Chapter 25 Chapter Six The Fourth Northern Expedition

Xun Xu heard the news of the emergency dispatch of the Han army on the way to the "Taoist Temple". His first reaction was to tighten the reins, free one hand to scratch his scalp desperately, and let out an extremely distressed expression. gasp. Prime Minister Zhuge personally led the army to set off, which meant that the entire staff of the Prime Minister's Office also went with him.As a result, Si Wencao's two superiors - Prime Minister Zhuge and Changshi Yang Yi - all left Nanzheng City.Xun Xu fell into an embarrassing situation where he had no superior to report to.In the case of Li Ping, Si Wen, Cao Dong, Cao Yu, and Yao You were in no position to decide.

What's more serious is that after Zhuge Liang left, the highest management power of Nanzheng was naturally transferred to Li Ping, the guardian of the Central Capital.Under such circumstances, Jing'an Division had no way to take any possible action against him. "At this stage, there is nothing we can do. This kind of action must be reported to the superior for approval, and it is the superior that we suspect now." Yao You said helplessly after listening to Xun Xu's report, "Could it be that Si Wen Cao walked up to Li Ping and said, "Excuse me, I need you to issue an order to arrest yourself?"

"But... we just do nothing? Now there is a high-ranking official who is suspected of defecting." "I know I know……" It can be seen that Yao You is also in a dilemma now, his hands are leaning together in fear, curled up on the table unwillingly like two frightened hounds, one or two of his fingers occasionally lift up and shake, Then he put it down resentfully.The most serious incident happened at the worst time. This is a crisis that Si Wencao has never encountered before. After thinking for a long time, Yao You finally issued an order: "Okay, you send someone to monitor the Prime Minister's Mansion and the four city gates, and pay close attention to the entry and exit of these three people. In addition, re-examine the resumes of Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan and the scope of their friendship..." Yao You wanted to laugh at this point, Xun Xu couldn't laugh at all. "In short, try to investigate the two of them cautiously through indirect means, but it is absolutely forbidden to approach them, nor to follow them. We can't take this risk."

"I see." Xun Xu nodded solemnly.If Zhulong or Li Ping were aware of Jing'an Division's actions, they might take drastic actions, which would inevitably lead to civil strife in Shu Han.Especially now that Prime Minister Zhuge's army is out, if Li Ping, who is in charge of logistics, has any problems, the entire Han army may be in trouble because of it. Yao You stared at Xun Xu, and added: "Also, I forbid you to go to Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan." "Why?" Xun Xu's mind was seen through, and he could hardly suppress the urge to confront the two of them directly.

"Are you confident that you won't reveal your true intentions when testing them?" Facing Yao You's staring gaze, Xun Xu had no choice but to admit: "...for Hu Zhong, I don't have one." But he argued unwillingly, "But I can go to Cheng Fan, anyway, Zhulong has only one person, as long as Cheng Fan is sure If it is not, then it must be..." At this point, Xun Xu stopped, this kind of guessing was the last thing he wanted to do. Yao You asked mercilessly, "What if Cheng Fan is Zhulong?" "Uh……" "I know that he is your good friend, and I have heard his reputation. He is a rough man who is afraid of his wife. But if he is Zhulong, it means that this person's disguise is extremely terrible, and he is probably even better than the loyal fox. You How can you test Cheng Fan if you don't even have confidence in the face of Hu Zhong?"

Yao You's words left Xun Xu speechless. "Of course, this doesn't mean we don't do anything." Yao You changed a slightly more relaxed tone, "You go and check the personal resumes of Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan, and then talk to Xu Yong's confession and the crossbow machine two years ago. Compare the drawings and events to see if you can find anything." "yes." "Well, to be honest, I'd rather hope that Cheng Fan is Zhulong... If Shouyi, oh no, Hu Zhong is Zhulong, it's too scary... How many top-secret information did he handle when he was in the military adviser? ..." After Yao You said this, her voice gradually sank, and Xun Xu felt the same way.Both public and private, Hu Zhong is the most terrible outcome for Xun Xu.

Yao You suddenly remembered another thing: "By the way, where is Xu Yong now?" "Still in Qinglong Mountain." "Transfer him to Chengdu in secret, and if he stays in Hanzhong, Li Ping's people will know sooner or later... Who else knows about Zhulong now?" "Pei Xu and Du Bi, they are trustworthy people." Yao You spread his hands, and said not too happily: "You, me, and the two of them, there are four in total. There are already enough insiders to hold a banquet." He suddenly raised his tone severely: "This matter It must not be leaked like the Deng Xian incident! Do you know!"

"Maybe there will be a fifth person. This is our biggest problem right now." When Xun Xu said this, he put his mouth next to Yao You's ear and said something. Yao You was taken aback, then shook his head wearily, and groaned Muttering as if: "Why doesn't everyone let me worry..." "I have a way to get the best of both worlds." Xun Xu didn't show a mischievous smile until this time. On March 17th, Si Wencao issued a notice in the name of Dongcao Yaoyao You, saying that Feng Ying, the military adviser, would go to Chengdu Siwenzhengcao to conduct archives investigation for half a year, and his position would be assigned by the deputy Work temporarily.This news did not arouse any speculation, only the person involved, Feng Ying, was very dissatisfied; someone saw him entering Yao You's room angrily, but when he came out, his face was pale.

When they officially set off on March 20th, apart from Feng Ying himself and a few entourages, Feng Ying's team had one more car.The outside of the car was covered with thick cloth curtains, so it was hard to see who was sitting inside; there were several strong soldiers guarding the car.After the carriage set off from Qinglong Mountain, it went directly to the South Gate of Nanzheng Cheng and met Feng Ying. No one knew who was in the carriage. Yao You was the only one who came to see him off. He handed Feng Ying a letter and asked him to send it to Siwen Zhengcao together with the carriage, and comforted him by saying that half a year is not too long.Feng Ying accepted the letter with a livid face, got on his horse and left without saying a word.He knew that his official career in Hanzhong was over.

In the past few days, several things happened around Xun Xu.The first is Du Bi's fate.Since Du Bi came back, he has been staying on Qinglong Mountain with the temporary title of "Preparation Consultant" of the Jing'an Department, and his identity has not yet been determined administratively.Now that Xu Yong has been sent away, it is time to formally repay Du Bi for his contributions to the Shu Han in Longxi over the past few years. In view of his secret identity, the commendation ceremony was not made public, and only a few officials of Si Wencao were present.Yao You first praised Du Bi's outstanding intelligence work, and then conveyed Prime Minister Zhuge's concerns.The ceremony was supposed to be presided over by Zhuge Liang, but he is not there now, and Li Ping, the number two in Hanzhong, was not invited for some reason.

On the issue of arranging Du Bi's stay, Si Wencao had internal disagreements.Si Wen Si Cheng Yin Ji strongly urged Du Bi to be in the Si Wen Department, and his deputy Ma Xin also supported it; Xun Xu hoped that Du Bi could come to the Jing'an Department because of his excellent performance in interrogating Xu Yongshi.In the end, Yao You made an unbiased decision, and Du Bi was assigned to the Military Counselor to take Feng Ying's place as Si Cheng.This decision shut everyone up.He definitely qualifies for that. The other thing is about Xun Xu personally.After some tossing, Chengdu finally approved his wife and son to move to Hanzhong, so that their family could finally be reunited.Although there are still more than two months before the official relocation date, Xun Xu has already started looking for a new house impatiently.What bothered him even more was that his son Xun Zheng was six years old this year and needed to find a teacher to enlighten him.There are many Confucian scholars in Chengdu, while Hanzhong is closer to a military base, and there are few suitable teachers.But in the end Xun Xu still found one, that is Du Bi.Du Bi was a good student before he went to Longxi, and he did not neglect Confucian classics when he was the chief secretary in Longxi. In addition, he had a calm and resolute personality, so he was a perfect teacher. After these things were over, Xun Xu had to face the problem he least wanted to face again.Out of personal feelings, he never believed that Hu Zhong or Cheng Fan would be Wei's spies; but from a rational point of view, he had to admit that the two of them were the most suspected.This contradictory mood made Xun Xu very depressed, and he felt that he had a negative emotion beyond frustration.Later, Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan asked Xun Xu for drinks several times, but he declined all of them on the pretext of work.Xun Xu's specialty is how to discover the secrets hidden by others, rather than hiding his own secrets.He doesn't have the confidence to hide this matter behind his emotions, and then calmly drink and have fun with his good friend who may be "Candle Dragon". Yao You prohibited him from directly investigating Li Ping, Hu Zhong, and Cheng Fan. Xun Xu could only send Pei Xu to conduct indirect investigations on their recent actions and people they had contacted. And try to collect any public letters, circulars, orders, etc. from these three people, and hand them over to Du Bi, the new military advisor, for analysis. Du Bi once had contact with Hu Zhong.As the predecessor of the military adviser, Hu Zhong had to congratulate the new Si Cheng in terms of etiquette.So Du Bi was invited by Hu Zhong to have a meal and talk all night.After Du Bi came back, he told Xun Xu that if Hu Zhong was Zhulong, then he could almost be said to have no flaws—at least Du Bi didn't notice any suspicious signs. When Xun Xu heard this, he just shook his head with a wry smile.He also asked a friend of Cheng Fan some insinuating words, but in the end he found nothing except a lot of gossip about Mrs. Cheng who was jealous. At a routine meeting, Pei Xu raised the question: "Is it possible that Xu Yong is actually a spy in disguise who was sent by the State of Wei to provide false information to us in an attempt to lure our army High-level civil turmoil?" "What about Xu Yong himself? If his goal is achieved, we will also discover his lies." "He may be a dead man." "Frankly speaking, this is the result I most hope to see." Xun Xu replied.In this way, both Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan are innocent.He looked at Du Bi.The latter shook his head, expressing some dissatisfaction with his rash speech.A good housekeeper should not have such preconceived notions. "Don't cause unnecessary prejudice because of your relationships. Xu Yong has been proven to be credible." "I know, I just said that this is the most desired result, but I didn't say that this is the most convincing result." Only then did Du Bi show a hint of a smile. In just a few days, he has successfully changed his role from a spy to a military adviser, and he has done much better than his predecessor. During this period of time, Xun Xu's main job was to call in the resumes of Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan to review them one by one, to see if there was anything suspicious in them.This is not an easy job, Xun Xu has known them for a long time, reviewing these resumes is equivalent to reviewing the history of friendship with them, which always makes Xun Xu feel heartbroken.He had to force himself to look at things through the eyes of a completely objective third party, which was often exhausting. Hu Zhong is thirty-five years old this year. He was born in the first year of Jian'an in the Han Dynasty. His native place is Langzhong, Brazil, and his parents are both civilians.In the eighteenth year of Jian'an, he served as the scribe of Liu Zhang's son Liu Xun in Luocheng, just in time for Liu Bei to enter Sichuan to attack Luocheng.After Luocheng was breached the following year, Hu Zhong surrendered along with a large number of low-level staff, and was incorporated into the command of Ma Di, who was in charge of Jingzhou at the time.In the third year of Jianxing Zhuge Liang's southern expedition, Ma Di was ordered to reorganize the old intelligence agency "Military Intelligence Supervisor" into "Si Wen Cao", recruiting a large number of talents, including Hu Zhong.Hu Zhong's first position was to stay behind in Chengdu, the chief counselor of Siwen Cao's army.Two years later, the work focus of the Prime Minister's Mansion was transferred to Hanzhong, so Hu Zhong came to Nanzheng with the entire Siwen Deputy Cao, and was gradually promoted to the Military Advisory Division because of his outstanding performance; When Ping was stationed in Nanzheng, Hu Zhong was transferred by the prime minister's mansion to take up the post of Li Ping to join the army. Cheng Fan is 41 years old this year. He was born in the first year of Chuping in the Han Dynasty.In the tenth year of Jian'an, he served as the commander of Liu Zhang's subordinate Zitong Ling Wanglian, and successively served as Qu Chang and Tuen Chang.When Liu Bei entered Sichuan in the eighteenth year of Jian'an, Wang Lian closed the city and could not hold on. At that time, Cheng Fan was the captain of the west gate of Zitong City.After Yizhou was pacified, Chengfan continued to serve him as Wang Lianbu.In the second year of Jian'an, Wang Lian died of illness, and his position as prime minister was replaced by Xiang Lang, and Cheng Fan was also assigned to Xiang Lang's subordinate as a general.In the fifth year of Jianxing, the prime minister's mansion moved to Hanzhong, and Cheng Fan came to Nanzheng with Xiang Lang; in the sixth year of Jianxing, Xiang Lang was demoted back to Chengdu because he protected Ma Di from fleeing, and Cheng Fan was also implicated and demoted to Nanzheng Shuchengwei; In the eighth year of Jianxing, Li Ping, the guardian of Zhongdu, was stationed in Nanzheng, and Cheng Fan was transferred by the prime minister's mansion to serve as Li Ping's military governor until now. It took Xun Xu a whole day to check these two resumes.After reading it, Xun Xu found that the resumes of these two people had two things in common: they were both from Yizhou; and they both served under Liu Zhang and belonged to Emperor Zhaolie Liu Bei as descendants. Xun Xu knows that although there is no obvious regional prejudice within the Shu Han bureaucracy, there is always a gap between the officials of the "former Liu Zhang's descendant" and the "former subordinates of Zhao Lie". Relationships and career advancement.Although Li Ping (Yan) was from Nanyang, he was Liu Bei who surrendered as Liu Zhang's guard, so he should feel closer to the Yizhou people who were also Liu Zhang's former troops. There is another thing that always makes Xun Xu feel very strange, that is the reason why Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan were transferred to Li Ping's staff.The file simply says "Buque", which doesn't explain anything.According to Xu Yong's confession, after Guo Gang learned that Li Ping was transferred to Hanzhong, he immediately let "Zhulong" approach Li Ping, and cooperated with Deng Xian to carry out dredging work.In other words, if one of them was Zhulong, then he must have asked—at least showed a gesture—to be transferred to Li Ping's side as an aide. He investigated it according to this idea, but found nothing.At least in the official documents, Hu Zhong and Cheng Fan accepted the transfer order passively, without showing any subjective will, and it seemed that they were randomly selected. "No, I have to go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to verify." Thinking of this, Xun Xu suddenly stood up.The personnel file in his hand is just a copy, so there are only written records and no traces of seals.Since the transfer order was issued from the prime minister's mansion, the original files must be stored in the assistant office of the prime minister's mansion, with the seals of the relevant departments every time there is a personnel change, which can clearly reflect the administrative operation process. So Xun Xu put the two files back on the bookshelf, rubbed his sore eyes, and yawned long.At this time the night was getting dark, Xun Xu took out a black cloth robe from the cabinet next to him and put it on his body, put out the candle with a copper cap, and turned to leave the room. The moonlight is very good tonight, there is no cloud in the sky, and the cold moonlight casts down unreservedly. The whole city of Nanzheng seems to be covered with snow. People walking on the avenue can clearly see a hundred steps away. outside scenery.The whole city has fallen into a sleepy silence at this time, only two eye-catching octagonal lanterns are still hanging in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Since Prime Minister Zhuge moved to Hanzhong, these two lanterns have never been extinguished at night, and they have almost become Nanzheng. The most striking symbol of the city. When Xun Xu arrived at the gate of the prime minister's mansion, the first thing he noticed was a horse tied to the horse post on the right side of the mansion gate.Through the moonlight, he could see that this was a well-bred green horse with a neatly combed mane. Judging from the green leather bridle and rolled gold saddle, it belonged to a person of considerable status. "Anyone come so late?" Xun Xu walked into the prime minister's mansion while turning his head to look at the horse. The auxiliary official's platform is located in the deep part of the prime minister's mansion. This is the place where the personnel files of officials at all levels are stored. It is quiet and silent.Only when the Han army was victorious or defeated, this place would be lively for a while, and usually it was deserted, and even the weeds on both sides of the path leading to the entrance were half a point higher than other places. The man on duty at the auxiliary official platform was a soldier who was disabled in the war. He had only one hand and one eye.When Xun Xu came in, he was standing guard at the door. Although there was no one around, his posture was still impeccable. Before Xun Xu approached, the soldier had already noticed him, stretched out his hand and shouted loudly. With a cry: "Password!" "Guangwu." Xun Xu reported the command, and then revealed his identity.Only then did the soldier put down his only hand, and said respectfully, "I offended you, my lord." Xun Xu groaned, and then said straight to the point: "I need to check the files." "Your approval, my lord." The soldier had obviously been well-trained in the army, and every sentence was followed by a resounding "My lord". "Officials of the Jing'an Division have the privilege to consult the files at any time." Xun Xu waved his order talisman unhappily. This soldier is obviously new and doesn't know the rules yet. The soldier took the token and looked at it carefully before realizing that he had made a mistake.He was a little embarrassed, and blushed and handed the order talisman back to Xun Xu. "I'm sorry for the confusion, my lord." "Hehe, has anyone else been here?" "Yes, just a little while ago, my lord." When Xun Xu heard this, his eyes froze, and he immediately thought of the horse tied at the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion. "Who? Do you remember?" "Hu Zhong, who joined the army to protect Li Ping in the central capital. My lord." What the soldier said caused Xun Xu's nerves to be whipped suddenly, and the sleepiness before was gone.What is Hu Zhong doing at the Fuguantai in the middle of the night?Is it to cover up the clues in his file? Thinking of this, Xun Xu ordered the soldiers to open the door immediately.Confused, the soldier took out the key and opened the door, and Xun Xu rushed into the room and rushed directly to the directory.He asked the soldiers to light a candle, and then found Hu Zhong's name and classification number from the directory, and then found the original file of Hu Zhong from one of the bookshelves according to the classification number. With trembling hands, he opened the file and found that there was no trace of alteration and no missing page numbers.Only then did Xun Xu let out a sigh of relief. He felt very fortunate in his heart, at least now he could not prove that Hu Zhong was Zhulong.Xun Xu's current mentality is very contradictory. On the one hand, he is trying to figure out who is Zhulong among the two of them, but on the other hand, he doesn't want the answer to appear too early... "When Lord Fox came in, do you know which document he was looking for?" "Hmm..." The soldier frowned and tried to remember, pointing to one of the piles with uncertainty, "It's probably in that pile." Xun Xu walked over quickly, picked up the pile of documents and looked through them one by one. The file group of newly promoted officials is classified into a separate category.If there is something Hu Zhong is interested in here, there should be only one copy. The personnel file of the new Siwen Cao Junmou Si Cheng Du Bi. Xun Xu thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't figure out why Hu Zhong was so interested in Du Bi.He decided to put it on hold and finish the business of this trip.He turned around and found the original file of Cheng Fan, spread it out with Hu Zhong's on a flat place, and read it word by word with a small candle light. Xun Xu discovered a private seal on Hu Zhong's order to be transferred to the guard and join the army.This seal is not big, and it is not conspicuous among a group of huge bright red official seals. On it are two simple and dignified seal characters "Zhuge".But Xun Xu knew the weight of this seal, which actually represented the opinion of Prime Minister Zhuge, and it was more effective than 10,000 official seals of Si Wencao.It seems that the transfer of Hu Zhong was ordered by Prime Minister Zhuge himself, and the purpose is probably to appease Li Ping's dissatisfaction with excellent talents. Chengfan's order to be transferred to the military guard and join the army did not have the private seal of Prime Minister Zhuge.Not only that, but some other interesting things appeared in his file.When Xun Xu checked the official seal on the transfer order, he found that the mark of the examiner had overshadowed the seal of the central capital; Cao stamped it into the book, and then it was stamped and accepted by the receiving department.But now Cheng Fan's transfer order actually stamped Li Ping's central capital protection seal first, and then the exam Cao seal.Although this does not mean that Chengfan asked for transfer on his own initiative, it at least proves that there is some unknown mystery in it. Xun Xu signaled to the soldiers to remove the lamp, then he stood up, patted his numb thighs, and put the two files back on the bookshelf. Now it seems that the suspicion of Cheng Fan has suddenly increased a lot. Xun Xu couldn't be happy at all. No matter which of the two friends is the hidden mouse, it will be a blow to him. After walking out of the Fuguantai, Xun Xu looked at the sky and it was quite late, and it was almost time to go back to sleep. There were still many trivial meetings to be held tomorrow.According to Yao You's instructions, only he, Du Bi, and Pei Xu knew about Li Ping and Zhulong's affairs; therefore, when assigning tasks to his subordinates, Xun Xu had to rack his brains and choose his words carefully, so that they could understand The intention of the mission has not yet allowed them to understand the truth of the mission. He walked out along the path he had come from, lowering his head in thought as he walked, oblivious to the passing night wind and the faint fragrance of mulberry leaves.Before he knew it, Xun Xu had already reached the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the two large octagonal lanterns outside the gate were still brightly lit. "Xiaohe!" Suddenly a familiar voice sounded from behind, and Xun Xu hurriedly turned his head, only to find Cheng Fan coming from another direction, waving his arms happily at him. The blood in Xun Xu's whole body froze suddenly, he did not expect to meet this person at this time and this place.Fortunately, Xun Xu was a well-trained member of the Jingan Department, so he quickly adjusted his breathing to hide his delicate expression. Cheng Fan didn't—or pretended not—to notice Xun Xu's strangeness, so he walked up to him cheerfully, stretched out his big hand and patted him on the shoulder affectionately. "It's so late, what are Xiao and you doing at the Prime Minister's Mansion?" "Oh, I'm busy with things in the department... Long time no see." "That's right, that's right. It's been a long time since we've had a drink together. Your Jing'an Secretary seems to be working overtime every day. Have 'rats' plagued Hanzhong recently?" Facing Cheng Fan's "appropriate" joke, Xun Xu could only smile awkwardly, and changed the subject: "Don't talk about me, what are you doing here so late? Your wife won't scold you Is it?" "Hehe, I also have business... This matter will be officially announced tomorrow. I will tell you secretly now, but don't leak it first... Hey, you just care about this anyway, so it's okay." Cheng Fan narrowed his eyes and posed A mysterious expression.Xun Xu knew that he enjoyed telling other people's secrets, so he cooperated and asked, "What is it?" Cheng Fan said enthusiastically: "The battle report just came from the front, our army fought a beautiful battle in Longxi!" "Oh? What's going on?" Xun Xu was overjoyed when he heard that.Today is April 20th, and it has been more than a month since the army set off.He has been busy with investigations and has not paid attention to the battle situation on the front line. "Hey, didn't Cao really die last month? Wei Guo transferred Sima Yi from the south to be the commander. This guy is a waste. The prime minister first pretended to attack Qishan, but Sima Yi fell into the trick and led the main force to rescue; Guarding the empty city of Shanggu, defeated Guo Huai and Fei Yao's defenders on April 9th. Before Sima Yi returned to the army, our Han army cut almost all the wheat around the city, hahaha." "Didn't you take down Shangyu?" Xun Xu asked. "You don't understand Xiaohe. Guo Huai has been in Shangyu City for so many years, so it's so easy to take down, not to mention that Sima Yi's troops have almost returned. If it is easy to attack the city, I'm afraid it will not please both sides." Cheng Fan triumphantly taught Xun Xu a lesson, and then continued: "Now the two armies are confronting each other against the natural dangers of the Qinling Mountains. It may turn into a protracted war. Li Duhu summoned us overnight to discuss how to prepare for a protracted war. Prepare logistically." "Us? Is Hu Zhong here?" "Yes, but he has already left first and rushed to the military technical department. The supply team equipped with wooden cattle and horses has entered the final debugging stage, and he has to keep an eye on it. This is related to the success or failure of our army's supplies." Hearing what Cheng Fan said, Xun Xu remembered a little.Two days ago, Pei Xu also handed him an official document, which was sent by Military Technical Division Qiao Jun, requesting the Jing'an Division to send someone to participate in the installation review of the "Wooden Bull and Horse".Since the theft of the ballista, the Military Technical Division has cooperated a lot more than before, and every new achievement will be requested to the Jingan Division for review to avoid further leaks.Xun Xu didn't have time, so he let Pei Xu handle the matter. Cheng Fan looked at the sky, suddenly scratched his head in embarrassment, and said: "Oh, it's getting late, I have to go back, or what else will my wife want... Let's wait until we are all busy, I will get it A jar of fine highland barley wine was given to me by a Qiang chief, and I am waiting to drink it with you and Shouyi." "After the matter is over, I hope the three of us can get together and have a good drink." Xun Xu replied with a pun, and at the same time felt a pang of sadness in his heart, wondering if there is really such a chance. Cheng Fan waved his arm vigorously, turned and left.Just a few steps away, he suddenly turned his head again, as if thinking of something suddenly, he frowned and tilted his head and said: "I said Xiaohe, you look weird today." "Illusion?" Xun Xu forced a few smiles, which seemed even more strange.Cheng Fan squinted his eyes and looked at him for a while, then slapped his hands: "It must be too much overtime! I said earlier that work is different from alcohol, and work will hurt you." "Won't wine hurt you?" "Although alcohol can hurt your body, you can be happy when you drink it. Are you so happy when you are working?" "No...my current job doesn't make people happy." Xun Xu's expression suddenly became gloomy. "Hehe, so, pay more attention to your body!" Cheng Fan didn't seem to notice anything, he stroked his thick beard habitually, and then swaggered out of the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion.Xun Xu stood there alone for a while, then left without saying a word.The green horse in front of the gate has disappeared.After returning to the Taoist temple, he found Pei Xu who was on duty, and explained that he would go in person for the military technical department's review tomorrow.Pei Xu asked him why, Xun Xu smiled and replied, "I need a 'coincidence'." Now that the suspicion of Cheng Fan has risen, it means that the suspicion of Hu Zhong has dropped. Xun Xu thinks this is an opportunity to get close to Hu Zhong to find out the truth.Of course, in name, he was going to "participate" in the technical review of the Military Technology Division, and meeting Hu Zhong by chance was not a violation of Yao You's ban. Xun Xu also told Pei Xu about the suspicious points in the document of Cheng Fan's transfer to the military governor, and asked him to try to contact the officials in charge of the matter at the time to see if he could find out anything. On the second day, Xun Xu rushed to Nanzheng's "Shuntian" grain and pasture farm early.It is the largest grain and grass storage base in Nanzheng, and the long supply line of the Han army from Nanzheng to Qishan started from here.Every day, a large number of supplies are gathered here from various places, and then organized into convoys to transport to the front line. As soon as he entered the field, the first thing he saw were more than 200 wooden carts, which were neatly arranged on the wide grain drying field, densely packed.The shape of these wooden carts is very different from ordinary carts.Next to each car stood a few civilian men in plain robes; dozens of military technicians in black robes walked back and forth between the convoys, stopping from time to time to beat the wooden cars with the tools they carried. Suddenly, a voice that was not very enthusiastic came from above his head: "Master Xun, why are you here in person today?" Xun Xu looked up following the voice, and saw Sicheng Qiaojun of the Military Technical Division standing on a wooden frame Looking down from the high platform built, he is holding several bamboo slips in his right hand, and a wolf hair brush is stuck on his left ear. Although Xun Xu and Qiao Jun are in Nanzheng together, they haven't seen each other for more than a year.The latter spent most of his time in the cave of the Military Technician like a mole, and rarely came out. His skin, which had not seen the sun for a long time, looked a little pale.Moreover, in the past two years, this old man has added a quirk, that is, it is absolutely forbidden to open the vents of the cave, so that his whole body smells musty. "Lord Qiao, are you safe?" Xun Xu cupped his hands, then climbed up the stairs along the steps.Qiao Jun was alone on the high platform, and Hu Zhong hadn't come yet. "Hmm." Qiao Jun snorted, without looking at Xun Xu, he took off the brush in his left ear and drew a few lines on the bamboo slips, then raised his voice and cursed at the subordinates below. Xun Xu looked at the peculiarly shaped wooden carts and asked curiously, "Is this the new achievement of the Military Technician?" "It's wooden cows and horses." Qiao Jun sternly corrected Xun Xu's words. "Okay, okay, wooden cows and horses... Is there any difference between them and ordinary cars?" Xun Xu's first sentence angered the weird old man, so he hurriedly asked a technical question. It could be seen that Qiao Jun was very satisfied with this question, his face softened a little, and he turned to ask Xun Xu: "What is the biggest difficulty our army faces in the Northern Expedition?" "supply." "Yes, our army has been troubled by the transportation of grain and grass in the past in the Northern Expedition, because ordinary rickshaws and animal-drawn vehicles cannot adapt to the mountainous terrain, and the efficiency is too low." Speaking of this, Qiao Jun bowed to the sky, his expression became quite respectful, " Under the guidance of Prime Minister Zhuge, our military technical department developed special vehicles designed to adapt to the steep mountains in the northwest within two years, these are the 'wooden ox' and 'flowing horse'." "Can they improve transportation efficiency?" Xun Xu asked cautiously. "It's not an improvement, it's a substantial improvement!" Qiao Jun shouted, and quickly picked up a roll of plain silk from the side and spread it out for him to see: "Look, this is the design drawing of the 'Wooden Ox'. It uses an ordinary two-wheeled vehicle as the chassis, and creatively adds a bull's head-shaped front shaft, which can effectively maintain balance when walking on steep mountain roads and plank roads; a The load capacity of the wooden ox has reached ten stones, and only three operators are needed, which is more than 30% more efficient than the traditional two-wheeled cart.” Then he unfolded another silk picture: "The design of 'Liu Ma' emphasizes speed, and it is generally used for emergency transportation; it has a single front wheel, a support plate on the wheel, and two forward push handles. , are connected together ingeniously, which not only reduces the weight of the car itself, but also enhances the sense of balance. It only needs one person to push it away, and the load can reach up to eight stones." After Qiao Jun finished speaking, he rolled up the drawings and dragged Xun Xu off the platform.The two of them walked up to a wooden ox and tapped the joint between the handle and the surface with a pen.Xun Xu noticed that the joint was covered by a circle of iron rings, and the surface was polished brightly.Qiao Jun patted the car body and said triumphantly: "We replaced the wooden pivots with iron joints in the key parts of the wooden ox and the horse, and simplified the structure of the body. In good condition, it only needs to be overhauled every 200 miles or 150 miles; old wheeled vehicles often have to be stopped for repairs every 50 miles. Compared with wooden oxen and flowing horses, those vehicles are like paper." Qiao Jun pointed left and right excitedly, and spit out a lot of data and technical terms from his mouth.Xun Xu next to him can only nod his head, and can't intervene at all.When he stopped talking, Xun Xu concluded in a layman's tone: "In short, it will be delivered faster and more than before, right?" "Of course. Compared with those bookworms who only know how to find chapters and extract sentences, we are the cornerstone of the Han Dynasty." Qiao Jun nodded vigorously, and it was obvious that he was very proud of it.He had a nephew, Qiao Zhou, who served as a facilitator in the imperial court and was a well-known Confucian scholar in Confucian classics in Yizhou. The two uncles and nephews disliked each other, accusing each other of being artisans and corrupt scholars with strange skills and obscenities. It was widely spread in Shu Han. Xun Xu patiently listened to Qiao Jun for a long time before he was freed from the old man's strong desire for technical performance.He looked left and right, and found that almost half an hour had passed, and now the wooden ox phalanx had completed the maintenance work before departure, and began to load the grain.Many bare-chested peasant men carried out bags of grain, vegetables and marinated meat strips, put them on wooden ox carts, and tied them with hemp ropes. But Hu Zhong still hasn't appeared. "Lord Qiao, where is Fox joining the army? I remember he should be here today, right?" "Oh, he's gone." Xun Xu was taken aback, "Let's go? Where is he going?" "Of course it's the front line." Qiao Jun replied casually. He rarely cared about things other than technology. "Last night, the first batch of 250 wooden cows was on the road. The military situation is urgent. This is the wooden cow." For the first time in actual combat, Li Duhu specially sent Hu Canjun to accompany the team to guard food." "Then when will he come back?" "Theoretically, you can come back in a month, but the situation on the front line is changing rapidly, who can say for sure. Maybe Prime Minister Zhuge will enter Tianshui tomorrow, and the supply line will be longer by then." 荀诩呆呆地看着一辆一辆满载的木牛车被民夫推出校场，掀起阵阵烟尘，心里说不清楚是庆幸还是遗憾，或者两者兼有之吧。突然之间，一个念头电光石火般地闪入他的脑海： “李平为什么特意要把狐忠调出去？”