General Qin Yuantang had two sons. The eldest son, Qin Ji, was twenty-seven years old, and the second son, Qin Lu, had just turned twenty.
A good father will have a good son. Both Qin Ji and Qin Lu were born with handsome appearances and had already made military achievements. Judging from their demeanor, they are likely to surpass their father.
Chen Tingjian really appreciated the two young men of the Qin family. Civil officials were selected through the imperial examinations. Every year, there were so many good candidates waiting for the court to select them, but it was difficult to determine who would be a great general through a few examinations. Although the court also set up military examinations, people with good skills might not necessarily be able to lead troops. People who were familiar with the art of war might panic when they really arrived on the battlefield, just like the saying that talking about war on paper is useless.
He deliberately let the Qin brothers sit on the side of Qin Yuantang, close to Emperor Yuanyou and the five ministers.
During the conversation, Chen Tingjian stroked his long beard and praised the Qin brothers with a smile.
As a result, as soon as he praised, Qin Yuantang immediately praised Chen Jingzong in return, saying that he had heard about the military exploits that the son-in-law had made in suppressing the rebellion of Prince Yu in Jizhou!
Chen Tingjian: …
He really doesn't need Qin Yuantang to be like this, as if he is just trying to promote his own fourth brother!
As Sun said, Chen Tingjian had been praised by people around him since he could remember. When he was young, everyone praised him. Later, as his official position became higher and higher, his colleagues praised him, and even his eldest son and third son praised him. Chen Tingjian was used to all this and took it calmly. However, at this moment, Qin Yuantang, a great war god, praised his young boy who had just fought a battle. Chen Tingjian couldn't help but want to feel embarrassed for his son and himself!
Fortunately, seven days of continuous travel had made the Prime Minister's face look more haggard and duller than usual, and even a slight blush was hardly noticeable.
Qin Yuantang praised a lot, feeling that he had given the Prime Minister enough face, and finally stopped.
Chen Tingjian waved his hands with a helpless attitude of "let's not mention it". He didn't dare to be modest anymore, for fear that if he said something modest, Qin Yuantang would praise him forty times again.
Emperor Yuanyou ate his meal leisurely with a smile on his face.
He Qingxian looked at Qin Yuantang, then at Chen Tingjian, and suddenly laughed: "Just listening to your empty words, it is difficult to tell who is better between the two young generals. Why don't we ask them to compete after the banquet, so that I can see the good kung fu of the young people?"
Chen Tingjian and Qin Yuantang looked at him at the same time.
Without waiting for the two to speak, Emperor Yuanyou said, "That's what I meant."
After saying that, he looked at Chen Jingzong, who was sitting a few seats away: "Prince Consort, do you dare to compete with the Qin brothers?"
Chen Jingzong was drinking with his colleagues next to him. Hearing this, he put down his wine bowl, stood up, and looked directly at the Qin brothers sitting side by side: "I dare, but the second son of Qin is too young, I will only compete with the eldest son of Qin."
Qin Lu looked unhappy. He was twenty years old, how could he be called "too young"? No man likes to hear others evaluate him like this.
Qin Jize stood up and bowed to Chen Jingzong: "In this case, I will ask for your advice later."
Chen Jingzong returned his greeting, and after obtaining Emperor Yuanyou's approval, he sat down and continued drinking.
After eating and drinking, the competition between the two became the highlight that everyone was looking forward to.
Chen Tingjian said to his fourth son in a teaching tone: "You are proud of your extraordinary marksmanship, today I will let you see what it means that there are always people better than you and there are always mountains better than you."
Qin Yuantang immediately said, "Your Excellency is wrong. How can my son compare with the prince consort?"
Chen Tingjian: …
In fact, he was in the capital, and Qin Yuantang was either on the coast or at the border. In short, the two mostly communicated through letters, and they did not have many opportunities to deal with each other face to face.
In the letters, Qin Yuantang was indeed very respectful to him, calling himself "a dog and horse under his command", and he would send him some gifts every year. At first, they were gold, silver and jewelry, but Chen Tingjian returned them and severely criticized them. Qin Yuantang then changed to sending some rare local specialties. Chen Tingjian was also a smart man. He guessed that Qin Yuantang wanted to find a backer in the court. If he continued to refuse, Qin Yuantang might only think about taking sides and delay military affairs.
Therefore, Chen Tingjian accepted Qin Yuantang's local specialties and repeatedly told him to focus on training troops and consolidating the border and not to worry about anything else.
The relationship between the two was not deep, but not shallow either. After all, Chen Tingjian also admired Qin Yuantang very much.
Even though they had just met, why did Qin Yuantang behave like this? It really gave him a headache.
Chen Tingjian glanced at He Qingxian secretly. He would rather confront He Qingxian every day than be flattered by Qin Yuantang.
He Qingxian watched the show while stroking his beard with a gloating look on his face. Who made Chen Tingjian like being the Prime Minister? Being praised by others was one of the benefits of being the Prime Minister.
Chen Tingjian did not respond to Qin Yuantang's words, so Qin Yuantang instructed his son to let Qin Ji humbly observe the son-in-law's spear skills.
Qin Ji looked humble and said, "Yes."
Chen Jingzong snorted heavily.
Chen Tingjian was furious at his son's disrespect in front of everyone, and asked Qin Ji: "Just show him your best skills and teach him a lesson."
Qin Ji smiled bitterly: "The elder is too kind to me."
Chen Jingzong asked impatiently, "Are you going to compete with me in spearmanship, or with him in verbal combat?"
Chen Tingjian: …
Chen Jingzong had already turned and walked towards the yard.
Qin Ji laughed, bowed to Emperor Yuanyou, and followed him.
Emperor Yuanyou led everyone to the eaves of the corridor.
Chen Jingzong and Qin Ji each had a wooden spear used by ordinary soldiers. They were of similar age and build, but one was aggressive and the other was steady and reserved.
If a real fight broke out, Chen Jingzong would naturally want to win. Qin Ji intended to give face to Chen Ge Lao and only hoped that he would not lose too obviously or too quickly, which would damage the reputation of the Qin family's spearmanship.
Qin Ji's plan was to use 60% of his strength.
Qin Ji was not afraid but happy to meet his worthy opponent. He fought with Chen Jingzong seriously.
The two young and tall military officers, both with long arms and legs, jumped and moved like tigers and leopards, and their moves were more neat and agile than the other. There was no deliberate show of force, but the two spears were like two dragons fighting for a pearl, dazzling everyone. They didn't even dare to blink, for fear of missing the crucial moment that would decide the outcome.
After countless rounds, Chen Jingzong leaped into the air and chopped down at Qin Ji with his spear in hand. Qin Ji could not dodge and could only raise his spear to block. However, with a crisp sound of "snap", both spears broke at the same time! Half of Chen Jingzong's spear hit the ground heavily, and Qin Ji took several steps back to avoid the sharp spear head that flew up from Chen Jingzong's body.
Chen Jingzong put away his gun, stood up, and looked at the broken gun in his hand with regret.
Qin Ji also stopped, threw away the two broken spears, and bowed to Chen Jingzong, saying: "Your Highness's spearmanship is excellent. I am willing to admit that you are better than me."
Chen Jingzong did not appreciate it and said coldly: "A draw is a draw. We can have another match if we have a chance."
After saying this, he looked at Emperor Yuanyou.
Emperor Yuanyou was in a good mood. He didn't want Chen Jingzong to win because Qin Ji was deliberately yielding, nor did he want his brother-in-law to lose to Qin Ji because he was not as skilled as him. He enjoyed watching such a hearty and enjoyable fight.
"You've been traveling so long. Go take a rest first. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
"yes!"
.
The officials escorted Emperor Yuanyou to the post station and watched him enter his villa with their own eyes. Only then did Chen Tingjian and other officials from the capital who had followed him disperse.
Chen Tingjian looked at his fourth son, but he didn't expect He Qingxian to walk over first. He asked with concern, "Did the prince consort get hurt in the competition just now?"
Both young generals were ruthless and they hit each other several times. The long guns hit their shoulders and backs with great force, which was almost like being whipped.
Chen Jingzong shook his head. Seeing the old man approaching, he said calmly, "Go slowly, sir. I will go ahead."
After saying that, he strode away.
The others had almost all left. He Qingxian teased Chen Tingjian as they walked away, "If the prince consort didn't look like you, I would have thought he was your adopted son from outside. It's hard to believe that you could teach him such good kung fu."
Chen Tingjian: "My grandfather also learned martial arts, and the fourth child inherited his talent."
He Qingxian: "Now you are praising them. Why did you just keep praising the two boys from the Qin family? Fortunately, General Qin also praised the prince consort, otherwise the prince consort would be embarrassed."
Just as Chen Tingjian was about to speak, he saw Qin Yuantang standing in front of the moon-shaped gate in front. When he saw him, his eyes lit up, and it was obvious that he had something to say to him alone.
Chen Tingjian smiled and whispered to He Qingxian: "Just tell me later that I have something to discuss."
He Qingxian smiled but said nothing.
Just like that, Chen Tingjian directly sent Qin Yuantang away and did not spend any time alone with Qin Yuantang.
On the other side, Chen Jingzong came to Huayang.
Huayang had taken a comfortable bath and was almost done with her rest when she was awakened by the noise of Chen Jingzong entering the room. She drew aside the gauze curtain and came face to face with Chen Jingzong who had just turned around the screen.
Without waiting for Huayang to speak, Chen Jingzong began to take off his outer robe.
He didn't look like he was about to do anything, so Huayang just watched indifferently until Chen Jingzong revealed his strong and muscular chest. When he turned sideways and threw his outer robe onto the screen, two red bruises on his left shoulder and back were clearly visible to Huayang.
Huayang's expression changed: "Who hurt you?"
Chen Jingzong said unhappily: "Old man."
Huayang: …
What did Chen Jingzong do to make his father-in-law so angry that he beat his own son with a stick on this occasion
Having said that, with a frail body like my father-in-law, does he have the strength to beat Chen Jingzong like this
Huayang subconsciously doubted the truth of this statement.
Chen Jingzong came over, hung the gauze curtains on both sides, looked down at the bruises on his arms, and asked her, "Do you have any medicine?"
Huayang called out to Chaoyue.
The maid was about to come in, and Chen Jingzong lay down on the bed behind her and pulled the quilt to cover his back.
But he didn't cover it tightly enough, revealing a part of his narrow waist, so Huayang helped him cover it.
Chaoyue quickly found a blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing plaster from the medicine box, handed it to the eldest princess with lowered brows, and then quickly retreated.
As soon as the door closed, Chen Jingzong threw away the quilt and tilted his head to look over: "My back is injured. Can you trouble the princess to take care of me?"
Hua Yang looked at the stick-shaped bruise that almost ran across his entire back and frowned, "Tell me first, how did you get hurt?"
Chen Jingzong then exaggerated his complaints about the old man. If the old man had not praised the Qin brothers too much, this incident would not have happened.
Huayang listened silently, wet a towel, wiped the area on his back where he was hit, and began to apply medicine.
A cool and gentle touch fell on the wound, and Chen Jingzong let out a muffled groan.
The voice was very suggestive. Huayang paused, and seeing that he was still lying obediently facing the head of the bed, he continued.
(End of this chapter)