As soon as Pei Hong's carriage left the gate of Datong Fucheng, it went straight to Yang Guozhu's camp outside the city.
"General, Pei Xunjing would like to see you."
A soldier from the camp came to Yang Guozhu to deliver a message.
Xue Mu, the staff member sitting on the first seat under Yang Guozhu, said at this time: "This morning, I heard that Pei Xunjian went to see Li Xunfu. I didn't expect to come to the general so soon."
"Bring people in!" Yang Guozhu ordered the soldier who delivered the message, and then said to Xue Mu, "Pei Hong hates Liu Heng to death. Now that Li Xunfu is here, he will naturally rush to show his kindness. .”
Xue Mu said with a smile: "If Liu Heng was so easy to deal with, there would be no situation like the tiger character flag today. Let alone Li Xunfu, it would not be so easy for the court to touch Liu Heng."
As Xu Youzhi returned from Qingcheng, news about the Tiger Character Banner's conquest of the Tumote tribe had spread throughout Xuanda and other places.
"Who would have thought that such an ordinary business company would have such courage and achieve what the imperial court had wanted to do for many years but could not do. I even admire Liu Heng." Yang Guozhu stroked his beard.
Xue Mu said: "It is a pity that Liu Heng and his tiger-character flag cannot be used by the imperial court. Otherwise, with Liu Heng's status, it is not impossible to be knighted."
Yang Guozhu was thoughtful when he heard this.
The greatest achievement of a military general is to be knighted. As a military general, if he can receive a knighthood, it will be his greatest pursuit in life.
At this time, there were footsteps outside.
"Mr. Pei Xun, please come inside."
As the voice fell, Pei Hong and a soldier from the camp walked in.
"I've met Deputy General Yang." Pei Hong saw Yang Guozhu sitting on the main seat and said hello.
Yang Guozhu stood up from his seat, came over to greet him, and said with a smile: "Pei Xun, please take a seat quickly. You are an honored guest that I can't wait to see."
After sending Pei Hong to a seat aside, he returned to the main seat and sat down.
"I came here this time to tell Deputy General Yang about something great." After Pei Hong sat down, he said to Yang Guozhu with a smile.
Yang Guozhu leaned forward and asked curiously: "Pei Xun will do good things as soon as he comes. Please listen to this officer. To be honest, there are all kinds of troublesome things in the camp recently, and I am bothered by them." He's dead, why are you still standing there, why don't you serve Pei Xun some tea?"
The next sentence was what he said to the servant next to him.
"Has Deputy General Yang heard about the official document issued by the Ministry of War asking Datong to expand a battalion of troops?" Pei Hong asked Yang Guozhu.
Yang Guozhu nodded slightly and said, "I've heard of it, but it's General Ma's business to expand Datong's troops. I'm just the deputy general."
"Whether it is the chief soldier or the deputy chief soldier, they are all our chief soldiers in Datong, and they can command the soldiers in the border town." Pei Hong turned around and said, "The reason why General Ma visited Governor Li today is for this purpose. thing."
Yang Guozhu frowned slightly and said, "Is it possible that General Ma doesn't want to expand his troops?"
Based on the relationship between General Ma and the Tiger Flag, he was not surprised that the other party was unwilling to expand its troops. After all, the imperial court wanted to expand its troops to defend against the Tiger Flag, which was an open secret in the eyes of discerning people.
Pei Hong shook his head and said: "General Ma will not object to the expansion of troops and horses, but the Ministry of War only allowed him to expand one battalion of troops and horses, but did not issue the money and food required for one battalion of troops and horses. Even the soldiers and armor The equipment was not even mentioned on the official document.”
"How could this happen?" Yang Guozhu looked surprised.
It is easy to assemble a battalion of soldiers and horses, but without armor and equipment, such soldiers and horses are inferior to the bandits on the mountain. Without money and food, even if a battalion of soldiers and horses is gathered in front of them, they will soon be disbanded.
Even though they, the generals in border towns, had large armies, the matter of money and food had never been related to them. The money and food for a battalion of soldiers and horses was not a small amount, and generals like them could not afford it at all.
Pei Hong said with a look of gloating: "Why else would General Ma come to Li Xun's Mansion? He didn't want Li Xun's Mansion to help him with the money and food for a battalion of soldiers and horses."
"Li Xunfu won't agree!" Yang Guozhu asked hesitantly.
Pei Hong smiled contemptuously and said: "How can such a good thing happen? Li Xunfu is not stupid. How could he pay so much money and food for him? Moreover, it is not easy for Li Xunfu to collect the money and food for a battalion of soldiers and horses." .”
"So General Ma intends to disobey the Ministry of War's orders and not prepare to expand a battalion of troops?" Yang Guozhu said.
A clever woman cannot make a meal without rice, and the same goes for these generals. Without money and food, the soldiers below will not listen to their orders at all.
Pei Hong looked at Yang Guozhu and said, "Li Xunfu and I have promised General Ma that we will work with him to ask the court to distribute money and food to expand the number of soldiers and horses in a battalion."
"With Li Xunfu and Pei Xunjian coming forward, I think the court will not reject this request. It seems that General Ma's camp will be established soon." Yang Guozhu nodded lightly.
Pei Hong smiled and said, "I have discussed with Li Xunfu that this expanded camp is not going to be handed over to General Ma, but will be left to you, General Yang."
"Ah!" Yang Guozhu was stunned, then waved his hand and said, "I appreciate the good intentions of Li Xunfu and Pei Xun, but the official documents from the Ministry of War are sent to General Ma. With the money and food, it will naturally come from General Ma. Send troops to expand this camp."
Pei Hong shook his head and said: "I and Li Xunfu will report to the court to hand over this job to Deputy General Yang. I am here this time, hoping that Deputy General Yang can establish some connections and win this job." Come down."
As he finished speaking, Yang Guozhu looked thoughtful.
He weighed in his mind what Pei Hong meant. After all, he was just the deputy commander-in-chief. If the Ministry of War handed over this camp to him and gave him enough money and food, he would be better than the commander-in-chief of Datong.
Pei Hong gave Yang Guozhu time to think, picked up the tureen sent by his servant, put it to his mouth and blew on it.
After a while, Yang Guozhu looked at Pei Hong and said, "Why must Pei Xunzhi leave this job to me?"
"Because Deputy General Yang has always regarded Tiger Character Banner as his enemy. Unlike General Soldier Ma, who has close contacts with Tiger Character Banner for some money regardless of right and wrong, I cannot trust him." Pei Hong said.
Yang Guozhu stared at Pei Hong's face for a long time, finally nodded and said: "Since it is Pei Xun's kindness, I will not refuse."
"With Deputy General Yang's words, I feel at ease." Seeing that Yang Guozhu agreed, Pei Hong showed a smile on his face.
A battalion of soldiers and horses fell into the hands of Yang Guozhu, which meant that he had an extra battalion of soldiers and horses in Datong to deal with the Tiger Flag, so he was naturally happy.
"General, the students have already arranged for wine and food to be prepared. General, why don't you sit down with Pei Xunjian?" Xue Mu stood up from his seat after hearing a few words from his servant.
Vice President Yang nodded, then turned to Pei Hong and said, "Pei Xun, why don't we chat while we eat."
