The Founding of the Red Chamber

Lin Jing clapped his hands, and Xu Nian came in with a box in his hands. Lin Jing and Xie Changyun said, "Brother Changyun, the world is difficult. You are His Majesty's imperial envoy and the head of the household department. You are in charge of our Hubei area. I will hand over these debts to you. No matter what you do, the household department has to pay back the money for me."

Lin Jing got a box of IOUs, and Xie Changyun's heartbreak was not to be mentioned.

Lin Jing had a good heart, and had a drink with Xie Changyun. When Xie Changyun went to rest, Lin Jing ordered the cook to pack a few light dishes and cook a pot of rice porridge.Tu Xiaosan added, "Bring me the stewed mutton."

Lin Jing said, "How can you still eat mutton in such a hot day?"

Tu Xiaosan could follow Lin Jing, so he just ate meat here, Tu Xiaosan said, "I just ate wine, my stomach is very empty."

"Eat less meat at night."

Tu Xiaosan said, "I've just had enough food for three days, and I won't be able to eat any meal without meat."

Regarding Tu Xiaosan's love for meat, Lin Jing also understood it, Lin Jing said, "This amazing military training is to eat more meat." Then he asked Tu Xiaosan, "Third brother, I think the fish in your south is also good. , why don't you see that you like fish so much? But meat, there is no shortage of meat."

Tu Xiaosan said, "What's so delicious about fish? Only gentle people like you like to eat things that are full of thorns. When Xiao Si was young, my mother had no milk, so she boiled the rice porridge until it was soft, and scraped off the top layer. Let him eat the paste. Later when he was older, I would go to the river to catch fish and shrimps when I was free. After returning home to clean up, I would put water in the pot and put the fish and shrimps in to cook. If the shrimps were cooked, I would take them out and make trouble for him. It is eaten as a paste, and the fish is boiled until the bone spurs are melted. Otherwise, he would have starved to death when he was a child. I don’t like fish or shrimp. It’s trivial. When we were young, we could eat pork during the Chinese New Year. If you eat mutton, you will be beautiful for half a month, how can you imagine a day when you can eat mutton every meal."

Lin Jing said, "When I was a child, I especially liked to eat elbows."

"Now you don't even touch it." Tu Xiaosan said, "You should eat more meat."

Lin Jing waved his hand, he doesn't like to see dead people, and he can't eat meat in case of war.Lin Jing said, "Ask Xiao Si to eat together." A few days ago, Xiao Si often came to eat, but recently he came less often.

"Don't worry about him, he eats with Ateng, Anian, and Youfu."

Lin Jing smiled, "When the food ran out, I saw the sky come to eat, but now that the food is abundant, I won't come."

Tu Xiaosan smiled, "That's how he is." In fact, Lin Jing didn't know that when the army was short of food and grass, Tu Xiaosi knew that his brother had meat to eat, so they came here to eat the meat.However, because Lin Jing is very particular about his meals, and Lin Jing has always been a vegetarian, Lin Jing himself can't bear to fill the table with big fish and meat.Therefore, except for Tu Xiaosan, no one would like to eat with Lin Jing until the food shortage.Just Tu Xiaosan, mainly because Tu Xiaosan is simple and simple, and he likes to eat meat, so he can get nothing more than two or three meat dishes.In this way, Tu Xiaosan's meat and Lin Jing's vegetarian food are exactly suitable for a table of meat and vegetarian food.

Tu Xiaosan and Lin Jing said, "With this box of IOUs, can we get rid of Xie?"

Lin Jingdao, "Xie Changyun is a smart man, he just came to see our situation in Hubei. If we are half dead at this time, I guess the imperial court can provide some food and grass."

Tu Xiaosan agreed with Lin Jing's words, "This means, after all, the imperial court still wants to use troops from outside the customs to reel in bandits. What I'm worried about is that our Hubei is still prosperous now, but it will hurt the eyes of Xie's family."

"If you want to be big, it will always hurt people's eyes." Lin Jing said, "It's all right now, the difficulty lies behind the reeling bandits."

The guards brought the food, including Lin Jing's white porridge, green bamboo shoots, and wild mushrooms, Tu Xiaosan's noodle cakes, braised mutton, and steamed duck with fermented wine. As for the soup, the two of them are also different, and Lin Jing's is a cup Bazhen Soup, and Tu Xiaosan’s Gourd Pork Rib Soup.

After sending off the guards, the two talked about military affairs while eating.Tu Xiaosan said, "To be honest, I was really annoyed when the army cut off food at the beginning. It's not just because the soldiers didn't have food to eat, I felt that the imperial court was unethical. Tens of thousands of people suddenly ran out of food. It is different from owed money. There is no food to eat, people are extremely hungry, and they can do anything. Tell me, what does the court think?"

"What do you think?" Lin Jing said, "You are underestimating the imperial court. If food is suddenly cut off, anyone who can command any army in the army will not starve to death if he has no means of his own. Let me tell you, first When I was in the household department, didn’t I have a boss. The idea of ​​cutting off food has nothing to do with the household department. Cutting off your food and grass for a few days makes you anxious. They want to cut off our food and grass. I have to ask for peace with the Ministry of Households, so that the Ministry of Households can earn back this face. They didn’t expect that the food cutoff was just right. Our thoughts. The Ministry of Households delivers grain every half a month. I have never seen such a war. It took half a year to prepare for the war last year. Can we say that there is no food? But what can we do? The Ministry of Households is not up to us, even General Lu There is no way. This is nothing more than driving the army with food and grass. The folks say it is good, whoever serves the bowl is in charge. This principle is the same as the imperial court holding the food and grass in their hands, and the army is fighting outside. The Ministry of Households wants to handle it Let's go, I didn't expect that this is the opportunity I was waiting for. It has to run out of food, so we have the reputation of raising food and grass by ourselves. You see, this huge Hubei is afraid that we will not be able to support our [-] foreign troops. Brothers pay one There are a lot of points, and we can pay for two more months. Even ourselves, we can save some money to support Xiao Niuzi and the others. I mean, send some of the money in our hands back to the outside of the customs, and call Chen An and Xiao Niuzi It would be better to recruit new soldiers and train some soldiers and horses."

Tu Xiaosan said, "Of course it's a good idea, but it's just the same thing. This Xie sees that we eat and drink well here, so I'm afraid it will make trouble when we go back."

"Are you afraid that he will interfere? Now in Hubei, which of these officials has not taken advantage of us? Xie Changyun just returned to the court to interfere. It is nothing more than the imperial court continuing to provide us with food and grass, and not allowing us to raise food locally. But think about it, we Don’t do it, I’m afraid those who take advantage of us will ask us to continue to do it.” Lin Jing picked up the bamboo shoots with his chopsticks and chewed them slowly, “The Ministry of Households took personal revenge, but it was a really stupid move. You think Thinking, if the army can even raise the court’s food, grass and military pay by itself, what does the court need to do?”

Tu Xiaosan quickly picked up a piece of mountain mushroom and stuffed it into Lin Jing's mouth, and said in a low voice, "It's fine to talk about it in private, don't say it outside."

"I can see that."

Anyway, Lin Jing has the ability to rely on mountains and eat mountains. His ability is separated by a river, and even King Jinling, who is fishing by the West Lake, admires it.The King of Jinling took the information about the Hubei area and said to his seventh son, Chen Xiya, "This Lin Jing is really a talent."

Chen Xiya said, "It's really audacious. Those who come to Hubei to do business now, nine out of ten have Lin Jing's elements in them. Father, he has only been here for half a year. Not only does the fifty thousand troops eat and drink well, but he himself also It’s a lot of money.”

King Jinling said, "Yes." He said to Chen Xiya, "Give what we have to the imperial envoy of the imperial court, yes, the one surnamed Xie, give him a copy, so that the imperial court will know what Lin Jing did in Hubei."

Chen Xiya said, "Even if the imperial court knows that they are employing people, Lin Jing might not be replaced."

"There is no need to order the imperial court to replace Lin Jing. Just replace Lin Jing. He hides outside the pass and lives his own leisurely life. The combat power of the army outside the pass is better than that of the Imperial Capital Army. This Lin Jing must be ours. Today is just a grain of sand in the eyes of the new king, and this grain of sand may kill him at any time." The King of Jinling ordered lightly, Chen Xiya took the mission and stepped back, and the King of Jinling ordered someone to invite him Duan Tianyu came over to discuss the war with Duan Tianyu.

King Jinling said, "The imperial court sent imperial envoys to see the situation of the Guanwai Army and the Imperial Capital Army. I see that the battle is approaching."

Duan Tianyu said, "This subordinate also thinks the same."

"Tianyu, your vision of military strategy is far better than mine. I think you already have a strategy in your heart." King Jinling pointed to the grand master's chair beside him, and ordered Duan Tianyu to sit down and talk.

Duan Tianyu kept his waist straight even when he sat down, and said, "According to my subordinates, the Imperial Capital Army is stationed in Lianghuai, and the Guanwai Army is stationed in Jingxiang. The imperial court must want to fight this battle quickly. At the same time, they went back down the river and seized the territory in the south of the Yangtze River."

King Jinling said, "Lu Qing is a veteran, thoughtful and sophisticated. Lin Jing and that Li Yiyong (tu Xiaosan), I don't know how well they fight."

Duan Tianyu said, "These two are quite difficult to deal with. Li Yiyong (tu Xiaosan) is extremely brave, Lin Jing doesn't know martial arts, but this person is full of wisdom. I thought at first, if we can deal with them separately However, it was Lu Qing who went to Huaiyang last year, but the Guanwai Army was stationed in Jingxiang. Moreover, both the Imperial Capital Army and the Guanwai Army are elite soldiers. There are 10,000+ of them, and they can divide their troops Let's do it. For us, dividing our troops is not conducive to war."

King Jinling pinched a piece of fish food in his hand and asked, "How about dividing and breaking it?"

"To capture the thieves first, capture the king. My subordinates think that defeating the imperial army is the first priority. As for the army outside the pass, it's good to be able to stop them. If they can't be stopped, even if there are a few small defeats, it doesn't matter."

"The Imperial Capital Army has [-] people, and the Guanwai Army has only [-]. Isn't it easier to fight the Guanwai Army first?" King Jinling looked at Duan Tianyu.

Duan Tianyu said, "Although the Guanwai army is small in number, the combat power of the Guanwai army is higher than that of the Imperial Capital Army. The [-] Guanwai army is not inferior to the eight-wai Imperial Army. Besides, the Guanwai army is as cunning as a fox. If they confront the Guanwai army, We need at least [-] troops to contend with. In a short period of time, the outcome is unpredictable. I am not afraid of the Guanwai army, but the Guanwai army has obvious weaknesses. As long as Lu Qing is killed first, the Guanwai army may not need to fight. , you can win."

"Tell me about it." King Jinling became interested.

"My lord, although Li Yiyong (Tu Xiaosan) can't find out his family background for a while, we have some other information about him. Looking at this person's daily life, he should be from a poor family. And Li Yiyong (Tu Xiaosan) is close He has been prominent in front of others for a few years and is mostly related to Lin Jing. My focus is on Lin Jing. There is no doubt that Lin Jing has outstanding talent, but he also has obvious shortcomings. His relationship with the Jiangbei court It's too bad, the imperial court can cut off his food and grass when the army outside the Guan is reeling bandits. It can be seen how corrupt the relationship between Lin Jing and the imperial court is. But this man's methods are really outstanding, half of Hubei, and he can clean it up in half a year. In this way, he can still profit from it. This person is difficult to deal with, which shows it." Duan Tianyu said, "Lu Qing is a veteran, careful and thorough, but in my opinion, his greatest advantage is that he He has united the army outside the Guan. He has a very good relationship with Lin Jing. The two cities of Jingxiang and Xiangyang rely entirely on the army outside the Guan as the main force! Lin Jing is willing to serve him. Therefore, the war last year was extremely smooth for the Jiangbei court. According to what my subordinates saw, Kill Lu Qing first, kill Lu Qing, the court must send a new general. We also have connections in the court. Besides, Lin Jing has offended many people. Those families he offended are many wealthy families From the big family. If you can send a general who is at odds with Lin Jing to the south to replace Lu Qing, won’t it be easy to get rid of the Guanwai army?"

King Jinling laughed, "Tianyu knows my heart!"