Fu Song

The carriage stopped steadily, the door opened, Xiao Jing stretched out his upper body, and saw the woman standing at the gate at a glance.The appearance of this woman overlapped with the woman in his memory. It seemed that the years had not left any trace on this woman, which surprised him greatly.

My mother is only one year older than the woman in front of me, but now it seems that they are two generations old.

Jiang Yingxue was wearing a light green plain dress, which was as long as the floor, without a single pattern, only a few half-opened oleanders embroidered with magenta silk thread on the cuffs, and a creamy white silk sash around her waist, hanging down one. The small sachet is worn with sapphire chains, making her look like a willow, like a flying swallow facing the wind.The hair style is also clean and simple, but the bangs are casually scattered neatly, the forehead hair is parted obliquely seemingly unintentionally, and then fluffy and loosely combed behind the head with a white jade eight-tooth comb, and two broken bead hairpins are inserted, one The golden kun beaded peach flower hairpin is inserted obliquely on the smooth and flat low bun, and the long pearl and jade necklace adds to the softness and beauty, and a little silver tassel is left on the head, bringing out the natural beauty of the new lotus after the rain.

And beside her, stood another bright girl, with bright eyes, fair skin, and slender fingers playing with the long hair on her chest. The pearls inlaid with precious stones on her silver lily hairpin are extra eye-catching, and a pair of small pearl pendants hang from her two ear beads, which are smart and elegant without losing their beauty. Jing.

"Xiao Jing has met my uncle!" Taking a step forward, Xiao Jing crossed his hands and raised his eyebrows, and bowed deeply to the ground.

"Get up!" Jiang Yingxue smiled and stepped forward to help Xiao Jing, and looked up and down at the handsome young man in front of her. When she saw this child for the last time, he was only in his early four years old. In a blink of an eye, he was more than ten years old. time has passed. "Time really doesn't pass. You are so old in a blink of an eye. If I see you outside, I really dare not recognize you."

"My uncle is still the same as when I was in Tokyo more than ten years ago, but my nephew recognized my uncle at a glance!" Xiao Jing said with a smile: "If mother sees my uncle's current appearance, I'm afraid she will be envious and envious jealous."

"Your mother worked too hard, it's all your father's fault." Jiang Yingxue laughed.

Xiao Jing smiled awkwardly, but he didn't dare to answer.

"Brother Jing, I've finally seen you!" Finally caught the opportunity, the bright girl next to him snatched him in one step, "I'm Xiao Ning, you haven't seen me yet!"

"I've seen your portrait!" Xiao Jing said with a smile, "But you are more beautiful than the portrait."

"Really?" Xiao Ning said happily.

"Of course, how could brother lie to you? Xiao Ning, this is a gift from brother to meet you!" Xiao Jing took out something from his sleeve and stuffed it directly into Xiao Ning's hand.

Xiao Ning picked it up and looked at it, his eyes straightened immediately.

It turned out to be a ruby ​​bigger than a pigeon's egg, polished into a delicate heart shape, and inlaid in gold wire.

Xiao Ning is not someone who has never seen the world, but it is indeed the first time he has seen such a large ruby.

"Thank you Brother Jing!" She happily blessed Xiao Jing to show her gratitude.

"You only salute brother if you have a gift, but there was no rule before, it was your father who spoiled you!" Jiang Yingxue said with a smile: "Jing An, giving her such an expensive gift as soon as we meet will spoil her. "

"Uncle, it's not that expensive. There are a lot of these gems in our side!"

Jiang Yingxue nodded: "Well, that's true. Gems are indeed produced in the Western Regions, but gems like this are extremely rare."

Having benefited, Xiao Ning stepped forward to hold Xiao Jing's hand, and said with a smile: "Brother Jing has been working hard from afar, and mother started preparing a place for you a few days ago, and everything is the best! I also prepared a lot of dishes , all prepared by my mother herself, usually I want to ask my mother to cook a meal, it is always difficult, but it is brother Jing's face."

"Don't listen to her nonsense, I'm just a helper. It's your second uncle who actually prepares these! Do you remember your second uncle's craftsmanship?"

Xiao Jing smiled and said: "Even though I was young at the time, I still remember that as long as the second uncle cooks, I must wait at the table early and never leave the table until I finish eating the soup in the basin. It seems that my grandmother used to do this reprimand me!"

"Come here this time, so you can try your second uncle's handicraft again! He's probably done it, and the cook at home just needs to reheat it!"

"Second uncle manages a lot of things every day, and he still remembers to make meals for my nephew! It really flatters my nephew. It's just that uncle, this time I am the deputy envoy of the Western Army, and I will live in the post later."

"What kind of post do you live in?" Jiang Yingxue took Xiao Jing's hand, walked in, and said, "I'm back, of course I live at home, I don't care if you are a deputy envoy or not, and your second uncle is back If you can't see you, don't you want to blame me again? There is no need to talk about this matter. "

Xiao Jing looked sideways at Jiang Yingxue, moved his mouth, but finally said nothing.

The uncle in front of her is no ordinary woman.

He only learned about many things one after another in the past two years.

The help of this uncle in front of me is absolutely indispensable for the second uncle to have today's achievements.

Unlike my mother who was praised by the people in the Northwest, in the Song Dynasty, there were not many people who knew how powerful my uncle was, but my uncle, who was not obvious, held amazing wealth in her hands and possessed incredible wealth. unrivaled influence.

For example, Wu Ke, the leader of the Zhiqiu Academy of the Song Dynasty, who is now famous all over the world, was just a leader under his uncle's command back then.

"Didn't you say that the second uncle is very busy and won't go home these days?"

"That's to lie to Tuoba to show off!" Jiang Yingxue said with a smile: "You are already living at home, why is your second uncle not coming back? If you don't see Tuoba show off, that's to cool him down, but how can you talk to your own nephew? reason?"

"Why do you want to cool off General Tuoba?"

Jiang Yingxue said with a smile: "Jing'an, Tuoba came here this time to see the true strength of our Song Dynasty so that we can make further choices? Your second uncle is very angry. Back then, your second uncle helped Tuoba's clan a lot , but at the critical moment, people like him and Ren Duozhong didn't want to help your second uncle, but they were thinking about some things that were not there. This Tuoba, he was only thinking about building a party centered on the Dangxiang clan. What about the core country! Heh heh, that's a good idea!"

Xiao Jing's mouth was bitter, and he glanced at Jiang Yingxue secretly, seeing that the uncle spoke sharply but still had a smile on her face, it was really hard to guess what was going on in her heart.

"I don't blame General Tuoba. In fact, in the northwest, not only the Tuoba clan, but also Tubo, Uyghur, and even Xin Da commanded them. They all have this meaning!"

"Really? Then Jing'an, what do you mean?" Jiang Yingxue glanced at Xiao Jing with a half-smile.

"Nephew is not very interesting, everything is arranged by father!" Xiao Jing whispered.

Jiang Yingxue nodded: "We are very clear about your father's meaning. Because your father knows that if the Northwest is really separated from the Song Dynasty, after defeating the Liao Kingdom, your second uncle will have to live again. Hengshan!"

Xiao Jing's heart skipped a beat.

"But uncle, Liao is powerful now, and it is about to attack with all its strength. The Great Song Dynasty is really in danger! I heard General Tuoba and the others discuss that if the Western Army cannot be united, then this time, I am afraid Da Song is very dangerous!"

Jiang Yingxue stopped in her tracks, and said calmly: "Your aunt has always been a hothead since she was a child. Even if she became the most respected person in a country, this has not changed at all. It is because the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change. Waiting for you After Jiang Ning stayed for a while and saw the real Da Song's strength, he wouldn't think so."

"The real Song?" Xiao Jing was stunned.

Jiang Yingxue nodded: "The ever-changing Song Dynasty, Jing'an, you are in the northwest, so you can't get a glimpse of it."

The Jiangning post house is located on a very high terrain. On the wooden balcony on the second floor, you can see a small half of Jiangning city.

Tuoba proudly held his wine glass, stood on the balcony, and stared at the city outside.

Although it was already night, the whole city was brightly lit. Where the lights reflected, it was bustling. The business of those shops seemed to be better than during the day.

"The place of prosperity is not inferior to that of Tokyo!" A voice of emotion came from beside him. It was another deputy envoy of the mission, Han Hong.

The Han family in Xinyang is the Xiao family's in-laws. After Tokyo was broken, one branch of the Han family fled to the Western Army and joined Xiao Ding, while the other family went south to join Xiao Cheng.Right now, Han Duan, who was born in a side branch, has become the Minister of Rites of the Song Dynasty, which is much more glorious than the direct line.

Like Tokyo back then, Jiangning now has no curfew.

"I remembered!" Tuoba Yangwei suddenly yelled, but it shocked Han Hong beside him.

"General, what do you remember?"

Tuoba raised his neck majestically, drank the wine in the glass, stared at Han Hong and said, "Since I came to Dasong, I always feel that the Dasong in front of me is a little different from the Dasong in the past, but it is still different. I couldn’t figure out what was different there, and now I finally understand.”

"What's the difference?" Han Hong was a little confused, "In my opinion, there doesn't seem to be any difference."

"No, it's very different!" Tuoba said proudly: "Many years ago, when I was in Tokyo, I saw a man from the Song Dynasty, with a long robe and a high crown, and incense hairpins. Rewarded as a hero. But it is very rare to see correcting men, even if they are seen occasionally, they are all unsuccessful people, in front of those scholars, they are the only ones."

"The Great Song Dynasty used literature to control martial arts. The status of literati is high and that of warriors is low. It has always been like this!" Han Hong laughed. "This is the national policy set by Taizu Taizong back then. Didn't the prince also say that it was this strategy that had been implemented for hundreds of years, thus castrating the arrogance of the men of the Song Dynasty?"

"But this time in Jiangning, have you seen such a generation of incense hairpins?" Tuoba asked arrogantly.

With this question, Han Hong came to his senses.

"I haven't seen the generation of incense and hairpins, but the generation with bows and knives can be seen everywhere. It seems that the pain of subjugation has changed the Jiangning New Song Dynasty. Scholars are no longer popular, but brave people. It's time to get ahead."

"That's not the case!" Tuoba said arrogantly: "Xiao Chongwen once told me one thing. He said that if a nation wants to prosper, it must have a civilized mind and a barbaric body. Now, he is in power , and finally he can implement such an ideal into his strategy of governing the country. Look at the current Guizhou Road, Yunnan Road, and Guangdong and Guangxi, these places that were first influenced by him, isn’t that the case?”

"In our northwestern land, it goes without saying that the body is barbaric, but it's difficult to be civilized!" Han Hong said with a smile: "It's the party writing that you worked so hard to get, General, how many people of the human race are there now? Can you recognize and write?"

Tuoba shook his head with a wry smile.

"The situation in the northwest is too complicated now. No matter what ethnicity it is, it is difficult to gain an absolute advantage. The reason why it still maintains a certain strength is that it can resist the squeeze of hundreds of thousands of troops from the Liao Kingdom. Firstly, it is because of the prestige of the prince himself, and secondly, it is also due to the rules established by Xiao Erlang back then. Those rules that seemed inconspicuous back then, but now I have to sigh Xiao Erlang's foresight. The connection of interests, It is indeed much stronger than the so-called oath."

"But things are gradually going wrong!" Han Hong said: "The original efforts to expand their own interests did not want to share the profits, and later they wanted to take a share of it to satisfy themselves. The contradiction is actually getting worse and worse. It’s big. Everyone wants to build an independent country, but they also want to get more from it, right?”

"We lack Xiao Chongwen's ability to govern a big country like cooking a small fish!" Tuoba said arrogantly. "So this time, I'm actually here to find the answer. No matter what the answer is, it's better than trying to figure it out on our own. Once we go the wrong way, it's hard to turn back."

"Luo Gang arranged so many visits, but I don't know what it means?"

"What's the point? It's just a show of strength!" Tuoba said with a smile: "Look at the itinerary and content he arranged, it can be regarded as showing us the strength of Song Dynasty in an all-round way."

"I would like to see their army the most. In the end, they will end up on the battlefield!" Han Hong said: "Back then, the Song Dynasty was far richer than the Liao Dynasty, and in the end, they were defeated completely. "

"But now there are no people like Cui Ang, and there is no such fool as Zhao Suo!" Tuoba said proudly, "The ones commanding the army now are Lu Wenhuan, Yang Wanfu, Gao Yingxiang, Wang Zhu, and Wei Wu, who have experienced many battles. Generals. With experienced generals, a daring and capable army, strong economic support, and of course the most important thing is the unsuspecting support of the imperial court, victory can be expected.”

"I don't know when Erlang will see us?"

"Xiao Chongwen won't see us until we finish reading these things!" Tuoba said with a smile, "He will definitely slap us hard for this meal. Since the candied dates have already been given Now, the next step is naturally to pick up a big stick to give us some color."