The south is already quite hot, and the north is slightly cooler. The trees with lush branches and leaves clearly convey the message of early summer. In the second entrance compound of Xuzhou Zhongwu Jiedu's Mansion, there are two old locust trees covered with green shade, casting a large shadow on the bluestone floor.
At this moment, standing in the shadows was a young man dressed as a scholar. He raised his head with his hands folded, looking at the star-like 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 Fengshen Junlang. He will definitely not be glanced at by ladies and quack nuns when he walks on the street.
But he was well-dressed and meticulously groomed. Standing there, he has an aura, not only a poetic and bookish aura, but also a thick and steady that does not belong to his age.
From time to time, a flash of lightning flashed across his eyes.
"Wu Sima, the envoy Lian is here to invite you." A scribe walked up to the young man with a very respectful manner.
Wu Gou nodded to the visitor, followed him through the gate of the corridor courtyard, came to the Sanjin courtyard, and went straight into the east study.
Qin Zongquan, the military governor of the Zhongwu Army, had already stood up to welcome him out of his seat. He smiled all over his face: "Mr. Wu is here? Please take a seat."
Qin Zongquan was originally the governor of Caizhou. The reason why he was able to occupy Xuzhou was that he sent troops to defeat Zhou Ji, the former Jiedu envoy of the Zhongwu Army. In this battle against the superior, the young scholar in front of him played a very important role in making suggestions, so Qin Zongquan was very close to Wu Gou.
At this moment, Qin Zongquan looked at Wu Gou as if he was looking at a treasure that fell from the sky, but in fact, this young man was indeed similar to one that fell from the sky.
In the past, Qin Zongquan was the governor of Caizhou. When he was recruiting troops in Caizhou, he suddenly heard that a commoner scholar asked to see him one day. After asking about his background, Qin Zongquan refused the request because he did not have a prominent family background.
If you don't come from a scholarly family, you don't have a famous teacher to teach you, and you don't have family experience, how can you have much real talent
It is said that Kong Ming was a farmer who worked in Nanyang, but in fact Kong Ming was not a commoner. Not to mention that the ancestors have been officials for generations, the Zhuge family is a well-known family of nobles in Langya, and Kong Ming also made friends with celebrities for a while, and there is no real relationship.
In the end, Wu Gou couldn't help but wait outside the governor's mansion every day, and Qin Zongquan was recruiting talents at that time, and he didn't want to get a reputation of neglecting scholars, so he knelt down to receive him.
Unexpectedly, after some discussions, Qin Zongquan unexpectedly discovered that the other party was very knowledgeable and quick-witted, especially a lot of suggestions on current affairs in Caizhou, which benefited Qin Zongquan a lot. Qin Zongquan was not a mediocre person, so he immediately brought Wu Gou into the mansion as a guest and treated him with courtesy.
After exchanging pleasantries, Qin Zongquan, who returned to the main seat, asked, "Sir, what advice do you have here?"
Wu Gou arched his hands, and said in a steady tone, "King An defeated Li Keyong, Li Maozhen attacked Chang'an, and Zhu Wen sent troops to Pinlu. Dare I ask Lian envoy what he thinks?"
Qin Zongquan smiled: "The world is in chaos, and I, Zhongwu, will naturally take advantage of the opportunity to rise!"
Wu Gou nodded, "Then I will ask Envoy Lian to give me the order to let Gou go out to the east of the river."
Qin Zongquan was startled: "What are you going to Hedong for?"
Wu Gou said: "Make an alliance with King An and deal with Zhu Wen together."
Qin Zongquan's face became serious. He glanced at Wu Gou several times, and then said slowly: "King An attacked Hedong, and I took the opportunity to seize Zhongwu. For King An, it was an offense to the order of the court. After King An turned around, he did not deal with it." Zhongwu is not bad, how can we join forces with him to deal with Zhu Wen at this time?"
Wu Gou smiled.
This smile is calm in a thousand ways, and it is like a torrential river, which finally meets a gap and can pour out wantonly.
He said: "The Lian envoy's seizure of loyalty is to destroy the order of the court. It is precisely because of this that he should help King An at this moment. King An accepted the Lian envoy's affection, and he will not be held accountable afterwards. If the Lian envoy can have some As a result, after making some meritorious service, it is logical for King An to recognize the status of Lian envoy as Jiedu envoy afterwards."
Qin Zongquan remained silent and fell into deep thought.
Wu Gou continued: "Whether Zhu Wen's attack on Pinglu succeeds or not, he will attack Xuanwu's surrounding towns in order to flatten the Central Plains. At that time, Zhongwu will bear the brunt. How will he face Zhu Wen who has the support of Daomen? Without King An's support, Zhongwu cannot support himself alone."
Qin Zongquan nodded.
Wu Gou said again: "Emissary Lian has great ambitions. Taking Heluo in the north and Huaihe River in the south is a must-have plan. But if Zhu Wen becomes big, envoy Lian's plan will not be realized. One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. In the Central Plains, except for envoy Lian Besides, there should be no more powerful feudal towns."
Qin Zongquan's eyes lit up, and he looked at Wu Gou expectantly: "Sir, are you sure you can persuade King An to form an alliance with Zhongwu?"
The corner of Wu Gou's mouth raised slightly: "If the matter fails, Gou will come and see you."
Ten days later, Wu Gou led the envoys of the Zhongwu Army and left Xuzhou City through the north gate. Qin Zongquan personally sent them out of the city.
The bright sunshine was churning in the yellow dust raised under the horses' hooves, and the team of hundreds of messengers was full of fanfare. Officials of different sizes and colors followed behind Wu Gou under the guard of soldiers, and high-ranking monks who practiced Qi in strong clothes followed closely.
Qin Zongquan gave Wu Gou the confidence he should give. This trip is to meet King An. There are nearly ten carriages in the team, which are loaded with the gift of meeting Qin Zongquan brought to King An.
Wu Gou glanced back at Xuzhou City. They were already more than three miles away from each other, and the officials led by Qin Zongquan were still watching them off at the city gate. Pedestrians and ordinary people on both sides of the official road, seeing such a battle, all cast awe-inspiring gazes at Wu Gou, and the little jiaoniang and Jianghu female cultivators walking among them also looked at Wu Gou with radiant eyes.
Wu Gou withdrew his gaze and looked towards the front of the official road. He suddenly smiled, not to say that he was complacent, but definitely high-spirited. He said to himself: "Be famous as early as possible."
...
Bypassing Xuanwu, heading north all the way, after many days of trekking, Wu Gou finally arrived at the outskirts of Taiyuan City.
Inside and outside the small kiosk by the road, many people who are about to go on a long journey are saying goodbye to those who are seeing them off. On this gloomy morning, the sadness of parting seemed to be particularly strong, and many people had tears on their faces.
Wu Gou withdrew his gaze, smiled softly, and said in his heart "Inaction is on a fork in the road, sons and daughters share the towel", he looked at the tall and majestic Taiyuan city wall, and his mood was full of enthusiasm.
Behind the soldiers in front of the tower stood a young man in a black robe, and their eyes met unexpectedly.
At this moment, a white-robed swordsman galloped past the envoys on a green-maned horse.
Wu Gou's expression froze suddenly. Whether it was the young man in black robe standing in front of the tower, or the swordsman in white robe galloping past him, he felt an extraordinary aura. One is as overbearing as a king, and the other is as elegant as a fairy.
"The thousand-year-old city of Taiyuan really has outstanding people." Wu Gou muttered silently in his heart, feeling a little more respectful in his heart.
Li Ye returned to the mansion for the first time after sending off Nangong, and not long after processing the official documents, he got a report from the people below, saying that it was the envoy of Zhongwu Jiedu envoy Zhou Ji who asked to see him.
Li Ye accepted the post, but he didn't meet the other party, but asked someone to take them to the post house.
Two days later, Li Ye had decided to leave for Chengde. Before leaving, he met Wu Gou.
After reading through Qin Zongquan's letter, Li Ye put the letter on the desk and began to look at Wu Gou standing in the hall.
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Qin Zongquan's letter was very respectful. Most of the first part was touting Li Ye's great achievements, saying how much he admired and admired Li Ye, etc., and the second half was explaining the intention of sending an envoy.
In this part, Qin Zongquan first scolded Zhu Wen Haosheng, saying that he committed the following crimes and caused chaos in the Central Plains.
Naturally, Wu Gou recognized that King An in front of him was the black-robed man who stood in front of the city tower two days ago. Facing Li Ye's scrutiny, he could only stand up straight as much as possible. But what surprised him was that Li Ye didn't use the coercion of his cultivation to give him a blow.
Even so, Wu Gou didn't dare to be negligent. When he entered the mansion, he discovered 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 this man in front of him.
Before meeting Li Ye, Wu Gou had already imagined in his mind countless times what the meeting would be like today, and he had also figured out how to deal with Li Ye's various attitudes and words.
However, again to Wu Gou's surprise, Li Ye didn't ask about Xuzhou, didn't ask Qin Zongquan why he dared to seize Zhongwu, didn't reprimand Qin Zongquan for contempt for the authority of the court, and didn't even make any comments on Qin Zongquan's respect and gifts. .
Li Ye said slowly, "Which school of knowledge did Wu Changshi study?"
Before leaving, Qin Zongquan had already promoted Wu Gou to be a long history, which can be regarded as increasing the weight of his mission.
Facing Li Ye's question, although Wu Gou was surprised, he quickly answered: "I can hardly be considered a scholar in a humble job."
Li Ye smiled: "Confucianism?"
Wu Gou said earnestly: "The lowly staff thought that a scholar should learn from a hundred schools of thought, and don't have to stick to one school. Only in this way can we really make a difference and not cause trouble or harm the people."
Li Ye let out a sigh, and became a little interested: "Chang Shi is so young, he is already proficient in a hundred schools of thought?"
Wu Gou said humbly, "I dare not say I am proficient, but I just know a little bit."
There was a hint of playfulness in Li Ye's eyes: "Since this is the case, Chang Shi will talk about how the lonely king will deal with Qin Zongquan?"
Wu Gou was shocked.
Li Ye used the word "dispose".
Wu Gou recalled that Zhou Ji, the former Zhongwu Jiedu envoy, had made a lot of contributions with Li Ye during the Huangchao Rebellion. If it is said that Zhou Ji has no friendship with King An, he absolutely does not believe it. But now that Qin Zongquan has seized Zhongwu and imprisoned Zhou Ji, of course Li Ye is not in a good mood.
But Wu Gou had expected this a long time ago. He considered his sentence a little, and immediately said, "Zhu Wen went against the grain and even invaded Pinglu. Your Highness unites to deal with the evil thieves together, and restore the Tang Dynasty to a bright future... …”
Li Ye sneered and interrupted him, "Unite? Form an alliance? What qualifications does Qin Zongquan have to dare to say that he is an alliance with the lonely king? Go back and tell Qin Zongquan now that he has caused chaos in the town and despised the authority of the court. If you have committed crimes and made meritorious service, you should obediently obey the military order of the lonely king, and immediately march into Bianzhou. Otherwise, the lonely king will make his head move!"