Since the Pingzhou garrison released homing pigeons to inform Changsheng and others of their arrival, Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu arranged for their people to organize two banquets in advance. The banquets were set up in the main hall of the government office, with a large table in the outer room and a small one in the inner room. table.
There were ten seats at the big table, and Datou and others sat in the outer room, accompanied by Chen Liqiu's cronies. Chen Liqiu originally had twelve loyal and brave officers. When Chen Liqiu entered Chang'an to avenge Miss Zhao, in order to cover Chen Liqiu's retreat, ten Four of the two loyal and brave lieutenants took the initiative to stay behind and were all killed in the battle. There were supposed to be eight people left, but only six were seated.
Changsheng didn't know whether the other two were leading troops outside or died in the previous imperial expedition, but it was inconvenient for him to ask questions on such occasions.
Although Changsheng just glanced at the seats at the big table, Chen Liqiu had already guessed what he was thinking, raised his hand and patted his shoulder, "Stop counting, there are no immortals in a war."
Hearing what Chen Liqiu said, Changsheng knew that the two absent men had been killed in battle, so he sighed and followed them to the back room.
The table in the back room is very small, with only three chairs placed. In fact, Chang Sheng was still lucky before he came in. If there are four chairs, it means that Takeda Mayumi is also here. Takeda Mayumi has been jealous and despised by the Japanese. It was indeed possible to come looking for them, but it turned out that he had thought too much and Takeda Mayumi was not here.
After Changsheng entered the room, Li Zhongyong raised his hand and said, "Lao Wu, sit down and talk."
"Hurry up and sit down." Chen Liqiu pushed Li Zhongyong to the upper position. "Even if you give it to him, can he sit down?"
"Yes, yes, that's what Third Senior Brother said." Chang Sheng sat at the bottom of the table.
Chen Liqiu took his seat last and called for the food to be served.
"Third Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Sister, have you been here?" Chang Sheng was very worried about Takeda Mayumi.
"No," Chen Liqiu shook his head and said, "Our life is very difficult, and you can't expect anything good to greet you. We managed to get a sheep and a chicken. There are many people in the outer room, and the sheep Give it to them, give us the chicken.”
"You have come all the way and we can't give you anything decent to entertain you. It's really rude." Li Zhongyong said.
"Second Senior Brother, what are you talking about? I'm not here to eat." Changsheng picked up the teapot and poured tea for the two of them. "You can't starve me even if you don't eat. We all carry dry food with us."
Chen Liqiu sat sideways and tilted his head, "Second brother, why are you so polite to him? Not to mention he is a prince, even if he becomes the emperor, we are still his senior brothers."
Changsheng nodded repeatedly, poured tea for the two of them, and sat down again. He then picked up the tea cup and took a sip, only to find that the tea was astringent in the mouth and the tea taste was very weak. It was obviously old tea.
After more than a year of blockade and siege, Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu's life was really difficult. They were really stretched and exhausted.
"Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother," Changsheng said seriously, "I know that you have been holding back because you don't want to meet me in battle one day."
"It's good that you know," Chen Liqiu said with a smile, "We really don't pay attention to the imperial court's wine sacks and rice sacks. If we are determined to raise troops and expand abroad, those idiot generals will not be able to stop us. By then, the imperial court will definitely treat us You send it here.”
After Chen Liqiu finished speaking, Li Zhongyong, who had always been calm, unexpectedly nodded in agreement, "Lao San is not exaggerating. Although we only have 20,000 soldiers and horses, they are all highly trained elite soldiers, and the captains under our command are no more ordinary than ordinary ones." The generals are no match for them."
Changsheng did not doubt what the two said, because the master collected many secrets of magic skills when he was alive. Except for Batulu, who was not very bright and did not participate in memorizing, the other four people each memorized many secrets. Li and Chen Undoubtedly, he passed these magical secrets to his subordinates.
The meal had been prepared long ago, and it was served quickly after everyone sat down, including a hen, a fish, two vegetables and three bowls of rice.
"Don't look at it. There's no wine, so there's just a jar of wine left." Chen Liqiu took a bowl and ate.
Chang Sheng didn't like drinking very much, so he picked up his rice bowl and ate with the two of them, "Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, what are your plans for the future?"
"Tell me what you think first." Chen Liqiu said casually.
"I don't have any ideas. I respect your opinions," Changsheng said. "The name of my coming here this time is to recruit peace, but in fact I am here to pardon you. There are no conditions. You can do whatever you want in the future."
"Pardon?" Chen Liqiu curled his lips and sneered.
Seeing Chen Liqiu's disdain, Li Zhongyong frowned and said, "Is it possible that you still think you are not guilty? What you killed was a relative of the emperor, and what you burned was an inner palace. According to the law of the imperial court, this is already a heinous crime."
Facing Li Zhongyong's rebuke, Chen Liqiu did not refute, but picked up a chicken head and chewed it.
Li Zhongyong continued, "If you have disobedience, that's all. The key is that you don't want to rebel or change the dynasty. Putting it off like this is not the answer. You have to find a way to solve this matter and make things better."
Chen Liqiu did not answer, but pointed at the pot of stewed chicken with his chopsticks, "It tastes good, you can eat it too."
Seeing that Chen Liqiu wanted to change the subject, Li Zhongyong ignored him and turned to look at Changsheng, "The third child is a man, but he made a huge mistake. Not only did he kill the emperor's relatives and court officials, but he also Burning down Pingkangfang, there are many people inside who are not guilty enough to die, so what Lao San did was really to anger innocent people."
"Oh, here we go again." Chen Liqiu was very impatient.
Li Zhongyong ignored Chen Liqiu and continued to say to Changsheng, "The crimes we committed should not be pardoned. You have made great contributions to the court. If we could be pardoned, the emperor would have already taken the initiative to pardon us. The reason for this has been The main reason for delaying the decision is because the third child killed a relative of the emperor. If the emperor pardons us, it will be true and we will be criticized."
"Eat quickly, it's cold." Chen Liqiu interrupted again.
Li Zhongyong continued, "The emperor's gold medal given to you by the emperor should have other uses, but he must have thought that you would use the gold medal to pardon us. In this case, we can't make it difficult for you. We must do something to make the emperor open to the outside world. If you have an explanation, you won’t owe the emperor too much favor.”
Hearing Li Zhongyong's words, Changsheng turned around and asked, "Second Senior Brother, what do you think?"
"Although we have little information, we are not completely ignorant of the outside situation," Li Zhongyong said. "Now that the imperial court is in the midst of recruiting people, we can help the imperial court suppress rebellion."
"Second Senior Brother, people will die in war." Changsheng said.
"If you die, your ears will die. What are you afraid of? The ancients said that if you are poor, you can be alone, and if you are rich, you can help the world," Li Zhongyong said seriously, "Wars are everywhere, and wars have been going on for years. It is the common people who suffer. We practice Qi and martial arts, and we should do something for the world. What is it? Besides, Lao San burned down Pingkangfang earlier and affected a lot of innocent people. I am very worried that he will follow in the footsteps of Zhuge Kongming and kill too many sins and harm his moral character."
While Li Zhongyong was talking, Chen Liqiu picked up a chicken leg and put it in the longevity bowl, and then picked up another and put it in Li Zhongyong's bowl. But after hearing what he said, he didn't like it, so he put the chicken leg back in the basin and turned it over. After searching, I gave him a chicken butt instead.
Li Zhongyong has known Chen Liqiu for more than a day or two. He knows that most of the time he is just casual and careless, and he doesn't care about him. He doesn't even look at him.
"Third senior brother, what do you mean?" Changsheng looked at Chen Liqiu.
"Anything is fine," Chen Liqiu said casually, "I just can't make my brothers suffer."
After Chang Sheng pondered for a while, he said, "Now the imperial court has formed a new army of 300,000 people. The troops are divided into three groups to suppress the rebellion. One of them is led by Zhang Shan, the abbot of Longhu Mountain. You must already know my relationship with Zhang Mo, but I’m not very inclined to join forces with them.”
"Oh?" Changsheng's words surprised Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu, and they looked up at him at the same time.
Changsheng picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water, and then told the two of them in a concise and concise manner about the Japanese coveting the Chinese dragon vein. After they had a general understanding, he continued, "My idea is that you will return other states and cities to the imperial court. Only Shuzhou is left. Shuzhou is located in the north of the Yangtze River. It is very convenient whether you go south or north or east or west. If one day I need to mobilize troops to fight against the Japanese, I will ask you to send troops. If the new army of the imperial court is in an emergency, you can also Send troops to help."
After Chang Sheng finished speaking, Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu both nodded. Although they wanted to suppress the rebellion, they did not do it to make achievements or seek fame and fortune. They just wanted to do something for the people of Li, and deep down in their hearts, they did not If they don't want to be recruited into the army, even if they are incorporated into Zhang Shan's new army, they will not be free, let alone other armies, because the armies that have been recruited into the army in the past dynasties will not be reused.
Seeing that the two agreed, Changsheng continued, "The Ni family left a lot of property when they left for the Western Regions. I have disposed of some of it before leaving Beijing, but there is still a lot left. I will be responsible for the military expenses of your 20,000 soldiers and horses. We don’t need the court to allocate silver.”
"Aren't you afraid that the court will doubt your self-respect for supporting troops?" Chen Liqiu asked casually.
"No," Changsheng said, "The emperor dares to give me the Emperor's Gold Medal because he has absolute trust in me."
Chen Liqiu put down his chopsticks and sighed, "In order to fulfill Master's last wish, you owe a huge favor to Longhu Mountain, which is equivalent to selling yourself to others. In order to save us, you owe another favor to the emperor, oh my old man Five, how can you repay these favors in the future?"
"Third Senior Brother, it's not as serious as you said," Chang Sheng immediately changed the topic, "Since you have no objection, let's do it. I will give a note to the court tomorrow to explain the situation, and you will also transfer our troops back to Shuzhou. . But I have to treat you as a death row prisoner, and I will sentence you to death in prison. However, the imperial court has always had a system of exchanging merit for crime during war. Although you are guilty, you can make up for your mistakes by performing meritorious service. In this way, the emperor can also treat the people of the world. There is an explanation.”
"Okay, just as you said." Li Zhongyong made the final decision.
After discussing the official business, the three of them continued to eat.
At this time, Datou and others were also eating outside. Although they could talk and toast each other, they did not make any noise.
In fact, people in the world have many misunderstandings about masculinity. Real masculinity is to be perseverant and bear a heavy burden, not to drink until you are blushing and neck thick, then yelling, bragging and cursing...
