In the Luofeng Pavilion at the foot of Tongque Mountain, the breeze was blowing, and Tang Jiusheng and Jiang Fatzi sat opposite each other. Dozens of meters away, the arrogant beauty Ximen Yushuang was pouting, sitting on a big stone on the side of the road with a puff, and two horses were driven by her to graze at the edge of the forest, although Xiao Tang said that she was letting her watch the wind outside and not allowing others to enter the pavilion, but she knew in her heart that Xiao Tang couldn't believe her.

The fat man's name is Jiang Zhenyu, and he is the son of Jiang Yongchun, who was demoted from the commander of the imperial guard to the general of Jiangling.

Tang Jiusheng sat in the pavilion, holding the Yanling knife, and quietly listened to the fat Jiang man carrying the hammer spitting and telling how he had ambushed these mountain bandits in Tongque Mountain with only a few people. How powerful his eldest cousin was when he came back, he slashed to death the original owner of the cottage.

"Brother Tang, I really misunderstood this new emperor before, it seems that he is not incompetent, but he was forced by the situation and chose Taoguang to raise obscurity. First tossed by these eunuchs, and in order to maintain the power in their hands, these eunuchs will inevitably have conflicts with those few feudal kings who are ready to move, and use eunuchs to weaken the power of the feudal kings. You see, with the help of strength, it can be regarded as having a wrist. Even if the situation deteriorates due to the failure to overthrow the vassal king, you can still throw the pot to those dead eunuchs who love power. Sure enough, it's a good means. The fat man couldn't help but exclaim.

Tang Jiusheng shook his head, "Let's talk about what happened to you falling into the grass yourself, what I am most concerned about now is this." ”

The fat man laughed, "The emperor gave me my father's secret edict, asking him not only to train the five thousand strong soldiers in Jiangling Prefecture, but also to find opportunities to recruit troops and horses, the king of Pingxi and the king of Lingnan have already shown their anti-form, but they haven't caught the handle yet, so they have to guard against it." Once a war breaks out, 5,000 strong soldiers may be able to hold Jiangling Prefecture for half a year, but this is simply a drop in the bucket, and it is far from enough! In a hurry, how can it be so easy to recruit troops? No, I am as witty as a fat man, so I will hit these cottages. As long as a few cottages are ambushed, won't there be soldiers and horses?"

Tang Jiusheng stared at the fat man's little eyes and smiled faintly, "Even if you take down these cottages, weapons, armor, bows and crossbows, everything will cost money, people will have to eat, and horses will have to be fed." If you only have a gang of bandits in the cottage on hand, it is impossible for the imperial court to directly pay you money. Besides, your village occupies Tongque Mountain, and those good men and women who are engaged in it dare not go up the mountain to make incense, and the Taoist temple on the mountain has no incense, so you are not afraid that those Taoist priests from the Qingniu Palace in Tongque Mountain will come to the Tianxing Dao and cut you down the grass and eradicate the roots?"

The fat man smiled, "The current head of Tongque Mountain, Lao Niu Nose, is my uncle, he had to become a monk back then, it was my grandfather who recommended him to the previous master of the real person to be a personal disciple, and now he has taken over as the head of the sect, I have greeted him before, and the Qingniu Palace will not interfere in a short time." ”

Tang Jiusheng stretched out his hand, picked a young leaf from the willow tree next to the pavilion, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, the taste was a little bitter. After pondering for a moment, he said: "Why don't you let your father co-opt all these bandits in the name of suppressing bandits? Most of these bandits are ordinary people who can't survive, so they take a risk, and being caught by officers and soldiers is a matter of chopping them with a knife." Many of these bandits were forced by the vassal kings to rob women and grit their teeth with hatred. If you are given a way to live, you can survive, have something to eat, and have a normal identity, how can they not serve your father and the imperial court? There are fewer bandits, we have more soldiers at hand, and these feudal kings have to weigh whether they have such a strong strength if they want to seek a big position. Why don't you do something that kills multiple birds with one stone?"

The fat man touched his nose, "Call the fat man and I say, you literati are cunning, hehe." But my father's station is too far away from here, and he can't send troops over to quell the chaos, and crossing the border to kill is a taboo in officialdom. And in case the limited number of troops is transferred, the king of Pingxi will take the opportunity to advance eastward, Jiangling will not be guaranteed, and the Central Plains will be wide open. ”

Tang Jiusheng swallowed the willow leaves, and said with a smile: "Do you have to transfer troops to move these mountain bandits?" Go to Qingniu Palace to borrow a few Taoist priests with good martial arts, plus us, one cottage after another, eat a village, train and stabilize it, and you can take people and horses to eat the next cottage." In the process of eating, ask your father to send a secret letter to the emperor, asking the emperor to pardon these mountain bandits who surrendered to the city, reward the soldiers with food to eat, and kill all those who do not obey, which one is still stupid to be a bandit? General Jiangling can only bring 5,000 soldiers? Can't he become a general of the four expeditions, four peaces, four ans, and four towns? Can't he bring 12,340,000 horses? Isn't it now that the more soldiers your father and my father have in their hands, the more the emperor feels safer and more confident?"

The fat man slapped his thigh, "It's such a reason, I took it for the fat man, so I did it." The fat man patted the sleeves of his clothes, and said with a straight face: "Brother Tang, I heard that after you won the second place in Jiangnan Dao, you won the second place in the martial arts?" Then you can't call Brother Tang now, you have to change your name to Master Tang...... Before he finished speaking, he fell to the ground laughing.

Tang Jiusheng sighed, "When I was a child, my father asked me to learn literature, and I learned martial arts when I was asked to learn martial arts. He also said that one day he was old and wanted me to inherit his title of national teacher, but I was unwilling in my heart. As for the examiners or something, I just want to confirm whether I can learn those things or not. After all, I don't want to take the Jinshi exam and become an official. The emperor himself has to keep his head in obscurity, so do I still have to suffer the anger of those eunuchs? People must not be arrogant, but they must not be arrogant. As for loyalty and patriotism, don't people have to love themselves first before they can love others?"

The fat man laughed and pointed at Ximen Yushuang, who was sitting on the stone on the side of the road and was still sulking: "Then you love that beautiful girl who is like a flower?"

Tang Jiusheng shook his head and said gloomily: "I only love my junior sister, I haven't seen my junior sister for two years. ”

The fat man was surprised, drooling and asked: "Your junior sister, is more beautiful than this? Then tell me how you hooked up with this big beautiful girl who led you a horse? Fat man, I also followed the two hands, and hooked up with two beautiful girls who looked like fairies in the closed moon, so as to complete the great cause of our Jiang family's inheritance." ”

Tang Jiusheng smiled and kicked the fat man, "You, are you a little out of the ordinary, lose weight, become handsome, be reliable, the son of a general, a martial arts master, how can you not marry a daughter-in-law?"

The smile on Tang Jiusheng's face was warm: "My junior sister is gentle as jade, in my eyes she is the most beautiful woman in the world, from the first time I saw her in Heyue Academy, it was love at first sight." When I left the school palace to travel to the rivers and lakes and separated from her, I told her, when you are two years older, I will come back to marry you as a daughter-in-law. My little sister's blushing and shy look was very cute, but she still nodded obediently. ”

Tang Jiusheng looked at the fat man with a wicked smile, patted him on the shoulder, and recounted the past with a sad face, "This Ximen girl, I really don't know each other, the first time we met was on the official road outside Wuquan Town, I stared at her chest and looked at her twice--this can't blame me, such a spectacular breast, which man would not look at it twice? As a result, she drew her sword and cut it, fortunately, I reacted quickly enough, otherwise I would have whined and mourned." Later, she followed me all the way to Lingxuguan and exchanged a black unicorn for my big white horse, and I learned that her name was Ximen Yushuang. Then they met here, surrounded by your men, and she brazenly slaughtered your old Song. ”

Tang Jiusheng turned around and shouted with a smile to Ximen Yushuang, who was sitting on the stone, still pouting and angry: "Miss Ximen, come and chat together." ”

Ximen Yushuang was still angry, "Don't go, die Xiao Tang." As he spoke, his feet slowly moved towards the pavilion.

The fat man smiled evilly: "Don't say no, the body is still very honest!"

Tang Jiusheng punched him with a smile, "You bad guy." ”

The fat man laughed at it quite obscenely: "It's all bad people." ”

Ximen Yushuang entered the pavilion and sat next to Tang Jiusheng, but there was still some resentment between her eyebrows. Tang Jiusheng said with a smile: "Just now I talked to the fat man about some things between men, which is not suitable for you to listen to as a girl." ”

Ximen Yushuang pursed her lips and said in a loud voice: "You lie to people." As he spoke, his eyebrows and eyes were obviously stretched, and he was obviously half angry, and the fat man looked at it from the side and sighed secretly in his heart, this stupid girl is really coaxing.

Sometimes, lies between people are like that, retarded, but the other party believes. Sometimes the other party actually doesn't believe it, but you have to force yourself to believe that it is better to have a step down than no step at all.

Tang Jiusheng looked at Ximen Yushuang with a pair of beautiful eyes very seriously, and asked with a sincere face, "I've always been curious, how do you know about my situation? And can you introduce yourself? I am afraid that the people who can give away unicorns are either rich or noble, and they are not ordinary rich." ”

Ximen Yushuang obviously hesitated, but still said: "My father is Ximen Yuanjie, one of the four great protectors of Dashang, and I am her third daughter. ”

Tang Jiusheng and the fat man glanced at each other, Tang Jiusheng's expression was obviously very painful, and the fat man also sighed: "It turned out to be the sister-in-law of King Pingxi." ”

Tang Jiusheng lowered his head and grabbed his hair, and said vaguely, "Why are you his daughter?"

Ximen Yushuang paused and said: "I am his daughter, what can I do? Can I decide who I will be reincarnated into? Do you think I am willing to be his daughter?"

The fat man looked at the top of the pavilion with his eyes and said slowly, "It's really fucking sad." ”

Ximen Yushuang took a deep breath, thought about it and thought about it, didn't know how to phrase it, and then couldn't help but say: "Actually, I came out of the marriage escape." ”

"Running away from marriage?" The fat man and Tang Jiusheng looked at each other again, and they saw the incredulity in each other's eyes.

Ximen Yushuang said hatefully: "Yes, my father's old bastard, he has to marry me to the dead fat pig of the King of Lingnan as a side concubine." You know, my second sister is the princess of Pingxi, and the king of Pingxi and the king of Lingnan are cousins, if I marry the king of Lingnan, the two of them are cousins and brothers-in-law, my father said, this is called kissing and kissing, which will make the future of the Ximen family more brilliant. But I didn't want to be a victim like my second sister, so I escaped with the help of my second brother and my second sister. ”

"It's very good, it's not appropriate to let the princess go, I run away from marriage, I admire the fat man, you are strong!" the fat man cocked his thumb.

Ximen Yushuang's face was gloomy, and he sighed faintly, his voice was a little bitter, "Then what can I do? Let me marry the lustful dead fat pig of the King of Lingnan, I might as well die." It's just that I escaped, and my dad won't let me go. ”

Some people dream of being a princess, and some people abandon it, strictly speaking, it is not possible to talk about who is right and who is wrong, but the concept of life is different, which leads to different choices. And in such a troubled era, the clan of the gate lords and the officials and friends are just for their own interests, and it is obvious that the combination of the Ximen family and the prince belongs to this kind of thing.

Tang Jiusheng raised his head and looked at Ximen Yushuang, his expression was complicated, and he just asked tentatively, "Then what are you going to do next?"

Ximen Yushuang smiled bitterly, "I don't know where to go, I wandered around aimlessly after I escaped, and I was in danger several times on the way, but I escaped by luck." Later, I saw a young hero saving Mei in Wuquan Town, and I thought if he could save me, maybe I would have a chance. So, I suddenly attacked him on the official road outside Wuquan Town, and as a result, he defeated me in thirty rounds, and my force was only in the middle of the five-rank realm, and I wasn't sure if he had four-rank. The person my father sent to arrest me must be a master of the second and third grades, and I think he can't save me in the end. After thinking about it, I'd better go with him. In case of distress along the way, at least for a short time, this young man can still help me block a block, and later in Ling Xuguan, I secretly changed his horse. Actually, when I saw him heroically saving beauty, I also had some admiration for him in my heart. ”

Tang Jiusheng suddenly burst out laughing, and the fat man and Ximen Yushuang looked at each other, both looking at him inexplicably. Tang Jiusheng waved his hand, "I'm sorry, just now I remembered that in Lingxuguan, you changed the horse away, and kicked the little Taoist priest who came to stop you to chew, the little Taoist priest ran back to the Taoist temple in a panic, and shouted to us who were drinking tea, 'Guan, Guan, no, it's not good, Tang, Tang, Tang Shi's horse, let's let people run away!'"

The fat man laughed and fell, and Ximen Yushuang also laughed out of tears.

Tang Jiusheng spread his hands to Ximen Yushuang, "You are a straight person, I am also very honest when dealing with straight-tempered people, although you are as beautiful as a flower, many people want to take advantage of you, but I don't want to lie to you." It's useless for you to love me, I love my little sister. ”

Ximen Yushuang's beautiful face showed a desperate and heartbroken expression, the fat man almost couldn't help but want to comfort her, but finally held back, the fat man smacked his lips, "Old Tang, your little woman is so popular, Yanfu is not shallow, envy and jealousy!"

Tang Jiusheng smiled proudly: "Who made my brother so handsome?"

The fat man had a hurt expression on his face: "Fat man, I'm also handsome, I'm just a little handsome!"