The crisis that occurred in Yexian and Kunyang counties was like a storm, but in the end it faded away, but its impact was very far-reaching, and it opened the prelude to the war of the Han army against Cao Wei in a certain way, making the already fragile state of truce between Cao and Han even more strange and unstable.

Liu Jing did not return to Guanzhong from the South Xiangkou Road, but went south to Xiangyang, at this time it was the middle of May, the weather in late spring was getting warmer, and the air in Xiangyang City already had a trace of early summer.

But as the saying goes, 'the world is full of fragrant flowers in April, and the peach blossoms in the mountain temple are in full bloom', the spring in Longzhong seems to have just changed into a full costume, and you can see patches of peach and plum white everywhere, and the golden rape flowers are endless, and Longzhong is full of fragrant breath.

On this morning, a cavalry team of more than 100 people escorted Liu Jing, the king of the Han Dynasty, slowly entered Longzhong Town, Liu Jing has not been to Longzhong for more than ten years, the buildings in Longzhong Town are almost the same as before, but they are more dilapidated, and there are many fewer people in the town.

The dilapidated town of Longzhong is not because of the impact of the war, before the Red Cliff War, Longzhong Town was mainly used by Liu Biao to settle the northern scholars who fled south, and a large number of northern scholars gathered in Longzhong Town, bringing prosperity to Longzhong.

When the Cao army invaded the south, a large number of scholars in Longzhong Town fled to Jiangxia, and later followed Liu Jing into Bashu, and finally most of these scholars settled in Guanzhong, and many people served in the Han State, with the departure of the scholars, especially after the Lumen Academy moved to Xiangyang City, Longzhong had no new population supplement, and it was dilapidated day by day.

The dilapidated and deserted Longzhong Town made Liu Jing secretly shake his head, Longzhong Town is no longer the place where the literati lived in the past, so I don't know what Zhuge Liang will feel when he comes back.

After Longzhong Town, walk two miles to the southwest, turn onto a winding path, and then walk hundreds of steps along a small river, a white wall appears in front of it, and there is Zhuge Liang's old house in Longzhong.

This kind of mansion covers an area of about three acres and is surrounded by a white wall, but it is not as dilapidated as Longzhong Town, and it is quite well maintained, just like the mansion that Liu Jing saw back then, a pair of loyal old servants have been taking care of the house for Zhuge Liang.

Liu Jing ordered the soldiers to wait in the distance, and he walked towards Zhuge Mansion alone and unhurriedly, "Who are you looking for?" Suddenly a crisp voice came from overhead,

As soon as Liu Jing looked up, he saw a girl wearing a green Luo skirt sitting on a pear tree in front of him, about fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a garland made of snow-white pear blossoms on her head, looking very delicate, and there was a rare shadow of Zhuge Liang in her face.

Liu Jing laughed, "You're a fruit!" I'm an old friend of your father's family, come and see him, is he at home? ”

Hearing that it was her father's old friend who was visiting, Zhuge Guo'er was suddenly a little embarrassed, she slipped down from the tree, turned around and ran towards the house, only ran a few steps, and then stopped and turned back and asked, "What is this uncle's surname?" “

Liu Jing saw that she was so cute, and immediately fell in love with this little girl, so she smiled and said, "My surname is Liu, and I am from Chang'an." ”

"Uncle Liu, wait a minute, I'll go report to my father."

She ran to the door, just as her mother Huang Yueying came out with a bamboo basket, grabbed her and smiled: "Silly girl, what are you doing in a hurry?" ”

"Auntie, there is an uncle looking for Daddy, and he said that he is an old friend of Daddy."

Zhuge Guo'er pointed to the path ahead, Huang Yueying saw a person in front of her, she didn't see who it was for a while, then Liu Jing slowly approached, and said with a smile: "Does sister-in-law still know me?" ”

Huang Yueying was stunned for a moment, and it took a while to react, and she hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "See Your Highness!" ”

Liu Jing smiled and said: "There is no His Highness here, I am an old friend of Kong Ming, come and see him, is he at home?" ”

"In! At! ”

Huang Yueying hurriedly instructed her daughter, "You go to the study to tell your father, just say.... The former Liu Zhoumu came. ”

Although Zhuge Guo was naughty, she was extremely smart, she had already heard her mother call her highness, so she guessed Liu Jing's identity, stuck out her tongue, and ran into the study with a smoke.

Liu Jing looked at her back and smiled: "You've grown so big, you're fourteen years old!" ”

Huang Yueying was a little embarrassed and said: "I will be fourteen years old next month, and I will be naughty like a child, and I will not grow big, which makes people anxious!" ”

Liu Jing laughed, "Only such children are liked." ”

Huang Yueying sighed secretly, and suddenly realized how to let King Han stand outside and speak, she hurriedly said, "Your Highness, please come into the house and sit." ”

Liu Jing walked into the courtyard, just as Zhuge Liang came out of the house, although Zhuge Liang refused to surrender to the Han army in Jiaozhou, it does not mean that he will be rude to Liu Jing, after all, Liu Jing is the lord of the Han State, and he Zhuge Liang is a subject of the Han State.

Zhuge Liang bowed apologetically, "The grass people see His Royal Highness the King of Han!" ”

"I also told my sister-in-law just now, now I'm here to visit an old friend, there is no King Han here, and Brother Kong Ming doesn't need to be polite."

"That being said, hospitality is indispensable, Your Highness, please come in!"

Zhuge Liang invited Liu Jing into the study, the two sides sat down separately, Liu Jing looked at the study, and saw that the study was very elegantly arranged, with an incense burner in the corner, lingering with a faint haze, in addition to that, there was only a cabinet and a table, but the ground was covered with thick wooden boards, which seemed very warm and comfortable.

At this time, Huang Yueying came in with two cups of tea, and she served tea to Liu Jing and said with a smile: "How is Sister Tao now?" ”

A sentence reminded Liu Jing, and he hurriedly took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Huang Yueying, "This is the letter that Uchiko asked me to bring to my sister-in-law, I almost forgot." ”

Zhuge Liang sat on the side and smiled faintly, a hint of brightness flashed in his eyes, Huang Yueying hurriedly took the letter and smiled: "You talk, I won't bother." ”

She retreated, and only Liu Jing and Zhuge Liang were left in the room.

Zhuge Liang took a sip of tea and asked unhurriedly, "How is Uncle Huang now?" ”

"He has gone to Chang'an and served as the captain of the Han State, but he is not in good health in Jiaozhou, and now he is slowly recuperating in the house, and when his health improves, I plan to let the imperial uncle be in charge of the temple sacrifice, Guan and Zhang The two generals went to Qinghai and Hexi respectively, and they are very interested there."

"Uncle Huang should take care of his body, he is really not suitable for the climate of Jiaozhou."

Zhuge Liang sighed softly, changed the topic, and asked with a smile: "I received a letter from my father-in-law two days ago, saying that there was a conflict between Nanyang and Cao Jun, I don't know what the situation is now?" ”

Liu Jing heard the meaning of Zhuge Liang's words, he did not ignore the world in Nanyang, and he was still very concerned about the situation in the world, which showed that he was not cold to his career and was still waiting for the opportunity to make a comeback.

In fact, Liu Jing also understood in his heart that Zhuge Liang refused to surrender in Jiaozhou because the arrogance in his heart made him unable to let go of this face.

So Zhuge Liang returned to Longzhong, in this case, he needs to be a corporal of Lixian, put down his body and invite him out of the mountain again, which is also to give Zhuge Liang enough face.

Liu Jing took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "The crisis in Nanyang has ended, and Cao Cao and I have reached two consensuses, one is that Cao Cao severely punished the murderer of the abducted businessman and expressed his apology, and the second is that the two sides promised to expand trade between the two countries, allow trade freedom, and not set up artificial obstacles. ”

"Oh! I don't know where Cao Caoli is? Zhuge Liang asked with a smile.

"At least he knows the weakness and inadequacy of his defense, and he will definitely strengthen his defense and make up for the weak points, which is certainly good for him."

"And where is Your Highness?"

"My benefit! At least it made me see that Cao Jun was strong on the surface, but empty inside, and it also allowed me to grasp the strategic initiative, which I think is the biggest gain. ”

Zhuge Liang nodded, "I see!" ”

Liu Jing asked him tentatively, "Where does Brother Kong Ming think my profit is?" ”

"Actually, I think His Highness's benefit lies in the second condition of the two conditions, His Highness has spent so much effort, isn't it just to reach the second condition with Cao Cao?"

Zhuge Liang and Liu Jing glanced at each other and laughed together.

At this time, Huang Yueying came in with a teapot and added hot water to the tea bowls of the two, and Huang Yueying smiled at her husband again: "Sister Tao invited us to Chang'an as a guest in the letter, this is the third time, I always feel a little warm, what does the husband mean?" ”

Huang Yueying is also an extremely smart woman, she knows why Liu Jing came, Liu Jing, as a dignified Han king, was able to go to Longzhong to invite her husband out of the mountain, regardless of the past suspicions, this kind of sincerity, this kind of open-mindedness, how glorious they are for the couple, this is what a Ming Jun did, Huang Yueying does not want her husband to reject Liu Jing's sincerity again for the so-called face.

What's more, her husband is less than forty years old, so he ended up in failure, lonely and remote, she knows that this is not her husband's pursuit, nor is it the life she wants, she hopes that her husband can seize this opportunity to display his talents, and not make mistakes again and again.

Zhuge Liang understood his wife's hint and smiled: "Find a suitable time!" ”

Huang Yueying understood that her husband had given in, she was secretly happy in her heart, gave Liu Jing a salute, and slowly retreated.

The time is ripe, Liu Jing turned the topic to the business of this trip, he pondered for a moment and said: "After I conquered Jiangdong last year, I specially expanded the five phases of the Han Kingdom to seven phases, and Zhang Zhao was one of the phases, and it is still six phases, and there is one phase I plan to leave to Jiaozhou or Zhong Xuan, I want to use Zhong Xuan to win over Cao Wei's scholars, but Zhong Xuan was retained by Cao Cao, if Mr. does not think that the Han Kingdom is poor and weak, and does not suspect Liu Jing of being dull, please accept the seventh phase of the Han Kingdom." ”

After speaking, Liu Jing put Fang Xiangyin on the table and looked at Zhuge Liang expectantly