While Zhang Jun was racking his brains for the fleeing people, Wang Xiaolie's wedding was approaching. Qiu Sheng prepared the gift, and after several people from the headquarters had seen it, he was on his way. He rushed from Shizhou to Luoyang within half a month and did not miss the wedding date.
Looking at the baskets of walnuts, red dates, etc., Jiang Min said to Zhang Jun: "Indeed, such a gift is a bit shabby. Other marshals will definitely not be willing to prepare such gifts. What a shame!"
Zhang Jun nodded: "It's indeed shabby. However, Xuanfu specifically ordered that only local specialties be prepared and must not violate the law."
Jiang Min sighed. After a while he said: "Counsel Qiu, there are no valuable local products? Are they just things that grow in the fields?"
Qiu Sheng said: "To be honest with you, these are the only ones. I have tried my best to select them carefully. These are all excellent."
Jiang Min shook his head: "Then let's do it. When you arrive in Luoyang, you must tell the people who greet you that it was prepared according to the order of the Xuanfu Division. It's not that we didn't care."
Qiu Sheng agreed.
Zhang Jun said: "After you arrive in Hejin, take the road from Jiangzhou to Yuanqu to cross the Yellow River. You must not take a long detour. You don't have much time, so don't miss the wedding date."
Qiu Sheng said yes. Said: "Of course I understand! If you take other roads, you may not be able to catch up."
After several people looked at the gift, they really couldn't find anything wrong with it. I had no choice but to send Qiu Sheng on the boat and watch him go west along the Lishi River, and then south along the Yellow River.
This section of the Yellow River is fast and the boat travels very fast. After arriving at Hukou, we changed boats and went all the way to Hejin County. Afterwards, we turned overland and passed through Jiangxian County to Yuanqu, then headed east to the south to cross the Yellow River and arrived at Luoyang.
When Qiu Sheng arrived in Luoyang, it was only three days before Wang Xiaolie's wedding. The whole city of Luoyang became lively, and there were many stalls and hawkers.
Although it has been less than a year since I entered Luoyang, the changes are obvious. The people were grateful for Wang Xiaolie's kindness, and almost every family celebrated, worshiped the gods and prayed for blessings.
After resting at the inn, Qiu Sheng handed over the gift bill and had a good sleep. Early the next morning, Wang Xiaolie's soldiers called him into the Xuanfu Division.
After sitting in the living room for a while, Qiu Sheng came to the official hall.
Wang Xiaolie stood up from behind the eucalyptus, stretched and said, "Let's go to the small living room next to us for a chat. Guard, bring a pot of tea."
Arriving at the small living room, Wang Xiaolie sat down. He said to Qiu Sheng, "You can sit down too."
Qiu Sheng said: "How can there be a place for me to sit in front of Xuanfu?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "I ordered this small living room to be built just to let you sit down. There is no need to be restrained here, just sit down. In the past, when you came, you always stood and talked. I felt embarrassed, but you couldn't talk. There were so many things I wanted to know, but I found out afterwards that you didn’t tell them at all.”
Qiu Sheng looked around and saw a high chair in the middle, with Wang Xiaolie sitting there. Opposite the chair, there were several chairs, one of which was placed opposite Wang Xiaolie. There is a eucalyptus table in the middle of the chair, with teapots and teacups on it.
In fact, the coffee table in the middle was requested by Wang Xiaolie. Due to different living habits, the way people drank tea in the Song Dynasty was very different from that of later generations. Coffee tables were not popular in this era. Now it has been changed to drinking loose tea, which needs to be brewed, and the coffee table has become a necessary tea set.
Qiu Sheng looked at the display and knew that the open one was for him. It was hard to refuse, so I just sat there.
Wang Xiaolie poured a cup of tea for Qiu Sheng. He said: "The garrison in Shizhou is of particular concern to me. It's rare for you to come to Luoyang and explain it to me in detail."
Qiu Sheng said he didn't dare. He carefully held the tea in his hands and didn't dare to drink it.
Wang Xiaolie said: "Since the founding of the army, I have had a problem that is difficult to deal with. If the army is small, it will be difficult to resist the surrounding forces and there will be no peace. If there are more troops, it will be difficult to manage, and there will always be things that are not to your liking. No The first thing to do is to survive. The current army expanded too fast. To be honest, there are many things that I am not satisfied with. But now, I have no choice but to continue like this. Jiang Min grew up beside me. , many ideas, I can know even without telling him. When I sent him to Shenshan, I didn't expect it to develop so fast, with tens of thousands of people at once. I was afraid that it would be the same as when I founded the army, because it would develop too fast. , many things have to be compromised.”
Qiu Sheng said hurriedly: "Don't worry, Xuan Fu, we will do our best!"
Wang Xiaolie smiled bitterly: "For this kind of thing, can you just do your best? You have to choose the right people, and you have to be reminded from the side, and you need to check from time to time, so that you can truly develop a suitable army. It's a pity that Luoyang is so far apart. It’s too far away, so I can’t keep an eye on it all the time, and I always feel uneasy. It’s rare for you to come to Luoyang and tell me what’s going on in the army now. Also, what do you think about Zhang Jun being appointed as the governor?”
Qiu Sheng pondered for a while. Said: "There are so many things going on in the army, where do we start talking about them at the moment? The army is newly established, and I have not been here for a long time. I really can't explain it. But according to what I have seen, everyone is clear-headed, and everything is in order. They followed the rules and did a good job.”
Wang Xiaolie nodded and said: "Everything is in accordance with the rules! Yes, this is very good."
Looking up, seeing Qiu Sheng's eyes full of doubts, Wang Xiaolie then said: "Do you think it's easy to follow the rules? It's not easy. Rules are just general rules for managing the army, and they apply to each army specifically. , there must be differences. Some officers will change according to time and place, and are not restricted by the rules. But some officers will not be restricted by the rules. They will try their best to ensure that the rules can be implemented. The difference requires you to be careful. Experience.”
】
Qiu Sheng nodded, but he still couldn't figure it out. Normally, it would be very difficult for the former type of officer. We must withstand the pressure from above, formulate truly appropriate policies, and implement them. The latter one is not easy to understand even though Jiang Min is around.
When people talk about famous generals, they tend to emphasize the former. Whether it's caring for soldiers or opposing authority, there are more stories to tell. In fact, it is the latter that is really difficult. It is much harder to come up with ways to change reality that are consistent with the reality of the military and satisfy everyone above and below.
In the stories of past dynasties, the little characters are often wonderfully written, while the big characters are lackluster. Or when writing about big figures, fiction is used instead of reality, and imagination is used instead of history. There is no way, the writer cannot imagine the state of the big man, and the readers cannot understand the thoughts of the big man.
Wang Xiaolie understood this difference, and both types of officers could accept it. It's just that the latter type of officer, who really does a good job, will pay special attention to it. Because he knew in his heart how much effort it would take to do the latter.
Seeing that Qiu Sheng didn't understand, Wang Xiaolie didn't want to talk more about this issue. Asked: "Zhang Jun has been appointed as Qian's governor. What do you think?"
