After handing over the supervision of the training to another Lieutenant Guo Yi, Xia Hongsheng and Duan Zan left the barracks, and the two went to the imperial city to fight horses together. When they arrived outside the palace gate, they were tired of the guards and went to report, and the two waited outside, and after a while, they saw the guard hurriedly run back and let them in, saying that His Majesty was in the Taiji Palace. Xia Hongsheng and Duan Zan went to the Taiji Hall together, and when they arrived outside the hall, they were notified by the inner attendant, and the two of them were brought in.

Li Lao Er was reviewing the folds, and saw that the two of them had come over to see the ceremony, so he said with a smile: "Excuse me, the two Aiqing are here, what is the matter?" Speaking of which, is it the first time that Xia Qing has taken the initiative to see me? ”

"Your Majesty, the minister and Brother Duan were ordered to manage the matter of Liang Shidu, and when they discussed it, they suddenly realized a very serious problem." Xia Hongsheng took a step forward and said to Li Laoer.

Li Lao Er put the fold in his hand on the desk in front of him and said, "Oh? Let's hear it. ”

Xia Hongsheng said: "Your Majesty, please dare to ask, how long will it take for the information about Shuofang Liang Shidu from Xiazhou to reach Your Majesty's hands?" ”

Li Shimin didn't expect Xia Hongsheng to ask this, thought about it, and said: "If it is a normal situation, two hundred miles is enough, if something major happens, depending on the situation, it will be expedited from six hundred li to eight hundred li, from Xiazhou to my hands, it will take more than a day to expedite eight hundred li." What's the matter, Xia Qing asked what this is for? ”

"Your Majesty, you also know that in the military formation, on the battlefield, the situation is changing rapidly, and in this day or so, the situation of the front army will be very different, and the outdated information we have obtained has a very huge impact on the operation, and even the decisions made are no longer in line with the situation in the army." Xia Hongsheng said to Li Laoer.

"Of course I know. It's just that 800 miles is the fastest, and I can only do that. Therefore, since ancient times, there have been generals who are not subject to military orders abroad, and generals in the army can decide on their own according to the actual situation. Li Shimin shook his head and said, suddenly as if he remembered something again, he raised his head sharply and asked, "What can you do?!" Hurry up! ”

"Pigeon! Training pigeons, training mature pigeons can at least reduce the time of information transmission by three percent, or even cut the time by half! Xia Hongsheng said to Li Laoer: "Moreover, the target of the pigeon is very small, and the use of carrier pigeons can also effectively prevent the enemy from intercepting the message on the way." ”

"Pass with pigeons?" Li Lao Er raised his eyebrows and frowned slightly.

Xia Hongsheng nodded, and then explained to Li Laoer: "Yes, it is the flying pigeon book." Your Majesty, this law has existed in ancient times, when Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was surrounded by Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, he used carrier pigeons to pass the book and attract reinforcements to escape. Zhang Qian and Ban Chao envoys to the Western Regions also used pigeons to transmit messages to the royal family. There is a saying in the Book of Han: A few months, Emperor Zhao ascended the throne. For several years, the Xiongnu and the Han were close. Han Qiuwu and others, the Xiongnu died of treachery. After the Han envoy returned to the Xiongnu, Chang Hui invited his guards to be with him, and he had to see the Han envoy at night, with his own Chen Dao. The messenger said that he was single, and the son of Yan Tianzi shot into the forest, and he got geese, and there was enough silk book, and Yan Wu was in a certain Ze. Your Majesty, the pigeon is extremely sensitive to the direction, the speed of flight is also very fast, and it is extremely fond of the nest, and has a strong homing nature, especially when encountering danger and terror, this kind of "home" ** is even stronger. If a pigeon is released 100 miles or 100 miles away from home, it will try to return as fast as possible, and will not want to stay or perch in any unfamiliar place on the way. This characteristic is incomparable to other birds, so we can use this characteristic of pigeons to entangle information around the bird's feet and carry out flying pigeon transmission, which greatly shortens the time of information transmission. ”

In order for Li Lao Er to adopt the use of the flying pigeon to transmit intelligence messages, Xia Hongsheng did his homework and found evidence from history.

Li Lao Er looked at Xia Hongsheng, thought about it slightly, and asked, "How did you know that pigeons have this habit?" ”

"Uh...... This is something that Chen heard from an old man before, and then he made a lot of observations before he came to this conclusion...... "Xia Hongsheng only forgot how to explain how he knew, and then he made a move and explained: "The old man traveled all over the world and said that in my generation of the south of the Tang Dynasty, there were locals who used flying pigeons to pass on books. ”

"If it's really as Qing said, it can also be of great use. It's just that I still have a question, if the enemy has the sharpshooter to hit him with a bow and arrow, then wouldn't my Tang Dynasty military intelligence easily fall into the hands of the enemy? Li Lao Er can find the key to the problem: "If this problem can't be solved, then I'd rather slow down." ”

Since Xia Hongsheng wants to implement the method of flying pigeons, he has naturally considered it thoroughly, and at this moment Li Shimin raised this question, Xia Hongsheng has already taken countermeasures, that is, Li Lao Er does not ask, Xia Hongsheng will also raise it himself.

So Xia Hongsheng replied: "Your Majesty, rest assured, Wechen and General Duan have already considered this problem, and after discussing with Wechen and General Duan, they have come up with a solution, Your Majesty, please see!" ”

As he spoke, Xia Hongsheng took out a note from his sleeve and presented it. Wang De, who was standing next to Li Shimin, hurriedly walked over and presented the note to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin took the note, but saw that there were several sets of numbers written on it, and it was still written in the kind of numbers that were easy to count. This kind of figure has not yet been popularized, and it is only being piloted in the Kokuzijian and Hongbunkan. Others didn't know it, but Li Shimin realized it, looked at the note in his hand, and asked, "What do these numbers mean, and how can we solve Fang Cai's problem?!" ”

"Yes, these numbers are called ciphers, and in the future, our military intelligence will be written with this kind of cipher, and those enemies don't even know these numbers, let alone understand what these numbers mean." Xia Hongsheng explained to Li Laoer: "In this way, even if the carrier pigeon is shot down by others, or if it suffers an accident, it is not afraid of leaking the military information!" ”

Li Shimin took the note in his hand and flipped it over and over, where would Xia Hongsheng not know that he couldn't understand what these numbers meant, but Xia Hongsheng didn't speak, just looked at Li Lao Er and smiled.

Li Shimin raised his eyes to look at Xia Hongsheng's appearance, how could he not understand his thoughts, so he said: "Wang De, let everyone step down." ”

The chamberlain next to him obeyed the order, walked down and signaled that all the palace maids and guards inside had left the main hall, and he himself left and closed the door.

"Alright, let's talk." Li Lao Er nodded to Xia Hongsheng.

Xia Hongsheng bowed his hand and said, "In this case, please also ask Your Majesty to take a volume of the Analects, these numbers are a group of three, the first number is the number of pages, the second number is the number of lines, and the third number is the number of words." In this way, those words can be found in comparison, and when combined, it is a complete military newspaper. ”

"Oh?!" Li Laoer's eyes lit up suddenly, he got up and came to the back and took out a volume of "Analects", compared it according to the method of comparison that Xia Hongsheng just said, and combined that sentence, but it was four words: "Datang Wansheng!" ”

"Good! Good! Li Lao Er slapped the desk and stood up very excitedly: "This method is very good!" Putting aside the flying pigeon biography, this method alone should be of great use! Hahaha...... The two Aiqing are young and promising, and they share worries for the country, and they really deserve to be young heroes, and I deserve to be rewarded! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" The two hurriedly bowed and saluted, and Xia Hongsheng arrived: "Your Majesty, the Analects is just for experimentation, Your Majesty can change it to a more complex book or number combination, and even compile a separate book for this purpose, which is dedicated to passwords, so as to minimize the risk of password leakage." ”

"Excellent! This is a very good idea. There is also the method of flying pigeons, since the two Aiqing have solved the problem of military leakage, it is not impossible to try, what difficulties does Aiqing have, but it doesn't matter! Li Lao Er obtained the method of cipher, and with his strategic mind, he immediately deeply realized the huge advantages that this method of secrecy can bring, and he was in a good mood at the moment.

Xia Hongsheng bowed and said: "The ministers have no experience in domesticating birds, and they don't know where to find this pigeon trainer, so they have no way to start. ”

"I see." Li Shimin laughed: "Okay, the two Aiqing are worried about the country, and I should provide convenience." Leave the matter of the pigeon trainer to me, and the two Aiqing can go back and wait for my news. ”

Xia Hongsheng and Duan Zan glanced at each other, the goal was achieved, and it was time for the two of them to retire.

The two of them walked out of the palace gate, and after walking a distance, they saw Duan Zan suddenly turn around and stand in front of Xia Hongsheng, bent down deeply, and said: "The last general didn't do anything, but the general gave this credit to the last general, the general's kindness, the last general will never dare to forget!" ”

The credit cannot be monopolized, otherwise there will be disunity among colleagues. If you have meat to eat, you can always leave some soup for others to drink, and share some of the credit, everyone will benefit from meritorious service, and you will not lose anything, and you can also get a favor, which is called a win-win situation. If you have credit, everyone will share it together, hello, I'm good, everyone, that's how the relationship comes out. In the workplace, it is most taboo to eat alone and ignore others, so it is easiest to be isolated and marginalized.

Hearing Duan Zhan's words, Xia Hongsheng hurriedly went over to help him up and said, "Oops! Brother Duan, we are commensurate with brothers, why do you need to be so different from your younger brother? If this is spread out, wouldn't it be a joke for the two of us? Uncle Duan treats me well, it's just a little bit of work, if it weren't for Brother Duan's support for the younger brother, I wouldn't have thought of it! This credit already has a share of Brother Duan, Brother Duan, don't be so angry! ”

Hearing Xia Hongsheng's words, Duan Zan was greatly moved, stepped forward to hold Xia Hongsheng's hand, and said with a smile: "Hahahaha...... That brother thanked Brother Xia Xian for his support! Don't be polite to your brothers, go, today Duan Mou will go to the Drunken Immortal Building to hold a banquet, and call them to let us get drunk and rest! ”