Zu Jue sat on the bow of the boat again.
The big boat rocked slowly, and Zu Jue swayed his body along with the rocking of the boat. He took a sip of wine, shook his head, and his whole body swayed rhythmically.
The two clerks behind him were stunned.
They didn't know what Zu Jue was doing, but he seemed to be enjoying it.
These two minor officials, one surnamed Xu, were arranged by Xingtai, and the other surnamed Cheng was arranged by Liu Taozi himself.
They followed Zu Jue with a very simple purpose, which was to keep an eye on this unattractive Chang Shi to prevent him from starting to act randomly.
Xingtai's side was afraid that Zu Jue would raise prices randomly and wanted to keep an eye on the trade and other aspects he discussed along the way. After all, Xingtai would have to foot the bill in the end. Liu Taozi's side simply kept an eye on Zu Jue and tried to persuade him more.
I advise you not to let his old illness relapse.
However, since the ship left Taoqing Prefecture, they could no longer control this long history, and he was directly used by Zu Jue as his follower.
At this moment, the official Cheng who was responsible for keeping an eye on Zu Jue directly became Zu Jue's special wine pourer, and the jug in his hand was never empty.
Zu Jue raised his wine cup to the sky, not knowing who he was offering it to, and drank it all in one gulp.
“Climb high and see the huge ravine, you don’t know how many miles it is~~”
"The cloud islands are connected one after another, and the trend is endless~~"
“When I look into the distance, I suddenly see the startling gulls flying!”
"If you are about to return without any farewell, it will naturally hurt your guests~~"
Xu Li was stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Grandpa, whose poem is this?"
"be mine!"
"Can I still read other people's poems?"
"What's so difficult about poetry and poetry?"
Zu Jue's face was red from drinking and he couldn't help laughing.
Xu Li praised: "No wonder all the nobles in Xingtai admire your talent."
Zu Jue glanced at him.
"Are you from the sidelines?"
"He is from Beiheng."
"What do you do in Xingtai?"
Xu Li said seriously: "My subordinate was once Duzhi Shangshu Jinbu Cao Lingshi"
"Then who did you offend in Xingtai?"
Li Xu replied blankly: "I have never offended anyone."
"Oh, you were promoted through assessment?"
A hint of pride flashed across Li Xu's face, and he nodded, "Yes, the first batch at the beginning of the year."
Zu Jue laughed, "No wonder"
"You stupid boy, you don't even know that others are harming you, so why do you think it's a good job to go out with me? With your temper, it's not like they arranged to come in to frame me. Just wait, if not
Someone will take care of you and you will be fine when you return to the platform."
Li Xu's expression changed greatly, "Grandpa, I don't understand."
Zu Jue ignored him and looked at Cheng Li who was standing aside. He looked him up and down and said, "Young man, you are not yet twenty, are you?"
"What did you do originally?"
Cheng Li hurriedly lowered his head and said, "I used to wash horses for the general."
Zu Jue suddenly put down the wine cup in his hand and looked at him a few more times, "Blue Lion??"
"right."
"Are you from a good family background? Who is your father?"
"Grandpa, my father is Cheng Zhe, the Minister of the Fifth Army in Xingtai."
"Oh, Cheng Zhe, Cheng Zhe, I know him. When the lord was an official in Dingzhou, he was a colleague with him. Later, when the lord opened the government, he followed him."
Zu Jue took another sip of wine and said, "Boy Xu, make a good relationship with this boy Cheng. When you get back to the platform, if someone comes to punish you, ask him for help. Do you understand?"
Xu Li had no idea what mistake he had made. He was ordered to record the trade agreement, and he did not neglect it. But after all, he was facing Zu Jue, so he could only nod in agreement.
Cheng Li looked into the distance and asked, "Grandpa, do we really want to trade with those great monks?"
"Why not?"
"Others can do it, but we can't?"
"But isn't this prohibited by law? What they want to buy are military weapons, and they will always have to fight in the future."
Zu Jue shook his head, "Then you are overthinking."
"These monks definitely did not buy these war horses to give them to the government for use in war."
"They want to use it to show off and curry favor with the powerful."
Zu Jue narrowed his eyes, "Nowadays, everyone in the world values ​​Buddhism, and the southern kingdom values ​​it the most. The monks in the southern kingdom are so rich and extravagant that the northern kingdom cannot compare. When the Liang Kingdom was still there, every time the temple was short of money, its emperor
He will become a monk, ignore state affairs, and ask the ministers to raise money to give to the temple before he is willing to leave."
"ah???"
Cheng Li's eyes widened.
Official Xu shook his head, "I once heard people say this in Xingtai. They said that the Liang Kingdom perished due to Buddha."
Zu Jue glanced at him and then laughed, "Liang Ren?"
"Hahaha, do you two know Chen Baxian, the founding emperor of the Chen Kingdom?"
"Know."
"He did it too!"
Zu Jue pondered for a moment, "It must have been less than ten years, I can't remember clearly."
"Chen Baxian was able to ascend the throne only because of these great monks to rectify his name. He used the Buddha's tooth to ascend to the throne. After he succeeded to the throne, the number of temples in the southern country increased instead of decreasing."
"In short, we need food now, just for the next few years. After next year's autumn harvest, the national treasury will not be so short of food. What they want is not stallions, just give them. As for iron tools, the same principle applies. On the broken knife
They don't care if it works well or not, they only care about how it looks and want a reputation, you know?"
The two nodded slowly.
Official Xu asked: "Grandpa, since everything has been settled, why don't we go back and continue walking south?"
Zu Jue took another small bite and looked into the distance.
"I heard from the monk that in recent years, their merchant ships can no longer come in and out as freely as before. The governor of Yangzhou often sends people to intercept, block, and destroy their business. He wants us to find a way."
"So, I have to go find this Yangzhou governor and have a good talk."
"That's part of the deal."
Li Xu and Li Cheng both frowned, and Li Cheng said, "I don't think it's appropriate to harm Zhongliang in order to make a deal."
"Who said I was going to harm others?"
"I'm bringing an army, and I'm going to bring you guys to harm others?"
Li Xu asked: "What is Grandpa going to do?"
"I want to recruit this person for my lord."
Zu Jue narrowed his eyes and murmured: "General Hussar, Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Yangzhou Governor, Kuaiji County Duke Wang Lin."
The two young men looked at each other. They obviously didn't know much about this person, but they could tell from his prefix that this person was anything but ordinary.
Zu Jue was particularly excited at this moment.
This Wang Lin is no ordinary person.
He used to be a famous general in the Southern Kingdom and participated in pacifying the rebellion of the General of the Universe. Later, Chen Ba attacked him several times but failed to gain any advantage. He even captured Hou Andu and Zhou Wenyu alive at one time. Later, he was defeated by Chen Guo and fled to Da Da.
Qi, Emperor Xiaozhao was in power at that time, and Emperor Xiaozhao also valued him particularly and wanted to use him to deal with the Chen people.
This person has good moral character, is deeply supported by the military and civilians, and is highly capable in combat.
And the most important thing is that this man is proficient in water warfare. Although he was defeated miserably by Chen Guo before, in Da Qi, I am afraid there is no general who is better at water warfare than him.
There are many generals around my lord, but there are really not many generals who can fight with ships and water.
Wang Lin was ostracized by everyone in Qi State. She couldn't get along with her colleagues and everyone looked down upon him.
Isn't this a good opportunity?
Of course, Zu Jue did not head to the southern border rashly. On the boat at the moment, there was Lou Ziyan following him. Lou Rui served as the governor in the south. As his son, he protected Zu Jue to Yangzhou to meet Wang Lin, and then
It's not difficult to send it back again.
These cowards in the south knew that he had come here alone, so they probably didn't have much courage to attack him.
Zu Jue and his group headed along the coast under the leadership of Lou Ziyan.
They traveled a long, long way.
By the time they started to disembark and change cars, it was already early winter.
Fortunately, Lou Ziyan was well prepared and wore thick clothes, so he was not afraid of the cold wind. They all moved forward like this, and by the first month of the following year, they finally arrived at their destination.
Yangzhou, Shaopi.
On the clear lake, there are warships parked one after another.
As the main ship issued various orders, the warships kept going back and forth, converging, and then dispersed.
Sun Shu'ao, Prime Minister of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period, built Shaopi to divert water to create a lake. Since then, it has played many important roles, such as irrigation, disaster relief, and training of navy troops.
A high platform was set up on the shore.
A middle-aged man wearing armor was standing on the high platform, looking into the distance.
He didn't look so stern, with soft eyes and an elegant temperament. He looked at the ships practicing in the distance, looking at them one by one, lowering his head and recording something.
Behind him were two officers.
One of them had burn marks on his face, which were very obvious and scary to look at.
He said slowly: "Lord, there are only three days left. If we don't go back, the man named Lu will make things difficult for us again."
Wang Lin didn't seem to hear her, didn't answer, and continued to do her own thing.
The two people stopped talking.
After a while, Wang Lin looked at the officers on the side again, "Sign up the formation change and ask them to change formation again."
"only."
The officer didn't waste any time, he immediately raised the flag and started waving it.
The warships in the distance began to change their formations again. At this moment, a cold wind blew in front of her. Wang Lin froze. She was stunned for a moment, and then continued to write.
This wind is the pain of Wang Lin's life.
Especially the changeable wind.
While they were still busy, a group of people in the distance slowly approached the place. Of course, they were quickly blocked by the surrounding soldiers.
The officer on the high platform looked back at the people in the distance, his eyes full of anger.
After coming to Qi State, life for these people was not good.
At that time, Gao Yan had great respect for them. He gave them various rewards and military pay, and asked Wang Lin to collect his former troops, let him train and organize them into an army, and even rewarded him with a full set of Qi military drums.
But after Gao Yan died, their lives changed.
The military pay in the temple was immediately stopped, and no supplement was given to them.
And local officials are in trouble with them at every turn.
When Wang Lin's navy patrolled the river between the two countries, they were often able to intercept many ships transporting stolen goods.
Either the northerners secretly do business with the southerners, or the southerners secretly do business with the north.
Especially those bald donkeys in the south.
Because Buddhism is prevalent in various places, there are no restrictions on monks' ships. Monks from the south can go to the north to conduct Buddhist activities at will, which results in them conducting smuggling trade in the name of spreading Buddhism.
Other merchant ships cannot sail to the enemy country openly, but the monk's ship can.
Wang Lin is a very serious person. After Gao Yan asked him to guard Yangzhou and lead the military, he began to gather his old troops, strengthen their troops, and began strict inspections.
In addition, he was originally from the South and had surrendered. He had a stubborn personality and was not able to play well with the Qi people. This made his relationship with his colleagues worse and worse.
He has almost no friends here, they are all enemies.
Lu Qian from Daoxingtai in Yangzhou was quite opposed to Wang Lin coming to train the army this time.
But Wang Lin ignored his order and brought people over anyway. Lu Qian set a time limit for him and urged him to return within the time limit.
After the carriage stopped, a few people who looked like officials walked out, pointing at themselves and saying something to the left and right.
The officer looked at Wang Lin again.
"Lord, Lu Qian has sent someone again."
Wang Lin finally put away the documents in her hand and looked down at the people in the distance.
"Let's go."
Wang Lin led the two of them down the high platform and walked calmly in front of those people. The soldiers under his command were shouting something with them. When they saw Wang Lin coming, they hurriedly stopped talking.
Wang Lin strode up to them and looked at the strangers.
"Is Mr. Lu so afraid of my rebellion?"
Lou Ziyan was stunned and saluted Wang Lin, "General Wang, we are not sent by Lu Qian."
Wang Lin was stunned. He looked at the boy in front of him again for a moment and said, "Lou Rui's son?"
Wang Lin met Lou Rui, and Lou Ziyan's appearance was somewhat similar to Lou Rui's.
Lou Ziyan was a little unhappy with Wang Lin calling him by his first name, but he still moved his body so that Zu Jue could see the prince.
Zu Jue walked forward with a smile and stared at Wang Lin in front of him.
Wang Lin was not angry and stared at Zu Jue with the same eyes. The two stared at each other for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I have long admired your name. I have traveled for several months just to see you."
Hearing this sigh, Wang Lin became more and more confused, "You are"
"I am the Commander-in-Chief of the General's Office, Shi Zujue! I pay my respects to the General Hussars!!"
Zu Jue saluted, and Wang Lin immediately returned the salute.
"It turns out to be Grandpa."
Wang Lin's face suddenly softened a lot, and he explained: "The person I just mistakenly thought was Mr. Lu is rude, so don't take it seriously."
Zu Jue took a step forward and took Wang Lin's hand directly.
"Your Majesty, don't be so open-minded!"
"My great general heard about your reputation outside the Great Wall and asked me to come here to meet you!"
"It has been nearly half a year since I left Qingzhou, and I finally met you! You are indeed as powerful as the rumors say, a tiger and wolf general!!"
Zu Jue's expression was excited, and so were his words.
Wang Lin calmly withdrew her hand, "An unbearable person, a defeated general, let Grandpa work so hard. It really shouldn't be done. I want to hold a banquet in the city to entertain Grandpa."
"well."
Zu Jue followed Wang Lin directly into the same car, and Wang Lin couldn't drive him out.
Sitting in the car, Zu Jue said with emotion: "In such weather, it is really admirable that the prince can continue to train his troops."
"This is just my job."
"Many generals today cannot do this."
"Prince, I'm here to pick you up and leave."
Wang Lin's expression became extremely complicated for a moment, and he looked at the weirdo next to him again.
"What did you say?"
"My lord, I heard about your situation here. These guys don't know heroes. What kind of thing is Lu Qian? He has been managing Jianghuai for so many years and he has hidden so much money for himself!"
"What virtue and ability does he have that dares to bully you?"
"You probably know the current situation in the temple. The emperor has gone to Jinyang. It can be said that the temple is in vain. The places south of the river are now in chaos. Some ambitious people have begun to imitate the general.
They established their own official positions and established their own systems, and even started fighting with each other, grabbing military power, and wooing the wealthy families, hoping to stage a show of heroes standing side by side in Henan."
Zu Jue's eyes were full of disdain, "However, I don't need to say anything more, the prince also knows what these people are."
"These people want to play separatist rule. When my king's heavenly soldiers arrive, no one will be alive."
"And you stay here and have soldiers in your hands. You are a thorn in their side. They all want to get rid of you."
"If you are going to the south, although you and Chen Guo are mortal enemies, I think with Chen Qian's personality, if you are willing to surrender, he will definitely be willing to accept it. But the problem is, when I am about to arrive here, I listen to the south
The great monks said that Chen Qian's health is very poor and it is difficult to deal with political affairs at the moment. He has been recuperating all day long, saying that he may not survive this year."
"If he is gone, there will be no one in the southern country who has the courage to accept you."
"As for the Puppet Zhou, Yu Wenyong has just killed Yu Wenhu. It is the time when he needs his confidant. If you go, you may be able to become Yu Wenyong's confidant. But the only problem is that there are many military leaders on their side, twenty
Fourth Military Mansion,
General Zhu Guo, there are no vacancies in these. You are a southerner who wants to go to the Puppet Zhou Dynasty to express your ambition. Even if you can be trusted by the emperor, it will be difficult to grasp the real power. You may still be left in Chang'an and hang up.
False official position."
Zu Jue actually analyzed Wang Lin seriously, as if he was Wang Lin's adviser at the moment.
He said: "From what I see, whether the prince stays here, goes to the south, or goes to Zhou, it is not a good choice."
"Therefore, only my king's place is the best place for you to end up!"
"My king attaches great importance to you. As a long history man, I have many major events in the country. My lord asked me to put aside these things and come all the way here, which is enough to prove that he values ​​you. And my lord also lacks soldiers who are good at navy.
General, if you go, you will definitely be ranked above all other generals and will be in charge of the army of water ships!"
"Last point, my king has made great achievements as a humble official. In just seven or eight years, he has conquered Hebei, repeatedly defeated the puppet Zhou Dynasty, and personally killed the generals. The rising trend can be seen at a glance. If you go to join him now, you will be the minister of the dragon in the future.
!!”
Zu Jue took Wang Lin's hand again.
"Your Majesty, I am different from these people in the south. I have always been straightforward and will say whatever I have to say."
Chapter completed!