Not long after, the two came to the entrance of Furong Garden and met Lu Zhaolin and Meng Huailiang. The four of them entered the garden together, and under the leadership of the steward, they came to a river.
I saw two huge wooden platforms built on both sides of the clear river.
There are incense burners, tables, cushions and four treasures of the study room placed on the wooden platform in Hexi. Twenty Imperial College Health Supervisors are sitting on it.
The layout of the wooden platform in Hedong is roughly the same as that in Hexi, but there are more screens so that people cannot see the people on the wooden platform.
However, from the soft whispers coming from behind the screen, we could tell that the people sitting above were all female students from Taiping Academy.
There is a gorgeous building boat sitting on the river. There is a wooden plank on each side of the boat, which is connected to the wooden platforms on both sides of the river bank.
The four people first went up to the Hexi wooden platform, and then climbed onto the building boat through the wooden planks.
In the cabin hall, Princess Taiping and a richly dressed young woman sat on a brocade couch together.
Because the woman was on good terms with Princess Taiping, the four of them were lucky enough to meet each other several times. They all raised their hands and said: "
"In my humble position, I have met Her Royal Highness the Princess and the Crown Princess."
The luxurious woman was Li Hong's crown prince. She was born in the Pei family of Hedong. Her father was Pei Judao, the general of Zuojin Wuwei.
Princess Taiping leaned back and smiled and said: "Four great talents, please take a seat. I feel sorry for disturbing your holiday. But after thinking about it, the judges for this competition are...
Only you are the most suitable."
Zhou Xing said hurriedly: "No matter what His Highness says, as long as you have an assignment, I will do it for you no matter how low my position is, whether through fire or water!"
Princess Taiping gave a sweet smile and gave instructions to a maid with butterflies on her clothes. The slave left the hall and announced to the outside that the competition had begun.
The rules are very simple. All talented men and women write a poem with the theme of the Liaodong Victory. Only the four best writers can enter the ship hall for the second round of competition.
While waiting, Princess Taiping drank and chatted with a few people, and the conversation was naturally about the Liaodong War.
The news arrived yesterday, and the court only announced it today.
However, since this morning, many rumors have appeared among the people, especially the news about Xue Rengui's battle with Ming Linhu, the most powerful general of Goryeo. Various versions have emerged one after another.
There is even a rumor that Linhu is one foot long (more than three meters) and has three heads. Xue Rengui was at a disadvantage at first, but later he summoned a god to possess him, and then defeated Ming Linhu.
Princess Taiping and others mainly discussed Wu Chengsi. Princess Taiping got all the news from Wu Mei. Wu Mei was busy with government affairs, so Princess Taiping did not dare to ask more questions, so she did not know very clearly.
Wang Bo knew even less. If his second uncle hadn't just told him a few words, he wouldn't have gotten into the conversation at all.
After he finished telling the only piece of information he heard, which was Wu Chengsi's beheading, he had nothing to say and entered a state of listening.
Zhou Xing got the information from somewhere and knew the details of the war very clearly.
According to him, Wu Chengsi divided his troops and advanced in parallel, setting up a fake camp to let the Koreans fall into the trap, and defeated the Korean cavalry who robbed the camp.
Later, they set up an ambush at Mercy Ridge, surrounded and annihilated the main force of Goryeo, and captured the defender of Nansu City alive.
When the Tang army entered Nansu City, the people in the city didn't know it. It wasn't until they got up the next day that they discovered that the city had changed owners.
Princess Taiping smiled sweetly when she heard this, while Princess Pei was more reserved. She only asked a few more questions when she talked about Pei Xingjian.
Wang Bo noticed that the Crown Princess always had a worried look on her eyebrows, as if she was very unhappy, and suddenly remembered something that his second uncle told him a few days ago.
It is said that the Turks planned to dedicate a woman to the prince as a concubine. The Turkic woman was not only the most famous beauty in the Turks, but also the daughter of Ast, the leader of the second largest tribe in the Turks.
Could it be that the Crown Princess was unhappy about this?
In addition to the Crown Princess, Lu Zhaolin was also a little listless. Wang Bo secretly guessed that he must be worried about the marriage.
At this moment, a drum beat sounded, and Princess Taiping smiled and said: "Ah, it's time, Qiudie, go and collect their answers."
The maid, whose clothes were embroidered with butterflies, responded and left the hall.
After a while, Wang Bo came in with a stack of paper. Each of Wang Bo and the four people were given ten pieces of paper to answer questions. Princess Taiping asked everyone to choose the best one from the ten pieces.
Wang Bo reviewed it and found that the male students' poems were more generous, while the female students' poems were more delicate.
Generally speaking, men's poems are better, but the literary talents of the female students from Taiping Academy are much better than Wang Bo originally thought.
Just as Wang Bo was undecided about choosing between the two poems, a maid entered the hall and whispered: "Your Highness, a father-in-law in the palace has sent an order from Your Majesty, asking you to come into the palace."
Princess Taiping frowned and said, "Why did your father ask me to enter the palace? I am busy."
"I heard that His Royal Highness King Pei has returned to Beijing."
Princess Taiping blinked, knowing that she couldn't escape, and turned her eyes to the Crown Princess.
Mrs. Pei said hurriedly: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must have received the decree, and I have to go back quickly."
Princess Taiping turned her eyes to Wang Bo and the others, and finally stopped at Zhou Xing: "Zhou Xing, I leave the affairs here to you. I will leave a team of guards. After the competition, you remember to make sure that all the students in this palace are safe."
Send it back to the mansion."
Zhou Xing bowed and said: "I accept my order from my humble position."
After Princess Taiping and the Crown Princess left, Wang Bo and the four of them relaxed a lot.
"Why did His Highness King Pei come back so early this year? There are still several months before the Chinese New Year." Wang Bo asked casually.
Zhou Xing snorted and said: "That His Highness must be returning to Beijing to take care of things."
"What to pack?"
"Of course, I will participate in the battle against the Koreans next year. Ever since His Highness learned that the commander was named General Zuowuwei, he has submitted a memorial and asked for orders to lead the troops in the battle, but Her Royal Highness the Queen rejected it."
Lu Zhaolin suddenly said: "I heard that His Royal Highness King Pei is extremely talented and is good at using troops at a young age. He has suppressed Turkic rebellions many times."
Wang Bo raised the corner of his mouth, showing a mocking expression.
King Pei Li Xianyao led the Chanyu Protectorate. There were no major rebellions in the Turks in recent years. They were all disturbances by small tribes.
These riots were easily quelled, without any difficulty, and were not even considered a war.
However, over the years, there have been many rumors among the people that King Pei was like a god with his troops. Wang Bo had always scoffed at it, but he didn't expect Lu Zhaolin to believe it.
Zhou Xing glanced sideways at Lu Zhaolin and sneered: "If you knew the situation in Shanyu's Protectorate, you wouldn't say such things again."
Wang Bo's heart moved and he quickly asked: "What's going on?"
Zhou Xing shook his head, with an expression on his face that said, "If you want to know, go find out for yourself."
Wang Bo felt a little uneasy. Zhou Xing often interacted with officials from the Ministry of War, so he must have heard something.
The Shanyu Protectorate was in charge of the entire north and Liaodong, especially the Turks. Judging from Zhou Xing's tone, there must be something wrong with the Turks.
Because Princess Taiping was not there, the four of them discussed and omitted the second round of competition and selected the student with the best answer through the first round of questions.
The student's name was Yao Chong. After learning that Princess Taiping had left, he did not come to the hall to meet the four people and left directly.
Zhou Xing was very angry when he found out.
A few days later, the news of the great victory in Liaodong spread throughout Chang'an and became the best topic for people to talk about after dinner. Xue Rengui was at the top of the topic list, followed by Li Ji and Wu Chengsi.
For some reason, the past "great achievements" of Pei Wang Li Xian were brought out again and mixed with this topic. Many people ranked him and Wu Chengsi as twin stars among young generals.
Among the Sixteenth Guards of the Imperial Court, the Great Victory of Liaodong was also talked about by the soldiers, but unlike the people, Li Xian's name did not appear in the topic.
Although many of these soldiers were illiterate, most of them had been on the battlefield. The common people couldn't tell Li Xian's achievements, but they understood it clearly and laughed it off.
In contrast, Wu Chengsi's name left a deep and shallow trace in the hearts of all the soldiers of the Sixteenth Guards.