There was a sudden noise on the long street late at night, and the waiter who was looking out of the restaurant looked up. He saw torches on the street and quickly retracted his face. Any drunk guests who went out were pulled back.
“Don’t go out!”
The door closed with a bang.
Horses trotted lightly along the long street, torches swayed in the whistling wind, and in the dim light, cavalrymen dismounted, held their sword handles, and stood with their heads bowed.
In the distance, the sounds of night watchmen and dogs barking could be heard faintly.
"Your Highness, I will be assigned to the Imperial City Division."
The general who was kneeling on one knee paused and added quickly: "Yu Wenzhi is my father, and the Imperial Master has met him."
He lowered his head and dared not breathe. The imperial teacher opposite him was dressed in a Confucian robe, tall and thin, and looked a little weak, but Yuwen Chengdu had seen him before, so the more he looked like this, the more he dared not speak casually.
Moreover, my father often reminded me that Master Lu has a humble personality and should not be treated the same as others, and mysterious people cannot be judged by common sense. What's more, my father often hangs around Your Majesty and should know about this kind of master. My behavior is not shameful.
Yu Wenhua and…
The scholar opposite knew this name and had seen him twice. Then he looked at the general who was half-kneeling respectfully in front of him. He was tall and strong, wearing chain mail, which made him look very big even when he was bent on the ground. He had thick eyebrows and tiger eyes, which showed his bravery, which was very different from his father's body shape.
"I have met your father twice. Please stand up and talk."
Lu Liangsheng raised his hand, but did not use any magic power this time. Yuwen Chengdu on the other side responded, "Yes!" With a slight sound of dragging the armor leaves, he stood up and held the sword. He was more than ten feet tall and stood there like a small mountain, but his face was still downcast, showing his respect for the national teacher in front of him.
"You rode out of the palace late at night. What happened?" Lu Liangsheng shook off the smell of alcohol on his body today and stepped over to let him feel free. "Today, our national teacher returned to the city and sensed some military atmosphere. Is your majesty going to use force?"
"The national master's calculation is brilliant."
Yuwen Chengdu looked surprised, but he quickly calmed down and said in a full voice, "I am following your majesty's order to go out of the city to supervise military affairs."
As he spoke, he looked around, not daring to hide anything from the Imperial Master in front of him, and lowered his voice, "Your Majesty will send troops to attack Tuyuhun."
The voice was so low that it was difficult for ordinary people to hear, and there was a slight tremor in the words, which showed that he was quite excited about the Western Expedition.
"Um."
Lu Liangsheng heaved a sigh of relief. He had felt the tense atmosphere of the troops when he entered the city and thought that they were going to attack the Duke of Yue. When he heard that it was Tuyuhun, he guessed what the emperor was thinking and nodded to the general: "You go and take care of your military affairs."
Although the scholar did not seem to have any aura, the more so, the more Yuwen Chengdu dared not be careless, and his father's advice seemed to linger in his ears from time to time.
Hearing these words, he bowed as if he had been pardoned, and hurried back to get on his horse.
"Master, I will leave first. Goodbye!"
Afterwards, he called upon his subordinates behind him, took back the strange long weapon, and walked slowly. Only after passing Lu Liangsheng did he dare to gallop on the street.
Tap tap tap... The sound of horse hooves faded away, and the long street became quiet again. Lu Liangsheng turned around, and his master, Lu Pan, Lao Zhu and others were no longer on the street.
At the edge of the swaying lanterns in the restaurant, Hong Lian walked out from the shadows and said softly:
"Sir, Master Toad and the others have already gone back."
"You go back first too, no need to wait for me." Lu Liangsheng took her hand and patted the back of her slender hand: "I may have to go to the palace."
"Then I will leave first."
Hong Lian felt the warmth in the man's hand, and smiled sweetly at the scholar. She took a few steps and turned back: "Are we really leaving?"
"Well, be careful on the road and don't scare others."
Hearing Lu Liangsheng's concern, Hong Lian was stunned for a moment, then she reacted by stamping her feet slightly, gave the scholar a shy look, her cheeks puffed up, and she floated away towards the lotus pond angrily.
The figure of the woman disappeared in the night and the light of lanterns. The smile on Lu Liangsheng's face gradually faded. He turned around, stepped over the eaves of one side, and was thrown into the distant darkness. Soon, he landed at the foot of the imperial city. Seeing this, the soldiers guarding the city gate hurriedly came to the spare carriage, invited the imperial teacher to get on, and then passed through the long palace wall and deep courtyard.
After a moment, the rotating shaft of the carriage rolled over the flat square tiles and slowly stopped under the stone steps of a hall. The soldier driving the carriage jumped down and reached out to pull the curtain to one side.
"National Master, we're here."
Lu Liangsheng waved his hand and refused to support him. He got off the carriage and walked step by step to Wenzhao Palace. He asked the eunuch on duty and went straight to the study in the side hall.
Turning the corner of the corridor, from a distance, an eunuch standing outside the study saw the Imperial Master coming and hurriedly went to greet him, bowing and saying, "Your servant greets the Imperial Master."
"Your Majesty, are you ready to go to bed?" Lu Liangsheng asked casually. He looked at the window frame where the lights were still on, followed the eunuch to the door, and then heard a voice from inside: "Come in."
The eunuch carefully pushed the door open and stepped aside: "Grandmaster, please."
The study was brightly lit, with flames flickering from bronze lampposts on both sides. In front of a huge screen, Yang Guang was holding a pen in one hand, looking up at a large map of the northwest, marking cities and roads on it from time to time. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head to see the scholar coming in, and immediately put his brush on the table and hurried to greet him.
"Master, you really keep your word. You said you would return in a few days, and you will return in a few days. I just happen to have something to tell you."
He hurriedly asked the eunuch outside to bring a chair and put it opposite the desk. Lu Liangsheng did not refuse. He glanced at the map hanging there and sat down.
"Your Majesty, what you want to talk to me about is the Western Expedition to Tuyuhun?"
"The Imperial Master already knows?"
"How could I not know about the troop movements outside?"
Although Lu Liangsheng said that, he did not tell the emperor that the news came from Yuwen Chengdu. After all, such a leak of secrets, even if it was told to him, would make the emperor unhappy and ruin the future of that powerful general.
"Your Majesty, I just came back from the northwest. On the way, I met the Tuyuhun envoys, but they had met with an accident."
"Okay! Hahaha—"
Yang Guang blinked his eyes, and suddenly clapped his hands and laughed. He thought that Lu Liangsheng was taking the opportunity to retaliate. "Well done, Imperial Master. These villains should all be killed. How can we let them come and go as they please? It will bring disgrace to the Sui Dynasty. Killing one team is not enough to relieve our hatred. Yesterday, I decided to send troops to the northwest to unite with Gaochang and Yiwu to encircle Tuyuhun!"
Outside the door, the eunuch brought tea and placed it on the table. After leaving the room, Lu Liangsheng smiled and waved his hand.
"Your Majesty, you misunderstood. I went to the northwest for other reasons."
Then, he told the emperor about the group of monsters in the northwest, and also mentioned the matter of the Tuyuhun envoys. Hearing that Fo Lianzun had lost an arm and his strength was greatly reduced, Yang Guang repeated, "Good!"
However, Lu Liangsheng went to the palace to see the emperor late at night not just to tell him about some stories about monsters in the northwest.
"Your Majesty, our Great Sui Dynasty has only been established for a few years, and its foundation is still weak. Are you thinking carefully before you send a large army to the west?"
Outside the palace, the serving eunuchs, palace maids, and guards instinctively moved away from the door. Others did not dare to ask the emperor in such a tone, but Lu Liangsheng in front of him was different. He had watched Yang Guang grow from a teenage Prince of Jin to the ruler of the world today.
The lights flickered, illuminating the emperor who was sitting behind the desk. After a moment of silence, Yang Guang looked across and said, "Sir, I don't want to resort to violence, but I have made few achievements since I ascended the throne. I am afraid that my prestige is not enough to command civil and military officials as arbitrarily as the last emperor did and to subdue the states."
Yang Guang let out a breath, and all the resentment and worry in his heart burst out in one breath.
"... Yang Su relied on his merits to suppress me, but I don't care. I just regret that I can't make great achievements and it's hard to convince the people... As a son, the late emperor's original wish for the Grand Canal has always been on my mind and I can't sleep at night. So, sir, you can understand my difficulties."
The young emperor was full of vigor and it was inevitable that he wanted to accomplish something great. Lu Liangsheng also felt this way. When he first achieved success and ascended the throne, he wanted to persuade Chen Shubao on his own, but ended up being humiliated.
But the ambition at this time is often impossible to dissuade. Only when one hits a wall like he did in the past will he wake up. Lu Liangsheng did not try to persuade him too much. He just told Yang Guang about his experience in the Southern Chen Dynasty and his feelings of passing the imperial examination and wanting to do great things, hoping that he could understand the setbacks he might encounter.
"Don't worry, sir. I am no longer as young as I was before and can naturally bear it!" Yang Guang nodded behind the desk. He had some expectations for the subsequent war.
"As long as your majesty has confidence."
After talking for a while, Lu Liangsheng took his leave and left the palace. It was already late at night when he returned to Wanshou Temple. When he opened the door of the attic hall, he saw Lu Pan and eight other people lying on the ground in a mess, mumbling drunken words in a daze.
After going up to the third floor, I saw Hong Lian and Qi You squatting in the corridor outside. The latter pouted and opened the door: "Old witch, look for yourself." Hong Lian, who was standing beside her, covered her mouth and laughed.
Lu Liangsheng walked to the door and couldn't help but laugh. What caught his eye was a wild boar as big as a hill with a pair of upturned fangs, crawling on the floor, sleeping soundly and blowing bubbles.
On his back, a monkey was lying there, grinding its teeth and twitching. Behind its red butt, a long tail with a wine jar wrapped around it was hanging there, dangling. The Toad Taoist had his clothes open, lying on the bed with his arms and legs spread out, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his white belly rising and falling, and he was sleeping soundly.
Well, the three drunken demons revealed their true forms.
Lu Liangsheng sighed, and without paying any attention to the pig and the monkey on the ground, he walked over and put his master on the small bed, covered him with a quilt, then sat down at the desk, spread out the paper, and started grinding ink.
A slender hand reached out and lit the candle. Hong Lian sat down lightly at the side of the table and took the inkstone from the scholar and started grinding it.
"Sir, it's late at night, do you still want to write?"
"Well, the issue in the northwest has been resolved. Next, I should also lay down some rules for eliminating the evil star." Lu Liangsheng responded, took a pen from the pen holder, dipped it in ink, and wrote it on the paper. Qi You yawned, stretched, and looked at the man and woman over there with boredom, and turned into black smoke and went into the bookshelf.
The lights are warm yellow, illuminating the house.
Rustle... The room was filled with the sound of pen tips touching paper.
Hong Lian sat on one side, quietly looking at the focused profile over there, gently kicking her embroidered shoes. Outside the open window, the wandering clouds revealed a pointed crescent moon.