The Imperial Study.

The emperor sat on the chair and looked at Li Lingwu, who was standing respectfully on the side.

After the next dynasty, the emperor asked Li Lingwu to chat with him.

Li Lingwu knew that the emperor should be for Zhou Sheng, so he didn't speak first and waited for the emperor's questioning.

There was silence for a long time.

The emperor said: "Li Qing, what do you think of Zhou Sheng's victory?"

Li Lingwu quickly thought about the meaning of the emperor's words, Zhou Sheng's victory was already a fact, and now the emperor called Li Lingwu, who had helped Zhou Sheng, to ask questions, and the intention was difficult to say.

After thinking for a while, Li Lingwu said: "Your Majesty, the batch of grain and grass escorted by the Household Department and the Military Department was burned by the robbers, which is really helpless, this involves many forces, and they are prepared, and it is reasonable for the people of the Military Department and the Household Department to be defenseless, and the remaining two percent of the grain and grass to Liaodong I believe that it is also considered holistically, after all, the situation in Liaodong is more severe than the peace and happiness." ”

After a pause, he continued: "General Zhou should understand the difficulties of the imperial court, but Your Majesty, Weichen and General Zhou all grew up together when they were young, and they all know that he is extremely loyal, in this case, he can only find his own way, Weichen and Zheng Shilang know his difficulties, and privately raised a batch of silver taels for him to raise grain and grass, this is the crime of Weichen, but the situation is urgent, it is not that Weichen disrespects His Majesty." ”

The emperor waved his hand and said: "Li Qing doesn't need to explain more, you mentioned this matter before, I have already noticed it, you, General Zhou and Zheng Qing are all first-class loyal ministers, do your best for the Great Yan Jiangshan, General Zhou even became a seller, it is really hard work, how can I blame you, I want to ask you, will Jizhou be protected?"

Li Lingwu sighed: "Your Majesty, you are already a first-class general, why do you bother to ask Weichen again?" If there is only one Khitan external trouble, there are naturally more choices, but now the situation is very obvious, if you give up the northern part of Jizhou, with the stubborn temper of General Zhou, he will definitely die on the battlefield, and the eight counties in the north of Jizhou will become a new stronghold of Khitan and Goryeo, there is enough territory and resources for development, Yanmen is a good place to defend, but the river is not very good, once the river is lost, Yanzhou and Qingzhou are afraid that they will not be able to hold for half a year, the land is the Khitan iron horse, and the two fronts of Goryeo land and water can cause a blow to Yanzhou and Qingzhou, plus they collude with the Oriental Japanese Invaders, when the time comes, I am afraid that Yuzhou and Yangzhou are in danger, because the scope of defense is too large。 ”

This is indeed the case, Zhou Sheng's big victory this time, on the one hand, is that there are more people, 90,000 people fight 40,000, and it is a good strategy, but even so, it still fights half a catty and eight taels, which shows how sharp the Khitan elite is.

Of course, the emperor understood these truths, and when he heard Li Lingwu tell me, he couldn't help frowning, and said, "Alas, why don't I know? It's just that Qin Siyu has sent me a secret report, saying that there is something wrong with the Huns around Wuyuan County. ”

"What?"

Rao is Li Lingwu has seen countless winds and waves, and he is still taken aback by this news.

Qin Siyu is a general at the border pass, he has been guarding Wuyuan County, observing the movements of the Huns, and there has been nothing for so many years, I didn't expect that at this juncture, the Huns would come to such a hand.

No wonder the emperor knew that Jizhou must be defended, but still asked Li Lingwu, the strength of the Huns is extraordinary, if the support for Jizhou is excessive, Jizhou can certainly hold on, but Yongzhou, the base camp of Dayan, may be dangerous.

The emperor continued: "Yuan Ke also came to report secretly, he pays great attention to intelligence, you know, he said that he recently observed that the Huns may be in alliance with the Khitan and will attack Liaodong, it can be seen that the Huns should have been premeditated, let the Khitan and Goryeo play the vanguard, and he himself will take a two-pronged approach, on the one hand to support the Khitan, on the other hand, in Wuyuan County ready to move. ”

Li Lingwu said: "Then we can't give up Jizhou, let the Xiongnu enter the Central Plains, its harm is much more terrible than that of the Khitans." ”

He once dealt with the Huns, the Huns were not only strong and strong, but also mostly unruly, seeing killing as fun, not to mention others, even they were fighting endlessly, and the war was continuous.

The emperor sighed: "Dayan is really full of disasters and difficulties, all kinds of wars have not stopped, Khitan, Xiongnu, Tubo, Goryeo, Jiaozhi, and now even the Oriental Japanese have participated in it." ”

Who can be blamed, only the Central Plains is rich.

Li Lingwu couldn't think of any reliable way for a while.

The emperor was silent for a while, and said: "There is no good way now, I plan to send Yuan Yu to the Wuyuan area to preside over the overall situation, Qin Siyu is afraid that he can't cope with this scene, what do you think?"

Liangzhou is relatively calm, Jia Song is still a civil and military all-rounder, and he is very good at governing the state and county, and with Lu Yuanyu and Lin Qi, the king of Shu, there has been no major chaos, and the transfer of the king of Shu should not cause any major turmoil.

Li Lingwu nodded, and said: "Your Majesty's arrangement is very appropriate, His Royal Highness the King of Shu is not under the King of Beihai regardless of talent and martial arts, if he can go to Wuyuan to support the overall situation, the Huns should not dare to come in a short time." ”

After the arrangement was completed, the emperor explained a few more words, and then changed the topic and said: "General Zhou came to the secret fold, saying that your son Li Wuchang did his best to treat the old lady of the Zhou family in Chang'an, so that he had no worries, and asked me to reward Li Wuchang heavily, and even give up his own credit, what do you think?"

Li Lingwu was stunned for a moment, he couldn't imagine that on such a serious occasion, the emperor would mention Li Wuchang, a bastard boy, and said with a smile: "What credit can that stinky boy have, it is his honor to help the old lady of the Zhou family treat her illness, and it is really not appropriate to bother Your Majesty to ask, if Your Majesty really wants to reward him, just give him some silver, that kid is famous for being greedy for money." ”

The emperor laughed and said, "Li Qing doesn't have to be modest, although I haven't seen your fourth son, but I have heard his name mentioned many times recently, and even my unusually low-key imperial brother Yuan Zhi has mentioned it to me a few times, saying that he has great talent and is a pretty good young man." ”

After a pause, he said solemnly: "Zhou Sheng is a dutiful son, and he is very measured, it is certain that your son has not only treated his mother, but must have given Zhou Sheng great support in other aspects." ”

Li Lingwu was shocked in his heart, and said, "Other supports?

The emperor waved his hand and said: "Li Qing doesn't have to be nervous, I don't mean to pursue it, since Zhou Sheng didn't say it clearly, I won't ask in detail, I have thought about it carefully, and I will mention a viscount to his son Zhou Chengwang, and your son Li Wuchang will do the same, give a viscount."

Li Lingwu was shocked and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is not appropriate......"

The emperor interrupted: "Zhou Sheng so solemnly asks me, this face of his must be given to ...... When Li Wuchang cured Zhou Sheng, I wanted to reward him heavily, and now I have made new contributions, and I will reward both merits, Li Qing does not need to refuse, so it is decided. ”

Official positions are easy to obtain, but titles are hard to find.

It is a general practice in Dayan that non-military merits are not allowed to be knighted.

The titles of the big family are all passed down by the ancestors when they were meritorious when they founded the country, and when the son-in-law is born, there will be a small title sealed, indicating the identity, and it will be withdrawn when inheriting the family, and cannot be passed on to future generations.

Now Li Wuchang, a bastard boy, has actually obtained a viscount, which was personally sealed by His Majesty, which not only symbolizes a noble status, but also receives silver from the imperial court every year, and the title can be passed on to future generations, which is a great reward.

Li Lingwu immediately knelt down and said respectfully: "Weichen thank Tian's grace!"

The emperor personally helped him up and said, "Li Qing doesn't need to be polite, you can have such a son, I am also happy for you, have you arranged an errand for him?"

Li Lingwu said: "Weichen plans to send him down for a while to practice." ”

The emperor smiled and said, "Very good, Li Qing, it's best if you have an arrangement...... Okay, you go down, Xue Shanglin will stay in Chang'an for a day or two, and you go and meet him. ”

"Wechen obeys!"

......

When Xue Shanglin boarded the gate of Dongli Restaurant, Shopkeeper Chen greeted him at the door.

"Little Lao'er only welcomes Xue Tingshi on behalf of the owner, Xue Tingshi, please go here, Master Li has already come. Shopkeeper Chen greeted respectfully while leading the way, and there were many guys on the side, and the scene was extremely grand.

Xue Shanglin had already been here last time, and when he came again this time, he found that the Dongli Restaurant was becoming more and more lively, and asked casually, "Where is Li Wuchang?"

Shopkeeper Chen said respectfully: "Back to Xue Tingshi, it's not that our owner disrespects Xue Tingshi, but our owner was punished by Master Li, and he needs to face the wall for ten days, and now he is still being punished, but he has repeatedly ordered that if he sees Xue Tingshi, he must show twelve points of sincerity to entertain him, and if there is anything, please ask Xue Tingshi to give orders." ”

Xue Shanglin laughed secretly, he didn't expect Li Wuchang to be punished by the wall, and he didn't know what big mistake he had made, so he didn't ask much at the moment, and followed Shopkeeper Chen to the second floor.

The best private room, Li Lingwu was already waiting there, with Li Hu beside him.

"Brother Xue, the little brother has been waiting for a long time. Li Lingwu saw Xue Shanglin coming, and hurriedly got up to say hello.

"Brother Li, we want to have a drink today. Xue Shanglin said with a smile.

Xue Shanglin came this time without much fanfare, and only brought Duan Long, the captain of the personal guard.

The four of them greeted each other and sat down.

Xue Shanglin was a guest, so he naturally sat at the top, Li Lingwu sat beside him, and Li Hu and Duan Long sat down with him.

Shopkeeper Chen then ordered the guys to serve wine and food, today he paid special attention, personally went to the kitchen to say hello, in addition to a variety of signature dishes, but also prepared a few quite good new dishes, wine also prepared two kinds, is the best two pot head and new fruit wine.

After the wine and food were served, the shopkeeper Chen bowed and said, "Master Li, Xue Tingshi, the little old man is waiting outside the door, if there is anything, please do not hesitate to command." ”

With that, he slowly retreated with his buddies.

After Shopkeeper Chen and the others withdrew, Li Lingwu first poured a full cup for Xue Shanglin, and said with a smile: "Come, have a drink first, junior brother, you have been busy suppressing bandits recently, and the complexion on your face is not very good." ”

Xue Shanglin drank it all, said a good wine, and then said: "How can Brother Li be relaxed, it's just to be loyal to the emperor, this time in the court, thanks to Brother Li's kind words for me, otherwise I will definitely make their faces full of ashes this time." ”

When old friends meet, of course, they are polite and gossip.