Before Fang Jie got into the carriage, he glanced at Hei boy Yan Kuang, but didn't ask any questions. But Yan Kuang obviously understood the meaning in Fang Jie's eyes, so he shook his head. After Chen Hun and Chen Ha came back, they said that they didn't eat the buns because they were filled with fish, and the most disgusting thing they both had so far was fish.
Naturally, Fang Jie would not believe that there were fish buns, so he knew something must be wrong.
Hei boy didn't say anything now, and Fang Jie didn't intend to force him.
He nodded slightly, then turned his head and walked to the back of the line and boarded Huaiqiu's carriage.
"I can pass through Mangdang Mountain today, and reach the Yangtze River ferry before dark. Thanks to Huai Lao's teachings along the way, I have learned many things that I have never heard of before. I just didn't expect this way to go so fast. We will be separated in a flash."
Duke Huaiqiu said with a smile: "There is no permanent banquet in the world. No matter how long we get along, there will be a day when we will part. At the ferry of the Yangtze River, I will go eastward with the current and you will go westward with the current. After the farewell, you and I will be afraid." Yes, there is no chance to meet again. Jue Xiao... You have to be patient and listen to the nonsense of an old man like me on this road. It is not easy to not get bored. I know that young people do not like to chat with an old man like me, because you You will feel that what I say is too pedantic and stinks."
Fang Jie shook his head: "Everyone has a time when they were young, but you have already passed by and I have just arrived. If I use the place I have just walked to to mock the place you have already walked, that is the most ignorant and idiot expression .”
Huaiqiu said: "It's good that you can understand this. But most young people in the world don't understand this. To them, old people are just rotten wood, and there is no merit at all."
Fang Jie said: "If you don't listen to the old man's advice, the young will decay faster."
Duke Huaiqiu smiled and said, "Most young people think it's boring to chat with us. And I like to pretend to be noble, so I don't bother to do hypocrisy to support young people. It’s just that you don’t like me and I don’t like you, just don’t touch the other person’s dislike. You are different from most people, but this sentence makes me like everyone.”
"That's right..."
He breathed a sigh of relief, looked out the window and said in a calm tone: "I remember when I was young, I also disliked my father...I always felt that what he said was useless, that he was too honest and dull, that Every word he said was meaningless. At that time, I always felt that I was right, and he... was a person who could only make tofu and nothing else, and was useless."
"It was only at this age that I suddenly realized that many of the things I said now were actually said by him. He is stupid and dull, but he is not without wisdom. Maybe it was the same when he was young. Can't see Those who are used to the constraints of the old are not used to the education of the old.”
Fang Jie nodded: "A large part of the so-called wisdom is actually accumulated. The path that young people walk may just repeat the frivolity of their parents when they were young."
"You are an orphan."
Duke Huaiqiu looked at Fang Jie and said, "Orphans usually have a withdrawn personality, but you are different. No one beat you, scolded you, or restrained you when you were young. On the contrary, you know that those are not old people's prejudices against you."
"Maybe it's because no one restrains me... that's why I understand it earlier than others."
Fang Jie smiled: "Huai Lao has a lot of emotions today."
"It's because I found that you are becoming more and more likable, and I feel a little bit reluctant to part with you soon."
Duke Huaiqiu smiled and said, "When you first came to Chang'an City, I didn't see you at all. Even when you presented the arithmetic and pinyin notation in front of His Majesty, I didn't think you were a genius. In just over a year, I always thought it was luck that you climbed to the height you are now... But after spending this month with you, I suddenly understood a truth."
"People... In fact, how can there be people who have always succeeded by luck? Even if there are, it belongs to those who are better prepared."
He glanced at Fang Jie with admiration in his eyes: "During these days, I have said a lot of things, at the beginning I told you these things because of His Majesty's instructions, but later on, I hope to tell you more. If you are successful now, you will definitely be successful in the future, and the experience I know may not be of great help to you, but it may also save you some detours."
"Leave Chang'an and leave the imperial court..."
Duke Huaiqiu shook his head: "I had this idea ten years ago, when His Majesty had just ascended the throne. But His Majesty refused, so I stayed. After thinking about it, it was just that I was greedy for power and was reluctant to let go of some things. Forget it, the older you get, the more you will be greedy for these things. I thought I could serve the Yang family for a few more years in order to repay the appreciation of Emperor Zhenzong. I used this excuse to keep myself from being in the official position, and I was complacent."
"Ridiculous..."
Fang Jie said: "Huai Lao, there is something I don't know whether I should say it or not."
"you say."
"Perhaps, after you return to your hometown, it will take a long time to get used to it. Without the court, there will only be countryside, without colleagues, there will only be folks, without glory, there will only be plainness... You will feel idle and boring. Because I I know, you are not old yet."
"Ha ha… "
Duke Huaiqiu couldn't help laughing: "You can still hear the unwillingness in my words, you little guy is as cunning as a fox."
He paused for a moment and suddenly said with a strange tone: "But it's good to retire now, maybe you can live peacefully for a few years before you die."
Hearing these words, Fang Xie's heart skipped a beat.
…
…
The meaning in Huaiqiu's words seems to be to say that the world will not be peaceful for a few years. With his status, how could he say such a thing? Even though he had retired and returned home, Fang Xie was surprised when he said such words.
"Huai Lao... I don't understand what you mean."
Mr. Huaiqiu put down the curtains of the car, and stopped looking at the beautiful scenery along the way: "If you don't understand, you don't understand. You just need to do your own thing well. No matter how the world is, it is still the world. .”
Fang Jie was even more surprised by this.
Duke Huaiqiu didn't seem to want to continue on this topic. He was silent for a while and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, the General Lu who was disabled by you next to Ye Jinnan has already been buried deep in the loess. Are you down?"
Fang Jie was slightly stunned, but did not deny it: "Yes."
"I knew that you would start with him."
Huai Qiu said: "I want to check Luo Yao, that Lu is a good candidate. And you have a personal grudge with him, so it is not difficult to guess that you killed him. With your style of doing things, it would be strange if you didn't use this person You deliberately didn't look at that person all the way, is it to make him feel resentful? He is getting more and more uncomfortable, so he can only leave the team and go first. And you have been waiting for him to leave. "
Fang Jie smiled and said, "Fortunately, Huai Lao, you are not an official in the Ministry of Punishment or Dali Temple."
Duke Huaiqiu shook his head: "It's not hard to guess. That Ye Jinnan is probably regretting it now. He didn't think of it at the time, but it doesn't mean he can't think of it now. After you arrived in Yongzhou, he found that the surname Lu didn't Going back, he knew right away what happened."
"What does Huai Lao mean, will it be easy for me to go to Yongzhou this time?"
After being silent for a long time, Duke Huaiqiu shook his head: "You are an imperial envoy after all. If Luo Yao really just wants to ask His Majesty to marry you, even if you are not honored as the honored guest in Yongzhou, you will not make things difficult for you. It's cruel, but its city is also unfathomable, even if he knew that Lu Ya's death was unclear, he probably wouldn't pursue anything."
Fang Jie couldn't help but sighed: "Your Majesty asked me to delay Luo Yao for half a year, that is to say, I will stay in Yongzhou for at least two months. How can I spend these two months?"
"This is up to you."
Huaiqiu said: "All I can teach you is some things in the court... As for why you spent two months in Yongzhou, don't pretend to be pitiful in front of me. If you don't even have this ability, your majesty will not send you a teacher." You go south."
"Huai Lao."
Fang Jie paused for a moment and suddenly asked: "To speak out of the norm, do you think the war in the Northwest can be settled smoothly?"
"Northwest is not difficult, but if you add other places... it will be difficult."
Duke Huaiqiu thought for a while and asked: "I heard that you once made a plan for Your Majesty to block off the waterways with naval forces, cut off the three northwest roads and all grain roads in the interior, and plan to seal the three rivers and mountains into a piece of wasteland?"
Fang Jie nodded: "It's an immature idea, I regret it after I say it."
"People like you will never regret it."
Duke Huaiqiu smiled: "Although this strategy is not easy to implement, it is still a solution for the imperial court. His Majesty wants to take back the Northwest Three Ways with his own hands, and the reason why he dragged you to Luo Yao for half a year is to mobilize the army to deliver food and grass. However, His Majesty's personal conquest, an army of one million can empty the treasury in half a year...Compared to your strategy of sealing and not fighting, fighting seems to be more costly."
"If the waterway is blocked by the powerful navy of the imperial court, it will only take half a year for the rebels to be forced to march eastward. The rebels don't have warships, so crossing the river is not easy. Let the rebels attack once, we will block it once, and kill them if we have the opportunity. In the past, if there was no chance, they would retreat. Although this kind of fighting is a bit stingy, it is beneficial to the court. Give the court two years to fill the treasury, train soldiers to be brave, and then attack them. There is no defeat at all."
Hearing these words, Fang Jie shook his head helplessly: "It seems that His Majesty can't wait for these two years."
"Does Your Majesty just want to fight back to the Northwest Three Ways?"
Duke Huaiqiu smiled: "I have served His Majesty for more than ten years, and I know His Majesty's temperament somewhat. Your Majesty insisted on conquering the rebels himself, but in fact he still had the idea of marching into Mengyuan. The two thousand miles of grassland in Mandu Banner has already It was drawn on the territorial map of the Sui Dynasty, will His Majesty cut it off again?"
"Still fighting?"
Fang Jie frowned: "The national treasury can support the army for half a year at most, if we use troops against Meng Yuan...can the imperial court hold it?"
When he asked this question, he suddenly thought of what Duke Huaiqiu said just now that there may not be a few more years of peace, and he was suddenly startled, and faintly, he seemed to understand what Duke Huaiqiu meant.
"That's why His Majesty hasn't made up his mind yet, so he sent you to Yongzhou in the southwest."
Huai Qiu is fair.
Fang Jie said: "If there is no chaos in the Southwest, Your Majesty will fight freely... However, just because there is no chaos in the Southwest for a while, it does not mean that there will be no chaos in the future. If the imperial army spends a few years in the Northwest, the treasury will be empty and the military equipment will drop sharply. Southwest...not necessarily stable."
"Old Huai, I'm afraid I've betrayed His Majesty's trust. If nothing can be found out, wouldn't it be a big mistake?"
Duke Huaiqiu smiled and said indifferently: "Actually, it's not difficult to say, you just need to remember that people must have a guilty conscience if they want to make trouble, no matter who it is. So you can see some clues from Luo Yao's attitude towards you. If he treats you coldly and indifferently, then he is still that proud general. If he is warm and hospitable to you...you have to be careful."