Chapter 101 Apologize to Master Lu
The entire court was frustrated by Lu Sen's refusal to resist the Khitans.
Then this sentiment spread to the public and sparked heated discussions among the people.
"Why doesn't Master Lu go to the north to help suppress the Khitans? As long as the Khitans don't go south, we can fight Xixia."
"Are you scared? After all, the Khitans are much stronger than the Xixia."
"How is that possible? If Master Lu was afraid, he wouldn't have been the military supervisor. He wouldn't have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of other people's soldiers."
"I heard that Master Lu wanted to go, but the court wouldn't let him kill anyone, so he simply didn't go."
"What a ridiculous statement! How can one suppress the frontier without killing the enemy? The ministers in the court should not be so foolish."
"I heard that he was afraid that Master Lu would kill too many people. After all, he had already killed 100,000 people. If he killed another 100,000 people, what difference would there be between him and General Bai Qi? You know, General Bai Qi didn't have a good end."
"General Bai Qi only ordered his subordinates to kill, but he did not do anything himself. Master Lu did it himself!"
"I heard that Master Lu didn't do it himself. He just made a huge stone wheel and let the bandits push it down to crush the Xixia people to death."
"Anyway, the court wants Master Lu to go, but Master Lu is unwilling. This is not good and not generous enough."
"If it were me, I wouldn't want to do that either. I haven't been in the position of military supervisor for long, but I was pulled back. Now something has happened, and I'm asking people to help again. They come when they are called, and go when they are dismissed? Who would like that?"
Anyway, there is a lot of discussion and noise in the market.
It was in such an atmosphere that Yang Jinhua returned to the Yang family to visit her relatives.
She handed the usual fruits and honey to her mother, and then asked the real boss of the Yang family who was sitting in the hall and cracking melon seeds, "Old lady, you have heard about my husband's affairs, right?"
"It's just that Sen'er doesn't want to go to the north. I heard about it a long time ago." The old lady smiled.
Yang Jinhua sat closer and asked, "Old Lady, you are very smart, you should be able to see the key to this, can you give your granddaughter some advice?"
"Did Sen'er ask you to ask?"
Yang Jinhua shook her head vigorously.
Lu Sen didn't talk to her about this at all. It's not that Lu Sen didn't discuss serious matters with his woman, but he felt that there was no need to tell Yang Jinhua about such a small matter, for fear that she would worry and affect the peaceful atmosphere at home.
But Yang Jinhua inevitably heard the news when she was engaged in lady diplomacy and visiting people.
Although she was a woman from a wealthy family, she was not actually very old. In addition, she had put almost all her passion into martial arts, so her understanding of politics was relatively superficial, only slightly better than that of ordinary people.
So after hearing so many rumors, she became a little anxious.
Her husband didn't seem to care at all, and she was too embarrassed to ask, so she came home to ask the old lady.
At this time, Old Lady She had a ruddy face and dark hair. She didn't look like an eighty-year-old at all. Instead, she looked like a woman in her early forties. She laughed and said, "Sen'er isn't anxious, so why are you anxious? Men are the sky and women are the earth. As long as the sky is not in chaos and there are no dark clouds, then women can just live their lives peacefully."
Yang Jinhua breathed a sigh of relief, but then said, "Then tell me, old lady, why is the official sitting as calm as a mountain in such a situation?"
"Well, I'll teach you, so that Sen'er won't think that all the women from our Yang family are fools." The old lady smiled and said, "The scholars and officials of our Song Dynasty share the world, and our generals are the stewards of the big families. The three parties work together to rule the world clearly and logically. But this doesn't say that the Taoist also has the right to rule the world, and similarly, the Taoist has no responsibility to serve the court."
"This..." Yang Jinhua was a little confused.
The old lady continued, "Look, the people in the market are talking about this matter, but has anyone in the court impeached your husband ?"
"That's not the case!"
"That's it." The old lady said, "Even if your husband has a civil service position, he is still a doctor in the Ministry of Shrines, a Taoist priest in Mount Zhongnan, and a direct scholar in the Tianzhang Pavilion! These are not positions that require going to the frontier. If he doesn't want to go, no one can say that he is just sitting there doing nothing and doing nothing. No one dares to do that!"
Yang Jinhua now understood: "That is to say, whether my husband goes north or not is not decided by the court, but by himself!"
The old lady nodded and said, "That's the truth. So, you, Jinhua, are the most fortunate in our family. You married a wonderful person who can lead a stable life and is invaluable."
When Yang Jinhua heard this, she smiled proudly.
The political environment of the Northern Song Dynasty at this time still required some respect, and there was no such self-abuse style as "If the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects must die."
There are many cases of ministers refusing imperial edicts. It is normal for subordinates to feel unhappy and disobey orders from their superiors. As long as it is not illegal, the worst that can happen is that they will be transferred to work somewhere else and will no longer work under you.
At this time, Lu Sen's situation was more relaxed than this.
He was originally half-outside of officialdom, and almost everyone in the court was soft-hearted. He showed an attitude of unwillingness to do anything, and the court really had no way to deal with him.
After Yang Jinhua realized how powerful her husband was, she became more confident. She returned to the abyss and wanted to spend some time with her husband, but found that he was not at home.
Zhao Bilian, who was practicing basic skills, said, "The master was invited by the Cao brothers to go out for tea."
Now Zhao Bilian has also started practicing martial arts since she has nothing to do during the day anyway.
She would never say that she was so envious of Jinhua for being able to fight with the official for such a long time, while she fell asleep early due to fatigue, so she thought about learning martial arts.
At this time, Lu Sen met with the Cao brothers in Fanlou.
Since getting married, Lu Sen has interacted less with them.
The main reason was that Lu Sen didn't like socializing and rarely visited the family. After they got married, it was not convenient for the Cao brothers to visit them often.
With so much going on, the interactions became much less.
Because they hadn't seen each other for a long time, Lu Sen did not refuse the dinner invited by the Cao brothers.
But now Lu Sen felt a little regretful, because in Fanlou, besides the Cao brothers, there was also a bearded man sitting there.
It was the Khitan man I met a few days ago, Xiao Du.
Although he regretted it in his heart, Lu Sen still clasped his fists and said, "Nice to meet you again, Envoy Xiao."
"It's a rare opportunity to meet Master Lu. I'm very happy." Xiao Du said with a smile, clasping his fists.
His face looked very generous, but Lu Sen always seemed to see something sinister in the other's eyes.
Of course, this is just Lu Sen’s self-perception.
Then Lu Sen looked at the Cao brothers and said, "I thought it was just you two brothers who came here, but I didn't expect that you brought guests with you."
The Cao brothers didn't look very good.
After all, they were the smartest young people with high emotional intelligence, so they naturally heard the hint of blame in Lu Sen's words.
Cao Ping clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "Don't blame me, Brother Lu. This was instructed by the elders in our family. Brother You and I are just following orders."
Lu Sen said "oh" and then looked at Xiao Du: "Envoy Xiao is very powerful. He can even let the emperor's uncle, a relative of the emperor, act as a middleman for you."
"Because Uncle Cao owed our Xiao family a favor, now the favor has been repaid." Xiao Du said calmly: "This favor can allow the Cao family to help us do a big thing, but I still let it be used for this matter. I think that being able to meet Master Lu is a great favor."
Lu Sen narrowed his eyes slightly. He did n't want to have anything to do with the Khitans, but since he was already sitting here, and Cao Guojiu was the middleman, he might as well listen.
"So what's the matter that Envoy Xiao wants to see me about?" Lu Sen asked.
"It's not a big deal, I just want to make friends with Master Lu." Xiao Du stood up, clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "I am here on the orders of the Lord to invite Master Lu to live in my Liao Dynasty."
The Cao brothers' faces changed drastically.
Lu Sen turned his head and looked at the two of them, and asked, "I think Uncle Cao should know the purpose of Envoy Xiao's visit, but he is still willing to be the middleman. What kind of favor is it that is so exaggerated?"
The two brothers shook their heads vigorously to indicate that they didn't know.
In fact, both of them were also extremely frightened. Lu Sen's identity and status were actually very transcendent. If he was really poached, the Cao family would be the sinners of the entire Song Dynasty.
Not to mention the government, it would be strange if the civil and military officials who no longer have the fairy fruit and honey to support themselves did not kill the Cao family.
Lu Sen thought about it and smiled: "In fact, Uncle Cao is very scheming. He guessed that I would never surrender to the Liao Kingdom, so he agreed to be the middleman. He can get rid of this favor without any effort."
The Cao brothers could only smile bitterly.
At this time, Xiao Du, who was sitting next to him, smiled and said, "Master Lu, please don't jump to conclusions. Can you listen to the sincerity of our Liao Kingdom?"
"After all, you are a guest. We can't stop you. Please speak." Lu Sen made a gesture.
"As long as Master Lu is willing to live in our Liao Kingdom, the position of state master and master is a must. He will also be given two southern cities and the status of a prince, and can sit side by side with the king in court." Xiao Du paused and continued, "If Master Lu is willing to open a furnace to refine the elixir, as long as you write down the natural materials and treasures that exist in this world, our Xiao family dares to guarantee that we will help you find them."
When the Cao brothers heard this, they felt their scalps tingling.
The so-called "South City" refers to the city close to the Song Dynasty. This kind of city has a characteristic, that is, the economy is particularly good and prosperous.
Although it is not as good as the Bianjing City, it should not be much worse.
Two southern cities, and then they are kings side by side, and they are willing to promise rare treasures. This is indeed a high sincerity.
At least the Song Dynasty could not do this.
Although they knew that Lu Sen would never agree, the Cao brothers still looked at him nervously.
After listening to this, Lu Sen laughed: "Your offer sounds good, but it is completely meaningless. I am an outsider, what do I need two cities for! As for the title of King of One Word, it is even more useless. Well, since Envoy Xiao has finished speaking, I have something important to deal with, so goodbye."
After saying that, Lu Sen stood up.
Xiao Du also stood up and said slowly, "That's a pity... If Master Lu has any requests or wants anything in the future, you can come to me. I will be staying in Bianjing for quite a long time. As long as you ask, I can do everything for you."
Cao You couldn't help but say, "How shameless! How could you possibly find something that even Master Lu couldn't find?"
"That may not be the case." Xiao Du laughed, with a hint of sarcasm in his smile.
Cao You was extremely unhappy, but after thinking about it, he endured it.
It was not a wise move to openly beat and insult the Liao envoys in the capital, and he could not beat them anyway.
Lu Sen ignored them and went straight back to the low mountain.
Not long after, the news of Lu Sen's meeting with the Liao envoy quickly spread throughout the city. It spread very quickly and was accompanied by many strange rumors.
It seems like someone is secretly fanning the flames.
But Lu Sen still ignored it.
Instead, the civil service group became a little nervous.
Bao Zheng, Master Pang and Ouyang Xiu hurriedly got together to meet each other.
"I'm sure you all know about Master Lu's meeting with Envoy Xiao at Fanlou." Bao Zheng's face was filled with worry. "We offended Master Lu just now, and now the Liao Kingdom is here to lobby for us. This is a bit troublesome."
Grand Master Pang said, "I don't think there is any need to panic. Master Lu will not side with the barbarians."
"The question is, are they really barbarians?" Bao Zheng slapped the table gently and said, "The Khitans follow the official system of the Song Dynasty and speak the language of the Song Dynasty. Are they really barbarians?"
The others were silent.
In fact, they also understood that if they followed the principle of "if you join China, you become Chinese", the Liao Kingdom was actually a part of China.
Moreover, many scholars now go to the Liao Kingdom to serve as officials, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.
The scholar can go, and Lu Sen, a person from outside the world, can go even more.
"Or, let's drive Envoy Xiao away." Ouyang Xiu was so angry that he slammed the table. "Letting that kid run around in the capital will definitely lead to bad things. Not only will it undermine our military morale, but he's also trying to poach us."
"This is even more inappropriate." Bao Zheng shook his head: "Driving away envoys from other countries before a real war is tantamount to an insult."
Ouyang Xiu spread his hands: "Okay, this is not allowed, that is not allowed, what should we do?"
Bao Zheng pinched his beard and thought for a while, then said, "No matter what, we have to meet with Master Lu and find out what he thinks. But now he doesn't have much good feelings towards us, so even if we go to visit him, we will only be turned away."
Ouyang Xiu said: "Please ask the Prince of Runan to come forward. He can't ignore his own Taishan."
"The Prince of Runan went to Suzhou the day before yesterday. He said that something happened there that needed to be dealt with, and he has asked for leave from the government."
Ouyang Xiu slammed the table and said angrily, "He avoided me on purpose."
"Master Lu is also avoiding us. Uncle Cao has a good relationship with him and should have been able to meet him, but this relationship has also been used on Envoy Xiao." Bao Zheng felt that things were so troublesome for the first time: "What we think is useless is a hot commodity in the eyes of others."
"That's because you, Bao Fuyin, think it's useless. I, Pang, have always thought that Master Lu is a popular person."
Ouyang Xiu showed a look of disgust when he heard this: "Master Pang, how can you be so sentimental! Lu Sen is a junior, your flattery makes me feel sick."
Master Pang snorted, "I'm telling the truth. He is a popular guy. If not, why are you two so anxious? Afraid that he will be snatched away by the northerners! People should face their true feelings. Uncle Ouyang Yong, you are already so old, but you still don't understand. Why are you using your talent on a dog?"
Ouyang Xiu also snorted, turned away unhappily, and was unwilling to argue with Master Pang anymore.
"We can only let Captain Zhan take me in." Bao Zheng stood up and said, "I will personally apologize to him. No matter what, we were wrong in the past."
