It's already hot in the south, it's cooler in the north, and the trees are leafy enough to convey the message of early summer. In the second courtyard of the Xuzhou Zhongwu Jiedu Embassy, there are two old locust trees with green shade, casting a large shadow on the bluestone slab ground.

At this moment, in the shadows stood a young man dressed as a scholar, he looked up with his hands tied, looking at the starry sunlight in the gaps between the branches and leaves, his eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

He has an ordinary figure and an ordinary appearance, and he has nothing to do with the four words Fengshen Junlang, and he will definitely not be looked at by everyone and the female cultivators of the rivers and lakes when he walks on the street.

But he was well-dressed and meticulously groomed. When he stood there, he had a temperament, not only with poetry and books, but also with a heaviness and calmness that did not belong to his age.

From time to time, there was a flash of lightning in his eyes.

"Wu Sima, the envoy is invited. A scribe approached the young man and bowed very respectfully.

Wu Gou nodded to the visitor, followed the other party through the cloister courtyard door, came to the Sanjin courtyard, and walked straight into the east study.

Qin Zongquan had already gotten up to greet him from his seat, and he was full of smiles: "Mr. Wu is here, please take a seat." ”

Qin Zongquan was originally the assassin of Caizhou, and the reason why he was able to occupy Xuzhou was that he sent troops to defeat Zhou Qi, the former envoy of the loyal army. In this battle, the young scholar in front of him played a great role in giving advice, so Qin Zongquan was very close to Wu Gou.

At this moment, Qin Zongquan's eyes looked at Wu Hook like looking at a treasure falling from the sky, but in fact, this young man was indeed similar to the one that fell from the sky.

In the past, Qin Zongquan was still the assassin of Caizhou, when recruiting troops and horses in Caizhou, one day he suddenly heard that a scholar in cloth asked to see, and after asking the other party's life experience, Qin Zongquan refused the other party's request, because the other party did not have a prominent family background.

If you don't come from a scholarly family, you don't have a famous teacher, and you don't have family experience, where can you have much real talent and learning?

It is said that Kong Ming cultivated in Nanyang and was a rural villager, but in fact Kong Ming was not an ordinary person. Not to mention that the ancestors have been officials for generations, the Zhuge clan is a famous family of scholars in Langya, and Kong Ming's friends are all famous people for a while, and they are real contacts without vain.

In the end, Wu Hook couldn't wait outside the Assassin's Mansion every day, and Qin Zongquan was recruiting talents at that time, and he didn't want to lose the reputation of a snub scholar, so he bent his knees to meet him.

Unexpectedly, after a discussion, Qin Zongquan unexpectedly found that the other party had extraordinary knowledge and quick thinking, especially many suggestions on current affairs in Caizhou, which benefited Qin Zongquan a lot. Qin Zongquan is not a mediocre person, and immediately included Wu Gou in the mansion as a guest, and treated him with courtesy.

After some greetings, Qin Zongquan, who returned to the main seat, asked, "Mr. is here, but what advice do you have?"

Wu Hook arched his hand, and said in a steady tone: "King An defeated Li Keyong, Li Maozhen attacked Chang'an, and Zhu Wen sent troops to Pinglu, dare to ask what the envoy thinks?"

Qin Zongquan smiled: "The world is in turmoil, and my loyal martial arts will naturally take the opportunity to rise!"

Wu Gou nodded: "Then please ask the envoy to give orders, and let the hook send the envoy to Hedong." ”

Qin Zongquan was stunned: "What are you doing in Hedong?"

Wu Hook said: "Ally with King An and deal with Zhu Wen together." ”

Qin Zongquan's face was solemn, he glanced at Wu Hook several times, and then said slowly: "King An attacked Hedong, and I took the opportunity to seize Zhongwu, which is an offense to the order of the court for King An." After King An came back, it would be good if he didn't deal with Zhongwu, how could he join forces with him to deal with Zhu Wen at this time?"

Wu Gou smiled.

This smile has a thousand calmness, thousands of hills and ravines, just like a surging river, finally encountering a gap, can be poured out wantonly.

He said: "The incorruptible envoy is to destroy the order of the imperial court, and it is precisely because of this that he should help King An at this moment." If the honest envoy can do something and make some meritorious deeds, it is logical for King An to recognize the status of the honest envoy afterwards. ”

Qin Zongquan was silent and fell into deep thought.

Wu Gou continued: "Zhu Wen conquered Lu, whether he succeeded or not, he will next attack the towns of Xuanwu Fenfang in order to level the Central Plains. At that time, Zhongwu bore the brunt of the attack, how could he face Zhu Wen, who had the support of the Daomen? Without the support of King An, it would be difficult for Zhongwu to stand alone. ”

Qin Zongquan nodded.

Wu Gou said again: "The incorruptible envoy has great ambitions, taking Heluo in the north and going to the Huai River in the south, which is a necessary plan." And if Zhu Wen becomes bigger, the plan of the incorruptible envoy will not be realized. One mountain does not tolerate two tigers, and in the Central Plains, in addition to the incorruptible envoys, there should not be a strong feudal town. ”

Qin Zongquan's eyes lit up, and he looked at Wu Hook expectantly: "Is Sir sure that he can persuade King An to form an alliance with Zhongwu?"

The corners of Wu Gou's mouth raised slightly: "If it doesn't work out, Hook will come and see you." ”

Ten days later, Wu Gou led the envoy team of the Zhongwu Army to leave Xuzhou City and go out from the north gate. Qin Zongquan personally sent him out of the city.

The bright sun churned in the yellow dust raised under the horse's hooves, and the messenger procession of one hundred and ten people was full of fanfare. Officials of different sizes and colors followed behind Wu Hook under the escort of the armor, and the high-level monks in strong suits followed closely.

Qin Zongquan gave Wu Gou the confidence he should give, and he had to meet King An on this trip, and there were nearly ten carriages in the team, loaded with the meeting gifts that Qin Zongquan brought to King An.

Wu Gou glanced back at Xuzhou City, which was already more than three miles away from each other, and the officials led by Qin Zongquan were still watching in front of the city gate. The pedestrians on both sides of the official road, seeing such a battle, all cast awe-inspiring eyes at Wu Gou, and the little Jiao Niang and the female cultivator of the rivers and lakes who walked in it looked at Wu Gou's eyes were also radiant.

Wu Gou retracted his gaze and looked at the front of the official road, he suddenly smiled, not complacent, but definitely high-spirited. He said to himself, "It's better to be famous as soon as possible." ”

......

Bypassing Xuanwu and going all the way north, after a long journey of many days, Wu Gou finally arrived at the outskirts of Taiyuan City.

Inside and outside the small pavilion beside the road, many people who are about to travel far away are saying goodbye to the people who are saying goodbye. On this gloomy morning, the sadness of parting seemed to be extraordinarily thick, and many people had tears on their faces.

Wu Gou retracted his gaze, smiled lightly, and recited a sentence in his heart, "Wuwei is on the wrong path, and the children are stained with a towel", he looked at the tall and majestic Taiyuan city wall, and his attitude was full of emotion.

Behind the armor in front of the castle tower, there was a young man in a flying robe, and the eyes of the two met unexpectedly.

At this moment, a white-robed swordsman galloped past the messenger team on a blue-maned horse.

Wu Gou's expression suddenly froze. Whether it was the young man in the dark robe standing in front of the city tower, or the white-robed swordsman galloping past him, he felt an extraordinary temperament. One is as domineering as a king in the world, and the other is as elegant as an immortal.

"The thousand-year-old Taiyuan City is really outstanding. Wu Gou silently recited in his heart, and he had more respect in his heart.

Li Ye sent Nangong back to his house for the first time, and not long after he dealt with the official documents, he was reported by the people below, saying that it was the envoy of Zhou Qi who was the envoy of Zhongwu Jiedu who asked to see him.

Li Ye took the post, but did not meet the other party, but asked people to take them to the post house.

Two days later, Li Ye had already decided to leave for Chengde, and before leaving, he met Wu Gou.

After taking Qin Zongquan's letter and browsing it, Li Ye put the letter on the bookcase and began to look at Wu Hook who was standing in the hall.

Qin Zongquan's letter was very respectful, and most of the front half was touting Li Ye's high achievements, saying how he admired and admired Li Ye, etc., and the last half explained the intention of sending envoys.

In this part, Qin Zongquan first scolded Zhu Wen Haosheng, saying that he committed the following crimes, causing chaos in the Central Plains, and the crime was not punishable, and then expressed his willingness to form an alliance with Li Yema to jointly deal with Zhu Wen and return peace to the Central Plains.

Wu Gou naturally recognized that King An in front of him was the man in the dark robe who stood in front of the city tower two days ago, and in the face of Li Ye's scrutiny, he could only stand up straight as much as possible. However, what surprised him was that Li Ye did not use cultivation as coercion to give him a dismount.

Rao is like this, Wu Gou didn't dare to slack off at all, when he entered the mansion, he found that there were countless great monks inside and outside the mansion, and the entire palace was as deep as the sea.

Even without these monks, Wu Gou had to be respectful, because he knew that Zhongwu and his fate were in the hands of the man in front of him.

Before meeting Li Ye, Wu Gou had imagined countless times in his mind what the meeting would be like today, and he also thought of ways to deal with Li Ye's various attitudes and words.

However, to Wu Gou's surprise again, Li Ye did not ask about Xu Zhou, did not ask Qin Zongquan why he dared to seize Zhongwu, nor did he reprimand Qin Zongquan for contempt for the authority of the imperial court, and even did not comment on Qin Zongquan's respect and gifts.

Li Ye said slowly: "What kind of school of knowledge does Wu Changshi study?"

Before leaving, Qin Zongquan had already promoted Wu Gou to the rank of Changshi, which could be regarded as increasing the weight of his envoys.

Faced with Li Ye's question, although Wu Gou was surprised, he quickly replied: "I am barely a scholar." ”

Li Ye smiled: "Confucianism?"

Wu Gou said seriously: "I think that scholars should learn from a hundred schools, and they don't have to stick to which one. In this way, we can really make a difference, not to mislead things, not to mislead the people. ”

Li Ye sighed, and became a little interested: "Changshi is young, and he is already proficient in the study of a hundred schools?"

Wu Gou said humbly: "I don't dare to say that I am proficient, but I only know a little bit about it." ”

There was a hint of playfulness in Li Ye's eyes: "Since this is the case, Changshi will talk about it, how will the Lone King deal with Qin Zongquan?"

Wu Gou was shocked.

Li Ye used the word "disposal".

Wu Gou remembered that Zhou Qi, the original Zhongwu Jiedu, in the Huangchao Rebellion, had made a lot of contributions after following Li Ye to saddle the horse. To say that Zhou Qi has no friendship with King An, he definitely doesn't believe it. But now that Qin Zongquan has seized Zhongwu and imprisoned Zhou Qi, Li Ye's mood will certainly not be good.

But Wu Gou had already expected this, he thought about his words slightly, and immediately said: "Zhu Wen went against the grain and actually invaded Pinglu, which is a heinous crime. Qin Lian knew that he had no merit for Sheji, so he was willing to unite with His Highness to deal with the thieves together, and the Tang Dynasty was a prosperous ......"

Li Ye sneered and interrupted him, "Alliance? What qualifications does he have for Qin Zongquan to dare to say that he is in alliance with King Gu? You should go back and tell Qin Zongquan now that he has caused trouble in the town, despised the authority of the imperial court, and his crimes are unforgivable. Otherwise, the lone king will make his head move with his backhand!"