The prince came at a good time.

This is the safest stage of stalemate after the northern front has re-stabilized.

The Yan army failed to break through Jinju and move south, and the subsequent offensive was weak. After the Jin army initially stabilized its position, it began a large-scale mobilization and launched the huge war machine of the Northern Army.

Cangzhou is the central brain of this war machine. Every day, a huge amount of information, war reports, and orders are imported from Cangzhou. The entire Cangzhou, in fact, was the fortress of the entire Northern Army, and all of them moved, and this situation could be clearly felt after Xie Shence entered the northern part of Hebei Province.

In such a huge whirlpool, as long as you go out every day, you will see neighing mules and horses, pulling grain and vegetables, pulling wood and iron, and pulling people. The streets were full of hustle and bustle, whether it was infantry cavalry, Modao soldiers or engineers, they were all shuttling back and forth, shouting loudly as they went.

At this time, on the frontal battlefield, the cavalry did not play much role. Wars depend on intelligence, and sometimes they are determined by intelligence, but not all wars are decided by secret services. Except for reporting some needed things to Xie Shence, the Ti Cavalry Division no longer interfered in the intelligence work of the Northern Army.

Fighting a war is a soldier's business, spies and the like, and it is appropriate to appear at the right time. Xie Shence's restraint on Tiqi is not only a special person's business, but also for insurance.

Didn't you say that Sima Bi had a problem?

You don't have to be careful.

For a moment, the people of the Ti Cavalry Division became extremely low-key. However, the prince went to the camp every day to participate in the negotiation of military intelligence.

In this way, Xie Shence has been living in the south of the city for five days, and he has not been able to see Sima Bi or the senior generals of the Northern Army.

It's like they've been forgotten, and although the daily drinks and meals are enough to manage the quality, no one cares about them.

A total of 200 people came to the Tiqi Division this time, including 150 black-armored guards and more than 40 various scouts, plus the Ticai Division's personnel scattered in the Ming Division, and a total of nearly 300 people were stationed in this temporary station in the south of the city.

In the past five days, except for the prince's people who came to Xie Shence twice to discuss things, in this post house in the south of the city, the Ti Qi Si was basically entertaining himself.

He Ruoque was very happy to hone his martial arts skills with the Black Armor Guard all day long, although the Black Armor Guard was useless at the moment, but the atmosphere in the camp was quite good.

Finally, five days later, Sima Bi's personal soldiers came and invited Xie Shence and others to the general's mansion for a banquet.

Xie Shence arrived at Sima Bi's General's Mansion on time in the evening, along with General Secretary Yang and Osan who had returned from Jinju, as well as several assassins and black guards from the Tiqi Division.

When he came to the General's Mansion, as soon as he saw the gate, Xie Shence was taken aback, the stone lion at the door was very domineering, and it was comparable to the pair in front of the palace.

Such tall and powerful lifelike stone carvings are rare in later generations, and if there is a camera at this time, it is necessary to take pictures.

However, after entering, Xie Shence found that the scene inside was no longer something that could be described with domineering. The carved beams and paintings, the golden and brilliant, the beautiful, the brilliance, the stars are brilliant, thank Shence for going through all the beautiful words he can think of in his brain.

Although there is still a big battle outside the city, the banquet here is already peaceful with singing and dancing.

Colorful silk silk hangs down from the beams of the house, hanging between the beams and columns, and the breeze together is like a cloud and mist, and a group of beautiful maids passing through it are like fairies coming out of the painting.

In addition to the high-ranking members of the Northern Army, there were also some wealthy businessmen and magnates in Hebei Province, and some families in Hebei Province also received invitations. It can be said that tonight, in the General's Mansion, the core of the Northern Army has gathered.

Walking in all the way, the people Xie Shence saw were either long-sleeved and fluttering, dressed in praise of Chu Han, quite ancient, and uninhibited; Either the clothes are gorgeous, the tassels are splendid, the value is thousands of gold, and the wealth is incomparable; There are even people who wear only a battle robe, and they are also surrounded by skirt armor and swords; There are also people who are simple and simple, with long shirts and crowns, and are wanton and chic.

In short, whether it is an official, a soldier, or a businessman, the clothes are very bright. Only the black riding uniforms of Xie Shence and the others looked a little different in the brightly lit General's Mansion. From time to time, someone turned their head and looked them up and down.

Perhaps it is because the popularity of the mandarin duck suit is relatively high and the recognition is high, so many people still understand the identity of Xie Shence and others at the first time. Of course, not all of them dare to look at Xie Shence and the others unscrupulously, at least, those who have official status know very well that it is best not to be targeted by the Ti Qi Division.

However, those crazy Confucian scholars didn't care about this, some of them were bold, and they pointed fingers at Xie Shence and others from a distance.

Xie Shence frowned.

Aren't you afraid that the Ti Cavalry Division will arrest you to drink coffee, forehead, and tea?

Xie Shence was thinking about it when he felt that a heavy object had hit him.

Reach out, twist back, step back, and exert force on both shoulders.

Xie Shence threw the "thing" that bumped into him.

"Hey~ahh

It turned out that the "thing" that was thrown out by Xie Shence was a person.

A man in a scribe's robe lay on the ground, moaning incessantly. Soon several servants came up next to him and helped him up.

This person stood together, pointed at Xie Shence's nose and scolded: "Don't you have long eyes? Don't you know how to make way for me? Get your name in! Master wants to theorize with you! ”

Some of the people who were talking around turned their heads and noticed the movement.

Although there are a lot of people here, most of them are people who are sitting or standing and talking, and although there are many maids and maids who come and go, they are all busy, so it looks quite lively here, but in fact, it is really not very noisy.

The man's "theoretical theory" immediately attracted the attention of some people.

Xie Shence smiled secretly in his heart, do you want to repeat the Zhongnanshan incident?

Xie Shence, who didn't want to cause more trouble, ignored the man and left directly.

Unexpectedly, the man stepped forward and grabbed Xie Shence's sleeve and shouted, "You hit someone, but you want to run?" What is the reason? ”

Xie Shence shook his sleeves and shook the man's hand away, then dusted off his sleeves, squinted at the man, and walked forward again.

The man shouted, "Who the hell are you?" If you hit someone, you want to run, and if you can't run away, you will start beating someone? Master is going to let you know today that in my Hebei Province, it is not your turn to go wild! ”

Xie Shence turned his head and smiled.

"Hebei Province can't be my turn to be wild? Fun threw him in. ”

Seeing Xie Shence turn his head, the man just smiled, and then said something, and two men in black set themselves up, and then walked to the lake.

With a "poof", the man was thrown into the lake, accompanied by the man's mournful scream.

When the two servants saw that their master had been thrown into the lake, they stepped forward to make a move, but how could they outcompete the Black Guard? Just two breaths, and then he was thrown into the lake.

Xie Shence looked at the three people who kept fluttering in the lake and didn't show their heads and scolded themselves, and continued to walk forward with a normal expression.

Xie Shence, a fool who was used as a gunman, had a plan in his heart about this matter.

At the same time, I also have a rough outline of what kind of attitude Cangzhou, or the Northern Army, has towards itself.

Xie Shence's follower Sima Bi's personal soldiers continued to walk inside, and after passing through the corridors and columns, they came to the inner mansion of the General's Mansion, and met Sima Bi, as well as a number of senior generals of the Northern Army, and some civilian officials.

The attire of civil and military officials is different, not limited to official uniforms, but also slightly different from regular uniforms. The belts, official hats, sleeves and robes are all slightly different, and Xie Shence just glanced at them casually, and he roughly distinguished the identities of everyone here.

Among some of the people present, there was the Yuhua Pavilion that he had seen once, and Xin Lan, who welcomed him into the city five days ago. Naturally, the crown prince is also in the ranks, and he is on the same seat as Sima Bi.

However, there was no expression on the prince's face.

Seeing that Xie Shence was coming, Sima Bi got up and walked down the first seat and said, "Lord Admiral, you came at the right time. ”

Xie Shence smiled: "I have seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." ”

The prince smiled slightly, and he was thanked for it.

Xie Shence smiled at Sima Bi, who got up to greet him, and said, "The general is invited, how can he not come?" It's just that it seems that the general and you arrived first. Admiral Ben was late. Forgiveness of sins and forgiveness of sins. ”

said with a smile on his face, but there was no apology in Xie Shence's words.

Sima Bi didn't care, among the civil and military officials sitting on both sides, there were some people who were quite angry.

However, the prince showed a hint of displeasure at this time.

Sima Bi didn't care, Xie Shence naturally wouldn't say anything more. After sitting down, he stopped talking.

There were no words or actions against Xie Shence at the banquet, and the reason why he said this was because except for Sima Bi, Yuhuating and Xin Lan, no one had ever dealt with Xie Shence.

Sima Bi is the master, so naturally he can't snub Xie Shence. As for Yuhua Pavilion, he toasted Shence with a glass of wine to express his gratitude, but he didn't say anything superfluous. It was Xin Lan who pulled Xie Shence and talked all night, chattering about everything from Jiangnan to Saibei, and even poetry and songs. What made Xie Shence unexpected and annoyed Xie Shence, Xin Lan is also quite accomplished in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Most of the time, Xin Lan was talking, Xie Shence was listening, interjecting from time to time, sometimes staying at the place where he was interested for a while, and even saying his own opinions.

So at the banquet one night, Xie Shence didn't eat anything, drank a little wine, watched a wonderful and seductive dance, and listened to Sima Bi's self-entertaining achievements. Then the rest of the time was spent chatting with Xin Lan.

After the banquet was over, everyone walked around the house at will.

Yuhuating found Xie Shence.

"Lord Admiral, please accept your gratitude."

Xie Shence said jokingly: "If it's just verbal thanks, General Yu might as well send a few boxes of silver to make people feel comfortable." ”

Yuhuating said with a smile: "If Lord Admiral really needs it, then I will send ten boxes when I turn around." ”

"Look at it, you see, it's really not a good official, maybe it's still a corrupt official, ten boxes of silver, you can send it when you say it, rich people."

Yuhuating said indifferently: "One Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver." Although the border army suffered, the silver collected through the border trade routes every year was much more than that of the prefect. ”

Xie Shence said with a smile: "Since you say so, then I will have to check your border army well when I go back." Maybe there will be another Yu case, Zhao case or something, for the imperial court to make more money. ”

Yuhuating said: "I just lead the ivory army, and the oil and water in my hands are relatively small, and the one who really has silver is actually the cavalry general Xin Lan." He was in charge of the cavalry at the border gates, and every year he extorted the proceeds of the merchants and the horse bandits, which could feed tens of thousands of soldiers. ”

Xie Shence smiled and didn't care.

(PS: It's snowing heavily, oh there's another chapter later!) ）