In the evening, when the lights were on, Han Jian's banquet for Xiao Zhan's arrival in Suzhou City officially began.

This is a reception banquet, but it is also a demonstration banquet of the monarchy, in order to let the soldiers of the Northern Dynasty have more sense of superiority of the Heavenly Empire, and it is also to show the world that now the Southern Dynasty has existed in name only, and even your female emperor has fallen into the hands of our dynasty, and it is not far from really stepping on the Southern Dynasty by force.

On the same day, Han Jian received two news at the same time, the first news was that Yang Rui gave birth and gave birth to a princess. This disappointed Han Jian.

The second news is a bit special, this is a piece of gossip, saying that Zhu Tongjing secretly sent someone to contact Su Tingxia's department, and it seems that he wants to unite with Zhu Tongjing's department to fight against the powerful soldiers and horses of the Northern Dynasty and Sima Qi's Qinwang army.

Han Jian borrowed food so that Sima could continue to contain Su Tingxia's department, and Zhu Tongjing, who was almost in a state of isolation, seemed to see hope, and he felt that since the Northern Dynasty had begun to fall into infighting, he could jump out at the right time and use his methods to disturb the situation in the Northern Dynasty. The method he adopted was to send someone to contact Su Tingxia, since you Su Tingxia could not get the trust of the emperor of the Northern Dynasty, it was better to cooperate with me and wait for the future to "divide the world equally".

But no matter what Han Jian thinks, with Su Tingxia's wisdom, it is impossible to cooperate with Zhu Tongjing, but it is still possible to cooperate with Sima Yi.

Su Tingxia now does not dare to officially part ways with the Northern Dynasty under the banner, because many of his subordinates are generals of the Northern Dynasty, in the minds of these generals, war is the highest glory, and now is the time to help the Son of Heaven to level the world, how can he say the opposite?

You, Su Tingxia, are alone, and after becoming famous, you are still alone, and you don't even have a woman by your side. Not to mention parents, wives and children, but we have families in the Northern Dynasty, and we may follow you to betray the Northern Dynasty court, or you may make meritorious contributions, but even if you make meritorious achievements, it is also based on the premise that the wife and children's families are all dead. What a bleak thing it is.

Su Tingxia would definitely take this into account, he didn't dare to rebel easily, and he didn't want to take risks to stand on the opposite side of the Northern Dynasty. Because even if he has fifty or sixty thousand soldiers and horses now, there is enough food and grass to replenish from the Northern Dynasties, but the problem is that Han Jian drove the expedition in person, plus the soldiers and horses of Lin Zhan, the generalissimo of the Northern Dynasties, are really powerful to the point of being unshakable, and Lin Zhan has experienced dozens of large and small battles, and he has not lost a single defeat. This is a rare famous general in Chinese military history. If Lin Zhan was just fierce internally, it would be fine, but Lin Zhan became famous because he was at war with Waiyi, and he won the support of the soldiers and the people, even among the people of the Southern Dynasty, Lin Zhan's reputation was far above that of Su Tingxia.

It is unpopular with the people, let alone a rebellion.

What Su Tingxia is thinking about now is to raise troops to the south, after occupying a corner. When Han Jian cleans up the mess of the Southern Dynasty, he can justifiably ask for a party. At that time, with the help of Lingnan's geographical advantages, he will compete with the imperial court and become the next "king of the south". cooperated with Zhu Tongjing, that was Su Tingxia's self-destruction.

Han Jian also kept an eye on the situation in Su Tingxia's army, unlike any enemy army, this Su Tingxia's men and horses. It can also be said to be a complete Northern Dynasty soldier and horse.

The information that Han Jian could get, even including Su Tingxia's daily life, how many times he got up and went to the thatched house every day, who he met, and what he said when he saw these people. Su Tingxia actually knew that there were eyes and ears of the imperial court all around him. But he deliberately did not marry and eradicated, and it seemed that he also wanted to tell Han Jian through such methods, I am not afraid of your surveillance, even if I deviate from the imperial court, it is to protect myself, not to oppose the imperial court.

……

……

The banquet that night was held in Han Jian's temporary palace in Suzhou, and the people who participated in the banquet, in addition to the protagonists of the incident, Han Jian and Xiao Zhan, also had several non-duty generals in Suzhou City, as well as ministers and civil officials accompanying the army.

This seemed to be a very ordinary banquet, but before the banquet, Han Jian got a not-so-good news from the Taishou Mansion, and Xiao Zhan was on a "hunger strike". Or Xiao Zhan was just angry that she was treated like that by Han Jian that day, after coming to Suzhou, although Han Jian prepared brocade clothes and jade food for her, she didn't eat for a day, as if she wanted to carry Han Jian to the end. And the car that Han Jian sent to greet him did not receive anyone.

Han Jian was still wearing the clothes for the banquet, and Fa Yi helped to sort it out, and when the female official below reported the matter, Han Jian frowned slightly and said, "Do you have to go there in person?" ”

Fa Yi shook his head slightly, and he could see that he did not approve of Han Jian going to the Taishou Mansion in person.

Originally, the matter was caused by Han Jian's "rudeness", the person Xiao Zhan was angry with was also Han Jian, and this banquet also had the meaning of showing off his might in the Northern Dynasty, how could Xiao Zhan easily comply?

"How?" Han Jian looked at Fa Yi, in fact, his smile had already indicated the meaning.

Fa Yi nodded and said, "It's okay for the concubine to go in person." ”

Han Jian nodded, and there is still a little bit of a relationship between him and Xiao Zhan.

When Yang Rui was in power, when Xiao Zhan went to the Northern Dynasty with Zhu Tongjing, Fa Ye went to contact him as a palace envoy, and Fa was also ordered to find out who the two entourages around Zhu Tongjing were, and Fa also found out that the two people around Zhu Tongjing were the eldest princess Xiao Zhan, and the other was the little eunuch next to the eldest princess Xiao Zhan.

After that, Fa Ye never had the opportunity to meet Xiao Zhan alone, mainly because when Xiao Zhan set foot in the Northern Dynasty for the second time, Fa Ye had already married into the Dongwang Mansion and lived a basically closed life, and the two had no chance to meet again. This time, Fa Yi also took the initiative to ask Ying, and wanted to go over to help make peace, Han Jian wanted to come, there should be some common topics between women.

Before nightfall, Fa also hurried to the Taishou Mansion.

After waiting for half an hour, Fa Yi sent someone back to pass the ceremony, saying that Xiao Zhan would come to the banquet in person, as for how Fa Yi said that Xiao Zhan moved, Han Jian did not know.

At the banquet in the evening, Han Jian and all the generals were seated first, and then Xiao Zhan was late and did not see Fa Yi. This kind of public banquet would not come out to participate even if he was a concubine, but Han Jian knew that Fa Yi should have accompanied Xiao Zhan to the location of his temporary palace to attend the banquet, and only after coming in did he turn around and go to the backyard.

"Eldest princess, don't come unharmed." Han Jian sat on the main seat and did not stand up. Just bow your hands.

Xiao Zhan glanced at Han Jian coldly, she didn't say anything, she didn't even salute, it stands to reason that she is now coming to the city controlled by the Northern Dynasty as a hostage, and she will salute Han Jian with the courtier's courtesy. Nominally. She is also a king herself, and when a king sees a king, she can't even salute an envoy of an enemy country when he sees a king, let alone a king of an enemy country.

The generals of the Northern Dynasty couldn't help but talk about it, they all felt that Xiao Zhan was rude, and in the whispered discussions, they would also mention Han Jian's more rude things for a long time.

Xiao Zhan's face did not move, and she walked directly to the position of the guest head and sat down, her seat was slightly lower than Han Jian's. But she is still higher than the generals below, which is also to show her noble status.

Han Jian didn't mind, waved his hand, and let the waiter serve the food.

The dishes were almost the same, the meat and vegetarian food were very rich, Han Jian said very politely to Xiao Zhan: "The diet in the army is nothing more than the military food for the march, don't be surprised by the eldest princess." ”

Xiao Zhan smiled coldly and said, "Such an exquisite dish." I have long been unable to taste the soldiers of Hangzhou, and I am the king of the Southern Dynasty. If you can't let the soldiers have a full meal, how can you enjoy it yourself? It's better to replace it with coarse tea and light rice. ”

The generals present were a little indignant, Han Jian gave Xiao Zhan something to eat, and this Xiao Zhan actually picked and chose to eat coarse tea and light rice.

Han Jian waved his hand and said, "Then change the eldest princess with coarse tea and light rice, and use the meals I use on weekdays." ”

Then the attendants below ripped off the meat and vegetarian food in front of Xiao Zhan and replaced them with real "military food". There are dry cakes and dried meat, a pot of water, plus a bowl of corn porridge, and that's it.

Han Jian said with a smile: "Coarse tea and light rice, princess, don't be surprised." ”

Xiao Zhan glanced sideways at Han Jian: "Your daily life." Not bad. ”

This is actually a sarcasm.

Han Jian said with a smile: "I and the soldiers in the army eat the same, to say that there are not many other things in the Northern Dynasty over the years, but in terms of military food and materials, I have never wanted to treat the soldiers below badly." I would make daily rounds of the barracks below, and I felt deeply uneasy if the soldiers could not have a full meal, or if they did not have meat to feed their stomachs during the march. ”

Xiao Zhan gritted his teeth and said, "These are all snatched back from my territory, right?" ”

Han Jian smiled, he was really hard at answering this question.

It is true that corn and flour come from the north, but it is true that a lot of meat is snatched from the south, smoked, and transported nearby. Dried meat lasts much longer than fresh meat, and officers and soldiers in the army have to go into battle to kill the enemy, and if they can't eat salt and meat, they will have weak hands and feet. Therefore, Han Jian is very interested in these two points of military supplies, and when the war is tense, he even lists Jiangdu's meat food as a forbidden item for the people to eat, and wants to send it to the front line to comfort the soldiers. Later, Han Jian won the world, and this move was supported by the people of the Northern Dynasties, and in any case, the soldiers on the front line could not be disadvantaged, which was basically the consensus of the people of the Northern Dynasties.

Han Jian said, "Eldest princess, please." ”

Xiao Zhan picked up the rice crackers, which were indeed much worse than the ones she usually used.

She is in Hangzhou City, but she can't feel out of food, because she is the empress. As a native of the Southern Dynasties, she is accustomed to rice as the staple food, and the dry cakes and corn porridge in front of her are often eaten by northerners, and she is not used to eating them. She took a bite of it, and the biscuit was so dry that she couldn't bite it, let alone chew it and eat it.

Xiao Zhan stubbornly ate the first bite, almost swallowing it raw.

The generals and civilian officials present all had smug smiles on their faces.

When it comes to this kind of "military rations," they are very accustomed to eating, and they have to eat dry cakes, and they need two mouthfuls of water to eat a mouthful of bread, otherwise it will be difficult to swallow at all. And if it's too dry, there's corn porridge and salt next to it, so you can't eat the cake dry. And Xiao Zhan has no experience in eating this kind of food at all, she eats it like this, she is swallowing it hard, and even the soldiers on the front line can't bear it, let alone a golden branch and jade leaf like her?

Han Jian waved his hand, meaning to let people bring the same food to him.

However, Han Jian will not sweep the appetite of the soldiers present, they rarely eat a good meal, if Han Jian asks the people below to replace himself with military rations as the main meal, then the people present will not be able to eat good things. How can there be a reason that the soldiers below eat better than the emperor?

Han Jian just asked someone to take a piece of cake and take a bite, but Han Jian didn't catch the water, and it tasted very fragrant.

Xiao Zhan looked at Han Jian, as if he was surprised why Han Jian could eat so smoothly, and it was so difficult for her to even take a bite. When Han Jian ate half of the cake, she suddenly realized that Han Jian was comparing herself to her.

You see, I am the same king as you, and I can eat it, but you can't eat it. I can share the weal and sorrow with the soldiers, but you can't.

Xiao Zhan understood this, and sneered: "I don't know the king of the east, can you exchange and eat?" ”

Xiao Zhan directly called Han Jian "King of the East", just like Han Jian called Xiao Zhan "eldest princess", and did not recognize each other's identity as kings.

At that moment, some generals of the Northern Dynasty wanted to reprimand, but they were stopped by Han Jian. Han Jian smiled and said, "Eldest princess, don't you think that my cake is different from yours?" ”

Xiao Zhan snorted lightly and didn't reply, but he acquiesced.

Han Jian didn't explain, and directly asked his entourage to hand over the half-eaten cake, and then brought Xiao Zhan's cake.

Xiao Zhan only took a bite on the cake, Han Jian looked at Xiao Zhan first, Xiao Zhan took a bite, but only to know that the cake Han Jian ate was harder and drier than what she had just eaten.

The generals and civil officials present burst into laughter, but Han Jian took Xiao Zhan's cake and ate it quickly. In the end, Han Jian clapped his hands, picked up the kettle on the table, and drank all the pot of water with his neck up, before reminding: "The eldest princess still drinks more water, eats cakes and eats dried meat, it is easy to have indigestion...... It is easy to be constipated, so there is a lot of water in the army, and if you are on the march, there must be a vegetarian diet, so that the soldiers can have balanced nutrition. ”

Xiao Zhan was a little angry, Han Jian was giving her a horse, but she didn't have anything to do.

Even if Han Jian ate the remaining half of the cake, she couldn't swallow it.

Han Jian asked the attendant to change the previous dishes again, and said with a smile: "The eldest princess came here today, she is my honored guest of the Northern Dynasty, if you just eat these coarse tea and light rice, it will make the people of the world feel that I have treated you badly." So...... We still had a good ...... to eat together."

Xiao Zhan put the cake on the table in a huff and ate a mouthful of corn porridge, although she was not very accustomed to the taste, it was much better than eating dry cakes.

"No need."

Xiao Zhan finally found something to eat, just drinking porridge was not enough, she directly picked up the dried meat on the table and bit it hard, but it was more difficult to bite than dry cakes, and in the end she could only eat corn porridge, as if there was no one around. (To be continued.) )