In the evening, Wu Kangcheng, the patrolling envoy of Jinwu Guard on the left, passed by a large house and took a look inside.
"Wu Liu?"
Wu Kangcheng was stunned when he suddenly heard a call. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing a dark green official robe, sitting astride a horse and looking at him at the intersection.
"Ah, Wang Shijun is over here?"
Wu Kangcheng quickly crossed his hands and saluted, and said with a smile: "I heard that Wang Shijun returned to Chang'an to take up an official position, so I thought it would be nice to meet him once, so I came to talk to him."
"That's a lot to say. Think back to when we parted ways in Helong for seven or eight years, right? It's rare for you and I to be reunited in Chang'an."
"The villain returned to Chang'an in the first year of Tianbao. At that time, he wanted to see the envoy, but he never thought that we would see him again today."
"The ups and downs of officialdom are not worth mentioning, so I won't mention them anymore."
"The villain has brought some wine. Would you like me to have a drink?"
"I can smell the aroma of wine from afar, Xinfeng wine?"
"It gives you a good nose."
Wu Kangcheng couldn't help but laugh, hung the wine bottle on his shoulder, and went to help the middle-aged man.
From a distance, Jin Wuwei came running and said: "Boss, someone is looking for you. They are from the Youxiang Mansion!"
When Wu Kangcheng heard the words "Youxiangfu", his expression changed. He turned around and saw a young man walking over from Fang Street, but he didn't recognize him.
Instead, the middle-aged man next to him said "Huh" in slight surprise.
"Is it you? Xue Bai?"
"I met Mr. Mojie."
Xue Bai crossed his arms and looked at Wang Wei's dark green official robe. He felt that this official robe did not match Wang Wei's temperament.
Wang Wei looked more ambitious and comfortable when wearing the plain robe.
Wang Wei was keenly aware of Xue Bai's gaze falling on his official robe, and said, "Are you looking for Wu Liu?"
"Yes, Inspector Xunwu has something to do."
"How about having a few drinks together?" Wang Wei said, "I also have something to tell you."
"Then it's better to be respectful than obey orders."
After entering the house, Wang Wei confessed his crime and went to change clothes first.
Xue Bai left the Tian brothers behind, and Jiao Nu sat in the front yard, while he went into the hall alone, where he and Wu Kangcheng were drinking wine.
"Xue Langjun is here to see me?" Wu Kangcheng set up a small stove and put the wine on the fire to warm it.
"Yes." Xue Bai said: "The military inspector served in the Longyou Army?"
Wu Kangcheng smiled when he heard this, nodded, and said: "I joined the army in the 20th year of Kaiyuan, and returned to Chang'an in the first year of Tianbao, and served as a soldier of Longyou for ten years."
"Fight with Tubo?"
"Well, we fight every year." Wu Kangcheng said: "In the few years after the monument was erected in Chiling and the alliance was formed, there were no big battles, and small battles were always fought."
Xue Bai asked: "I want to ask Inspector Wu about two people. They are a pair of brothers named Jiang Mao and Jiang Hai."
Wu Kangcheng shook his head and said: "I don't know."
Xue Bai looked at him with a look of understanding, and talked about several battles that the Jiang brothers had participated in.
Wu Kangcheng still shook his head and said: "There are thousands of people who have fought together in the army. How can I remember them?"
Before asking again, Wang Wei had already changed into a plain robe and came out, holding a string of Buddhist beads in his hand, and sat down behind the stove.
When he was young, he was said to be "white in his youth and beautiful in his grace". In middle age, his grace and grace were added with the precipitation of time.
"You brought your servants in fine clothes and mobilized your heroic guards. Where can you find a job?"
Xue Bai responded: "I don't have an official position yet, I'm just investigating some things for the Right Prime Minister."
Wang Wei said calmly: "Young people, the imperial examination is the right way to study."
"This is what the teacher taught."
"Let's talk about your business first. Are you looking for Wu Liu?"
"Yes." Xue Bai said: "I am checking two Longyou soldiers. I would like to ask the military inspector if he recognizes them?"
Wu Kangcheng laughed innocently and said: "I don't recognize him."
Xue Bai smiled and followed the topic and said: "I asked a veteran of Longyou today and he said that Inspector Wu might recognize him. So I came over, but I didn't expect that Inspector Wu knew Mr. Mojie.
”
"It should have been the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan." Wang Wei picked up his wine glass and took a sip. He slowly said with a look of reminiscence: "I went to Liangzhou as a supervisory censor, and served as a judge under the Jiedu tent in Hexi.
”
"Yes." Wu Kangcheng responded with a smile: "The twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan."
Wang Weidao: "At that time, Tubo ignored the warnings of the Tang Dynasty and attacked the Xiaobolu Kingdom in the west. The saint was furious and ordered Hexi and Longxi to send troops, so I went to the fortress to express my condolences and inspect the military situation."
Xue Bai knew that the Jiang brothers had not been recruited to Longyou this year, but he still listened very carefully.
"When I traveled to Liangzhou, I learned that the Tubo invaded the territory and Cui Jieshuai, the Hexi Jiedushi envoy, had led troops to support Longyou." When Wang Wei said this, he looked at Wu Kangcheng and said, "Wu Liu was Cui Jieshuai at that time.
I’m waiting to ride under my command.”
Xue Bai's expression changed, and he blurted out a question: "When Xiao Guan is waiting to ride, will he protect Yan Ran?"
Wang Wei smiled knowingly, with a different look in his eyes, and nodded.
""Shi Zhi Zhi Shang"?!"
"Yeah."
Wu Kangcheng laughed loudly, drank the wine in his glass, and read a poem loudly.
"If you want to ride a bicycle, you will ask where you are, but if you belong to a country, you will have to travel abroad."
"Zheng Peng left the Han Dynasty, and the returning geese entered Hu Tian."
"The lonely smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun is setting in the long river."
"Every time Xiao Guan rides, he will protect Yan Ran."
At this moment, he was no longer the patrolman who was carefully spying on Wang Wei's residence with a drink in hand. His tone was bold and his spirit was extraordinary.
The magnificence that was restrained by Chang'an officialdom returned to Wu Kangcheng. He seemed to have just returned from the desert, and finally dared to speak loudly, and dared to let the wine spill on his beard and front.
"Hahaha, 'Xiao Guan meets the waiting knight'. Everyone in the world has read Mr. Mojie's poems, but few people know that I, Wu Liu, am the waiting knight! 'Everyone protects Yan Ran'. It was in the next year that Cui Jieshuai died.
Liangzhou led his troops into the enemy's territory for more than 2,000 miles, and defeated the enemy in the west of Qinghai, beheading more than 2,000 people!"
Wang Wei also drank all the wine in his glass and laughed endlessly.
The grandeur brought to him by the years has rarely broken the silence in his eyes.
But as he smiled, his eyes gradually became lonely again.
"Do you know how many years the Tang Dynasty and Tubo fought at war and peace?"
Xue Bai shook his head and said: "I don't know."
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Wang Weidao: "If we count from Emperor Gaozu's sixth year of Wude, it has been more than 120 years. If we count from the Tuyuhun dispute, it has been more than 80 years."
"So long."
Wang Weidao said: "Hexi and Longyou must be garrisoned by more than 100,000 elite soldiers all year round. However, the military system of the Tang Dynasty collapsed, and the military expenditure on recruiting troops was more than seven times that of the past. Although there were several great victories, the northwest frontier troubles could not be completely solved.
Princess Jincheng was married to Tubo until her death in the 28th year of Kaiyuan. During her nearly thirty years in Tubo, there were only ten intermittent periods of peace, and in these ten years there was only no major war. Small wars continued between the two countries.
”
Only then did Xue Bai realize that war had been going on throughout the Kaiyuan era.
He didn't understand these things, so he didn't say much and waited for Wang Wei's next words.
"Cui Jieshuai kept tabs on Xiyi. After he came to Hexi, he tried his best to promote an alliance between Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Finally, in the 22nd year of Kaiyuan, the two countries became the country of uncles and nephews with Chiling as the boundary. Cui Jieshuai and
The Tubo general Kilixu killed the white dog as an alliance, and each went to guard it so that the people on both sides could farm and herd on the border."
Wang Wei said, drank another glass of wine, and said: "Both of them are people of faith, and they have been fighting for peace on the border for three years. Unexpectedly, a war was inevitable. Tubo attacked Xiaobolu in the west, and the saint
Furious, he ordered Cui Jieshuai to cover up the attack on Tubo. Qilixu did not put up any defenses and was defeated at Qinghai Lake. Although Cui Jieshuai defeated Tubo and made brilliant military achievements, he was often worried about the situation in Helong and felt that he was ashamed of Qilixu.
Li Xu. This matter reached the ears of the saint, so he dismissed Cui Jieshuai from his post and moved to Henan Yin."
"Then what?"
"In the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan, Cui Jieshuai left Helong and I returned to Chang'an. Not long after, he died of illness. Some people say that he dreamed of a white dog and died of surprise."
Wang Wei sighed and added: "After his death, he was despised by saints and ridiculed by the world, but in his life, his military exploits were shining brightly in Qinghai, and his faith was more important than Mount Tai. He fought not to seek personal achievements, but to do real things.
I want to seek peace for the soldiers guarding the border and the people on the frontier."
Xue Bai silently.
Unexpectedly, after a big victory in Qinghai Lake, the coach ended in such a dismal ending.
He understood what Wang Wei wanted to say - it was not easy for Helong's soldiers, fighting a war that lasted for hundreds of years with no results in sight.
Faintly, there is also the intention to complain that the saint is so happy about his achievements.
Wang Wei seemed drunk, holding his wine glass high and reading poetry.
"A young knight-errant from Chang'an went up to the garrison at night to see Taibai."
"The bright moon at Longtou approaches the pass, and travelers on Longshan play the flute at night."
"The veteran general from Kansai is deeply saddened, and he sheds tears when standing on horseback."
"Having experienced more than a hundred battles, large and small, my subordinates have benefited tens of thousands of nobles."
"Su Wucai is a vassal state, and his integrity has fallen to the west of the sea."
Xue Bai looked around, and when he saw Wang Wei turning his head, he actually cried.
Wu Kangcheng also burst into tears.
They didn't say anything, they just complained in verses.
He was once a high-spirited young man in Chang'an, but he became a veteran in Guanxi. He listened to the flute every night, missed his hometown, and made numerous military achievements. Then what? What did the soldiers who suffered so much at the frontier gain?
Su Wu had been shepherding sheep in Beihai for nineteen years, and all the charms on the talisman were gone. After returning, he only became a minor official like a vassal state.
Where is Li Linfu?
A lucky minister, after Cui Xiyi's death, took charge of Longyou and Hexi towns. He held more than dozens of posts. He received endless favor from the saint and became extremely powerful!
How can one be so virtuous?
How can you be so virtuous?!
Big merits are rewarded for small ones, small merits are rewarded big, and the sycophant is in a high position. This is not enough. Today we are going to persecute the soldiers of the border army?!
"The festival is over...Haixitou."
Wang Wei murmured this poem, raised his hand, patted Xue Bai's shoulder, and sighed: "Let's not talk about the stuffing, let's not talk about it... okay?"
There was compassion in his eyes again.
The passion of the young knight-errant from Chang'an in the past has long been extinguished by this world.
Even so, he seemed to have come forward to ask Xue Bai to stop investigating those veterans.
Xue Bai said: "Okay, let's not talk about the stuffing today."
Wang Wei sighed and said: "I listened to the first poem in the government office today. It was the tune of Jiaofang, "Huanxi Sand". It was written well, but you wrote it in Madam Guo's Mansion?"
"Yes."
Wang Wei took a deep look at Xue Bai and sighed: "Don't go this way."
Xue Bai was stunned.
He felt the sincere warning and regret in Wang Wei's eyes.
"Which way?"
"In the eighth year of Kaiyuan, I went to Chang'an to take the exam, but failed." Wang Wei picked up the wine glass and took a sip, and said slowly: "I was unwilling to accept it, so I made friends with Prince Ning, Prince Qi, and... and Princess Yuzhen.
In that year, he won the first prize."
Xue Bai picked up the wine glass and wanted to drink, but put it down again.
He still didn't know which path Wang Wei advised him not to take. He only vaguely felt that Wang Wei was full of anger and wanted to express it, but he still restrained himself.
"But look, what if you get the No. 1 Scholarship? This official career has been bumpy, and now you are just a green-robed petty official." Wang Wei murmured: "You are very similar to me when we were young, really similar. But remember, don't
Taking shortcuts will never work."
After only a few glasses of wine, he seemed a little drunk.
He stopped talking, raised his head, drank a glass of wine, and then spoke again, another poem.
"The beauty of the past has turned into the teeth of the twilight, and the white hair has turned into a drooping moustache."
"How many sad things can happen in life, how can they be dealt with if they are not given to Buddhism?"
……
Xue Bai listened to three poems today, from "Duhu to Yanran", to "Jie Zhao has fallen to the west end of the sea", and then to "How many sad things in life". Wang Wei did not go into too much detail, but he showed it
His helplessness and powerlessness in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty.
~~
After leaving Wang Wei's house, Jiaonu and the Tian brothers followed Xue Bai and asked, "How was it?"
"Go to the Prime Minister's Mansion." Xue Bai looked up at the sky and said, "The curfew is coming soon, so move quickly."
Jiao Nu asked: "Any clues?"
Xue Bai hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"Yeah."
Although he only responded once, he seemed a little cold.