Chapter 1017 Test?

Chapter 1017 Test?

Chapter 1017 Test?

"The old man with white hair is here!" A servant came running to report from the bank of the Hang Canal.

"You also called me White-headed Old Man?" Sima Fei scolded with a smile.

The servant was not very old, about thirteen or fourteen, with fair skin, white teeth and red lips. He looked a little terrified and said, "There are several vicious men around the old man with white hair, some of them carrying knives and bows, and their eyes keep lingering over me with lustful looks on their faces."

"Hide quickly." Sima Fei waved his hand and said.

The servants hid in the caravan like frightened rabbits.

There were many soldiers standing outside the convoy, and they also looked at the servants with malicious eyes.

The servant blinked his eyes and was almost crying.

"Your servant Su Jun pays his respects to the Crown Prince." A loud voice came from the front, attracting everyone's attention.

"General Su, please stand up." Sima Fei sat there, with his hands resting on his chest, while looking at the man carefully.

He is not young anymore, probably over fifty.

He has regular facial features, a tall figure, gentle and graceful movements, and decent and generous manners, as if he had been disciplined since childhood.

But his beard looked like it hadn't been groomed for a long time and was a little messy.

His brows were subconsciously furrowed, as if there was always some problem that he couldn't solve. Even when he was meeting the prince, he still couldn't completely relax.

His eyes were even more complicated, with a look of loyalty and enthusiasm brought about by studying since childhood, as well as resentment and disappointment that had slowly accumulated after being displaced and despised.

This is a military leader who has experienced many beatings in turbulent times and shoulders a heavy burden.

Therefore, when he was forty years old, he was already exhausted and had a head full of white hair, and was nicknamed "White-haired Old Man".

Sometimes he would get irritable and yell at others. In the early years, he would reflect on himself and felt that this was not a gentlemanly behavior, but now it is becoming increasingly difficult to control his emotions because everything around him is rotten.

Sometimes he would turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people, or even actively create suffering, because otherwise he would suffer himself. Deep down he knew that this was wrong, but he had become accustomed to numbing himself with “this is the way the world is.”

What sages teach cannot apply to all situations.

Sometimes, he would be extremely angry about the court's attitude.

Although he knew that the court had its own difficulties and the Jiangdong clans did not want to see them go south, the court could only compromise and stop people like them who came from the migrant army in the north of the Yangtze River, but he was still very angry.

Pulled by all kinds of complicated emotions, Su Jun had a head full of white hair and was anxious and resentful. He was like a volcano that appeared calm on the outside but was boiling inside and could erupt at any time.

The factor that cooled down the volcano slightly was, ridiculously enough, the education of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism that Su Jun received in his youth. But how long can this last?
Sima Fei had no idea of ​​Su Jun's complicated inner thoughts. He just sat there, acting like a rich young man, and said, "General Su is stopping me from going west, but I don't know why."

The Prince's Groom Chen Da and others stood behind Sima Fei and watched quietly.

Su Jun was silent for a moment, and then said, "Zu Yue thought that his troops were insufficient, so he repeatedly sent people to Linhuai, Huailing, Guangling and other counties in the past two months to recruit old subordinates and move in military school families."

Chen Da frowned and looked at the Prince's Secretary Shen Zhen.

"Oh?" Sima Fei was a little surprised: "Why are there not enough troops?"

Su Jun looked at him deeply, but did not give a clear answer in the end. Instead, he said, "Maybe he is worried about the large gathering of Shao soldiers. Since April, Major General Zu Shi has released 3,000 local soldiers from Shouchun, and everyone is celebrating. Someone must fill the gap of 3,000 people."

Having said that, it's getting a bit explicit.

Sima Fei was still thinking, but the faces of the guards of the Eastern Palace who had been leading the troops all year round changed.

How can a warrior not know other warriors?

Even if Zu Yue had not yet rebelled, he must have had this thought.

Su Jun is not a decent person. He speaks hesitantly and refuses to tell the truth. How conflicted are you inside?

This person is probably another Zu Yue, and he is not very reliable.

"General Su, do you think Zu Shishao would..." Sima Fei finally reacted, his face full of shock, and he could barely speak clearly.

"I can't say for sure." Su Jun said, "Prince Yingrui, I think there must be a way to test it."

Test? Yes, yes, test!
Thinking of this, I already had an idea in my mind, and at the same time I felt very emotional. After all, I still have to go down there for a walk.

Many people in Jianye looked down on Bai Tou Weng, saying that he was a good scholar's son, but he was willing to be a leader of refugees - to be honest, the men in Jianye were passionate when they talked, as if everything in the world was very simple, just like looking at the lines on the palm of your hand. There were many people they looked down on, such as Emperor Shao Xun of Liang.

But Sima Fei felt that General Yingyang Su Jun was still very capable and had a sharp eye. He judged from the slightest clues that Zu Yue might have rebellious intentions.

Thinking of this, he immediately became anxious and decided to send a second group of envoys to Beijing to report what Su Jun had said.

At this moment, he seemed to have a sudden inspiration and immediately said, "General Su, I have decided to submit a petition to the court to request the establishment of overseas counties. General Su is from Changguang, Qingzhou, right? Perhaps we can divide the land in Tangyi County to establish two overseas counties, Ting and Ye. What do you think?"

Su Jun's expression changed, and he asked, "Who will be resettled in these two counties?"

"The general's relatives and subordinates can all settle here, and occupy land, be selected and recruited just like in a regular county." Sima Fei replied.

Su Jun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all these years, I finally have something that makes me feel at ease.

He has eight thousand men under his command, and many of their children were born in Jiangbei. Some of them are already in their teens, but they are like wandering ghosts, with no idea where they belong. Now there is finally an explanation.

He prostrated himself on the ground and said loudly: "Prince's kindness will be remembered in my heart."

"General, please stand up quickly." Sima Fei said, "and tell me about Zu Yue's matter."

"This is easy." Su Jun said, "Your Highness can send someone to Shouchun to summon Zu Yue to Guangling and ask him about the disaster and river defense. If he has a clear conscience, he will definitely come. If he has something to hide, he will probably make excuses. We will know once we give him a try."

Sima Fei nodded repeatedly when he first heard it, but gradually his face turned pale, and he couldn't help asking: "What if Zu Yue is forced to rebel..." Su Jun was unhappy: "Is there any perfect plan in the world?"

Sima Fei was hesitant.

******
The sky is vast and the wilderness is boundless, the wind blows the grass low and you can see the cattle——

Amid the weeds in the Wu Palace, Sima Rui felt relieved when he saw the gardens being repaired. He then ordered a family banquet to be held there, and the whole family was happily reunited.

Before the family dinner began, he carefully read the letter sent back by the prince.

There was nothing wrong with setting up three counties, namely Weishi, Ting and Ye, in Tangyi County. This was what he wanted to do after founding the country, and the prince's move was exactly what he wanted.

In addition, Langya Wang Chong has also become much more sensible.

Just now he proposed to divide the land of Jiangcheng County in Danyang, set up Langya State, and govern Linyi County to accommodate the more than one thousand households of Langya people who followed him here that year.

Both sons mentioned the matter of establishing overseas counties and prefectures, which showed that they had put in effort, and Sima Rui was very happy.

But while I was happy, I was also a little worried.

Does Zu Yue really have rebellious intentions?

Sima Rui is not Sima Fei. He is experienced and knows that things are not that simple.

Given the current situation of the imperial court, how many of the military leaders in Jiangbei are loyal? It is just a fine line between rebellion and non-rebellion.

First of all, the imperial court did not trust them, otherwise why didn’t it let them cross the river?
Secondly, the imperial court has been restricting them intentionally or unintentionally, and they themselves should be able to feel it, so they will definitely become alienated.

But lack of loyalty does not mean rebellion; these are two different things.

After thinking about it, I gradually became worried.

"Why is Your Majesty so sad?" Noble Concubine Shi came over and asked softly.

Sima Rui sighed softly and said, "The human heart is hard to predict."

Shi chuckled and sat down next to Sima Rui.

Sima Rui turned his head away in embarrassment.

This woman was still a young girl when she was with him. She was extremely poor and had only a brother to rely on.

We were so naive back then, but almost twenty years have passed in a flash.

Now she has a mature and charming figure, with a natural smell of meat all over her body. Her chest is like a pig bladder filled with air. If she turns slightly, she will touch his face.

When she was in love, she was like a female leopard with amazing strength, making her hard to control.

He liked this ten years ago, and he hated this ten years later.

"Yesterday, Zu Na Zu Shi Yan reported secretly that his nephew Zu Dao Zhong was missing." Sima Rui said leisurely, "Ti has two sons. The eldest son is in Zu Yue's army. The younger son was in Jianye, but he is missing now. Where do you think he went?"

"Your Majesty should send someone to question the servants of Zu's family." Shi said.

"I have found out." Sima Rui smiled and said, "It turns out that he was taken away several months ago and may have arrived in Shouchun."

Shi felt his hair stand on end.

"Do you think I am pretending to be confused or questioning Zu Yue?" Sima Rui said.

Shi was speechless, secretly sighing that the prince was really lucky. She was just trying to catch him doing something wrong...

As for the current situation, she felt it was extremely difficult and difficult to handle.

"What does the Prime Minister say?" Shi asked.

Sima Rui did not answer directly, but raised the letter in his hand and said, "The Crown Prince wanted to summon Zu Yue to Guangling, but I rejected it. The Prime Minister said that we could take advantage of Shao Xun's inability to split himself and gather troops to march north."

The Northern Expedition was fake, but dealing with the ancestral covenant was real.

Wang Dao’s opinion was very clear: if Zu Yue had not moved all his family members and Zu Daozhong away, it could be tolerated.

But Zu Daozhong had been secretly taken away by him, and he quietly moved the families of the military academies under his command to Xuzhou, which must have been a rebellious intention.

We can no longer pretend not to see it at this time, because once Shao Xun pacifies Liangzhou and Zu Yue is ready, he will most likely surrender with Shouchun.

The best way is to gather troops from all sides, march into Huainan in the name of the Northern Expedition, and act accordingly.

Sima Rui has not really made up his mind yet.

But he knew very well that there was no time. This matter was extremely important, even the great families of Jiangdong would be afraid, and this time they should work together.

"Forget it, let's start the banquet first." Sima Rui shook his head and said.

Not far away, the figures of Langya King Sima Chong and his wife Zhuge Wenbiao had appeared. Zhuge Wenbiao had two younger sisters. The second sister was slightly older, about eleven or twelve years old, and was named "Zhuge Wenbao". The third sister was younger, only two years old, and was named "Zhuge Wenxiong".

The carriage of Crown Princess Shan Yinan also arrived.

It’s great to have the whole family reunited, but I don’t know if such a wonderful time can last long.

Sima Rui raised his head and looked towards the north.

Where he couldn't see, ships one after another began to gather.

In fact, it is useless to deceive yourself, and it is also useless to show goodwill by being weak. No one has a choice.

(End of this chapter)