The return of the son-in-law

More than ten days later, when Xuzhou was about to fall into late autumn, He Zudao and the others finally left for Beijing.

During this period of time, Guo Zhan'an did not deliberately inquire about the progress of their investigation, and even ordered Hao Yun and others not to be smart enough to inquire about the news.And his act of understanding was quickly rewarded.

Huang Mingli colluded with the prison guards, killed Shi Guogan, framed Guo Zhanan, and was related to the embezzlement of Mo's military salary. The two crimes were combined with a heavy punishment, not to mention the official hat, and his head might be lost.

Shi Guogan is dead, but Guo Zhan'an has not been promoted to Zhizhou, but continues to be his general judge, and the new Zhizhou will soon go to Xuzhou.There was also a lot of movement in the capital. For some reason, the fourth prince Li Shaojin angered the emperor Li Chonghao.A few days ago, the third prince Li Shaojun was also reprimanded by the emperor. He was no longer able to participate in the imperial examination this year.

Huo Yu got the news from Guo Zhan'an and was very dissatisfied: "Brother was framed for no reason and suffered for more than ten days, but they just pretended it never happened. It's really annoying!"

Guo Zhan'an was not angry, and said with a smile: "It's just such a little grievance. It's not like I haven't suffered it before. But you, why are you so anxious, have you finished your homework that you missed in the past ten days?"

These words just hit Huo Yu's sore spot, he quickly shook his head, begged for mercy and said, "Not yet, my brother will give me a few more days, and I will make up for it."

In fact, Guo Zhanan knew the reason, and now he just asked Huo Yu's attention to divert Huo Yu's attention - there are so many twists and turns in the officialdom, even if he explained some of them, Huo Yu's temperament would not be able to understand.

"Since you want me to give you a grace period, let me give you a three-day grace period. If you can't make it up any longer, you will owe me one more day." Guo Zhan'an raised his index finger, deliberately approached Huo Yu's ear, and whispered, "A few days ago, the teacher Yours, remember?"

Huo Yu's face turned red all of a sudden, and he said, "Don't bully me, brother, I'll just go and make up my homework." Huo Yu was afraid that Guo Zhan'an would repent, so he jumped out like a rabbit after speaking, apparently to go Went to study homework.

Coincidentally, Jia Huan came in at this time and said, "Master, Master Jiang is here."

A few days ago, Jiang Yannian saw that Guo Zhan'an was fine, so he sent someone to Guo's mansion to deliver a letter, saying that he would come to Guo's mansion to visit him during his rest days.

Guo Zhanan nodded and said, "I'll come."

It was cold in Xuzhou in late autumn, and the charcoal fire in the house was already burning. When Guo Zhan'an was talking to Huo Yu, he was only wearing a simple robe, which obviously couldn't be worn out to meet people.

He changed his clothes, and when he came to the reception hall in front, Jiang Yannian had already drunk half a cup of tea.

Jiang Yannian's sharp eyes saw the corner of Guo Zhan'an's clothes, so he got up and said, "Yo, our lord judge is finally here."

Guo Zhan'an said with a smile, "I don't know what you can do for Mr. Jiang's visit today?" He made a "please" gesture while talking.

Jiang Yannian sat down again, and said: "It was inconvenient to come here a few days ago, but today, I'm going to rest and discuss some things with you."

"But it's something in the capital?" Jiang Yannian and Li Shaojun herded horses in the northwest together, and established a secret communication method between the capital and the northwest. In addition, Guo Zhan'an was a state judge with a sensitive identity, so it was inconvenient for Li Shaojun to have any contact with him. For direct contact, news is often conveyed through Jiang Yannian, which is why Guo Zhan'an asked this question.

Jiang Yannian neither nodded nor shook his head, and said: "There are indeed some matters in the capital, but right now I have a very important matter to talk about. This year's northern cold wind is stronger than usual, and it is much drier than usual. We The spies sent out came back and said that many cattle and sheep on the grassland have died, and even the weeds that used to exist in winter have died in large areas, and I am afraid that many cattle and sheep will starve to death in the future."

Tatars are nomadic people who live on cattle and sheep all the year round. Now that a large number of cattle and sheep have died, without Tatars, the main source of food, the winter will be difficult.

Guo Zhanan's face was serious: "You mean, Tatar may come to invade the northwest border again this winter?"

Jiang Yannian said: "Not only that, most of the people who invade the border are some big tribes, and those small tribes don't have enough horses, weapons and soldiers, but I am more worried about these small tribes."

Guo Zhanan was puzzled and asked, "How do you say that?"

Jiang Yannian replied: "During the past few months in Xuzhou, you have also seen Tatar people doing business with our businessmen in Xuzhou. These are actually acquiesced. However, this is only limited to a small number of Tatars. Tatars, if those small Tatar tribes can’t survive, they will probably flood into Xuzhou. What I’m worried about is that there will be Tatar spies mixed in.”

Guo Zhanan thought for a while and asked, "What if the Tatars are strictly prohibited from entering?"

Jiang Yannian shook his head and said: "This won't work. At that time, a large number of Tatars will gather at the border, and they will not be happy. They will be even more desperate. Our troops cannot completely cover the long northwest border. We must find a way Divide it up."

Guo Zhan'an tapped his fingers on the table and said, "This matter needs to be discussed in the long term, and there must be no hidden dangers."

Jiang Yannian sighed: "That's why I came to you. Most of the people in the Northwest Army Camp are ordered to fight as soon as they come, and it's fine to beat them away. It's hard to talk to them about this. Although General Li Shi'an is in charge of the Northwest Army Camp now. , but he can’t make up his mind by himself. I hope you can think of a long-term solution for me, so that those people in the barracks can shut up.”

Guo Zhan'an nodded and said, "I've made a note of this matter, and I will definitely give you an answer in the next few days."

He also knew that this matter could not be delayed any longer. Jiang Yannian hadn't come up with a feasible plan for so many days, presumably because there was too much resistance in the barracks.Although there is no distinction between the Xuzhou government office and the Northwest military camp, one civil and one military, but the two restrict each other. If Jiang Yannian wants to suppress some people in the military camp, Guo Zhan'an can do nothing better.

Moreover, in less than a month's time, Xuzhou will enter a difficult winter, and one or two months later, those small tribes in Tatar will run out of food, and they can only go south to invade the northwest border .

Seeing that Guo Zhanan agreed, Jiang Yannian was relieved.He stretched his brows a little, and said: "I'll tell you some good news again, the fourth prince in the capital who is loved so much has been having a hard time these days."

Guo Zhan'an smiled and took a sip of tea, and asked, "Will he still have a hard time?"

Jiang Yannian sneered, and said: "Last year, the one in the Liu family was demoted from a noble concubine to a concubine Liu, and even the palace affairs fell into the hands of others, so she was counting on her son to win over her. In the end, hehe, those who were corrupted Isn’t that the military salary that Liu Pin’s useless son took to support private soldiers?”

Guo Zhan'an was curious and asked: "The emperor knew that he was raising private soldiers, so he just reprimanded him?" Originally, according to Guo Zhan'an's analysis, even with the presence of the third prince Li Shaojun, he needed to support a well-matched one so that those princes would not pay attention to him. Putting it on his dragon chair, Emperor Li Chonghao will also punish Li Shaojin severely.

After all, it would be a serious crime to be beheaded in any dynasty.

Jiang Yannian shook his head and said, "The emperor doesn't know about the private soldiers. Liu Yuanheng is completely screwed now. In order to excuse his grandson, he took the initiative to take this charge, and now he doesn't even have the title of Grand Scholar." If our emperor didn't want to lose face, and didn't want people in the world to know that his in-laws committed such a serious crime, the Liu family would have been kicked out of the capital long ago."

Guo Zhan'an was very disdainful: "What kind of in-laws, a concubine's natal family, is also worthy of the title of the head of the country? Although Empress Jiang has gone, there are many people in the Jiang family."

Jiang Yannian didn't care, and teased, "No, don't say that, his Liu family was promoted and trained by the emperor himself, so our Jiang family can't compare."

Guo Zhan'an thought about the news he got a few days ago, and asked, "By the way, I heard that the third prince was also reprimanded a few days ago, but is it related to this?"

Jiang Yannian shook his head and said, "Don't worry, it's just that the emperor is unhappy and just found something wrong to vent. Our people are clear-headed and won't show up at this time."

The two chatted for a while, and agreed to meet Xiu Mu ten days later, and Jiang Yannian left.

After Jiang Yannian left, Guo Zhan'an went to the study room and stood at the door without anyone notifying him, smiling as he watched Huo Yu sit at the desk and study hard.

Huo Yu, on the other hand, always felt that a line of sight was glued to him when he was reading.When he looked up and saw that it was Guo Zhan'an, he was both surprised and happy: "When did my brother come here, and he didn't tell me."

Guo Zhanan entered the study room, and jokingly said, "You interrupted our second young master's study, what if we don't get the champion by then?"

Huo Yu was quite self-aware, and said solemnly: "Brother, don't make fun of me. I have only studied for a few years. If I can get the first prize, wouldn't all scholars in the world die of shame!"

He started too late, although reading and writing is no problem now, but after all, he can't compare with those who were hired to teach teachers at a young age.

Guo Zhan'an also made a joke casually. With Huo Yu's character, he was very reluctant for Huo Yu to enter the official career.Although it is the dream of countless scholars to be a scholar, farmer, businessman, and official, but Huo Yu's temperament may not even leave scum in the officialdom.Take the matter of him being framed as an example, Huo Yu was so tired that he had to suffer several times for his counseling. He didn't want Huo Yu to have such experiences a few more times.

He felt sorry for Huo Yu, thinking that since he was here, Huo Yu could do whatever he liked, there was no need to go against his original intention and do things he didn't like to do.Reading and practicing calligraphy is also for Huo Yu to cultivate his character.

The two chatted for a while, inevitably mentioning the winter in Xuzhou.

Because of what happened to Huo Yu when he was a child, he was particularly afraid of the cold. Even when the charcoal fire was burning in the room, he was used to wearing thicker clothes than ordinary people.While playing with Guo Zhanan's warm big hand, he said, "This is the first time to spend winter in the Northwest this year. Brother, do you think the heavy snow in Xuzhou will be heavier than that in Tonghua County?"

While enjoying the soft touch in his hand, Guo Zhanan said, "It's my first time in Xuzhou too, so I don't know. Is Yu'er homesick?"

Huo Yu nodded and said, "I miss Grandpa, and I don't know how the old man is doing."

Guo Zhan'an kissed Huo Yu's forehead affectionately, and said, "Don't worry, I told you that day, one letter per month, this month's letter will arrive in a few days."

Huo Yu let go of Guo Zhan'an's hand, and took the initiative to hug Guo Zhan'an, saying: "Fortunately, I still have my brother by my side, brother, let's eat hot pot on New Year's Eve this year, the same as last year. After eating the pot, we can still be together Set off firecrackers, I still have to watch the New Year with my brother!"

Guo Zhanan let Huo Yu put his arms around him and acted like a baby, and said with a smile, "How dare you say you miss your grandpa? Your grandpa said that you are young and not in good health, so you should go to bed early, have you forgotten all of this?"

Huo Yu simply smashed the pot, shrank into Guo Zhanan's arms, and said flatteringly, "Brother is the best, let me watch the new year with him, or let him watch the new year alone, how lonely it is."

This little guy feels sorry for himself.

Thinking of this, Guo Zhanan felt very sweet in his heart. He stood up and put Huo Yu in his arms on the chair. He bent down and kissed Huo Yu himself, and said while kissing, "If you want to watch the year with me, then show some sincerity." .”

Of course Huo Yu understood what Guo Zhanan meant. Although he was shy in his heart, he was extremely unwilling to take the initiative to do these things, but the person in front of him was his lover, so how could he not take the initiative because of his shyness?

So, he held Guo Zhan'an's cheeks and raised his head to offer a kiss.

Guo Zhanan was taken aback for a moment, then accepted Huo Yu's rare initiative with a smile.