Jia Lian originally wanted to live in the military tent with the generals, but Wu Shiwei and others did not know whether to respect him or regard him as a wealthy young man. Together with the other civil servants, they placed him in the front yard of the princess's palace.
Although it is said to be a military camp, it is actually just a more complex and sturdy military camp.
Jia Lian guessed that it was Wu Shiwei who vacated his general military palace and gave it to Princess Zhaoyang for temporary use. After all, it was impossible for Wu Shiwei to build another palace in such a short period of time.
Realizing that the courtyard was quite spacious and the house was large enough to house a personal guard, Jia Lian just followed the guests as he pleased without raising any objection.
Xiang He and other subordinates were summoned to discuss the future march strategy and the supply of needed materials.
After leaving Ganning Pass, there are no local officials responsible for reception. Everything has to be done by yourself. Naturally, you must be well prepared and sufficient.
In the evening, Wu Shiwei sent someone to prepare a small banquet and invite Jia Lian to the banquet.
Jia Lian thought to himself that although in terms of rank, he was not inferior to Wu Shiwei at all, let alone his status as an imperial envoy.
But the identity of the other party, Gan Ning, the gatekeeper, cannot be underestimated.
Let's not talk about the energy of such a high-ranking and distant official in the border area. Let's talk about the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers under his command, which Jia Lian had to treat with caution.
His trip can be described as going deep into the tiger's den alone, so long as everything goes well. If there is any difficulty, Ganning Pass is the only place that can provide him with help.
A person who acts prudently should try to turn the things around him into helpful tools instead of enemies.
So Jia Lian put down what he was doing and came to the banquet in advance.
There were not many people at the table. Except for Xiang He, who was invited as well, they were all Wu Shiwei's deputy generals and staff generals. None of the lower-level generals were missing.
When these people were around Wu Shiwei earlier, each of them barely gave him a smile.
At this moment, when he was seated at the table, he basically didn't bother to look straight, and just sat and watched those handsome soldiers pretending to be actors, performing lifeless juggling that they didn't know how many times they had watched.
Some people who are impatient secretly pick up the wine bottle and take a sip while others are not paying attention...
Jia Lian frowned at first, feeling that he had been slighted, but then he understood.
He also imitated their appearance and sat comfortably where the waiter led him, looking at this unique and interesting military acrobatic that was rare in Beijing.
Thinking about it, if he were one of these generals living in the wild Gobi, blowing sand and drinking snow, living in difficult conditions, and with no hope of promotion.
Suddenly I saw a person who was born in a powerful family in the capital. He was young and had a higher status than I had worked hard for decades. I guess I didn't like this pretty boy in my heart.
"Hahaha, I was late. I kept the imperial envoy waiting for a long time. I'm rude, I'm rude..."
After about two cups of tea, Wu Shiwei strode in with heavy steps.
At this time, all the generals stood up to greet him.
Jia Lian was no exception. He smiled and said, "General Wu is serious. I have just arrived."
Seemingly seeing Jia Lian sitting in the lower seat, Wu Shiwei's face darkened, and he turned around and asked the attendants: "You are so brave, you dare to let the imperial envoy sit in the second seat. It seems that this general is too lenient with you!"
Come here, drag these bastards out and beat them with eighty sticks each."
As he spoke, he grabbed Jia Lian's wrist and walked up high.
Following Wu Shiwei's words, several sergeants came in from outside the house and tried to force the attendants who were kneeling to beg for mercy out.
Jia Lian watched with cold eyes. Although he could tell at a glance that this was Wu Shiwei's deliberate act, he still cooperated with his performance.
He broke away from Wu Shiwei's strong hand and interceded for several attendants: "Please calm down General Wu. I believe that the arrangements of the attendants are completely reasonable and should not be punished."
"Um?"
Wu Shiwei looked at Jia Lian in surprise.
Jia Lian said: "First, although I and General Wu have the same rank, no matter in terms of age, seniority, or contribution to the court in terms of fighting against the enemy, they are far inferior to General Wu.
Secondly, I am a guest from afar, and as General Wu is the host, he warmly entertains me. It is natural that General Wu should be the host.
So, please general, please spare them."
Of course Jia Lian knew that this man named Wu did not really want him to take the lead.
The reason why I came here is just to take care of his face. Maybe I also want to suppress and test him, so that he can be more honest in his territory for the past two days.
Wu Shiwei thought for a while, waved his hand to the sergeants, and said: "Since the imperial envoy has interceded for you, I will spare you the military stick. Go down and reflect on yourself. If you do it again, you will be severely punished."
After saying that, he smiled at Jia Lian and said, "That being said, respect and inferiority cannot be ignored. After all, you are an imperial envoy, and you represent the face of the princess. It is only in line with the rules that you take the seat."
Seeing that Wu Shiwei was trying to pull him away, Jia Lian avoided it and said jokingly: "It's true that he is an imperial envoy, but I only go deep into other countries and am responsible for negotiating with them.
This matter has nothing to do with General Wu. This warm welcome to us is a sign of colleagues.
If I am here under the emperor's order to investigate whether General Wu is strict in his military management and whether he has lost an inch of our Wei Dynasty, then there is no need for General Wu to be polite. I will hold the sword of Shang Fang and sit at the top to interrogate General Wu.
of."
Saying that, Jia Lian gave Wu Shiwei a meaningful look and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation.
Wu Shiwei was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.
"That's good! But if I, the general, are not strict in running the army, I will betray the emperor's favor and dare to lose any inch of our Wei Dynasty's territory.
There is no need for His Majesty to hold him accountable. I will tie my own hands and kill him at my neck!
Not only me, but also every general under my command."
Wu Shiwei said, taking a deep look at Jia Lian, admiration appeared in his eyes, his tone changed, and he said with a smile: "Sure enough, there are no good people despite the great reputation. I finally know why Your Majesty let your nephew take on this important task.
Unexpectedly, that old boy Zhang Leng has such a nephew, I am really envious of him."
Wu Shiwei also raised his hand to signal, then turned around and sat on the main seat.
In his words, he actually regarded himself as Jia Lian's elder.
Jia Lian's guess was correct. The play just now was indeed deliberately directed by Wu Shiwei.
He just wanted to take the opportunity to see Jia Lian's character.
Even if Jia Lian didn't plead for those people, he wouldn't really beat those people to death with eighty army sticks. Those people were his confidants.
As for Jia Lian, if he didn't know what he was doing, he would have taken the throne as if he were worth 258,000 yuan.
Haha, then he will let Jia Lian know what it means to be on pins and needles while riding a tiger with difficulty.
The generals below could make Jia Lian unable to come to power with just a sarcastic comment.
Even if Jia Lian is so arrogant and stupid that he offends everyone, well, he dares to only give half of the supplies that the imperial court ordered them to help mobilize, and he can guarantee that Jia Lian will never be able to raise supplies on time again.
As for the accountability of the princess or the court, the question is that the conditions are difficult, which has always been the case. How about improving the conditions for our border troops and allocating more money and food...
Speaking of which, he was deliberately making things difficult for Jia Lian.
As long as Jia Lian makes a mistake, he may fall into a disadvantageous situation.
At worst, he will lose his face and prestige; at worst, he will fail in his mission and be held accountable by the court.
Not only were his generals jealous, but he also felt unhappy in his heart when he saw such an old imperial envoy.
However, he immediately changed his attitude when he saw Jia Lian reacting sharply and even hitting him with sharp words.
The meaning of Jia Lian's words is that although you are high in the sky and the emperor is far away, if you offend others casually, it is not difficult for the court to punish you.
Although everyone can see that Jia Lian's words are a joke, and the examples are big and empty charges, rather than the more likely charges of embezzlement, taking free money, and causing harm to the local area.
But precisely in this way, while being powerful, it will not make him angry.
This kind of intelligence and clever reactions cannot but make Wu Shiwei admire him a few times.
After knowing that Jia Lian was not a fool, Wu Shiwei immediately put away his contempt and showed the bond between him and Jia Lian, eliminating the barriers to show their closeness.
He and Jia Lian's uncle were both the commander-in-chief of the Wei Dynasty, and they were familiar with each other.
At this time, he called Jia Lian his nephew, which was worthy of his name and not offensive.
The rapid change of attitude towards Wu Shiwei made Jia Lian amused and at the same time he was happy to chat with him.
"I'm late for coming down here. Please forgive me."
Prince Wala came loftily, speaking broken Chinese.
The scene that was already somewhat lively due to Wu Shiwei's deliberate tempering suddenly became quite chilly.
The generals at Ganning Pass looked at the belatedly arriving enemy prince with expressions that were ten times more indifferent to Jia Lian.
Unlike the officials in the capital, those present here basically have comrades-in-arms, sons, nephews, or at least the soldiers under their command, who died in the battle with Wala.
It is impossible for them to have any good impression of the royal family of Wala.
Even they were very dissatisfied with the imperial government and the government of the country. It was just that they were soft-spoken and could not make decisions.
Even the smile on Wu Shiwei's face faded a lot. After gesturing for Prince Wala to take a seat, he said a few words with a smile, and then asked: "I heard that the third prince took his entourage for a walk in the afternoon. By accident, he came to my place. We went to the highest point of Ganning Pass.
May I ask the prince, what is the scenery like at Ganning Pass?"
As if he could not hear the sarcasm in Wu Shiwei's tone, Prince Wala smiled and cupped his hands: "Guiguan is majestic and magnificent, with pleasant scenery. We, Wala, cannot build such a place."
Everyone likes to hear good things. Wu Shiwei laughed and had no intention of making things difficult for Prince Wala.
But unexpectedly, the general under his command sneered when he heard this: "Of course a group of barbarians who drink water from raw materials cannot build such a magnificent pass.
Humph, I pretended to go up to survey the terrain, so what if you guys saw me.
As long as this confinement lasts and you are in trouble, don't even think about taking a step south!"