On the Lantern Festival of the second year of Xiangfu, Beiliang Province, Changgeng City, the provincial city of Youzhou. The lanterns were lit, and the fireworks were dazzling. Among them was a middle-aged man in a Confucian robe who was enjoying the scenery with his family. Although he was not eye-catching in the officialdom of Youzhou Province, he was only a Secondary Class 5 civil official. There were so many generals in Youzhou Province, Tang Wenzhen was just an assistant official from a poor family. His superior official, Hong Xinjia, was able to enter the field of vision of the central government of Liyang Province, especially the Ministry of War because of Gu Jiantang's favor. However, perhaps not many people in Youzhou Province had heard of Tang Wenzhen's name. Nevertheless, Tang Wenzhen's significance to Youzhou Province, especially the military significance of the frontier line, could not be underestimated. Tang Wenzhen had made a great contribution to the Wutong system, which was said to be capable of killing 160,000 northern barbarians. It was Tang Wenzhen who had followed Hong Xinjia step by step across the Gourd Mouth and participated in the whole process from the drawing of the geomancy map, the selection of the Wutong system and the excavation of the ground. It could even be said that Tang Wenzhen had the most meticulous and perfect military map in his mind. Once the war broke out in Youzhou Province, if Hong Xinjia and Tang Wenzhen were not at the Gourd Mouth, the effect of the Wutong system would be greatly reduced. Being exposed to the wind and the sun all year round, this civil official, who had a good reputation, had a dark complexion. His beautiful and fair-skinned wife, who was from Yanzhi County, made Tang Wenzhen look like a big piece of charcoal.
This time, Tang Wenzhen returned to Changgeng City from the border to report the detailed military situation to the general of Youzhou, Huangfu Cheng. The reason why he enjoyed the lanterns with his wife and son on the Lantern Festival was not because he was bored, but because Tang Wenzhen felt that if he missed this family reunion, he would be separated forever. Although Tang Wenzhen was a civil official, most of the civil officials in Beiliang could ride and shoot the enemy. Since ancient times, Yanzhi County had been rich in beauties. In the unofficial history, there was a saying that the common people still took delight in talking about. It was precisely because of a foxy woman from Yanzhi County that caused the Great Qin Dynasty to perish for two generations. Therefore, the people of Beiliang had a humorous saying, "If you marry a wife, you should marry a daughter from a rich family in Lingzhou, and if you marry a concubine, you should marry an aunt from Yanzhi County." Tang Wenzhen married a woman from Yanzhi County, but he did not take any concubines. For many years, they lived in harmony and harmony. The only flaw was that they gave birth to two daughters, but they did not have a son. However, Tang Wenzhen did not feel any regret. He doted on his two daughters very much. On the other hand, his wife always felt that she had let down the Tang family. Tang Wenzhen often joked and comforted her, saying that the Wubao beacons at the mouth of the gourd were his sons. If it was not easy for parents to raise their children with a handful of shit and a handful of urine, then Tang Wenzhen, who was in charge of trivial matters, could indeed be called the biological parents at the mouth of the gourd.
Tang Wenzhen had some solid martial arts skills, so it would not be difficult for her to kill three or four Northern Barbarians. Moreover, it would only be meaningful if there were many skills in the army that could be used in a battle formation. Naturally, it would not be enough to deal with the top experts of the Jianghu. Tang Wenzhen was a scholar in her bones, and she had never planned to play catch and kill with any experts in this life. Therefore, Tang Wenzhen did not know that in the crowded crowd, there were no less than ten pairs of eyes paying attention to him. Those gazes were all like dragonflies skimming the surface of the water. They were experienced and were not even enough to make Tang Wenzhen have some kind of intuition. At most, he only misunderstood them as lechers who were drooling over the wife beside him. Tang Wenzhen and his wife each held the small hands of their daughters. It was inevitable that he was a little absent-minded because his mind was on the mouth of the gourd. He was thinking about which Wu Castle needed to be strengthened, which beacon needed more manpower, which post road and which pass needed to be assigned scouts. In the army of Beiliang, young civil officials such as Hong Xinjia and Tang Wenzhen, as well as the new Honglu General Cao Xiaojiao, were forcibly classified into the "Chen faction". Besides being in their prime years, these border officials were more or less influenced by the former Governor of Beiliang Chen Zhibao. They believed that details would determine the war situation. Therefore, they had a lot of differences with the veteran generals such as Yan Wenluan and Chen Yunchui. When the king of Beiliang changed, many people were afraid that they would be suppressed and purged. Thankfully, Hsu Fengnian did not touch the bottom line of these hardcore people after he took the throne. On the contrary, many of these hardcore people were promoted more or less. Undoubtedly, Cao Xiaojiao, the number one troublemaker in Youzhou Province was a typical example. They also reciprocated the tacit consent of Hsu Fengnian and the specific implementation of the policy of "pacifying the border army and mobilizing the provincial army" which was carried out by Xu Beizhi and Chen Xiliang. Tang Wenzhen had no impression of the King of Beiliang. He did not admire or dislike him. As long as he did not come to the defense line at the mouth of the gourd, Tang Wenzhen would continue to work for him without complaint.
Tang Wenzhen suddenly smiled and felt a little proud. It was true that the mouth of the gourd had consumed a huge amount of Beiliang's provisions, but he and General Hong were using those stones to exchange for the lives of the Beiliang barbarians. It was a good deal for Beiliang.
The late Emperor of Liyang, Zhao Dun, was an open-minded ruler. Although he and the Empress lived a simple life, they did not forbid women from wearing makeup. Beiliang was far away from the Emperor, so they did not know what it meant to overstep their authority. Although the people were poor, their families were not poor. Every festive season, rich and powerful women would compete with each other for beauty. As long as they had money and dared to wear it, they would not be restrained even if they wore phoenix coronets and robes. At this time, in the crowd, there was a young woman who imitated the "Heavenly Treasure Makeup" style of the old Southern Tang imperial women. She had a graceful figure and a personal maidservant who combed her hair into a bun. One of the two women was plump and the other was slender. They complemented each other very well and were very eye-catching. Many idlers who liked to wait for an opportunity to take advantage of them swarmed over. In order to block the disaster for her mistress, the maidservant had already dropped several of the exquisite little combs made of gold, silver, and jade. However, it was still impossible to guard against them. The young woman's delicate buttocks still could not escape from the disaster. She was gently patted by a nimble skinny monkey with a mouth full of yellow teeth. Obviously, he was a veteran. The young woman was so frightened that her face turned pale and she hurriedly ran away. This scene happened to fall into the eyes of Tang Wenzhen's wife. In addition to sympathy and annoyance, she also had a hint of jealousy and ridicule. She whispered to her husband, "Wearing such gaudy clothes and without the protection of a strong servant, isn't she just attracting bees and butterflies? Who's to blame? "
Tang Wenzhen did not care about these trivial matters. He nodded carelessly and had no intention of being a hero and saving the beauty. Cold women's temperaments were mostly unyielding and valiant. They were not inferior to men. Don't be fooled by their appearance of being gentle and timid. If they were really angry, they would definitely roll up their sleeves and fight fiercely, scratching other people's faces until they bled. Wasn't the wife next to Tang Wenzhen the same one who, after marrying from a small place in Yanzhi County to the provincial capital, rewarded the prodigal with a ruthless kick to the groin when she participated in the lantern market for the first time?
Not far away, a tall old man with a felt hat on his head threw a string of copper coins as a reward to the dwarf who was performing a fire-spitting performance.
At the same time, in the sea of people, there was a traveling monk who was becoming more and more common in Beiliang. He carried a bamboo rack with scriptures on his back.
There was a young couple dressed in coarse linen. They were buying a stick of candied haws for their child from the man selling them.
In the northeast corner of the downtown, there was a prosperous Dongfu Temple. From the top of the bell tower, one could overlook half of the market. There were young masters and beautiful women in luxurious clothes talking and laughing. There were poor scholars scratching their ears and cheeks, trying to recite something. There were old men in their twilight years muttering to themselves. In the corridor outside the attic, a short Taoist holding a horsetail fly-whisk glanced at the scenery where Tang Wenzhen was standing. Then he took out a small booklet from his chest and dipped his finger in his saliva. He opened the booklet and saw the name Tang Wenzhen in the light that was almost as bright as day. He chuckled softly and said, "Wenzhen, what a great name. I heard that in the imperial court of the Central Plains, only a rare court official could receive such a title after death. Boy, you should take it easy in your next life."
Just as the Taoist finished his soliloquy, a series of imperceptible changes took place in the downtown area.
The girl from the Heavenly Treasure Makeup, who was molested by the skinny monkey, lowered her head and ran a few steps away from Tang Wenzhen. She twisted her waist. Even though she was in a difficult situation, she still had a natural charm. At some point in time, the servant girl in the bun had taken a small silver hairpin from her head. She should have flicked her wrist and flicked it upwards, but when her young miss twisted her waist to the left, the silver hairpin brushed against the right side of her waist and accurately pierced towards Tang Wenzhen's heart. But at this moment, her wrist was tightly grasped by the skinny monkey who looked no different from an ordinary ruffian. The servant girl pretended to be panicked and turned her left elbow, trying to hit the temple of the man who was trying to stop her. But in an instant, her body went limp.
After the skinny monkey, who looked only obscene, held the servant girl's wrist with one hand and suddenly exerted force with the other hand, which was only a foot away from the girl's back. It was the Mountain-splitting Punch, which was Liu's specialty in the external martial arts school of Beiliang. This punch directly broke the delicate girl's spine. Then he carried the servant girl on his shoulder and shouted loudly that he was going to marry a wife and go home. He ran all the way, which made the people around laugh. They thought that this was a guy who dared to molest a girl in the street. He would have to eat in the state prison after this.
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