Jiuxi

Chapter 652: 650 [Don’t be afraid of the clouds blocking your view]

At dusk, Li Bingxue, who had finished dinner, stood up to say goodbye. At Lin Xi's signal, Lu Chen took the initiative to stand up and see her off.

"Are those three people pleasing to the eye?"

Li Bingxue asked with a smile.

Lu Chen said slowly, "They are all brave generals who were personally trained by Uncle Li. They are good at leading troops in battle and charging into battle array. They are like adding wings to a tiger. How can I be dissatisfied? It's a pity that the Dingzhou Governor's Office is limited in structure and there are still a lot of generals waiting to be assigned. I have to let them serve as deputies for the time being."

This is a happy trouble. There is no commander who does not want to have many brave generals under his command. Moreover, considering the situation between Qi Jing, there will certainly be many wars in the future. These brave generals will have the opportunity to go further, so Lu Chen has no pressure in his heart.

Li Bingxue also understood this and nodded, "It's good as it is now. You asked Brother Xu to go to Zhenbei Army, do you want him to replace General Pei?"

In fact, Huo Zhen had made such a speculation earlier, but he and Lu Chen were not yet that familiar with each other, so he did not dare to say it explicitly. Li Bingxue was naturally different.

Lu Chen did not deny it and said softly, "Among all the armies in Dingzhou, the Feiyun Army is undoubtedly the best in terms of breaking through the enemy lines, but the Zhenbei Army is not weak at all, and is also good at fighting tough battles and defending cities. In the future battlefields, these two armies will be my magic weapons to deal with the infantry of the Jing Army. Xu Gui is undoubtedly more suitable to lead the Zhenbei Army. As for Pei Sui, his qualifications and military exploits have long exceeded the requirements of a military commander, and he has enough reputation. When the time is right, I will give him another push."

Li Bingxue understood in her heart that it seemed that Lu Chen was making preparations for a rainy day.

She turned her head to look at Lu Chen's profile and smiled, "By the way, I haven't congratulated you on your wedding yet. I wish you and your two sisters a long and happy marriage."

“Ice and snow…”

"I am serious."

"I know. I mean, I'm sorry."

"You have never let me down. This is all my own choice."

Li Bingxue smiled and said leisurely: "After going through so many things, I have figured it out a long time ago. Anyway, I can still lead the troops by your side now. Relatively speaking, this is the best result. As long as you, the Grand Commander, don't bully me, right?"

Lu Chen looked at her bright eyes and nodded seriously, "Of course not."

Li Bingxue didn't seem to want to talk about this every time they met, so she changed the subject and asked, "How do you plan to arrange the Feiyu Army?"

"For a short period of time, our army will remain inactive, and at most only make some local movements."

Lu Chen said slowly: "Now I have two and a half cavalry, namely Feiyu Army and Dingbei Army, plus more than 5,000 cavalry of the Seven Star Army. The Seven Star Army must stay in the north line and cooperate with Feiyun Army to defend Dingfeng Road and Baotai Mountain. The Dingbei Army will be stationed in Gaoyuan City, not too far from Qingliu Pass in the west, and can support the western defense line at any time."

"In other words, the Feiyu Army is responsible for guarding the southwest defense line?"

"Yes, that's right. From the southwest of Lei Ze Plain to Teng County, and then to Panlong Pass, the base will be in Ningling City."

Li Bingxue thought about it for a moment and realized that the Feiyu Army had the most important mission.

There are a large number of dangerous passes in the north and west of Dingzhou, and the Qi army's defense line can be arranged in a targeted manner. It is basically impossible for the Jing army to complete the raid quietly. Even Qing Yugong can only take it step by step and has no way to take shortcuts.

The situation in the southwest was different because the existence of the Lei Ze Plain was like a huge and wide hole. Even though the Qi army had cities and forts on the plain as barriers, they still could not completely stop the invasion of the Jing army.

Moreover, the Feiyu Army’s defense is not limited to the southwest of Dingzhou.

Today, Dingzhou and Jingzhou are connected, but the problem is that the border is relatively narrow, roughly running from Pingli City in the southwest corner of Dingzhou, through Panlong Pass in Huaizhou, to Xinchang City in the northeast of Jingzhou.

In short, the area that the Feiyu Army needed to assist in defending extended from the southwest of Dingzhou to the northeast of Jingzhou. Their most important task was to patrol various places and prevent the Jing Army cavalry from breaking into the weak areas of their own defense line.

Li Bingxue not only had no complaints, but said happily: "Okay, I promise to live up to the trust of the Grand Commander!"

It can be seen that the more Lu Chen values ​​her and the higher his expectations of her are, the more excited she will be.

"I'm still more used to you calling me by my first name."

"Of course I can call you by your name in private, but in public you still have to be respectful of others, otherwise you'll easily be gossiped about."

"Isn't this private now?"

Upon hearing this, Li Bingxue looked around. The long street in front of the gate of the Governor's Mansion was deserted, with only the two's personal guards scattered everywhere.

She smiled and shook her head, without answering the question, and said, "When can I go to Ningling?"

Lu Chen was reluctant, but he also knew that business was more important, so he said gently: "Any time is fine. After you go to Ningling, you must be more cautious when encountering things, especially don't take the cavalry to gather intelligence like before. The Jing army will not stay quietly. Although Wu Yanshu is not Qing Yugong, he is also a vicious wolf with deep mansions. Don't underestimate him too much. In short, take good care of yourself in the border, and if there is any abnormal situation, let someone inform me in time."

Of course he would not be so gentle in front of other generals.

Li Bingxue knew clearly in her heart, and said briskly: "Don't worry, I know what to do. You should go back, Sister Lin is still waiting for you at home."

The two parted ways.

Lu Chen stood in the twilight, looking at her receding figure, without moving for a long time.

...In Huaizhou, Baoying Prefecture.

On the official road, a spacious and sturdy carriage moved forward steadily, with dozens of guards in front and behind.

When merchants and travelers saw this kind of scene, they knew it must be high-ranking officials from the court, so they all moved aside to give way. Fortunately, those knights knew the etiquette and did not bully others by taking advantage of their power.

Inside the carriage, a middle-aged man in casual clothes lifted the curtain and looked into the distance with a calm gaze.

It was late September and there were few people working in the fields. After all, winter was not far away and the crops had long been harvested.

"Huaizhou's prosperity and peace are no less than those of other places in the south of the Yangtze River."

The middle-aged man lowered the car curtain and talked softly to himself.

There was a scholar of similar age sitting in the car. Hearing this, he chuckled and said, "Your Excellency has been walking and stopping along the way. It seems that you have a lot of feelings."

The middle-aged man was the newly appointed governor of Dingzhou, Xu Zuo, whose courtesy name was Yanbi.

The scholar was Huang Gongfu, his trusted aide who had followed him for many years. This time he followed him north to Dingzhou and had already been appointed as the Secretary of the Governor's Office.

Although the two were master and servant, they were actually close friends. Huang Gongfu was not the kind of advisor with little talent and could only come up with bad advice. He himself was a famous master of epigraphy and he only followed Xu Zuo because he admired his character.

Xu Zuo said calmly: "This journey is not easy, so we naturally need to observe and think more."

"Your Excellency does not have to tread on thin ice."

Huang Gongfu was calm and said, "Although it is inevitable that the central government and the border troops will fight each other, there are two prime ministers in the court, and Duke Rong has returned to the capital, so I don't think it will get too serious."

Xu Zuo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "My two Prime Ministers... Before leaving Beijing, I went to visit the Left Prime Minister. Although the old man did not say it explicitly, his desire to return home was clearly revealed."

Huang Gongfu's expression changed slightly.

Li Daoyan is indeed old. He has been entering the palace less and less frequently in the past few months, and from the few times he has been there, it was clear that the old man was not in good condition.

Birth, aging, sickness and death are the common laws of the world. Moreover, Li Daoyan has worked hard for Da Qi all his life, and this year he dragged his old body to help the new king ascend the throne.

The court is now running very stably, the succession of imperial power has been uneventful, and the emperor is able to govern the country smoothly. If Li Daoyan wants to retire and live out his days in peace at this time, no one can say no.

However, for some reason, even Huang Gongfu, who had not entered the court, felt nervous when he heard the news.

Xu Zuo looked up at him and continued, "Just when I was leaving Beijing, His Majesty had approved Huaizhou Governor Yao Chong to return to Beijing to wait for his post, and appointed the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Song Wan as Huaizhou Governor."

"Minister Song? It is said that he and Minister Zhong are not on good terms. Could this be the candidate recommended by Minister Zhong?"

"No."

Xu Zuo shook his head and said with a complicated expression: "Song Wan should be the left prime minister's man."

The word "should" made Huang Gongfu frown slightly.

He pondered and said, "Your Majesty asked you to replace Chen Fangbo, and at the same time the governor of Huaizhou was replaced, and both happened after the Duke of Shanyang took office in Dingzhou. This is quite interesting. It seems that your initial guess was correct. The degree of concern that Lord Lu had for Jiangbei has slightly crossed the line."

Xu Zuo nodded and said, "Yao Chong suddenly resigned from the post of Governor of Huaizhou. It's hard to say that this has nothing to do with Lu Chen. According to common sense, the commander-in-chief of the frontier army and the governor are unrelated. He takes care of his military affairs, and I take care of my people's livelihood. This has been the court's custom for more than a hundred years, mainly to prevent the source of separatism. His Majesty ordered me to take over as Governor of Dingzhou for this reason. However, judging from Lu Chen's past style of doing things, I'm afraid he will break this convention."

Huang Gongfu couldn't help but sigh.

Naturally, military and political power cannot be held in the hands of one person. The problem is that many times the two cannot be clearly distinguished.

Under normal circumstances, the Grand Commander of the Border Army cannot interfere in the political affairs of the garrison. However, Lu Chen is not an ordinary Grand Commander. His current power even exceeds that of Xiao Wangzhi and Li Tianrun who had just taken office.

Being a governor around such a person is obviously a tough job.

Thinking of this, Huang Gongfu said seriously: "Sir, perhaps you should make your attitude clear from the beginning, otherwise you will have worries later."

Xu Zuo was silent for a long time this time.

After a long while, he slowly said, "It should be so."

Huang Gongfu knew him very well, so he asked, "Have you made a plan, sir?"

Xu Zuo said slowly, "Tens of thousands of members of the Seven Stars Gang have returned to the rule of Da Qi. Previously, Chen Chun reported to the court and decided to allocate an area in Gu County, Dongting Prefecture for them to live in. Before leaving, His Majesty asked for my opinion."

Huang Gongfu understood immediately, and after thinking about it, he nodded and praised: "This is indeed a good start for you, sir."

Xu Zuo did not show any complacency on his face. He said calmly, "I want to see how much this young duke has changed now."

(End of this chapter)