In Hedong County, there is a deserted ordinary mountain field on the border.

Mazi Face and the other two horse bandits who had survived the death stopped by a babbling stream in the mountains.

"Boss, I can't run. ”

The two bandits tumbled off their horses almost at the same time and lay on the ground, gasping for breath with a tired and frightened look on their faces.

Mazi's face was silent, and she slowly climbed off the horse, squatting beside the stream, looking at the reflection in the water, her face was cloudy.

A horse bandit seemed to notice something unusual, raised his head slightly, looked at the pock-faced boss who was squatting silently, and then carefully bumped his companion next to him.

The latter also turned his face, and looked at the pockmarked face over there with some confusion following his companion's gaze.

"Boss, what's wrong? That kid was stabbed by me, and he definitely won't be able to catch up, even if that guy is still a little troublesome, but he shouldn't be chased by himself. ”

He stretched out his hand, picked up a handful of cold and biting water in winter from the stream, put his face on it, and then rubbed it fiercely, the sky was just bright at this time, and it was still gray-blue, but the face of the pock-faced horse bandit was darker than the night before.

A horse bandit's eyes widened, his mouth opened, and he shouted in great horror: "Boss, boss, your face。。。。。。 ”

The other horse bandit also noticed the change at this time, and his jaw was about to drop in shock.

I saw that the conspicuous large number of pockmarks on the pockmarked face suddenly turned into a mass of black liquid, spreading like ink on the painting, and then mixed with the originally clear water flow slowly dripping down from the face, but in a moment, a middle-aged man who looked ordinary from the outside appeared in front of him, and his eyes were also indifferent, as for the vicious horse bandit leader before, the pockmarked face had disappeared from this world.

The two horse bandits witnessed this surprising scene with their own eyes, and they were a little frightened, and then they suddenly became alert, and quickly wanted to turn over and stand up and escape, only to see the man who had changed from pockmarked face to ordinary middle-aged man carrying a knife upside down, and as soon as he moved, he stepped over in one step, ignoring the other party's cry for mercy, and without hesitation, the knife fell in his hand, and the two heads fell directly to the ground with a frightened look.

Now that you know something you shouldn't know, you can only ask the two of you to die.

The middle-aged man lowered his head and looked at the two headless corpses on the ground with an indifferent expression, it seemed that it was no different from killing two chickens, thinking that an hour ago they were still calling each other brothers, but now they have been stabbed by themselves.

"Fool Cool Dog, phew!"

The middle-aged man spoke in a strange dialect, spat on the corpse with disdain, and after simply cleaning it up, he took out a set of patched coarse cloth clothes from the bag that was packed on the horse and put it on.

This kind of ordinary dress, people who are not particularly careful in keeping, can't see the flaws at all, relying on this dress, not to mention being able to move unimpeded in Youzhou, at least not as conspicuous as before.

The man carefully put away the blood-stained clothes he had changed before, wrapped them in a ball, found a hidden place nearby to bury them, and deliberately took out a thatched hat and put it on his head to cover it, and then subconsciously glanced left and right, gave up riding a horse, and hurriedly ran down the mountain.

In Youzhou, Liangguo, among the garrison barracks and fortresses near Majia Village, Gu Xuan received the highest courtesy from this place as soon as he came.

The entire military system of Liangguo can be divided into three kinds of central army, border army and local army, and the status is also ranked in order, among which the central army sits in Liangzhou, can rush to the aid of various places at any time, suppress, and supervise the whole country, the status can be said to be unshakable, and the border army has only three, namely the Youzhou army, the Yanzhou army and the Haizhou army, as for the local army, it is all over the country, although the number is the largest, but the strength is the lowest, the training on weekdays is not very strict, most of the farmers recruited on the spot, etc., they basically do farming on weekdays, and rarely use them。

To put it bluntly, the people who are still doing agricultural work on weekdays will only be reconvened at critical moments, and occasionally train on weekdays to make a show, which is also to reduce the burden on the imperial court, after all, the Liang country is warlike, and the nine real tiger and wolf divisions raised are well-known all over the world, and there are many people, this kind of real elite soldiers are impossible to do farming, and what they have to do every day is to train and retrain, and the annual cost is simply astronomical, and the imperial court is really unable to support the local army.

In the Liang Kingdom, the status of the border army and the central army is extremely high, and there is no difference between the civil officials and ministers of the central government, taking the Xu family as an example, most of the commanders of the border army are hereditary titles, and after the founding fathers, just from the title, they have to suppress these civilian officials.

For example, the establishment of the army in the three states is for a general of soldiers and horses for the president, and the official residence is a product, corresponding to the position of the highest governor of the three provinces with the highest civil system, and then the two deputy generals on the left and right lead part of the soldiers and horses, and then the military ranks are equal to the civilian officials, arranged in turn, according to Gu Cang's words, it is a bloated and ineffective bureaucratic system, which needs to be changed, but the border army is the top priority of the imperial court, and the generals are basically soft and hard, afraid of the rebound too much, and have not officially begun drastic reforms.

And the one who came to visit Gu Xuan today is the joining army of General Zuo of the Youzhou Army, who joined the army is the staff division under General Zuo, the think tank in the army, the civilian officials in the army, and the figure who gives advice in wartime, his status is very important, and he is even relied on as a confidant.

You must know that these soldiers who have been guarding the border pass all the year round do not know the ugliness of the young master of the Xu family and the newly sealed prince in the capital, only know that this prince took the risk of fighting with the horse bandits in order to save the lives of the people, and was seriously injured.

What's more critical is that this garrison captain who escaped with good luck is General Zuo's own nephew, with a high status, although it is inconvenient for General Zuo, who is busy with official business, to come in person, how can he be indifferent to Gu Xuan's generosity and kindness?

Therefore, Gu Xuancai stayed for only two days, and then waited for this great god of the army who hurriedly came from the border pass.

Relying on a system that is different from ordinary people, the wounds on Gu Xuan's body have actually basically converged, as long as he doesn't make some large-scale movements to open the wound, the next thing is to wait for the scar to form, the scar will fall off, the flesh will grow, and it will naturally heal, which makes the old military doctor amazed and praised.

In a cowhide tent in the camp that was specially cleared for Gu Xuan, Gu Xuan sat opposite each other with this middle-aged strategist who called himself Lan Yunxuan.

Lan Yunxuan has been in the army for decades, and he is the highest-ranking military staff officer under General Zuo, and after climbing up step by step for so many years, he is naturally deeply trusted, not only as his right-hand man, but also as a half-own son, and he must ask for his opinion on everything.

"Lord Wang!"

Lan Yunxuan's blue coat is the most simple and ordinary literati robe, even a little thin, he is not tall, and his body is thin, his eye sockets are deep-set, obviously he has a lot of advice for General Zuo on weekdays, and he often reads at night with candles and does not dare to relax, which leads to people who are only middle-aged, but they already have old looks.

Gu Xuan hurriedly returned the salute solemnly: "Don't dare, Mr. Lan can come, it is really flattering to be here, how can Xuan He De, it is really ashamed to let Mr. Lan visit in person." ”

Lan Yunxuan was also looking at the young man in front of him at this time, it was reported that this prince was only eighteen years old, and he was sent out to be crowned king, and the place was still the kind of poor and dangerous Jedi in Huangsha County, I am afraid that it will not be satisfactory to be in the capital, and besides, it is 。。。。。。

Lan Yunxuan recalled in his mind the information he had collected before, there was actually a guard by the side of this prince, such a long way, from the capital all the way north to Huangsha County, an eighteen-year-old young man with a guard, what is the difference between this and sending him to death?

It seems that someone in the court wants him to die, and this black hand behind the scenes is definitely not a simple role, let's not say that he can afford to provoke it, but why provoke a big man who is far away in the capital for his father-in-law, and the energy is so great that he can even influence the current situation?

Thinking of this, Lan Yunxuan secretly made a heart, and first said tentatively: "This time it was the dereliction of duty of our Youzhou Army, so that the prince was injured, it is really impossible to die, but the prince is benevolent and righteous, and does not cure the sins of these soldiers, General Zuo loves soldiers like sons, so after knowing about this matter, he specially asked him to come down to apologize to the prince, and at the same time let the next generation relay it to the next generation, and the prince's benevolence and righteousness General Zuo remembered it in his heart." ”

Ignoring the dirty mud and sand on the ground, he knelt down and bowed down directly, causing Gu Xuan to stand up all of a sudden, and hurriedly went to help: "Why did Mr. Lan make such a big gift, the soldiers have been guarding the border all the year round, and there is no merit and hard work, tired and sleepy, some omissions can be understood, how can I blame them? I only blame myself for acting too impulsively, I can't get used to seeing these horse bandits so rampant, and I want to save the people, so I was injured." ”

Lan Yunxuan's body on the ground stiffened slightly, and he secretly said that this little prince is not easy to mess with, doesn't this still imply that it is the problem of the Youzhou Army, but it is on himself, forcing them to give some benefits and seal their mouths.

After all, they are all from the Youzhou military department, the other party sold an adult to please, and he has to pay it back, Lan Yunxuan is not a courtier who is obsessed with power, and being able to stay in the army for so many years shows that he has a heart to serve the country, so he stood up at the moment, sat back down, and said bluntly: "The prince only brought one escort with him on this trip?"

Gu Xuan smiled and said: "In the territory of my Liang Kingdom, is there any difference between bringing one guard and bringing a hundred guards? If this king can be attacked and killed in his own land, whose problem can this be? Hey, Mr. Lan, I don't mean to blame you, since you ask so, I will also tell me what I thought at the beginning." ”

Lan Yunxuan's expression suddenly stiffened a little, this prince is changing the law to imply that this is still the fault of the Youzhou Army, what he wants, it goes without saying.

Gu Xuan glanced at the other party, deliberately exaggerated, and said, "What's more, my guard is not an ordinary person, but the head of a thousand households who is a horse guard next to my father!"

Xiao Cavalry Guards Thousand Household Chiefs!

Lan Yunxuan was taken aback, if this is the case, the weight of this person is really heavy enough, there is no need to say much about his own ability, the key is that this prince still has some weight in the heart of His Majesty the Emperor who is far away in the capital, at least he has some guilt, otherwise how could he give this kind of character to accompany him, could it be that the thousand households of this Xiao Cavalry Guard were also sacrificed by those people in the court?

You must know that in terms of weight, even a team of personal soldiers around the general is not comparable to the thousand households of this cavalry guard.

Lan Yunxuan suddenly retracted his previous thoughts, the capital is too far away, the water is too deep, and he can't join the army in a single place, even the left general of the Youzhou Army is not worthy, but this little prince is not a master to deal with, and it seems that he will have to be a neighbor in the future, and he can't just have a bad relationship, but if he wants to be good friends with him, he is afraid that he will evil some people in the capital, so he has to take care of it.