Lu Zuo thought that his father-in-law reacted that way because An Shilu said something wrong, so he deliberately eased the embarrassment and asked with a smile, "Oh? The eldest brother is already married, why don't you see your sister-in-law?"
At this time, Anyuanshan and Jia were speechless, not knowing how to answer. Jing Jingruo thought it was okay and there was no need to be so secretive, so he explained: "It's nothing difficult to say. It's my fault that I didn't tell you. It turns out that my eldest brother was married the year before last, and he married Xue Jide, the governor of Ruzhou. My brother's daughter Xue Ling, my brother and I originally respected each other as guests and had a deep relationship. Unfortunately, we were jealous of our good marriage. My sister-in-law contracted tuberculosis in January last year, and within three months..." When talking about this, An Jing said Ruo Ye couldn't hide his sadness and his eyes were red, "He passed away."
Seeing everyone's sad expressions, Lu Zuo began to blame himself. He wanted to change the subject and talk about something else, but he didn't expect that these sad past events would be involved. "It's rude and offensive. I didn't expect that there are these reasons. I'm really sorry."
An Yuanshan sighed in a low voice, "It's nothing, but An Shiqing became a little depressed later on. Later, I was afraid that he would miss him so much that I even recommended it to the emperor and let him work under Marshal Zhou. He is getting better this year." A lot."
Jia's face suddenly turned from sadness to smile, and comforted her: "Today is the day for my uncle and Jingruo to be at peace. Talking about these sad past events will make them happy."
Anyuanshan also realized that he was being rude, and quickly smiled and said, "Yes, yes, I have ordered someone to arrange lunch. Today our family will have a good gathering. Today is my daughter's big day, I am happy!"
In the blink of an eye, it is already the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th. According to past practice, today is a day off. However, since the Han Dynasty is about to leave for the expedition on August 16th, it is as usual to go to court early on the Mid-Autumn Festival. The difference is that the emperor did not talk about other political affairs this morning, but mainly gave instructions about the Western Expedition. In addition, the internal eunuch Zhang Cen declared Gao Yun to be the general marshal of the Western Expedition, and led an army of 100,000 troops to destroy the enemy. The position of general of the Jinwu Guard was also temporarily replaced by Liu Bozhao, who was recommended by Gao Yun.
When everyone heard the figure of one hundred thousand soldiers and horses, they were a little surprised. After all, for a novice like Gao Yun, one hundred thousand might be like throwing an egg at a stone. Besides, Shanzhou's city defenses are impenetrable. Such a pitiful number is really shocking. People are worried. But at this time, no one dared to question the Han Emperor's choice. He must have his own thoughts and judgments, so in the eyes of all ministers, talking more was useless.
In the afternoon of that day, Gao Jun took the deputy generals who were going on the expedition together with Lu Zuo and went to the school military field to order troops. After all the arrangements were made, it was already evening and everyone went home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
When Lu Zuo returned to the Lu Mansion in a sedan, it was already dark. When he entered the main room, An Jingruo had already prepared meals and was waiting for Lu Zuo to have the reunion dinner! Lu Zuo, his wife, and Yin Ji were sitting at the table. When they were about to start eating, Lu Zuo waved his hand and said, "Don't be in a hurry to eat yet. There is one person who hasn't come back yet!"
"There's another one?" An Jingruo looked at Lu Zuo unexpectedly, "Who is it?"
Yin Ji seemed to have remembered it and replied: "Master is talking about the second uncle!"
"Your second senior uncle?" Jing Jingruo was a little curious, "Ms. sir, why have I never heard you mention that you have senior brothers?"
Lu Zuo chuckled, "It's not too late to tell you now. My father once had two sworn brothers. The second uncle's name was Lu Xiuyuan, and the third uncle's name was Qin Fu. The two of them were both my uncles and my masters." Third Uncle Qin has a daughter named Qin Hong, and the brother who is coming later is the adopted son of Third Uncle Qin. They worship Second Uncle Lu as their teacher, and Second Uncle Lu has a son named Lu Manxi, who I worship Third Uncle Qin as my disciple, so we usually refer to each other as fellow disciples and brothers."
Jing Jingruo asked curiously, "Then where are they now? Are they still in Lujiacun, Shanzhou?"
Lu Zuo and Yin Ji looked at each other with pale faces.
Jing Jingruo noticed that they seemed not suitable to speak out, so he pointed to the food and wine on the table and said with a smile, "I'll take the food and heat it up!"
"No need!" Lu Zuo stretched out his hand to stop An Jingruo, "We are a family now, so it doesn't hurt to tell you. In fact, they fell grass on a mountain near Lujiazhuang called Fengji Mountain a long time ago!"
Jing Jingruo was a little surprised, "Then how come my husband is familiar with them?"
"This is a long story. One day I will tell you everything!"
As soon as Lu Zuo finished speaking, he heard a light knock on the door. Yin Ji jumped up like a reflex, walked to the door in a few steps, and asked in a low voice: "Who?"
A low reply came from outside the door, "It's me!"
Yin Ji recognized that the person's voice was that of Chen Tuizhi, so he nodded to his master and opened the door, "It's the second uncle!"
Sure enough, standing at the door was a dusty Chen Tuizhi, dressed in black and wearing a black gauze hat, covering his entire face. When Chen Tuizhi entered the house, he took off the bamboo hat on his head and told Yin Ji, "Close the door quickly!" Chen Tuizhi raised his head and saw his sister-in-law. He quickly saluted, "My younger brother Chen Tuizhi I’ve met my sister-in-law.”
Jing Jingruo also bowed and saluted, smiled and thought, "I think I saw you on the wedding day?"
"Exactly!" Chen Tuizhi smiled.
Yin Ji sat back next to his master and explained playfully: "The second uncle was afraid that the housekeeper would recognize him that day, so he disguised himself as a servant, so you have seen him before."
Jing Jingruo nodded, pointed to the table full of food, and said, "Then let's eat quickly! Otherwise the food will get cold in a while!"
After the four people sat down, Lu Zuo began to ask Chen Tuizhi in a low voice, "How is the matter?"
Chen Tuizhi took a bite of the food and nodded, "Everything is ready!"
"When to set off?"
"You leave on August 16th. Our people will set off in batches, which should be faster. We will gather outside Lanzhou City then."
The two chatted mysteriously. Anjingruo became more and more curious, but was embarrassed to ask. They must be talking about things related to the Western Expedition. Lu Zuo also saw that Jing Jingruo was curious about this matter, so he explained to her: "Rei Zhi is the leader of Green Forest in the Seven Provinces, so he has considerable power in the capital and various states. This time I will let him Gather some people and come to help us.”
Jing Jingruo was even more puzzled, "But they are grass bandits. How can the court trust them? I'm afraid there will be danger."
Lu Zuo smiled disapprovingly, looking confident, "This is already under my control. At that time, I just need to use the name of recruiting peace to tell the border bandits that they heard that the Han Dynasty was about to go to war with the country of Tibet, so they led their men The soldiers came to surrender."
"But without the emperor's order, how dare you recruit bandits privately?"
