Jiuxi

Chapter 497 Chapter 495 [Destiny is woven]

Although Li Daoyan is old, his courage and decisiveness are far beyond those of young people.

When Lu Chen nodded in agreement, the old man immediately ordered someone to prepare a few sets of clothes for Li Gongxu, a stack of banknotes and some broken silver, plus more than 20 books. This was all Li Gongxu's belongings, packed in an ordinary carriage. .

When he arrived at the Shanyang Hou Mansion, Lu Chen directly handed the young man to Qin Zilong and temporarily placed him in the Dongkua Courtyard - this is where the soldiers of the Hou Mansion live. There are two rows of houses facing each other, with one room for every two people. Thanks to the large area of ​​​​the Marquis Mansion and the many houses, it would not be able to provide such conditions.

Ordinarily, most of the soldiers of Wuxun Mansion can only squeeze into a common shop with a dozen people.

But for Li Gongxu, who was born in the Li family of Jinlin and had been well clothed and well-fed since childhood, such conditions still seemed extremely crude.

"Master Li, you can share a room with me from now on."

Qin Zilong looked at the young man in front of him with a smile.

Li Gongxu put down the bookcase and baggage, lowered his head and said: "Commander Qin, from now on I will be a soldier under your command, and I dare not bear the title of young master. Commander, you can call me by my name, or you can call me Jiulang. I am the ninth among my peers.”

"Row."

As one of Lu Chen's most trusted people, Qin Zilong has always hated the tyrannical dandies in the capital. Although the young man in front of him still retains the reserve of a young master from an aristocratic family, he is still a little different from those dandies, so he doesn't mind giving him a smile.

After dinner and washing, Li Gongxu took out a collection of classics and meanings from his bookcase and studied it under the dim candlelight. He soon entered a state of selflessness.

Qin Zilong looked at it for a while and felt it was boring. Then he lay on the bed in a trance and gradually fell asleep.

I don't know how long it took, but Li Gongxu blew out the candle and lay down, but couldn't fall asleep.

In the darkness, he stared at the top of his head with wide eyes, all kinds of thoughts coming to him.

This was his first night away from the Li family, and he knew very well that this was just the beginning, and this life would last for a long time.

Compared with other peers with similar family backgrounds, Li Gongxu is obviously more precocious. He doesn't care about his current living conditions, but is just a little worried.

From his point of view, his grandfather's request for his apprenticeship was not only to broaden his horizons and mind, but also to have a transactional meaning, and the latter was even more important.

The so-called deal was that with his apprenticeship to Lu Chen as an opportunity, Jinlin Li and the other party reached an unspoken alliance and would support each other when necessary in the future.

The young man keenly realized that his grandfather must have seen some kind of crisis, which also proved Lu Chen's status and importance in his grandfather's heart.

This made the young man very curious, what kind of person was that young prince?

With this in mind, the young man joined the soldiers and began to observe calmly and carefully.

Early the next morning, when the genius was bright, Li Gongxu was woken up from his sleep by Qin Zilong. He immediately put on his clothes and went to the flat ground outside the courtyard, where he followed the soldiers from the border to exercise.

Only then did he realize that apart from being involved in the war, this was their daily routine. No matter it was windy, rainy, scorching sun, winter or snowy, half an hour of morning exercises had to be completed.

At the end of the training, even though Li Gongxu had started to sharpen his bones when he was five or six years old, and his martial arts had not been neglected since then, he was still panting from exhaustion. On the other hand, all of the soldiers looked as if nothing had happened.

The young man couldn't help but have a competitive mood in his eyes.

Qin Zilong, who noticed this change, smiled secretly.

Then it was time to have breakfast. The food in the Hou Mansion was not very luxurious, but it had several very obvious features, that is, it was large in quantity and delicious.

White flour steamed buns bigger than your fist, very thick white porridge, fried noodles with shredded pork, two boiled chickens that each person must eat, and several seasoned side dishes.

This standard even exceeds the food of some down-and-out nobles.

Compared with the gobbling soldiers next to him, Li Gongxu's eating style was much more elegant.

Qin Zilong peeled the boiled chicken and quickly finished it. He wiped his mouth and asked the young man: "Is Jiulang worried?"

Li Gongxu shook his head and said, "No...no."

"If you have something to say, just say it, don't hide it." Qin Zilong smiled and said: "From now on, we will live and die together, and it will be troublesome if we are not united."

After all, Li Gongxu had a bit of youthful energy. When he heard this, he lowered his voice and said: "Commander Qin, I heard before that the Marquis loves his soldiers as much as his sons, so why are we alone in the morning..."

"So that's what you were thinking about."

Qin Zilong looked calm and said with a half-smile: "Are you trying to say that the Marquis is not as good as the legend says? He makes us get up before dawn to practice, but he hides in the back house and sleeps?"

Li Gongxu quickly denied: "That's not what I meant."

Qin Zilong said: "Yes, it doesn't matter. Since you didn't fall behind today, I will tell you the truth. In fact, at the beginning, Mr. Hou would practice with us every day, but we couldn't keep up with Mr. Hou at all. On the contrary, It would drag him down. So later, Mr. Hou set a set of standards for us, which is the intensity you just experienced. As for Mr. Hou himself, do you think he will hide and sleep? "

He let out a burst of hearty laughter, and several soldiers next to him also laughed. One of them answered: "Jiulang, the Marquis got up earlier than us and practiced harder."

"Our Lord Marquis is not only cruel to our enemies, but also cruel to ourselves!"

"Among the powerful children in the capital, not to mention talent and talent, in terms of hard work, no one can compare with the Marquis!"

"The Marquis doesn't want to go out with us, he just doesn't want to hurt us."

"You have the nerve to say that you were the one who held everyone back those few times, otherwise the Marquis wouldn't have disliked us."

"Ahem, apart from Brother Qin, who else can practice harder than me now?"

The soldiers became more and more excited as they talked, but Li Gongxu became very silent.

Looking at these high-ranking men who were filled with admiration whenever Lu Chen was mentioned, he suddenly understood his grandfather's true intention. Only by being among them could he gradually see the true form of the young prince under the light.

At the beginning of the hour, Qin Zilong named fifty soldiers and followed Lu Chen to the Military Academy. Li Gongxu was also among them. Lu Chen entered the Military Academy Hall to discuss military affairs with several military ministers, while the soldiers were waiting outside.

This wait lasted two hours.

Li Gongxu found that these comrades seemed to be different people outside. They used to laugh and chat when they were in the Hou Mansion. They were a group of young people in their early twenties. This situation was normal. But when they entered the sight of outsiders, they immediately became taciturn and solemn, and that cold murderous aura radiated from inside to outside.

Qin Zilong seemed to see his doubts and explained calmly: "When we go out, none of our brothers want to embarrass the Marquis, even if the Marquis will not punish us for this."

Li Gongxu nodded and said, "I understand."

At noon, Lu Chen finished his military duties and led his soldiers through the streets and alleys, heading straight to the palace.

They obviously didn't have time to sit down for lunch. Qin Zilong took Li Gongxu and a few others to buy a large pile of sesame seed cakes on the street and filled their stomachs with the water bag they carried.

This time, Li Gongxu finally saw Lu Chen having dinner with his personal soldiers.

He discovered a very interesting phenomenon. No matter whether Lu Chen was standing or sitting, he was like an attractive iron stone, and all the soldiers would subconsciously focus on him.

The young man secretly sighed in his heart, what a terrible prestige this is.

While nibbling sesame seed cakes, he quietly looked at Lu Shen.

He frowned slightly, and it was obvious that even during this short meal time, the young prince was thinking about big things.

Lu Chen stayed in the palace for most of an hour, and then went to Zhongshu again. This time Li Gongxu was taken with him. The young man watched him and the two prime ministers discuss the details of the logistics of the border army.

After coming out of Zhongshu, Lu Chen went back to the Military Academy. After finishing his work, it was already night.

As the lanterns of Yongjia City came on, dozens of horsemen rode slowly towards the Shanyang Marquis Mansion.

The world is getting quieter.

Li Gongxu was in the middle of the team, looking at the back of the young prince in front of him, with a lot of thoughts in his mind.

This is Lu Chen's day.

It has nothing to do with the twists and turns in Li Gongxu's imagination. On the contrary, it is a bit ordinary.

There were no thrilling scenes, some were just busy from morning to night, but there were a few scenes that impressed Li Gongxu deeply.

When the soldiers talked about Lu Chen in the morning, their faces were filled with pride and reverence.

While taking a break to eat sesame seed cakes on the street at noon, Lu Chen looked at her calmly and deeply.

When Zhongshu and the two prime ministers discussed the supply of food and grass for the army in the north of the Yangtze River, Lu Chen refused to give in and even got into a dispute with the right minister Xue Nanting.

These pictures intertwined and merged before his eyes, and finally a clear outline appeared.

Two words quietly emerged in the young man's mind.

pragmatic.

At a time when vanity is prevalent in the capital, Li Gongxu certainly knows how rare it is for such a young man who has reached a high position in his early twenties to maintain such a cautious and diligent attitude.

He suddenly understood why Lu Chen could rise to great heights in just a few years, why he could defeat the arrogant Jing Jun at the border, and why he could gain the emperor's absolute trust.

Why allowed his grandfather to take the initiative to make friends and connect the interests of the Li family with him.

Returning to Shanyang Hou Mansion, Lu Chen turned around and looked at the soldiers, smiling and saying: "Everyone has worked hard today. Zilong will change a group of people to go out with me tomorrow. Those who stay in the manor can't slack off, and watch more after training. Read books to improve yourself so that you can make a difference in the future, instead of being my personal soldier for the rest of your life.”

Qin Zilong said loudly: "Yes!"

He paused, then smiled ingratiatingly and said, "It would be great if I could always follow the Marquis."

"Build the goods."

Lu Chen smiled and cursed, then turned around and walked to the back house. The soldiers also laughed.

Li Gongxu watched this scene quietly.

Lu Chen didn't look at him differently or say a few more words to him just because he was Li Daoyan's favorite grandson.

Li Gongxu didn't feel disappointed. On the contrary, he vaguely felt that this was the reason why Lu Chen could gain the loyalty of these soldiers.

Treat equally.

He looked at Lu Chen's retreating back, and a feeling of respect quietly surged in his heart.

This night he broke the rule that he had adhered to for many years. He did not read at night by candlelight, and lay in bed early after washing.

The young man closed his eyes and thought for a long time. An idea gradually took shape, becoming clearer and firmer.

It turned out that the most important reason why his grandfather asked him to become a disciple was not because of those complicated considerations, or that those factors were just incidental. Grandfather's biggest hope was that he could get close to Lu Chen and learn from his strengths.

Become a person like him in the future.

This is the real future of the Jinlin Li family.

(End of this chapter)