Deng Ming, Zhou Kaihuang, Ren Tang and several others remembered that this was a reception dinner for Zhang Dai, and finally stopped arguing. After eating, Deng Ming sent Mr. Zhang back to the camp to rest. Unlike Lu Liuliang, Zhang Dai has a lot of family, and if he decides to go to Sichuan, he will definitely have to move for a while. And Zhang Dai's age is not young, before the meal he privately said to Zhang Huangyan that if Deng Ming had the demeanor and bearing of a superior, he would do his best to persuade his apprentices and nephews to go to Sichuan, but he himself still hoped to stay in Jiangnan, so as not to die in a foreign land.

After sending Zhang Dai out of the tent, Deng Ming said that he still had some military affairs to deal with, so he wouldn't talk more with Zhang Huangyan.

"The prince is at his own convenience." Zhang Huangyan stretched out his finger and pointed at Ren Tang: "The old man hasn't seen this nephew for a long time, if the prince doesn't necessarily need him, let him accompany the old man for a while, how about it?" ”

Without waiting for Deng Ming to speak, Zhou Kaihuang and Mu Tan showed some hesitation on their faces, but Deng Ming smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay, it's just some daily affairs, a few of us can get it done, Zhang Shangshu and Brother Ren have a good time catching up." ”

Accompanied by Ren Tang, Zhang Huangyan returned to the camp tent prepared for him, and the two sat around the table, asking questions and answering questions about the recent situation in Sichuan.

There are many new things in Sichuan, and every time Zhang Huangyan can hear a lot of new tricks played by Deng Ming from Ren Tang, the two of them have been talking for a long time unconsciously. After lighting the fuel lamp, Zhang Huangyan realized that the time had dragged on too long, and he just wanted to get to the point by getting a general idea of the situation.

"There's nothing particularly important about Guogong, right?" Before starting today's most important topic, Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but confirm it first.

"It's okay, it's fine. The ship is about to start, but the ship has not yet arrived. Lin Qilong and Jiang Guozhu are honest one by one, if Shandong Tatars come over, we won't know. Ren Tang seemed very strange why Zhang Huangyan asked this: "Even if I have something to do, I have done it during the day, I received a report that everything is normal this morning, and the afternoon is all routine affairs in the camp, and I don't have anything to ask the Guogong for instructions from the Chinese military account." I came to the banquet after everything was done. A few of them are similar, otherwise they can still eat peacefully? ”

"Then when I said goodbye just now, General Zhou and General Mu's faces seemed to be a little ugly." Zhang Huangyan is still not very suitable for the rank system of the Sichuan Army, so he still habitually calls Zhou Kaihuang and Mu Tan generals. Just now, Zhang Huangyan wanted to take Ren Tang away, and he saw obvious embarrassment on the faces of Zhou Kaihuang and Mu Tan, and at that time he also wondered how heavy Deng Ming's military affairs were? So much so that all the high-level leaders had to deal with it together at night, especially Zhou Kaihuang, who watched Ren Tang being taken away, and Zhang Huangyan turned back three times when he saw him being dragged away by Zhao Tianba.

"Oh, they want to play cards with their little nephew." Ren Tang smiled and confided in Zhang Huangyan: "I have been very idle in the past few days, and today the four of us were called by the Duke of the State to sit with us, and the adjutants in the barracks were on duty. Guogong also knew that we would definitely have to drink a glass or two of wine tonight, and although we didn't drink much, they still gave us half a day off tomorrow. So they made an appointment before the meal, and after the meal, they played two cards in the military tent of the national prince, and the army couldn't play too late, so they were anxious. ”

"Don't you play?" Zhang Huangyan asked vigilantly. He had always strictly forbidden to play games when he sent out his troops, but he knew that the Sichuan army seemed to be quite lenient in this regard. As long as he was not in a state of imminent war, Deng Ming allowed soldiers who were not on duty to move freely, except that they had to sleep at the specified time, there were not too many strict requirements -- Deng Ming felt that the psychological pressure of the soldiers was very great, and some things could not be forbidden at all, so he felt that it was better to set the rules.

Now there are no enemy troops within dozens of miles around, the ships of the Ming army are coming and going on the river, and there are Ming army sentry posts nearby, the Ming army's alert level has been lowered below the battle level, and Deng Ming's central military tent is surrounded and protected by the headquarters and friendly troops, so he did not stop these lieutenant colonels who have been in charge of the periphery from relaxing tonight.

"Guogong doesn't play."

Ren Tang's words reassured Zhang Huangyan. is worthy of being a young hero who compares himself to Han Taizu, how can he not even have this bit of self-control? If you shout and play with your subordinates, you will definitely lose the dignity of the leader. It's like the last time Deng Ming, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong played cards, they were all a light and breezy appearance, so although Li Laiheng won a silver mountain, he was actually embarrassed and unconscious.

"Guogong has never won when he plays with us, no matter what he plays, he loses a mess, and he was unwilling to turn over at first, but then he died."

In a blink of an eye, Ren Tang made Zhang Huangyan realize how far the gap between his guess and the truth was, and the reason why Deng Ming didn't gamble was because he couldn't persistently take the wronged boss to the end.

"Half a year ago, Guogong School came to a set of Taixi people's gameplay, which is a kind of solitaire, Guogong calls it playing cards, and wants to use this copy, but after a few of us understand the rules, Guogong has never won. Guogong seems to be disheartened again, and he hasn't played with us for a long time. Ren Tang said triumphantly, but then his expression darkened: "When we discussed in private, Lieutenant Colonel Zhao said that we should be a little restrained, and we have to let Guogong win twice, so that he is interested in continuing to play with us and lose our money." ”

These people not only did not lose to Deng Ming to make him happy, but won ruthlessly, Deng Ming was forced to take the playing cards of the Taixi people, he was so angry that he can imagine how bad, but it was still difficult to escape the end of failure. Thinking of this, Zhang Huangyan couldn't cry or laugh, and shook his head again and again: "Ridiculous, ridiculous, but this is not something that can be restrained if you want to." ”

Ren Tang wanted to speak and stopped, hesitated for a while, and finally couldn't bear it: "Shang Shu wants to help us keep it secret, in fact, winning more and winning less is really controllable, but I can't help it when I play." ”

Zhang Huangyan glared at Ren Tang for a moment, and then asked suddenly, "You guys are out of a thousand!" ”

Ren Tang smiled: "Shangshu doesn't know, in the Sichuan army, we are not allowed to eat empty salaries, and we also stipulate that civil and military officials are not allowed to do business, and they are not allowed to invest in commercial houses. After returning to Sichuan, we settled accounts with the prefect's yamen, and the salaries of the staff and subordinates had to be deducted from the part they had advanced in the army, and the rest could be taken away by ourselves. Everyone only has a salary, and no one has extra money, especially since these governors have admitted to buying the bonds, and there is no war, and we don't even have to take the bonus. ”

In the whole of Sichuan, only Deng Ming is an official who is running a business, and it is also a profiteering industry such as jewelry. Ren Tang told Zhang Huangyan that when several of their officers played cards, they not only frustrated Ma to the code, that is, the Taixi cards that Deng Ming moved out, but they also privately stringed cards: "Guogong is very rich, every time he plays cards with him, it is to win his money, in fact, it is not interesting." ”

"Don't you know?"

"Probably a little skeptical, because he shouted several times that you should play with integrity, win with integrity, and not cheat. But he didn't catch our wrists, he can't be repaid, well, then Guogong stopped playing, maybe he was more suspicious. ”

Zhang Huangyan was dumbfounded. After observing Ren Tang's attitude towards Deng Ming today, Zhang Shangshu was faintly uneasy, worried that Ren Tang was young and did not know how to advance or retreat, and would unknowingly make the ruler of Sichuan unable to come to power -- this was not a good thing for his subordinates. But these lieutenant colonels in the Sichuan army are obviously more arrogant than Zhang Huangyan thought, if Deng Ming and them are monarchs and ministers, this is already a blatant deception of the king.

Admonishing Ren Tang to be careful not to anger the superiors of the chain of loyalty is also the reason why Zhang Huangyan called him. However, Ren Tang did not agree with Zhang Huangyan's words: "The senators of the Senate, as well as the officials of the prefect's yamen, the prince of the country really regards them as vassals. But we are different from Governor Liu and President Xiong, although we are subordinates of Guogong, we feel that Guogong has never regarded us as subordinates, but as friends, and Lieutenant Colonel Li is the least accustomed to it, but now it has gradually changed. ”

Deng Ming once said very rebellious things to Ren Tang, and after thinking about it for a while, Ren Tang felt that these words were still kept secret from Zhang Huangyan for the time being, and selectively said one of the passages that were not too deviant: "...... Guogong said that we were all gathered to expel the Tartars, and neither the officers nor the soldiers knew when they would be gone. So in the army, if possible, let everyone play cards and have fun; Don't talk too much about dignity and humility in ordinary times, it's enough to maintain military discipline. You know, while today you can have dinner and talk with a friend, tomorrow when you go to war, you may order him to charge to the death, or put him to death for fear of battle - so be nice to your friend on the battlefield, because you may have to take his life. ”

Zhang Huangyan sighed lightly, and he couldn't think about the pros and cons for a while, so he planned to think about it carefully.

"Is there anything else going on with Shangshu?" Seeing that Zhang Huangyan didn't seem to have anything else to instruct, Ren Tang was about to leave.

"Well, there's one more thing." Zhang Huangyan looked a little embarrassed, and let Ren Tang wait for a while before he asked hesitantly: "I heard that some people in the Sichuan army are dissatisfied with the old man?" ”

"How can this be?" Ren Tang got angry and stood up: "Which villain did Shangshu hear the slander from?" I will not give up with him. ”

"Sit down, sit down." Zhang Huangyan motioned for Ren Tang to sit down and hid his name, but said that someone used a contemptuous name when he heard Sichuan Jun talking about Zhang Huangyan behind his back: "It seems that someone calls me Lao Dao?" ”

When Zhang Huangyan came to Deng Ming's army for the first time, he disguised himself as a Taoist priest, because the Sichuan army had the habit of popularizing war history, so this matter was naturally well known to the officers and soldiers.

"Never heard of it!" Ren Tang replied conclusively: "The Sichuan army has great respect for Zhang Shangshu, and even Guogong himself has said many times that Zhang Shangshu is the Optimus Jade Pillar of my Ming Dynasty in the southeast. ”

"That's good." Zhang Huangyan remembered that he was embarrassed when he was defeated and absconded, and he was also a little ashamed, so he felt a little uncomfortable after hearing about this evaluation.

"What Shangshu said is unheard of by the students, but even if a few people are so bold, the students are convinced that it is not malicious. It is a common phenomenon in the Sichuan army to be nicknamed, such as Lieutenant Colonel Li who stayed in Chengdu, and the officers and soldiers called him 'one boot' behind his back, because through the war history class in the army, everyone knows that when he fought the first battle under the command of Guogong, there was only one boot left, but this did not mean disrespectful to Lieutenant Colonel Li at all. Ren Tang assured solemnly.

"That seems disrespectful." After Zhang Huangyan listened, he asked rhetorically.

"Really?"

"Apparently yes." Zhang Huangyan asked, "Is there anyone else who has a nickname?" ”

"Well, there are basically them, such as the declining god, the big mouth, the big Tan (greedy) ......" Ren Tang counted with his fingers, many of the officers and soldiers under Deng Ming had nicknames, and the difference was only the degree of fame; Several lieutenant colonels are well-known in the whole army, for example, when it comes to "one boot", a person in the Sichuan army knows that this is talking about Li Xinghan, and the nickname of the little soldier is just a few comrades around him.

"None of them are good." Zhang Huangyan made a judgment.

"Well, no one else can remember good things." Ren Tang had to admit that Zhang Huangyan's judgment seemed to be quite accurate, and the Sichuan army used people's troubles to make nicknames, but then Ren Tang found an exception: "Oh, there are good ones, and the nicknames they gave me are very good." ”

"What's your nickname?" Zhang Huangyan was very curious, wanted to know what this good nickname was, and even more urgently wanted to know why Ren Tang could get special treatment.

"Zhuge , let Zhuge be." Ren Tang replied happily.

Zhang Huangyan looked at the junior who had always felt good about himself, and shook his head with a wry smile: "This is not a good intention, right?" ”

……

When Ren Tang returned to the Zhongjun tent, he heard Zhou Dazui's loud voice from a distance: "Admiral, Ren Zhuge can't come back, three are missing one, let's play two." ”

"Don't play, don't play. Is it interesting for you to win me all day? ”

Before Ren Tang stepped into the tent, he heard Deng Ming's categorical refusal.

"Admiral, you sold so much jade and ivory, and you can't afford to lose." The god of decay and Da Tan are also helping.

"It's not about money, it's about feeling uncomfortable! No matter how good the cards are, they are lost, and they can't sleep because they are so aggrieved that they can't sleep. Deng Ming's voice was firm and abnormal, giving people a feeling of 10,000-year-old ice that could not be melted: "Besides, I can't have a holiday tomorrow, and I can't sleep lazy and get up late." When I returned to the capital, I went to play with Lao Xiong and Lao Liu. ”

"I'm back, I'm back." Ren Tang people arrived, and his appearance caused a cheer.

Deng Ming closed the document in his hand and prepared to wash up and sleep: "You all go to bed early, the luck has begun, open your eyes wider." ”

"Got it, Admiral." Several of the people who started the code replied loudly at the same time.

After drawing the cards, Zhou Kaihuang pondered for a while, played the first one, and then asked curiously: "What is Lao Dao looking for you?" ”

"It's okay, Zhang Shangshu asked me how I've been doing lately." As Ren Tang spoke, he vigorously twisted the card he had just picked up.