Zhou Ping didn't answer, but there was a sneer in his stomach. It turned out that in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, due to various reasons, the treatment of soldiers in the forbidden army gradually declined, and the officials of the imperial court thought that there was no need to fight anyway, not only did not change the situation, but used various methods to deduct the soldiers' salaries, and when it was time to fight a war, they would pay a large price to reward or recruit strong men instead. This kind of practice is similar to lowering the basic salary and raising the bonus, which is very common in modern society to run a business, and it is also quite effective in suppressing small bandits. But it is an extremely stupid and short-sighted act in large-scale wars between countries. Because the army is not an enterprise, the combat effectiveness of the army depends to a large extent on the close ties between soldiers and soldiers, between soldiers and officers, and between soldiers and this collective; And this practice is invisibly equivalent to weakening this kind of connection, and has simply turned this connection into a kind of business relationship in which you pay and I fight, and this is very damaging to the combat effectiveness of an army. More importantly, it creates an invisible gap between ordinary soldiers and the utility of temporary high-paid recruitment, and once a war breaks out, it is easy to become hostile to each other and lead to a crushing defeat. Moreover, the meager salary in peacetime made the soldiers full of resentment towards the imperial court, even if a large sum of money was given temporarily, it was difficult to eliminate all this, and the result was a slight disobedience to the collapse without a fight, mutiny, etc., such as in the battle of Song and Jin, because the reward was not issued in time, the archer refused to shoot arrows and led to a strange situation of defeat.

As a time-traveler, Zhou Ping was unaware of the strange battles that took place in the Song-Jin War that took place not long after, but it didn't take much wisdom to imagine the terrible consequences of such an approach. In what was then a continent of Northeast Asia, where relations between several empires were completely governed by the law of the jungle, any attempt to weaken the fighting power of their own armies was almost like suicide, and the rulers of the Great Song Dynasty were doing just that.

"It's really in the middle of the Qing song leaking boat, drinking and burning in the house!" Zhou Ping sneered and said secretly: "But no matter what, I won't let you destroy me together!" ”

Seeing that Zhou Ping didn't speak, Xue Liangchen thought that the other party was also in trouble, and said with a wry smile: "It seems that it will not be possible to take Liangshan in a short time!" ”

At this time, a person came up from the stage, but it was Luo Sheer, his face was full of hurried looks, he walked to the two of them, sang a fat song, took out a letter from his arms and presented it with both hands: "Outside the city, Zhang Langjun sent someone to send a letter, saying that it was sent by his Zhuang Ke named Lu Xun!" ”

"Oh!" Xue Liangchen and Zhou Ping glanced at each other, took the letter and read it hastily, raised his hand and said: "Thanks to the Hongfu of the imperial court, I can't imagine that the mountains and rivers are full of doubts, and the willows and flowers are bright and another village, and the twenty whips are really not in vain!" ”

Zhou Ping took the letter and read it carefully, and after asking for a candle from the side to burn it clean, he asked in a low voice: "Lang Jun, in your opinion, what should you do next?" ”

"Naturally, I hurried to the Ming Xianggong, prepared the ship, contacted the Li Cheng brothers for a good time, and pacified this gang of Liangshan thieves!"

Zhou Ping shook his head gently, Xue Liangchen was stunned when he saw this, and asked, "Ah Ping, is there something wrong?" ”

"Lang Jun, the fewer people who know about this matter, the better, if you tell Han Xianggong, Li Cheng will be more dangerous. Song Jiang has been in the yamen for many years, but I am afraid that there are a lot of eyeliners in this Jeju city, if we suddenly prepare a ship, who knows if he will get the news and be prepared? ”

"A-Ping, what you said is the same, then we won't do anything?" Xue Liangchen asked.

"Lang Jun, it was mentioned in the letter that Song Jiang was quite peaceful, but the Ruan brothers were very opposed. It can be seen that this gang of thieves is just a rabble, but because the government is wanted, they have no other way to resist. If the government issues a letter of appeasement, I'm afraid that without us doing it, the thieves will kill each other! ”

Xue Liangchen pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "Ah Ping, although what you said is good, but this Song Jiang offended the Taishi, how can this appeasement document be issued?" Even if it can be published, how can Song Jiang trust that he is not deceiving him? ”

"It depends on Han Xianggong's ability!" Zhou Ping said with a smile: "I have a lowly official position, even if I want to worry about it, I can't worry about it!" ”

Xue Liangchen couldn't help but laugh dumbly when he heard this: "Yes, this matter still has to be biased towards Han Xianggong!" ”

In the evening, the study of the Zhizhou Mansion. Han Xiaoxuan listened to the advice of Zhou and Xue, and replied after a while: "It's not difficult to appease the paperwork, I also have old friends with the fifth prince of Cai, and it is enough to repair the book with him." After all, the matter of Song Jiang's thieves and robbers was so big, and the court had already heard of appeasement. It's just that the Taishi hates him to the core, and I'm afraid he won't be able to allow this person to survive. ”

"What's so hard about that!" Zhou Ping said with a smile: "There is already a branch among the thieves in Liangshan, just arrange a fire and merge and kill that Song Jiang in the fire." ”

"If that's the case, then the official will repair the book and the fifth prince of Cai later." Han Xiaoxuan smiled and said, "It's just that I have to bother Ah Ping to go to Tokyo!" ”

Zhou Ping hurriedly smiled: "This is the responsibility of subordinates!" ”

In the early morning of the next day, Zhou Ping took the letter, and Xue Liangwu got on the horse and galloped to Bianliang, Tokyo. The Cai Jing Mansion is located at the mouth of Lao Ya Lane on Linbian East Street, and is named after its proximity to a Taishi Bridge over the nearby Bianhe River. At that time, although Cai Jing's name was Taishi, he had actually given him a shi, and the real power in his hands had been seized by the Shaozai Wang Huang at that time, but perhaps in order to make up for the lack of power, Cai Jing spent a lot of effort on his own mansion, and the red column, Zhu carving, jade step stone pier, and the dazzling black lacquer gate with golden nails and copper beast rings shining brightly seemed to announce to everyone that the eighty-year-old man who lived in this mansion was the real master of this empire.

"It's a big mansion, I'm afraid that the official's forbidden house is nothing more than that!" Xue Liangwu said that he was different from Xue Liangyu, this was the first time he had gone far away from Jeju, and he was simply stunned when he saw such a prosperous atmosphere all of a sudden.

"Don't talk nonsense, the people in Beijing are too talkative, and be careful of causing trouble by talking nonsense!" Zhou Ping hurriedly whispered.

"Yes, yes!" Xue Liangwu hurriedly nodded again and again: "Hey, I knew this was the case, and I had to make some contributions last time, maybe I came with Han Xianggong to see the world." ”

Zhou Ping laughed when he heard this: "It's not too late now, if you make the first contribution this time, let alone a capital leader and a team, why is it difficult to come to Tokyo to see the world?" ”

"Ah Ping is right, with only this steel knife on my waist, I will definitely kill a few more water thieves, and make a good contribution to everyone to see!" Xue Liangwu was gritting his teeth and swearing and cursing, and the steward at the gate of the Taishi Mansion had already come over lazily, and shouted: "Where did you come from, dare to turn around in front of the Taishi Mansion, be careful of soiling the ground, the master wants you all to lick it clean with your tongue!" ”

Zhou Ping hurriedly took out the letter from his arms and handed it over, and said with a smile: "The little one is a messenger sent by Han Xianggong, the governor of Jeju Prefecture, and there is a handwritten letter to Cai Wugongzi, and I also ask the steward to help!" Speaking of this, Zhou Ping took out the usual money from his arms and stuffed it.

"Han Xianggong? A five-grade Zhizhou can also be called a prince in front of our Taishi Mansion! The person in charge sneered, saw the copper coin stuffed by Zhou Ping, and his face was slightly gentle, and said, "Okay, you are also some errand runners, so I can't make it difficult for you." The fifth prince is not in the mansion at the moment, you come in from the side door and wait, don't walk around, otherwise no one will be able to help you if you collide with the nobles! ”

"Thank you, Master Steward!" Zhou Ping hurriedly sang a fat song, and Xue Liangwu led the horse into the house from the side door, and stayed in a side courtyard by a child servant, who pointed to an ear room and said: "You two stay here, don't run around!" ”

After the boy servant left, Xue Liangwu said indignantly: "Even if the county magistrate sees Ah Ping now, you have to say that you have to work hard, but you are just a subordinate, so you are so arrogant!" ”

Zhou Ping said with a smile: "The seven-rank official in front of the prime minister, this Cai Jing has been in charge of the government for more than 20 years, how can he get along well?" You and I better be cautious and get the letter delivered as soon as possible and go back! ”

But Zhou Ping and Xue Liangchen waited in the room for a long time, not to mention that no one said a word, not even a glass of cold water. As soon as the two of them entered Tokyo, they came to this Taishi Mansion, their stomachs were empty, and they were already hungry and thirsty.

"You must have forgotten us here! Even if you don't have food, you should always have a cup of tea! Xue Liangwu stood up: "I'll go out and find someone to ask for the truth, at least I want to ask for some tea and rice!" ”

Zhou Ping looked outside the courtyard, there was no one around, afraid that this Xue Liangwu would act recklessly and cause some trouble, and said with a smile: "San Lang, you have never been an errand in the eunuch's house, why don't you let me go around and ask, you are waiting here!" ”

"It's good!" Xue Liangwu sat down: "Come back early, this Taishi Mansion doesn't treat us as human beings at all, I don't want to stay longer for a moment!" ”

Zhou Ping came out of the courtyard, looked around and saw that there was no one, so he had to walk out along the courtyard wall, and along the way he saw carved beams and painted buildings, water pavilions and towers, and there was no end to them. It is said that as a traverser, this kind of large-scale garden Zhou Ping has seen a lot in his previous life, but at that time he was a tourist, following the tour guide and groups of tourists through a ruin, and the huge garden no longer belonged to a certain person; Instead of walking through a person's house like now, when he realizes that everything he sees and what he doesn't see exists and runs around just four or five people, the huge impact is incomparable as a tourist.

"Sister, sister!"