Seeing that the princes had arrived, Qi Ji Qingchen immediately invited everyone to the main seat of the banquet hall, and after everyone was seated, the banquet began.

Because Emperor Yan's reward and a lot of money, Zhang Rang's banquet was very rich, such as Xingzhou roast chicken, Zhenze whitebait, stewed sheep from the country, Fengze elk, Dingfang meat, Dahe carp, and weed vegetable soup, and there were two tripods, three lamps and four plates per case. In terms of wine, there are not only Lanling wine, but also Fen wine, as well as spirits from abroad, rice wine from Xishu, sake from Donghuang and fruit wine from Lingnan, and there are all kinds of fine wines in the world, and there are seven or eight barrels of different colors in front of each case. At the same time, Zhang Rang arranged for a group of maids to shuttle back and forth to serve sweet wine to the princes, so that the princes drank with high interest.

After the banquet was over and refreshments were served, everyone began to put the topic of small talk on next year's school competition.

It was the Eighth Emperor who spoke, and his tone was still very arrogant, "Lao Jiu, it has been more than ten days since you returned to King's Landing, but my father has not sent a few battalions of soldiers and horses for you to train until now, and now it has passed September, and there is only half a year left before the school competition in March next year, looking at your leisurely appearance now, aren't you in a hurry at all?" ”

Ji Qingchen knew the thoughts of the Eighth Emperor Ji Qian, and said with a smile, "Several brothers have been preparing for three months, but there is no movement on Qingchen's side, and Qingchen is indeed a little anxious in his heart. However, those who are sons of man need to obey their father's orders, and since the father let Qingchen recuperate in the mansion, Qingchen naturally has no complaints. Thank you starling for your concern. ”

Seeing that Ji Qingchen had seen through his tricks, the eighth prince Ji Qian blushed and said with a sneer, "I just care about the ninth brother, I'm afraid that you won't be able to pass the school competition, and I didn't let you complain about your father." ”

"The ninth brother is a disciple of Li Qingyi, the god of the army of the country, and he has obtained the saber of the god of war Li Yaoshi, and he is good at martial arts with bows and horses, so it is not difficult to pass the school field to compete." The sixth prince, Ji Yong, opened his mouth and said, "But has the ninth brother ever thought about it, if you pass the examination school and are assigned to serve in the four major metropolitan governors' mansions, where do you want to go?" Before Ji Qingchen could answer, he continued, "You have been in the country for ten years, and you are relatively familiar with the military and politics, customs and folklore of the country, Ningzhou should be a good place." ”

After Ji Yong's words were finished, the face of Ji Hongchang, the king of Ning on the side, suddenly became a little embarrassed.

He was named the king of Ning, Ningzhou is equivalent to his feudal land, if you want to say who is the most suitable person to serve as the governor of Ningzhou, it is naturally himself, but Ji Ping encouraged Ji Qingchen in front of him, and he didn't take him in his eyes at all.

However, the third prince Ji Hongchang is also not a reckless person who can be provoked by one or two sentences, how can he not hear the meaning of Ji Yong's words, how can he not know that Ji Yong said this at the behest of Ji Ping, so he said with a smile, "The sixth brother is right, if it was placed in the past, the ninth brother would have lived a smoother life when he went to Ningzhou." But now it's different, Mu Feng, the chief general of Ningwuguan who left the country, has been transferred, and the newly appointed Sun Zonghan is the person of the Empress Dowager Xiao, and the Empress Dowager Xiao hates the ninth brother to the core, if the ninth brother arrives in Ningzhou, I am afraid there will be a lot of friction between the two armies! ”

Regarding the grievances between Ji Qingchen and Empress Dowager Xiao, because of Ji Qingchen's return to Yan, the hundred officials in the Great Yan court are well known.

"Leaving the country, isn't it a day or two for me to be eyeing Dayan? In the past few decades, there has been constant war between the two countries. And thirty years ago, Ning Wuguan fell into the hands of Liguo, and it became a sharp sword hanging over my Dayan's head. If we don't recapture Ningwu Pass, we won't dare to be careless even if we sleep at night. Therefore, sooner or later, Dayan will have a war with the departure country, since this is the case, what are you afraid of and some friction with the departure country. Isn't the new king who has left the country already on the throne? Do you still threaten to dominate the world? If he really has the courage to fight with our Dayan, this time I don't believe it, is he away from the country's tiger and leopard ride, there is an iron floating slaughter, my Dayan's Yulin ride is vegetarian, my Dayan's blue wolf, Reebok, Long Xiang and Black Eagle four elite soldiers are not as good as his departure from the country's iron horse? The Eighth Prince roared loudly, obviously dissatisfied with the cowardly performance in the words of the Third Prince Ji Hongchang, plus he was now drunk, so he dared to say such unashamed words.

"Old eight, what are you talking about, what are you talking about? You only care about fighting against the country, don't you want to think that the Rong Di in the northeast of our Dayan and the Lingnan Yi in the south still need to be on guard? The third prince Ji Hongchang saw that the eighth prince dared to contradict him, so he yelled and reprimanded, "You hairy boy knows the art of war——! ”

He is the only prince among the sons of Emperor Yan who has led the troops in battle and has military merits in addition to the prince who has been killed in battle, he roared like this, no matter how the eighth prince thinks of himself very highly, arrogant and arrogant, he doesn't dare to refute it when he sees him angry.

The third prince no longer continued to reprimand the eighth prince Ji Qian, but analyzed it very calmly, "Some time ago, due to the civil strife and the instability of the new monarch on the throne, it should have been the best time for my Dayan to go north to recover Ningwu Pass in one fell swoop. But my father didn't do this, not that my Dayan was afraid of the tigers and leopards and Tiefutu who left the country, but that Dayan was now under attack on all sides, and there was not only a strong enemy who left the country, but also Rongdi in the northeast and Lingnan in the south. If Dayan had taken the opportunity to go north to Ningwuguan at that time, Rong Di and Lingnan would definitely not have given up this excellent opportunity to invade Dayan. Because Dayan and Liguo are the two powerful countries in the world, if they don't fight, it will not take a year or two to start a war, and they must invest all their energy and troops, so naturally they can't take care of them, how can they miss the opportunity? ”

Ji Qingchen nodded slightly, he very much agreed with the analysis of the third prince Ji Hongchang. Dayan is not like leaving the country, there is Yin Mountain as a barrier in the east, and the north and west are vast grasslands, and there is only one strong enemy in Dayan. Dayan is a country that is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and if you want to fight with the country, you need to consider not only the strength and grain and grass, but also the relationship with the surrounding countries. Among them, among the remaining four countries except for the departure of the country, Xishu and Donghuang are the subject countries of Dayan, unlike Dayan and Beirong and Lingnan, so if Dayan wants to fight with Liguo, he can't help but consider the attitude of Beirong and Lingnan.

"If Dayan wants to fight with the country, he must solve the problem of Rong Di and Lingnan, and only by completely destroying the two jackal barbarians who are eyeing Dayan can he fight to the death with the country." The fourth prince, Ji Wen, opened his mouth and added. Even though he has been a scholar since childhood, he likes poetry and rhetoric, and is good at calligraphy and painting, and his writing is brilliant. But he is also very researched about military affairs, and he is definitely not a nerd in the eyes of people.

"Yes!" The third prince, Ji Hongchang, said with certainty, "Therefore, my father is preparing to set up the four capital governors, and he attaches the most importance to Liaozhou, which defends the border between Dayan and Beirong, and Yizhou, which defends the border between Dayan and Lingnan, and definitely not Ningzhou and Xizhou." Because of the immortal Rong Di and the Lingnan barbarians, how can they talk about going north to Ningwu? ”

"It's just that in this way, in the next few years, if the guards of Liguo Ningwu will provoke our Dayan Ningzhou Army in every possible way, I'm afraid we can swallow our anger, because my father doesn't want Da Yan to fight again with Liguo in a short period of time." Ji Ping said with a sigh.

"Yes!" The princes couldn't help nodding.

Only Ji Qingchen's expression was shocked, because he was surprised by everyone's small talk. When he was in Ningzhou, when he and Gu Qi talked about the Four Governors, Gu Qi did not expect that in the next few years, Emperor Yan would divide the focus of the Four Governors he set up, and he would put his mind on Liaozhou and Yizhou, and the reason why Gu Qi asked him to go to Liaozhou was only because the place under the jurisdiction of the Liaozhou Governor's Mansion was large, and the number of troops in charge of the Governor was huge and the power was great.

Now I heard the analysis of the second prince Ji Ping, the third prince Ji Hongchang and the fourth prince Ji Wen, whether it was their own opinions or the opinions of the strategists in the palace, this remark made him suddenly realize, and he found some of his shortcomings, such as not looking far enough to see the problem, and not looking high enough.

As the saying goes, as big as you see in the world, you get as much as you get.

It's just that now is not the time for introspection, so he took the opportunity to ask the third prince Ji Hongchang, "So the third brother is interested in going to Liaozhou or Yizhou?" ”

"This?" The third prince, Ji Hongchang, pondered for a moment, frowned slightly and said, "I deliberately want to go to Liaozhou or Yizhou, but it depends on my father's intentions." "He followed Emperor Yan to fight and made military achievements, so naturally he doesn't need to take the school test, and if he wants to test him, it is easy to pass with his experience and ability.

"But the ninth brother, if you pass the school competition and want to live a happy princely life, go to Xizhou, if you want to be determined to fight on the battlefield and want to make contributions to Dayan, go to Liaozhou." He continued to suggest to Ji Qingchen.

Ji Qingchen was stunned, he didn't expect that the third prince, who was cold and even a little hostile to him, would give him such advice. Then he moved his gaze to the people sitting again, and found that everyone was also looking at the third prince Ji Hongchang with an incredible face, because they didn't expect that the third prince, who had always been proud of his military merits and did not take everyone in his eyes, suddenly said such a pertinent sentence to Ji Qingchen today.

"The ninth brother defeated the raid of five hundred Beirong elite cavalry with only one hundred Lin Lang, and retreated the Eastern Wilderness Iron Sword at Qiaoshan, which is enough to show his bravery and strategy. I suggested that he go to Liaozhou, just because I wanted to have a brave and resourceful governor in the Northern Liao army who was not cowardly, not a waste who only knew how to be brave or weak and incompetent. The third prince Ji Hongchang suddenly said coldly, and then ignored everyone's unkindness, anger and hatred, and slowly got up and left!

The third prince, Ji Hongchang, threw down such a sentence that was enough to offend the princes and left, and the atmosphere that was still kind just now suddenly disappeared. Everyone glanced at each other, and naturally they didn't have the intention of drinking tea and chatting anymore, so they said goodbye to Ji Qingchen and left. Ji Qingchen didn't keep it, and respectfully sent everyone out of the house.