Chapter 9 Section five

It is one thing to go to Taiyuan according to the order. When to go and what preparations to do before going to the meeting are another matter.After the meeting, Zhong Shidao left Liu Kai and Zhao Long to continue studying specific issues. Although Zhong Shidao is the commander-in-chief of the Western Army, he is not an outstanding strategic thinker. He is just an experienced veteran, a commander who always proceeds from reality. Highly speculative wars will smoothly produce the kind of optimistic results that Liu Kai estimated.At his age, the rich imagination of young people has long since disappeared, so he opposed the war, even after he was forced to agree, he still opposed it in his heart, and he wanted to come up with all kinds of excuses to postpone the meeting in Taiyuan day.Starting from the latter point, according to the actual situation, since the war is a foregone conclusion and cannot be stopped by his strength, even if he postpones the date of attending the meeting, he still needs to attend the meeting.Since he wants to attend the meeting, he urgently needs to grasp the enemy's situation and understand the situation as an important basis for formulating military plans during the meeting.Most of the information brought by Tong Guan and He Shen was "created" according to their interests and needs. How to evaluate their human beings can be used to evaluate their information.For them, Zhong Shidao never trusts them. He still believes in the old people of the Western Army. He hopes that Liu Qi and Zhao Long can provide him with information about the activities of Ma and his son in recent years and their current behavior.

Although Zhao Long was Ma Zheng's in-law, he didn't know much about him, so he couldn't explain why. He said: "After Zhongfu (Ma Zheng's character) was transferred from the army, he moved his family to Mouping, and later moved to Baozhou," he said, "I haven't seen each other again. There are letters and letters, and I am deeply in the memory of the old man. The affection is lingering, but it does not involve the government. He is even more secretive about his envoys, not mentioning a word. In the past spring, he said that the little girl has reached the age of returning, and the son is ready, and she will come to the west to welcome her. Another letter said that Zichong was ordered to go on a business trip, and the date of return was uncertain, so the marriage proposal had to be postponed for the time being. There will be no news from now on. Uncle Xin has seen and heard more in Beijing, do you know their whereabouts?"

Liu Qi also shook his head and said: "Since Zichong was ordered to return, his whereabouts have been erratic. When he returned to Beijing last year, he came to see him, and his nephew Yu Yu was away on a business trip. When he rushed back to visit him in the hotel, he had already gone out with Jinshi Fanhai. It has been more than three years since the merchants deviated from each other. It was just that at this time when he was ordered to come here, the official told Zichong to take over the accompanying Jinshi, and he would return to Beijing in a few days. He also asked his nephew to return early so that he could make an appointment The period of the attack. Later, Wang Fu also said the same thing. I think Zichong will stay in Beijing for a few months to wait for the appointment. My nephew will definitely be able to catch up with him when he goes here."

"Since Zhongfu is not easy to trace," Zhong Shidao thought for a while, and then proposed a specific idea, "Why don't I send someone to go to the capital to find Ma Zichong and ask him about the enemy's situation, this is really feasible. Yes. It's just... just sent to the capital, it's rare to find the right person." Zhao Long nodded yes, thought for a moment, and asked: "How about sending Yang Keshi?" "Yang Keshi is also a talent that can be used in the army in the future," Zhong Shidao resolutely shook his head and objected, "I'm afraid Taiwei Tong will not let him return to the army if he sees him."

This teacher's concern is well-founded.It has long been rumored that Tong Guan wants to transfer Yang Keshi to Chenzhou Mansion to command Liu Yanqing's part of the Huanqing Army that has not yet been demobilized.Both Zhong Shidao and Zhao Long understood how much loss it would bring to the army if Yang Keshi was transferred away! "Yi Shi is also an old friend of Zichong," Zhao Long suggested again, "His elder brother Pengfei is serving in the Forbidden Army of the capital, working with Uncle Xin. How about sending Yishi there?" Zhong Shidao couldn't come up with a reason why he opposed Yao Pingzhong's going to the capital, but he still shook his head and disagreed with this suggestion, obviously out of family prejudice, he didn't want to let people from the Yao family take on this important job.

"Since the military situation is so urgent," Liu Qi intervened, and Mao suggested himself, "After my nephew Yu returned to Beijing to pay the edict, he found Zichong, asked him about the situation, and went to Taiyuan Mansion to wait for Uncle Zhong. Is this possible?" "The virtuous nephew is a person close to the official family. How can he act without edict? This is absolutely forbidden." Zhong Shidao immediately cut off Liu Kai's self-recommendation.It seemed that he already wanted to belong, but it was inconvenient for him to speak up.The clever Liu Kai guessed that he probably wanted Zhao Long to go to Beijing in person.Zhao Long is Zhongshi's right-hand man. If he can learn more about the enemy's situation from Ma Kuo, it will be beneficial for him to formulate plans and provide staff for combat in the future.Liu Kai thought about it back and forth, his heart suddenly became clear, and he immediately put forward a new suggestion:

"The foolish nephew is not talented, but there is a concern here. Since Ma Dujian sent a letter to marry Zichong, it just so happened that Zichong is currently in the capital. Why didn't Uncle Jian take Lingmei to the capital to marry them? The second is to inquire about the enemy's situation from Zichong, and the third is to wait for the opportunity to ask the imperial court about the needs of marching and combat supplies, etc., and urge Zichong to return to the army to serve. After the matter is over, Uncle Jian will go to Taiyuan for a counselor meeting. Isn’t it a balance between public and private interests, the best of both worlds?”

"If you have to go to Tokyo for counseling, Zhong is the most at ease." Liu Kai's suggestion hit the heart of Mr. Zhong. Seeing that Liu Kai was so alert and very satisfied, he couldn't help showing a rare smile, and said taking advantage of the situation, "Besides, Ling Ai has already Growing up should be for her to get married and complete important life events. I am afraid that the body has been weak and sick for a few years, and it is too much work to travel, so we have to think about it in the long run." Zhong Shidao wanted to be polite, Zhao Long couldn't help laughing boldly:

"The head coach has an assignment on official business, how dare Zhao refuse? What's more, my cheap bone, although I have used it for a long time, can still withstand wind, frost, rain and snow, so I don't care about the thousands of miles!" Zhao Long enthusiastically accepted this task, not because he had changed his position and supported the war.On the contrary, he still insists on his own ideas in his heart, and firmly believes that the way of being a teacher is completely consistent with him.He is here, or he follows Zhong Shidao to Taiyuan, and he can do nothing to prevent the war, unless he goes to Tokyo to debate with Wang Fu, Tong Guan and other decision-makers on the Liao expedition.He even thought so far, it would be best if he could argue with the court about the benefits and losses of the Liao war in front of the officials, so that the officials would listen to his opinions, so that he would have the last chance to stop the war and change the court's decision-making.

Zhao Long, who is very self-confident, could not wait to ask to go to Beijing immediately as soon as he had this hope.He made an appointment with Liu Kai to accompany him, and hinted meaningfully to Zhong Shidao: "If the coach has already arrived in Taiyuan Mansion, please wait for Zhao's message before making a decision with Tong Guan." Zhong Shidao nodded and said nothing, Zhao Long saw this expression as clear as speaking, and he silently expressed his approval of his opinion. Nineteen years ago, Zhao Long lost his wife and family, so he abandoned his home and brought his orphan daughter, Qiniang, into the army and raised her in the army. Military connections to the human world.

The life of this professional veteran officer is completely and absolutely carried out in accordance with the routine of army life. It is very simple, but has strict discipline.He himself has long been used to it and doesn't care if he has a family of his own.But a daughter was a daughter after all, and he had to take care of many troublesome things beyond the scope of military life, and she became the only burden in his father's life.Especially when he went out to fight and could no longer bring his daughter with him, he had to worry about entrusting her to a colleague's house to settle down temporarily, so that he could leave his body and go out to fight without any worries.But on the other hand, father and daughter have depended on each other for a long time, and his daughter has become the greatest comfort in his private life. The tender love of son and daughter is incompatible with the serious atmosphere of the army, and it is also incompatible with his conduct.That is to say, he abandoned that human, ordinary way, and loved his daughter with his own unique hard-core style.No one would have guessed that there was a soft part in his hard heart, a part that my daughter often touched with tenderness in her own unique way.The result: he couldn't leave her, and she couldn't leave him. Now they decided in a few words that he should send his daughter to Tokyo for marriage. Ma Kuo's family lives in Baozhou.Perhaps he, too, would suffer if he thought of it.But the great question now occupying his mind was powerful enough to exclude and overwhelm all personal concerns.He didn't even think about it, and immediately made an agreement with Liu Kai that he would leave early in the morning the day after tomorrow and enter Beijing for the first time. Liu Kai was surprised. Remarrying a daughter is a major event in life. Although everything in the army is simple, there is no such thing as buying a dowry or seeing off relatives and friends, but it is still necessary to take ten or eight days to do a little housework.Liu Kai asked him to reconsider the travel date.The unexpected answer was: "Go home today and talk to my daughter. It's rare to go to a few relatives and friends to say goodbye. Tomorrow, I will clean up the day and leave early the next morning. What worries and can't let go?" Liu Kai smiled slightly. It turned out that his old boss was still as impatient as before. He didn't care about anything except military affairs and couldn't do anything.