At this moment, on the road opposite, more than a dozen knights came towards him, guarding a carriage, and galloped past Liang Xiao and others. The early spring wind blew up the tram curtain, revealing a familiar face. Liang Xiao's sharp eyes suddenly recognized it, it was Yan Zhu.

In an instant, Liang Xiao felt a little unhappy. He originally thought that he had strength and helpers in the face of Yan Zhu, and was not afraid of Yan Zhu's methods. However, after waiting for more than a month, he didn't even see any signs, and even Li Guang no longer mentioned it. He probably wouldn't have a chance to regain his military merits this time, but he was really defeated completely.

What's the use of having a bloody battle? It's not as good as a pen from a scholar. Alas, forget it, Li Guang has not been named a marquis after fighting so many battles. Do you still want to become famous in one battle?

"Jun Liang?" A voice came from the opposite side. Liang Xiao looked up and Yan Zhu's carriage stopped, and a knight called him across the road.

Liang Xiao turned his horse's head. "It's just that I'm down, I don't know what to do..."

"Liang Xiao, it's me." Yan Zhu came out of the carriage, waved to Liang Xiao, and shouted loudly.

He was a little late when he saw Liang Xiao. When the carriage stopped, he had already rushed nearly a hundred steps away. Originally, he expected Liang Xiao to take the initiative to go over, but when he saw Liang Xiao's appearance, he probably wouldn't be so polite, so he had to get out of the carriage himself and shout loudly.

Liang Xiao hesitated for a moment, turned his horse's head, walked about a hundred steps west, and looked at Yan Zhu across the road.

The main roads in Chang'an City or outside the city are divided into three parts. The middle is the road, which is accessible to the emperor or those who hold special orders. Others can only follow the rules of driving on the right to walk on the roads on both sides. Liang Xiao goes east, south, Yan Zhu goes west and north. So they can only cross the roads nearly ten feet in the middle.

Of course. If Liang Xiao took the initiative, he could also take a long way, and every few hundred steps, there would always be a passable passage. But he was not interested now, and being able to stop and roar through Chi Dao was his limit.

"Liang Xiao, where are you going?"

"Let's go hunting today." Liang Xiao pointed to the bow on his back. "Sir, are you going to Shanglinyuan?" Only Shanglinyuan is left in the west of the city.

"Yes, Your Majesty and the princes are hunting in Shanglinyuan, I will go to accompany you. I thought you were following you too." Yan Zhu sighed. "We may have some misunderstandings. We have always wanted to find an opportunity to meet you, but we have too many official duties and have no time. Liang Xiao, the court has its own laws for military merits, and I can't help it. Please be more considerate."

Liang Xiao chuckled, but did not answer. He didn't even have the interest to deal with such unnutritional words. He looked at the passers-by who turned frequently and said with a smile: "Sir, please leave quickly, don't let the emperor wait in a hurry, maybe the emperor is waiting for you to write a poem."

Yan Shu heard Liang Xiao's sarcasm, sighed, waved goodbye, and left the car.

Liang Xiao became more and more angry. He wanted to turn around and go home, but after thinking about it, he gave up this idea. He is in a bad mood now and cannot practice arrows when he goes back. Maybe he will worry me. Why not go hunting and dissipate his mood.

"Let's go." Liang Xiao greeted. Tu Niuer and Pang Shuo followed closely.

...

Yan Zhu came to Shanglinyuan. The emperor and his party were already hunting, and the flags were waving. Under the command of the flags, the officials rushed animals from different directions to the emperor. The emperor held a bow and arrow, shot several arrows in succession, and was in a good mood. Several officials and servants were on the left and right, including Dongfang Shuo, Wuqiu Shouwang and others, and Sima Xiangru, a long-standing fu family member who was still famous.

In the Fu family around the emperor, Sima Xiangru was a relatively old man, almost forty. Although his Fu was well done, he was not as eager as he could tell the truth, so his performance was not as good as Yan Zhu in this situation. As soon as he saw Sima Xiangru, Yan Zhu knew that his chance to show his face was coming again.

Yan Zhu got out of the car from afar, picked up his hem, stepped on the knee-deep weeds, came to the emperor and bowed to him.

"Why did you come?"

"I met Liang Xiao on the road and chatted for a few words, so I came late."

"Liang Xiao?" The emperor raised his eyebrows. "What are he doing?"

"It's said that I'm going to go hunting in the east of the city."

"No wonder I didn't see him. Going to hunt, are you in a bad mood and want to relax?"

Yan Zhu hesitated for a moment. "It's not good or bad. Liang Xiao has never been the kind of person who expresses his emotions, and I can't tell him much. However, his grudge against me was very obvious. I specially stopped the car and talked to him, but he refused to come over, just said a few words across Chidao."

The emperor laughed: "You didn't use arrows to shoot you? With his archery skills, even if you cross the road, you can still take your life."

Yan Zhu smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to deal with it.

Dongfang Shuo saw it, but said nothing.

The emperor pulled his bow and glanced at a deer standing in panic outside seventy steps, and let go of his hand.

The deer fell to the ground by an arrow.

...

After hunting in the east of the city for a day, he shot a few preys. In the evening, Liang Xiao and others returned to Wanhu.

Dongfang Shuo was back and was chatting with Huan Yuan. He was a familiar person, good at talking and making jokes. Even a serious person like Huan Yuan was willing to talk to him when he met him, let alone a very lively girl like Zheng Er.

Seeing Liang Xiao come back, the people in the room quickly stood up. Hu Xijun went to pick up the food on the stove. Liang Xiao hurriedly said, "Xijun, you don't have to be busy anymore. We have eaten it. By the way, Niu, pick up all the remaining prey, Xijun and make meat porridge tomorrow."

Tu Niuer responded and pulled Hu Xijun out.

Dongfang Shuo said, "A Xiao, are you free? I have something to ask you."

Liang Xiao hesitated for a moment, greeted Huan Yuan, and followed Dongfang Shuo to the next door Dongfang Shuo's home. The house was very clean. When Dongfang Shuo was not around, Hu Xijun came to him every day to organize it. The two of them took their seats, and Dongfang Shuo said straight to the point: "What festival do you have with Yan Zhu?"

Liang Xiao said the business trip and just hiding some of the things he said to Liu Ling. Dongfang Shuo was very close to him, but he was not a confidant. He couldn't tell him about those things for the time being. But he told Dongfang Shuo that Yan Zhu had thoughts about Liu Ling.

"He wanted to compare with Sima Xiangru everywhere. Unfortunately, he had to have the fur." ​​Dongfang Shuo smiled. "Sima Xiangru got Zhuo Wenjun. He thought about the Master of Huainan. Unexpectedly, he suffered a big loss from you. Do you have any objections?"

Liang Xiao was very surprised. There is another reason? Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun seem to be what happened not long ago.

"However, with Wei Qing and Qin Ge here, it is not that easy for Yan Zhu to slander you. What's more, the emperor has always paid attention to you, so how could he slander it in just a few words? Liang Xiao, what did you find?"

Liang Xiao was shocked and said after a while: "This is what the emperor means. He wants to test me?"

"I think it should be. The north is uneasy, and the war against the Huns may start at any time, but the emperor is not very clear about the Huns' background. He sent people to the envoys several times, but the news he received could not satisfy the emperor. You mentioned the Huns to the emperor again, and I suspect that the emperor intended to let you go to the Huns. Such a secret matter of course needs a person who can calm down to execute it."

Liang Xiao felt it made sense and couldn't help but feel grateful.

Dongfang Shuo continued: "There are tens of thousands of gossips in Chang'an. Of course, you are not bad at talking about bravery. But there are not many people who can surpass you in terms of calmness. Unless they are Confucian scholars who practice etiquette. However, Confucian scholars who often use etiquette can never complete such a task. Even Gongsun Hong, who was a middle-aged Confucian scholar, had a pedantic tone when he went on missions to the Huns, which disappointed the emperor."

He smiled and glanced at Liang Xiao. "With both the courage of a Ranger and the steadfastness of a Confucian scholar, I'm afraid you and me are the only ones."

Liang Xiao was in a good mood and glanced at Dongfang Shuo sideways, saying with disdain, "You?"

"Haha, don't look down on me. I've been promoted now."

"When did you get promoted?"

"Just shortly after you left, it was related to Shanglinyuan." Dongfang Shuo's smile disappeared and he sighed long. "It's a pity that my good advice was that I only changed to a Taizhong doctor and gave it to the chief officer. Alas."

Liang Xiao was puzzled. Dongfang Shuo explained it.

Shanglinyuan is actually not a new thing, it was found in the Qin Dynasty. In the early Han Dynasty, Huang Lao was promoted and rested with the people. The emperor rarely went out to hunt, so Shanglinyuan was useless. Most of the time, the poor people opened up land and farmed, gradually formed a scale and had the county of Dudu. The emperor ascended the throne and wanted to show his strength, but he didn't expect that he was held down by the Empress Dowager as soon as he took action. He could not do anything and became obsessed with hunting.

Hunting will naturally hurt the crops of the people. In the past few months, the people of Wudu have complained and the emperor has been in danger many times. So the emperor decided to rebuild Shanglin Garden and move the people who settled in it. This idea was from the emperor, but the one who made suggestions in accordance with the emperor's will was Wuqiu Shou. At that time, Dongfang Shuo happened to be nearby and immediately objected.

As a result, the emperor praised Dongfang Shuo and promoted him to Taizhong Doctor and served as a minister, but he still approved the suggestion of Wuqiu Shouwang and officially started the construction of Shanglinyuan. In order to separate Dongfang Shuo, the emperor arranged Dongfang Shuo on a business trip, which was why Dongfang Shuo came back today.

"My King Qiu Shou is just a waiter. I have learned a few words from Master Dong's "Spring and Autumn Annals". How could he know any major national affairs? He is not even as good as Yan Zhu. Such a person is with the emperor and is a decent person, which is not a blessing for the world." Dongfang Shuo shook his head and sighed again.

Liang Xiao looked at Dongfang Shuo and felt a little surprised. He always thought Dongfang Shuo was a funny guy. Even Ma Qian, the Taishi Company, later included him in "The Creative Biography". He didn't expect that he had such thoughts. It can be seen that under his funny appearance, he also had a heart that was worried about the country and the people.

Is it because he has seen through Liu Che's essence and knows that things cannot be done, so he pretends to be crazy and avoids the world, keeps himself safe, and is vague in the court?

"Manqian, what should I do?"

"Wanhuli will be demolished soon, you can move to Maoling. If possible, take Tu Niuer's family over. From then on, we will cut off contact with Jiangdu and Huainan." Dongfang Shuo grinned. "The emperor cannot reuse a person who is not involved in the princes. Especially the King of Jiangdu, who is brave but not wise, will sooner or later implicate you."-

(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!