Gao Changshou carried a quilt into the house and said to Gao Mingyue: "I went to the house next door to buy it. It was just washed and dried."
"Thank you, second brother."
Gao Mingyue was pounding medicine in a wooden bowl. She had done some research on herbal medicine over the years and planned to prepare more medicine for everyone to use on the road.
Gao Changshou put down the quilt and said, "You go to bed early and have a peaceful night's rest. We are right next door."
"good."
Gao Changshou turned to leave, but stopped when he reached the door. After thinking about it, he turned around and asked, "What do you think of Li Xia?"
Gao Mingyue put down the pounding bowl, gently twirled the silver chain on the wrist of his right hand with his left hand, and whispered softly: "We just met him not long ago, and he has already saved us twice. He is a very powerful person."
"Yes." Gao Changshou said, "By the way, you have been covering your face. Has he seen your appearance? Do you think he..."
Gao Mingyue was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then seemed a little annoyed.
"If the second brother wants to win people's hearts, he will talk openly and honestly with others. The country has been ruined and the family has been destroyed. Now he wants to treat me as an object?"
After she finished speaking, her eyebrows furrowed slightly and she turned her head.
This temper comes out of nowhere.
Gao Changshou didn't know why she suddenly became angry, so he could only smile and said: "I didn't mean that, but I just wanted to ask what you meant. If you don't like it..."
"That means I'm not happy. Second brother doesn't need to ask."
Gao Changshou was helpless and said: "You've been like this since you were a child. You don't have any temper at all. Your little temper all your life has been blamed on your second brother."
"If second brother treats me like an object, I won't be able to give you a bad temper in the future."
Gao Mingyue's words were no longer contradictory, and his voice became lower.
"Okay, okay, don't be angry. I'm just asking, if you don't like it, forget it. No matter how bad I am, I will never let you marry someone randomly."
Gao Mingyue thought for a while, calmed down his temper, and said slowly: "Second brother, if you really want to recruit people, tell me with a clear attitude, what are the chances of Dali being restored to the country, and what can you give people after you succeed? You have always been
A gentleman, a gentleman is sincere. Even if his country is destroyed, he should not fall into the trap of the Gao family."
Her voice was clear and cold, but it also made Gao Changshou's thoughts clearer.
"Okay." Gao Changshou said: "In this way, we understand that if we set off early, it is best to see Li Xia before Nie Zhongyu. I will have a talk with him and be honest and sincere, okay?"
"Um."
Gao Changshou walked to the outer hall and sighed.
He walked up to Baicang Mountain and asked softly: "Young Master?"
"Forget it, she doesn't like it."
"This... shouldn't be..."
"Who knows what she is thinking, she is bored all day long."
Gao Changshou said, and he and three retainers spread thatched grass on the floor.
This rented house didn't have so many rooms and bedding, and he was afraid that his sister would be unsafe if she was far away, so he could only rest like this.
…
In the room over there, Gao Mingyue sat alone for a while and didn't understand why she suddenly became angry.
She reached out to untie her face towel glumly, and suddenly thought that Li Xia hadn't told that story for two days...
~~
The next day, Gao Changshou got up early and wanted to talk to Li Xia before Nie Zhongyou.
They made an appointment to meet at a place called Guqiao at noon, and Gao Changshou arrived more than half an hour early.
He had calculated that Guiji Town was the closest to Gu Qiao and Li Xia would arrive earlier than Nie Zhongyou.
However, after much waiting, Lin Zi, Liu Jinsuo and other eight people arrived, but they did not see Li Xia and Nie Zhongyou.
"Where are they?"
"Brother Li and brother are chatting in the back!" Liu Jinsuo said loudly.
…
Li Xia was walking by the river, picked up a small stone and floated it in the water.
"If you ask me what I mean, we are only halfway through the journey and we have suffered more than half of our casualties. It would be best to turn back."
"You can't go back until things are done."
"Too dangerous."
Nie Zhongyou said in a firm tone: "No matter how dangerous it is, we have to keep walking."
Li Xia said: "I don't even know what I'm going to do in Kaifeng this time."
Nie Zhongyou stopped, looked at Li Xia, and asked: "Lu Fengtai, Gao Changshou wants to recruit you, what do you think?"
"Too small. Dali is too small, and Lu Fengtai's official position is too small."
"Why didn't you escape along the way?"
"My father is in your hands."
"No, your father is missing."
"Oh." Li Xia was silent for a while, thought about it, and asked, "Why did he disappear?"
"The Li family is on fire. I don't know anything else."
"oh."
"You don't have to hide it. I don't care who your father and son have offended." Nie Zhongyou said, "I just ask you, why don't you run away?"
hidden?
Li Xia glanced at Nie Zhongyou, his eyes were quite complicated and a little innocent.
"Where do I run away to?"
Nie Zhongyou thought that it might not be impossible for you to hide incognito, but the premise is... don't be so particular about food, drink, housing and transportation.
"Is there anything you want?" Nie Zhongyou asked, and then added, "Besides eggs and milk, is there anything you really want?"
"It's been a long time since I've eaten beef." Li Xia murmured in a low voice and asked, "Will you be promoted after you finish this errand?"
"The deputy capital commander of Huaizuo or a certain route army in Sichuan." Nie Zhongyou said: "You want to be an official?"
"Um."
"I'll find you a boss in a county in Zhejiang Province."
Nie Zhongyou seems to have made progress, and finally no longer talks about "your parents are in my hands".
"No, I'm the same as you. I hate civil servants." Li Xia said, "A military attaché, but don't be like Lu Fengtai, who is under the jurisdiction of others. I want the kind of person who... leads troops alone in a small place, and it's fine even if he's a junior officer.
"
"Do you want to serve the country by joining the army?"
"That's okay."
"Can."
"You can make the decision?"
"This is a great achievement. Let's put it this way. I was promoted just before departure."
"oh?"
Nie Zhongyou pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Although the order I got this time is from Jia Shixian, I am actually a person of Prime Minister You. In other words, this assignment is from Prime Minister You, who is involved in political affairs, and these two prime ministers are in charge together
He sent me here and also helped Lieutenant Lu with an errand."
It was quite complicated to put it this way, and Li Xia asked a few more questions before he understood it.
Li Xia had known about Jia Shixian for a long time. This man was also very famous in later generations. His name was Jia Sidao, and his courtesy name was Shixian. He was now serving as the Chief Minister of Political Affairs, equivalent to the deputy prime minister.
Nie Zhongyou seemed a little disrespectful to Jia Sidao and called him by his surname. Instead, it was the right prime minister. Li Xia asked, and Nie Zhongyou said, "The right prime minister's surname is Cheng, and his taboo is Yuanfeng." He seemed very respectful.
.
Cheng Yuanfeng, now the Right Prime Minister and Privy Envoy of the Song Dynasty.
According to Nie Zhongyou, he was the bodyguard and confidant of Prime Minister Cheng Cheng. He was also dispatched by two prime ministers and a Taiwei. After returning, he would definitely be able to meet Li Xia's requirements.
He looked proud of himself and said, "Look, I'm very tough backstage, so I've got a lot of credit for this."
But in Li Xia's case, it would be better not to say Nie Zhongyou's words.
Instead, Li Xia felt a little disappointed, because he had always thought that Nie Zhongyou was a person of Jia Shuxiang, and had been guessing that Jia Shuxiang was Jia Sidao.
He doesn't know much about history, but there is a simple truth: people with great fame in history are generally more powerful than people with less fame.
He vaguely felt that this matter seemed to be... Jia Sidao issued a warrant, maybe it was just a business warrant, and sent Cheng Yuanfeng's confidants to the north to do something. If the matter failed, it was Cheng Yuanfeng's person who died;
It’s done, the credit goes to Jia Sidao.
…
"If it is for great righteousness, this act will contribute to the Song Dynasty; if it is for personal future, with the support of two prime ministers, your request will be met. Li Xia, you promised to help me complete this matter, I will ask you the last question today
Once again, can I believe you?" Nie Zhongyou asked again.
Li Xia put away the trace of disappointment in his eyes.
Cheng Yuanfeng is just Cheng Yuanfeng. Although he is not as good as Jia Sidao, compared to Lu Fengtai, Gao Changshou is not even taller.
He finally nodded and said: "You took me out of death row. I said, if you give me a life, I will sacrifice my life for you."
"Okay." Nie Zhongyou said: "I have never told you the purpose of our trip to Kaifeng this time... Now I can tell you that Mongolia will definitely invade the south again."
"Um."
"There is a great prince in the north who wants to rebel against Mongolia and plan to stand on his own while the Song Dynasty is at war with Mongolia. He sent people to Kaifeng to contact us. He will give us important information during the introduction and secretly communicate with us.
The alliance..."
"Not the Zhang family?"
"It's not the Zhang family." Nie Zhongyou said: "I don't know who it is, it's confidential. The two prime ministers only told me to get the information back. There are two pieces of information, one is provided to us by the other party
The other is the military information of the other party and our cooperation with Mongolia, both of which play an extremely important role in the current situation..."
"If it's so important, why not send more elites?"
"I'm very elite."
"..."
The two talked for a long time.
Finally, Nie Zhongyou said: "Du Yuhou has the power to organize troops in wartime. I grant you the temporary replacement of Jiang Xing. Let's continue going north and don't back down, okay?"
"Um."
"You keep your promise, and so do I. Trust me."
"knew……"
~~
On this day, when the two of them walked to Gu Qiao, Li Xia felt Gao Changshou's eager eyes from a distance.
He knew what Gao Changshou was thinking, but it was obviously too late.
The early bird may not catch the worm.
When they met each other, before they spoke, the man who ran ahead to explore the forest was already galloping back on his horse.
"It's bad, all the official roads have been blocked, and the interrogation is very strict. We're afraid we won't be able to get through..."