On the second day, a letter written by Gu Xuan, under the personal escort of Jinglong, left Huangsha County and began to pass all the way up the post station in Youzhou.

Generally speaking, a letter or some small objects that are not too heavy and will not delay the trip, if you want to send it from the border of Youzhou to the capital, even if it is the most willing to spend money on the rich businessman, it will take half a month to use the fast horse in the post station to expedit, even if it will use 800 miles to expedite and kill a few fast horses, it will take at least a few days, but Gu Xuan relies on his identity as the king of Hedong County, but he can use the post station bird that is faster than the fast horse, after all, he is the nominal Lord of Liang, and his majesty's son, plus this letter is a letter sent to the imperial court, this right is still there。

In short, Gu Xuan finally chose to agree to Lu Yi's request, and under Lu Yi's painstaking and painstaking persuasion, he finally didn't mention the matter of letting him go to the capital again.

It's just that this letter, which was sent after twists and turns, was just sent to the post station by Jinglong, and before it was finished by the people below, it was tied to the feet of the bird and thrown out, and it was intercepted halfway.

In fact, there is nothing else irrelevant on this letter, it just writes that Gu Xuan wants to recruit the Rakshasa clan, hoping that the imperial court can send some materials such as jewelry, tea, silk and other materials as a favor, bribe the Rakshasa clan, and most importantly, the name of the Zhao'an edict and the edict that needs to be personally issued and recognized by the imperial court, etc., and other things are not mentioned much.

The person who intercepted the letter just glanced at it casually, then hurriedly took the letter, galloped to the state city of Youzhou, and then walked directly to the most powerful family in the entire Youzhou, that is, the famous Youzhou Xu family in the south.

The monstrous power of the Xu family can be said to come from the great exploits of the ancestors of the Xu family, which allowed the Xu family to shine in the south.

As the first group of people to follow Emperor Taizu of Liangguo to fight the world, he began to follow Emperor Taizu all the way south from the atrium, how many experiences and twists and turns in the middle, naturally there is no need to repeat too much, in short, the ancestor of the Xu family is a real minister from the dragon, a general of the auxiliary country, and under the accumulation of various merits, he has won the trust of His Majesty the Emperor, so that he can be rewarded This person is a red eye, and it can even be said that there is no other hereditary first-class duke in the world, and it is a duke who controls the military power of a state.

The Xu family has been guarding Youzhou for the royal family of Liangguo for generations, and it has been passed down to this day, it is already the fourth generation, and its power has never decreased with the passage of time.

The Xu family has been in charge of the entire Youzhou for many years, not to mention the local army, the status of this army alone is second only to the existence of the Central Army, not to mention the two of the nine armies of the Liangguo that are well-known in the south, and the titles of these two armies have existed since the founding of the country.

But all the Youzhou officials who are born in Youzhou natives, there is no one who is not the only one who is the head of the Xu family, and all those who do not deal with the Xu family and are appointed by the imperial court, officials from other places basically have to leave in embarrassment if they can't stay in Youzhou for even a month, and even their future careers will be affected, and the power of the Xu family can be seen from this.

There is no other reason, even if the Xu family is not deliberately targeting them, it is just that the people under them spontaneously exert their strength, and they can also make them unfamiliar with the environment anxious and exhausted.

This is actually due to the chaotic situation in Youzhou, there will occasionally be some horse bandits and bandits running around in the territory, if it is really a "careless" and accidentally killed the official, where can this be reasonable?

All in all, even if he is a parent official of the people of a state, he is in the second rank, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a feudal official, and in many things, he has to bow his head to General Xu.

And General Xu here is talking about the head of the Xu family of each generation.

Among them, the head of the Xu family of the previous generation, is also the former generalissimo of Youzhou soldiers and horses, the old general Xu Quanzhong, since the capital out of the school palace gate after the incident, he got the rumor, as early as the eighth year of Jianwu has taken the initiative to submit his resignation to the imperial court, and did not bring anything, but two old servants, three people and a horse, even the armor and sword were left in the general's mansion in Youzhou, silently returned to Beijing to retire, teasing the grandson, and then a few years later, the immortal went, at that time, the whole country mourned for three full days before the scenery was buried, and the mausoleum was built not far from the emperor's mausoleum。

The head of the Xu family of this generation, Xu Jintang, the hereditary first-class pillar prince, was also quickly transferred by the imperial court from Yongzhou, where he once served, and to this day, it has been almost ten years, and he is almost familiar with all the people left by his father, and he has become the leader of Youzhou again.

General Xu Jintang is not only the biological father of Xu Huaiying, who is invincible in the capital, but also the elder brother of the concubine of the dynasty, the first-class duke, the generalissimo of Youzhou soldiers and horses, plus the identity of a relative, with the blessing of so many identities, his status, let alone an official, even the ordinary prince has to bow respectfully when he sees it, and he does not dare to slack off easily.

This person is more than 30 years old this year, born with a dignified appearance, tall and big, because he was born in a family of military generals, and he has been in the army for many years when he was in Yongzhou, so even if he has been staying in the state mansion in recent years, he has never given up daily training, so the muscles of this body, although not as high as a strong man, but still have a very powerful beauty, such as a tiger and leopard-like streamlined, full of strong explosive power, this kind of appearance, only seen in people like Gu Xuan and Feng Tiesheng, belongs to the body type that can only be possessed by martial arts masters who return to the basics, because they have not gone out for a long time, so the skin is white, his eyes are as deep as the ocean, he is not alarmed, he has been in a high position for many years, and he has already cultivated a unique temperament, which is extremely powerful, and ordinary people don't even dare to look at him at all.

The person who held the secret letter issued by Huangsha County, after showing the waist card on his body to the guard at the gate of the General's Mansion, was not carefully interrogated and examined, and was directly released by him, after all, in the territory of Youzhou, no one dared to act as the Xu family's waist card, let alone break into the General's Mansion in a grand manner, unless that person and his whole family did not want to live.

After this person entered the house, he didn't need anyone's guidance, so he walked straight to the door of Xu Jintang's study yard.

Since Xu Jintang was transferred to Youzhou, he has not vigorously supported his cronies to take the position, and still uses the old team left by his father, so the people who are now in power in the army are all old people of the previous generation, these people are all old generals and diehards of the imperial court, and most of them don't like Xu Jintang's scheming appearance, so they don't go to the general's mansion often like the previous generation of general Xu Qianzhong, and the two auxiliary generals who control the military power under his command have not been to the state city for a long time.

Compared with a comfortable and luxurious life, these old people obviously prefer to stay in the barracks where they have worked all their lives.

People, affection and a sense of belonging are the most important.

After passing through the guard's door again, he walked into the courtyard, and after gently slamming the door of the study twice, even if no one was looking at him, the visitor bowed respectfully, hung his head, and stood quietly outside waiting, not daring to make any other sound.

Time seemed to stop at this moment, and after a while, a voice came from inside that felt a strong majesty as soon as I heard it.

"Come in. ”

The person who was a little distracted just now trembled, and he didn't say much, he stepped forward directly, pushed the door open, and kept his head hanging and hunched over the whole time, until he closed the door, he was still like this, just standing in front of Xu Jintang's desk like an old dog.

This study room, which represents absolute power and status in Youzhou, is surprisingly simple, on the walls on the left and right, on one side is a sword used to suppress evil spirits, and on the other side is a pair of calligraphy written by Emperor Taizu himself. The six words of the Duke of Zhuguo's six words, interestingly, this eloquent and strategic, can be called the once-in-a-century Emperor Taizu, the handwriting is ugly, like a spring worm and an autumn snake crooked, it looks extraordinarily interesting, and on the wall in the center of the room, there is a map of Youzhou, which carefully marks the deployment of troops everywhere, such as the palm of the world, delicate.

In addition, there is only one table and one chair in the whole room, the table is the simplest long table, the chair is the cheapest hardwood chair, and the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the table is also the simplest one, and the other things necessary for the study such as pen wash or pen holder are the cheapest one, and the value of one on the market will never exceed 20 Wen, it is the grade that will be used only by the poor and sour show, and even the inkstone on the table is not the most famous Changshan inkstone in Youzhou.

In addition, there are no decorations such as jade, vases, calligraphy and paintings, screens and other decorations that should be in the study of the rich and noble, even the simplest trinkets.

Not only that, Xu Jintang's own clothes are also very simple, just a simple black shirt, and the fabric is also very rough, just a little effort on the style, less of the chic and calm of the literati, and more of the strong and capable martial arts.

His black hair was tied with a black hairpin of unrecognizable material, and there was nothing else on his body.

Who would have thought that the Xu family, which owns a state and can be called one of the most prosperous wealthy families in the Liang Kingdom, as the head of the Xu family, the first-class duke of Da Liang, would live so simply that he can even be called poor.

Xu Jintang was widowed in his early years, but he never continued the string, and his only son was Xu Huaiying, who was far away in the capital, and since he was born, Xu Huaiying has been staying in the mansion in the capital, Xu Jintang rarely went back to see him, and anyone with a discerning eye can actually see that this is just a coercion method of the imperial court.

As for Concubine Shu's son Gu Li, after all, his surname is still Gu, so the direct descendants of the Xu family in the real sense, Xu Huaiying, the Xu family and the imperial court, each other have a tacit understanding, in order to make the imperial court feel at ease, Xu Jintang has always been clean and self-conscious, not to mention that it is a continuation of the string, that is, he has never even been to the Qinglou Goulan, and there are no other heirs outside.

At this moment, Xu Jintang sat behind the table, his expression was not angry and arrogant, although his expression was very calm, but the people who came didn't dare to look up at him at all.

It was an invisible pressure that filled the room, so overwhelming that he couldn't even breathe.

His voice was as small as a mosquito's moan.

"General, here's a secret letter from Huangsha County. ”

Xu Jintang didn't move, just opened his lips slightly.

"Present it. ”

"Yes. ”

The person who came respectfully agreed, hurriedly bent over and stepped forward, took out the secret letter written by Gu Xuan, and handed it over.

After Xu Jintang stretched out his hand to take it, he pulled out the letter again, but at this moment, he suddenly stopped again, and said in a tone as if he was chatting with a neighbor: "It seems that you read it for me first." ”

Hearing this, the person's body instantly became tense, and he didn't want to think about it, so he knelt down directly, but before he could explain, Xu Jintang said casually: "Just warn you, be careful next time, if outsiders find out that this letter has been opened halfway, it will not be good after all." ”

There are generally special methods for incoming and outgoing letters, such as encrypting them with mud sealing and other means, so that the person who gets it only needs to check it according to the rules agreed in advance, and will know whether it has been opened in the middle.

"The lesson of the general is that it is the negligence of his subordinates. ”

The person who came lay deep on the ground, his back was dripping with cold sweat, and in just a few breaths, his clothes had been completely soaked, and even his voice was hoarse.

Xu Jintang didn't care about this, his creed has always been like this, the more people below are afraid of him, the less they will do something out of the ordinary to cause trouble for him, as for the set that his father once believed in and treated people with benevolence and righteousness, he had already been abandoned.

He began to silently read the contents of the letterhead.

After a while, the general behind the table put it down, pondered for a while, and then instructed the kneeling people below: "This letter, sealed and sent to the capital as usual, and you send it to Xu Shijie again, saying that I will not allow the court to agree to this matter." ”

The person who came was still lying on the ground, and at this time he felt that his body had begun to go numb, and when he heard Xu Jintang's order, he quickly replied in a trembling voice: "Yes." ”

Xu Jintang glanced at the people on the ground, waved his hand lightly, and said, "Go out." ”

As if he had been pardoned, he quickly got up again, stepped forward, put away the envelope and the stationery, and then bowed again, and then respectfully withdrew.

When the door was closed and the light in the room dimmed again, Xu Jintang turned around and squinted at the topographic map of Youzhou on the wall, like a tiger examining his prey.