The General Is As Urgent As Law

-Xue Mansion in Xiangcheng, the capital of Zhaode in the 17th year-

Xue Ziqin returned to Xiangcheng, and the remaining [-] people under his command were all stationed outside Xiangcheng, only Zhou Xiao lived with him in Xue's mansion.The two went back to the mansion, but they didn't see Xue Changfeng, they fell asleep first, and slept for three days.

On the third day, Xue Changfeng asked Steward Zhang to wake them up early in the morning, and took them to the lobby to kneel.

Xue Ziqin fell into a drowsy sleep, and hadn't gotten out of bed for three days except for the convenience of going. Suddenly, he was brought into the lobby by housekeeper Zhang. The old man was sitting on the upper seat drinking tea, and when he saw him coming, he said coldly and knelt down.

He has followed Xue Changfeng for so many years, and he has developed the habit of absolutely obeying Xue Changfeng's words. When he heard the word "kneel down", he fell to his knees with a plop, causing his knees to hurt.After he knelt for a while, Zhou Xiao also came over in a daze. Zhou Xiao understood Xue Changfeng's temper better. Just seeing Xue Ziqin kneeling on the ground, before Xue Changfeng could speak, she knelt beside Xue Changfeng in a proper manner, with her head bowed, Waiting for the hair to fall.

Kneeling for a long time, Xue Changfeng just sipped the tea slowly, sipping it in small sips, until the tea bottomed out, he put it on the table hard, made a crisp sound, and finally said: "I thought the two of you are now The sky is high and the birds are flying, and you know how to come back?"

Zhou Xiao didn't dare to speak, but Xue Ziqin retorted: "Father, I can't blame me for this matter, it's obvious that old dog Wei Yuanting is messing up..." "Shut up." Xue Changfeng didn't wait for him to finish, and dropped a teacup on the ground. The side of Xue Ziqin's leg was smashed to pieces.

He stood up from the chair, walked up to Xue Ziqin, and asked angrily, "Who told you to bring someone to Qinguan without authorization?"

"..." Xue Ziqin didn't dare to speak this time, but just lowered his head.

Xue Changfeng turned to Zhou Xiao: "You are the same now, you don't think about things? You brought elite soldiers to mess with him, isn't this deputy general also tired of being a general?"

Zhou Xiao followed the rules, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "The last general is guilty, please punish the general."

Zhou Xiao said that he was Xue Changfeng's deputy, but he followed Xue Changfeng since he was a child, more like his adopted son, and Xue Ziqin was like brothers and sisters.But his personality is very different from that of Xue's father and son. He is stable and strict with himself. Because of this, Xue Changfeng values ​​him very much.

Hearing Zhou Xiao's confession, Xue Changfeng snorted coldly, and said to Butler Zhang: "Bring a stick."

Butler Zhang glanced at Xue Ziqin, feeling a little unbearable, but he knew the general's temper very well, so he could only follow his advice and turned around to get the stick.

Xue Changfeng paced back and forth in the lobby without speaking.Knowing that he was going to be beaten soon, Xue Ziqin said a little dissatisfied: "Father knows that the old thief is doing trouble, how can you blame me for bringing troops to support without my will, if I didn't turn the tide, five hundred wins three thousand, wouldn't it be The adoptive father has to be fully responsible. It is impossible to blame me for the fall of Qinguan this time. I will not blame this blame, and I will not blame anything. Besides, I don’t understand how the foster father agreed to take the north The army came to support Qin Guan, didn't this fall into Wei Yuanting's trick?"

Xue Changfeng heard Xue Ziqin's righteous indignation words, and he was so angry that he wanted to laugh: "I really didn't expect that after training you for so many years, you still can't understand this little thing."

During the speech, Butler Zhang came over with a stick.

Originally, Xue Changfeng planned to let Steward Zhang do it, which was considered to be lenient to the two boys, but now Xue Ziqin's strong argument added fuel to the fire. He took the stick from Steward Zhang, walked up to Xue Ziqin, and beat him with a stick. On Xue Ziqin's back.

Xue Ziqin was originally an extremely stubborn person, he thought he was right, so he didn't even groan, he gritted his teeth and resisted the stick.

Xue Changfeng hit Xue Ziqin hard on the back three times in a row.

Xue Ziqin was still dissatisfied, and continued: "Besides, I asked my adoptive father about the Battle of Hanzhou. Didn't the adoptive father say that I should come here?"

These words really made Xue Changfeng very angry. As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Changfeng went down with a stick again, and reprimanded him: "Hanzhou, I thought you were bound to win, but what happened? I was plotted to death, don't think I don't I know, you almost couldn't even enter Hanzhou City, you still have the face to say it now?"

Zhou Xiao was really nervous at the side. When he heard Xue Ziqin speak, he knew that this person was obviously looking for a beating. At this moment, he was afraid that Xue Changfeng would remember that he was still kneeling here, otherwise he would definitely be beaten to death.

But the more you think about something, the more something will happen.Xue Changfeng glanced to the side, called out his name, "Zhou Xiao, come and tell this stupid thing what he did wrong."

Zhou Xiao raised his head tremblingly - he was young and ignorant before, and he was often beaten by Xue Changfeng. Xue Changfeng was really unambiguous when he made a move.He thought for a while, pretended to be calm, and said, "I'm afraid Suiguo has already got the information that our country intends to attack Hanzhou. We have arranged the secret arrangements long ago, and we will use the plan. Let Ziqin take the initiative to attack them first, and then use it as a pretext." The purpose of attacking Qinguan was to win Qinguan without losing Hanzhou, as can be seen from Ziqin's spies, but they certainly did not expect Ziqin to actually take over Hanzhou City. In fact, Ziqin supported Qin Guan this time, no matter how you say it, he won the battle."

After Zhou Xiao finished speaking, she immediately lowered her head, waiting for the answer.

Xue Changfeng walked unhurriedly to Zhou Xiao, and sure enough, as Zhou Xiao expected, he hit him with a stick on the spine, causing him to sweat profusely from the pain, but he still said loudly, "The last general is guilty!"

Hearing that Zhou Xiao wanted to speak for himself despite the risk of being beaten, Xue Ziqin couldn't help but praise his good brother in his heart, and then felt Xue Changfeng's stick fell on him again.

Xue Changfeng beat the two of them severely, then threw the stick on the ground and sat back on the seat.Steward Zhang brought a cup of hot tea at the right time, and Xue Changfeng picked it up and took a sip. The warm tea was drunk with the aroma of the tea, which really made Xue Changfeng's anger a little bit less.The two big men in the hall were beaten so hard that they couldn't straighten their waists, and they tried their best not to lie down on the ground, lest they would be beaten again, their foreheads were covered with bean-sized beads of sweat, which kept falling down.

"Zhou Xiao, I think you'll either resign from the Northern Army and follow this bastard." Xue Changfeng said, "I don't listen to what I say now, you really have grown up."

Zhou Xiao didn't dare to say any more, for fear of making more mistakes.

"And you, bastard. If you don't save Qinguan this time, and Hanzhou City is taken back, do you know how much you will be responsible for? Knowing that Wei Yuanting is scheming against me, you still rush forward rashly, don't you?" Do you really want the emperor to chop off your head?"

After finishing speaking, Xue Changfeng took a sip of tea and relaxed.The beating was done, the lesson was learned, and he began to talk about business.

"The day before yesterday, the peace envoy of the State of Sui came. Do you know what conditions were offered to your captured soldiers? Huh? Ask the court to pay you [-] taels of silver!"

"This... this is not asking for a price!" Xue Ziqin couldn't speak smoothly after being beaten, "This will not work, absolutely not."

Xue Changfeng immediately shouted angrily: "You know it's not possible, so you dare to take people to Qinguan without authorization and leave Hanzhou in such a mess!"

The angry shout made Xue Ziqin's head bow again in fright.

Xue Changfeng continued: "The emperor turned blue when he heard this yesterday, how could he refuse?"

"..." Xue Ziqin knew that it was indeed his responsibility, so he didn't raise his head or open his mouth.

He cared about the group of people stationed in Hanzhou, they were all his people, and he wanted to rescue them if they were captured, but his lieutenant general was among them.But [-] taels of silver was exchanged for [-] soldiers, and there was no leader among them. This kind of transaction was impossible.The situation in Qinguan that day, not to mention that they were all exhausted and weak, even if Wei Yuanting took over Qinguan and brought him back to the capital directly, he would not be able to act without authorization.

The emperor was even more helpless about this kind of thing.The other party clearly stated that there were captives in their hands, and demanded real money to redeem them. This kind of kidnapping was the fact that he declared that the country had invaded first, and it was impossible to refute.If you don't give money, just ignore the lives of these soldiers, if it spreads out, it will be a loss of popular support, and the other party will also be disappointed. Emperor Xuanguo can't refuse, so he dared to make such an exaggerated request. silver ransom.

"But fortunately, you still have some brains, and the people under your command are trained well." Xue Changfeng changed the subject, and there was a hint of praise in his words, only to hear him continue, "Just in the court, in front of the Sui Kingdom. In front of the envoy, someone from Yanzhou reported that all the captives in Hanzhou had fled and arrived in Yanzhou. In front of Wei Yuanting, you knew that you could not go, so you asked your subordinates to go. Look at what you've done!"

Hearing this, Xue Ziqin raised his head with astonishment.

He turned to look at Zhou Xiao, who was also at a loss.

If the old man said so...then Jiang really rescued the man single-handedly?This is too bizarre.Not to mention that he has the ability to save people after trekking alone for such a long time, but the Hanzhou City must be heavily guarded, and he was able to escape. One can imagine the twists and turns.

But now, apparently the old man thought he sent someone there.Of course Xue Ziqin would not say that this was not what he meant, if he could please the old man, he would definitely not refuse.

Thinking of this, Xue Ziqin raised his head and said, "Then...does it mean that the work has been overtaken?"

"Humph."

Xue Changfeng didn't answer him, instead he picked up his teacup and took another sip.After drinking the tea, he began to criticize Zhou Xiao: "Zhou Xiao, I think you have a good relationship with this bastard. You are allowed to visit Hanzhou, but you and him took someone to Qinguan without authorization. You ignored my order and disobeyed my orders." Not obeying is a death penalty, don't you know?"

Zhou Xiao knew that there was no possibility of excuses for this matter. Anyway, the matter was done, so she could only apologize and admit her mistake: "The final general knows his mistake... I hope the general will forgive me..."

Seeing the situation, Xue Ziqin thought to himself, he was beaten as well, the old man couldn't hang them both up and beat them to death, could he?So he plucked up his courage and said, "I forced him, hey, hit me..."

As soon as Xue Ziqin finished speaking, he regretted it.It's not that he doesn't know the old man's temper, so why should he say one more thing?Sure enough, after hearing this, Xue Changfeng's face became even more ugly, and he said, "Steward Zhang, kill this bastard."

"General, I'm afraid it's not good to fight again." Steward Zhang bowed his waist and cautiously dissuaded him.

Xue Changfeng slapped the table hard: "I told you to call me!"

Helpless, Steward Zhang had no choice but to pick up the stick from the ground and started beating Xue Ziqin again.

Xue Ziqin was so regretful that he wished he could sew his mouth shut.Steward Zhang also watched Xue Ziqin grow up, he couldn't use his hands so hard, he had already quietly released the water, but Xue Changfeng hit Xue Ziqin so hard on his back, let alone lightly hitting him, it hurts like hell even if he touched it.

Knowing that he had done something wrong, Xue Ziqin had nothing to refute at this time, and finally gave in: "Oh, don't hit me, foster father, I was wrong! Stop hitting me!"

Hearing his confession, Xue Changfeng finally felt a little better. He waved his hand to signal Steward Zhang to stop.

Seeing this, Steward Zhang stopped quickly, and walked a little further away with the stick, for fear that Xue Changfeng would see the stick and get angry again, and if he beat Xue Ziqin again, he would probably be disabled.

"The emperor will summon you tomorrow, and you will follow me to the palace tomorrow." Xue Changfeng said, "Zhou Xiao, don't be a lieutenant general for now. You will be demoted and become the commander of the first battalion of the Northern Army."

"Thank you, General." Zhou Xiao felt bitter, but couldn't express it, so she could only kowtow obediently and thank Xue Changfeng for not killing him.

After speaking, Xue Changfeng got up, flicked his sleeves, and left.

Xue Ziqin quietly watched the old man disappear before slowly standing up.

"I'm about to vomit blood, the old man's attack is really ruthless." He said, his knees were numb, and his whole back was burning with pain.If it wasn't Butler Zhang who did it the last few times, but the old man, he probably would have broken the stick.

Seeing this, Steward Zhang quickly came up to help Xue Ziqin: "Why do you still provoke the general..."

"I... well." Xue Ziqin wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say, finally shook his head with a sigh, and asked something else: "Just now the old man said that all the captives are in Yanzhou?"

"Yeah, I also heard the news yesterday." Butler Zhang said, and went to help Zhou Xiao up again.

Xue Ziqin thought for a while and said, "Then please help me go to the outskirts of the city and let Guo Linchong go to Yanzhou to pick them up."

"That's easy to say. I'll go there in a while. You two go into the house and lie down. I'll call for the doctor right away."

Xue Ziqin nodded, and walked into the room with Zhou Xiao's arm: "I'm sorry, brother..."