After about a while of tea, Young Master Liu and his party arrived in the courtyard outside the study room in the inner courtyard.
Young Master Liu took out the key from his arms, opened the copper lock and walked into the study.
"Come in, everyone."
"OK."
"Okay, here we come."
"Xiaowu, Xiaoqi."
"Master."
"After you two put down the food and drinks, please step aside."
"Yes, I will obey, little one."
Xiao Wu and the other two placed the food and wine on the trays on the table one by one, then turned around and left the study directly.
"Third brother, what do you want to tell us?"
Liu Mingzhi turned his head and glanced at the two of them, then pointed at the food and wine on the table.
"Brother, Baoyu, how are you two eating?"
Song Qing patted his belly gently and laughed angrily a few times.
“Hehehe, to be honest, I’m not even half full.
However, third brother, if you have something serious to discuss with us now, it doesn’t matter if you delay the meal for the time being. "
Zhou Baoyu heard Song Qing's words and nodded in agreement.
"Yes, yes, Commander, let's get down to business first.
When it comes to drinking and eating, if it's delayed, it's just delayed. It's nothing. "
Young Master Liu shook his head angrily and poured three bowls of wine on the altar.
"Since you're not full yet, let's sit down and eat for a while."
Then Mr. Liu sat carelessly on the chair, reached out and grabbed a piece of roasted lamb leg and put it into his mouth.
"You two should sit down quickly and eat half full before we get down to business."
"coming."
"Okay."
It takes about the time to make a cup of tea.
Liu Mingzhi casually threw the bones on the table, stood up and stretched, picked up the drink and drank heavily.
"Third brother, are you ready to eat now?"
Young Master Liu put down his drink and wiped the drink from the corners of his mouth with his fingers.
"Half full is enough. You two continue to eat. I will go outside the study to wash the grease on my hands first."
Young Master Liu didn't wait for Song and Qing to say anything, and walked directly out of the study.
"Baoyu, how is your food?"
"Barely half full, Brother Song, where are you?"
"My brother is about the same as you, barely half full."
"Then let's continue eating?"
Song Qing drank the remaining half of the bowl of wine, dropped the bowl and walked out of the study.
"If you are willing to eat, then go ahead and eat. Anyway, I won't eat."
Zhou Baoyu licked the grease on his fingers, immediately got up and followed him.
"If you don't eat, then I won't eat either.
Business is important, so it’s better to talk about business first. "
Soon.
Liu Mingzhi and the other two came back again and returned to the study.
"Commander, can we talk about another thing now?"
Liu Mingzhi nodded with a faint smile, closed the door and walked directly towards his desk.
"Brother, go ahead and put down the map next to the bookshelf."
"Okay, brother, I know."
Song Qing responded without hesitation and quickly walked towards the map not far away.
Zhou Baoyu rolled up his sleeves and followed immediately.
"Brother Song, I'll help you."
Liu Mingzhi took out the document that Zhou Baoyu gave him from his sleeve and placed it on the desk.
Then he walked to the window sill and opened two windows, and the study suddenly became brighter.
"Third brother, the map is down."
"Okay, I'll go over there."
Liu Mingzhi reached out and picked up the tray with herbal tea on the desk, walked to the map next to the bookshelf and stopped in front of it.
"Brother, Baoyu, the teapot is put aside. If any of you want to drink tea, pour it yourself."
"got it."
"Okay."
Young Master Liu picked up his tea and took a sip. He raised his head slightly and scanned the huge map in front of him, his eyes narrowed slightly and he fell silent.
When Zhou Baoyu and the two saw Young Master Liu's appearance, they frowned for a moment and their expressions gradually became serious.
Both of them are old people around Mr. Liu, so they naturally understand Mr. Liu's character very well.
Based on their understanding of Liu Mingzhi, Liu Mingzhi would never stare at the map in front of him in silence for no reason.
For ordinary people, a map is just an item used to identify directions.
However, for a person of Liu Mingzhi's status.
What a map means is naturally self-evident.
He just needs to calm down, stare at the map and think about something carefully.
This means that he must be planning something big.
Especially when the two of them are still standing aside.
Song Qing and Zhou Baoyu both pondered secretly in their hearts.
Suddenly.
The two of them glanced at each other in unison, and an idea came to their minds at the same time.
Liu Mingzhi, there is a high probability that he will use troops again.
From each other's eyes, the two of them saw each other's thoughts.
The two exchanged casually with their eyes, nodded tacitly, and then both looked at the map in front of them.
While carefully looking at the map in front of me, I was thinking secretly in my heart.
Song and Qing were both silently guessing where Liu Mingzhi wanted to use his troops.
Where do you want the sword to point?
The three of them, Liu Dashao, were all paying attention to the map in front of them, thinking about their own thoughts secretly in their hearts.
For a moment, the study suddenly became quiet.
After a long time.
Young Master Liu turned around and put down the tea cup in his hand, and casually took out his tobacco bag from his waist.
Zhou Baoyu and Song Qing seemed to have heard Young Master Liu's movements, and hurriedly turned their attention from the map to Young Master Liu.
"Third brother."
"Commander."
"Brother, you have to get some good shredded tobacco for me."
"Okay."
Song Qing took out his dry tobacco pouch from his waist, opened it and handed it to Young Master Liu.
"for you."
Liu Mingzhi nodded slightly, pinched a handful of tobacco from the tobacco bag and stuffed it into the pot.
Zhou Baoyu immediately took out the fire fold, blew it on fire and handed it over.
"Brother Song, please have some too, little brother."
"Come on, come on, you're welcome."
Young Master Liu slowly exhaled the light smoke in his mouth, turned around and took the bamboo pole beside him in his hand.
"Baoyu."
"Hey, handsome."
"Earlier, when we were at the pavilion in the garden, Yun'er and his sister-in-law were nearby, and there were some things I didn't feel comfortable asking you on the spot.
There are only three of us in the study now, so I will speak frankly about some things. "
Zhou Baoyu raised his hand to fan the smoke that was lingering in front of him a few times, then looked at Young Master Liu and nodded silently.
"Commander, tell me."
Liu Mingzhi took a puff of dry cigarette, reached out and touched the bamboo pole on the map.
"You told me when we were in the pavilion before.
During the years when you and Baotong took turns guarding the border, you didn't notice any unusual behavior by Tsarist Russia's soldiers and horses, right? "
Zhou Baoyu nodded without hesitation: "Commander Hui, it's true."
"Then what you said before is that you really didn't find any abnormality?
Or was it because Yun'er and Mrs. Sister-in-law were by your side at that time that it was inconvenient for you to tell me the real truth? "
"Come back to the Commander-in-Chief, what the general answered at that time is the real situation."
Liu Mingzhi nodded with a clear expression and started to swim gently on the map with the bamboo pole in his hand.
"Baoyu, think about it again.
Did the soldiers and horses of Tsarist Russia not behave at all abnormally?
Even if it is just a small-scale abnormal behavior, you still need to think about it carefully. "
Zhou Baoyu looked at Mr. Liu's solemn expression and took a long puff of dry cigarette.
"Commander, let's think about it for a moment."
"good!"
Zhou Baoyu spit out the smoke in his mouth, frowned slightly, and his eyes silently showed memories.
After a long time.
Zhou Baoyu's eyes regained their clarity, and he looked at Young Master Liu and shook his head gently.
"Coming back to the commander-in-chief, I can say with absolute certainty.
During the years that Baotong and I guarded the border, Tsarist Russia's soldiers and horses never behaved unusually.
Before Mo Jiang and the Baotong brothers transfer defenses to each other, the two of us would carefully discuss the situation on the border in the big tent every time.
The Baotong brothers have also never seen any abnormal behavior by the soldiers and horses of Tsarist Russia. "
After hearing Zhou Baoyu's answer, Young Master Liu frowned slightly and nodded thoughtfully.
"Nevermind."
"Commander, during the years we have been guarding the border, the two brothers have dispatched three hundred elite scouts every day to carefully investigate everything within a hundred miles.
We do this to avoid any military emergencies.
Whenever the scouts and soldiers reported the whereabouts of Russian soldiers and horses, they would immediately send letters to report the situation.
As soon as the last general received the message, he would immediately rush over with his deputy general to meet the soldiers and horses of Tsarist Russia.
In the past few years, the general has negotiated with Tsarist Russia's soldiers and horses dozens of times.
However, they were never found to have done anything untoward. "
"How was it after you met?"
“Every time we meet, we greet each other with a smile. After chatting with each other for a while, we wave goodbye with a smile on our face.
By the way, sometimes we meet their generals, and we occasionally get together for picnics.
Drinking wine, eating barbecue and so on.
However, the general can guarantee that the general only drank with them and chatted about the customs and customs of both parties. He never talked about any important situation.
Regarding this, the final general can be guaranteed by the head on the item. "
Liu Mingzhi looked at Zhou Baoyu's serious expression, smiled lightly and waved his hand.
"Okay, if I can't even trust you on this point, we will have been brothers for decades in vain."
"Thank you, Marshal."
"When you got together to drink or chat, did they tell you the reason why they were there?"
"said."
"Huh? What's the reason?"
"Come back to the Commander-in-Chief, they, like our Dalong border patrol officers, are also ordered to inspect the border situation on a regular basis."
"I see."
"By the way, Commander, I have one more thing to report."
"Say it."
"Commander, when the general is guarding the border, he will regularly summon some border patrol scouts to inquire about the situation."
"How is the result?"
"There is no difference between them and the general, and they also found nothing.
When the late general led the soldiers to guard the border, they focused on planting potatoes.
The scouts and soldiers I sent out to investigate the situation could only investigate the situation within a hundred miles around at most.
At its farthest, it was only about two hundred miles in radius.
The soldiers patrolling the border are different. From the north of Yinshan Mountain to all locations in the middle of Lake Baikal, they are within their patrol scope.
Commander, you also know that our Dalong border patrol officers and soldiers are one battalion every ten miles, with one hundred border patrol officers stationed.
Every five miles there is a small village, and thirty border patrol officers are stationed there.
The big camp and the small camp cooperate with each other and inspect the areas under their jurisdiction every morning and evening.
With such a high density of patrols by the soldiers, if the Russian soldiers want to sneak into our dragon's transit.
It's almost impossible to avoid their eyes.
Even if there is a chance, it is very slim.
It is precisely because of this that the general can say with certainty that nothing abnormal happened. "
Song Qing held his dry cigarette, reached out and picked up another bamboo pole, put it on the map and started to swim gently.
"Third brother."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"According to what Baoyu said, every move of Tsarist Russia's soldiers and horses cannot escape the eyes of our Dalong patrol officers.
In this way, it means.
Anyone from Tsarist Russia wants to enter the territory of our Great Dragon Kingdom.
There is almost no other way besides taking the normal route of diplomatic relations. "
Liu Mingzhi frowned and pondered thoughtfully for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Song Qing.
"Brother, what did you just say?"
Song Qing's face was stunned for a moment, and he spoke again: "Brother Wei just said that those people from Tsarist Russia want to enter the territory of our Great Dragon Heavenly Dynasty, except for the route of diplomatic relations, there is almost no other way."
"wrong."
"Huh? No? What's wrong?"
"What you just said was anyone from Tsarist Russia, not people from Tsarist Russia."
Song Qing frowned slightly, with a trace of doubt on his face.
"Third brother, is there any difference?"
Young Master Liu knocked out the ashes from the smoke pot in the copper basin at his feet and looked at the map in front of him with bright eyes.
"Brother, the difference is huge."
Song Qing thought silently for a while, and the expression on his face changed slightly.
"Hiss—third brother, you mean those caravans from Tsarist Russia?"
Liu Mingzhi exhaled softly, frowned and turned to look at Zhou Baoyu.
"Baoyu."
Zhou Baoyu couldn't help but swallowed as he looked at Mr. Liu's dignified character.
"Big... handsome?"
"Think carefully about those Tsarist Russian caravans.
Don't those people do anything unusual? "
"Come back to the Commander-in-Chief, every time those Tsarist Russian caravans pass through the border, the general will lead the soldiers to carefully inspect all their goods.
Even the cargo frame was inspected several times by the general himself.
After careful inspection, there were no prohibited goods at all. "
"sure?"
"Commander, the final general can be determined."
Liu Mingzhi turned his eyes and thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
"Okay, I believe you!"
