After Lu Fengtai met Yuan Jie, the first thing he did was to ride his horse out of the city and set foot on the official road to the north of Luzhou City.
He galloped into the wind, letting out the suffocating breath in his chest. After running for most of the day, he finally saw Nie Zhongyou's team paying taxes and crossing the bridge by the Chu River.
"Brother Nie, Brother Li."
Lu Feng stepped forward immediately from the stage and saw Li Xia and Nie Zhongyou standing beside the carriage.
Nie Zhongyou turned around and said, "Why are you here?"
Lu Fengtai patted their arms and whispered: "I have met Yuan Jie. As you expected, he did not pursue the matter and promoted me to commander. I came to tell you so that you will not worry about it."
Nie Zhongyou, who usually had a tense face, finally relaxed now and showed that he was sincerely happy for Lu Fengtai, but he still restrained his words and said: "That's good, as long as you're fine."
Li Xia didn't react at all, as if it didn't matter to him. Maybe it was because he expected no surprise, or maybe he didn't care about it at all.
Nie Zhongyou said again: "You still shouldn't have come. Since Yuan Jie asked He Ding to search for Gao Changshou, it shows that he has friendship with the Zhang family in the north. If he doesn't pursue this matter on his face, he will have resentment in his heart. You come here to ask for help."
If you let him know about it, there is no guarantee that he will not embarrass you in the future."
"It doesn't matter, it's more important to give you a ride than to please these senior officials."
After Lu Fengtai finished speaking, he looked at Nie Zhongyou and then at Li Xia. After thinking about it for a while, he said: "Brother Li, there is something I shouldn't say. But...
Let's put it this way, Brother Nie really needs your help when he takes you north. It would be extremely unkind of me to poach people from him again. But in my opinion, you might as well stay in Huaixi when you are driven by powerful ministers and traitors.
Surrender to the army.
Brother Nie, I advised you with these words back then. Since the southern crossing, the Forbidden Army has become a cluttered army used by important officials in the court to gain favors and benefits. This time we meet, I still say the same thing..."
Nie Zhongyou raised his hand to interrupt him and said, "You can't persuade me."
"Okay." Lu Fengtai turned to Li Xia and asked solemnly: "Even if you don't want to talk to me, I still have to ask. Brother Li is so young and talented. If he is willing to join the army, he will definitely shine sooner or later. It is a pity to venture north. Can you
Are you willing to stay in the Luzhou Army?"
As Lu Fengtai said, poaching people face to face is unkind, not to mention that Nie Zhong's journey from the north was full of dangers, and if he had one less person with him, he would have less help.
But, he still said it.
Not only did he say it, he was also very sincere.
"I did not recruit you for myself. You are so young, it is a pity to stay in the north. I said that you are a good talent. You may become a famous general of the Song Dynasty like Yu Dushuai in the future. If so, it will be a blessing to the Song Dynasty...
...In short, these outrageous remarks are all because the country cherishes talents, and Brother Nie is not to blame."
Becoming a famous general sounds like a far-fetched thing, but Lu Fengtai is serious about it. Now that he has been promoted to commander, he plans to train Li Xia. Then the dangers on the battlefield will be much less, and he will make rapid progress.
Veterans leading new recruits may not be able to bring out another famous general for the Song Dynasty.
Although he is a small person with limited future, he is also willing to promote qualified young people.
After hearing this, Nie Zhongyou didn't react much and said calmly: "I don't care what you say, his father is in my hands."
Lu Fengtai turned a deaf ear and only looked at Li Xia and said, "You don't have to worry about this, as long as you are willing to stay."
Li Xia thought for a while, shook his head and said, "Thank you, but forget it."
In a word, not only Lu Fengtai, but also Nie Zhongyou's eyes flashed with surprise.
"Why?"
Li Xia said: "This time, if we do it in a different way, there may be another result. For example, if we take out the warrant first and ask you to hand over Yang Xiong, then maybe He Ding will kill Yang Xiong directly.
.The warrant is not important, what is important is the response to the situation. This is Huaiyou, the territory of Huaixi envoy Yuan Jie..."
"Deputy, appoint a deputy envoy." Nie Zhong said.
Li Xia ignored him and continued: "In short, the reason why Yuan Jie is not pursuing the case now is because the matter is a foregone conclusion and we have left. Successful people like to consider the pros and cons when doing things, and they do not do thankless things.
But if I stay, it will be shameless. If I don't leave if he lets me go, he can just send me to the Zhang family in the north to answer. Commander Lu, you are a loyal and upright person. Yuan Jie is willing to use you.
You don’t have to offend him because of me.”
"A loyal and upright person?" Lu Fengtai smiled bitterly and looked at Li Xia with a slightly different look, "You are so young, how can you think so far-reaching?"
"My father taught me some things about the world." Li Xia said: "In addition, I also promised that I would accompany him to the north. A gentleman keeps his promise."
Li Xia actually didn't understand the twists and turns in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty. He understood these because people and the world were often connected.
In his previous life, he had cooperated with some business tycoons in many businesses such as sports brands and clubs, which involved intrigues and intrigues. He had lost a lot but also made a lot.
Unexpectedly, he made a lot of money, and the first private plane sent him here...
"What a gentleman who keeps his promise." Lu Fengtai said, "Then Lu will wait for your safe return."
Li Xia felt that he had talked too much today, but after looking at Lu Fengtai's eyes, he thought about it and mentioned one more thing.
"Depending on the situation, the Mongolian army may soon invade the south..."
"how do you know?"
"Looking at your performance, it shows that you think so in your heart, but you still have illusions and refuse to admit it. As I said before, even if we hand over Gao Changshou, we can't stop this."
"but……"
Li Xia said: "Commander Lu, I have one last message for you... If something unexpected happens in the future, please keep your body useful and serve the country again."
Lu Fengtai was stunned for a moment, seeing that Li Xia's eyes were rarely serious...
He was deeply moved, but did not respond. He took out the wine bag and drank a few sips with Nie Zhongyou before he got on his horse and gave him a heavy fist.
"Brothers, see you later!"
After that, Lu Fengtai pulled the reins, turned the horse's head and headed towards Luzhou.
It took him most of the day to get here, and another half of the day to get back. He came here just to say a few words.
After walking for a while, he encountered six riders coming towards him on the official road.
One of them was Nie Ping, and the other five were a handsome young man, a girl with a white scarf, a middle-aged scholar, a short and muscular man, and Yang Xiong whom he recognized.
Lu Fengtai knew that this was Gao Changshou and his party whom he had searched so hard for.
He originally wanted to hold the reins and say something to the other party, but then he thought about it and finally just laughed and shouted, and rode straight past.
"The people of Dali are so embarrassed and dare to continue going north? Hahaha, not bad..."
Gao Changshou turned around and saw that Lu Fengtai had run far away, and his clothes were being blown by the strong wind.
In a hurry, he only had time to respond with four words.
"What's there to be afraid of?!"
Two groups of people passed by each other like this, some heading north, some heading south...
In the distance, Li Xia turned back to look at this scene, and finally muttered something to himself.
"Xiao Song, the first thing I saw was such a group of people..."