It was past noon, and the two sides were at a stalemate, and Gong Ming came in and said, "Master, the nine-headed eagle Cao Yingting took the four of them to ask to see." ”

Ren Tianqi was stunned for a moment, very puzzled, although the nine-headed eagle does not have an official and a half-position, but its vast magical powers are convincing, and several ministers who have a good relationship with him in the court or the nine-headed eagle are busy pulling and setting up the line, and they can't be lazy;

Ren Tianqi came out dressed up, passed by Zhang Danfeng's side, coughed a few times, and glanced at Zhang Danfeng again.

Zhang Danfeng hurriedly rushed to the side, peeking at the movement here, but he refused to come forward to talk.

Ren Tianqi went to the camp gate to see Cao Yingting and others, and welcomed back the big tent.

Less than a zhang away from the big tent, I saw Zhang Danfeng running out of the big tent with a soft sword in his hand, looked up and saw Ren Tianqi and others, he was startled, stomped his feet, and ran away to the side with a smoke, but his mouth was full of laughter.

The people entered the big tent, and the guests and hosts sat down, and some of the sergeants served hot tea.

The nine-headed eagle raised his hand to introduce the four heroes behind him to Ren Tianqi: Wang Zhi'an, a curved arm knife, Ma Zhibang, a tiger head hook, Sun Zhihong, a brocade mouse, and Zhan Zhishuo, a white-eyed swordsman. The four are the golden orchids of the righteous knot, the white eyebrows are long, the brocade rats are the unit, and the tiger head hook row is two. Cao Yingting said to Ren Tianqi with a smile: "My lord has never done business, and I don't know the pain of private business. Now that the world is restless, bandits are everywhere, and the army is in chaos, so I have to hire these four heroes to accompany me in order to protect myself. Today, I happen to want to go north, passing by here, to see the adults. First, I haven't seen the adults for more than a year, and the people are very concerned about them; first, because the masters under the adult's account are like clouds, these four heroes have admired me after listening to my many legends, and they have always wanted to come to Muzhan to see the martial arts of all the heroes. ”

The nine-headed eagle seemed to be very respectful in his words and demeanor, but Ren Tianqi was very twisted in his heart when he heard it. Don't look at Ren Tianqi who has been in charge of Xuzhou for more than a year, but he is still the same set of flattery and flattery in the officialdom. Although I was unhappy in my heart, I thought that I would get along more harmoniously in the past, and I also focused on threading the needle with the ministers of the DPRK and China, and did not care too much; not to mention that his subordinates were full of talents, so he smiled and arched his hand: "Brother Cao is polite, thank you Brother Cao for your concern." In the past, Brother Cao's kindness and little brother have not yet found an opportunity to thank each other, so please stay a few more times this time. ”

Between the words, Ren Tianqi glanced at the four behind Cao Yingting, all wearing brocade robes, needlework is quite exquisite, two green and two red, white-eyed swordsman looks dignified, white face and black beard, two lying silkworm eyebrows, snow white as frost, this person is about fifty years old, with a peaceful face, holding a black sheath long sword without spikes in his left hand, and is looking up and down at everyone in the tent; next to him, he is in his early thirties, dressed in a brocade black-edged green robe, with a radiant look, jade-faced sword eyebrows, a green jade belt, and a white jade butterfly, is carefully looking at Ren Tianqi, this person is empty-handed and bare-fisted, presumably it is a brocade mouse。 There are two next to him, one green and one red, who are also bright-eyed, tiger-backed bear-waisted men, one with a double iron hook with copper wrist guards on his shoulder, and a pair of strange fishskin sheath short blades with a waist inserted into his waist.

Ren Tianqi coughed and said to Cao Yingting with a smile: "Brother Cao is from afar, he is a distinguished guest, and the amount of wine is massive. The younger brother will recall the generals to accompany him and wash the dust for Brother Cao; but there have always been many reckless men in the army, and they are different from other places, and if there are any inappropriate and inadequate words between the etiquette and words, I hope that Brother Cao and the four heroes will not laugh. As for the meaning of the four heroes, Ben Shuai must be a matchmaker. ”

The nine-headed eagle and the four guards returned the salute and said that the adults were polite.

Ren Tianqi turned around and said that someone was coming.

Ma Tian and the others entered the account.

Ren Tianqi pointed at the two of them and smiled at Cao Yingting: "These are my two Chinese soldiers, one is called the Flying Bat, who is good at light skills, and the other is called Tai Sui, both of whom are born with Scuds. ”

Ren Tianqi turned his head to Ma Tian and the others again: "You and the two of you will go everywhere quickly, invite all the generals and captains, and pick up the wind for Mr. Cao and the others in the big tent at night." ”

Ma Tian and the two left separately.

Because of the inconvenience in the big tent, the nine-headed eagle was quite interested in everything in the army, so Ren Tianqi took Tianbao and the soldiers to accompany the five people of the nine-headed eagle to visit everywhere. After looking at the camp here, I came to the Huai River crossing bridge along the river.

Ren Tianqi immediately pointed at the bridge with a whip and said with a smile: "Brother Cao, crossing this bridge is the border of the Jin Kingdom, although it is a land of one stone, but it is also two worlds." On the other side of the river, there are 300,000 soldiers of the Dajin Kingdom stationed along the river, staring at the land of our Han family. This bridge is probably the only undefended river passage between Song and Jin. ”

The nine-headed eagle saw that there were sergeants on the bridge who were practicing back and forth, and he was very surprised, and turned around and asked: "My lord, the soldiers on this bridge are constantly coming and going, and it seems that the clothes are not a family, do you want to take care of two families with one hand?"

Ren Tianqi looked up to the sky and smiled, and said: "Brother Cao is really good eyesight, yes, the soldiers on both sides of the Jin and Song Dynasty are indeed going back and forth on this bridge." The imperial court appointed me as the envoy of Xuzhou to defend the south bank of the Huai River; the king of Dajin was also my father-in-law, and asked me to command the troops to garrison the north bank of the Huai River. Fortunately, there is no big war in Jin Song at the moment, and only then can he get a couple. In the future, if the two families fight again, it is really a big question where to go next. No, the supply of grain and grass is intermittent, and they don't take me seriously, and I have to regard both sides as a family, do you have food for everyone to eat, and sometimes why do you have to divide it so clearly?"

Cao Yingting smiled bitterly: "What the adults said is exact. At that time, it will be difficult for the adults to decide, but the adults are the people of the Han family, will they act for the tiger and lead the army south, I am afraid that it will violate loyalty and filial piety, and it will violate the style of the adults!"

Ren Tianqi said with a smile: "No matter how loyal and filial piety you are, I am afraid it will be difficult for the court to trust." Brother Cao doesn't see the old things of the previous dynasty, why should he be loyal to his ministers and good generals?"

Cao Yingting smiled bitterly: "My lord refers to the matter of Yue Pengju in the previous dynasty, the imperial court cannot escape the blame, but Yue Pengju himself is not flawless, he supports the army and is self-respecting, greedy and radical, does not distinguish between priority and priority, and does not listen to dispatches, is withdrawn and arrogant, does not fit in with the group, and has no respect for his superiors;

Ren Tianqi smiled on his face, and said: "Such a thing of supporting the army and respecting itself, and covering the master with high merit will definitely not be done, and it will be a big deal for me to dismiss the official and not do it, but I will be unofficial and light, or move to the desert, far away from this troubled world and war." ”

Cao Yingting smiled: "Adults don't have to be so discouraged. Wouldn't it be a pity that the adult's intelligence, belly, and earth-shattering skills are a pity, but it's a pity that the adult's name of "Southern Sword" and the spirit of "Black Water Ghost"!"

Ren Tianqi was taken aback, raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Brother Cao even knows this secret, if he is really a rare capable person in the world, he is amazing! It's a pity that Brother Cao has succumbed to trading, otherwise, if he is above the officialdom, he will definitely make a big difference." Relying on Brother Cao's scheming and connections alone, I am afraid that no difficult things in this world will be difficult for your brother. ”

Cao Yingting smiled: "That's." Before Xiaomin came, he had been to the Taiwei Mansion and the Ministry of Officials, and the Mansion of the relevant adults of the Ministry of War, and heard a lot of inside information. ”

Ren Tianqi was taken aback, hurriedly turned around and stared at Cao Yingting, and hurriedly said: "Therefore, Brother Cao came to my camp a hundred miles away, and now he is patrolling the camp under the pretext of feelings, and Brother Cao is passing the word, and the younger brother is grateful." Brother Cao, but it doesn't hurt to speak, thank you again!"

Cao Yingting nodded and said with a smile: "My lord, you have seen the outside, although you and I are different from the government and the people, but I regard adults as a confidant in my life!"

Ren Tianqi smiled: "Thank you Brother Cao for your kindness." ”

Cao Yingting said with a smile: "Xiaomin has traveled all over the world, read countless people, and seen many generals and schools, but there are not many who are as heroic and martial as adults and are not confused by selfish desires." Xiaomin really longs for the court to sincerely use adults and think for the country's society, so he often pays more attention to the court's evaluation of adults. ”

Ren Tianqi arched his hand gratefully, and said with a smile: "Thank you Brother Cao for your kindness, and the younger brother also feels the same way; It's just that at the moment, I'm afraid that the imperial court can't tolerate me Ren Tianqi!"

Cao Yingting nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, the DPRK and China do have two opinions on how to use the lords: one side advocates giving the lord more real power, with full authority to command tens of thousands of soldiers and horses along the Huai River and Kyushu, and unify the defense against the Jin country, even if it does not violate the truce between the two countries, it is also necessary to ensure the protection of the territory and the people, so as to take it later; on the other hand, it is called to cancel the lord's military power, give the lord a vacant position, and transfer the imperial court to control it. For now, however, it seems that the former has the upper hand. My lord's suppression of bandits last year was quite popular with the people, and he also earned a lot of popularity and reputation for himself!"

Ren Tianqi smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid that this is still the effect of silver!"

Cao Yingting said with a smile: "Silver is indispensable, but without merit and fame, it must be beyond love, in the final analysis, it is still the handsome who can endure it! As for the hardships of the adults, the handsome do not need to be impatient, and they will definitely find an opportunity to report to the imperial court!"

Ren Tianqi pointed at the other side with a horsewhip, and said with a smile: "Brother Cao, there is no distinction between good and beautiful, this is the way the imperial court now employs people, you know, no wonder the Song family is not protected in the world! Therefore, even though we are courtiers with thousands of lofty aspirations and loyal hearts, we will inevitably repeat the footsteps of Yue Pengju of the previous dynasty! How can you say that I will cut myself off from the prince of Zhengnan and cut myself off from the Dajin Kingdom? As Brother Cao said, I do not seek glory and wealth, but I want to save the lives of more than 20,000 soldiers under my command, and do not use them as cattle and horses for others, and give my lives in vain. Honestly, I don't want to do that. But I and my 20,000 men will survive!"

Cao Yingting nodded and was silent. After a long time, he stared at Ren Tianqi and said with a smile: "My lord, I have heard that the Han people in Shandong and Hebei have repeatedly resisted, and even the Emperor of Dajin is not calm, and it is rumored that the gold lord is going to be replaced!"

Ren Tianqi was shocked, thinking that this nine-headed eagle was really good, he could also obtain such a confidential thing in the Jin Kingdom, this person's ability should not be underestimated, and it must be guarded against in the future, so he smiled faintly and said: "The affairs of the Jin Kingdom have nothing to do with us, but if anyone wants to plot against the prince of the south, he really can't get rid of it, and he will lead the troops to go." On the opposite side, there are 5,000 soldiers from the old prince's family, and they have now been called by me, just in case!"

Cao Yingting nodded, snorted, stepped forward and whispered with a smile: "I also heard that the imperial court is trying to take this opportunity to allocate military horses to the adults, and ask the adults to lead the army north to recover Huaiyin and Xuzhou!"

Ren Tianqi was shocked, this was the imperial court gave him two big problems, but he still pretended to shake his head, and asked with a smile: "Brother Cao, did you hear it wrong?, let's not talk about the fact that the Song and Jin families signed a peace treaty; In the lower head of Xuzhou to recruit the envoy to the post of self-hope to move to Xuzhou, the name of Xuzhou is rightly his own Xuzhou; since none of them do not look forward to going north to restore my Hanjia mountains and rivers, as the second Weiqing, but that is also a long-cherished wish, I have written four letters in a row to ask for orders, but there is no information! I can be regarded as having seen through this state of the world, the world is unpredictable, just like the water of the Huai River in front of me, it is changing rapidly, the water is not normal, and the king's heart is unpredictable!

Both of them were silent, looking at the banks of the Huai River, which was full of red flowers and green leaves.

Suddenly, there was the sound of horses' hooves on the river bridge.

Looking up, it was a group of Mongolian soldiers returning to the south bank station after training on the opposite bank, and the sky was full of dust on the bridge.

Originally, in order to maintain the vigorous fighting spirit of the army, Ren Tianqi still used the 5,000 Mongolian soldiers transferred in accordance with the Mongolian steppe system, and set up the system of 10 husbands, 100 soldiers, and 1,000 soldiers.

The nine-headed eagle walked south and north, and saw at a glance that the person who came was indeed a Mongolian, so he pointed to the Mongolian soldier who was galloping away, and hurriedly asked: "My lord, isn't this a Mongolian Tartar? I never dared to think that there were still Mongolians in the adult camp!"

Ren Tianqi nodded, and said with a smile: "Yes, this is the 5,000 troops that I collected when I conquered the Mongolian tribes before, and they have been repatriated to various places, how can they hear that I returned to Guangling with an army, and they all ran thousands of miles to defect, and their loyalty is commendable.

Cao Yingting smiled and nodded, but a lot of sweat oozed from his face.

Ren Tianqi looked at it in his eyes and hummed in his heart.

Here a few horses came running along the riverbank, but the generals from all over the country hurried after receiving orders.

In the evening, a banquet was set up in the big tent to entertain Cao Yingting and a few people.

Dongfang Bai and Aunt Hui were dressed in men's clothes and accompanied each other.

The banquet in the army has been noisy and refreshing since ancient times, everyone is noisy, after a few rounds of wine, and the meal is full of wine.

Cao Yingting whispered a few words in Ren Tianqi's ear.

Ren Tianqi nodded, knocked on the wine glass with chopsticks, calmed down the noise of the crowd, and said with a smile: "Mr. Cao has a small suggestion, saying that if there is a lack of swords and fists in this military banquet, it will not be lively enough;

Black Eagle rolled his strange eyes, got up with a glass of wine and shouted: "Where did the birdman come from, he came to make trouble here! Two days ago, there was a bullshit who came to the world's first sword, what's the matter, what a banquet came here today." Whoever wants to compete, Ge Laozi will be the first to win!"

Because he has been busy with the military war recently, Ren Tianqi forced the generals to drink less alcohol, so now Black Eagle is greedy for a few more drinks.

As he spoke, Black Eagle threw away the wine glass, swayed forward, turned around in front of everyone, came to Ren Tianqi, and said, "Big, general, who, who wants to fight, ask him to come over and fight with me first!"

Ren Tianqi arched his hand towards the nine-headed eagle and the others, turned around and smiled: "No one wants to fight with the general, since the general has already come up, why not show one or two hands to help the wine?"

The black eagle did not refuse, swayed to the middle of the big tent, shook his arms, and used the pretext of drunkenness to get drunk, and started a set of drunken punches. Bare teeth, hands stacked out, or grasp or hook or point, legs or split or stand, upside, bend, jump, kneel, swing, live out of a live monkey, completely different from the Central Plains of the various sects and factions of drunken boxing, self-contained.

It turned out that when Master Yideng taught the black and white double eagle martial arts, he was often annoyed by the two of them drinking too much and making mistakes, so he took the two into the mountains to practice to control the two of them into alcohol. The master of a lamp has lived in the mountains for a long time, and he was inspired by the macaques in the mountains, and created a set of drunken monkey skills to pass on to the two as a reward.

Everyone laughed and pointed, but they were thinking about how to deal with it, but no one was 100% sure. The brocade rat here is jumping to try, but because there is no bottom in his heart, he will not come out in the end. After the black eagle finished a set of drunken fists, he staggered to the nine-headed eagle table, picked peaches with a move, snatched the wine glass in front of Cao Yingting, threw it out, and the black eagle was flying up with his feet, stretching out his head to hold the wine glass and drink the wine in the glass, showing off.

Unexpectedly, Sun Zhihong, the brocade rat, waved his hand, and a very fine silk was shot out of the cuffs, and he wrapped around the flying wine glass, took it into his arms, flew out of his feet, and turned upside down in the air, and reached out to take the wine glass and drank it all. Another pigeon flew up, floated to the ground, landed beside the black eagle, smiled at the black eagle, and after seeing a salute, returned to the position and handed Cao Yingting a thing.

When everyone saw it, it was a delicate jade pendant on the waist of the black eagle, and they were all surprised, and they didn't know when the brocade rat stole this thing in front of everyone's eyes, and the clever means of empty-handed hands can be seen to be quite clever.

The black eagle had a red face and red ears, and he woke up drunk, and he was about to step forward desperately with his arms shaken.

Ren Tianqi hurriedly shook his hand to stop drinking.

Gong Ming is a master in this way, and he has seen the brocade rat's skills one by one in his eyes and is about to sit down, but the young master of the village here has already stepped forward to persuade the black eagle a few words, stepped forward with a wine jug in his hand, and said with a smile: "General Zuo has drunk too much, and there is something wrong." On behalf of General Zuo, I would like to give you a glass as a sign of humility!"

Ren Tianqi also waved his hand and said with a smile: "This is a godsend from my brother, I don't understand it when I am young, please take care of it, let him give me another cup of each of the five!"

When the five people of the nine-headed eagle heard this, they hurriedly got up and stood up, holding a cup of thanks.

Ren Tianci said while drinking, saluting the five people and drinking five cups in a row, after saluting, he turned around and returned to Ren Tianqi's table, shook his wrist, and shook off a few things, including incense bags, jade pendants, belt buckle beasts, and amazing thing is that there was a wine glass and a pair of chopsticks.

Before Black Eagle and the others could react, the nine-headed eagle was already screaming.

Cao Yingting's wine glass, Wang Zhi'an's chopsticks, the trouser buttons of the tiger head hook, the sachet of white eyebrows, and the jade jue of the brocade mouse are all gone.

Seeing this, the colonel in the tent applauded loudly, and the double eagles laughed loudly.