After reading and hanging plaques at the top of the city, the envoy Li Gongde led Xu Fengnian to the mansion of the great general near the south gate. Li Gongde, one of the officials, was eloquent, talking about the height of the main city wall of this border city, the length of the double road between the two cities, the number of crossbows at the head of the city, the inventory of arrows and armor, etc., which can be said to be very accurate. It's like reporting how much silver is in a certain box at home, and how many copper coins are in a certain cabinet.
Master Jinglue can even blurt out the details of how many Beimang catapults can withstand the concentrated bombardment of any one of the main city walls, how many Beimang soldiers and ants attached to the city, and the people on the central axis of the people under their feet. The old man knows all about the mobilization of troops, how to build a second line of defense once the main city gate is breached, and how the small-scale cavalry can assist in the defense at critical moments. Not to mention that Xu Fengnian looked at each other with admiration, Chu Lushan and Yuan Zuozong looked at each other a little bit, Jin Zhegu Zhou Kang and infantry deputy commander Gu Dazu and many other generals all stared wide-eyed. In the past, Lingzhou in Jiangnan outside the Great Wall was recognized as "the power belongs to the Zhong family, and the money belongs to the Li family." Family", Beiliangdao officials all know that this iron rooster is a good official and has a good way of making money. I really haven't heard that Li Gongde can do things like this!
Approaching the not-yet-completed Great General's Mansion, Li Gongde suddenly laughed and said, "Jibei City has used up all the huge trees collected from the deep mountains and old forests of Nanzhao in Western Shu and stored in Beiliang for many years. The huge stones needed to build the city are even more The Lantau Cave was almost cut upside down, not to mention the distance, the generals must have climbed up and looked south, and the two hills, the head of the dragon and the tail of the tiger, have been completely invisible. From the first garrison inside the pass, the garrison outside the pass was transferred to the north, and the city was built outside the pass. After that, most of the frontier troops took turns to join here, and the people in the pass were even more numerous..."
Having said this, the old man stopped talking and smiled.
Li Gongde, a civil servant who had an extremely bad reputation among the military generals in Beiliang, at this moment, that kind of undisguised high-spirited, how can there be any shadow of the minister of the Xu family in the Qingliang Mountain Council Hall in the early years
At that time, apart from Chu Lushan, who was "from the same family" and had a low rank at that time, no one was willing to talk to Li Gongde, the chief official of Yizhou. Tian Peifang, the former governor of Liangzhou, had always been reluctant to call this man a brother and brother in his early years. At the beginning when Beiliang decided to build Beibei City, everyone mistakenly thought that the young vassal king didn't really intend to let Li Gongde take charge of the overall situation, but wanted to send this strategist who had made the officialdom of Lingzhou into a mess out of the customs, so he hid it Firstly, he was justifiably relegated, and secondly, it was to pave the way for Xu Beizhi, Chen Xiliang, or Chang Sui's confidantes. Little did he know that Li Gongde really had a firm foothold here in Jubei City. Song Changsui, Tian Peifang, Wang Linquan were in charge of the three The governor and deputy supervisor with a specific direction, but the strategy makes the adults follow the lead, and has no intention of making Li Gongde superfluous, and Li Gongde has lived up to everyone's expectations and quickly entered the role. It has to be said that he can be the leader of civil servants in Beiliang Road. If you really want to be pragmatic, be unambiguous, and do everything by yourself, in the words of Li Gongde’s private chat with Song Changsui, it is to “stop making friends in official careers, share the same life with soldiers and craftsmen, and do everything in exploration, ramming soil, materials, and military codes.” They all have experience in matters such as food storage, food storage, etc., although they dare not claim to be omniscient, they are not considered laymen, and they can finally direct themselves, with a well-thought-out plan, and will not miss major events."
Li Gongde suddenly continued cunningly and cunningly: "My lord, Qingliangshan can't save all the expenses for tonight's celebration banquet!"
Yan Wenluan, the veteran infantry commander who probably hadn't chatted with Li Gongde in his whole life, said for the first time: "Master Li's autumn wind this time is not too much."
Xu Fengnian pointed to the Beiliang Road Transit Envoy beside him, and laughed, "Our big money manager is here, and he speaks more effectively than me now."
Xu Beizhi hesitated for a moment, then nodded and smiled, "Okay, originally I kept a box, which probably contained two calligraphy and paintings by Sui Ying, the great painter of the Dafeng Dynasty, and a green-end bergamot Tiancheng inkstone made by the emperor of the old Southern Tang Dynasty, Daqin A piece of 'Wang Wu' jade seal from the last year, 15 or 6 scattered pieces, is not difficult to sell for 5,000 or 6,000 silver. After the celebration banquet, if you reject Beicheng, go to Qingliang Mountain to get some from Mr. Song first. , I will sell this box later, and I should be able to fill this hole soon, and there will be some spare time, and I will leave it to Mr. Li."
As soon as Xu Beizhi's words came out, everyone tacitly turned their heads to look at the young feudal lord.
Xu Fengnian rolled his eyes.
The audience roared with laughter.
Perhaps Xu Beizhi is the only one in the world who dares to assassinate our Xinliang King so openly.
Afterwards, there were three major celebration banquets, and the generals were divided into two groups. Yan Wenluan, Chen Yunchui, He Zhonghu, Liu Yuanji, and Lin Doufang, the group of meritorious elders who had experienced the Spring and Autumn Wars, and the youngest Yuan Zuozong also participated. For the Xu family in Qingliangshan and the Beiliang frontier army, this Yuan Baixiong is an indispensable existence. After all, he is above military affairs. Although Liang has many famous generals, Yuan Zuozong is probably the only person Chen Zhibao can truly admire. Chen Zhibao has said frankly many times that Yuan Zuozong is the most underestimated general in Liyang in the Spring and Autumn War.
Chu Lushan, the Protector of Northern Liang, personally led another group, including Wang Zhi, Cao Xiaojiao, Hong Xinjia and Hong Piao, and Yang Shenxing, the deputy governor of Beiliang Road, also appeared at the banquet.
The third event was a literati banquet jointly hosted by Li Gongde, Huang Chang and Tian Peifang. Most of them were scholars and scholars, and many children of the Lu family were also mixed in.
Xu Fengnian drank one after another. Although he drank a glass of green ant wine in one go, in fact, after three games, there were only two small pots. The main reason is that no one tried to persuade him to die. This is not surprising. Xu Xiao is still alive. As I said at the time, the guys with the worst character in the world are those who like to persuade people to drink because of their capacity for drinking. With alcohol, you have to drink a lot to be really happy, otherwise you can only suffer. Of course, that's what Xu Xiao said, but as long as you catch a guy with a weaker drinking capacity than yourself, and persuade him to drink without ambiguity, the guy who was persuaded to drink, say how many victories you have won in the past, you have to drink it , How many games have you lost, I, Xu Xiao, will help you remember, if you don't want to be put on small shoes, if you don't drink a few glasses of fine wine today, you will feel sorry, right? Who else has heard that your grandson has just begun to study, and this wine must be drunk, and heard that your son robbed women and beat him with a black nose and a swollen face? How aggrieved you are as a father, you have to drink to relieve your worries! However, although Xu Xiao's ability to persuade people to drink is unmatched in the world, as long as he drinks with people in Qingliang Mountain, no matter how many people he drinks with, he will never get drunk. It can be said that he will vomit every time he drinks. So-so.
Don't think that it is more presumptuous for warriors who are used to life and death to drink alcohol. In fact, when literati drink alcohol and drink well, that is called heroic and unrestrained. Xu Fengnian almost couldn't get away at the banquet. They each drank three full cups, and then Tian Peifang, who resigned from office and retired as a young man, also began to add insult to injury, saying that the three cups were too much, and he only had two cups with the prince. If Xu Beizhi hadn't been there to help stop him, Xu Fengnian would have to get down obediently even if he had the drinking capacity of a green ant. Finally, Xu Fengnian and Xu Beizhi, who smelled of alcohol, walked out of the general's mansion, and walked slowly northward on the main road.
Xu Beizhi said softly: "Before Li Gongde got drunk, he bought something with me."
Xu Fengnian was a little surprised, and joked: "Is the sun coming out from the west? We, Mr. Economic and Strategic Envoy, have always been fond of collecting gold and silver, and have always sneered at antiques."
Xu Beizhi smiled and said, "It's a small private seal. Since it's Tingchao Pavilion's collection, the material is of course not bad. In my opinion, it has been passed down from generation to generation. Due to frequent use, the color of the ink is very good, but these are all Secondly, do you know what Indian script is?"
Xu Fengnian laughed dumbfounded, "How could I guess that."
Xu Beizhi waved his sleeves, not knowing whether to shake off the smell of alcohol or to shake off his melancholy, "It's the four characters of 'minister's heart is like water', which means honesty, self-preservation, and innocence like water. If Yan Jiexi didn't leave Beiliang back then, I'm not surprised that he came to buy this small seal, even Tian Peifang, who has a pretty good reputation. But Li Gongde came to buy these four characters, isn't it a bit funny?"
Xu Fengnian frowned.
Xu Beizhi smiled and asked: "Then you guess again, how much money did Li Gongde spend to buy these four characters?"
Xu Fengnian suddenly said: "It's inconvenient for Li Gongde to pay for this celebration banquet openly, otherwise he will be suspected of acting as a substitute, so he used this method to help Qingliangshan put up money?"
Xu Beizhi stretched out two fingers and shook them.
Xu Fengnian couldn't help but said, "Twenty thousand silver? In the early years, the only hero in the world who was able to extract silver from Li Gongde was Li Hanlin. At that time, the money for drinking flowers and wine was all paid by Li Hanlin, but Every time I go home, his father will clean up and complain."
Xu Beizhi shook his head and smiled, "Two hundred."
Xu Fengnian looked stunned, "Two hundred taels of silver? This is Uncle Li!"
Xu Fengnian laughed heartily, and it was also the first time he called Li Gongde Uncle Li. In the final analysis, the two generations of the Xu family, Xu Xiao and Xu Fengnian in Beiliang, and the two generations of the Li family, Li Gongde and Li Hanlin, both have a great love for each other. To put it bluntly, when Yan Jiexi rebelled against Beiliang, Xu Xiao actually intended to make things difficult for him, not to go too far, but he definitely would not let Yan Jiexi go so lightly. On the other hand, Li Gongde, there was news from the Liyang court very early on that the old Chief Assistant Zhang Julu had intended to let him serve as the servant of the household department, and he was in charge of the taxation of Guangling Road and Jiangnan Road. You must know that Li Gongde was just the governor of a state at that time. That's it, even though they have the same rank and salary as a servant, Liyangjing officials have always been said to be of a higher rank, let alone a real servant who is close to the emperor? So Yan Jiexi, a scholar and literati, left, it was just a surprise to Li Yang, but it was incredible that Li Gongde stayed behind. As for the friendship between Xu Fengnian and Li Hanlin since childhood, let alone the friendship.
Xu Beizhi smiled, squeezed out a word from between his teeth, "Wan!"
Xu Fengnian thought he heard it wrong, "What?!"
Xu Beizhi exhaled lightly, and said with emotion: "It's two million taels of silver."
Xu Beizhi continued: "At the time Li Gongde told me that he had worked hard all his life to accumulate this huge family business, and originally wanted to make his son Li Hanlin have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life, but now he doesn't need it anymore."
Xu Beizhi turned his head to look at Xu Fengnian, raised his arm, clenched his fist and patted his chest, "The old man patted his chest and told me like this before, he said that I am Li Gongde's son, Li Hanlin! The majestic Beiliang White Horse Crossbowman Captain! What else do you need his father's money for?"
Xu Beizhi stopped, turned to look at the mansion, and repeated the old man's last words, "I, Li Gongde, can be looked down upon by anyone in my life, except my son!"
Xu Fengnian rubbed his cheeks with both hands, and asked softly: "Juzi, do you think I should remove Li Hanlin from Liuzhou?"
Xu Beizhi suddenly said angrily: "Fart!"
Xu Fengnian smiled, and looked up towards Liuzhou in the west, "Li Hanlin will definitely say that too."
…
To the north of Qingcang City in Liuzhou, Kou Jianghuai and Xu Longxiang have launched the second frontal blocking battle against Huang Song Pu's army.
Only half of the 1,200 Liangzhou white horse crossbowmen who rushed to Liuzhou were left.
Lieutenant Li Hanlin has 600 robes remaining under his command.