On the eighth day of September, the sun rises in the east, flooding the earth with red light.
On the Panmen Tower, the bells echoed melodiously.
The soldiers on duty opened the land and water gates one by one.
The waiting crowd inside the city gate poured into the urn city like a flood that had opened a floodgate. After a while, it stagnated and then poured out of the outer city gate and flooded towards the south camp.
The canal on the side is full of ships waiting to enter the city. They need to be inspected and pay taxes, so they can only enter one by one.
The people on board the ships were astonished and surprised at what they saw at the landing gate.
"Why are so many teenagers anxious to leave the city? Most of them seem to be scholars."
The person who asked the question was an old man. He was wearing a simple straight dress. He had an easy-going appearance, but his gestures showed that he had been in a high position for a long time.
The garrison commander who was checking the official report said with a flattering and attentive face, "Replying to the Prime Minister, His Highness the King of Yan is recruiting troops today, and these people are all going to apply."
After speaking, the commander respectfully presented his petition with both hands. The sun shone and the three characters Ma Guangzu shone brightly on the brand-new silk paper.
"Recruiting!?" Ma Guangzu accepted the offer, his face even more confused.
Just as the commander was waiting to explain, Ma Guangzu smiled and shook his head, "Forget it, there are many ships waiting to enter the city, you'd better go ahead and get busy."
"I would like to thank you for your benevolence, and please come into the city."
The commander did not dare to be nagging, so he got off the boat and sent the official boat into the water gate respectfully.
Originally, Ma Guangzuguan was appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the governor of Lin'an Prefecture and the pacification envoy of western Zhejiang.
The assignment of the pacification envoy in western Zhejiang was transferred to Wu Qian two months ago, and now the imperial court has reassigned him another assignment.
The new official position is, "Direct bachelor of Jiabao Zhangge, envoy along the Yangtze River, pacification envoy to Jiangdong, Zhi Jiankang Prefecture, concurrently staying at the palace, and controlling the fields of Hezhou, Wuweijun, and Anqing Prefecture."
Just by looking at such a long list of official names, you can tell that he is a powerful person with great power.
To put it simply, when Qiu Yue's term came to an end, Ma Guangzu went to take over and passed by Gusu City.
After entering the city, he got off the boat in Zicheng. He took only a few followers with him and went to the government office to submit his message. Before long, Wu Qian came out to greet him in person.
When the two met, they exchanged greetings and then walked into the inner hall with arms crossed.
"Haha, I saw the Di newspaper last month and knew that you were going to work in Jiankang, but I never saw you coming. Today you didn't say anything about it, which surprised me."
Ma Guangzu smiled faintly, "If Mr. Wu had not brought up the matter of the economic world again, the Ministry of Finance would have been forced to spin around, and it took a month to get out..."
Entering the inner hall, the two of them sat down separately. Wu Qian smiled and waved his hands, "This is because Father Hua has wronged me. This matter is entirely His Highness's own opinion."
Ma Guangzu was surprised, but he knew that Wu Qian would not lie, "Your Highness's idea!? Most people in the court thought it was you who instigated it. Many people hated Duke Wu so much that they gnashed their teeth and said strange things in front of the officials..."
"Haha, let them hate you. I wish I could bear the blame for His Highness." Wu Qian smiled happily.
Now, the ministers in the court all admit that King Yan is no longer what he used to be and is extremely intelligent, but they still think that at his age, he is not old enough to think about issues in national affairs.
The Qingzhang Economic Border Policy, which has great influence, was suddenly implemented and vigorously implemented. The deployment was careful, the measures were effective, and the implementation was in place. So far, everything has gone smoothly.
This kind of vision and means are obviously only possessed by old politicians. King Yan is just a melon and an egg, and he is just used as a knife.
There is no need to think too much. It must be the former prime minister who was unwilling to be left alone. In order to realize his political ambitions, he instigated and deceived the King of Yan.
Therefore, some of the dissatisfied people in the court criticized the King of Yan, but more targets were directed at Wu Qian. However, Wu Qian also had old disciples, so naturally he would not sit idly by and fight back tit for tat.
Inadvertently, the old tree Wu Qian shielded Zhao Mengqi from countless wind and rain.
Wu Qian is naturally aware of all this and is even more willing to do so.
Ma Guangzu looked at his smile and immediately understood that it was not
It was Wu Qian who took advantage of King Yan, but King Yan got the willing, thorough and loyal assistance of this old minister.
This made him sigh deeply, "It seems that King Yan has grown much faster than I expected."
"If the Song Dynasty is to be revived, it must be on the shoulders of Your Highness."
Wu Qian's eyes were filled with relief and hope, and he recounted what Zhao Mengqi had done in the past few months like a treasure trove.
The imperial court was naturally aware of these things, but there was a layer of smoke and mirrors, and many of the inside stories were told from the people involved, which was particularly shocking.
Ma Guangzu felt as if he was dreaming when he heard this, "He is as brave as Taizu, as powerful as Taizong, as innovative and changeable as Shenzong, and even more talented and charming than Huizong. He is also uniquely courageous and persevering, even... daring."
The last word was not a compliment, but Wu Qian did not refute it, but rather agreed, "This is exactly what I am worried about. From the battle of Wujiang, I discovered that not only was His Highness not afraid of fighting on the battlefield, but he eagerly desired and enjoyed it. , he also likes to take risks in daily life, which always makes people nervous."
Ma Guangzu nodded, "I have already seen the clues about this during the He Ningmen incident. Originally, I just thought it was a young man's temperament, a little rash and reckless. Now it seems that His Highness is probably well aware of the dangers. , but still fearless. It’s hard to say whether this character is good or bad..."
Wu Qian said in a deep tone, "No one is perfect. What we old bones can do is to fill in the gaps and try our best to help him grow up."
The reason why I talked so much with Ma Guangzu was simply to draw Ma Guangzu into the Baoyan Party.
How could Ma Guangzu not understand? However, this kind of thing cannot be decided in a hurry, so he changed the subject.
"Wu Gong just said that His Highness is now in the military camp and personally in charge of recruiting troops?"
"Your Highness is far more interested in martial arts than political affairs." Wu Qian smiled bitterly.
In any case, in the traditional concepts of these civil servants, even if they know that martial arts is important, they still think that it is just a technique, a technique, a tool, and that martial arts is the right way.
"His Royal Highness King Yan has a saying, "Civilization is the spirit, barbarism is the body." I find it quite interesting. Ma Guangzu smiled and said, "If Wu Gong has nothing to do, why don't you take me to the military camp to see what ingenuity His Highness has in martial arts."
Wu Qian chuckled, "Forget it, just go and take a look. Father Hua, wait a moment while I change my clothes."
While the two veterans were talking, the recruitment matters for the south camp were in full swing.
There were no less than ten thousand people gathered outside the camp gate. Fortunately, they were well prepared and marked out many registration areas, and thousands of soldiers maintained order, so nothing went wrong.
There is a row of long desks at each registration point, and there are several long queues in front of the long desks to register identity information.
Yue Liangmiao arrived quite early and was quite early in the queue. After waiting for half an hour, it was finally his turn and he walked to the case excitedly.
The person in charge of registration was Zhao Mengxi. He hurriedly took a sip of water to moisten his throat and said, "Name."
"The surname is Yue, the given name is Sen, and the courtesy name is Liangmiao. I am eighteen years old. I am a native of Wu County. I live in Xinqiaofang, Fucheng. I have been studying in the government school for more than two years..."
Zhao Mengxi was stunned for a moment and hurriedly jotted down everything. After he finished writing it all, he unexpectedly raised his head and looked at the young applicant in front of him.
"Okay, I'll answer it quickly."
Yue Liangmiao was not nervous when he heard the tone was teasing but kind, "When I was queuing just now, I listened to the process of the person in front of me and wrote it down."
Zhao Mengqi looked him up and down for a while, then looked at his student registration certificate, "Didn't you bring your household registration?"
Yue Liangmiao was a little embarrassed. He came here without telling his family. He didn't steal the household registration. "No, I didn't bring it with me."
In fact, it doesn't matter even if you don't have identification, someone will naturally verify it later, and Zhao Mengxi just asked casually.
"You are a scholar. If nothing else happens, we will be colleagues from now on. Come on, take this number plate and go to the tent behind for a physical examination."
Yue Liangmiao happily walked into the tent with his number plate in his hand and saw several men who looked like doctors sitting behind the desk.
He found an empty seat and sat there, then
After a lot of hearing and questioning, the doctor gave him a small seal on his number plate.
"Congratulations on passing the preliminary selection. Go and wait behind the camp. Someone will lead you into the camp for the next step of screening."
Not long after, Yue Liangmiao was ushered into the camp together with twenty or thirty other people. The camp was very large, with seven or eight schools.
Then the soldiers were taken to different school grounds according to the marks on their number plates.
Mainly in terms of literacy level, there are those who are completely illiterate, those who know hundreds of thousands of words, and those who are serious scholars.
When Yue Liangmiao arrived at the place, he found several acquaintances and went over to say hello.
When about a thousand people gathered in this school field, the soldiers wearing blue armbands began to ask them to form a team, and they were not required to be too neat, as it probably had a meaning.
Afterwards, someone saw a group of general-looking people, surrounded by young men in golden armor, coming to the school grounds and boarding the generals' platform.
"Look, that can't be His Highness King Yan!"
"It must be, how can anyone else have such a pomp..."
"Tsk, tsk, His Highness is also very heroic in military uniform. He is worthy of being both civil and military."
"It goes without saying that when His Highness was in Wujiang, he personally killed the enemy and fought bloody battles."
"His Highness seems to be speaking to us..."
A group of scholars were chattering and excited. Some of them even wanted to compose an impromptu poem to attract the attention of King Yan. However, they could not hold back for a while and were scratching their heads and ears in anxiety.
Immediately, the soldiers blew their bamboo whistles, "Quiet! Silence! Violators will be disqualified!"
After a period of rectification, the scholars had to quiet down and looked eagerly at the general stage.
Zhao Mengqi walked slowly, walked alone to the front of the general stage, and stood there, as tall as a spear, quietly scanning the chaotic-looking crowd below the stage, without saying a word for a long time.
The generals behind him didn't know what King Yan was doing, but they all knew that he valued these scholars, otherwise they wouldn't have come here in the first place.
Wu Qian and Ma Guangzu stood not far behind the general stage, looking at Zhao Mengqi on the stage with interest.
"Directly recruiting scholars as soldiers is probably something that only His Highness can do..."
Ma Guangzu shook his head, "The value of scholars lies in their hearts but not their bodies. To throw them into the battlefield with reason rather than force, and to fight like wild beasts, is really a waste of natural resources."
"Father Hua, don't be impatient. Let's see what His Highness has to say." Wu Qian was relatively calm.
The scholars couldn't help but murmur in their hearts when they saw that King Yan was just standing there looking at them and others without speaking for a long time.
It's just that King Yan's eyes seemed to be able to penetrate gold and stone, so they didn't dare to make any move.
Finally, Zhao Mengqi spoke, his voice like a huge drum.
"Why are you reading the books of sages!?"
The scholars were shocked, and subconsciously asked themselves.
After a while, Zhao Mengqi answered himself, "I think everyone's answer is different, whether it's to understand the truth, to apply it, to seek fame and fortune, or something else."
"No matter what it is, it seems to be understandable. Everyone has his own aspirations and ideals."
"Of course, Confucius said it is benevolence, and Mencius said it is to obtain righteousness. But the righteousness is exhausted, so benevolence is the best."
"Here, I would like to give you a message. If you want to get promoted or make a fortune, please go elsewhere. If you are greedy for life and afraid of death, don't come here!"
