The night was dark, and Liang Xiao walked slowly along the long corridor with his hands in his arms, stopping from time to time to look at the bright moonlight and the sparkling Pengli Lake. He repeatedly recalled what he said to Mei Gao to see if there was anything missing.

The friendship with Mei Gao was not a well-designed plan. He had considered Mei Gao, but was not sure. If Mei Gao had not proposed it on his own initiative, he would not have told Mei Gao about this. Even though he had been thinking about it for a long time before he spoke, he still didn't dare to rest assured.

After all, this is not a trivial matter. Once it fails, it is not only Mei Gao, but also Dou Ying.

He didn't want to become Dou Ying's gravedigger.

Turning around the corner, Liang Xiao stopped. He heard the laughter. Next door was the academy, and there should be no one at this moment, so why are there still people laughing? Liang Xiao thought about it, turned around and walked through the corner gate, and walked towards the academy.

The academy is halfway up the mountain. In the night, the lights emerge from the glass, like a piece of bright crystal. Through the glass window, Liang Xiao vaguely saw several graceful figures. He was curious, quickened his pace, walked to the academy corridor, and looked in through the window.

Liu Ling and Liang Yu were all there, Yue Liang, Beta and others were there, and there were also Yue girls who were bought by Liang Xiao and arranged to serve Huan Yuan. They sat behind the desk, some were writing with their pens, some were reading with their books, and some were holding their cheeks and tilting their heads, looking at Liang Yu in the middle of the podium.

Liang Xiao held the instruction stick and lit the blank wooden board behind him as if something was right, like an old pedan, with vivid expressions and exaggerated movements, which caused bursts of laughter from time to time. Liang Xiao was surprised. In his impression, Liang Yu, as his name was, was always a quiet woman with a melancholy halo. Unexpectedly, she had such a lively side.

Liang Yu saw Liang Xiao first and gave a wink at Liu Ling, who was sitting in the front row. Liu Ling turned around and quickly got up and walked out. The blush on his face had not yet dissipated. "Are you back?"

"What are you doing?"

"It's nothing, sit together and talk about gossip. During dinner, Wen Ji talked about the plan to renovate the study. On a whim, he went to the academy to reflect it first." Liu Ling took Liang Xiao's hand and walked aside. "Husband, I want to pick up a few more people to serve Master Xing and exchange these Yue girls back."

Liang Xiao understood what Liu Ling meant as soon as he heard it. In fact, he roughly guessed it when he saw these people just now.

"You're not at ease?"

"Well, it's not that they have any problems, but the master's place has a lot of people, and they are too simple and don't know that people's hearts are sinister. It's probably inappropriate to have too many contacts with outsiders. It's better to have some restrictions."

"Okay, you can arrange this matter, there will be no problem with the master."

"Then it's settled." Liu Ling turned around and prepared to go back to the house. Liang Xiao grabbed her. "I have something to tell me."

Liu Ling was very curious. "What's the matter so urgent? Can't you wait for me to go back?"

"I talked to Mei Gao about something."

Liu Ling blinked and raised his hand. "Wait, I'll go back and say hello to Wen Ji, and I'll go back with you first."

Liang Xiao did not insist. When Liu Ling went in, he greeted Liang Yu and Yueliang, he came out. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder. They walked along the long corridor and did not speak. After returning to the room and closing the door, Liang Xiao sat by the bed and told Mei Gao about the process of communicating with Mei Gao.

Liu Ling blinked and looked at Liang Xiao in confusion. "That's all?"

Liang Xiao was surprised. How important this is, why did Liu Ling look carelessly? "Isn't this... important?"

"Of course it's important." Liu Ling walked to Liang Xiao's side, leaned on Liang Xiao's shoulder, reached out to push Liang Xiao's face, and pointed it at the tip of his nose, raising his eyebrows lightly. "But it's not that important. Husband, you've been too nervous recently."

"Uh..." Liang Xiao was speechless. It's not that I was too nervous, it's that you were too relaxed. For such a big thing, how about you playing house?

Seeing Liang Xiao looking at him with this look, Liu Ling giggled. Her eyes rolled. "It's still early now. Should you practice guidance first, or wait for it, or stop practicing today. One yin and one yang are called Tao. If you are too nervous, I want to help you relax."

Liang Xiao rolled his eyes, stretched out his hands, and pressed Liu Ling's shoulder. "I said, Master Weng, please stop joking, okay? I'm telling you serious things."

"What I'm talking about is serious." Liu Ling blinked his eyes, making him even more charming. "You are too nervous now and you will get stuck in the verge of anything you want. If you can't relax, how can you handle this? Just like archery, you don't need brute force and go to nature. The correct way to shoot archery is."

Liang Xiaoyu was choking, but he couldn't think of a reason to argue. Seeing this, Liu Ling simply stopped asking for his opinion and got up and called Beta and Xiya. "Come some water to serve your husband, and wash yourself."

Liang Xiao was shocked when he heard this. "Master Weng, you are..."

"Sit well." Liu Ling stretched out two fingers and pressed against Liang Xiao's lips, indicating that he should not speak. "I have a good idea. Don't forget that I am the master of Huainan. When it comes to Taoism, the classics collected by the Huainan Prince's Mansion are the best in the world. Even compared with the secretaries in the palace, it is not inferior. Do you think that only you have the guidance skills, I won't do it?"

Liang Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly and laughed silently.

Liang Xiao spread his arms and lay on the bed. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous he felt, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.

Liu Ling was right, he was much more relaxed now. Although he still couldn't be as relaxed as Liu Ling, at least he understood the reason.

Just as Mei Gao was more likely to accept his instigation than he thought, Liu Ling's attitude towards this matter was not as serious as he thought. In other words, he took this matter too seriously. The fundamental reason was that their thinking habits were different. People's way of thinking often lag behind the times. Although the imperial power in the Han Dynasty was rapidly strengthening, Liu Ling and Mei Gao's thinking remained in the Warring States Period when the warring states were scattered. Although he came from a modern society of democratic law, his thinking inevitably retained the **** era when the power was highly concentrated and the action was caused by the consequences.

In Liu Ling and Mei Gao's view, they just gathered more power to form public opinion and advise the court. It was not a rebellion, so there was no need to worry too much. At most, they would be dismissed from office and could not be an official for life. In his view, this was actually a rebellious dragon scale, and the emperor was angry. They might have their heads falling to the ground anywhere.

Judging from the results, his nervousness makes more sense. But in other words, if Mei Gao had the same idea as him, he would probably not have agreed so readily. Changing a place to become an official and fighting with his life are completely different concepts.

Liu Ling crawled over, leaned on Liang Xiao's chest, pinched Liang Xiao's nose, and asked with a smile: "Why are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, your approach is very useful."

"Of course." Liu Ling was very proud. "The way of civil and military affairs is to relax and relax. If you are too tense, I have to relax you. If you are too relaxed, I will remind you so that you can relax and relax."

"That's right. You are really my good friend." Liang Xiao hugged Liu Ling in his arms and looked at the roof. "Since Mei Gao took the initiative to ask for the fight, I will let him and Dou Ying rush forward. I plan to stay in Lushan for a while and make some preparations. What do you think?"

“What kind of preparation do you do?”

"Weapons, money, intelligence, of course, there are people."

Liu Ling's eyes lit up. "Tell me specifically."

"Fighting with the small ones is necessary to have a killer move. Although you don't want to use force, you must be prepared in this way. The emperor is a very strong person. If there is not enough force to deter him, no one can guarantee that he will not break up and fight with each other."

Liu Ling nodded repeatedly. "Yes, if you really want to fight, the court has an absolute advantage. The King of Wu Liu Bi of the Wu Dynasty prepared for thirty years, but he could not stop the imperial army. The population of Huainan Country alone is definitely not enough." Liu Ling supported his body with his arms and looked at Liang Xiao curiously. "In addition to the glass, stirrups, and steelmaking, what kind of killer weapon do you have to take out?"

"Do you think I will devote all my family to the court?" Liang Xiao wrinkled his nose, looking proud. "Don't worry, I keep all the best things."

"Is that true? Then I want to see what good things you have."

"Since I decided to build a country overseas, warships are of course the key. When I decided to build a ship in Yuzhang before, I thought about this issue. The experiments you did in Maoling are also part of this plan. On these basis, we can build more powerful warships. Even if the emperor organizes hundreds of buildings, I will still be able to destroy him."

Liu Ling opened his eyes wide and was skeptical. "Take it serious?"

Liang Xiao gave her a blank look. "Master Weng, you should never underestimate the power of technology. A great man once said that science and technology are the primary productive forces. Think about it, stirrups are very simple, right? With it, the Han army knights can compete with the Huns who lived on horseback since childhood for only one or two years. Steelmaking is not complicated, but with it, the Chen family makes a lot of money..."

After hearing Liang Xiao’s explanation, Liu Ling smiled and became curious. “Don’t keep it aside, just say it straight, how to improve the combat power of the tower ship?”

Liang Xiao was also a little excited, turned over and sat up, put on his clothes and got out of bed, took a boat model, returned to the bed, and sat cross-legged.

"First of all, I want to improve the propulsion method and improve the propulsion efficiency. According to my estimate, I can increase the speed of the ship by at least half. In fact, I need to increase the hull, then install giant crossbows on the ship to increase the ranged attack ability, and add a stick to enhance my melee ability..."

Listening to Liang Xiao’s familiar explanation of the transformation ideas of the warship, Liu Ling was fascinated by the hearing. She had seen Liang Xiao transforming the building ship with her own eyes and presided over the ship test for several months. She had handled no less than a hundred ship models, and she was already half a shipbuilding expert. However, the design that Liang Xiao said at this moment still opened her eyes and said she was incredible.

Seeing Liu Ling, who is famous for his intelligence, looking at him with admiration, Liang Xiao couldn't help but feel confident. He was afraid that the emperor would be awesome. If he really wanted to compete, he still didn't know who could laugh to the end.

In Ganquan Palace, the emperor leaned on the generous imperial desk, holding his forehead with one hand and rubbing the huge map with the other, hesitating.

The map is a map of the Western Regions. After more than two years of field surveying and mapping by Meigao, the map of the Western Regions he had was already fine enough to make him clear about the situation in the Western Regions at a glance. It is precisely because of this that he is even more uneasy.

The Huns made a comeback, and the Qiang people were pleased with each other and invaded Hexi from both north and south. The scouts had arrived in the Wuwei area. Autumn was coming soon. If the plan was not made as soon as possible, once the Huns and Qiang people invaded, control of Hexi would inevitably change hands.

If it were a few years ago, the court would not care about the situation in Hexi at all, because Hexi was not under the control of the Han Dynasty. The situation is different now. After the efforts of Liang Xiao and others, Li Danghu, Li Shuyun and others stationed troops in the Western Regions countries. Hexi was already controlled by the Han army, and Hu and Han merchants were endless, which not only brought the rare treasures of the Western Regions, but also brought the surrender of the Western Regions to the Han Dynasty.

At this time, the loss of control over Hexi will not only make the Western Regions' yearning for the Han Dynasty and will be lost again, but the court's face will also be seriously damaged.

More importantly, Liang Xiao, the first person to explore the Western Regions, was "rehaving" in Lushan Mountain. Although he increased Liang Xiao's fief and refuted the rumors of abandoning Liang Xiao, he knew in his heart that if he could not repel the attack of the Huns, it was inevitable that someone would think that if he left Liang Xiao, he would not be able to do a big deal. He was the court who could not use people.

He didn't want to leave this impression, so there was only one way. When Liang Xiao was "restoring illness", he could still strongly repel the Huns and firmly grasp the control of Hexi, and even do better than Liang Xiao.

How can we do better? Who can lead troops to fight and be better than Liang Xiao?

The emperor screened the generals who could go to war again and again in his mind: Han Anguo, Li Guang, Wei Qing, and Cao Shi, Cheng Bushi, who was guarding the northern border?

The emperor was hesitant. These people had their own strengths, but no matter who they were, they could not surpass Liang Xiao. The one who was most capable was Wei Qing, but Wei Qing's ability was at best and Liang Xiao was equal to Liang Xiao. It seemed unlikely that he would complete it better than Liang Xiao.

The emperor was a little anxious and let out a heavy breath. He raised his head and waved to the Lord Yan, who was standing beside him. "What are your suggestions for the candidates for the Western Expedition?"

Xu Le said: "Your Majesty, I think that no one is more suitable for the familiarity with the Western Regions than Liang Xiao."

The emperor remained silent.

The master Yan chuckled softly and said, "Your Majesty, I think it would not be the case. This time, the most important battlefield is not the Western Regions, but Hexi. In terms of understanding Hexi, Meigao should be the best. Even Liang Xiao is slightly inferior in this regard."

The emperor smiled. "Yes, Mei Gao knew the situation in Hexi best. With him as his guide, no matter who it is, he would not be worried about getting lost."

"Your Majesty said so much, so I recommend that the Marquis of Pingyang lead the troops to the expedition, and Mei Gao is the military adviser. Behind the Marquis of Pingyang, he is the husband of Princess Yang Xin, who is loyal and honest, and is the most suitable candidate. I heard that even Liang Xiao himself highly respects the Marquis of Pingyang."

After hearing the last sentence of Master Yan, the emperor raised his eyebrows. He had also heard this sentence, which was reposted by Han Shuo. Liang Xiao admired Cao Shi so much, which looked a bit strange. Before the navy commanded the navy to fight in Minyue, Cao Shi had no experience in commanding troops. How did Liang Xiao determine that he had the ability to use troops, and his evaluation was so high.

Could it be that they had a relationship with each other, and Cao Shi gave him good? A doubt arose in the emperor's heart—

(To be continued.)
Chapter completed!