Dingxiang Restaurant is the most luxurious restaurant under Xuanfu Division. It is located in a busy city and is decorated extremely luxuriously. There is a colorful building in front of the door, and groups of female prostitutes are sitting downstairs, whispering comments about the people on the street. There were several boys standing in front of the colorful building, wearing the same green clothes and blue hats, black shoes and white socks, and the white socks were as white as snow.
Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, and street vendors carry baskets selling various kinds of rice dumplings and colorful eggs. All government offices and factories have gone on holiday. There is a constant flow of pedestrians on the streets and there are crowds of people everywhere.
Lin Shengyuan was sitting in a carriage, looking at the crowd outside through the window, and sighed: "Xuan Xiang is really a very special person. In just one year, Luoyang City has been so lively."
After a while, Lin Shengyuan got off the carriage outside Dingxiang Tower.
A boy came quickly and saluted Lin Shengyuan: "I haven't been here for a few days, Mr. Lin."
Lin Shengyuan took out a silver leaf from his arms and handed it to the boy. He said: "I seldom go out to eat recently, and I see less."
The young man happily took the silver leaf into his arms and led the way, leading Lin Shengyuan to a small pavilion in the yard behind. He said: "Today we are having a treat with Mr. Li, in this pavilion. Mr. Lin, please have a seat. I will serve you tea later."
Lin Shengyuan sat on the chair next to the dining table, and the boy quickly went to make tea. After a while, the tea was served, and Lin Shengyuan drank the tea slowly.
These young men were specially selected to be smart and special in receiving wealthy guests. After receiving the reward, their income will be calculated and will not be divided with the restaurant. So although the wages are not high, their competition is fierce.
Silver leaves are made by Xuanfu Division and are sold in gold and silver shops. Twenty silver leaves and one tael. Rich people like to buy this kind of silver leaves as rewards. When encountering a situation like this at the door of a restaurant, handing out a silver leaf is much more elegant than handing out a pile of copper plates.
With Lin Shengyuan's current status, he wouldn't feel heartbroken if he casually rewarded fifty or sixty coins.
After drinking tea for a while, Lin Shengyuan was a little unhappy when Li Benyu didn't show up yet.
Today is Li Benyu's treat, so he should come in advance. As a result, Lin Shengyuan was asked to sit here and wait. How could this make sense? Lin Shengyuan decided to drink two more cups of tea. If Li Benyu didn't come, he would forget it today.
Fortunately, Li Benyu took Zhang Yuan into the pavilion just after drinking a cup of tea. Seeing Lin Shengyuan sitting there, he apologized hastily.
Lin Shengyuan said: "Commander Li, I have a lot of things to do every day and am very busy! I have been waiting for you here for more than an hour. How much can I do? I think you are a foreigner who came to Luoyang. Everything is not easy, so I am waiting here. You. If it had been someone else, I would have left long ago!"
Li Benyu said: "Executive member, calm down! We are two outsiders. We are not clear about the rules of Luoyang, so we waited at home stupidly. We thought that when the time came, the restaurant would send someone to call us at home, but we missed the time. Please do not get angry, please forgive us. indivual!"
Lin Shengyuan complained a few words, but Li Benyu and Zhang Yuan just tried to persuade each other and let the matter go.
Li Benyu called the waiter over and ordered him to take a look at the menu.
Lin Shengyuan looked at it coldly, feeling dissatisfied. You said it was a treat, and you notified yourself several days in advance, but you haven’t even ordered yet? Is there such a treat? In a place like Dingxianglou, many ingredients need to be soaked, and some dishes even need to be simmered for a day and night. What else can we eat if we order at last minute?
The boy brought a large wooden book and showed it to Li Benyu page by page. There is a wooden sign hanging on each page with the name of the dish and the price according to the size of the portion.
Li Benyu said: "Why don't you read the first two pages?"
The waiter said: "These dishes must be prepared in advance. Generally, they must be ordered three days in advance. If you order now, you cannot order these expensive dishes."
After hearing this, Li Benyu said angrily: "What kind of dishes need to be prepared three days in advance! You must be talking nonsense! Are you afraid that I can't pay?"
Just after he finished speaking, he looked up and saw Lin Shengyuan sitting opposite looking at him with pity. Suddenly I realized that although they were both in Xijing, this was Luoyang, Henan Prefecture, not Datong Prefecture. How can the prosperous land of the Central Plains be compared to Datong Mansion in the bitter cold land?
Without further ado, Zhang Yuan was asked to come over and put the expensive dishes on the table.
Naturally, wine is expensive, and in Luoyang it is Peony Spring. This wine in Dingxiang Tower costs twenty ounces a bottle, and everyone who hears it will click his tongue. However, in stores outside or in ordinary restaurants, this wine is not sold at all. It is completely a luxury product.
After ordering, Li Benyu said to Lin Shengyuan: "We are in a hurry, so this is what we have to do. Don't blame others."
Lin Shengyuan said with a dark face: "You invited me three days in advance, but you didn't even think of ordering? It's incredible!"
Li Benyu said: "We are people from the North, and we don't know that there are so many rules in Luoyang. If you are really neglectful, I will forgive you!"
Lin Shengyuan picked up the tea and drank a cup, stretched out his hand to Li Benyu and said: "Where are you from and why do you come to Luoyang to do business? Have you written a letter of guarantee? If you don't have a guarantor in Luoyang, it will be more troublesome."
Li Benyu took out a box from his body and gave it to Lin Shengyuan with both hands. He kept saying: "Yes, yes!"
Lin Shengyuan took the box in his hand and almost failed to hold it. He said casually: "This box of yours is too heavy. How can it be so heavy?"
As he spoke, he opened the box. As soon as the box was opened, I couldn't help but be stunned.
I saw a small paper roll inside, placed on a pure gold seat. That throne is shining with golden light, maybe it has twenty or thirty-two weights?
Opening the paper, the birthplaces, names of three generations, occupations, etc. of Li Benyu and Zhang Yuan were written on it. Only the guarantor's section was empty.
Lin Shengyuan held the bail in his hand and looked at Li Benyu with a puzzled look on his face.
Li Benyu said: "To be honest, the two of us came to Luoyang from Jinzhou thousands of miles away to make a living, and we really don't have any acquaintances. Today I had a very pleasant chat with Yuan Wai. How about taking the liberty of asking Yuan Wai to be my guarantor? Please don't worry, Yuan Wai. I The two of them are in the cloth business, doing business fairly and will never cause any trouble to the employees."
Lin Shengyuan weighed the box secretly and thought in his mind. Under normal circumstances, being a guarantor for such a stranger is nothing more than greed for his money. However, giving away ten taels of gold as soon as you make a move is not a light gift. Moreover, today's banquet was not cheap even though Li Benyu didn't understand the rules.
After thinking for a long time, Lin Shengyuan smiled softly: "I think Mr. Li is an honest person, so I will be your guarantor. However, I have to say it first. You can only do business honestly and never do anything illegal." Things hurt me."
Li Benyu said: "How is it possible? We are all honest businessmen, what can we do?"
At this time, the food and wine were served, and Li Benyu enthusiastically invited Lin Shengyuan to drink and eat meat, and the matter of preserving his status was settled. The two of them were satisfied and happy.
At the Xuanfu Si Yamen, Wang Xiaolie asked Li Xing to sit down. He said: "Now that all the states and counties below have basically established their own patrol teams, it's time for your division to go to the front line. You haven't participated in a war since we established the team. How about it? Do you have any worries in your heart? "
Li Xingdao: "Although we have never been to the front line, we have not missed drills in these years. Gold diggers, what are you afraid of!"
Wang Xiaolie said to Wang Ruohai: "You still have enough confidence. This is the best, and there is no need for us to persuade you."
Wang Ruohai said: "That's what Xuanfu said. After all, Li Xing's division is a rearguard force. Get to Longde Mansion earlier and understand the situation earlier."
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "After the Dragon Boat Festival, you will hit the road. Go directly to Longde Mansion through Tianjing Pass and meet up with Xie Linong. Along the way, you should bring more supplies to reduce the burden on the troops transporting supplies."
Li Xing crossed his hands and said yes.
Wang Xiaolie added: "After arriving at Longde Mansion, we trained together with Xie Linong's troops for a month. Around mid-July, we attacked north together with Xie Linong. We occupied Weisheng Army along the way and Yushe County along the way. This time Taiyuan The battle begins with you."
Li Xingdao: "These two places are key places outside Taiyuan. Will the Jin people defend them?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "The Taiyuan Jin army has less than 20,000 people. If we guard these two places, wouldn't it be a sheep entering the tiger's mouth?"
There are two ways for Longde Mansion to attack Taiyuan. The Weisheng Army marched all the way into Taigu County, actually entering the Taigu River Valley from the Nishui River Valley and heading north to attack Taiyuan. The route was from Yushe County to Taigu County. It actually entered the Jiangshui River Valley from the Wuxiang River Valley and turned to the north to attack.
Taking advantage of the shortage of the Jin army in Taiyuan, they occupied these two vanguard positions to prepare for the subsequent war.
Li Xing crossed his hands and sang loudly.
Wang Ruohai said: "After occupying Weisheng Army and Yushe County, you only need to cross the mountain to reach the Taiyuan Valley. These two places are actually very important to the Jin Army. If you attack late, once the Jin Army has troops, it will definitely They will defend to the death. So it is best to send troops in mid-July, because the Jin army will not have time to save them anyway."
Li Xing nodded and wrote them down one by one.
It will also take time for the Jin Army's troops from Datong Prefecture to mobilize to Taiyuan Prefecture. More importantly, the Jin soldiers had to wait for their horses to grow fat in the autumn before they could march south in large numbers. Wang Xiaolie chose to take action in mid-July when summer had just ended, so the Jin army had no time to mobilize.
The Jin army now should have artillery in their hands. As long as the artillery is used properly, it is very troublesome to attack the city. The best way is to make a time difference. However, the overall purpose of the Taiyuan Battle is to attract the Jin army southward to annihilate them all. There is no need to launch early in other areas.
Wang Ruohai said: "After you occupy Weisheng Army and Yushe County, you should unite your troops together and not spread out. Together, you have more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, and the Jin Army should not be able to eat you all at once. If It’s hard to say if we divide our troops.”
Li Xingdao: "To eat more than 40,000 of us at once, does the Jin army have the strength?"
Wang Ruohai said: "This is a battle with a total strength of nearly 400,000 troops on both sides. Anything can happen. A division of more than 20,000 people is not a large number on such a battlefield. It may be wiped out in one day. If the enemy is Seize it, there are no reinforcements nearby, but it will be very dangerous."
Wang Xiaolie said: "Crossing the mountains is easier said than done. If we split our operations in two directions, there is nothing strange about a few days difference. A few days would be very dangerous on such a battlefield. So you should Keep it together to avoid accidents."
Li Xing nodded, taking another high look at the Taiyuan battlefield in his mind.
