When night fell and the lanterns were first lit, Wang Yuncheng returned to the General Military Mansion and learned that Chang Yu and Huang Degong were having a drink, so he, like Lu Daqi and others, was very knowledgeable and did not disturb them.
You must know how to measure and have a discerning eye for price.
If you don't have such a close relationship with Huang Degong and the chief eunuch, don't force yourself to get close to him, as that will easily arouse resentment.
Huang Degong is also a wine drinker, but at this time his face is red and his ears are red, and his words are a bit tongue-in-cheek. He puts his arm around Li Muxian next to him and speaks one mouth at a time. Lao Niu: "If you can't work with Brother Chang in the future, come to me..." "
Li Muxian's heart was racing with ten thousand grass and mud horses. From the first miscellaneous hair, cow nose, to the hairy cow and now the old cow, he had the intention to kill Huang Degong, but the reality was cruel, and he dealt with it with a smile on his face: "If that day comes, Uncle Jingnan should not dislike Pindao any more."
Wang Zhengnan was always a man of few words and was holding back his laughter. Chang Yu couldn't stand it anymore, so he said to Huang Degong: "Brother Huang, tomorrow..."
"Hey, don't mess with the rules, call me Boge" Huang Degong looked serious. Chang Yu was helpless and said with a wry smile: "Okay, Boge, Boge, you are ready to leave camp tomorrow."
"That won't work." Huang Degong shook his head: "It's been windy and rainy for more than a month, so I need to be more comfortable. Besides, those bastard horses haven't left yet. Why should I be anxious? What's more, they haven't given me food and grass yet." Get ready, I'm leaving now to drink from the northwest wind."
"Uncle Jingnan is right. Wang Ma is a landlord, how can he let his guests leave first?" Li Muchian said in support: "First of all, they have to prepare food and grass, and secondly, they have to send troops first."
Chang Yu smiled: "That being said, whoever gets there first will benefit. Don't blame our family for not reminding us. Lao Jiu and the others have gathered at the foot of Hanyang City at this time. They will immediately get Ma Jinzhong's food and grass. When we break camp, those who go first take advantage and sit on the mountain to watch the fight between tigers, while those who go later get no benefit despite their efforts."
Before Huang Degong could react, Li Muchian frowned and thought for a moment before slapping his thigh: "The situation of Pindao is still too small. I thought this was just a knock on the mountain to shock the tiger, but it turns out that the Governor has a deeper meaning behind it..."
With a bang, Huang Degong smashed the table and glared at Chang Yu: "You are so secretive that you treat me as an outsider."
"What my uncle said, if you are an outsider, you will have no one of your own." Chang Yu quickly calmed down this angry temper, and Huang Degong snorted: "Then please explain to me clearly, what is the actual reason for sending troops this time?"
"Uncle Jingnan, why do you think that's the case?" Li Muxian interjected, and Huang Degong raised his eyebrows: "Didn't I tell you what you said when you were discussing with those old thieves earlier, in order to knock down the mountain and shake the tiger!"
"Why tiger?" Li Muchian asked again.
"Xian thief...well, there are also those ghosts and snake gods in Jingzhou, right?" Huang Degong was stunned for a moment: "But it seems that there are other things you two are talking about."
"Uncle Jingnan is right. This tiger is Xian Thief and those young men in Jingzhou. To be precise, it is Li Chuang behind these young men. But knocking on the mountain to shake the tiger, who is the mountain?" Li Muchian asked with a smile, but now he caused trouble again. Huang Degong: "Why don't you just keep talking to me? If I knew about it, I would slap the table."
Chang Yu laughed loudly: "Brother, don't worry." He looked at Wang Zhengnan and said, "What do you think?"
Wang Zhengnan cleared his throat: "The mountain is Wuchang. The Governor's dispatch of troops seems like a drill, but in fact it is to scare the thieves in Sichuan and Jingzhou spies. But the other meaning is to beat the Wuchang generals to see if they can obey orders. We also took the opportunity to check out its military strength, response capabilities and general talents, which is considered a consideration."
Li Muxian nodded and Chang Yu touched his palm: "Zhengnan has made great progress."
Huang Degong was stunned for a while and cursed: "I'm telling you, if it's just to scare the thieves, there's no need to go through such trouble. It turns out it's just for these guys in Wuchang."
"There are more than 100,000 soldiers in Wuchang. If there is no agreement with the Xian bandits in the future, they will be the main force entering Sichuan to suppress the bandits. How can our family not find out in advance?" Chang Yu smiled faintly: "After this thorough examination, our family feels That’s it. We’ll keep those who are capable and competent, and those who are just looking like fish will be left alone.”
Huang Degong understood and smiled: "You kid... I know how you can let go of Zuo Liangyu and other generals so easily, and you have to confuse them to take advantage of the situation."
Chang Yu snorted: "If the situation hadn't been unfavorable, why go to all this trouble? The trouble would have been cut with a quick knife early in the morning."
Huang Degong nodded and frowned: "But what did you and Taoist Master Niu just say in the riddle that it would be beneficial to go early, and what are the interests behind it?"
Chang Yu looked at Wang Zhengnan again.
This time Wang Zhengnan said without hesitation: "Every land without an owner is for profit. Whoever comes first will get it first. In the future, whether it is peace or fighting, it will be a success and it will be beneficial to everyone."
Oops, Huang Degong reacted faster this time. He slapped his thigh, stood up and left. Chang Yu couldn't stop shouting.
There is a buffer zone between the forces of Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang and Li Chuang in Jingzhou, that is, a few small towns, all of which do not touch each other. During the war, they will seize each other and leave when the war is over. There are also such areas.
Now Chang Yu wants to knock the mountain to shake the tiger. To put it bluntly, it is a military exercise. Then he will take the opportunity to take over the surrounding small towns in one fell swoop, consolidate them into military bridgeheads, monitor Jingzhou and contain Sichuan. No matter whether it is a war or a peace in the future, this is considered to be siege and capture the territory. His military exploits.
As for why military exercises were conducted at this time, it was actually forced by the current situation. Li Chuangchu, whose popular support was unstable, constantly colluded with Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan. At this time, the court had no intention and was unable to go to war with Zhang Xianzhong, so it could only use an internationally accepted method.
This method was often used in later generations, that is, military exercises, to shock the opponent first, and to test the strength and capabilities of Wuchang's soldiers and horses.
In the lobby of the General Military Mansion, when Wang Yuncheng and Lu Daqi were discussing the details of dispatching troops, Huang Degong burst in smelling of alcohol and ran directly to Wang Yuncheng: "I have to take the first step tomorrow, so I will prepare the food and grass tonight."
Wang Yuncheng frowned: "Uncle Jingnan, why are you so anxious? Could something have happened?"
"It's nothing. I just got tired of staying here in Wuchang City. I went to Jingzhou to meet those guys." Huang Degong snorted coldly. Wang Yuncheng and Lu Daqi looked at each other and thought to themselves, could it be that this fool suffered something while drinking with the eunuch? To stimulate, or to say that the eunuch deliberately used some provocation method.
Then he tentatively said: "Uncle Jingnan, you have thousands of soldiers and horses under your command. This food and grass will last for a while..."
Huang Degong couldn't help but slap the table: "I am only a source of food and fodder for thousands of soldiers and horses, not tens of thousands of people. You are pushing back and forth like this. If you don't mean to do this, you are an incompetent idiot."
Seeing that the bastard was angry, Wang Yuncheng didn't dare to resist, so he quickly said: "How dare you, general..." Lu Daqi and others also spoke up to smooth things over. Although Huang Degong didn't like civil servants, he still had to give him the face he deserved: "Just asking you In a sentence, if you can prepare food and grass for me before dawn tomorrow, I don’t care about other people’s things, I just need to take care of my subordinates.”
"I won't sleep tonight, so I'll leave this matter to Uncle Jingnan." Wang Yuncheng said with a wry smile. Only then did Huang Degong snort with satisfaction and turn around to leave: "I'll go to bed first. I'll go to Jingzhou tomorrow." Clean up those idiots."
In the lobby, Wang Yuncheng and others looked at each other in confusion. Huang Degong had always complained about the inconvenience of marching in the rainy season and was not enthusiastic about this military drill. Now he suddenly became impatient. It seemed that he had really fallen into the eunuch's provocation. He always said He was going to deal with those people in Jingzhou. I guess someone in Jingzhou scolded him.
It's not that Wang Yuncheng and others were too stupid to guess the reason why Huang Degong was in a hurry to leave. In fact, they had been led astray by Chang Yu. In the past few days, when discussing military affairs, Chang Yu stated that the purpose of sending troops was... Stabilize the current situation so that Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan does not dare to act recklessly, so that people in Jingzhou do not dare to collude with him, thus giving the court a breath of relief, and then slowly take action.
This made them all think that the purpose of this event was to intimidate Xian Thief and Jingzhou. In addition, Chang Yu made Zuo Mengeng withdraw from the finals with just a raise of his hand. Wang and Ma were pleasantly surprised and thought that Chang Yu did this intentionally. Since they were reused, I didn't think much about anything else.
As for Lu Daqi, Yuan Jixian and others were delicate and could see some other things. For example, Chang Yu would take the opportunity to conduct a thorough examination of Wuchang's soldiers and horses, but they were civil servants after all and could not see the hidden interests in this exercise.
