MTL - Perfect Encounter-Chapter 2

But the play has to go on, or it will be revealed. An Ruochen did not forget that Anping and the servants were still standing aside.

An Ruochen resolutely let go of the man's hand shyly, and said softly: "Oh, the little girl got carried away in a moment of excitement and lost her manners. Don't blame the general."

Countermeasure 1, if the nymphomaniac goes crazy and no one cares about her, then she just took advantage of the situation and said goodbye.

But at this moment, two guards arrived, as if they had finally come to their senses, blocked An Ruochen, and shouted: "Who is coming? How dare you disturb General Long."

It turned out to be General Dragon! An Ruochen heaved a sigh of relief, and knelt down with a plop: "The little girl is ignorant, she bumped into the general, the general spared her life."

Countermeasure 2, if someone yells at you, plead guilty quickly.

An Ping and the others were watching in a daze, but when they saw An Ruochen knelt down and begged for mercy, they were also frightened, so they hurriedly knelt down. "Little Anping is the steward of the An family in Zhonglan City. This is my eldest lady. Don't blame the general for being reckless and rude."

General Long Tenglong's prestige is well known to everyone, and it is also a major event for this county that he leads troops to garrison here. These days, the whole city is really talking about this matter. Naturally, their An Mansion also moved after hearing the news. Master An Zhifu made preparations early and discussed many times with the rich and powerful merchants in the city.

It's just that according to the news from the county mansion, General Long should arrive tomorrow, why is he here today?

Anping was quite nervous, the eldest lady bumped into the general, so don't cause trouble. But now that the general is right in front of his eyes, they saw Anfu one step earlier than others, but it was another chance. Anping hurriedly took out his usual sophisticated means of socializing, and desperately said, what has been heard of the general's reputation for a long time, not only the young lady, but everyone in Anfu admires the general, the master has prepared a good gift and a good banquet, if the general can spare the time If you condescend to visit, the Anfu will surely flourish. The general has worked hard all the way, and he will have to work hard for the safety of the border in the future. Their master is ready to lead the whole family to do their part for the general. It's really a coincidence to meet today, I hope there are a lot of generals, don't blame them.

An Ruochen lowered his head and lowered his eyebrows, looking cute. When An Ping said something, she chimed in with "um" and "very much" and so on.

Countermeasure three, don't stand out and stand aside. Wait and see.

After Anping spent a long time talking, General Long finally spoke. He said to the guards: "It's okay, let them go."

Very good, very good, An Ruochen bowed his body and saluted, hiding his joy on his face.

Countermeasure 4, go as soon as you can, and don't stay.

Anping also kowtowed to say goodbye. An Ruochen restrained her gaze, and never looked at her baggage from the beginning to the end. Fortunately, she walked far away, and no one stopped her to let her take away her baggage. Anping didn't seem to notice this. An Ruochen lowered his head and focused on walking.

Down the hillside, General Long beckoned for a soldier: "Change into casual clothes and follow them quietly, and see where they go."

The soldiers took orders and hurried away.

General Long looked at the backs of those people, thoughtfully.

At the foot is the land of Pingnan County, and after three or five miles, there is Zhonglan City.

Pingnan County is a border county of Xiao State, adjacent to South Qin State, and Zhonglan City is the county seat of Pingnan County.

South Qin and Xiao Kingdom also fought for several years because of the plunder of resources twenty years ago. Afterwards, the two countries negotiated and concluded a treaty. But this year, there were several incidents at Nanqin.

For example, bandits from the Southern Qin Dynasty crossed the border to rob and kill the villagers of Xiaoguo, robbed the villagers of their property, and took women away. Nan Qin categorically denied that this matter had anything to do with them, let alone harboring bandits, instead claiming that it was the bandits of Xiao State who fled to the territory of Nan Qin. Xiao Guo.

On the other hand, South Qin also protested to Xiao Guo many times on issues such as border trade tariffs and special supplies of goods agreed between the two countries.

Furthermore, they frequently made good friends with neighboring countries, and their attitudes were ambiguous, especially when they suddenly seemed to be close to Dong Ling country as an alliance, and Dong Ling country was another neighboring border country of Xiao country. During this period, Xiao Guo also received secret reports from spies that South Qin was secretly sending more troops to the border areas. Xiao Guo negotiated this matter and asked for an explanation, but Nan Qin claimed that it was to suppress the bandits, and euphemistically warned Xiao Guo not to use bandits to pretend to infringe on South Qin's border interests.

All these situations hinted at dangerous intentions, which aroused the vigilance of Emperor Xiao and his officials.

So Long Teng, the great general who protects the country, took the emperor's order and led his troops to Pingnan County to guard the border between Qin and Xiao.

Long Teng's grandfather, Long Yi, was the founding general who made great achievements for the late emperor. His father, Long Sheng, was the general of Weilong, who made great military exploits. The prestige of the Long family army is well known in the government and the public, and it is famous all over the world. It's a pity that both Long Yi and Long Sheng died in the battle, and Mrs. Long also died of illness, leaving behind the three brothers Long Teng. As the eldest son, Long Teng inherited his father's business and fought in the north and south. The emperor felt that the Long family had made great contributions to protecting the country, and named Long Teng the Great General of Protecting the Country. This kind of extravagant treatment and reward naturally aroused criticism from the political opponents in the court, but Long Teng led the Long family's army with outstanding military exploits, although the political opponents were not convinced, they couldn't hold any advantage.

Long Teng is the head of the three brothers of the Long family. When people talk about him, they always refer to him as Uncle Long and General Long. Even his colleagues call him Long Da, but he is rarely called by his name.

To say that Long Da led his troops into Pingnan County, he had made a lot of preparations in advance. According to his experience, these actions of Nan Qin are quite subtle.

There are abundant iron ore resources in the Great Depression. In addition to farming and daily use, iron and steel are also an important requirement for military affairs, so the surrounding countries have always been eyeing it. Great Hsiao also attached great importance to it. In order to ensure peace, he signed an agreement and traded quotas. It not only provided agricultural tools for countries to help their production and development, but also restricted and prevented countries from expanding their military equipment. Over the years, no matter what ideas the countries have in their hearts, they have acted in accordance with the agreement on the surface, and no major disputes have arisen. Nanqin suddenly protested against the iron stone quota and quickly formed an alliance with Dongling Kingdom. This intention is naturally intriguing.

Long Da sent his subordinates to set off first, sneak into South Qin in disguise, and contact Da Xiao's spies in South Qin to find out about the military situation. In addition, they sent people into Pingnan County to see what was going on in the county before the Long family army entered the city, and to investigate whether there were any secret operations of the Southern Qin Dynasty. If Nan Qin was provocative like this, if he wanted to fight, he would have prepared for it.

Long Da led the soldiers on the road day and night, and when they approached the city camp, they let everyone rest. He stood by himself at the foot of a hillside, thinking about the military affairs arrangements after the garrison. Two days ago, he received a secret report from an unknown person at the post station he was passing by. The messenger only quietly left a letter saying "From General Long Teng". Demolition privately, wait until General Long Teng arrives, and hand over the letter to him.

There are only seven words in the letter—there are detailed works in Zhonglan City.

Unnamed, unnamed, very mysterious. Long Da read the letter carefully, thinking to himself that this matter is interesting. It is necessary to say that there is detailed work, but not who it is. What does this mean? The key to stealth and concealment is to be quiet and unobtrusive, so that it is easy to inquire about information. And this seven-character report, whether it is a provocation or a report, is not a wise move.

Looking at the handwriting again, each stroke is very powerful, yet somewhat graceful. It looks like a woman's handwriting, or deliberately pretending to be so.

Long Da waited at the station for half a day, but did not see any unusual movement. He asked several soldiers to be careful, but no one left a letter or tried to approach him all the way to Zhonglan City.

Until just now, a girl rolled down the slope.

He has a heavy breath, doesn't know martial arts, talks nonsense, and makes up nonsense. He was sure she didn't know him at all. She fluently praised his military exploits and deeds, all of which were incomplete, and her eyes were full of vigilance, how could she have the slightest sincere admiration? The lie is so obvious, can't her housekeeper hear it?

Long Da lowered his head to look at the baggage left by the **** purpose. He ordered the guards to pick it up and put it away, and he had to search it later.

This girl is short of having the word "suspicious" engraved on her forehead.

Speaking of An Ruochen's side, who sneaked out of the mansion and bumped into the nobleman, he was naturally punished after returning to the mansion.

Father An Zhifu asked her what was going on in the hall, ordered her to kneel down, pointed at her nose and scolded: "You are a girl, you really have no face, no skin, no shame, how dare you sneak out of the city to attack the general, how are you polite and shameless?" You have completely embarrassed our An family!"

An Ruochen covered his face in shame and regret and cried, "Daughter is wrong, she was confused for a while."

It turns out that there is such a thing as etiquette and shame when they settle down? Ha ha.

An Ruochen cried very sincerely, raised her head with tears in her eyes and said pitifully, "Daughter doesn't dare anymore, please father to punish."

Where there is life, there is hope. She can't stand it.

Before An Zhifu could speak, An Ruochen hurriedly said, "It's just that today I just happened to catch up. My daughter misremembered the date, but it happened by such a coincidence. Uncle Ping also had the opportunity to talk to the general for a long time. In other words, the general has a big stomach, and he never blamed me, and he also remembers that our An family has a heart for him. Although the daughter is wrong, it has not ruined Daddy's great affairs."

An Zhifu choked, it was true. Although he and many of his noble merchant friends were discussing how to please and entertain General Long, everyone knew in their hearts that the general came here on the emperor's order and was stationed in an important place of the military camp. But Pingnan County has always had a good relationship between officials and businessmen, and they take care of each other. Others have found ways to curry favor. If An Zhifu falls behind, the benefits will be taken away by others, of course it won't work. During this period of time, An Zhifu was worried about how General Long could show his face when he entered the city, but unexpectedly, his daughter made a mistake and made it happen.

An Zhifu was silent for a while, waved his hand, and was about to forget it, and told his daughter to go back to Fang Si, really annoying to see her. But at this time, the second room, Mrs. Tan, said: "It's not bad yet. The bad thing is unknown. Although General Long doesn't blame him, he still doesn't know what to think of our family. If you think that our family is as rude and shameless as a big girl, you will feel contemptuous in your heart." , or think that the eldest girl's deliberate collision is the master's order, and feel angry, that's fine. The master has made all the arrangements, if this matter is messed up, it will be really wronged. General Long's here is a matter, and Master Qian's place What? If the eldest girl offends the general, Master Qian will also be burdened. Even if the general does not blame him, Master Qian will get angry when he knows that the eldest daughter has done such a contemptible and shameless thing. Is the jade shop still open? This is not just a single matter. The eldest girl herself is not ashamed, but has she ever thought about it for the master, ran away from home and ran out of the city to see a man, offended the general, and spread the news? Who will pay back the wish? Befriending the master? The master has lost both face and money, can the eldest girl afford the consequences?"

An Zhifu became angrier the more he heard it, and shouted: "Bring the family law!"

An Ruochen fell on the ground and cried bitterly: "Second Aunt taught me the lesson, I'm too stupid, I was wrong."

Acknowledging his mistakes readily, Tan felt annoyed, but couldn't say anything more. But An Zhifu's anger had already been lifted, and the family law board had been delivered. Tan looked at it, pursed her lips and smiled.

An Zhifu took the family law, An Ruochen quietly lay on the ground and sobbed. An Zhifu's anger was not so great anymore. Waving his hand to drop the board, An Ruochen's body twitched and he groaned in pain. An Zhifu suddenly felt relieved a lot. The four boards were beaten down, and I thought it was all right.

"If you do it again, you'll be the one to watch!" He scolded, staring at An Ruochen, "Go back to your room, and don't take a step out of the house without my permission."

An Ruochen Nuo Nuo agreed, stood up with difficulty with the help of the maid, and moved back to the room step by step. It was painful to pretend, so he walked slowly, and when he left the hall, he could hear An Zhifu shouting to everyone: "No one is allowed to speak out about today's affairs."

An Ruochen finally breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that her father and Anping also had doubts about her leaving home, but she was empty-handed, it didn't seem like she was planning to run away, and the argument of giving the cloak to someone else was also tenable, because she really went to the temple before Pray for blessings, no less than ten witnesses can be pulled out. And she has always had a well-behaved and docile attitude towards her marriage with Master Qian, and she consciously concealed it fairly well.

In short, the reason why she committed a **** and lost her mind and wanted to see a hero is barely reasonable. But she can't take it lightly, and she has to do something to dispel the doubts of her father and Anping. Anyway, she has always been useless in their eyes, and she can handle it.

She still has a chance, she still has to escape.

Yao Kun, the prefect, got a report from the superintendent of the city gate, saying that the 20,000 advance troops of the Long family army had arrived at the camp outside the city, and General Long was about to enter the city with a team of troops. Yao Kun was so shocked that he hurriedly led all the officials out of the city gate to greet him.

This general is quite capricious, he was supposed to arrive at noon tomorrow according to the schedule reported by the station soldiers, but he made it ahead of time without notifying him. The county magistrates and officials from all counties in the county were originally scheduled to enter the city tomorrow morning to greet them, but this time they missed it too. Besides, the general didn't seem to be that amiable, he didn't even bother to make any noise and politeness, and after confirming the order, he wanted to lead the troops into the camp. There is no need to eat the Taoist banquet. The soldiers will just enter the city and they need to arrange for training. After the officials arrive, they will discuss matters.

In short, the people who originally wanted to curry favor with this second-rank general were quite disappointed, but the prefect Yao Kun was a little relieved. Eight years ago when he went to Beijing, he met Long Da once. At that time, General Long Sheng was still alive, but Long Da was only seventeen or eighteen years old, but he already had a serious face. He is also taller and more official, but he still has a serious face.

However, it is better to be serious than to be serious. Yao Kun felt that it would be better for the general to be reckless and simple, not to fight scheming, and not take the opportunity to rectify his faults in Pingnan County. It's better than those who don't fight well and think about fighting power all day long.

The general barracks of the garrison is twenty miles southeast of Zhonglan City. It was originally a county barracks, but now it has been expanded and ready for preparation. The prefect personally led Long Da, and met in front of the gate of Liliang's camp. Go forward and salute the dragon.

The Chang Shi of the county army held the military horse book in his hand, and Cao Cheng, the soldier, held the atlas of military defense and construction in his hand. They went forward to salute Long Da, and Long Da general took things. The soldiers beat the drums and trumpets, and the flag soldiers inserted the Xiaohuangling flag, the Beijing army's imperial flag, and the Longjia army flag on the barracks at the gate of the camp, indicating that the Longjia army was stationed at the border and stationed in this camp under the order of the emperor. From the beginning, all the military orders of the frontier garrison were under the jurisdiction of Long Teng, the general who protects the country.

After the military music was played, the flag soldiers took the lead and the battalions entered the camp. All the soldiers will line up the army, line up in battalions, plant flags, set up posts, set fires and set up guards. General Long will inspect them one by one. Wherever they passed, the soldiers yelled passwords, full of energy, without any fatigue from the long journey. Prefect Yao Kun and Captain Hou Liliang looked at each other, feeling quite stressed.

The prestige of the Long family's army is indeed not false.

After everything was properly arranged, Long Da, Yao Kun, Hou Liliang and others briefly discussed the border defense, the movement of Nanqin and so on.

Yao Kun and Hou Liliang had the same opinion. Regarding the banditry, Nan Qin must have hidden those bandits. They were trying to seek benefits from Da Xiao. It's not good to talk about it. Therefore, it has been suppressed. The bandits must have understood this, so they sneaked into the village and fled back to Nanqin.

But to say whether Nan Qin dared to invade Xiao country. Yao Kun thought it was impossible.

"My Great Xiao has strong soldiers and horses, sufficient food and grass, and military equipment far surpasses Nanqin. Nanqin naturally understands the disparity in strength. Dongling is a small country, and it would not be wise for Nanqin to give me Daxiao to please Dongling. In my opinion, Nanqin is no more than It's a gesture to frighten the emperor, relax the iron and stone limit, and reduce the transaction price. I heard that the grain harvest in Nanqin has not been good in the past two years, but the income from jade trading has been getting better and better. Among them, through my entry and exit from Pingnan County There is a lot of jade business in China, and their customs and taxes are not low. If they intend to attack the Great Xiao, it will not only lose iron and steel but also lose money. The defeated country will have to give up profits and seek peace. Yixin, although the Emperor of Nanqin is young, he is not that stupid. Dongling can't give them anything, but they are just being pulled together to put on a pose and put on a show."

Hou Liliang also said: "According to the scout report, Southern Qin has indeed sent more troops to the border. We have also negotiated with the other party to strengthen precautions. But the other party claims that our country's bandits have sneaked into its territory. These people are unknown and they are not allowed to No defense. They also warned us not to play these tricks, they are not afraid of provocation, let us not act rashly. The implication is that they accuse us of evil intentions."

Long Da asked: "Aside from sending troops to the border, what other news did the spies find in Southern Qin?"

Hou Liliang shook his head: "That's not true. There is no definite news that they intend to invade."

Long Da didn't say much anymore, he just arrived here, and he still had to wait for more investigation results before making a judgment.

When Long Da returned to the barracks, a pile of files were already waiting for him to review. Just entered the camp, there are many trivial things. Each battalion, each team, and each team has an organization, and as soon as they enter the camp, they begin to handle military affairs according to the division of responsibilities. Peripheral defense construction conditions, need to add and repair, increase stone mud and hay, as well as the arrangement of barracks and surveillance posts, food and water, weapon repair, horse placement, drill venues and personnel, inspection shift arrangements, password request, etc. , this time the battalions have already handed over. Chang Shi read it, and classified it on Long Da's case.

Long Da read it roughly, and then read the itinerary report of the 80,000 army behind. The 20,000 troops, led by several generals under his command, will arrive within eight days. There is no return date for this garrison, and the prefect Yao Kun set up a mansion for him in Zhonglan City according to the regulations, so that he can be a director in the city. There are also official documents for the drawings and personnel arrangements of the mansion. Long Da glanced at it and put it aside. The mansion named Ziyunlou was not far from the east gate, and it was not far from the barracks. Apart from six large courtyards with more than 30 rooms for generals to live and work, there were even There are also government halls, sentry towers, etc., which are very thoughtful.

General Long finished all his business affairs, when he raised his eyes, he saw the baggage on the table by the wall.

Well, the girl who pretended to admire him to see him.

Long Da went over and opened the bag, and examined the contents carefully.

Money, clothes, dry food, nothing too special, as if to escape.

Long Da raised his eyebrows, what's the meaning?

He searched all the clothes carefully, but did not leave any letter for him.

Is it really an escape?

This is interesting.