Xue Yuan had just taken a break from the celebration of preserving the roots of his children and grandchildren, when His Holiness slammed him head on with the news that he would be heading to the border to deliver food and soldiers.
Xue Yuan received the decree, from the palace on the way back to the house many times think of the border, think of the wind and sand, and then think of Gu Yuanbai. This trip to the border, both the treatment of locusts and to send troops, Xue Yuan is not to that food soldiers and horses sent back, he was not willing to come back, he had to do something, so that the heart of the pressure of those hostile and deadly to the dissipation of dissipation.
The arrogance of the nomads at the border, the misery of the people, the wimpiness of the army, he had to relieve his anger before he could return.
He also had to do it to Gu Yuanbai, telling him what kind of ability Xue Yuan could have. He had to intimidate the small fry and tell them that no one could compare to Xue Yuan.
He must go to the Northern Border. This trip will take at least four or five months.
Come back maybe it's already the coming year, and Gu Yuanbai's birthday has long been missed. Do you want to? Of course I do.
I really want to go, and I really want to go. Xue Yuan has been pondering for a long time, thinking about how to make the saint remember him.
Remember him for four or five months at a time when so many good talents are emerging.
He thought all the way to the mansion, but saw that Mrs. Xue was coming back from the outside fully clothed, Xue Yuan raised an eyebrow and casually asked, "Where did you come from?"
Mrs. Xue stiffened without a trace, "Went to the ladies of the houses to speak and talk."
Xue Yuan nodded casually, suddenly pausing in his steps, sidling up to ask, "Mother, if I look at someone and have kissed and touched him, he still doesn't agree. What should I do?"
Kissed and touched. These two words hit Mrs. Xue's head, Xue Yuan didn't get a response for a long time, he turned his head to see Mrs. Xue wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, tears had already wet half of the handkerchief.
"......" Xue Yuan whispered, "Faulty."
And without asking, he went to his room.
*
The grain and grass were quickly mobilized, loaded and transported in one piece. The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War followed closely, and the machinery, equipment, and other munitions needed for the army's march were prepared while they needed to know the specific data that came out of the fast and precise calculations.
The Privy Council was busy with the deployment of troops and the arrangement of military matters, but the Council of State was busier than the Privy Council, they counted all kinds of accounts, the suddenness of the incident could not be delayed, and they could only stop other matters day and night, and all of them were used to calculate the number of munitions needed.
Gu Yuanbai and the ministers discussed in the morning court, and still discussed after the morning court, sometimes the candlelight in the Xuanzheng Hall was lit late into the night, and there was still the constant sound of deliberation in the hall, and in this way, in the midst of the busyness, a large amount of grain and soldiers were gradually gathered. Specific and meticulous marching program, but also through the continuous overturning and proposal to improve up.
Finally, the time came to the day before Xue Yuan left for the Northern Border.
Xue Yuan beardedly brought two adult wolves from the Xue Mansion and delivered them to Gu Yuanbai.
These two wolves had thick fur, their limbs were athletic and fierce, they were tugged in Xue Yuan's hand and stared intently at everyone in the hall. The palace maids turned pale and couldn't help but take a few steps back.
Gu Yuanbai took his head out of his busy schedule and glanced at the two ferocious wolves and was surprised, "I didn't bring two wolf cubs earlier, so why did I send two more wolves."
"The two small ones from earlier, no," Xue Yuan's voice was hoarse, "these two can only protect His Holiness."
Gu Yuanbai sniffed and stopped his pen, "Protecting me?"
Xue Yuan answered in a deep voice, his hands steeply loosened, and the palace guards let out shrieks of surprise, only to see the two wolves, with leisurely feet, walk over to the feet of Gu Yuanbai's robes and sniff them, and then crouch down on the ground next to His Holiness.
Gu Yuanbai's heart was accelerated and straightened by the steep release of his hand, tensing his body at this moment and looking down at the two wolves beside him.
Xue Yuan said, "Tamed, they will bite no one but His Holiness. When I'm gone, they'll protect you, and I'll be able to walk in peace."
Gu Yuanbai's eyelids jumped and he didn't move, "You walk at ease? Is it true that my forbidden army is all paper mache in your eyes?"
"Not the same."
Xue Yuan pointed at Tian Fusheng and said succinctly, "Chief Tian go and pour a cup of tea for His Holiness."
Tian Fusheng s legs shook like sieve chaff, barely smiling, "This, Lord Xue ...... this is not good."
Xue Yuan, however, said, "Go."
Tian Fusheng looked up at His Holiness, Gu Yuanbai had relaxed long ago when he knew that these two wolves were obediently immobile, he leaned back in his chair and nodded at Tian Fusheng.
Wolves were not dogs, and Gu Yuanbai was quite looking forward to what these two wolves had been tamed by Xue Yuan and what they could do to protect their master.
Tian Fusheng bitterly carried a cup of tea up to the front, the tea cup was shaking constantly. When he was five paces away from Gu Yuanbai, the two wolves squinting on the ground opened their eyes and looked at him, the beasts' eyes were ghostly, the water in Tian Fusheng's cup shook violently, and he approached with fear and trepidation, and finally put the tea on the table in front of the saint in the eyes of the two wolves without any danger.
Xue Yuan hooked up a smile and had another guard approach with his sword drawn, before the guards could approach, the two wolves had already stood up, their fur standing on end, low whining and trembling in their sharp teeth, their eyes dead set on the guards, ready to launch an attack and pounce on them at any time.
Gu Yuanbai was silent for a while, his heart was as excited as if he had gotten a new toy that was wild enough, his face was still calm, "What if they bite the wrong person?"
"They don't eat human flesh," Xue Yuan said, "the saint feeds them raw meat daily, so they can't bite anyone. And if they do bite the wrong person, they deserve it if they dare to approach with a sword against His Holiness."
Xue Yuan paused, "They are considered smart and know which ones to bite and which ones not to bite, which is still not wrong. As long as Your Holiness points a finger and their teeth crumble, they will have to charge up for the minister."
Gu Yuanbai leaned over and tentatively touched the heads of the two wolves, saying slowly, "Those who know know that you're talking about wolves, and those who don't think you're talking about dogs."
Xue Yuan muffled laughter, wolf disheveled stubble this moment also decadent handsome up, "What wolf meets the saint, all have to become obedient dog."
His words were so low that Gu Yuanbai didn't hear them, his mind was hooked away by these two skins of majestic wolves, "What kind of dogs?"
"I just said, the saint assuredly put them as a dog with it," Xue Yuan slightly smile, "teeth chipped, the minister's mansion is still more than enough wolves. More or less have to be subjected to the minister to teach good behavior, these two horses thrown, the saint directly go to the minister's house to pick another is."
"If they can't protect Your Holiness," he mused, lightly, "then when I return, I'll treat Your Holiness to a pot of wolf meat soup."
The two wolves crouching beside Gu Yuanbai seemed to understand Xue Yuan's words, and even shivered, stood up with their tails between their legs, and came under Gu Yuanbai's hand, whimpering and barking as they took the initiative to give Gu Yuanbai a feel of their body's fur.
Gu Yuanbai laughed, smoothed his fur, and was also merciless, "Good, I haven't eaten the meat of a wolf yet."
The two wolves whimpered louder.
Xue Yuan asked towards Tian Fusheng, "Chief Tian, I wonder what has happened to the two little wolf cubs I sent to His Majesty earlier?"
Tian Fusheng was a bit terrified when he heard him speak now, and honestly said, "The two wolf cubs that Lord Xue sent are being raised in the Hundred Beasts Garden."
"And the red fox?"
Tian Fusheng: "The same in the Garden of the Hundred Beasts."
It's all been thrown away and dusted.
Xue Yuan sighed, "Those two wolf cubs are clingy, if I'm not around anymore, Your Holiness remember to visit more often."
Gu Yuanbai withdrew his hand and took the handkerchief from the palace attendant to wipe it off, "Since they are sticky, do they still know that they can only stick to me? The eunuchs and palace maids that serve them are not considered human again?"
Not the same.
When Xue Yuan tamed these wolves, he took Gu Yuanbai's things and let them sniff them one by one, but what he said was, "This is the smell of your other master, this is what your mother smells like, got it?"
But you can't say that, you'd have to be cut down to the roots of your children and grandchildren by the wolf pups' mothers if you're not careful.
Xue Yuan sidled his head, "Your Holiness is right. Earlier, Your Holiness said that he had taken a liking to my horse, and I brought it here as well; that horse is called Gale, and Your Holiness can send someone to bring it into the stables right now."
"You ......" Gu Yuanbai, "I do have my eye on that horse, but there are priorities, Xue Qing is now in need of a good horse to travel to the northern border. You keep it yourself, and save me from rewarding you."
Another wolf, another horse. Gu Yuanbai always had the feeling that Xue Yuan was trying to leave everything to him before leaving.
Once the saint's words fell, Xue Yuan didn't fight for it, he smiled and said yes, quietly watching the saint's five fingers tracing over the wolf horse's fur, "The saint likes gray fur?"
"It doesn't matter if you like it or not," Gu Yuanbai said casually, "just feel comfortable."
When he finished saying this, he suddenly remembered Xue Yuan's exuberant fur, his face changed slightly, and the wolf's head under his hand couldn't be touched all of a sudden.
Some days ago, hectic, so busy that it seemed as if he had forgotten something, it was only then that he suddenly remembered, and what he had forgotten seemed to be precisely the thing that was going to break Xue Yuan's lifeblood earlier.
It is really worthy of being the proud son of heaven, the main character of the text, Gu Yuanbai wanted to make people cut off their children and grandchildren, and all of them so coincidentally crashed into the eight hundred miles of urgent reports.
Tomorrow is the expedition, Gu Yuanbai thought idly, cut today, can you still get on the horse tomorrow?
"Your Holiness," after a while, Xue Yuan opened his mouth again, "I said before that I want the jade trigger finger to the future daughter-in-law, that words are casual nonsense, the things offered to the Holy Spirit that is the Holy Spirit, which has nothing to do with whether to come back this saying."
Gu Yuanbai touched the jade trigger on his hand and turned it, his nasal voice deep, "Hmm?"
Xue Yuan smiled gently, "I would like to ask, that reward I gave earlier, does it still count today?"
Gu Yuanbai turned the jade trigger finger back and forth, "For the count."
"Your Majesty's great grace," Xue Yuan said, "I want to bathe in the blessings of Your Majesty before I go."
"I want to take a dip in ...... your bath water."
*
After Xue Yuan came out of the palace, he not only soaked in His Holiness's bath water, but also filled a water bag with water to leave.
The springs in Gu Yuanbai's palace are cleaned regularly, but Xue Yuan knew that the saint had washed his body only this morning, and when he talked to Xue Yuan, he could smell the scent of the water and dew as long as he leaned closer. Gu Yuanbai is a gentleman of his word, and even though Xue Yuan's request was a bit out of line, he nodded his head and agreed.
Xue Yuan patted his bulging water bag in a happy mood.
His own body was also tainted with some of the scent of the palace, mixed with a very faint scent of medicine. This scent was very similar to the scent of His Holiness, and when Xue Yuan soaked in the soup, it was as if he had the feeling that Gu Yuanbai was right beside him.
Like the two of them were naked and touching intimately.
So after the bath, Xue Yuan stood by the pool for a while to calm down before he could pull himself out of this beautiful fantasy.
When he was gone, the palace was in the middle of the palace.
Tian Fusheng secretly chatted with the head of the guards, "Look at Lord Xue, the little wolf and the big wolf have been sent twice. I look at it is afraid, why is he not afraid?"
The head guard was very wary as he stared intently at the two wolves that had been specially allowed by His Holiness to lie beside the table, and returned, "Lord Xue is a great bloodthirsty man, so it's not surprising that he likes these."
Tian Fusheng sighed, ''Lord Xue's temperament is so appalling that it makes me fearful even when I look at him. Such a person is not like that when it comes to His Majesty. The majesty of the Holy Spirit is profound, but you can see that he still has the guts to soak in the Holy Spirit's spring water, so it's obvious that this person, ah, really can change everything, but the heart of the color cannot be changed."
The head of the guards disagreed: "How is it considered lustful, doesn't Lord Xue just want to bathe in the blessings of the Holy Spirit as a way to seek solace in his heart?"
Tian Fusheng gave a start, turned his head to look at him, and only then remembered that the head of the guards had not known the words that Xue Yuan had expressed his feelings to His Majesty earlier. His body shivered, cold sweat emerged from the corner of his forehead, and he changed his words, "Exactly, I said the wrong thing, Senior Zhang must not take it seriously, this mouth of mine is actually gibberish and cannot be trusted."
The guard let out a long sigh and said gently, "Chief Tian, next time you must not make such a casual remark."
Tian Fusheng wiped away his sweat, "Yes."
That night, when Gu Yuanbai fell asleep, the two wolves also lay down to rest before the inner hall. The palace guards all softened their voices more than usual as they fearfully exited the inner hall.
However, Gu Yuanbai slept a little more deeply this night than usual.
When the next day dawned, it was the day Xue Yuan left for the northern border.
*
Gu Yuanbai led the hundred officials to give the soldiers a send off, he looked solemn, his eyebrows were all entrusted with a heavy responsibility, "Xue Qing, take the soldiers and provisions to the border safe and sound, and then come back safe and sound."
Xue Yuan was already in full silver-white armor, the heavy body armor over him, propped up by his tall figure in a very imposing manner. He straightened up after saluting, slightly lowering his head and gazing into Gu Yuanbai's eyes.
The long hair tied up high hung down behind him, and he was well prepared, so that between the corners of his brows and the tips of his eyes, sternness and sharpness were hidden.
The blazing sun beat down, the cold light was sharp and straight forward.
The two stared at each other for a while, Xue Yuan suddenly lifted up his robe and cleanly knelt on the ground. Gu Yuanbai had not expected him to perform such a great honor, and bent down to help him up, but Xue Yuan suddenly straightened up when he bent down, and kissed Gu Yuanbai on the face.
This one was so fast as a hallucination that no one saw it.
Gu Yuanbai's movements to help him stopped.
"You can't forget about me once I've been away for four or five months," Xue Yuan whispered, his hot breath rushing to Gu Yuanbai's face, "Wait for me to come back. Until I return, don't let anyone else touch you, be it a finger or a strand of hair, okay?"
After more than two months of repression and learning the rules, Xue Yuan knew that he couldn't get Gu Yuanbai that way.
Because Gu Yuanbai wouldn't like an obedient dog.
Gu Yuanbai, however, didn't storm into a rage; he smiled faintly and softly said, "Not good."
"It doesn't matter," Xue Yuan laughed, "with the wolf protecting you, whoever dares to touch you, and whichever finger that touches you, will have whichever finger bitten off by my minister's wolf. When I come back from the Northern Frontier, and see whose hand is missing a finger, I'll bring my own sword to the door to find out what's going on."
When he finished, his head hung down, and he made three obeisances with one slate.
The great salute complete, he rose, and cleanly turned back to his horse, his cloak snapping and his robes rattling.
"Departure."
Thousands of soldiers and horses and grain and grass became a long winding queue, and the grain and grass was protected by layers of protection in the center. In addition to Xue Yuan, there were also dozens of talented people who had been identified by the court as having a good reason for treating the locusts, and on top of that, there were hundreds of carts of standing medicinal herbs.
The Great Physician traveled with hundreds of people precisely to prevent any diseases that might occur after the locust plague.
Every one of these soldiers is powerful and tall, they have eaten enough rice and salt for every meal, and at this time they are fully equipped, both to hold the great sword and shield, and also to hold up the heavy armor. The horses were even more fat and healthy, cavalry mounted, tilting their heads and letting out a neigh.
The roar is the sound of a weekday full of fresh horse food.
With a team like that, there's no reason why they can't take the win.
Gu Yuanbai stood and watched as this long line of people gradually disappeared from sight, and the people beside him were so hot-blooded from the scene that their breathing began to get ragged.
He took out a pad and wiped the side of his face slowly and methodically, also thinking, Bring me a victory.
A great victory, raising soldiers like running water to spend out of the silver, with this for the victory.
Let the nomads come and see what has become of Daheng's soldiers today, and let them see what has become of Daheng's emperor.
And has this look at the Emperor and the soldiers been strong enough to make them meekly whimper and holler.
Gu Yuanbai was looking forward to it.