National teacher help

On March [-]rd, the dust settled in Luoyang, but Li Yuan did not come east. He just sent an order to call Li Shimin back to Chang'an, ordering Chai Shao to lead his army to take over Luoyang.

Yu Wenhuaji retreated to Luokou, and now the Tang army was finally pushed to the forefront of the world's hegemony. Li Yuan immediately decided to stand still and wait and see the situation to control the overall situation.In March of Yangchun, spring returns to the land, peach blossoms are everywhere, Chai Shao comes to handover, Li Shimin leads the crowd to set off and return to Chang'an.

Li Jing was still guarding the Yellow River, and after leaving for a month, the whole of Chang'an changed even more, almost returning to the prosperous appearance of Daxing in the past.The entire street was refurbished, the east and west cities were reopened, and the people were busy coming and going.Wei Zheng promulgated a new law, revised and adjusted the Sui law and promulgated it level by level, so that the people could prepare for this year's spring plowing.

The Central Plains is full of flames of war, but Chang'an is orderly, and it seems to have become a refuge in times of war.More and more refugees gathered in the Kansai Plain, Li Jiancheng sent people to settle the refugees,

On the first day of entering the city, several people handed over the soldier talisman, and Pei Ji came over in person, patted Li Shimin on the shoulder, and bowed to Lu Zhongming.

"Shimin has made great achievements in recovering Luoyang this time." Pei Ji smiled and said, "Go back to the palace, His Majesty is waiting for you in the palace."

Li Shimin nodded, and people around Pei Ji stepped forward to hand over the military power to Qin Qiong and others. Yu Chigong's expression changed slightly, but he didn't say anything, took off his belt and handed it over.

"Generals, please go back to the mansion first. His Royal Highness has prepared a new mansion for you." Pei Ji smiled kindly again.

Several people looked at each other, each of them understood, but Li Shimin looked back at them and nodded, indicating that it is good to be at ease.So several generals went to the military mansion to hand over the documents, and returned to Xisifang to rest.The whole square has been completely renovated, new walls have been built around the perimeter, and the house, although it is still the original building, has been repainted.A white jade archway is erected outside the archway.

"Wow——" Lu Zhongming began to drop by after returning home, looking here and there. The one facing the street was Li Jing's general's mansion. He was still fighting outside and hadn't come back. Hong Fu saw Lu Zhongming and said in surprise: "National teacher? Why are you back at this time?"

Lu Zhongming stood still, exchanged a few words with Hong Fu, and told Li Jing to defend the banks of the Yellow River alone, but there would be no danger in the near future, so she didn't have to worry.I went to see Qin Qiong's house again, and saw that there were many maids coming and going. Seeing Lu Zhongming coming in a hurry, the steward made a guess in his heart, and then he had a calculation, and hurried forward and said, "Is it Master Guoshi?"

"Don't bother you." Lu Zhongming smiled and said, "I'll just take a look."

The housekeeper followed Lu Zhongming, and Lu Zhongming wandered around. Seeing that Qin Qiong's house was luxuriously decorated, a side door was opened in the backyard.

Lu Zhongming: "?"

"Behind the door is General Luo's mansion." The housekeeper said respectfully, and made a gesture of invitation. Lu Zhongming thought to Qin Qiong that Luo Shixin's family is actually connected, which is good.There were also many maidservants in Luo Shixin's family, and when they saw Lu Zhongming coming, they all saluted.

"My lord." The maid said softly.

"Where are your housekeepers?"

"The housekeeper changes clothes and arranges flowers in the inner courtyard." The maid said, "Let me here."

Lu Zhongming waved his hand and said, "There's no need to call, I'll walk around."

Can the butler arrange flowers?Lu Zhongming didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and the scene of Luo Shixin playing the piano among the falling flowers appeared in his mind, and a middle-aged butler beside him was arranging flowers with orchid fingers.

These large mansions are well furnished, with rockery and flowing water, promenades and flowers and trees, all of which can be seen with thoughtfulness, presumably they were originally the general's mansion or civil official's mansion in the Sui Dynasty.Lu Zhongming thought that Li Jiancheng was really willing, and he circled out the largest good place in the west for the generals. Even when he was in Yangzhou, he didn't get such treatment when he saw Yu Wenhua and his place of residence.

What's more rare is that the layout of Chang'an City obviously coincides with the layout of heaven and earth. The emperor sits north facing south and lives facing south. The left is green dragon and the right is white tiger. The image of the main Jinxi looks like Wei Zheng's style.

If you want to come to Dongsifang, it is probably the place where civil servants live.

Lu Zhongming passed through the spacious and bright hall, and left the main courtyard. Hearing a few people talking outside, Yu Chigong was a little surprised, and said, "Yo, it's quite impressive."

Seeing Lu Zhongming, Qin Qiong smiled and said, "Is Zhongming coming to stay with my brothers?"

Lu Zhongming said: "I'll just look around, these two houses are really beautiful."

"What's the use of being beautiful?" Luo Shixin said casually, "It's deserted to live alone, so it's not interesting."

The four of them stood outside the house, Lu Zhongming was a little embarrassed, he didn't know what to say to comfort Luo Shixin, Qin Qiong said again: "Go to Heitan's house tonight, let's have some wine together?"

At this moment, a gust of wind blew, the cherry blossoms scattered, the two doors opened, and a slender woman with hairpins on her temples and a pale pink robe slowly walked out in clusters of flowers.

"Welcome Great General Luo back to the residence." That slim woman with beautiful eyes turned around, it was the Gongsun family from Mingfeng Tower who led a group of maidservants to salute Luo Shixin.

Luo Shixin: "..."

"His Royal Highness asked me to come." Gongsun said indifferently: "Serve General Luo."

Lu Zhongming thought a lot, but he never thought that Li Jiancheng would do things so beautifully. Luo Shixin stood at the door and didn't dare to enter his house for a while.

Gongsun said again: "Several generals, it's been hard work for Master Guoshi to withdraw his troops and come back, how about..."

"We're leaving too." Yu Chigong came back to his senses, put his arm around Lu Zhongming's shoulders, and led him away. When Lu Zhongming turned his head for the last time, he saw Luo Shixin standing there blankly.

Qin Qiong couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Excuse me, I'll go back to my home."

Qin Qiong returned to her home through the back door of Luo Shixin's mansion. The butler was already waiting there, called the master, and welcomed him in.

Yu Chigong held Lu Zhongming's hand, Lu Zhongming felt that he seemed to be in a bad mood, but his own was in a good mood, the affairs of Buddhism had been done, and the responsibilities of returning were also handed over, so he could enjoy life here.

However, he stayed for Yu Chigong's sake, and for the rest of the day, he naturally focused on each other's feelings, so he asked: "How is it?"

"All the soldiers have been taken away." Yuchi Gong replied, "Not very optimistic."

"The Xuanjia Army belongs to you." Lu Zhongming replied casually, "I only follow your command, and Li Yuan can't give it to anyone else..."

Yu Chigong said thoughtfully: "But Shubao and Shixin have no military power at hand, and Shimin's subordinates have also handed them back."

"Jiangcheng did such a great job." Lu Zhongming couldn't laugh or cry: "It just hit Brother Luo's weakness."

Yu Chigong asked seriously: "Guess how he will please us?"

"Uh..." Lu Zhongming walked home with Yuchi Gong, and turned into a small road in Xisifang. It seems that Li Jiancheng also put a lot of thought into them. The side of Yuchi's mansion facing the street was closed. A clean and spacious road is paved outside the side door, leading to the main street. The two roads are full of cherry blossoms. When the spring breeze blows, the petals sweep and fly around, which is very romantic.

"Wow!" Lu Zhongming laughed.

The closer you get to the gate of the mansion, the more flowers there will be. Outside the mansion, a huge cherry blossom tree has been moved from somewhere, and there are two lanterns hanging on the gate, the left one is written with Yuchi, and the right one is written with Lu.

Knowing that Li Jiancheng didn't open a mansion for him alone, Lu Zhongming must have respected him, so he had to admit his feelings, Yu Chigong entered the mansion, and saw several people sitting in the backyard, two servants dressed up, one with a gray beard The old man, smoking a hookah, just nodded when he saw Yu Chigong and Lu Zhongming coming back.

The two little servants got up and said: "Master, Master of the State Teacher."

Yu Chi respectfully said: "His Royal Highness asked you to come? You don't need to wait on us, you all go back."

"The old man just resigned from the Jinyang Prince's Mansion and was about to go home to retire." The old man said: "My surname is Wei, and the crown prince asked me to cook for the master of the state. General Yuchi will dislike me as an old man." Bones take up space, so let’s go back.”

"Ah!" Lu Zhongming immediately shouted excitedly, stepped forward and said, "Old... Mr. Wei! Is your cooking delicious? What kind of food do you know?"

Lu Zhongming surrounded the old man Wei, asking this and that, Yu Chigong couldn't laugh or cry immediately, knowing that this time he was still stumped.However, it's not good to be driven out, after all, Li Jiancheng had no choice but to accept it.

Old man Wei really lived up to his reputation that night. The biggest cook in Zhengde Building in Jinyang showed his hand to Lu Zhongming. Salt-flavored cumin-flavored minced meat and beans, and finally a plate of light-tasting boiled okra.

Lu Zhongming: "..."

"Try it." Old man Wei said in the courtyard with the smoking pot in hand, "I don't know if you two eat salty or light food. After a few days, you two will eat according to your taste."

Old man Wei acted like an elder, and even Yu Chigong was a little embarrassed, and said, "Eat with Mr. Wei?"

"Forget it." Old man Wei sighed, "I'm old, I'm so greasy, I can't eat, go drink some wine, you two eat slowly."

The servants lighted up the lamps, and went to have dinner separately. Yu Chigong and Lu Zhongming sat in the hall, and Xiaojia's feeling became stronger.

"Jiangcheng also said that tonight there will be wine in the East Palace to welcome us." Yu Chigong said.

Lu Zhongming hummed, and said: "If you want to drink, you can drink it yourself. I will only eat Wei Lao's food from today on."

Yu Chigong couldn't laugh or cry and said: "If I had known, I wouldn't have learned to forge iron, and I would have learned to cook."

Lu Zhongming laughed, and after the two finished eating, the servant came over to clean up the dishes, and Yu Chigong leaned against Lu Zhongming, dazed on the couch.

"I'm afraid that the people of the world will lose their military power." Yuchi Gong said in a deep voice.

"Hasn't he already been cut?" Lu Zhongming replied, "Don't worry, it's fine."

Yuchi Gong said: "What about him and Jiancheng?"

Lu Zhongming was a little sleepy, he was exhausted after fighting for days, he couldn't stop burrowing into Yu Chigong's arms, Yu Chigong carried him back to his room and went to sleep, he had nothing to say all night.

From this day onwards, a group of military generals ushered in a day of doing nothing. Although Li Yuan was still worried about the issue of Bingzhou, they had settled down in Chang'an. A request to enter the Eastern Palace.In March in Yangchun, the scenery was fine, and when there was nothing to do, Lu Zhongming and Yu Chigong went to the foot of Lishan Mountain to fly a kite, took the rice cooked by old man Wei, built a fire, heated up the meal, lay down among the flowers, looked at the sky, and fell asleep. nap.

During dinner, Qin Qiong would come over to drink from time to time, and Luo Shixin lived in the general's mansion, so there was no news.That day Lu Zhongming and Yu Chigong rolled up their trousers and were fishing in the creek, but Fang Xuanling came all the way.

"Brother Xuanling, long time no see!" Yu Chigong straightened up and asked towards the shore, "Do you want to eat grilled fish?"

"Brother Xuanling!" Lu Zhongming laughed.

Fang Xuanling frowned deeply, but tried his best to smile, and said: "Finally found two, come, I brought wine, let's have a meal."

Yu Chigong laid out his lunch on a rock, and the flowers bloomed lazily in late spring. Lu Zhongming knew that he came here specially, it was impossible to drink and chat, so he asked straight to the point: "How is the situation?"

"To be honest, it's not very good." Fang Xuanling took a sip of his wine, and replied, "After returning from the first battle in Luoyang, His Majesty seemed to... have other thoughts."

Yuchi Gong was moved immediately, and asked: "Xuan Ling, don't say that casually."

"I'm not sure either." Fang Xuanling replied, looked at Lu Zhongming, and asked: "Shimin lives in the West Palace now, and has no military power in his hands. He wanted to go to Bingzhou in the summer, and get General Cheng, General Xu, and the Turks. war, but His Royal Highness said that it is better to settle in Guanzhong at this moment, after all Luoyang has been leveled..."

"Your Majesty has declared the National Teacher to enter the palace several times, but the National Teacher has been shunned by the excuse of taking a break." Fang Xuanling asked, "When will the National Teacher plan to meet His Majesty?"

"Did Shimin quarrel with his brother?" Lu Zhongming asked.

"Of course not." Fang Xuanling replied: "But when he came back from Luoyang that day, His Majesty called the people into the palace and said something. Later, Jian Jian was very angry in the East Palace and broke a lot of things."

"Wait!" Yuchi Gong frowned and said, "You said it in front of Jiancheng?"

"No." Fang Xuanling replied: "It was only His Majesty and Shimin that night, Shimin is very sure."

Lu Zhongming: "..."

Yuchi Gong said: "He wants to abolish the crown prince and establish Shimin?"

Lu Zhongming frowned deeply, and said, "Since only the father and son interviewed, how did Jiancheng know?"

Fang Xuanling said: "My eldest grandson Wuji and I speculated that it was already very late that night, maybe His Majesty happened to be visiting Concubine Yin De, and was overheard by Concubine Yin De, and then went around and told Jian Jian."

Fang Xuanling drank the wine in one gulp, so there is no need to say anything more, everyone is smart, and getting information is enough.

Yuchi Gong said: "What do the others say?"

Fang Xuanling said: "General Luo doesn't leave the house. I visited a few days ago and I was listening to Gongsun's playing the piano. To be honest... the completion of this project is really a bit..."

Lu Zhongming couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Won't Yuan Ji hate him to death?"

"Yuanji..." Fang Xuanling said: "It should be a grudge, but most of them were persuaded by Jiancheng. In fact, General Luo didn't do anything. He said that he would drink and listen to the piano at home every day, so he would not Nothing else to ask for."

"Where's Uncle Bao?" Yu Chigong asked again.

"General Qin asked me to ask you two, especially the national teacher." Fang Xuanling said: "General Luo, General Qin and Zhijie Xu Shiji are easy to talk about, they are still the same."

Lu Zhongming hummed. This time, he had to face the problem of standing in line again. However, after returning from the Luoyang battle, Li Yuan had an idea that pushed everyone to the forefront.

"Find some time." Lu Zhongming said: "Ask Shimin to meet me, I want to know what he thinks."

Fang Xuanling said: "There are many things at this moment, and many people are under the surveillance of the crown prince. Concubine Yin De casts herself to the East Palace, Zhang Jieyu and Yuan Ji are friends, and during the time you left Chang'an, Jiancheng has been full of eyeliners throughout the city. Every move is under his surveillance."

"He dare not touch me." Lu Zhongming laughed casually.

Fang Xuanling nodded and said: "Yes, Mr. National Teacher, among so many people, there is only one he dare not touch, and that is you."

Lu Zhongming understood, smiled, and Fang Xuanling said, "Farewell."

Yu Chigong and Lu Zhongming watched Fang Xuanling get on his horse and leave, and disappeared at the end of the road.

Yu Chigong didn't say anything, he got up to dig a lilac flower, Lu Zhongming stood in the sea of ​​flowers, thoughtful, Yu Chigong held the boots of the two of them, rolled up the trousers, and led Lu Zhongming to walk slowly.

"How to say?" Yu Chigong looked at Lu Zhongming.

"Let's talk first." Lu Zhongming already knew Yu Chigong's character very well. This big guy is always quiet, but in fact, his thoughts are more careful than his own.Lv Zhongming analyzed and judged things, half relying on the historical trend he knew, and the other half relying entirely on guesswork.When the brain is bright, he can say a lot, but when he is full, he is basically at the mercy of others.

"I don't think Shimin is smart in this matter." Seeing that Yu Chigong was silent, Lu Zhongming said proactively.

"No." Yuchi Gong said: "In fact, he is very smart."

Lu Zhongming thought that if Li Shimin didn't tell anyone about Li Yuan's permission to make him the crown prince, maybe Li Jiancheng's reaction would not be so big. Doing so would be equivalent to openly challenging the position of the crown prince.Although it is said that Li Jiancheng will get the news sooner or later, but if everything is revealed, it will be very difficult to deal with.

There are many things that can only be fought in secret, and must not be brought out in the open, otherwise how will Li Yuan deal with himself?Li Shimin made good achievements in battle, but Li Jiancheng didn't make any mistakes.At most, Li Yuan was still in power, and Li Jiancheng began to buy people's hearts, which made Li Yuan feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"That's what he said." Yu Chigong replied: "Everyone knows about it. Although they won't ask His Majesty, this matter is undoubtedly a corner."

"Isn't it Li Yuan's job to make someone the crown prince?" Lu Zhongming obviously didn't agree with this view, and he was more concerned about Li Yuan's attitude towards Li Jiancheng.

"So I care more about His Majesty's thoughts." Yu Chigong frowned slightly: "What is he thinking?"

Lu Zhongming picked him up and let him carry it on his back, and said: "It's very simple. The eldest son protects the third son, and the third son is dragging his feet all day long. The eldest son has nothing to do. The people of the world have made the most military achievements. Except for the crown prince, there are others. How can I reward him?"

"Shimin has done so much, if you don't give him what he deserves, it won't make sense."

Yu Chigong replied: "If he has done a lot and won the battle, it would be too hasty to reward him with this."

Lu Zhongming said solemnly: "But what about the generals he leads? What about the rest? It's good that some people are in the prince's team, and some are in the Shimin's team, but rewards for merit have been like this since ancient times. What will the people think when they have made great military exploits?"

"No way, His Majesty still has to favor him more." Yu Chigong sighed, and said, "It's just that it will inevitably cause discord between brothers."

"Maybe Li Yuan still thinks..." Lu Zhongming said casually, "Is this to stimulate their competition?"

Yu Chigong said: "In any case, he will definitely deceive Shimin and build one of them, why can't he make up his mind first and make another decision?"

Lu Zhongming replied: "I don't think he might just tell Shimin to death."

Based on Lu Zhongming's understanding of Li Yuan's old fox, he felt that Li Yuan must not be such a stupid person, even his own son could not understand his temper. It is very likely that he just promised something to Li Shimin, but did not promise anything. Make him the crown prince, for example, say good work, good work, father will reward you a lot, you must like it.Maybe Li Shimin misunderstood after listening.

"What else can he promise the people?" Yu Chigong said: "Apart from the crown prince, can the people go up again? According to the law, the people have been named the king of Qin and are married. It is time to come out and build a mansion." Now, you still live in the West Palace without embarrassment..."

"What if Shimin misunderstood on purpose?" Lu Zhongming said with a smile.

Yu Chigong's expression suddenly changed. Lu Zhongming knew that among so many generals, Yu Chigong was the most loyal to Li Shimin.Li Shimin respected him, promoted him, recruited him from the bloody stragglers outside the Great Wall into the Tang army, and treated him like an older brother.

When Lu Zhongming, Yu Chigong's true son, appeared, and Li Shimin helped Yu Chigong take care of everything, and the relationship between the two was confirmed, Li Shimin immediately retreated and restored the relationship between superiors and subordinates, lest Lu Zhongming be jealous.

Of course, Lu Zhongming doesn't mind that Yu Chigong has such a white lotus in his heart, and he also has two white lotuses in his heart, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong... He knows that the relationship between Yu Chigong and Li Shimin is very simple, and he really has the intention of a confidant— — A confidant who can give his life for the other party.

"Are you jealous of Shimin?" Yu Chigong looked sideways at Lu Zhongming.

"Of course not." Lu Zhongming said with a smile: "My father said that between brothers and sisters, and lovers, there is no priority. He used to have many confidants who lived and died together. This is brotherhood , It’s love between lovers, it’s different. I’m serious, I don’t mind this, why are you nervous?”

"I'm not nervous." Yu Chigong said dumbfounded, "Why do you say that?"

"You always think that Shimin is your younger brother." Lu Zhongming pawed on Yu Chigong's back: "It's a child, a child, he doesn't have so many scheming, no matter what he does, he can see through it, but obviously not, he also has his own ideas, If it was changed before, he would tell you, but now we are together, in order to avoid suspicion, he distanced himself from you, so he didn’t tell you these things.”

"If he said that on purpose." Lu Zhongming said seriously: "Obviously his father didn't agree...or it wasn't entirely about making him the prince, but if he said it in a different way, you would How about it?"