"Zijin, although we have only known each other for three short days, we have been close friends for a long time. I am impressed by your talent, knowledge, and strategic wisdom. Besides, our families are family friends. You must have seen through my wisdom. Yongxin, are you willing to help me, Xu Xiao, now?"
Xu Zongwen returned the wine pot and empty cup to their original positions so that no one would notice the flaws. He was waiting for Guo Shang's answer.
Unexpectedly and reasonably, Guo Shang agreed immediately.
"Guo Shang, I would like to serve the general as my master. From now on, I will try my best to assist the general to achieve great things!" Guo Shang insisted on saluting. Xu Zongwen could not stop him, so he had to let him go.
Guo Shang said that he did not want to come to the Xie Mansion for the banquet. He had already written his resignation and wanted to resign from his position as Censor and leave Jiankang. However, he decided to attend the banquet after hearing the news that General Zhengbei had moved into the Xie Mansion. In fact, I just want to see Xu Zongwen.
Since the Battle of Tancheng last year, Guo Shang had been secretly paying attention to Xu Zongwen. He did not expect that Xu Zongwen would successively make great achievements in the Northern Expedition, which also strengthened his intention to leave Jiankang.
Xu Zongwen happily drank three glasses. It turned out that Guo Shang's surrender was already destined.
Guo Shang is different from Pei Qing and Xi Jian. Pei Qing is steady and polite, while Xi Jian is frivolous and intangible. Guo Shang is right in the middle. He is steady and does not stick to rules. He pursues freedom but does not want to be unrestrained. He is able to restrain himself. The most important thing is that he is consistent with Xu Zongwen. Like-minded.
When Xu Zongwen told Guo Shang all his plans, Guo Shang expressed his firm support. At present, the world is in chaos and countries are at war. It is very important to wait and see what happens next.
Guo Shang proposed two paths to Xu Zongwen. The first was to develop in Luoyang, with Luoyang as the center, slowly expand, expand the territory, and wait for the opportunity of the second Northern Expedition. However, it must be patient within three years, because the national mourning has not been over, and the hasty dispatch of troops to the court is inevitable. Among the criticisms of those corrupt scholars.
The second way is to leave Luoyang, because Luoyang is located in the Central Plains, a place where the Four Wars were fought. The Xianbei, Huns, and Dingling people were mixed together, and their development was limited. You can choose Yizhou or Qingzhou as your base to accumulate food and build buildings. City defense, Xu Tu development.
After all, there were many people in Taiping Tower. After a brief discussion, Xu Zongwen and Guo Shang decided to rush back to Xie's Mansion to discuss the big plan with Xi Jian.
When leaving the private room, Xu Zongwen poured all the unfinished wine into his empty water bag and prepared to rush back with Guo Shang.
After settling the bill, the two of them had just stepped out of the threshold of the Taiping Tower when a burst of noise came from the front.
Ahead, there are longing figures and traffic jams. In front of a brothel called Guanju, a tall and heroic man kneels at the feet of a heavily made-up singer, surrounded by a dozen guards with wooden swords hanging from their waists. , Xu Zongwen recognized it at a glance, it must be Ban Jian, the imperial guard in the palace.
The man looked so familiar that Guo Shang recognized him. He was Xichang Hou Xunchong who rode wildly outside Jiankang City that day and almost injured Xu Zongwen and his two men!
"Mother Xipi, it's this dandy again." Xu Zongwen couldn't help it. Seeing the singer crying so hard, no one around him dared to say a fair word. Xu Zongwen knew that no matter what the singer was suffering from, Whether it was grievance or blackmail, Xichang Hou Xunchong was the first to look for trouble. Xu Zongwen also had to step forward to make Xichang Hou Xunchong disgusted because of the incident where he was almost hit when he returned yesterday.
"General!" Guo Shang did not stop Xu Zongwen. He just smiled softly, thinking that Xu Zongwen was a hero saving a beauty, so he could only follow him reluctantly.
"Young master, you can't do this! That orb really belongs to the slave family, why did you just take it away like this? It's the slave family's life!"
In front of Guanju Tower, Xichang Hou Xunchong kicked over the singer who was holding on to his legs and feet, and prepared to leave without mercy.
In the crowd, no one dared to point a finger. They all knew that the person protected by the imperial guard Ban Jian was at least a respectable concubine of a noble family, or even a relative of the emperor. How could he offend a nobleman for the sake of a brothel singer?
"Stop!" Xu Zongwen squeezed out from the crowd and walked straight towards Xun Chong, the Marquis of Xichang.
Seeing someone coming forward, everyone focused their attention on Xu Zongwen.
"What a pity, this is a bloody man!"
"Those who have offended the Marquis of Xichang will not get anything good to eat. This is the end."
"You said this person is the Marquis of Xichang?"
"Isn't that true? Look at the number of ban swords, and the Marquis of Xichang often goes out to hunt in the city fields. There is basically no one who walks in Jiankang City that he doesn't recognize."
"Isn't this man like an egg hitting a rock, and he's finished?"
"Oh! You are so young and energetic! What a pity, what a pity."
…
Among the crowd of onlookers, some people were already mourning for Xu Zongwen who came forward. The name of the Marquis of Xichang was "famous" in Jiankang City. Anyone who offended him would be in trouble!
I heard that at the beginning of the year, a descendant of the Lu family from Wu County was competing with the Marquis of Xichang in Guanjulou for the top spot. As a result, his legs were broken on the same day. Even though the Lu family was one of the top noble families in Wu County, he was still under construction. On the ground in Kang, compared with the Xun family in Yingchuan and the Prince Consort's Mansion, it was like country people entering the city and nothing.
What's more, if Xu Zongwen, an ordinary man with ordinary clothes and a strong body, took the initiative to provoke the Marquis of Xichang, wasn't he asking for trouble?
For a time, more and more people were shaking their heads and sighing, thinking that Xu Zongwen was not worth it. Although the singer was beautiful and beautiful, it was really not worth it for such a brothel girl!
"Sir, this orb is really the entire slave family's worth..."
"Snapped--"
Before the singer finished speaking, Xichang Hou Xunchong slapped her in the face, and soon a few blood stains appeared on the singer's white cheeks, which together formed a complete slap mark, and then pressed it with his foot. Press the singer's hand.
The singer was in pain and cried out: "Ah - Master, please spare your life!"
Xu Zongwen touched his chin. In the midst of the lightning and flint, Xu Zongwen raised his foot and rushed over quickly. He kicked Xichang Hou Xunchong to the ground with a flying kick.
Xun Chong, the Marquis of Xichang, threw him to pieces. Ban Jian, the imperial guard who was too slow to react, immediately surrounded Xu Zongwen under Xun Chong's roar. Xu Zongwen raised the corners of his mouth, made fists with his hands, and made a professional fighting posture.
Although the swordsmen had been trained in the palace for a long time, they had never seen Xu Zongwen's special fighting posture, and most of them were stunned on the spot for a while.
Xu Zongwen secretly rejoiced that these so-called imperial guards were nothing more than that and their responses were too slow.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xu Zongwen gave Xun Chong a kick, and then turned around and launched an active attack on the imperial guards Ban Jian who was protecting Xun Chong!
"Crack!" The swordsmen in the class drew out the wooden swords from their waists and tried to fight against Xu Zongwen, but when they slashed at Xu Zongwen's body, they broke with the sound!
"It turns out that sword is fake!"
"It's actually made of wood. What's the use of a wooden sword?"
The onlookers burst into cheers.
"What the hell do you know? That's called a ceremonial sword. A real imperial guard can kill easily with just this wooden sword."
"so smart?"
"What about these people?"
"It's fake at first glance. It's just pretentious. It's just a fake and a fake!"
In the crowd of onlookers, cynicism continued. The swordsmen who were defeated by Xu Zongwen were resentful. They all dropped their wooden swords, pulled out the prepared daggers from their boots, and attacked Xu Zongwen!
Guo Shang was calm on the surface, watching Xu Zongwen being besieged, but he was anxious in his heart. After all, he was the recognized master, and there was still a long way to go together in the future. If there were any shortcomings... It wasn't until Xu Zongwen gave him a reassuring look that he He loosened his tight grip and relaxed the tense corners of his eyes.
