Sword of Coming

Before leaving, the man plucked up the courage to say, "Master Imperial Master, can you delay any longer and allow me to say a word?"

Cui Chan smiled and said, "That's two sentences."

The man said with a straightforward smile: "I've always heard that the big shots in the court like to talk nonsense and rely on themselves to guess. The Imperial Master also talks around a lot, but not much. Although things are going wrong today. It makes the Imperial Master a little bit sad, but to be honest, I still feel quite happy."

Cui Han waved his hand, "You can brag to others in the future, but don't go too far. It's better not to say anything about being friends with me, Cui Han, and being brothers."

The man sincerely admired him, cupped his fists and said, "Master Imperial Master is really a god."

hard to imagine.

A man from the frontier army asked for money from the Ministry of Revenue at the end of last year. Such a small matter, which had nothing to do with Shujian Lake at the beginning, would eventually directly affect the general situation and fate of tens of thousands of wild cultivators in Shujian Lake.

Su Gaoshan, the leader of a large Li cavalry, had the same feeling from last year to the end of this year: I have no money, I am short of money.

Especially after driving straight in and hitting the central area of ​​Shihao Kingdom, a vassal state of Zhu Ying Dynasty, there was no difficulty in taking over Shihao Kingdom. However, after weighing Cao Peng's troops and horses, Su Gaoshan was worried. No matter how he looked at it, it was that The pretty boy has a better chance of winning, and takes the first victory in breaking through the capital of Zhu Ying Dynasty.

People can't suffocate themselves to death, especially a high-ranking and powerful general like Su Gaoshan, so within all rules, he also needs money, and even more godly money.

So he focused on the Shujian Lake south of Shihao Kingdom.

He personally sent someone to Chishui City and had a meeting with Tan Yuanyi from Lisu Island.

It doesn't matter whether Su Gaoshan is Liu Zhimao or Ma Zhimao, who becomes the leader of Shujian Lake, as long as he gives money, as long as he has enough money, he can speed up the horse's hooves going south. Support this person, and those people who are like crossing the street Whoever is unconvinced by the wild cultivators in Shushanze, that’s just right. When Su Gaoshan went south this time, not to mention the wild cultivators and the Immortals, they even leveled more than forty mountains of the Immortal Genealogy Masters. Now his subordinates don’t even mention it. The number of monks assigned to him by Da Li was two hundred, and this was something he could see, otherwise the number would have exceeded a thousand. And as long as he plans to have a big fight on the mountain, behind his own army, those places where he destroyed the country or where Da Li recognized his vassal status, the Genealogy Immortal Master and the Immortal Cave that bowed in front of him, and You can call in three or four hundred more numbers, at least this number, and you have to obediently fly into the clouds and ride the mist, and rush to the aid of Shujian Lake.

What's more, in the army, there is a giant sword boat specially equipped to target the monks on the mountain. It is a big thing built by the Mohist mechanics. It launches into the air and fires a volley, and thousands of flying swords fall like rain.

It's money, and it's a lot of fairy money. Every time he uses it, Su Gaoshan's heart is cut with a knife, and it feels like his heart is being chopped out.

Every time he heard the civil servants' abacus, saying that using the sword boat this time would outweigh the gains and losses, and finally told Su Gaoshan how much Xiaoshu money he had lost, Su Gaoshan wanted to tear down all the old beams in the ancestral hall and sell them. After Qian destroyed the mountain gate, he sent people to dig three feet into the ground and scrape it again. If you find a secret treasure place or something like that, you might be able to save your money or even make a profit. This kind of thing really happened on the way south, and more than once. Those old immortal monks on the mountain are like fucking mice digging holes, each one hiding deeper than the other.

When he thought of the belongings and savings accumulated by so many wild cultivators in Shujian Lake for hundreds of years, Su Gaoshan almost wanted to shamelessly go to that pretty boy Cao Ping and borrow a few more sword boats from him.

As for Su Gaoshan, who has the momentum of the Great Li and is a general with a large number of troops, the simpler the better when doing things.

But for Tan Yuanyi of Lisu Island, a great spy who was accustomed to calculating gains and losses on the edge of a knife, he really met a powerful general like Su Gaoshan, a real big shot who could rank among the top ten in the Great Li border army, a confirmed figure. As the future hunting envoy, Tan Yuanyi is both happy and having a headache.

The surplus earned by Lisu Island in recent years, as well as the little fairy money previously earned from Qingzhong and Tianmu Island, are nothing compared to the military expenses required for the rapidly expanding cavalry.

Su Gaoshan can no longer maintain his support for war. After all, on the way south, in addition to the thunderous hooves of the Great Li cavalry, there are also the Great Li supervisory army and a group of civilian officials responsible for cleaning up the mess. The latter will try their best to avoid the military's response to the defeat. The land is exploited too much. Here, the national counselor Cui Yi has long formulated a set of almost cumbersome rules. It doesn't matter whether the frontier generals like it or not. It doesn't matter if it doesn't look good. Anyway, they have their own staff to help solve their problems, and if they violate the rules, they will have to pay the price. It can be overcome with military merit. As long as the battle merit is sufficient, if you encounter a stubborn city and cannot attack it for a long time, you will suffer heavy casualties. Once the city is successfully breached, the general can even order the massacre of the city. Let alone two-legged people, you can still kill them. Pigs and dogs are not allowed to stay, but for this kind of venting of anger that violates the book of laws and regulations of the Southern Expedition, the military supervisors of the Great Li army and those left-behind civil servants can only give advice at most, and will not persuade them to death, let alone impeach them, because in this case, the same Within the rules of the National Preceptor, you only need to take out the book, flip through it, and calculate the merits accumulated by killing enemies along the way, as well as the military merits of destroying the city, with the cost of massacring the city. It is enough. , and are willing to have your military exploits wiped out, and are willing not to be able to get a newly-established official position in Dali afterwards as a "tourist envoy", just do it, and the Dali court will never settle accounts with you in the future.

But if the military merit is not enough and you dare to massacre the city wantonly or trap the defeated army to surrender the soldiers, it is easier to behead. The supervisor can directly order the Secretary Wu in all the troops, even the confidant Secretary Wu next to the general, the same needs After listening to the order given by the Imperial Master of Da Li to the supervisory army, the general who ordered the massacre of the city will be executed on the spot, and then he will be summoned to each Da Li border army. One head is not enough. Help make up for it until it's enough. If killing them all is not enough, it doesn't matter. Da Li's Imperial Master said, just think of it as Da Li's exceptional kindness to you for your military career over the years.

But if Liu Laocheng didn't show up.

This deal is a good situation for all four of them, Tan Yuanyi, Liu Zhimao, General Su Gaoshan, and Dali to win.

As a result, Liu Laocheng, who had not been seen on Gongliu Island for two hundred years, appeared.

Therefore, the appearance of Liu Laocheng, the troublemaker, caused Liu Zhimao to lose control of Shujian Lake overnight. Tan Yuanyi's fate was no better than that of Gu Can and that beast on Qingxia Island. It was an unthinkable disaster. .

At this moment, Liu Zhimao looked at his eyes, nose and heart, as if the old monk was in trance.

Chen Ping'an raised his hand slightly and rubbed his palms, "Master Tan, how is your relationship with the Great Li general Su Gaoshan who attacked Shihao Kingdom?"

Tan Yuanyi said very frankly, "The relationship is very ordinary. What Su Gaoshan likes is the filial piety money and life money from the thousands of islands in Shujian Lake. If he can't get it, he may fall out at any time, even half of my own family is no exception." Although military generals can never interfere with the affairs of Green Wave Pavilion, there are more than ten spies like me in Green Wave Pavilion alone. Not to mention there are cattle and horse stalls and bronze figures holding terraces of similar nature, which are not as good as Green Wave Pavilion. Bo Ting is inferior."

Chen Ping'an smiled and said: "What's even worse is that the Green Wave Pavilion was originally built by the empress. Although he has become the adopted son of Grand Master Da Li, he is not his biological son after all. The worst thing is that It was the same spy who reached the high position of Island Master Tan in Lubo Pavilion. It was Li Baozhen's promotion path, which was destined to be smoother. On the contrary, it was a bit difficult for former officials of Lubo Pavilion with rich experience like Island Master Tan. .”

Tan Yuanyi smiled and said: "The Imperial Master will not be partial when it comes to the Cow Horse Stable and Green Wave Pavilion."

Chen Ping'an hit the nail on the head and said: "Of course I won't be partial when it comes to Niumalan and Lubo Pavilion. But specifically, will I treat every confidant old man who was promoted by the empress in Lubo Pavilion? Maybe the Imperial Master is very generous, so he won't , maybe I’m not that big, yes. Maybe today in troubled times, I can’t use my talents, maybe tomorrow the world will be peaceful, then I will. Maybe today I handed in the declaration of surrender and drew a clear line with the empress, but tomorrow there will be a sudden disaster, and I will be rejected. If you are too smart, others will be implicated. It seems possible."

Tan Yuanyi sighed and did not refute.

Liu Zhimao still looked calm and aloof from the incident.

Chen Pingan also sighed in his heart.

On Tan Yuanyi's side, it is meaningful to be unable to untie the knot, but it is of little significance.

But even so, before starting the deal, I already knew that the result would be unsatisfactory, and tonight's meeting was still a step that had to be taken.

Chen Ping'an needs to go through all the details revealed by Tan Yuanyi, one by one, to settle the doubts in his heart, and then summarize and distinguish the seemingly vague but traceable general trend.

Chen Pingan smiled and said: "The situation is indeed not very good, but friendship is born out of adversity. Island Master Tan, Island Master Liu, then let's be allies who cooperate sincerely? Let's start talking about the details and steps? The three parties will check each other's omissions and fill in the gaps?"

Tan Yuanyi sat up slightly and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Chen is willing to give you a peach, and Tan Yuanyi will definitely repay you!"

Liu Zhimao even spoke and said with a smile: "That's great!"

————

Late at night.

Chen Pingan left Hengbo Mansion alone, returned to the mountain gate of Qingxia Island, put the charcoal cage with the charcoal fire extinguished long ago back into the house, hung up the sword gourd, put on the golden robe, and then put on the thick blue cotton robe outside. , pulled out the sword fairy on the door, sheathed it on his back, walked straight to the ferry, untied the rope of the small ferry, and headed to Gongliu Island.

The waterway is far away.

But Chen Ping'an was not in a hurry. He rowed a boat and the ferry broke through the water like an arrow.

Shujian Lake is so vast that even though the ferry is flying like a bird, at dawn, there is still no shadow of Gongliu Island.

There are no birds flying in the heavy snow.

Chen Ping'an rested for a while, then parked his boat somewhere in his heart. He held a chopstick and placed a white bowl on it, tapping it lightly, making a ding-ding-dong-dong sound.

Listen attentively.

He looks like a beggar on the street begging for food, but also like the kind of young immortal who retreats to the mountains and forests, lonely in the clouds and wild cranes.

Chen Ping'an just enjoyed himself and put all the bowls and chopsticks away behind the incense stick.

Chen Pingan rubbed his cheeks and took a deep breath.

Enjoy the cool breeze!