Plan to cut off the nine states

Early in the morning, more than two hundred soldiers came to Siguo Valley. They were arranged neatly. They did not wear thick armor and did not hold weapons in their hands. Instead, they had sickles and hoes.

They were ordered to come to the valley to weed weeds. They moved quickly, and the weeds fell in patches in front of him. During a short break, a soldier said what everyone was thinking, "It's nothing weird, it's just ordinary weeds."

Another ten soldiers came to Fan Guan's tomb, brought wood and hay, and started building houses in a hurry.

Yu Zhan, who was guarding the house here, was shocked. When he heard that these people were sent by the King of Jibei, he stood aside, nodded repeatedly, and saluted in the direction of Yecheng, thinking that his righteous deed had finally won the support of the court.

At three o'clock in the day, it was getting hotter in the valley, making it unsuitable for work. The soldiers had opened up a large open space and achieved remarkable results, so they stopped to rest. Chang Yan and others brought water, wine and meat to express their gratitude for their help.

The soldiers were very polite, leaving water, politely refused wine and meat, and only agreed to eat the food they brought, but made a small request, hoping to see Mr. Xu.

Xu Chu inherited Fan Guan's tradition and never refused to see anyone.

The soldiers introduced a representative, who was neither a captain nor an old man, but a young man who was less than twenty years old. The only reason given was that he was similar in age to Mr. Xu.

With a heavy trust on his shoulders, the young soldier was quite nervous and his face was red. After entering the room, he was about to kneel down before seeing anyone. Chang Yan stretched out his hand to grab him and said with a smile: "You are a guest, so you don't need to pay such a courtesy."

The young soldier's face turned even redder and he hummed a few times. When he saw Xu Chu sitting at the desk, he quickly looked away.

After Chang Yan resigned, Xu Chu said: "Your Excellency, what is your surname?"

The soldier said coquettishly: "Well... can I not say my name? This visit... is our private idea. We don't want... we don't want the superiors to know."

"Okay, there has to be a name, right?"

"I'm an ordinary soldier. If Mr. Xu is willing, just call me 'Xiao Shi'...'Xiao Ba'." The soldier changed his tune temporarily.

"Xiaoba, please take a seat." Xu Chu said with a smile.

The soldier shook his head, "I'll stand, I'm more used to standing."

"Please feel free to do so."

The soldier let out a long breath, and then became speechless. He stood blankly, not daring to look at Xu Chu for a long time, so he had to lower his head and stare at his toes.

After waiting for a while, Xu Chu said: "Xiaoba, do you have something to say? If you want to borrow money, I have some here..."

"No, no, it's not for borrowing money." The soldier waved his hands hurriedly, "Well... we hope Mr. Xu can point out a clear way."

"Um?"

"Mr. Xu is a living god. He can point out a clear path so that we don't have to die outside and can come back to support our parents."

"Yecheng is going to send troops again?"

"Yes, I don't know how many people there are. Anyway, we have all been recruited. We will set off in three days. They say we are going south. There is no news about where we are going."

"I don't even know anything about things that you don't know about."

"We don't care where we are going, we just want... we just want to save our lives. Mr. Xu has shown many people the way, so he should show us one too."

"I give directions to many people?"

"Yes, when the Jizhou army marched westward to Qinzhou, Mr. Xu told some people to prepare more horses, some people to bring medicinal materials, some people to wear certain things...everything had a miraculous effect."

Xu Chu couldn't help laughing. He had indeed suggested that officer Zhao Youyou prepare an extra horse. Apart from that, he never gave any other sergeants "guidance". He didn't expect the rumors to be exaggerated to such an extent.

The soldier misunderstood the laughter and thought it was the demeanor of a living god. His expression became more and more awe-inspiring. When the laughter stopped, he said: "We are all poor, so we collected some gifts..."

The soldier put his hand into his arms, but Xu Chu stopped him and said, "Don't take it out. I'll ask you a few words, and then give you a message."

The soldier was overjoyed and was about to kneel down and kowtow again. Remembering Chang Yan's reminder, he stopped in time and bent his knees several times.

"This trip south, are you going to walk or ride a horse?"

"I'm walking. I guess I won't be going too far south. I might be going to quell the bandits. There are rumors recently that there are a lot of bandits popping up at the junction of Hebei and Huaizhou."

"Which general is the coach?"

"Fenwu Zhonglang General Wang Tie points to General Wang."

"He is the brother of General Wang Tiemei?"

"My distant cousin, I didn't use this name before. It seems that he changed his name to Iron Finger after General Iron Eyebrow was unfortunately killed."

"Yeah." Xu Chu nodded.

The soldier waited with hope. Seeing that Mr. Xu was silent for a long time, he asked cautiously: "Is there any danger in our trip? What should we bring?"

"You just said that all my previous suggestions were miraculous. Please elaborate further."

"Well...some people came back from Qinzhou. I heard about it from them. For example...for example, horses, as soon as they entered the territory of Qinzhou, they caught up with horse plague, and nearly half of them died. Those who obeyed and prepared more horses Fortunately, disobedient people are in trouble. They don't have mounts and can't fall behind. Some people even die of exhaustion on the road. Outside Xijing City, the horse plague has just gone, and the human plague is coming again. The extra medicinal materials that Mr. Xu asked everyone to bring are just right. It comes in handy…”

The soldiers said many things, each one more miraculous than the last. Because of Xu Chu's "guidance", a certain person brought a bronze mirror with him. He was often laughed at by his companions on the march. As a result, the bronze mirror blocked a fatal blow for him. arrow.

Xu Chu laughed dumbly and retreated to the valley. His reputation did not disappear, but became louder and louder. However, this reputation was completely beyond his expectation.

"This time we go south..." Xu Chu kept his promise and would point out a "clear path". The soldiers listened attentively, for fear of missing a word.

"This time you go south, you should bring more lightweight valuables. They should be easy to carry and not exposed to the outside world."

The soldier kept nodding, still looking forward to it, "Then what? When will it be taken out? What is it used for?"

"Don't ask, don't think, just bring it with you. You will know when you need to use it."

The soldier was in awe, and finally couldn't hold it back any longer. He knelt down and kowtowed, then stood up and left.

"It's enough for you people to know, don't publicize it."

"Yes, I understand. The secret must not be leaked. We will not say a word to anyone."

The soldiers left happily, and Xu Chu believed that his words would soon spread.

The soldiers were grateful for Mr. Xu's advice. After resting for a while, they removed the weeds and created an open space that was far larger than what was needed for polo.

When Feng Juniang arrived that afternoon, she was able to go straight into the valley without getting out of the car and walking.

Looking at the empty valley, Feng Juniang breathed a sigh of relief, "We should have found someone to cut the grass clean a long time ago, so that it would not be spread more and more evil."

Feng Juniang first distributed gifts to everyone, looked here and talked about them there. After arranging the chores in the valley, she went to see the young master.

Xu Chu has been waiting for her these days.

"Why don't you go fetch water or chop wood, Master? Is your practice over?" Feng Juniang asked with a smile.

"It's like delicious food. If you get tired of it, you won't want to eat it again. If you can keep eating it, it is a common food after all."

"Hey, the young master's 'common food' is a conspiracy, right?"

"It's about reading people's hearts."

"Flattery ministers and flattery slaves want to figure out people's hearts and use them to spy on their superiors. What do you want to do, sir?"

"As the saying goes, 'He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world.' This is my guess of the people's hearts, not just one person's thoughts at the moment."

Feng Juniang smiled and said: "Young master has not given up on the world, and plans to become king again?"

"'To gain the world' is not to 'pacify the world', nor is it to 'rule the world' - Professor Mingshi, disciples always have something to gain. Occasionally seeing a scene or thing, the viewer will have something to gain. This is what I call The 'got'."

"Young Master is about to become a saint. What is the difference between these 'gets' and ordinary 'gets'?"

"The disciple has gained, but the master has not lost. The observer has gained, and the scenery has not been lost. The ordinary "gain" must be accompanied by a loss, and the difference is huge."

Feng Juniang sighed, "I understand, but what's the use of it? Young Master has gained something, but some people always think they have lost something because of it. Can you explain one by one? I believe you, and others are willing to believe you too?"

"Explain slowly." Xu Chu smiled.

Feng Juniang sat down and said, "Why did the young master say such things to Sun Yalu?"

"What kind of words?"

"What do you mean, 'If the Jizhou army comes back earlier, they can join forces with the He Rong tribe, but if it comes later, they will become enemies.'"

"This is indeed what I said." Xu Chu nodded.

"What's the purpose?"

"It's very clear, there is no other intention."

"Hey, I don't understand what the young master said at all. Mr. Sun is completely confused. The princess couldn't figure it out even after thinking about it for several days, so I volunteered to come over and ask for clarification."

"How many days has she been thinking about it?"

"Who told you not to explain clearly?"

Xu Chu smiled and said: "On the contrary, it's not that I didn't explain it clearly, but that I understood it too well. Please go back to the city and tell Princess Huanyan that in recent days, except for Princess Fangde, I don't have any guests here who don't take the high road."

Feng Juniang was stunned for a while and murmured: "Why do you need me to come? You two understand each other, but I can't understand a word. Why don't you just talk to each other directly."

"There are often unspeakable things in the world, so people's hearts need to figure them out."

Feng Juniang shook her head. She preferred everything to be clear - at least as clear as she could understand, "Okay, I'll take the message back. The official business is done, and I have something private to tell the young master."

"Um."

"It was my and Tian Jiang's idea to send the little princess back. The two of us were willing to take risks. Don't you want to thank me at all?"

"So it's you two."

"Young Master didn't even ask?" Feng Juniang was extremely surprised, "Forget it, it doesn't matter if you don't thank us two, Young Master must thank the little princess."

"Why?"

"She is a little girl. When she is desperate, the first person she thinks of is the young master..."

"I'm trying to figure out a way to help her put off the marriage."

"No need to think about it? The solution is ready."

"I've been thinking hard for several days, but I still don't have a solid solution. You actually said that the solution is ready - now I can't understand you." Xu Chu said with a smile.

"Hey, the young master only looks at other people's hearts, but doesn't look at his own heart? The young princess can only marry one person, and the young master is unwilling to become a real couple with her, which is why we are in the current trouble..."

Xu Chu shook his head, "This is not a clever plan."

"Any more clever ideas? Young Master, think about it carefully." Feng Juniang stood up and was about to leave. When she saw the military reports scattered on the table, she suddenly realized, "Bingzhou! Young Master and the princess were talking about Bingzhou, right?"