The wind was blowing strongly, Zhao Qinmin lifted the curtain, and the snowflakes poured straight into the carriage, blowing on his face and causing pain.

On the other side of the embankment, a group of people, dressed in rags, walked like a group of beggars on the windy and snowy embankment. Defending the seawall at this time, naturally there will be no large group of beggars appearing, Zhao Qinmin only regarded it as a hard worker to repair the embankment, and closed the curtain of the car without care, thinking that he was afraid that he would not be able to rush to Yandu County to see Lin Tie at night, and he was thinking about what kind of rhetoric to use to persuade Lin Tie to give up his anxious desire to take the official position of Hailing Prefect.

"Mr. Zhao in the car?"

The carriage moved along the embankment road for a while, blocking people, Zhao Qinmin heard someone standing on the embankment and asked loudly, he listened to the voice a little familiar, and lifted the curtain to look at it.

In that group of beggars, the leader was none other than Sun Jingtang, the commander of the Huaidong Army's engineering battalion.

Looking at his appearance at this time, it is impossible to associate him with a big man with tens of thousands of soldiers.

"Ah, it turned out to be Jingtang, I thought it was who," Zhao Qinmin asked in surprise, "Why do you look like this?" ”

Sun Jingtang looked at himself, the cotton robe rolled through the mud, blackened, tied with a straw rope around his waist, and his hair was scattered, like a beggar, and replied to Zhao Qinmin with a smile: "I fell, rolled down the embankment, got muddy water, rushed over to see Mr. Zhao, I didn't have time to go back to change into clean clothes, so Mr. Zhao saw the joke!" ”

Sun Jingtang is from the River Gang, he has practiced martial arts since he was a child, Kong Wu is strong, and there are guards around him, although the road on the top of the embankment is not smooth, but it is also more than three steps wide, Sun Jingtang actually fell from the embankment, it can be seen how careless he was......

Zhao Qinmin didn't ask any more questions, watched Sun Jingtang half-walk and half-slide down from the embankment, and hurriedly got off the carriage, and asked, "The system envoy can be in Yandu County!" ”

"It's really unfortunate that Chongzhou sent someone to report that the adults have left for Shanyang. I sent someone to chase after me, but I don't know if I can catch up," Sun Jingtang said, "I'm afraid that Mr. Zhao will take the wrong road, so I'll rush over first." Why don't you rest for the night in Yanqing first? You should know the exact news tomorrow morning. ”

With such a heavy snowstorm, except for the Yangtze River and Huaishui rivers, which are not frozen, most of the small and medium-sized rivers in Huaidong are frozen, and they can't go by boat, and they rely on fast horses to transmit messages. Fortunately, a road was built along the Hanhai embankment, and it was possible to go north directly from Hecheng, otherwise it would have to take more unjust roads.

"Then let's rest overnight in Yanqing," Zhao Qinmin is also a guest, at this time to chase to Shanyang County, it was too hard, he sat in the carriage, he also felt that his legs and feet were stiff, very hard, and asked Sun Jingtang, "Heavy snow, why didn't this embankment construction stop?" On a cold day, the soil is icy, and the eyes feel hard to watch, and the soldiers and forces on this embankment will not complain? ”

"It's okay, it's not a big deal!" Sun Jingtang said lightly.

In fact, this is not the case, Chongzhou is a rare cold this year. In such a windy and snowy weather, his body that has been suffering for many years feels hard, so he accidentally stumbled and fell off the embankment.

The northern front is in danger, and who knows when the building will suddenly collapse. The sooner the seawall is built, the tens of thousands of soldiers will be able to get out a moment earlier - the current situation, it is difficult to say anything, no matter how hard it is, we must try our best to prepare everything in advance.

For ordinary generals, as long as officials and generals can share weal and woe, as long as the supply of materials can be guaranteed, they can eat well, and they can wear enough warm clothes, there is nothing that they can't bear.

The soil is frozen, and there is a lot of hay in winter, so it is easy to take the soil by boiling hot water and watering it thoroughly. Besides, no matter how cold Chongzhou is, it is much better than in the north, as long as the warm clothes are worn enough and the food is sufficient, there will be no large-scale frostbite.

It's not just the hard work here, the people of Huaidong, how many people can rest at this time? It's not all about competing with God!

Zhao Qinmin braved the wind and snow and followed Sun Jingtang to the embankment.

The wind and snow on the embankment are greater, but the field of vision is farther, and you can see from a distance that countless soldiers and laborers on the embankment are working hard under the wind and snow - such a weather, whoever sees it is proud, Zhao Qinmin sighed in his heart: Probably only Huaidong can have such weather.

At this time, there were several fast horses galloping from the north, seeing that the armor was the cavalry guard next to Lin Tie, Sun Jingtang and Zhao Qinmin went forward to greet them, but the leader was Zhang Gou, who commanded the army under the command of the Military Intelligence Department.

"When the Lord learns that Jiang Ning has come to the north to meet, he will come later. My lord wants me to take the first step, and I hope that Lord Sun will send someone to intercept the people from Jiangning, so as not to miss it! Zhang Gou dismounted, climbed the embankment with his hands and feet, and reported to Sun Jingtang.

"This is Mr. Zhao who came from Jiangning...... "Sun Jingtang introduced Zhao Qinmin and Zhang Gou to each other.

Zhao Qinmin saw that Zhang Gou was wearing thick armor and climbed the ice and snow embankment, his hands and feet were very agile, he knew that he was a general, and after listening to the introduction, he knew that he was a general who was attached during the Huaisi War, and thought to himself: Why don't Lin Tie employ people to be vigilant, Huaiyang is fighting tightly, so he is not afraid that these generals will secretly hook up with the girl in the red jacket?

Seeing that Zhao Qinmin's attitude towards Zhang Gou was a little cold, Sun Jingtang just smiled.

Huaidong can be in such a situation, most of which is due to Lin Lian's eclectic use of talents. Don't talk about anything else, according to the officialdom, even if Xihe will not commit crimes, Sun Jingtang, a character from a gang, will have great talent, and at least have a chance to get ahead!

**************

The wind and snow were beating the carriage, and Lin Jian could only take some time to rest on the road at this time.

The car is too diligent, and the road conditions are not good, when three carriages come out, the northbound patrol for more than half a month, and only one carriage is left intact at this time.

Lin Jian and Song Jia were crammed into a carriage, and more than 100 cavalry guards braved the wind and snow to escort the carriage southward and rushed to meet Zhao Qinmin.

Lin Jian lay wantonly, looking out of the window of the car with the curtain opened, the wind and snow were crazy, just like the current situation, which was incomprehensible!

Song Jia sat in the corner restrainedly, if she was asleep, she might be more presumptuous, but at this time, she was afraid of sticking to Lin Lian's body - looking at Lin Lian's face was gloomy.

Why did Zhao Qinmin come? This is not difficult to guess - Gu Wuchen does not support Lin Jian to grab the official position of the prefect of Hailing at this time, so he will send Zhao Qinmin to persuade him, otherwise, they can send someone to exchange letters between them and their son-in-law.

However, Lin Jian was very eager to get the official position of the prefect of Hailing at this time, and the sooner he obtained it, the more favorable it would be to the situation in Huaidong!

But if Lin Jian wants to obtain the official position of the prefect of Hailing at this time, he must get Gu Wuchen's support; If you force it, things are likely to change badly.

Obviously, Gu Wuchen still had a trace of luck about the situation on the northern front, so he didn't want Lin Jian to test the bottom line of the imperial court again and again at this time.

Song Jia secretly said in her heart: Maybe the best way is not to give Zhao Qinmin a chance to speak, but it can't avoid the estrangement between Huaidong and Gu Wuchen.

Song Jia thought wildly, and soon there were cavalry guards back, and Sun Jingtang accompanied Zhao Qinmin to wait in the front shed. In just a stick of incense, the cavalry quickly whipped the horse, and then hugged the carriage to the south of Yanqing to the workshop, and joined Sun Jingtang and Zhao Qinmin.

"Mr. Zhao has worked hard all the way," Lin Lian got out of the carriage after straightening his clothes, greeted Zhao Qinmin, and asked without waiting for Zhao Qinmin to speak, "What is Jiangning's discussion about the great victory in Liaoxi?" ”

Song Jia didn't want outsiders to see her riding in the same carriage with Lin Lian, especially if Zhao Qinmin wanted to be his wife's maiden family, so she stayed in the car and didn't come out; Maybe Zhao Qinmin wouldn't care that Lin Jian was accompanied by a woman dressed as a man.

Zhao Qinmin saw that Lin Lian's face was rough, and he had a short mustache on his lips, maybe he didn't have time to take care of it, but he had a strong spirit, and when he saw Lin Lian rushing to speak, he knew that Lin Lian should have guessed his intention, and rushed to speak to block his tongue, and he was displeased, so he could only answer Lin Lian's question first, and said: "Jiang Ning's style is a little frivolous, and it is not a serious way, just listen to it......"

"Well," Lin Jian replied, and said in a sad voice, "If it's just a scholar's discussion, it's a pity, but it's a pity that the princes of the imperial court are also stubborn, and they die to the end, but they can't listen to half a word from others—now it seems that the situation on the northern front is irreparable!" ”

"Maybe you don't need to be so pessimistic......," Mr. Zhao said.

"Mr. Zhao thinks I'm pessimistic?" Lin Jian asked rhetorically, without waiting for Zhao Qinmin to answer, and said, "The best result is that Li Bingbu can hold out in Songshan City until next spring, and after the Huaidong Navy Division goes north to receive reinforcements; The worst result is that Yanjing may not be able to save it this time! ”

"Ah......" Although Zhao Qinmin felt that Lin Jian was somewhat alarmist in his heart, he didn't expect Lin Jian to say such heavy words when he came over, and he wanted to persuade him to give up the official position of the prefect of Hailing, but he blocked his mouth and couldn't speak.

The atmosphere was a little stiff, and at this time a group of cavalry from the north came over with a carriage, and the horse team was moving very fast.

Regardless of whether it was in Huaidong or not, a strange horse team approached so quickly, Lin Bin's cavalry guards would react, and Zhou Pu led people to quickly gallop over to intercept it.

Song Jia also got out of the car curiously and walked to Lin Bin's side, standing in front of the shed with Lin Bin, Sun Jingtang, Zhao Qinmin and others, watching the direction the horse team was galloping from. After a while, he saw Zhou Pu accompanying Cao Ziang to come on horseback first. The horse team slowly approached the wagon.

Cao Ziang's face was haggard, and at a glance, he knew that he had come over after a long journey in the wind and snow, and he had not rested halfway.

Zhao Qinmin was shocked, in Huaidong, Cao Ziang and Fu Qinghe, Qin Chengzu, and Lin Mengde stood side by side, and they were Lin Lian's right-hand man.

Cao Ziang arched his hand with Zhao Qinmin, and said, "Mr. Zhao has come to Huaidong as a guest...... regardless of Zhao Qinmin's side, he attached to Lin Lian's side and whispered.

Zhao Qinmin was even more surprised when he saw Lin Lian's face change greatly, it would not be a trivial matter to be able to make Lin Lian's face change.

Lin Jian didn't care about explaining anything to Zhao Qinmin, so he only instructed Sun Jingtang: "Jingtang accompanies Mr. Zhao to Yanqing first, and I will come over later." ”

Zhao Qinmin wanted to know what was going on, but Lin Jian was so clear that he wanted to take him away, he couldn't stay with his face, got into the carriage, and accompanied by Sun Jingtang, went north to Yanqing Fort first. When he staggered past the horse team, Zhao Qinmin lifted the curtain of the car, glanced at the carriage surrounded by the horse team, and thought: It is tightly blocked, who is sitting inside?

Lin Jian never thought that Gao Zongting would come from Liaoxi to see him, and the news of Gao Zongting's visit to Huaidong at this time must not be leaked, otherwise Li Zhuo would not be able to tell the difference between a hundred mouths, could it be that Cao Ziang would personally escort him over.

Zhou Pu led the cavalry guards to disperse their vigilance and drove all the irrelevant people away from the work shed - all the way south to endure hardships, Gao Zongting, who was already very weak, was in rags, not much better than the homeless and called Huazi, even if he was seen by others, most of them would not recognize him as Gao Zongting.

When Gao Zongting saw Lin Bin's first sentence, he said, "Li Shuai asked me to bring you a letter." He took out a neatly folded white silk cloth from his bosom.

Song Jia stood aside full of suspicion, no matter how witty she was, she couldn't guess Gao Zongting's intention to come to Huaidong at this time, but looking at Gao Zongting's expression, Liaoxi should not have changed much. Even if there is a big change, Gao Zongting sneaks alone, and it is impossible to pass the message faster than the post horse, but he saw Lin Jian open the white silk cloth, as if he had bitten a snake, and threw away the white silk cloth.

Song Jia saw the white silk cloth that fell on the ground, and there were only two dazzling blood characters written on it: "No food!" ”