Liu Xi, the eldest son of Liu Zhongwu, the handsome man of Xihe Road, had just finished practicing a set of stick techniques in the courtyard, and the servants reported that the fourth son of Zengfu had arrived.

"Ask Zeng Gongzi to go to the water pavilion to talk."

Liu Xi said lightly, put away the stick, and walked to the depths of the courtyard first.

In this weather, the pond in Liu's garden is only a breath away from freezing.

The pavilion was unsheltered on all sides, and the cold wind poured in with a loud blow.

Zeng Wei was originally drinking hot tea in the front hall, but now he was invited to this pavilion, his face was silent, and he was a little annoyed in his heart.

This Liu Xi has been in the border for a long time, so he likes to be frozen?

"On Brother Liu's forehead, Khan Cen Cen is like rain, facing the northwest wind like this......"

"It doesn't matter, I was born in the army, my skin is rough and my flesh is thick, whether it is the sun at the border, or the wind and snow, it is several times more fierce than the capital, how can I ever be afraid. This Kaifeng City, and then the cold winter wax moon, is also like a gentle township. ”

Liu Xi was like a cow, and his bare and sturdy arms were steaming.

He sat down on the stone pier with a golden horse, smiled and pointed to the stone mountain in the pond and said, "Shiro, look at this rockery waterfall, how is the momentum?" ”

Zeng Wei was in the house of Wang Xu, and he had seen the Taihu Lake stone transported from the south, and knew that this was the courtyard landscaping fashion that had risen in recent years. In the mansions of the princes and nobles of the capital, high-ranking officials and ministers, they all love to build Taihu Lake stone. When I bowed, I heard Gao Yu's kid say that Zhao Ji, the king of Suining County, often said that when he left the palace and opened the palace, he would definitely build a good one in the palace, what is it called, Gen Mountain.

There is no such scene in Zengfu, just because his father has always hated extravagance.

But I heard Liu Xi say again: "However, the mountains and rivers in the city, how can you get the scenery of the border pass." In the Gobi in the middle of winter, the Hanhai Sea is dry and ice, and in the vastness and vastness, a round of red sun leaps out and shines on the earth, which is worthy of the word momentum. ”

"What Brother Liu said is what you saw in Xizhou City? Although the younger brother can't come, his heart yearns for it. ”

Zeng Wei pretended to be longing on his face, and sneered secretly in his stomach, the magnificent scene in your mouth, don't say that my fake brother is your own brothers, and I have never seen it, right? Your grandfather is now leading the Xihe River and Jingyuan Second Road, and the official family will easily let your mother, little mother, younger brothers and sisters out of Kaifeng?

After appreciating such a gorgeous mansion, it is just like the "palace protection" in the former Han Dynasty, which was used to house the families of the generals who were pledged.

Liu Xiping retreated from the servants around him, stared at Zeng Wei and said: "The birdsong mountain is more secluded, and the water noise is quieter." Let's talk about it. ”

Zeng Wei asked bluntly: "Brother Liu, how is the progress of what my father entrusted me with last time?" ”

"My father had learned from Jingyuan Zouma (the Northern Song Dynasty "Zouma", an inspector sent by the imperial court to the border gates) that Zhang Dian had indeed bypassed the Privy Council in charge of Zeng Xiang and commanded border affairs with his family letter. ”

"Home letter?"

"Yes, Jingyuan Road, Wenchen Zhang Xun is Zhang Dan's brother-in-law, and several military generals under him have a close relationship with Huanqing Lu Shuai and Zhang Jie, Zhang Dan's brother. I'm afraid that if it goes on like this, there are five roads in the border pass, and two of them are nominally led by my father, but in fact, they are all opened by his old Zhang's family. ”

Zeng Wei continued: "Command the side affairs with the family letter, hehe, then the Privy Council led by my father has also become the opening of the Zhangdun family?" The two mansions have the surname Zhang, does the world also have to follow the surname Zhang? ”

"Hey, Shiro said it so badly, the foolish brother didn't hear it, he didn't hear it."

Liu Xi snorted, caught a glimpse of the lust in Zeng Wei's eyes, and couldn't help but sigh, this Zeng Si, at first glance, is handsome and graceful, but the ruthlessness that emerges from time to time under Sven Xiushi's appearance is so similar to his grandfather.

Zeng Wei looked at the small waterfall like flying beads and splashing jade, groaned for a while, and asked Liu Xi again: "My father also heard that there is an inner servant named Tong Guan, who is also very famous in the border army?" ”

Liu Xidao: "I can't talk about fame, that face, in the army, can be regarded as a few partial generals to give some face." This Tong Guan is also forty years old this year, and it was because he followed his father-in-law Li Xian to supervise the northwest of the army, and everyone saw that although Li Xian was a eunuch, he knew a lot about the art of war, and they also pointed out to Tong Guan. However, Li Xian died a few years ago, and Tong Guan had no support. ”

"Oh," Zeng Wei said, "no wonder, I heard that he seems to have thrown himself under Cai Jing's door." ”

Liu Xi touched his chin and said with a smile: "Isn't that smooth?" The brothers Cai Jing and Cai Bian, together with Zhang Dian, kicked out the Privy Council, and also intended to encircle the internal servants who were familiar with border affairs, but they expanded the transportation of water, transported materials, and revitalized the border affairs, and actually brought the Bianhe River to burst. ”

Zeng Wei said: "The bursting of the embankment of the Bianhe River is not only caused by the diversion of the Yellow River into the Bian, but also because Wu Anzhi, the servant of the Ministry of Works, under Zhang Dan, wants to pull the Yellow River from the north back to the old way of the east. ”

"Oh? The diversion of the Yellow River is the hand of heaven, why does Zhang Dian go against the sky? ”

"Brother Liu has really been stationed in the northwest for a long time, and he knows very little about the river discussions that have been fighting in the court for many years. Zhang Danzhi and his ilk have always been very hostile to the Liao State, and they voted into the thoughts of the officials who hated the Western Xia people, and pulled the Liao State into the arrangement together, saying that if the Yellow River did not return to its original path, the Great Song Dynasty's moat against the Liao State would be gone, and the national letters of the two countries of the Lanyuan Alliance would probably become a piece of waste paper. Therefore, since the official family was in power, the Ministry of Industry has been re-proposed to return to the river under the instruction of the three provinces. ”

Although Liu Xi was ridiculed by Zeng Wei for not understanding the heated discussions of officialdom in Beijing, he didn't care at all.

Because, after listening to the above words, he, as a young but extremely experienced general, has also gained an object that can be ridiculed.

"Zhang Xianggong knows the art of war very well. Then why, before the alliance of the Yuanyuan, the Yellow River was obviously following the old path, but my Great Song Dynasty couldn't stop the Northern Liao from going south? ”

Zeng Wei laughed: "Reasonable, reasonable!" ”

The ridicule of Zhang Dan, the common political enemy of their respective fathers, made the subtle mutual contempt between the two men of Wen Yiwu weakened a lot.

Liu Xi smiled, silently paused, and said sincerely: "Shilang, my grandfather has lived most of his life on horseback, and the story of General Di Qing is in front of him, and he has never thought of returning to Beijing and ranking in the court. The more he looked at Zhang Dun, the more unpleasant he became, not only because he had installed cronies at the border gates, but also because Zhang Dian was too radical in the matter of building and expanding the border. ”

Zeng Wei had received a detailed order from his father Zeng Bu before he came, and understood what Liu Xi was referring to.

He nodded and said, "My father thinks that it is enough for the Song army to control Hengshan and draw a river with the Xia people as a boundary. However, in the eyes of Zhang Dan, he only regarded Hengshan as the starting point, and he continued to use the military force with the official family until the entire Western Xia was annexed. ”

Liu Xi gritted his teeth and said: "The more a border commander like my father who is ready to shroud the horse leather at any time, the more he loves soldiers like a son and understands how important it is to end the war." Only Zhang Dan, who exchanges dry bones for power and monopolizes power, does not treat the border army and the border people as people. After returning home, Shiro told the cardinal that there would be no war in winter, and I would go back to Beijing to visit my mother this time, and I could stay for a while longer than at the end of summer. Grandpa instructed me to ask me to do so on the orders of the cardinal. ”

Zeng Wei bowed his hand.

The pavilion was cold, and he was about to say goodbye, Liu Xi's face turned relaxed, and he smiled slightly: "By the way, Shiro, your niece who runs a restaurant is still in Dongshuimen, right?" I brought back a man and said that I was going to visit her in the next few days, and I would thank her for saving her life. ”

"Who is it?"

"The singer that Zhang Dian originally raised, Master Li."