Bailu was the fifteenth day of the 24 solar terms. At night, dew would appear on the vegetation and wild geese would fly south to avoid the cold.
In Weize County of Ningzhou, there were two county officers. At the end of last winter, Song Keli, a foreigner, came here to take up the post. He was very effective in suppressing bandits and destroyed more than ten Horse Gang nests. Horses in Ningzhou were frightened by his name. However, at the beginning of summer, Junior Commandant Song was removed from his position without warning by the Ningzhou Provincial Governor's Office. He had been idle at home for several months now. When it rains, it pours. A marriage that had almost been settled was also canceled. The woman was a pretty girl from a small family in Weize County. She was not from an official family or a scholarly family. Compared to the young Commandant Song who had a bright future, she was of a higher social class. Compared to the young Commandant Song who had a bright future, she was naturally wronged. The change in the marriage didn't cause too much of a stir in Wei Ze County. After all, Ningzhou was in the south of the capital. Everyone in the county was focused on West Chu's revival on the Guangling Road. Who would care about the daily necessities of a poor scholar? Those who had a good relationship with their neighbors would call him Junior Commandant Song when they met. Most people did not like to pay attention to this official who had no backing. However, at dusk during Bailu, an old Confucian scholar with white hair entered the county. He did not ask for directions and went straight to Song Keli's private residence which had already been moved out of the county office. There was a small carriage parked outside the door so that people would not feel that the house was deserted. The old Confucian scholar looked at the delicate face in the corner of the curtain. The woman was surprised to see a guest in the house. She slowly lowered the curtain and the carriage slowly drove out of the alley. The old Confucian scholar directly pushed the door and entered. Song Keli was in the yard reading an imperial court bulletin which he had asked for through his connections. When he saw the ordinary-looking Confucian scholar, he was pleasantly surprised. He put the bulletin on the stone table and hurriedly stood up. He bowed and said, "Greetings, Mr. Yuan."
The visitor was the reclusive old Hanlin Yuan Pu from the Hanlin Academy. It was this Hanlin elder who had spoken with him that was better than ten years of reading books. Song Keli had to think about the words that Mr. Yuan had written on the rice paper almost every day. "There are three things a scholar does not care about. He does not care about his family's cultivation, he does not care about his family when governing the country, he does not care about governing the country when governing the country." The rise of the country cannot be separated from the contribution of accumulation.. Back then, the entire Great Peace City looked at the Song family as a joke. The two masters of the Song family who dominated the literary world were angered to death in bed and his reputation was ruined. His father was exiled from the capital and could not be an official for the rest of his life. As for him, the young phoenix of the Song family, he was exiled to Weize County of Ning Province, a place with barren hills and treacherous waters. This was not a tragedy. After he had made some achievements on behalf of the people, first the high officials in the county government, then the Ning Provincial Governor's mansion, had all tried to suppress him. However, Song Keli did not feel depressed about this. What really made Song Keli feel confused was that the people who had received many favors from him in just half a year were now rolling their eyes and mocking him along with their colleagues in the county government. But Song Keli did not want to complain to anyone except for Yuan Pu from the Yuan Huang Sect. Because Song Keli had a stomach full of inappropriate things, he wanted to consult this teacher who he had not been able to do well in the Hanlin Academy.
After Teacher Yuan sat down, Song Keli asked respectfully, "Teacher, why have you come to Weize County?"
Yuan Pu, who liked to write more than talk, picked up the court bulletin. Probably because he had read too much and his eyes were not good, he raised it higher and browsed through it carefully. After putting it down gently, he spoke vaguely, "I have not left Great Peace City for too many years, so I wanted to go out and take a look."
Speaking of this, the old teacher said with some emotion, "After Wang Xianzhi left Martial Emperor City, an old friend of Great Peace City also left."
Yuan Pu looked at Song Keli and said straightforwardly, "There's a reason why the horse problem in Ningzhou can't be cured. It's just a chess piece on the chessboard. It's neither big nor small. But if you, an outsider, want to move the chess piece, the old chess players will kill you."
Song Keli nodded and said with relief, "As I expected, the Horse Gangs that have been swarming in Ning Province these years are Cao Changqing's pawns."
Yuan Pu said indifferently, "Cao Changqing has not been idle in the past 20 years. There is also a West Chu spy who became the third in command of Zhao Gou. It was this person who proposed to plant spies in the army of Guangling Province 17 years ago. In the early spring of the first year of the Auspicious Talisman, those spies who had been lurking for many years and had become lieutenants, to be exact, 367 of them, half died suddenly and the other half became the core of the West Chu rebel army. This move was completely unexpected by the Ministry of War who had been plotting with Zhao Gou for more than 10 years. The Minister of War, Lu Baijie, has a lot to do with this. Otherwise, how do you think West Chu has so many elites who can fight to the death on the battlefield? "
Song Keli was stunned.
Yuan Pu wiped his two fingers across the stone table and said hoarsely, "There are big and small schemes. To put it in a big way, it is to remove the vassals, to gather the power of the country, to promote the imperial examination, to restrain the military. In the end, it is to swallow Beimang and unify the world. It is to complete the feat that the Qin Dynasty has not accomplished in 800 years. To put it in a small way, it is to become someone's eternal emperor."
Yuan Pu's finger moved vertically. "To put it in a small way, it is to force the King of Beiliang to use all his assets to contain Beimang. It is to limit Gu Jiantang to the Northern Front. This is an overt scheme. To use West Chu as bait to waste the power and ambition of the vassals, including the King of Guangling, to weaken the local military power of Gu Lu. It is also to use this to bait the King of Yanchi, Zhao Bing, who has the geographical advantage. This is a scheme. Two generations of Northern Liang Princes. What's frightening about them is that they have three hundred thousand strong soldiers. What's respectable is that the father and son have power in their hands, but they won't rebel. What's pitiful is that regardless of whether your Northern Liang rebels or not, the Imperial Court of Li Yang wants your Xu family to go bankrupt. "
Yuan Pu spread out his palms and wiped them on the table, "Life is helpless. Just like Xu Xiao trying every means to kill me, but even if he has an army of 300,000 and groups of death warriors going to the capital, he still can't kill me. It is like Cao Changqing, who is talented but unlucky to be born in West Chu. It is like Zhang Julu, who works hard for the good of the world but has to face a situation where his family has the world. It is like Hsu Fengnian, who defeated Wang Xianzhi but has to face the million cavalry of Beimang. Their helplessness, compared to you, Song Keli, is it greater or lesser? "
Song Keli was dumbfounded. "Mister Yuan?"
Yuan Pu smiled.
Song Keli suddenly stood up and bowed deeply. He said anxiously, "Song Keli greets Mister Yuan!"
This bow was to the imperial tutor of Great Peace City, Half Inch Tongue "Yuan Benxi"!
Yuan Benxi ignored Song Keli's seriousness and said calmly, "I shouldn't have met you so early, but I have spent my whole life in that city. In the early Spring and Autumn period, I was just a nobody. That Xun Ping's name is more useful than my saliva. At the end of Spring and Autumn, there is nothing for me to do. Now that the chess pieces have taken root, according to Huang Longshi's opinion, the interesting thing about farming is not to wait at home for a good harvest, but to see the gold in the fields with one's own eyes. Moreover, it's not appropriate for you to continue staying in Weize County. Why don't you come with me to watch the scene of war and war? Otherwise, we scholars will only talk about the hardships of the people, but in the end, we don't even understand the suffering of the common people. That would be too ridiculous. "
Song Keli's eyes sparkled. He said joyfully, "I am willing to be Mister Yuan's lackey."
Yuan Benxi nodded and asked, "I saw the woman in the alley just now. How do you think she compares to the princess who secretly left the capital just to see you?"
Song Keli was speechless and did not know how to answer.
One was a beautiful princess, the other was a pretty girl from a humble family. How could they be compared?
Yuan Benxi's eyes drifted. He sighed and said, "When it comes to relationships between men and women, some people are good people and treat you well. This is a blessing, but it does not mean that they really like you. Some people have bad personalities, but are willing to change a lot for you, but they really like you. The woman surnamed Zhao is willing to risk leaving the capital to find you, but she will not abandon her family. When it is time to choose one of the two, she will leave you. But the woman surnamed Liu in the alley is gentle, but she will most likely do anything for you and will follow you to the end. People in the world always think that people with status will be grateful if they do something for them, but they are not deeply moved by the care of their parents, the help of their poor friends, or the help of their wives. "
Song Keli said bitterly, "Thank you for your advice."
Yuan Benxi suddenly sat back on the stone bench. "Talking is more tiring than doing things. Bring me wine."
Song Keli quickly ran into the house to find wine.
Yuan Benxi said to himself, "If it were not for Beimang, with 300,000 Beiliang, what would West Chu do? What would Zhao Bing and Zhao Yi and the other princes do?"
Yuan Benxi said self-deprecatingly, "I am also helpless."
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