When Xia Muchao travels, he must take two people with him, one is Lu Jianting and the other is Zhou Xukuan. They are both the guards of Prince Jia's palace. Lu Jianting was tall and thin with a beard, and his sword-shaped eyebrows were bright. His words were humorous but never lost his sense of proportion. Although his martial arts skills were not as good as those of the top ten personal guards such as Yaozhu and Chongming, they were not far behind him. He was a master of both civil and military skills. people. Zhou Xukuan is fair-skinned and slightly plump, and his behavior is mature and steady but never boring. He always gives people a feeling of wisdom and restraint. With the two of them accompanying him, Xia Muchao never made any mistakes.
The guards stationed at the General's Mansion had already been replaced by soldiers from the inner guard camp brought by Xia Muchao from the capital. Seeing Mei Yuanchen dismounting in front of the mansion gate and leading the horse over, a palace guard shouted loudly and asked: "Who dares to come here to cause trouble?"
Mei Yuanchen was stunned for a moment, then held his hand and replied: "Please let me know, Brother Yamen, and let me know that Mei Yuanchen wants to see His Royal Highness, King Jaw."
"What nonsense are you talking about! How can you see His Highness just by asking? Go, go! Get back quickly to avoid unnecessary disaster!" When the palace guard heard that he actually wanted to see the Jaw King, he couldn't help waving his hands and shouting loudly scolded.
"This... then you go first..." Mei Yuanchen originally wanted the palace guards to inform Lu Jianting, but he heard a voice coming from behind, "Master Yuanchen, you are here!" It was Zhou Xukuan who was coming from behind. Rushed back home. When the palace guard heard Zhou Xukuan calling Mei Yuanchen like this, he knew that Mei Yuanchen's identity was not ordinary. His face turned pale and he looked at him nervously.
"Uncle Zhou, is your adoptive father at home?" Mei Yuanchen turned around and stepped forward to greet Zhou Xukuan.
"Haha, the prince is naturally at the house at this time. Let's go, I'm about to go see the prince." Zhou Xukuan walked over and replied with a chuckle. When the palace guard saw him halting beside him, he was so frightened that he was about to kneel down, but heard him say seriously: "Just do your job well, and don't be afraid of offending others. Mr. Yuanchen is The prince's adopted son, you didn't know about it before, and no one will blame you." After saying that, he smiled and took Mei Yuanchen to the director of Xia Muchao.
The Resident General's Mansion is an official residence rather than Guo Zimu's private residence. Therefore, the interior decoration is not exquisite and cannot be compared with the scenery of Prince Jia's Mansion. However, Xia Muchao did not come here just to enjoy the scenery. At this time, he had already learned about the battle situation in Suzhou and knew that Mei Siyuan and Xu Ding'an were both seriously injured and recuperating, so he took over Anxian's civil and military affairs and supervised them personally. Since Chen time, he has been reading the documents of officials above fifth rank in Anxian County in this main hall. He came from afar from the capital. If he wanted to take down a local snake that had been entrenched here for many years, it would not be an easy task. He had to first figure out how much power he had at his disposal.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Yuanchen is here!" Lu Jianting was on duty outside the hospital. When he saw Mei Yuanchen and Zhou Xukuan walking towards this place, he quickly came in to report.
After hearing this, Xia Muchao raised his head and smiled, putting the medium-sized slipper aside, and soon saw Mei and Tuesday walking outside the hall.
"Father (Prince)!" The two of them walked over and bowed to Xia Muchao in the execution hall.
Xia Muchao walked out from his seat, took the brocade stool and sat down. He smiled and said to the two of them: "There are no outsiders here, so where are all these rules? Bring the brocade stool over, let's sit down and have a good chat. This war in Suzhou is all about I learned about it from the battle report, but I really want to hear what you have to say!" The latter words were obviously addressed to Mei Yuanchen.
However, Zhou Xukuan did not follow the instructions and went to get the brocade stool. He held his hand and said to Xia Mu: "Your Majesty, why don't I go to the side hall with Jianting first? I still have many things to discuss with him!"
"Go!" Xia Muchao agreed. The two of them had walked away, and when they saw Mei Yuanchen still standing, with an unhappy look on his face, he scolded: "Why are you still standing? Get the brocade stool and sit down!" When he sat down as instructed, He smiled and said to him: "Tell me, how did you achieve the most glorious battle of Dahua in fifty years?" In terms of general battle losses, Dahua lost more than 35,000 soldiers this time, and Shatuo lost more than 35,000 soldiers. With more than 63,000 defeated, although Dahua won a great victory, it was not too dazzling. The most important thing is that Shatuo attacked with half the country's troops and defeated the Suzhou defenders eight times, but was forced to return without success. This was an unprecedented victory for Dahua in the past two dynasties.
Mei Yuanchen briefly explained everything that happened here to Xia Muchao, but deliberately gave all the credit to Yi Qilin, Yi Buyi, Xu Ding'an and others. After he finished speaking, Xia Muchao looked at him and sighed softly: "Oh, Yuanchen, both of you, father and son, are kind and honest. They are really a rare breath of fresh air in this world." Obviously, there is something else. People have reported Mei Yuanchen's many contributions to him.
"You should be credited with your first contribution in this battle. If you want to become an official, this is the perfect time. It is not difficult to ask for the title of a third-grade general." Xia Muchao looked at him closely and asked: "Have you thought about it?"
The official system of Dahua consists of one small test every year and one big test every four years. In the ordinary martial arts examination, the top three will only be a sixth-grade Zhan Shi at most. Based on the excellent performance in each major examination and promotion to half a level, it will take twenty-four years at the fastest to become a third-grade general! And with Mei Yuanchen's contribution in this battle, he could easily pass the school examinations for more than twenty years, which was indeed a rare opportunity.
"Father, my son is still young, so he should put education first. Besides, in this battle, General Xu, General Zhuge, Senior Yi, and Brother Yi Buyi are all people who have made great contributions, not to mention those who have died in the battle. General. I will never allow them to steal the credit!" Mei Yuanchen replied sternly, not forgetting his father's teachings.
After hearing this, Xia Muchao's face became more and more pleased, and he said with a smile: "You can think of this, my adoptive father is sincerely happy. Yuanchen, your future achievements must not be inferior to Siyuan! Haha!" The reason why he smiled was, firstly, I'm happy for him, and secondly, I'm happy for my beloved daughter, "Everything here has been put to rest, so you should go back to the capital first!"
"Go back to the capital?" Mei Yuanchen was a little confused, and secretly murmured in his mind: "Go back to the capital now? Dad is still recovering from serious injuries. I really don't want to go back at this time!"
Xia Muchao also knew that his words were a bit abrupt, so he continued: "Siyuan is seriously injured. I already knew it. I sent the accompanying imperial doctor to Suzhou yesterday. You don't have to worry. Last month, my father sent a message to all the sects in the world. An official ultimatum was issued, ordering them to send people to the capital before the sixth day of June to assassinate them. Many sects received the official ultimatum and sent people to set off. At this time, many people from the world had gathered in the capital. I came out this time with a heavy burden. Responsibility, he brought most of the elite of the palace with him. At this time, the palace was empty. In such a sensitive period, the capital is a mixed bag, and there is no guarantee that nothing will go wrong. I know that your martial arts are high, but I am afraid that if you are not inferior to Yongzhu, Jianghu There are few rivals here, so it’s time to go back and help Chengxuan take care of everything in the house!”
Among the top ten personal guards of the palace, five of them, Yingzhu, Yingsheng, Qiongqi, Hua Fang and Taotie, all came to Jinzhou with Xia Muchao this time. The two major bodyguards, Centurion Lu Jianting and Zhou Xukuan, also led two teams of personal guards from the palace to accompany them. , the only remaining master guards in the capital were Xiezhi, Qingji, Hundun, Zhuqian, Chongming, Du Chong and Chu Zhong. Normally this would be fine, but recently more and more martial arts masters have been summoned into the city, and it is difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Xia Muchao is really worried that some bad guys will take the opportunity to do evil.
"Ah? Such a thing happened? I didn't know anything about it!" That day, Mei Yuanchen and Xia Chengxuan informed Xue Ning that there were heavy casualties in the attack on Xue Ning's home. In desperation, he led the twenty-four senior brothers and teachers of Zhenwu Temple early the next morning. My nephew and Haitang set out for Jinzhou. At that time, the imperial edict and the official ultimatum of the Jianghu sect had not yet been issued, so he had no idea about it. At this time, I heard from my adoptive father that most of the masters in the palace had come out, and now only seven people, including Xie Zhi, were left behind, and an unknown number of masters had poured into the capital. I was really worried. Mei Yuanchen didn't know the martial arts skills of the others around him, but he knew about Haechi. Haechi was the fourth-ranked master in the house, second only to Qingji among the five remaining guards. From this, I have also guessed the status of these seven people. "If the man in black who appeared in Rui Mansion last time wanted to do something evil to Chengxuan and Yiyi, I'm afraid that with the martial arts of Xiezhi and the others, it would be difficult to resist Chengxuan, Yiyi and their stepmother, but it's really It’s extremely dangerous!”
"Yuanchen, don't you want to go back?" Xia Muchao asked after seeing that he seemed to be thinking about it and did not agree for a while. After Rui Rumin was attacked on the night of his birthday, he found out that his seemingly young adopted son's martial arts was actually higher than that of Yong Zhu, which really surprised him. When he came here, the most important thing now was to capture Zhao Qianming, but Mei Yuanchen was actually dispensable in this matter. However, the palace is lacking a top expert to take charge of the situation, so it would be more appropriate for him to return to the capital.
When Mei Yuanchen heard his adoptive father ask again, he hurriedly replied: "Father, I will go back tomorrow!" He had stayed in Anxian for more than twenty days, and had almost done all the things he had to do, so it was time to go back. What's more, the palace is still facing such danger!
"Haha, there's no need to be in such a hurry. I've sent people to summon Yunyuan and Fu Pun. Anyone outside the Mei Mansion, except Siyuan, will be back tomorrow. You can have a reunion dinner!" Xia Muchao had already planned everything.
Mei Yuanchen was overjoyed to hear that his adoptive father had sent someone to call everyone back to Mei Mansion to reunite with him, and he immediately nodded heavily.
"By the way, there is something I almost forgot to tell you!" Xia Muchao remembered something and said with a smile: "The marriage between Chengxuan and the girl from the Rui family has been decided. I will give it to you when I finish taking care of things here and return to the capital. They hold happy events.”
Rui Tuxian originally thought that after his father and second brother were killed, the Rui Mansion's reputation plummeted, which was beyond the reach of Prince Jia's Mansion. Unexpectedly, Xia Muchao came to propose marriage after Rui Rumin Touqi passed away. The family was already in extreme misfortune, but suddenly there was such a turn of events. Naturally, he did not dare to let it go, so he immediately agreed.
"Ah! That's great! I didn't expect that Chengxuan and Miss Rui are about to get married!" Mei Yuanchen always regarded Xia Chengxuan as his own brother, and knowing that something good was about to happen to him, he suddenly felt it.
Xia Muchao also laughed twice, and suddenly stared at Mei Yuanchen with a smile but not a smile, and said to him: "I have made an agreement with your mother that the day when they get married is also the time when you get married to Yiyi and Haitang. !”
