu Xiang is familiar with Lu Xiang!" We only know that the Overseer is stationed in the city of the festival, and the guards are very important, what if you are thieves, and you take advantage of the night to open the city gate and enter the city, and disturb the Overseer? If you want to go to the city, please be early tomorrow, and I will not accompany you! ”

Lu Xiangsheng's face turned pale with anger, and Gu Xian was even more furious, and shouted: "Okay, good, this is really hot and cold!" Our lord is memorizing words, but we can't let you people do this! Tell your supervisor, my lord Lu Xiangsheng has come, since the gate army will not let him in, I have to say goodbye! ”

Fortunately, there are still people in the official army who understand the matter, so they hurried to report to the hundred households in charge. Of course, these hundred households are more sensible than the officers and soldiers under them, and hurriedly opened the city in person, and when they saw Lu Xiangsheng's unique appearance, they knew that they could never be wrong, so they hurriedly invited them into the city and apologized again and again.

Lu Xiangsheng didn't have the same knowledge as him, and since he had entered the city, he was going to see Zhou Yanru. The hundred households hurriedly smiled and said: "Tonight, the Inspector is feasting guests in the garrison mansion, and the Chinese army ordered that except for the invited guests, no one else should come to the door to disturb them, otherwise they will be heavily punished with twenty military sticks." The faces of those people are very dark, and the six relatives don't recognize them, so they don't dare to go to the court, or the adults will go to the pavilion to rest for one night first, and then go tomorrow morning? ”

Lu Xiangsheng said strangely: "It was the Inspector who called the official to come, don't you let the official enter the mansion?" You don't need to pass it, the official will go by himself. ”

However, although Lu Xiangsheng and Zhou Yanru are both second-class civil officials, Zhou Yanru is both a cabinet minister and a new supervisor, and he is obviously a head higher than Lu Xiang. Lu Xiangsheng and Gu Xian went to the post station first, cleaned their faces, changed into official clothes, left Gu Xian, and walked to the garrison mansion.

Chengtian Town is not big, and it didn't go far to reach the outside of the garrison mansion. Still across the courtyard wall, Lu Xiangsheng heard the sound of banter and noise inside, and the laughter of young women, and couldn't help frowning!