-Xue Mansion in Xiangcheng, the capital of Zhaode in the seventeenth year of Zhaode-
Xue Ziqin returned to Xiangcheng, and the remaining 400 people under his command were stationed outside Xiangcheng, and only Zhou Xiao lived with him in Xue Mansion. When the two returned to the mansion, they didn't see Xue Changfeng. First, they slept on their backs, and they slept for three days.
On the third day, Xue Changfeng asked Butler Zhang to wake them up early in the morning and bring them to the lobby to kneel.
Xue Ziqin slept in a daze, and he never got out of bed except for the convenience of going to bed for three days. He was suddenly brought into the lobby by Steward Zhang. The old man sat in the upper seat and drank tea. When he saw him, he just said something cold and knelt down.
He had followed Xue Changfeng for so many years, and he had developed a habit of absolute obedience to Xue Changfeng's words. Hearing the word "kneel down", he thumped and fell to the ground, causing his knees to hurt. He knelt for a while, and Zhou Xiao also came over in a daze. Zhou Xiao understood Xue Changfeng's temper better. Just seeing Xue Ziqin kneeling on the ground, before Xue Changfeng could speak, he knelt beside Xue Changfeng and bowed his head. Waiting for release.
Kneeling for a long time, Xue Changfeng just sipped the tea slowly, sipping a small sip, until the tea bottomed out, he placed it on the table, made a crisp sound, and finally opened his mouth: "I thought the two of you are now It's the sky that made the bird fly, and you know how to come back?"
Zhou Xiao dared not speak, but Xue Ziqin retorted: "Foster father, I can't blame me for this, it's obviously that old dog Wei Yuanting is doing something..." "Shut up." Before Xue Changfeng could finish speaking, a teacup fell on Xue Ziqin. On the side of the leg, it was smashed.
He stood up from his chair, walked in front of Xue Ziqin, and asked angrily, "Who told you to bring someone to Qinguan without authorization?"
"..." Xue Ziqin didn't dare to speak this time, just lowered his head.
Xue Changfeng turned and walked up to Zhou Xiao: "You too, do things without thinking? You bring your elite soldiers to mess with him, are you tired of being a lieutenant too?"
Zhou Xiao was a rule, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "I will be guilty at the end, please make the general guilty."
Zhou Xiao said that he was a lieutenant under Xue Changfeng, but he followed Xue Changfeng since childhood, more like his adopted son, and he and Xue Ziqin were like brothers. But his character is far from the Xue family's father and son. He is stable and strict with himself, and because of this, Xue Changfeng values him very much.
Xue Changfeng heard Zhou Xiao admit his mistake, snorted coldly, and said to Butler Zhang, "Bring a stick."
Butler Zhang glanced at Xue Ziqin, a little unbearable, but he knew the temper of the general, so he could only follow his words and turn around to get the stick.
Xue Changfeng paced back and forth in the lobby without speaking. Knowing that he was going to be beaten in a while, Xue Ziqin said a little unconvinced: "Foster father clearly knows that the old thief is doing something, how can he blame me for bringing troops to support without authorization, if it is not for me to turn the tide, five hundred wins three thousand, isn't it? The adoptive father should be fully responsible. It is impossible to blame me for the fall of Qinguan this time. I will not bear the blame or say anything. Besides, I don't understand how the adoptive father agreed to take the North The army came to support Qinguan, isn't this a trick of Wei Yuanting?"
When Xue Changfeng heard Xue Ziqin's indignant words, he was so angry that he even wanted to laugh: "I really didn't expect that after so many years of training you, you still can't understand such a trivial matter."
During the conversation, Butler Zhang had already come over with a stick.
Originally, Xue Changfeng planned to let Butler Zhang do it, which could be considered to be open to these two boys, but now Xue Ziqin's strong argument has added fuel to the fire. He took the stick in Butler Zhang's hand and walked to Xue Ziqin's side. On Xue Ziqin's back.
Xue Ziqin was originally a very stubborn person. He admitted that he was right, but he did not snort, gritted his teeth and resisted the stick.
Xue Changfeng hit Xue Ziqin on the back with three sticks in a row.
Xue Ziqin was still dissatisfied, and continued: "Besides the battle of Hanzhou, I asked my adoptive father for instructions. Didn't my adoptive father tell me to come casually?"
These words really made Xue Changfeng very angry. Just after he finished speaking, Xue Changfeng went down again and reprimanded: "Hanzhou, I thought you were bound to win, but what happened? You were calculated to death, don't think I don't. You know, you almost couldn't even get into Hanzhou City, how dare you say it now?"
Zhou Xiao was really nervous at the side. He heard Xue Ziqin start talking, and he knew that this person was obviously looking for a beating.
But the more you don't want something, the more something will happen. Xue Changfeng glanced to the side and called out by name, "Zhou Xiao, tell this stupid thing what he did wrong."
Zhou Xiao raised his head tremblingly - he used to be young and ignorant, and he was beaten a lot under Xue Changfeng's hands. Xue Changfeng's hands were unequivocal when he started, he was not his own person at all, and he would not leave any sympathy when he started. He thought about it for a while, pretended to be calm, and said, "I am afraid that Sui Kingdom has already obtained information that our country intends to attack Hanzhou, and we have arranged the details a long time ago, and we will plan our plans. Let Ziqin take the initiative to attack them first, and then use this as a pretext. The attack on Qinguan was aimed at not losing Hanzhou and winning Qinguan. It can be seen from Ziqin's spies, but they certainly did not expect Ziqin to really occupy Hanzhou. In fact, Ziqin's support for Qin Guan this time, no matter how you say it, he has won the battle."
After Zhou Xiao finished speaking, he immediately lowered his head and waited for his hair to fall.
Xue Changfeng walked unhurriedly to Zhou Xiao's side, and as expected by Zhou Xiao, a stick hit him on the spine, causing him to sweat profusely, but he said loudly, "It's the last guilt!"
Hearing that Zhou Xiao had to speak for himself despite the risk of being beaten, Xue Ziqin couldn't help but praise his good brother, and then felt that Xue Changfeng's stick fell on him again.
Xue Changfeng beat the two of them hard, then threw the stick on the ground and sat back in the upper seat. Butler Zhang brought a cup of hot tea in time, Xue Changfeng took a sip, and the warm tea was accompanied by the aroma of the tea, which really made Xue Changfeng's anger go down a bit. The two big men in the hall were so beaten that they couldn't stand upright, and they dared not to lie down on the ground, lest they would be beaten again, their foreheads were full of beads of sweat, and they kept falling.
"Zhou Xiao, I think you either resign from the Northern Army and settle for this bastard." Xue Changfeng said, "I don't listen to my words now, you are really good at it."
Zhou Xiao didn't dare to speak any more, for fear that he would be wrong.
"And you, you bastard. If you didn't save Qinguan this time, and Hanzhou City was taken back, do you know how much responsibility you would have to bear? Knowing that Wei Yuanting was plotting against me, you rushed up rashly, right? Do you really want the emperor to cut your head off?"
After all, Xue Changfeng took a sip of tea and slowed down. This fight has been beaten, and the lesson has been taught, and he began to talk about the real thing.
"The day before yesterday, Sui Guo's peace envoy was here. Do you know what conditions were offered for your captured soldiers? Hmm? Let the court pay 20,000 taels of silver!"
"This... this is not a sky-high price!" Xue Ziqin was beaten to the point that he couldn't say anything, "This can't be done, absolutely not."
Xue Changfeng immediately shouted angrily: "You know it's not possible, then you dare to take someone to Qinguan without authorization, and leave Hanzhou into such a mess!"
This angry shout made Xue Ziqin's head lower again in fright.
Xue Changfeng continued: "The emperor turned blue when he heard this yesterday, how could he refuse it?"
"..." Xue Ziqin knew that this was indeed his responsibility, but he didn't lift his head or open his mouth.
He cares about the group of people stationed in Hanzhou. They are all his people. When they become prisoners, he naturally wants to save them. Among them, his lieutenant is also there. But 20,000 taels of silver were exchanged for 600 soldiers, and there was no leader among them. This kind of business was impossible. The situation in Qinguan that day, not to mention that they were all exhausted and powerless, even if Wei Yuanting took over Qinguan and brought him directly back to the capital, it was impossible for him to act without authorization.
The emperor was even more helpless about this. The other party clearly stated that he had prisoners in his hands and demanded real money to redeem the people. This kind of kidnapping was the fact that he declared the country to invade first, which made it impossible for people to refute. If you don't give money, you just don't care about the lives of these soldiers. If you spread it out, you will lose people's hearts, and the other party also predicts that the emperor of the country can't refuse, so he dares to say such an excessive request. Money to redeem people.
"Fortunately, you still have some brains, and the people under your command are also good." Xue Changfeng changed his words, and there was a slight compliment in his words, only to hear him continue, "Just in the court hall, in front of Sui Kingdom. In the face of the envoy, someone from Yanzhou reported that all the prisoners in Hanzhou had fled and arrived in Yanzhou. In front of Wei Yuanting, you knew that you could not go, and asked your subordinates to go. Look at the shit you've done!"
Hearing this, Xue Ziqin raised his head with a look of astonishment.
He turned to look at Zhou Xiao, who was also at a loss.
If the old man said so... Then Jiang really rescued the people single-handedly? This is too bizarre. Not to mention that he has the ability to save people after traveling for such a long time by himself, just to say that Hanzhou City is definitely guarded by heavy troops, but he was able to escape. The twists and turns in it can be imagined.
But now, apparently the old man thought he had sent someone. Of course Xue Ziqin would not say that this was not what he meant. He would definitely not refuse to beg in front of the old man.
Thinking like this, Xue Ziqin raised his head and said, "Then... is it worth the effort?"
"Humph."
Xue Changfeng didn't answer him, instead he picked up the teacup and took another sip. After drinking the tea, he began to scold Zhou Xiao: "Zhou Xiao, I think you have a good relationship with this bastard. You are allowed to visit Hanzhou. You and him will take someone to Qinguan without authorization, ignore my order, and disobey. It's not a capital crime, don't you think about it?"
Zhou Xiao knew that there was no excuse for this matter. Anyway, things were done, so he could only keep apologizing and admitting his mistake: "I will know my mistake at the end... I hope the general will make a difference..."
Xue Ziqin looked at the situation and thought to himself that he was beaten and he was beaten to death. It was impossible for the old man to hang both of them to death, right? So he took courage and said, "I forced him, hey, hit me..."
Xue Ziqin regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. It's not that he doesn't know the old man's temper, why does he have to say a word more? Sure enough, after Xue Changfeng heard this, his face became even more ugly, and he said, "Steward Zhang, kill this bastard."
"General, I'm afraid it won't be good to fight again." Butler Zhang bowed his waist and carefully discouraged him.
Xue Changfeng slapped the table fiercely: "I told you to call me!"
Helpless, Butler Zhang could only go to the ground to pick up the stick and start hitting Xue Ziqin again.
Xue Ziqin felt remorse in his heart and wished he could sew his mouth shut. Butler Zhang also watched Xue Ziqin grow up, and he couldn't hit hard, so he had quietly let go of the water, but Xue Ziqin was beaten so many times on the back by Xue Changfeng.
He realized that he had done something wrong again. At this time, Xue Ziqin had nothing to refute, and finally gave up: "Oh, stop fighting, stop fighting, foster father, I was wrong! Stop fighting!"
Xue Changfeng finally felt a little more comfortable when he heard him admit his mistake. He waved his hand and signaled Butler Zhang to stop.
Seeing this, Butler Zhang stopped quickly and walked away with the stick, for fear that Xue Changfeng would get angry again when he saw the stick.
"The emperor will summon you tomorrow, and you will follow me to the palace tomorrow." Xue Changfeng said, "Zhou Xiao, don't be a lieutenant for now, demote and become the battalion commander of the first battalion of the Northern Army."
"Thank you, General." Zhou Xiao felt bitter in his heart, but he couldn't say it, so he could only kowtow obediently and thank Xue Changfeng for not killing him.
After speaking, Xue Changfeng got up, flicked his sleeves, and left.
Xue Ziqin quietly watched the old man disappear, and then slowly stood up.
"I'm about to vomit blood, the old man is really ruthless." He said, both legs were numb, and the whole back was aching. If the last few strokes were not made by Steward Zhang, but by the old man, he would have interrupted the stick.
Seeing this, Butler Zhang hurried up to help Xue Ziqin: "Why do you bother to provoke the general..."
"I... Sigh." Xue Ziqin wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. Finally, he sighed and shook his head, asking about something else: "The old man said just now that all the prisoners are in Yanzhou?"
"Yeah, I also heard the news yesterday." Butler Zhang said, and went to help Zhou Xiao up again.
Xue Ziqin thought for a while and said, "Then please help me go to the outskirts of the city, and let Guo Linchong go to Yanzhou to pick them up."
"It's easy to say, I'll go in a while, you two go to the room and lie down, and I'll go to the doctor immediately."
Xue Ziqin nodded, and then walked into the room with Zhou Xiao, "I'm sorry, brother..."