The area around Daxiangguo Temple is the most prosperous place in Kaifeng City, and there are many restaurants and tea shops. Especially in the place near the Bianhe River, there are all kinds of food stalls, mixed with countless vendors, and it is very lively. In front of the hotel where Du Zhongxiao lived, there was a food stall selling all kinds of food and wine at the same time.

When I came back with the book, I saw Yang Zhu, Lu Kai and Daoxin sitting there, and there were a few men sitting opposite, drinking together.

Seeing Du Zhongxiao, Yang said loudly: "The little officials come to drink together!" ”

Du Zhongxiao said to Su Song: "There is nothing to do left and right, let's go over and drink two cups." These people are from the northwest, and they are most familiar with it, so it is better to listen to them talk about the war. This is the first major event in the world, and scientific research may be related to this. ”

Su Song nodded yes, and walked forward with Du Zhongxiao. At this time, the exam questions are not completely limited to the classics, and there are often some current affairs questions, especially the provincial examination and the solution examination. You have to know what is going on in the world, otherwise it is easy to make jokes during the exam.

When he arrived, Du Zhongxiao introduced Su Song and sat down in the guest seat.

Yang Zhi pointed to a few men sitting opposite and said: "This is Yao Sizong from Huazhou, who is still good and chivalrous, and has a great reputation. Those people are also from Huazhou, and they are the children of Zhang Yuan, who went to the party to be an official. That was Peng Tishi, who came to the capital with the Zhang family, and got an edict to go to the northwest village to receive Zhang Yuan. ”

Zhang Yuan was the first Jinshi of the Great Song Dynasty, and fled into the party with Wu Hao and was used by Yuan Hao. I don't know who came up with the idea, but the imperial court picked up Zhang Yuan's family and asked them to go to the northwest front to lure Zhang Yuan down. Yao Sizong and Zhang Yuan have an old relationship, this time to the capital, after the academy tried, got the selection of people, to the northwest to be a county. Because they were on the same road, they came together with Zhang Yuan's children.

The name Zhang Yuan, Du Zhongxiao had heard in his previous life, was very legendary. This person betrayed the Song Dynasty and went to the party to help and abuse, which is an out-and-out treason. But Da Song is so eccentric, not only does he not blame his family, but also makes a wish for officials to lure Zhang Yuan, promising that after Zhang Yuan returns, the high-ranking officials will be generous.

This is the difference between the Great Song Dynasty and the later dynasties, there are five dynasties of legacy, the Khitan and the party, subconsciously regarded as a secession of power, many times follow the logic of the warlord melee in the five dynasties. In the era of warlord secession, there are many such things, and it is not surprising that this is done.

Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but glance at Zhang Yuan's family a few more times, which were his younger brother Zhang Qi and nephews Zhang Bingyi and Zhang Zhongjing. The three of them looked as usual, sitting there drinking wine and eating meat, nothing special. This is what Du Zhongxiao is very unaccustomed to, according to the thoughts of his previous life, someone in the family has committed such a big thing as treason, how can these people be at ease? In fact, people in this generation don't think about it that much at all.

After drinking two glasses of wine, Du Zhongxiao said to Yang Zhi and Lu Kai: "Seeing that you are coming back from the imperial city today, do you dare to have a promising future?" ”

Yang Zhu nodded: "Both of us went to the northwest to be a shogunate, but I don't know which state army." Prepare some gifts these days and take a walk around the yamen. I heard familiar people say that the officials in the yamen in the capital are extremely difficult, and they don't have gifts to give. ”

Du Zhongxiao said again and again: "Yes, you can't be heartbroken for money at this time." Many difficulties have come over, and in the end, there is no sloppiness. ”

Like Du Zhongxiao's father, the two of them are both Xianggong Jinshi, who went to the capital to submit a letter for self-efficacy, and only after trying it in the academy were conferred officials. The first official is the shogunate officer, and it is not much different from the main list of Jinshi. However, their background basically determines that they have no future in the future, and most of them cannot be transferred to the mainland, so it is good to be able to know the county. If the border areas can't be Zhizhou, they are doomed to a life of hard work.

The Du family now has a restaurant, and this kind of opportunity to be an official will not be done by Du Xun now.

chatting to the next sentence, the topic unconsciously turned to the war in the northwest.

Yang Zhu sighed again and again: "Since Yuan Hao's rebellion, several battles have come down, and one time has been miserable. I heard that Liu Taiwei died in Sanchuankou, and there were important ministers in the court who wanted to guard Tongguan, and they were so afraid of the people. Since Fan and Han went to the northwest, people's hearts have stabilized, but there is no big victory, and it is difficult to settle down. The two of us went to the northwest to be officials, and it must be a difficult place, and we were really worried in our hearts. ”

Over there, Yao Sizong said: "A man is born in the world, and he walks the world with a sword, and this is the time to make contributions." The two brothers looked forward and backward, how to achieve great things! The party can only take advantage of the momentary mood and do not endure the war. I was born in the northwest, and when I was a child, I traveled all over the border state army, and I knew that the party was barren and the people were poor, and the war could not be supported for a long time. A few people are relieved, as long as the imperial court can hold on, the party will not be able to support a long-term war. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and sighed: "The difficult thing is that the imperial court is afraid that it will not be able to support it for many years." If this continues, nine times out of ten, we still have to make peace. If it's just a party item, the war in the northwest will start, and the Khitan in the north will only have to intervene, and things will be difficult to do. ”

This does not need to be estimated, the history of Du Zhongxiaoxue, the Great Song Dynasty has no choice but to deal with the party. The two countries fought peace, and remained at a stalemate until the party destroyed the country.

Daoxin is a wine and meat monk, drank a bowl of wine, and said to Zhang Qi: "Everyone says that your brother is a high-ranking official in the party, and the lord obeys his words. If you go and bring your brother back this time, he will say something, and maybe the war in the northwest will be settled. ”

Zhang Qi smiled awkwardly and did not answer. The imperial court asked him to take his nephew to the northwest to recruit Zhang Yuan, but there were also people in the court who felt that it was inappropriate and wanted to send them to distant places. It's okay to receive Zhang Yuan this time, if you can't receive it, I don't know what the consequences will be.

Seeing that a few people were talking lively, Su Song said: "The external war is unfavorable, after all, the internal affairs are not repaired." If you want to quell the rebellion in the northwest, you still have to rely on the shortcomings of the imperial court reform to turn defeat into victory. If this is not the case, even if the northwest wins a small victory, it will be difficult to pacify the party. ”

Hearing this, Du Zhongxiao kept silent, and the others lowered their heads and drank.

Su Song's views are not unusual, and they are even the mainstream views of scholars. In internal and external difficulties, the imperial court has reached the time when it must be reformed, but no one has a specific plan for how to change. Whether they are calling for change or opposing major changes, in fact, they do not oppose the change itself, but there are disputes about the order of change, what to change, and how to change. The difference between these is party strife.

Du Zhongxiao hid as far away from the party struggle, even in private. The others are not traditional scholars, Yang Zhu and Lu Kai are thinking about their own future, Yao Sizong and Daoxin and others are thinking about fighting on the front line and making contributions, and the change has nothing to do with them.

Su Song himself was not keen on politics, and when he saw that several people were silent, he sighed, so he didn't say more.

After drinking a glass of wine, Du Zhongxiao said: "Freezing three feet is not a day's cold." The so-called flowers are brocade, fire is cooking, and the current situation of the imperial court is not like this overnight. Thinking of a strategy to calm the world, I am afraid that it will cause even greater chaos. Zi said that governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, and this matter must be done by a person with great wisdom after all, who can start calmly and change the situation step by step. It's useless for us to talk more about it now, so let's talk about current affairs. ”

After speaking, he looked up suddenly, but saw Wu Kejiu probing his brain there on the side of the road. Seeing Du Zhongxiao looking at himself, Wu Kejiu hurriedly beckoned.

Du Zhongxiao couldn't understand how this person came, and seeing that he kept beckoning him to let him pass, the boss in his heart was impatient. After thinking about it again and again, he said to everyone: "There is an old man over there, I'll go and say something." Sit down. ”