Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 73 Meeting Liu Wenjing and Li
Dusk falls.

The city of Jinyang was not deserted at all. Instead, it was filled with color due to the enthusiastic voices of women soliciting customers in front of each restaurant.

In the county magistrate's mansion, 47-year-old Liu Wenjing and 43-year-old Pei Ji have been good friends for many years. During their days in Jinyang City, whenever they had free time, the two would get together to drink and chat.

"Sir, Captain Wen and Captain Fu are outside the door requesting to see you!"

A servant came into the house and reported to Liu Wenjing.

"Oh?"

After hearing the servant's words, Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji looked at each other and then laughed.

"Please bring the person in!"

Liu Wenjing ordered.

After the servant left, not long after, Wen Dayou and Fu Zihou came into the house.

"Greetings, Master Liu, Master Pei!"

"Fu Zihou, I pay my respects to Master Liu and Master Pei!"

Fu Zihou followed Wen Dayou and bowed to Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji.

Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji also raised their hands to return the greeting, first to Wen Dayou, and then looked at Fu Zihou.

"I heard that the former bandit Zhang Jincheng was defeated by a young man. Wen Jing has always admired him. Now that I see him, he is truly a young hero!"

Liu Wenjing praised Fu Zihou, then looked at Pei Ji and they both laughed.

"Zihou is young, it's just a fluke!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand again and said.

Liu Wenjing looked at Fu Zihou, smiled, and said nothing more.

Fu Zihou saw Wen Dayou's servant standing by and bringing over two small boxes and some silk.

"I came to visit you late at night today. I have some gifts for you, and I hope Master Liu and Master Pei will accept them!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand and looked at Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji and said.

Seeing this scene, Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji's eyes changed, as if they thought of something, but they pretended to be curious and puzzled without showing it.

"Zihou is the grandson-in-law of Mr. Li. He has now come to Jinyang and serves as the captain of the East City Army. I hope that Lord Liu and Lord Pei can take good care of him in the future!"

Wen Dayou took over at this time, looked at Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji and said with a smile.

"Speaking of this today, it was just a coincidence that General Yan only knew about this when he left Yingyang Mansion!"

Wen Dayou sighed with some regret.

Yan Jiang is the name of Wen Dayou.

Now he told everyone what had happened and his purpose. Whether to accept it or not depended on the decision of Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji.

"Dongcheng?"

Liu Wenjing frowned slightly, then raised his hand to invite Wen Dayou and Fu Zihou to take a seat.

Seeing this, Wen Dayou and Fu Zihou both breathed a sigh of relief.

In the subsequent chat, Wen Dayou also smiled and told Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji about Fu Zihou's concerns.

"Hahaha~! Captain Fu, you are worrying too much! Jinyang City is a natural fortress! Who dares to come?"

Pei Ji also smiled at this time, looked at Fu Zihou and shook his head.

When Wen Dayou and Fu Zihou came to Liu Wenjing's place, they were able to prepare an extra gift, ready for themselves at any time, so that Pei Jisheng would have some good impression of them.

"Captain Fu has just arrived in Jinyang, so I'm afraid he doesn't know how dangerous it is!"

Liu Wenjing also smiled and nodded.

Fu Zihou looked ashamed when he heard what Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing said, but after thinking about it, he raised his hand.

"Having seen the thugs' ferocity, Zihou is really uneasy and dissatisfied with Lord Liu and Lord Pei. I came here tonight to ask Lord Liu to allow me to lead the people to dig a moat outside the East City!"

While Fu Zihou was speaking, he glanced at Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji, then lowered his head and pretended to be embarrassed.

Wen Daya looked at Fu Zihou. Actually, he did not agree with Fu Zihou's action at first. However, because Fu Zihou kept asking, he guessed that Fu Zihou must be too worried about Pan Changwen, and he could not bear to see Fu Zihou living in fear in the future, so he agreed.

"moat?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji looked at each other, and then quickly thought of the deeper meaning of Fu Zihou's action.

Looking at the small boxes and silk prepared by Fu Zihou, and seeing the young sixth-rank Fenwu Wei coming to the mansion late at night to ask for help from him, Liu Wenjing felt very proud.

"Although there are no bandits, digging a moat is also a good deed. Since Captain Fu is prepared for a rainy day, this is a good thing. How can Wen Jing refuse it? Tomorrow Wen Jing will report this matter to General Pan!"

Liu Wenjing said with a smile, raising his hand to stroke his beard, which was considered as his agreement.

Wen Dayou of the Wen family rarely asks others for help. Besides, since the young man is Li Gang's grandson-in-law and has prepared generous gifts, Liu Wenjing would not refuse for both emotional and logical reasons.

"Thank you, Master Liu!"

Fu Zihou looked at Liu Wenjing, stood up and expressed his gratitude.

Seeing Liu Wenjing waving her hand to indicate that there was no need to be polite, Fu Zihou sat down and then listened to Wen Dayou chatting with Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji.

Not long after.

A woman in her forties came into the house and asked the servants to prepare wine and food.

Seeing this, Fu Zihou knew that if he was not mistaken, this woman must be his teacher's biological sister.

"Zihou, this is Madam Liu, Li!"

Wen Dayou watched as Li asked the servants to take the gifts brought by Fu Zihou away at the signal of Liu Wenjing, and then he introduced them to Fu Zihou.

"Zihou, meet the Madam!"

Fu Zihou stood up, raised his hand and saluted Li seriously, then bent down.

In the main hall, not to mention Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji, even Wen Dayou did not expect that Fu Zihou would salute so seriously, with the attitude of a complete junior.

"Madam, although Zihou is young, he is the Fenwu Wei conferred by His Majesty!"

Liu Wenjing looked at Fu Zihou, who placed himself in such a low position. At the age of over 40, his vanity was truly satisfied, so he smiled at his wife.

"No need to be so polite! No need to be so polite!" Li had not expected that the young boy in front of him was actually a captain of the sixth rank. He smiled and told Fu Zihou not to be so polite.

Fu Zihou put down his hands, looked at Li who kindly invited him to eat, nodded, and then knelt down.

Looking at Li's elderly face, Fu Zihou withdrew his gaze after Li left and listened to Uncle Wen talking with Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji.

Until late at night.

Fu Zihou and Wen Daya had just left the mansion.

After Wen Dayou and Fu Zihou left, Pei Ji looked at Liu Wenjing.

"Fu Zihou was so young, but he was given the title of Fenwu, which Pan Changwen did not like. Now he is digging a canal to taint himself and show weakness. With the Wen family's care, I believe Pan Changwen will not embarrass him in the future!"

Pei Ji said.

What worry about bandits? Not to mention Liu Wenjing, even Pei Ji could see that Fu Zihou wanted to eliminate Pan Changwen's hostility by belittling himself.

"indeed so!"

Liu Wenjing nodded and sighed deeply.

"Pan Changwen's character is not worth worrying about! But Zhao Wenke will definitely take this opportunity to curry favor with Pan Changwen!"

Liu Wenjing said.

Liu Wenjing looked down on Pan Changwen. In Liu Wenjing's eyes, Pan Changwen was far inferior to himself in terms of talent and character except for his background.

It's not just Pan Changwen, Liu Wenjing also looked down upon the snobbish Zhao Wenke.

........................

The next day.

With the help of the Wen family's servants, Fu Zihou left the bustling West City early with his luggage.

Cross the Fen River by boat.

Compared with West City, East City is undoubtedly much smaller, but this smallness is only compared with West City.

From Uncle Wen's introduction yesterday, Fu Zihou had already learned that the city wall of East City was about eleven miles long, and there were only more than a thousand infantrymen from Yingyang Mansion stationed in East City.

Except for the Fen River on the west side of the East City, the defenders of the other three walls could only be divided into three or four hundred people.

"Greetings, Captain!"

"Greetings, Captain!!"

At the city gate, the soldiers guarding the gate saw Fu Zihou's seal and hurriedly saluted.

"Go and inform all the brigade commanders and captains in East City to go to my residence!"

Fu Zihou gave orders to the soldiers.

"promise!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers hurried into the city to inform the brigade commander and team leader in the east city.

Fu Zihou also entered the city with Wen's servants. As soon as they entered the city, the gap between the East City and the West City instantly became apparent.

Compared with West City, the streets in East City are not only smaller, but also very crowded with people coming and going. Many ragged people sit in groups of three or four on the streets, some chatting, some kneeling on the ground begging, and many even selling their children.

In Dongcheng, Fu Zihou did not see any prosperity, but more of the survival of the people.

The residence in East City is about the same size as that in West City, and both have a yard. The difference is that there are no big trees in the yard in East City. In the empty yard, there are only five or six small pieces of firewood.

Soon.

Six men in armor came into the yard and when they saw Fu Zihou, they raised their hands to salute.

Among the six, there are only two brigade commanders who command 250 people: Hu Jingyuan and Yin Tianzong.

The other four were all captains of fifty men, namely Lai Bo, Zhou Xingyao, Ma Huer and Wu Liuzi.

"Fenwu Wei, Fu Zihou!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand to return the greetings to several people, put his hand down, and then looked at Hu Jingyuan and Yin Tianzong.

"The army is short of people, no one can take over?"

Fu Zihou asked softly.

When Hu Jingyuan and Yin Tianzong heard what Fu Zihou said, they looked at each other, smiled, and wanted to report to Fu Zihou, but they didn't dare to speak.

It can't be said that in the past year or so, whether they were fighting the bandits or rescuing the emperor, they only suffered many casualties and did nothing...

If this gets to the ears of the defending commander, General Pan, killing them would be a piece of cake.

"Captain, there are no arrangements yet!"

Hu Jingyuan thought about it and said to Fu Zihou tactfully.

Fu Zihou looked at these people and saw some fear in their expressions. He realized something and nodded.

Looking at the six people in front of him, Fu Zihou was relieved that, except for Hu Jingyuan who was about 40 years old, the other five were all in their twenties or thirties.

"Come with me to the barracks later. Gather all the soldiers except those guarding the city!"

Fu Zihou opened his mouth and gave instructions.

Originally, Fu Zihou thought that there were many generals in Dongcheng, and their personalities were mixed, so he needed to observe and identify them so that he could have a general idea.

Unexpectedly, there were only six generals in total.

This was the first time that Fu Zihou led the regular soldiers of Yingyang Mansion. He clearly realized how great a personnel crisis the Sui army had faced due to Yang Guang's dispatching of troops to attack Goguryeo and the rise of bandits all over the country in recent years.

"Here!"

After hearing Fu Zihou's words, Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong and others all bowed and accepted the order.

Afterwards, Fu Zihou was heard asking about the situation of the soldiers in the barracks, their ages, their family members and so on. Lai Bo, Zhou Xingyao, Ma Huer and Wu Liuzi, the team leaders, told Fu Zihou everything they knew.

Hu Jingyuan and Yin Tianzong, the brigade commanders standing by, heard Fu Zihou's question and vaguely realized that the captain who came this time was not only young, but also seemed a little different from the other captains.

　Note: In Wanqiu City, the news about Fu Zihou's speculation about Lu Mingyue was only spread among a small number of people in the county, such as Zheng and Wei families in Xingyang.

　　Other families and local officials were completely unaware of this matter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)