Outside Baokang Gate in the southeast of the inner city of Kaifeng Prefecture, and next to the earth bridge on the Bian River, the section of East Cross Street was one of the most prosperous places in the outer city at this time, and one of the most noisy places for banquets.
There are restaurants selling banquets along the street. In one of them, Hele House, Guo Xin was sitting on the second floor near the window, looking at the scenery outside the window. He chose an excellent location, just in time to be able to see the vendors and footmen on the street and the Shangtu Bridge across the Bianhe River not far away. Further away, he could see the higher temples in the inner city and the Buddhas in several temples in the city. tower.
Guo Xin has been in Kaifeng Mansion for half a month, but he is still not used to such a bustling and bustling market. Perhaps he was used to the Taiyuan Mansion in the north, where the economy was bleak, or perhaps in his opinion, the Kaifeng Mansion in front of him was too different from the city he had imagined before coming here.
When Guo Xin thought about it, the Central Plains had experienced so many wars and wars, and it had just been occupied by a foreign army a few months ago. In any case, it should not be like this.
But it was not until he entered the city that Guo Xin was surprised to find that he originally thought that the Khitans would ruin this place, but now it seems that it is purely due to his own worries. Kaifeng Mansion still maintains its wealth and vitality - it was like this in the past and it is like this now. , and it will remain so for a long time in the future.
This made him wonder how the chaotic world in the Central Plains was affecting the lives of the people downstairs... and he immediately came up with an immature idea: No matter how dark and turbulent the world is, dilapidation and decay will not be the same. Despite the monotonous theme of the world, people always find ways to survive and live better.
Just as Guo Xin's eyes were blurred in the drunken and lively scene, the door of the box was suddenly opened, and two men, tall and short, got in one after another.
"Commander Guo!" The two of them saluted Guo Xin at the window.
Only then did Guo Xin return his gaze to the room, falling on Zhang Chenghua and Wang Yuanmao who entered the room. He waved his hand casually: "No need to be polite, just sit down."
Guo Xin was the host today. When he went to Chunlefang to kidnap Yuniang, he had asked the two of them to support him. He promised them to look for an opportunity to entertain them when they went to Bianliang in the future. Guo Xin has a very good memory. Even these trivial things, as long as he has promised to people, he can always remember them in his heart.
"I didn't expect Brother Yi to still remember that." Wang Yuanmao wanted to refuse, but saw that Zhang Chenghua was already sitting next to Guo Xin without saying a word, so he also quickly pulled out a chair and sat on it: "It's not good to ask Brother Yi to waste money. , as long as you mean it.”
It's not that Wang Yuanmao is being polite, but that he understands better than Zhang Shitou how important the young man in front of him is now. With the establishment of the imperial court, the official family was divided into hundreds of officials, especially Yang Bin, Guo Wei, Su Fengji, and Su Yugui. At present, most of the military affairs of the imperial court were handled by Yang and Guo, while most of the general affairs were adjudicated by Ersu.
In this way, Wang Yuanmao still didn't know why. As the son of Guo Wei, the second-ranking figure in the Privy Council, Shangfeng in front of him had actually half-footed his way into the inner circle of power in the court. It might not take long for him to catch up with his brother. It is not impossible to be promoted to the commander of the capital... or even transferred to a more important position. At present, the Forbidden Army has just been established, and there are still many positions vacant.
Guo Xin saw Wang Yuanmao's anxiety and smiled casually: "The official rewards are generous, and they are all my brothers. I am not a stingy person."
The waiter in the restaurant quickly brought out one plate after another, most of which were meat dishes such as fried rabbit, fried lungs, and fried quails. It was not that Guo Xin was picky about food, but it was because he had eaten enough wild vegetable rice porridge on the road. , a bird has already faded out of his mouth.
Wang Yuanmao and Zhang Chenghua were no longer restrained. After all, this was not the first time they had a meal with Guo Xin. When he was in the army, Guo Xin always ate and slept with ordinary soldiers.
The three of them gradually opened up the topic while eating.
Naturally, the three people could talk about the military. Wang Yuanmao soon talked about the reorganization of the Fengguo Army: "We originally planned to pick up soldiers behind the Guardian Army next month to enrich the headquarters. But now we suddenly said that we would do it again. It will be changed to the day after tomorrow, but right now the rosters and accounts in the army are still in chaos, and we haven’t figured it out yet, so another batch of new people will be added, I really don’t know what it means.”
Zhang Chenghua snorted coldly: "We can't be allowed to follow the patron saint in everything we do to serve the country, otherwise sooner or later those bastards will sit on our heads and piss on us."
Guo Xin's mouth twitched, and he put down his chopsticks silently and said: "The Holy Guard Army is a horse army, so it's not surprising that we pick people up before our infantry army... As for the reason for the sudden change of days, I heard that Weizhou The war is not going well, I think the officials are anxious to build a team of forbidden troops to shock the vassals who are watching the war in Weizhou."
The two of them thought about it carefully and nodded in agreement. Wang Yuanmao cupped his fists and said, "Brother Yi can see clearly."
Guo Xin smiled slightly and did not deny it. He thought to himself: He often discussed military affairs with Guo Wei and Guo Rong. If he could not even recognize this relationship, he would be hopelessly stupid.
The three of them continued chatting for a while. When the wine bottles were empty and the dishes on the plate were almost clean, Wang Yuanmao seemed to have a sudden thought and said to Guo Xin mysteriously: "I got the news from my brother at home. , the official intends to temporarily place four commanders in each wing of Fengguo. In addition to my brother, don’t we still have three vacancies in the left wing? If Brother Yi is interested, he can try to operate it..."
Guo Xin touched his chin. He had Guo Wei's access to the Privy Council, so he certainly knew more about the situation than Wang Yuanmao. He naturally thought about relying on Guo Wei's connections to take him further, but not long ago, Guo Weigang recommended his nephew Li Chongjin, Guo Xin's cousin, to Liu Zhiyuan as the commander of the Forbidden Army Xiaodi Army. Now if Guo Wei were to nominate him for promotion to the capital commander, Liu Zhiyuan might not agree. Moreover, there had been disagreements between the two privy envoys and the two prime ministers for a long time. Guo Xin did not want to cause trouble to Guo Weiping in the court.
The three of them left the restaurant. It was almost dusk, so they said goodbye and went home.
Guo Xin was riding a horse, crossing the upper earth bridge, and was about to enter the inner city through the old Song Gate when he suddenly heard the sound of horse hoofs trampling behind him.
There were not many people who were qualified to enter the inner city in such a domineering manner. Guo Xin couldn't help but stand aside, getting out of the way and wanting to see which person it was.
A cavalry of ten cavalry came into view in an instant, and Guo Xin quickly saw the three leaders. Surprisingly, he knew them all: Li Hongyi, whom he had met beside Empress Li, Song Xie, the new dynasty's consort, and another The person Guo Xin didn't want to see - Li Ye.
Seeing Li Ye, Guo Xin's eyes suddenly became sharper. And as if he felt Guo Xin's gaze, Li Ye turned around inadvertently and happened to catch a glimpse of Guo Xin. His face suddenly changed, he reined in his horse and shouted angrily: "Guo Erlang!"
Guo Xin was also sitting on the horse. He stood out among the crowd. Knowing that he couldn't hide this time, he simply stopped on the horse and replied without emotion: "Li Langjun."
At this time, the entourage following Li Ye, as well as Li Hongyi and Song Xie who had just walked a few steps, all turned around. When Song Xie saw Guo Xin, a friendly smile appeared on his face. He pointed at Guo Xin and said to Li Hongyi: "I just mentioned to Hongyi a while ago that this is the Guo Erlang who served in Daizhou."
Li Hongyi patted his horse and walked towards Guo Xin: "Hey! You are the Guo Erlang who competes for beauty!" There was no provocation in his words, as if he was simply interested in this interesting story.
Guo Xin glanced at the faces of Li Hongyi and Li Ye in confusion. When he saw the innocence on Li Hongyi's face and the gnashing of teeth on Li Ye's face, he already knew in his heart: Li Ye was eating under his hands. After two losses, I'm afraid the conflict between the two has not been made public to save face.
At this time, Song Xie asked again: "Where is Guo Erlang going? We are about to go to Jinliang Bridge to have fun, why don't we go as well?"
Guo Xin glanced at Li Ye and thought to himself that there was no reason to take the initiative to put himself in an unknown situation alone. Who knew if Li Ye would use any other tricks?
So he pretended to be embarrassed on his face and declined: "It's no coincidence that I was about to go to the military office to ask for military registers so that I could fill up the ranks of the Imperial Army tomorrow..."
Seeing that Guo Xin actually rejected his overtures, Song Xie was quite surprised. However, he became more curious about Guo Xin and wanted to say a few more words. However, Li Hongyi had already returned to his horse and started urging him: "Let's leave quickly. It’s time to rest soon.”
So Song Xie had no choice but to clasp his fist towards Guo Xin and say, "In that case, let's meet again when Erlang is not busy."
Song Xie and his party quickly continued towards the inner city, but Li Ye did not forget to give Guo Xin a hard look before leaving.
Guo Xin thought for a while, then entered the city and walked to the barracks yamen, but he didn't really want to ask for any military registration, but he suddenly remembered a person - Zan Jurun.
