Everyone loves Huo Qubing

As soon as he entered the princess mansion, he saw Marquis Pingyang sitting in the gazebo by the pool, holding a stack of letters and reading with great interest.The weather has been quite cold recently, and he only wears a black coat, so he is not afraid of freezing himself.

I made a silent gesture to the servant who was sweeping the fallen leaves, tiptoed over, and sat down next to Cao Xiang.He soon noticed my presence, but he didn't raise his eyes, but put a hand on my shoulder.

Randomly scanning a few lines of bamboo slips in his hand, it turned out to be the military course "Sun Tzu" Art of War.

"Study military books on holidays? When I was in Taixue, I have never seen my brother pay so much attention to any subject." I teased him.

"One moment and another moment." Cao Xiang finally moved his eyes away from the scroll.

I was wrapped in his arms, enjoying the intimate lingering comfortably.

"Why didn't you tell me about joining the conscription?" I complained as the temperature between my lips faded away.

"Didn't brother already know this?" He asked me with a slightly embarrassed smile.

I pouted unhappily.

"I understand that my brother joined the army to stay in the capital, but there are many ways to stay, and it is not necessary to join the army."

"Choosing to join the army also includes a little selfishness for my brother." Looking into my eyes with deep black eyes, Cao Xiang sighed softly: "I want to become stronger, I want to protect you, I don't want to become like my father, in Pingyang The government will stay forever."

"Ah," when I heard him mention Cao, I shrugged my shoulders to express my understanding, "It's a pity, if my brother told me in advance, I could accompany him to apply for the recruitment. Princess Pingyang must be very unhappy."

"My mother is not very unhappy." Cao Xiang denied it first, and then corrected herself, "It's a little bit sad, but she said that I have grown up, and I should make up my own mind about everything."

The heat of the chest gradually dissipated, and I leaned against Pingyang Hou's arms to pant, while he carefully wiped away the muddy fluid in the abdomen with a brocade handkerchief.

"There is a new harness shop in West Market, and it opens today. How about my brother go shopping with me?" He suggested.

"Didn't you say that you asked someone else to play Cuju later?"

"Isn't it okay to change your mind temporarily for my brother?"

"But I don't want harness," I said despondently.

"I'm missing." There was a satisfied smile on the other side's brows and eyes, "Please also ask my brother to choose a pair of stirrups for me."

***

"Your Majesty hasn't arrived yet?" I looked at the long queue outside the Xuanshi Hall, and whispered to Dongfang Shuo who was standing guard with a knife at the door.

Dongfang Lang official sniffed and expressed his disdain: "It's so easy to get a sunny day. Your Majesty left the court early today and summoned Dong Shizhong to accompany him to Shanglinyuan. I'm afraid I'll have fun and forget the time."

"Is there any change recently that I don't know about? Why are so many people begging His Majesty to do something." I'm tired of copying those trivial things.

"No, it's usually very deserted here." Dongfang Shuo waved his index finger in front of my eyes, and grinned, "I don't know which idler is spreading rumors outside, saying that nephew Huo Xian is on duty during this hour, Your Majesty." He has the best temper, so now all the courtiers who want to ask His Majesty, all come to the Xuanshi Hall until the sun is about to set, crowding to meet the saint."

The eunuch hurried all the way, and waved to the group of people at the door: "Today's meeting is cancelled, please go back, and come back next week."

"Finally clean, let's go." Dongfang Shuo greeted me happily.But in the next second he had to show an annoyed expression, watching me being stopped by the eunuch.

"Huo Shizhong, please stay. General Wei asked Huo Shizhong to go to Tianliang Hall."

"Based on the footsteps of our Han horses, Zhongqing was able to strike late, decisively pursue Shan Yuwei's army, and regain Yanmen's luggage. In the eyes of the minister, it is already a great military achievement, which is enough to benefit. If Han Anguo still remembers Wang How did you die in the first place, so you won't speak wild words." The uncle's angry voice came from the hall.

"Those veterans clearly saw that His Majesty gave General Wei the military power of [-] soldiers, and they felt that they had seniority and were not convinced."

"General Wei's sister is now an empress, and the little prince is the eldest son of our burly man. His Majesty can't wait to send [-] troops, and [-] is too little."

"It's because of this that the veterans are jealous. Cheng Bushi is now wearing a pair of pants with Han Anguo."

"Military power speaks for itself. If you don't have military power, who cares how many pairs of pants he wears."

There was a lot of chatter, and when I entered the door, I saw a circle of soldiers in front of the sand table. In addition to the two captains Xun Zhi and Gongsun Ao, I recognized my uncle Gongsun He, the captain of the Forbidden Army, Uncle Su Jian, Military academy lieutenant Zhao Xin, Sang Hongyang sitting in the corner, and Northern Army lieutenant Zhang Cigong who was recommended by the Huainan County after Zhang Tang drafted the "Law of the Virtuous and Good in the Second Thousand Stones" at the beginning of the year.

I looked at my second uncle, who was sitting upright in the table, who had been silent all this time.These people around are so filled with righteous indignation, how much wronged did the second uncle suffer in the court, but still can maintain a calm posture?

"I agree with the words of the servant." A man with thick eyebrows and beard, dressed in Xuanjia, bowed his hands to his uncle, "I have stayed in the northern border for the past few years, and I have a deep understanding. With such a passive defense style of play, I am worried that if this tug-of-war continues, he, the Huns, can afford it, but we big men can't afford it."

"Can't afford it? Hmph," Gongsun Ao raised his voice, "If it wasn't for the old man Li Guang who handed over his fine cavalry striker to the army minister to eat two years ago, would we have been beaten until now?"

"Why did General Gongsun return to aid Li Guang?" Xin Zhao, who was quietly listening to the discussion with one hand resting on his chin, suddenly asked Gongsun Ao.

"Li Guang is holding my soldiers, I can't just watch them die." Gongsun Ao gritted his teeth.

Xun Yu nodded sharply in agreement: "Yes, yes, the Xiaoqi camp is full of good seedlings cultivated by General Gongsun."

Xin Zhao looked at the two people who were talking excitedly, but didn't answer, just frowned slightly, and then fell silent again.

Suddenly, my heart was knocked hard.Indeed, everyone knows that Gongsun Ao's soldiers were all lost in the hands of Li Guang, but Zhao Xin, as a lieutenant of the Northern Army, lost 7000 men in Gongsun Ao's hands, how many soldiers and horses have been with Zhao Xin before, no matter how many other people here today Known or not, I must admit I know nothing about it.

"Okay, it's all in the past, everyone don't argue anymore." The second uncle stood up and signaled everyone to pause.He picked up a pole, pushed the red stone horse on the sand table in front of him, and moved it westward, "I have a suggestion here. Since the servant has found out the distribution of troops on the Yinshan Ancient Road, it means that King Youxian of the Huns and Aries, Aries, The two kings of Loufan are still in a stalemate because of the tribal land strife. The fight between the snipe and the clam is an opportunity for us fishermen to benefit."

***

"This kid is Huo Qubing." After the meeting was over, the second uncle beckoned me to come over and introduced me to the man who had surrendered before.

"Qubing met General Li Xi." This person just said that he has been guarding the northern border, and I already guessed that he is Li Xi, the commander who cooperated with the second uncle in the Battle of Yanmen.

"Sure enough, seeing is better than hearing a hundred times. General Wei's nephew is very clever. I haven't reported my family name yet. He already knows who I am." The top of the head is kneaded into a chicken coop.

"General Li, don't forget that Qu Bing is also His Majesty's nephew. The minister is too busy to take care of him all day long, and often leaves him to His Majesty to discipline. His ability to know people is probably learned from His Majesty." The second uncle said modestly.

"Oh? Your Majesty personally taught it? From this point of view, Huo Xian-nephew can be called a 'student of the Son of Heaven'."

"You can put it that way." As soon as the words finished, a smug look seemed to flash across the eyes of the second uncle.

"Did General Han bully uncle in court today?" I asked on the way out of Shanglin Garden.

"That's not true." The second uncle denied me, "General Han is just a little bit reticent about His Majesty's ordering him to switch from attack to defense and station troops at Yanmen. However, General Han's attitude is completely understandable, after all, he has led troops to attack many times. , moved to the north and south, and contributed a lot to the battles of Dongou and Mayi; now he is assigned to a newcomer like me to do logistics, and I am afraid that he would not be so willing."

While speaking, I looked up and saw the shadow under the other party's eyelashes.Basically, according to the rules of my second uncle's words, if he spits out the word "no" and then stops, instead of adding a long paragraph of muddy words, I can believe that there is really no.

"Why didn't you send troops against Shan Yujun this time?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Uncle will test you first." When it comes to using soldiers, the other party is immediately excited, "A soldier is like water, and the shape of water, avoiding heights and going down, what is the next sentence?"

"The shape of a soldier, avoid the real and attack the virtual." I said.

"If you attack and you must take it, attack what you don't defend?"

"Whoever defends and must be strong, defends what he must attack."

"So the way to use soldiers is to show them to be soft and meet them with strength, to show them to be weak and take advantage of them to be strong?"

"For the sake of it, respond to it with Zhang, and show it to the east when you want to go west." I added, "This sentence comes from the "Binglue" written by King Huainan."

"I have a good memory." The second uncle nodded quite satisfied, "The problem we are facing now is that the Han-Hungarian border is too long, and there are too many places to defend, and the Huns are good at cavalry raids, and they have nothing to fear. When they confront each other head-on, our army must tend to be passive. If we want to turn the tide of battle, we must, as Sun Tzu said, 'Attack what we cannot defend'."

"I understand." I recalled the sand table deduction I saw just now. The second uncle and Li Xi planned to divide the troops into two groups, one to feint in the east to contain them, and the other to attack Heshuo in the west, and also to attack the Xiongnu.

"Speaking of the art of war, there is actually another reason why I came to you today." The second uncle took the seal buckle returned by the guards and led me through the west gate of Weiyang Palace. , study books with the young master?"

"Huh? Hmm..." I faltered.When my second uncle suddenly asked me such a question, my face was on fire.Before going out that day, I told Er Jinniang that I was going to form a Cuju team, and it turned out that I was studying with the young master, and I did some ulterior things by the way, and I went to the West Market with him in the afternoon.In short, he just didn't play football.

"The eldest princess said, you two are reading "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu?"

"Pingyanghou didn't read it, and I just forgot about it, so I accompanied him to review." I scratched my head and quickly found an excuse, "Confucius said, 'Learning and practicing it is not easy to say.' Uncle, Am I right?"

"The review effect is good." He stretched out his finger and scratched my nose, "Come on, I'll take you to a place today."

***

Tianlu Pavilion, also known as Tianlu Seven-storied Pagoda, apart from the front hall, it and Shiqu Pavilion should be one of the two tallest buildings in Weiyang Palace.The collection of books in Tianlu Pavilion ranges from piano, chess, calligraphy and paintings, among which there are hexagrams of merchants, farmers, and doctors, and then there are hundreds of schools of thought, and even higher-level military laws and decrees.The higher you go, the more precious the classics are, and the rarer the contents.

"The vast majority of military books are collected on the fifth floor, and some classics written by famous masters are collected on higher floors." The second uncle introduced me and led me to climb up.

Finally climbing to the sixth floor in one breath, the second uncle began to rummage through the sea of ​​books that were piled higher than mine.Obviously, the utilization rate of this floor is lower than that of the previous floors. The cowhide ropes used to wear the bamboo slips are generally relatively new, and the books have accumulated a lot of dust.

"Here, this is Jiang Taigong's "Six Secret Teachings." The second uncle stacked five wooden slips in my hands, and the top one was written in bold and large seal characters "Written by Jiang Wang, Master Wen of Zhou".

"This book, Huang Shigong's "Three Strategies", is also a good thing." A stack of thinly sealed bamboo slips was stacked on top of the previous five books, and I took a closer look, and there was a small vermilion lacquer seal "Liu Hou Yin" on the lower left of the title page.

"Cough...cough..." I was already buried in the smoke and smell of the letter.

The second uncle finally stopped searching and dusted off his clothes.

"Let's read so much first. These books are enough for the two of you to study until I return to court as a teacher." His tone seemed to be particularly confident in this expedition.

Holding the letter in my arms, I hesitated for a while.

"Uncle, is there really no "Han Xin" Art of War?"

The second uncle's smile stopped.After a while, he sighed: "Unfortunately, the Marquis of Huaiyin's Art of War has been destroyed, and I have not been able to read it."

Sure enough, it was the answer again.

"Liuhou's "Three Strategies" should be written at the same time as Huaiyinhou, you can read it first." Seeing my drooping head, he comforted me, "Maybe there are fragments of Huaiyinhou's works hidden in Changle Palace. I can help you to ask."

"No need, I'll go find it myself." I don't want to bother my second uncle about finding books.What's more, this has always been a knot in my heart.

"Qubing, you wait." The second uncle called me who was about to turn around and leave, and took half of the bamboo slip from my hand to hold.

"Although my uncle told you to read the book of war, you must remember that the book of war is not equal to the art of war. No two battles are the same. The real art of war stands outside the book of war and takes its power from the world." At the end, he said earnestly Told me, "All in all, it is better to have no books than to believe in books."