On the fifth day of December in the first year of Kaiqing, the gate of Ezhou City was opened. Even if the families are not very happy, at least they are not panicked before. In Ezhou City, the right prime minister Jia Rudao Jia Xianggong posted a notice that the Mongol army invading south had withdrawn to their territory. The war ended with the victory of the Great Song Dynasty.

Sima Kao, the judge of Ezhou, stretched his waist and walked out of the yamen, feeling that the air seemed to become much warmer under the clear winter day. He didn't stop and walked directly towards the water gate in the west of the city. As an official, Sima Kao had a channel to learn that Zhao Jiaren of Fujian Road Tidian Prison would enter Ezhou City from the Water Gate with the Fujian militia group.

In the previous war, the Fujian militia was stationed in Hanyang, across the river. Every day, he travels between Ezhou and Hanyang, guarding the safety of the waterways between the two cities. Now the Mongols retreated, and the war ended. This Zhao Tidian can finally put down his heavy responsibilities and arrive in Ezhou. Of course, very few people know about it, and even fewer are extremely happy about it. The reason why Sima Kao is so enthusiastic is because he is the same year as Zhao Jiaren. The two met by chance in Gusu and sat on a painting boat together.

When he arrived at the dock, Sima Kao unexpectedly found that the right prime minister Jia Nidao was actually waiting at the West Gate Wharf, and Lu Wende was standing with the right prime minister. Lu Wende arrived in Ezhou by boat on October 26. Among the generals who arrived in Ezhou, he was the latest to come. However, Lu Wende is very good at being a person, Sima Kao has personally seen the subordinates of the Great Song Dynasty General Gao Gao and others every time they leave the camp and go out of the city, they have to come out to meet Jia Rudao, and if Jia Rudao can't come out, he will be noisy.

Everyone knew that the soldiers were under great psychological pressure and were uneasy about whether Jia Yidao, the biggest official in Ezhou, had left Ezhou for his own comfort. So everyone didn't say anything, after all, they had to rely on these soldiers to go into battle with their heads.

After Lu Wende arrived in Ezhou, when he saw the soldiers being so noisy, he immediately sent someone to scold, "Xuanfu is here, how dare you Erye!" So Jia Rudao immediately became close to Lu Wende.

When attacking the 2,000 Mongol soldiers who remained in Jiangnan, the other generals were uneasy and did not want to fight because of the heavy casualties in the defense of the city. Only Lu Wende volunteered, so he captured more than 1,000 on the south bank and captured 800. It has also been valued by Jia Yidao.

With these two big shots here, Sima Kao could only hide back. In Jia Yidao's arrangement, Sima Kao was not the person who came to greet him. Jia Rudao has made great contributions, and Sima Kao doesn't want to be criticized by this right prime minister.

Soon, a fleet of ships appeared on the river. The boat crossed the river at great speed and arrived at the Water Gate. A person jumped from the bow of the first ship, and Sima Kao carefully distinguished, only to vaguely find some shadows of the young Zhao Jiaren in his memory on this young man. After all, that was six years ago, Sima Kao was 26 years old, and now he is 32 years old. Zhao Jiaren was fourteen years old at the time, and now he is twenty years old.

Thinking of age, Sima Kao was disappointed for a while. His promotion is not slow, and he is now a judge in Ezhou, in charge of prison affairs. However, Zhao Jiaren is already in prison on Fujian Road, and he has made great contributions this time, and he will at least be a governor of the state by next year. At that time, Zhao Jiaren wore a scarlet robe and a whitebait bag, and officially entered the ranks of upper-level officials. The gap between Sima Kao and Zhao Jiaren will only get bigger. Unless...... Zhao Jiaren did something bad and was reprimanded......

Realizing that he actually had such a thought, Sima Kao hurriedly knocked his head with his hand. He had always held himself in high esteem, and was surprised and annoyed that he was so jealous that he was cranky. At this time, Sima Kao saw that many people were on and off Zhao Jiaren's fleet, and from the number of thousands of people, they continued to disembark. Sima Kao was a little skeptical that his mood at this time had affected his mood, and after greeting Jia Yidao and Lu Wende, Zhao Jiaren's face didn't seem to be very good-looking.

Zhao Jiaren didn't know that his face was not very good-looking at this time, he just felt that he was very unhappy at this time. One of the main purposes of Zhao Jiaren's visit to Ezhou this time was to send those soldiers who had been rescued from the death line from Hanyang to Ezhou. This was not done for the sake of reward or showmanship, but two days earlier Zhao Jiaren received an edict from the official family, ordering him to take the fleet that had beaten the Mongols to Taihu Lake. Solve the problem of wounded soldiers quickly, and then say goodbye to Jia Ru, Zhao Jiaren can happily go to Lin'an to receive the reward.

"What, Jiaren thinks there's something wrong?" Jia Rudao asked in the condescending tone of superiors and elders.

“…… It is not easy to build a ship, and it is not impossible to give half to Jia Gong. It's just ......" Zhao Jiaren felt that he almost said that he wanted to use the boat to receive the reward. Fortunately, he also felt that it was completely inappropriate to say it so bluntly, and he was finally suffocated.

However, Zhao Jiaren's words were straightforward enough, Jia Rudao frowned after hearing it, and said disdainfully: "It's actually for some things, how can this be compared with state affairs." ”

Zhao Jiaren was even more unhappy when he arrived, and after meeting Jia Yidao and Lu Wende to salute, Jia Yidao asked Zhao Jiaren for half of the fleet. Zhao Jiaren didn't really want to drive the river fleet back to Fuzhou. But since you have to give up, at least you have to sell it at a price that doesn't lose money. He and Jia Nidao hadn't seen each other for a month, and Zhao Jiaren found that Jia Nidao had changed. In the past, Jia Yidao looked like he was also the second generation of officials, but his arrogance was just hidden in his heart. The arrogance of the current right prime minister Jia Nidao is from the inside to the outside, and his gestures are full of the posture of never allowing others to disobey, and there is a kind of persistence that everything must be controlled. This kind of style perfectly coincides with the powerful and opposition-leaning Jia Nidao in Zhao Jiaren's previous life.

Yes, Jia Nidao can indeed give Zhao Jiaren benefits in many places, but in Zhao Jiaren's heart, Jia Nidao is just a collaborator and not his own lord. In the last life, when Jia Rudao was still famous among the people, he already had many enemies in the court.

Zhao Jiaren was vigilant in his heart, he seemed to follow Ding Daquan's path back then, but in fact, he had already cut off from Ding Daquan. So after the fall of Ding Daquan in October this year, Zhao Jiaren was not implicated in the slightest. Now Zhao Jiaren is beginning to think about whether it is time to draw a line with Jia Rudao and the snake in his heart. There's nothing wrong with being high-spirited, but being so high-spirited that you don't even do basic communication is completely inappropriate.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jiaren's whole person changed. The unhappy mood is gone, and the angry attitude is gone. Zhao Jiaren immediately said: "I'll allocate half of the boat to Jia Gong now." ”

Seeing that Zhao Jiaren no longer resisted, Jia Yidao's tone immediately changed to the tone of relaxation after completing the difficult work, "It's not for me." It's for General Lu. ”

Lu Wende looked at Jia Yidao's gaze with a look of gratitude and admiration, he had seen with his own eyes how fierce Zhao Jiaren's fleet was, and he believed that it would be very difficult to ask for half of the warship. Unexpectedly, Jia Yidao just said a few words to make Zhao Jiaren succumb. Lu Wende couldn't help but feel that the choice to be close to Jia Yidao was the wisest decision he had ever made.

To achieve the goal, Jia Yidao naturally will not stay on the dock to do the matter of selecting the ship. asked Zhao Jiaren about his next arrangements, and Zhao Jiaren told Jia Yidao that the official family ordered him to take a boat to Taihu Lake. A hint of ridicule appeared on Jia Rudao's face, and after a moment, the ridicule dissipated. He said with a straight face: "Since the official family has a life, Jiaren will hurry up." Over the years, the official family has been quite fond of you, the Qilin child of the Zhao family, and when I went to see the official family, I heard him talk about it several times. ”

"I'll go to see Jia Gong in a moment." Zhao Jiaren was unhappy in his heart, but there must be politeness.

Jia Rudao waved his hand, "No need, I'm busy now, and I definitely won't be able to see Jiaren again." Jiaren doesn't have to worry, you are ranked fourth in this narrative. ”

Waiting for the right prime minister Jia Yidao to return to the city surrounded by the front and back, Lu Wende smiled and said: "Zhao Tidian has made a great contribution, but congratulations." ”

Zhao Jiaren looked at Lu Wende and couldn't say anything. In the previous life, this general Lu Wende soared after the Battle of Ezhou. Zhao Jiaren thought that the history of this life had changed, but he didn't expect Lu Wende to still be tied to Jia Yidao. That's fate!

Unlike Jia Yidao, Lu Wende has a lot of respect for Zhao Jiaren. Not only because Zhao Jiaren is a civilian official, but Zhao Jiaren's performance in the war also made Lu Wende very admired. Even if it was just Zhao Jiaren personally boarding the military ship rushing to the front line, it was definitely not something that ordinary civilian officials could do.

Sima Kao saw from a distance that Jia Yidao had already left, and hurriedly walked towards Zhao Jiaren. Approaching, the guards stood in front of Sima Kao. Sima Kao was wearing an official uniform, and the guard asked politely, "I don't know which official it is." ”

Sima Kao was a little unhappy in his heart, he was not known in Ezhou City, and now he couldn't even get close to Zhao Jiaren and Lu Wende. was unhappy in his heart, and Sima Kao didn't want to take the initiative to speak. At this moment, Sima Kao heard Zhao Jiaren ask in a somewhat hesitant tone, "...... over there?" Could it be Brother Sima? ”

After making sure that Zhao Jiaren still remembered himself, Sima Kao's mood immediately improved. Zhao Jiaren smiled and said to the guards, "Make way for Brother Sima." ”

The guards dodged away, and Zhao Jiaren walked over. Because Zhao Yong missed the Wan'er girl on the Gusu painting boat a few months ago, Zhao Jiaren also recalled Sima Kao. If it weren't for recalling Sima Kao's appearance and strengthening his memory, I was afraid that if he suddenly saw Sima Kao now, Zhao Jiaren wouldn't be able to remember.

Seeing Zhao Jiaren walking in front of him, Sima Kao stood in place without saying a word. Before meeting, Sima Kao wanted to reunite with Zhao Jiaren to catch up. After the real reunion, Sima Kao couldn't find a common language at all. He and Zhao Jiaren were only in the same year and had met a few times. The so-called reminiscence, there is really no old thing to tell. Sima Kao suddenly felt very embarrassed, and he couldn't help but start to wonder if he shouldn't have come to see Zhao Jiaren at all.

"Knowing your old knowledge in a foreign land. I really didn't expect to meet Brother Sima on Jinghu North Road. Zhao Jiaren smiled happily and stretched out his hand to Sima Kao.

Sima Kao also subconsciously reached out, and when the hands of the two were held together, Sima Kao suddenly felt that the embarrassment disappeared. He also smiled: "Although it was six years ago when I saw Brother Zhao in Gusu City, now that I think back on it, it seems like yesterday. ”

"yes. At that time, I also went to Gusu alone. I didn't expect to meet Brother Sima, and this time it was the same. It's really fate. Zhao Jiaren also mentioned the last time the two met.

Sima Kao smiled helplessly: "It's a pleasure to meet in Gusu." ...... meeting in Ezhou, I think it's better not to meet like this. ”

Zhao Jiaren couldn't help laughing. It's really not good to meet because of a tragic war.

After telling each other about their respective experiences after separation, Zhao Jiaren said: "Brother Sima, you and I are the same year. Next year is just the right time to grind. I have to hurry back to Lin'an now, and I want to stay in Lin'an for a few days. This time, Brother Sima guarded Ezhou, and the credit will not be small. If it is fate, you should be able to see you again in Lin'an. ”

Sima Kao nodded repeatedly. The reinstatement is complete, and there is nothing to talk about further. He was just nostalgic, not wanting to get any benefits from Zhao Jiaren. When it was time to separate, Sima Kao felt relaxed. After taking his leave, Sima Kao went straight back to the city. Walking on the road, he felt that his goal had been achieved and he was in a very happy mood.

Zhao Jiaren did not waste time, and seized the time to give Lu Wende half of the ship, and finished all kinds of trivial matters in Hanyang and Ezhou.

On the eighth day of December in the first year of Kaiqing, he sent someone to send a farewell letter to Jia Rudao, and Zhao Jiaren led the fleet down the river. All the sails were fed with the wind, and boats of all sizes ran fast on the river. Standing at the bow of the ship, Zhao Jiaren watched Ezhou City gradually disappear from view, he recalled this war, and only had the desire to escape as much as possible.

In this war, Zhao Jiaren is just a supporting role, just someone else's subordinate. This is not the war that Zhao Jiaren likes, let alone the war that Zhao Jiaren expects. Next, Zhao Jiaren may appear as the protagonist on the new stage of war. He expects to be able to let him soar and sketch out the future of the situation as he pleases.

Then Zhao Jiaren remembered Jia Yidao. The appearance of Jia Nidao going to Ezhou was still clear in Zhao Jiaren's mind, but after the Battle of Ezhou, Jia Rudao's swelling momentum was even more distinct. Zhao Jiaren didn't like Jia Nidao after the Battle of Ezhou, and he warned himself in his heart not to become a person like Jia Nidao. Even Zhao Jiaren can have a disgust for Jia Yidao, what about the others?

The river breeze blows in his face, and Zhao Jiaren suddenly remembered a sentence, 'With people as a mirror, you can see the gains and losses'.