Song Dynasty

Chapter 119 Not Exaggerating ([-])

The sound of the piano is clanging, and a woman's voice is singing in a low voice: "The wind is old and young, the rain is fat with plums, and the beautiful trees are clear and round at noon. The land is low and the mountains are close, and the clothes are moist and rich in smoke."

In a small courtyard in the city, the spring is just right,

Four women sat cross-legged on the mat, playing the zither or the flute, reflecting the red flowers in the warm sun.

Among the flowers, Lu Benzhong held the wine cup in his hand, interrupted the woman who was singing with a smile, and said, "Xiao Tao, Zhou Meicheng's "Man Ting Fang" you sang just now is very good. I can tell that you have also learned lyrics and music before. Forgot to ask what your origin is."

The woman named Xiaotao smiled and said: "Returning to the old man, Xiaotao is originally from Xuzhou. She was bought by her mother since she was a child and raised in a building. After General Kong came to Xuzhou, he robbed her concubine. Now Let me serve Mr. Hou again."

"That's no wonder, I just said that your lyrics and singing voice are so good!" Lu Benzhong put down the cup in his hand, and said: "Your talent is good, but your singing is poor."

Xiaotao: "Also ask sir."

Lu Benzhong said: "This song "Man Ting Fang" is written on the surface in the realm of pleasant scenery in the late spring and early summer. The wind makes the spring warblers grow up, the summer rain makes the plums plump, and the round flowers under the dense trees at noon The ground is covered with shade. The terrain is low-lying and close to the mountain, and the clothes are wet and always need to be dried by the fire. The people are quiet, and the crows are happy and carefree. Outside the small bridge, the newly rising green water is rushing. Bitter bamboo, it’s really good, and you only sang it as a scene description. It’s a pity that the first half of the poem is intended to pan Jiujiang boats, but it’s Wenyan. Zhou Meicheng compares himself with Bai Juyi, who was demoted to Jiangzhou and wrote "Pipa Xing". The second half Que's loneliness and desolation."

"With this sentence, there will be years to come, like the swallows of the society, floating in the vast sea, to send to repair the rafters."

"Xiao Tao, you sang long and meaningfully, and even beamed with joy. If Zhou Meicheng has knowledge under the spring, she must come back to life."

Hearing what he said was funny, the other women laughed softly.

Zhou Meicheng is Zhou Bangyan, a famous poet and talented scholar during Xuanhe period of the Great Song Dynasty.

Xiaotao also stuck out her tongue playfully: "It seems that I sang wrongly. Although I have a master in the building, I have also studied for two years. But I didn't learn anything, I went to war, thank you sir Give pointers."

"It's not your fault." Lu Benzhong smiled: "It has been many years since Zhou Meicheng offended Cai Jing and Cai Yuanchang in his later years and was demoted to Chuzhou. It happened to be a study tour in Bianliang, and I happened to meet Mr. Mei Cheng a few times. This happened more than ten years ago, and it’s like a big dream in retrospect!"

Seeing Xiao Tao's cute appearance, Lu Benzhong couldn't help reaching out and patting her on the shoulder.

Xiaotao took a deep breath, with a pained look on her face.

Lu Benzhong couldn't help asking: "Xiao Tao, is the shoulder injury still hurting? Don't worry, since you and your sisters have come to serve the old man, stay here in the future, the old man will never let you eat those bitter."

There were tears in Xiao Tao's eyes: "Xiao Tao will never forget the old man's kindness."

Several other women also paid homage: "Thank you sir.

There was a bite mark on Xiaotao's shoulder, the bone was visible deep, it was left by Kong Yanzhou a few days ago.

When Lu Benzhong asked Kong Yanzhou for a beauty, the man surnamed Kong would ravage the girl who was going to be sent out, and refused to send it to death, and he didn't know what kind of mentality it was.

The one surnamed Kong is an animal, and up to now, Xiaotao still has scars all over her body.

Compared with Kong Yanzhou, although Lu Benzhong is older, he is a modest gentleman, and he loves all the women very much.Today, he promised to take in everyone again, and everyone is very grateful in their hearts.

Lu Ben was also emotional in the center, helped them up, and comforted them one by one.

At this time, a follower came in: "Master, there is someone from my hometown, who is said to be your distant cousin, and I heard that you are in the city, so I came to join you.

"Cousin?" Lu Benzhong asked, "Can you tell me your name?"

"He said his surname is Chen Mingda."

"It turned out to be him, but this old man has such a cousin, let him come in." Lu Benzhong waved his hand, motioning the girls to back off.

After a while, Chen Da walked in.The head of the Sizhou Army's Military Law Department dressed as an outsider today, and when he entered the study, he twitched his nose and sucked in air hard.It took a long time before he said with a smile: "The fragrance is so strong that people know that the day is warm. Mr. Donglai is thin and fat, hugging him on the left and right. He is really a romantic person, a role model for my generation!"

Lu Benzhong is a Taoist, he is used to seriousness, he has never thought highly of Chen Da, a former petty official, and asked with a cold face: "The envoy Wang Jun has received the letter from the old man, if you have anything to do, please write directly The letter came, why did you come here specially? If Kong Yanzhou found out, wouldn’t that be causing trouble for the old man?”

When he came to Kong Yanzhou's place, he brought a cage of pigeons, and he used pigeons to send letters to communicate with Huangzhou on weekdays.

Everyone in Huangzhou trembled when they saw Lu Benzhong, a great celebrity, and they were very careful when they spoke, but Chen Dahun didn't care.He smiled and said, "Old sir, my old mister, I didn't expect you to make such a big commotion here in Qichun, which frightened Dao Sigong. The general planned to write a letter, but then I thought about it." , anyway, Huanggang didn't have two steps to get here, so he sent me directly to talk. After asking about the matter, I'll go back right away."

Lu Benzhong: "Oh, Wang Shen has received the letter from the old man."

"Yes, I received it last night." Chen Da smiled wryly: "Old man, old man, it's not like you don't know that my general already has his own heart, and he doesn't want to marry only Mrs. An. Also, General Yue Yingxiang is the king of the army. Even if the most powerful general under his command relies heavily on him, sir, does this provoke a discord between the general and Yue Yingxiang? Besides, it is inconvenient for us outsiders to intervene in the general's family affairs, and the husband did not discuss with the general in advance. It's a bit inappropriate to decide on this marriage after discussing it, isn't it?"

"What's wrong?" Lu Benzhong stood with his hands behind his back, and sneered proudly: "Wang Shen asked my husband to delay Kong Yanzhou's attack on Huanggang for ten days. Now that the old man is here, I will naturally do everything I can. The marriage between the two families is certain, and Kong is bound to do so." The morale of the army is slack. As for whether Wang Daosi's house is safe or not, what does this have to do with the old man? At that time, he will marry Miss Kong or not, and I will not care."

Chen Da smiled wryly, but was speechless.

Lu Benzhong: "That's why you came here today? If there's nothing else, you can step back!"

Chen Dacai asked: "General, I would like to ask, which daughter of Kong Yanzhou is the marriage you mentioned?"

Lu Benzhong: "It's the second daughter of Kong Yanzhou. She is fourteen years old, just right in age. As for the others, the oldest is only nine years old, and the youngest is just one month old. Even if Wang Shen wants to marry other women, it is not in accordance with the law. By the way, this Kong Er Miss’ elder brother is Kong Xian, the eldest son of Kong Yanzhou.”

Chen Da nodded: "So it's Kong Xian's sister, okay, I'll go back to the general."

Saying goodbye to Lu Benzhong, Chen Da hurried out of Qishui County, took the horses from the farmer's house, jumped up and ran all the way, and came to a small hill ten miles away, where he saw Wang Shen, Hu Yantong and others riding horses. The horse stood on the top, and there were several bloody corpses on the ground, apparently the scouts of Kong Yanzhou who had just been beheaded by them.

Seeing Chen Da, Wang Shen laughed: "Chen Da, during the two hours you were away, a certain person looked around, and even attracted these unreasonable Tabai, and killed them all, which is really troublesome." I don't think Kong Yanzhou's soldiers are very good. They are really Wen Tianwuxi, a bunch of trash. When I was disguised as Kong Yanzhou's barracks, I happened to meet the enemy's officers who were mobilizing before the battle. I know what the officers said Is it?"

"Ah, the general has sneaked into Kong's army?" Chen Da was taken aback.

"Yes, it's nothing special." Wang Shen couldn't help laughing: "The officers said to the soldiers that this battle is going to be fought anyway, and no one can escape it. It is time to prepare. The army is like a dog. Whoever bites, we will bite. We can't tell the truth about this battle, but if we don't fight over, the Sizhou army will fight over."

Hu Yantong and the others were also overjoyed.

Hu Yantong wiped away his tears and said: "Even if we were in the left-behind department before, and the superiors said there was going to be a war, at least some money would be handed out, and rewards would be given, so that everyone would use their lives. Kong Yanzhou is good, just talking in plain language."

"We in Sizhou are also mobilizing. Everyone knows that Qihuang is our home. If the homeland is taken by the enemy, it is a tree without roots. The truth of what should be done when life and death are in the hearts of all soldiers I understand. The bandit army is so mobilized, how strong their morale is, we won this battle without fighting."

Wang Shen nodded: "Yes, the duty of a soldier is to protect, protect our homeland, protect what we should protect, relatives, etiquette, and our civilization. Chen Da, just now you went to the city to see Mr. Donglai, what did he say? "

Hearing his question, everyone turned their heads to look at their commander, and listened attentively.

To be honest, they just found out that Lu Benzhong married Kong Yanzhou in the name of Wang Shen on his own initiative, and they were all horrified.Everyone knows the friendship between Wang Shen and An Niang, and they also think this fact is absurd.

Chen Da hurriedly talked about the situation when he met Lu Benzhong earlier.

Wang Shen's heart moved, he touched his nose, and murmured: "I already knew that Kong Yanzhou's father and daughter love each other deeply, but I didn't want him to have so many daughters. Moreover, the woman Lu old man mentioned was Kong Xian, who was born to the same mother of the heir of the Kong family army." The girl who gave birth, this is interesting."

The words "father and daughter love deeply" are ironic.

Wang Shen: "Chen Da, write a letter, and Fei Ge will send a letter to Mr. Dong Lai."

"Yes, General." Chen Da immediately untied the examination basket from the horse case, and took out the four treasures of the study.

Wang Shen: "Write a letter to Mr. Lu and ask him to tell Kong Xian that I have agreed to this marriage, and ask him to keep in touch with Kong Xian more these days."

"Ah!" Everyone shouted in unison.

Wang Shen smiled: "It doesn't matter if you coax Kong Xian, soldiers are tricky!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, just kidding, if this marriage is really accepted, will Yue Yun still be in trouble?
Wang Shen then said to Chen Da: "One, we can use this marriage to slow down Kong's army; two, we can use the marriage to determine the destination of Miss Kong Er, so that Kong Xian can mediate between the two families, so that their father and son will have a rift. Let Kong Families are suspicious of each other and split up."

Chen Da asked suspiciously: "How to make the Kong family suspect each other and split them up. The subordinates are so dull that they can't see that this matter has anything to do with the general's marriage."

"Don't worry about it, just write it like this. With the talent of Mr. Edonglai, he will know and understand what to do when the time comes."

"Yes, General." Chen Da didn't want to ask any more, so he just lowered his head and wrote a few lines, wrapped it into a small paper roll, and stuffed it into the copper pipe on the carrier pigeon's feet.

As soon as he let go, the pigeon flew into the sky.

(End of this chapter)