Jiuxi

Chapter 112 111 [Meet again]

In the 12th year of Jianwu's reign in the Southern Qi Dynasty, September 27th.

The almanac says that the vegetation is yellow and falling.

Lu Chen set out to leave Guangling, and in his entourage, in addition to two long followers and six highly skilled guards, there was also a shop owner named Chen Shu.

Li Chengen stayed in Guangling to continue training the cavalry of the Guards Battalion. Wang Jun, who had defected to the camp, joined the camp as a clerk and was temporarily responsible for some logistical chores.

The group traveled south, took a boat across the Hengjiang River at Baishidu, and arrived at the boundary of Xinzhou on the south bank.

They followed the official road in the north-south direction through the entire Xinzhou. Nothing happened along the way, and they were able to check in smoothly at every station they went to.Whenever Lu Chen produced an official document sent by the palace eunuch, he would be given extremely high treatment by the Yi Cheng, even better than some fourth- and fifth-grade officials.

Lu Chen would not be arrogant because of this. Chen Shu, who was accompanying him, took care of everything along the way. Although it cost some money, it was worth it. After all, Lu Tong had warned them before they set off that nothing would be better than arriving in the capital safely. important.

On the fifth day of October, the capital was already in sight.

When it was getting dark, a group of knights came to Songyang Station in Changtai Mansion, which was more than forty miles away from the capital and was the last station in the northern suburbs of the capital.

Rest here for one night and set off at dawn tomorrow to reach the capital in the afternoon.

Lu Chen saw that the stables on the side of Songyang Station were full of horses, and then Yi Cheng brought some not-so-good news.

After checking that the official document Chen Shu handed over was suitable, Yi Cheng felt that he had heard the name Lu Chen before, but he could only say apologetically: "Liu Xiaowei, I'm really sorry, Songyang Station is full today." , there are really no free rooms. Or do you want to go further south? There is a small town more than ten miles ahead. There should be an inn in the town. If the inn is full, you might as well find a local stay for a little money. Just silver."

Chen Shu turned his head and glanced at the dim sky, took a step closer and whispered: "Please, Mr. Yi Cheng, please do it for your convenience and help us free up a room and get some food."

As he spoke, he handed over two taels of silver.

Yi Cheng did not answer, but said with a wry smile: "It's not that I'm unwilling to help, it's just that there are no extra rooms. In fact, before you guys arrived, there were already two groups of people who went south because they couldn't live in it."

Chen Shu did not believe that the huge Songyang Post could not even vacate a room, so he took out another five taels of silver notes from his sleeve and handed it over, smiling and saying: "Master Yi Cheng, we will be running from morning to night today, and the horses I am very tired, and continuing to go south will only damage my mount's leg strength, and it is almost dark now and it is difficult to see the road, so please help me."

Seven taels of silver was indeed a lot. Yi Cheng looked at it with eyes warmed. However, thinking of the wolves and tigers of the frontier troops in the station, he couldn't help but said in embarrassment: "Liu Xiaowei, it's not just a low-ranking official's pretense, because there are only more than a hundred of them." Several border army officers came to Songyang Station and occupied all the rooms here. How about you discuss this with them?"

He originally hoped that the other party would give up and retreat, but unexpectedly, Lu Chen, who had been standing silently beside him, suddenly said: "Okay, please let Yi Cheng know inside and tell Huaizhou Lu Chen to ask them to help vacate two rooms."

Yi Cheng was stunned, and took a closer look at Lu Chen, secretly thinking that this young man really didn't know the world... But it was fine, seven taels of silver was in his pocket, and what happened next had nothing to do with him.

He asked Lu Chen and his party to wait for a while, and then quickly walked into the inn. When they came to the outside of a main room, they saw several soldiers with big muscles and round waists and majestic posture guarding the place.

In the main room, seven military generals were discussing matters, and the young female general in the middle attracted special attention.

Yi Cheng lowered his head and did not dare to look further. That was the apple of Jingzhou Governor Li's eye. It was said that he killed people on the battlefield just like chopping melons and vegetables. He was an extremely difficult person to mess with.

He stepped forward and saluted and said: "Generals, there are ten more people coming outside the post station. They are worthy of the imperial court. They could have stayed at the inn. But now the inn is full, and the other side hopes that the generals can be accommodating and give way to the inn. They have two rooms.”

The female general's face was expressionless, and a military general in his thirties next to him frowned and said: "Liu Yicheng, didn't I tell you before that your money will not short you? Didn't you hear clearly?"

The postmaster said uneasily: "General Rong Zhen, he is also an official in the imperial court. It is really not easy for me to refuse outright."

The general said coldly: "There are only so many rooms in the inn. Leave two of them for them. Where do you want our brothers to sleep? Tell me, where did the high-ranking officials come from who are so difficult to deal with, and why do we have to leave two of them for them?" The rough guys in the army know what they are doing.”

He thought that the guests mentioned by Yi Cheng must be officials from the capital.

Yi Cheng said cautiously: "This person calls himself Huaizhou Lu Chen."

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but after these words were spoken, the room suddenly became extremely quiet.

"Look at my bad mouth." The general suddenly reached out and patted his face.

Yi Cheng looked confused, and then he saw the young female general standing up, followed by the others. This formation frightened him.

"Generals -" He thought that these people were provoked by an unknown person and were going out to find trouble for Lu Chen and others. Even though he was a little frightened, if a big mess was caused in the inn, he would not be able to survive in the future.

This kind of thing is very common in Gyeonggi, and the children of powerful families often get into trouble over trivial matters.

However, these people ignored him at all. The military general in his 30s pushed him away with one hand, and immediately everyone went to the front yard of the inn.

Yi Cheng followed behind extremely nervously, but did not see the tense scene he imagined. After these fierce frontier generals saw the young captain, they laughed one after another. Several of them bowed their hands and said, "Colonel Lu." Lieutenant!" Yi Cheng always welcomes and greets people, and he is a very discerning person. How could he not see at this time that these two groups of people know each other and are very close to each other.

At this moment, he couldn't help but be quite curious about who this young captain named Lu Chen was and how he could have such great dignity.

Wait... Lu Chen?I seemed to have heard a few days ago that a group of young and promising new military generals emerged from the great victory in Jiangbei. Among them, the most famous one was not only the apple of Governor Li's eye, but also one who came from a merchant's family and seemed to have this name.

Yi Cheng stared at Lu Chen, who was standing across from him with a smile, and finally figured out the details of this young captain.

It turned out to be the case.

Thinking of this, he looked at Lu Shen with even more respect.

Lu Chen did not notice the change in the Yi Cheng's expression. He and the Jingzhou generals greeted each other, and then said to Huo Zhen, the eldest and highest-ranking commander of the Guangji Army: "The Yi Cheng said that the comrades from the border army live here. When the inn was full, the general guessed that it was all of you, so he shamelessly asked for two rooms to avoid sleeping in the wilderness at night."

When Huo Zhen heard this, he smiled and said: "If it were someone else, there would definitely be no extra room, but you are not someone else, why are you so polite in front of us? If the governor knew that we turned you away, how much would it cost? Ten soldiers will serve you with sticks.”

This sentence was naturally a joke, and Li Tianrun would definitely not be so casual, but the cordiality in the words was undoubtedly revealed.

Others also said: "That's right, Lieutenant Lu can't be too outspoken."

"Outside Youxi City, Lieutenant Lu fought side by side with me. Could it be that you don't remember?"

"I didn't expect to bump into Captain Lu here today. I have to get drunk tonight anyway."

"Liu Yicheng, do you have enough wine here?"

"Liu Yicheng, don't hide it. Feel free to serve up good wine and good food, but your money won't be shortchanged."

In the midst of the commotion, Yi Cheng respectfully agreed.

Suddenly a clear voice said: "We are going to Beijing tomorrow. If you get drunk tonight, won't it cause trouble? I know you all drink well, but Lieutenant Lu is different from you. He is not a drunkard. Besides, he has to drink too much." Be aware of the impact.”

Everyone followed the sound and saw Li Bingxue looking at them with an unkind expression.

Huo Zhen hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Okay, okay, let's go back. Let's have a few drinks in the evening and get together after we finish our work in Beijing."

Everyone suppressed their laughter and agreed, pretending to leave one by one as if nothing had happened. The 30-year-old Captain Huangfu Yu Qingshu put his arms around Yi Cheng, giving up the idea of ​​him approaching Lu Shentiao, and forcibly took him away from here.

Chen Shu and the Lu family's guards were also very discerning and walked away quietly.

The venue suddenly fell silent.

After not seeing each other for nearly two months, Li Bingxue was still as handsome as ever. A calm smile appeared on his standard melon face, and he said casually: "Lu Chen, long time no see."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Miss Li's style is even better than before."

Li Bingxue couldn't help laughing and said: "This sounds like a compliment, but it's a bit too harsh."

Lu Chen also laughed. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that after the Battle of Guangling, the unique female general in front of him came to Lu Zhai and expressed her hope that he could join the Jingzhou Army.

He was free and straightforward, just like today.

This is how sons and daughters in the military should be.

The two of them walked side by side, and Li Bingxue said calmly: "Although I know that your father must have sent people to make arrangements in advance, you will have to wait for a while after entering the capital. If you want to stay in an inn, you might as well come to my place. Stay. What Commander Huo said is actually correct. You are different from others. Everyone in the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion is grateful for your advice, otherwise the seven cities in Jiangbei will still be the territory of the puppet Yan. "

"Miss Li is exaggerating." Lu Chen smiled slightly, and then said calmly: "But the Lu family also has business in the capital, so they prepared a house many years ago. Before I set off this time, my father had asked people to clean out the house. I’ll be living there during this time.”

Li Bingxue did not force it and said softly: "That's fine."

They walked quietly to the backyard. When they were saying goodbye, Li Bingxue suddenly said, "How about we go to Beijing together tomorrow?"

Lu Chen felt confident and nodded: "Okay."

Hearing his affirmative answer, Li Bingxue's eyes were like stars, she smiled and said goodbye.

(End of this chapter)