Why don't men take Wu Gou and collect the fifty states in Guanshan?
Please come to Lingyan Pavilion for a while. How can I be a scholar and a marquis of ten thousand households?
——"Thirteen Poems of Nanyuan" by Li He (Tang Dynasty)
…
Every attack against Bai Fu not only failed to achieve the desired effect, but also allowed Bai Fu to turn crisis into opportunity and advance step by step.
Thinking of this, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Lu Yi, felt like something was stuck in his throat.
After several failed attempts, Lu Chi understood a truth: Although he was a disciple of Tong Zhongshu, he had no chance of winning if he challenged Bai Fu, the future prince-in-law.
What's more, Bai Fu is a man who is determined to retaliate. He has repeatedly licked the tiger's beard, hoping that one day the tiger will show its power, open its bloody mouth, and swallow him with his skin and bones.
Lu Bi also wanted to give up, but the forces behind him kept urging him to provoke. A slight hesitation would make the new master of the East Palace dissatisfied.
Lu Pei secretly sighed that she was not originally from the East Palace, so in order to show her loyalty and win the favor of her new master, she had to submit her name.
The Crown Prince Miao Jinqing is really an old fox, and he tricked himself into challenging Bai Fu.
Every time when Bai Fu was impeached, Miao Jinqing would hide far behind and let himself jump out to start a fight. Now, stealing a chicken means breaking a handful of rice, and he is becoming more and more alienated by His Majesty, but Miao Jinqing is not affected at all.
, instead, he concurrently served as the Grand Attendant as the Grand Tutor.
Lü Pei was riding a tiger and couldn't get off, and regretted that he had chosen a different team.
Bai Fu was too difficult to deal with, and if he failed to do so, the declaration of surrender turned into a declaration of death. Before he could gain the trust of the prince, he was already beheaded by Bai Fu...
While Lu Xi was thinking wildly, someone from the Mastiff Guard came and asked to see Lu Xi. Lu Xi hurried out to greet him.
The person who came was General Mastiff, a close servant of the eunuch Ma Yan, who was delivering a message for his master. (Ma Yan's surname was "Ma Ma" and his first name was "Yan")
As soon as Lu Bi saw the invitation, the eunuch immediately invited him to a banquet at his house tomorrow.
Lu Pei secretly thought: "Although I have had a few encounters with Ma Yan, they have not yet reached this level of friendship. However, Ma Yan has become the general of the Mastiff Guard, and is the number three figure in the Mastiff Guard. If he does not give this face, I am afraid that he will be in trouble in the future.
Continuously.
I have already offended Bai Fu and cannot make any more enemies."
Thinking of this, Lu Xi smiled and agreed happily.
On the evening of the second day, when the lanterns were first lit, the Minister of War, Lu Chi, came to General Mastiff Wei's private residence outside the palace.
The eunuch immediately said that he had a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, his face was thin and fleshless, and his cheekbones were covered with a layer of wrinkled dough. At first glance, he looked like a mean person.
The eunuch immediately smiled softly, held hands, and welcomed Lu Yi into the hall.
Lu Bi felt that her hand was a viper, cold and slippery. Lu Bi endured the nausea and finally entered the hall, and then took the opportunity of bringing the tea cup to shake off Ma Yan's hand.
Walking into the banquet hall, there was already a guest sitting inside. The man was tall and strong, and his movements were strong and neat. He should be a member of the military.
The eunuch immediately introduced him: "Master Lu, this person is Ma Zhong, a distant brother of the Za family. He originally served in the army in Qinzhou (TS City, GS Province).
After Wei Lun, the governor of Longzhou (Long County, SX Province), was transferred to the defense envoy of Qinzhou, the brothers of the Za family had a disagreement with him and left angrily and came to Chang'an to join me.
I just want to introduce it to you today.
Clan brother, come quickly and meet Mr. Lu."
Ma Zhong cupped his fists and saluted: "I have admired your reputation for a long time, and I am lucky to meet you today!"
The eunuch immediately introduced him like this, and Lü Chi understood. Ma Zhong must have offended Wei Lun and could no longer stay in Qinzhou, so he came to seek refuge with his brother immediately.
This Weilun was known to Lü Chi. He was the cousin of the former prime minister Wei Jiansu. Years ago, Suzong issued an edict to promote Weilun, the governor of Longzhou, to the military governor of the Shannan East Road War Zone. At that time, the eunuch Li Fuguo was in power, and the war zone
All Jiedu envoys came from his disciples, with the exception of Waylon.
Weilun maintained his noble status and refused to meet Li Fuguo after he appointed Jiedushi. Li Fuguo held a grudge and found a fault. He quickly demoted Weilun and transferred him to Qinzhou as a defense envoy.
Lu Pei secretly said: "As the saying goes, when you are polite, you must ask for something. Today, Mao Yan is setting up a banquet with wine, and he must be asking for something from me. I won't tell you, let's see how Mao Yan opens his mouth."
After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, he immediately stopped the dancing girls with words and drinks, and asked Ma Zhong to dance with his knife to add to the fun.
Ma Zhong readily agreed and came to the center of the banquet hall with a sword. The sword technique unfolded, vigorous and majestic. After dozens of rounds, he was not out of breath or sweating, and his kung fu was quite impressive.
When Lu Pei saw it, he really had real talent and learning, and couldn't help but cheer loudly.
He immediately said with a smile: "Mr. Lu, to be honest, Brother Zhe's true ability is to lead troops in war, and being buried in the Mastiff Guards is too unqualified. Now that the rebels have not decided, the army is in urgent need of generals. This is an opportunity for a good man to make a contribution.
The reason for my warm invitation today is to ask Mr. Lu for a job in the army, so that the brothers of the Za family can fight on the battlefield and repay the emperor's kindness."
Lu Pei laughed: "This is easy to handle. Tomorrow I will ask the Ministry of War to issue an order to transfer General Ma's military status to the Shuofang Army stationed in Heyang."
Ma Yan smiled awkwardly and said: "Master Lu, if Wei Lun was willing to let him go, the Za family would have transferred him to the capital long ago. But this Master Wei, who has no money and salt, will not give Master Li Fuguo any face."
Lu Pei narrowed his eyes and understood. He thought to himself: "So that's it. This Ma Zhong should not be able to bear Weilun's harsh criticism and secretly fled Qinzhou and became a deserter. That's why Weilun delayed Ma Zhong's military status and let him
Unable to be transferred to the Beiya Imperial Guards or the South Ya Sixteenth Guards.
This Ma Zhong has great martial arts. If he joins the army, he might really be able to achieve military success.
Now, all he had to do was change his name, forge a new military status, and be transferred into the field army, so that he could have a chance to make contributions and stand out.
In the years of war and chaos, many generals disappeared or died without anyone noticing. If the incident happened in the future, it would be said that Ma Zhong fell from his horse and broke his brain and could not remember the past, and they would also be prevaricated.
Although the matter is tricky, it is not difficult to handle. The key is, why should I help Ma Yan?"
Eunuchs are best at observing words and emotions.
Ma Yan rolled his eyes and immediately understood what Lu Xi meant. He dismissed his servants, and he and Lu Xi were the only two people left in the room.
The eunuch immediately took out a volume of documents from the secret compartment, handed it to Lu Xi's hand, and said with a smile: "Master Lu, you also know what our mastiff guards do. In the past two years, the Za family's men have been secretly investigating officials from three provinces and six ministries.
There are also some records about you.
The Zajia family doesn’t know whether the reasons contained in this file are true or false. I just want to ask Mr. Lu for advice today.”
Lu Chen uneasily opened the document, and suddenly his face was covered with sweat. The document recorded Lu Chen's reselling of military supplies, withholding military pay, keeping concubines outside the government, and other matters. Every piece of evidence has its provenance, and there are both witnesses and physical evidence.
If the Dongchuang Incident happens, not only will Lü Chen be disgraced and killed, but many of the prince's lineage will also lose many important officials.
Lu Yi wanted to take a sip of wine to calm down her shock, but her fingers trembled and she spilled half of the wine on her sleeves and robe.
Ma Yan laughed loudly, took the file from Lu Xi's hand, and threw it into the fire. The file instantly turned into ashes.
Lu Chen watched the file being swallowed up by the flames, and the writing on the file dissipated little by little, turning into wisps of blue smoke, as if he had walked a circle from death to life.
He immediately filled up the wine for Lu Xi and said with a smile: "Master Lu, you have to drink the wine while it's still warm. We won't get home until we get drunk tonight."
…
After sending away the lost Lu Bi, he immediately returned to the inner hall and looked through the gift list that Ma Zhong had presented two days ago. There were more than ten boxes of gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings.
When he saw these treasures, Ma Yan, who was still drunk just now, immediately became energetic.
Ma Yanyan felt proud in his heart: "Power is really a good thing. As long as the upper and lower teeth touch each other, and the two sides move, money will come like a spring."
Immediately Yan picked out a precious gold walking stick from the box and inserted it into the bun of Mrs. Zhang, the wife of the eunuch. He then took out a pair of jade bracelets and put them on Mrs. Zhang's wrists.
Ms. Zhang blinked her small single-lidded eyes and smiled wildly. The thick foundation could not cover the tiny freckles on her face.
Mrs. Zhang smiled sweetly and said: "Sir, this clan brother of yours is really generous. But, how come I have never heard that you have a relative in this house?"
Ma Yan laughed loudly and said: "As long as there is money to collect, let alone an extra clan brother, even if a father falls out of thin air, I will accept it!"
…
A few days later, Ma Zhong received a transfer order from the Ministry of War and was transferred to the camp of the Shence Army stationed in Shaanzhou, and was appointed as the captain of Zhechong, who was under the fifth rank.
After Ma Zhong said goodbye and thanked Lu Xi, he whipped his horse and whipped his horse and took office immediately.
…
When the news reached Bai Fu's ears, Bai Fu sneered.
Once you swallow the bait, you can't help it. Whether to release it or fish it out of the water is all in the fisherman's mind.
Bai Fu said to the scout Tian Bulang: "The fish has bitten the hook. You go to the Shence Army camp overnight, meet with General Wei Boyu, and tell him Ma Zhong's origin..."