"The minister is a courtier of His Majesty, not a disciple of the Prime Minister's house."

If this sentence came from the mouth of an old official in the court, Li Duan would only feel disgusting, but the young military general in front of him would not give him this feeling, but it was particularly in line with his identity and upright temperament.

He smiled and reminded: "It's okay to talk in front of me, you still have to be cautious when you leave the palace." ”

Lu Shen felt a little surprised in his heart.

His words are not just sycophants, in fact, there is also a layer of tentative intention.

Several elders have different opinions about this Son of Heaven.

Li Tianrun only chatted with him twice, but he could be regarded as a shallow and deep talk, and his trust and expectations for the Son of Heaven were overflowing, and he firmly believed that the emperor, who had been on the throne for 12 years, could solve the worries of the border soldiers and smoothly promote the Northern Expedition.

Xiao Wangzhi has reservations, he believes that the Son of Heaven is trustworthy, but there are too many constraints in the rear, and most of the Northern Expedition will still fall into endless strife. In short, he believed in the character of the Son of Heaven, but suspected that the Son of Heaven did not possess the ability to be arbitrary.

As for his father Lu Tong, there is no doubt that he does not have a good impression of the Heavenly Family, if it weren't for Lu Shen coming to the stage, he would never let Lu Shen go south to Yongjia, the only thought or responsibility is to help Xiao Wangzhi build a stable and rich Huaizhou, which can be regarded as fulfilling Yang Dashuai's last wish.

Before leaving, he specially told Lu Shen not to get too involved in the disputes of the court, let alone become a knife in the hands of others.

Even if this person is the emperor.

Of course, Lu Shen will not have a rebellious mentality, but he wants to be low-key and troublesome but comes to the door, and through the clichés of Song Yun and Li Yunyi, coupled with the news he has mastered, he can roughly judge the power pattern of the capital.

It is true that the Heavenly Family is high, but the Jiangnan family headed by the Jinlin Li family is the foundation for the Li family to maintain its rule, and the two sides are in a complex state of cooperation and struggle.

If today's son wants to promote the Northern Expedition, he must use the strength of the border army system to counter the conservatives' ideas, so Lu Shen threw out that sentence, just to see what the emperor would do and whether he would take advantage of the situation to make the contradiction between him and Li Yunyi public.

I didn't think it would be like this.

"Thank you for your majesty's teachings, but—"

Lu Shen hesitated slightly, and saw that Li Duan was still smiling, so he mustered up the courage to ask: "Your Majesty, the minister really doesn't understand the rules and etiquette in Beijing, if that Li Sanlang can't swallow this breath, he still wants to trouble the minister in the future, can the minister fight back?" ”

When Li Duan asked before, Lu Shen's answer was categorical, but at this moment, he threw out such a question.

Li Duan immediately understood that this young military general was asking him for a will to be free from worries.

He didn't mean to be angry, but found it interesting and novel.

In fact, this is right, the reckless man who blindly shouts and kills does not have a great future, and he knows how to use all the conditions that can be used to take advantage of the situation to be worthy of Li Tianrun and Xiao Wangzhi's attention to him.

Therefore, Li Duan said leisurely: "First, we must take advantage of reason, and second, we must not go too far." ”

Lu Shenden laughed and said understandingly: "Just like the time two years ago, Captain Li of Jingzhou beat Li Sanlang and made him lie in bed for two months? ”

Li Duan couldn't help but smile: "You are really different from the courtiers in this court. I am not biased towards Li Sanlang, but the Li family has a deep foundation in the capital, and there are countless masters in the nursing courtyard, if it is not unbearable, you had better endure it, so as not to suffer a big loss. I suddenly remembered, you haven't decided to marry yet? ”

This sentence made Lu Shen feel alarmed, although the emperor in front of him looked really good, but in case the other party has a hobby of being a moon old, once he speaks, it will be a little troublesome, after all, the son of heaven Chrysostom Yuyan, so he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the minister is still young, and he doesn't want to marry a family for the time being." ”

Li Duan heard the meaning of his words, but just smiled slightly and did not continue.

After gossiping for a while, Li Duan finally turned to the topic and said gently: "The great victory in Jiangbei is inspiring, and the imperial court will inevitably reward the meritorious ministers. This time, I gave advice to the border army, and I was not afraid of life and death, plus I had made so many contributions in Guangling City before, I will definitely be rewarded. ”

Lu Shen had already thought about this question before, and replied calmly: "Thank you for Your Majesty's love." ”

Li Duan stared into his eyes and asked, "Do you want to stay in the capital or go back to the frontier?" ”

Lu Shen said without hesitation: "The minister wants to go back to the frontier. ”

This answer was expected by Li Duan.

Before today's summons, he also had similar thoughts, so he did not directly respond to Qin Zheng's proposal.

Whether it is the court or the Beijing army, the internal relationship is as complicated as a pool of troubled water, and it is difficult for a few young lieutenants and lieutenants to throw into it to make waves. Unless they are given enough time, and Li Duan has been paying attention to and promoting, it will be possible for them to gradually grasp some of the power of the Beijing army.

But this time is bound to be long.

Li Duan thought that letting these young border generals return to the frontier, promote their military positions, and then take advantage of the situation to let generals like Chen Lanyu and Huo Zhen, who have great merit and are mature enough, enter the Beijing army, which can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

It's just that after seeing Lu Shen today, Li Duan's thoughts have changed.

He thought for a moment and then asked: "Just now you said that under the current conditions, the Northern Expedition has almost no chance of success, so where do you think the biggest constraint is?" ”

Different from the previous temptation, this time his question had a very obvious intention of examining the school.

Lu Shen knew this, and said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, the ministers and aunts said in vain that the biggest constraint on the Northern Expedition is not the vast number of gate lord clans in the south of the Yangtze River, but the fact that the imperial court does not have a clear plan for this matter. ”

Li Duan's eyes were slightly condensed: "Planning? ”

"Yes, when the minister was in Huaizhou, I often heard that the imperial court said many times that the Northern Expedition would recover the homeland. But the minister has never understood which step the court wants to do, and it will be divided into several steps to implement. I believe that not only ministers, but also the vast majority of people in Daqi do not quite understand. Over the years, the word Northern Expedition has gradually become a vague concept, as if we should do this, but we don't know how to do it, even if we want to support it, there is nowhere to focus, and the current situation has gradually been created. ”

He knew that these words were a bit out of bounds, and he was even questioning the court in person, but thinking of Xiao Wangzhi, Li Tianrun, and countless hot-blooded men in the border army, he felt that he should take this precious opportunity to express his chest as much as possible.

Li Duan's expression gradually became serious: "Go on." ”

"The minister didn't dare to talk about the court, but judging from what he has seen and heard these days, His Majesty is facing a lot of resistance, and many people just talk about sympathy for the saint, and they still have small calculations in their hearts. But in this vast land south of the Yangtze River, does everyone really think so? Hundreds of powerful people, really none of them want to recover their homeland and return to the old capital? The generals who command hundreds of thousands of elite Beijing troops really don't want to set foot in the world and make contributions? ”

Lu Shen's waist was straight, and he said loyally: "Your Majesty, the minister doesn't believe it. ”

These six words are loud and clear.

Li Duan bowed slightly.

Lu Shen continued: "The Northern Expedition is a huge and general goal, if this goal is divided into a multi-step plan, will it be able to gain more people's support? Perhaps in the eyes of most people, fighting with the Jing Dynasty to the end is a very difficult and difficult task, it is far better to maintain the status quo and enjoy the peaceful years, anyway, no matter how hard the frontier fights, it will not affect the wind and snow in Beijing. ”

Li Duan asked solemnly: "In your opinion, what should the imperial court do first?" ”

Lu Shen said slowly: "Jiangbei's victory is not over, Pseudo-Yan and Jing Chao will not stop there, this must be understood by the adults in the court." For Daqi, the idea of a corner of peace is difficult to ensure long-term peace, and it is very dangerous to set the defense line on both sides of the Hengjiang River, and the only way to ensure that the Hengjiang River is foolproof is to push the defense line forward and let the battlefield stay in the north of the river. ”

He paused for a moment and said loudly: "To be exact, it is Moyang Road and Dongyang Road of Pseudo Yan." The terrain north of the old capital is flat and open, which is very suitable for the cavalry maneuver of the Jing Dynasty. However, Moyang Road and Dongyang Road are different, the water network in these two places is dense and ravines are vertical and horizontal, although the cavalry of the Jing Dynasty is not difficult to move an inch, but the strength is greatly reduced. ”

Li Duan stood up and said to the eunuch next to him, "Take the map of Jiangbei." ”

"The slave obeys." The eunuch immediately took the order and left.

After a while, Li Duan stood next to the wooden frame, staring at the terrain of Jiangbei on the map, and had a clearer understanding of Lu Shen's proposal.

"You're right, just mentioning the Northern Expedition will greatly increase the pressure on some people, because they are afraid that they will not be able to stop after the war starts, and sooner or later everyone will be dragged to death. If we retreat to the next best thing and set Moyang Road and Dongyang Road as clear goals, I believe we can win the support of more people. ”

Li Duan showed approval, then turned his head to look at Lu Shen and said: "Li Tianrun is not wrong, although you are still very young, the height of looking at the problem is not weaker than some ministers in the DPRK. ”

Lu Shen's thoughts were not on the tactical level, but on the strategic level, just like his plan before the outbreak of the Battle of Jiangbei.

Xiao Wangzhi didn't mention much about this matter, but Li Tianrun told Lu Shen in detail about the role played by Lu Shen in the recital.

Lu Shen bowed his head and said humbly: "Your Majesty praises falsely." ”

Li Duan looked at this young face, and the thoughts in his heart swayed again.

"Lu Shen, if I let you enter the palace of the Forbidden Army's guards, and often accompany me for consultation, would you be willing?"

After a moment of silence, the ambitious emperor finally gave a favor that ordinary people could not refuse.

It is natural to accompany the king like a tiger, but it is a great grace to go straight to the center and follow the king, as long as Lu Shen can maintain a keen gaze and a clear state of mind like today, it is not a fantasy to soar to the sky.

Even if the Son of Heaven just wants to set an example for the soldiers of the border army, Lu Shen's future will inevitably be bright.

He lowered his head slightly, thinking calmly.

(End of chapter)