Calm sky blue walls, green curtains with red flowers and bluegrass patterns, a knitted screen in front of the cast iron stove shelf; a mahogany antique cabinet filled with various knick-knacks behind the glass; glass beaded footpads on the bookshelf
There is a row of various art of war books.
The autumn sunshine shines in this small courtyard and shines on the young man who is holding a book of "Six Tao" and reading it carefully under the corridor, making it look so comfortable.
After a long while, a government servant walked in from outside the courtyard. After seeing the young man, he bowed and said, "For the record, Your Highness, the prefect, has just entered the city and is currently on his way to the government office..."
"Yes, I understand. Let me know when His Highness arrives at the gate of the government office." The young man read "Six Tao" tirelessly, as if he didn't want anyone to disturb him.
The yamen servant shook his head helplessly. He originally wanted to remind him, but he knew the character of the young prefect, so he turned away.
Not long after, the yamen servant came back again, this time he looked so panicked, and said hurriedly: "Sir, His Highness has already arrived..."
The young man only nodded slightly, waved his hand, and said: "Yes, I understand. Take His Highness to the living room. I will be there in a moment."
The yamen servant was startled for a moment, and saw that half of the book in the young man's hand was still unread. He knew the young man's temperament, and he wanted to finish reading the book. If he didn't finish the book, he would definitely not leave, even if
Even though there was a fire behind him, he was still able to finish reading the book as always.
"Master Magistrate, it is His Highness who is here this time..." the Yamen servant reminded again.
The young man was still unhurried, his sharp eyes squinted from the book to the yamen servant's face. After just one glance, the yamen servant closed his mouth, stopped talking, and turned around to leave.
After the Yamen servant left, the young man continued to read his "Six Tao" with great relish.
In autumn, the afternoon sun shines warmly on you. Here near the sea, there is always a faint smell of sea in the air. The young man is sitting on a recliner, reading his book word by word, without any interference from the outside world.
No interruption. Even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, he would not change his expression.
In the living room of the government office, Gao Qi and Xia Houlan had been waiting for a long time, but the magistrate of Langya Mansion never came out.
Xia Houlan couldn't sit still anymore, summoned a yamen servant, and asked scoldingly: "What's going on with your magistrate? His Highness arrived, and it's okay if he didn't go out of the city to greet him. Now that he's arrived at the yamen, why is your magistrate?"
Master, why don't you come out yet?"
"This...that...our prefect, he..."
"Go! Call Sima Yi out and tell him that His Highness is tired of waiting. If he doesn't come out, I will be guilty of disrespecting his brother!" Xia Houlan said angrily.
The yamen servant was also very embarrassed and hesitated, not knowing how to answer.
At this moment, Gao Qi suddenly coughed twice, and then said slowly: "General Xiahou, the visitor is a guest, and we are guests. There is a saying that guests do as the host does, and we should do as the Romans do in the country.
"
After finishing speaking, Gao Qi said to the yamen servant: "Go and do your work. Don't disturb your master. He must have something important to do. It won't be too late to come see me again after he has taken care of those important things."
The yamen servant burst into tears of gratitude to Gao Qi and slowly exited the living room.
Xia Houlan didn't know what Gao Qi meant, so he asked: "Your Highness, isn't this Sima Yi too arrogant? I informed him in advance, but who knew he would be so negligent today. Your Highness, do you want me to go and do it?"
Was he arrested to make amends to His Highness?"
"General Xiahou, please don't be reckless. Sima Yi is a high-ranking official of the imperial court. He is an official of the imperial court. Although I am a prince, I have no position. Logically speaking, I should bow to him when I see him. General Xiahou
He is also an official of the third rank, and Sima Yi is also your Shangguan. If you see him later, General Xiahou should be more polite, otherwise, he will be contradicting the Shangguan." Gao Qi said slowly and carefully.
After hearing this, Xia Houlan was a little unconvinced, and sighed and said: "Your Highness is very kind-hearted. To deal with an arrogant person like Sima Yi, we should give him a serious blow. Let him remember that he will never do this in the future.
You are neglecting His Highness."
After hearing this, Gao Qi just smiled slightly and said nothing. Then he sat in his seat, closed his eyes and calmed down, waiting for Sima Yi quietly.
Xia Houlan also stopped talking. He was not angry even if he was a prince. He just started to coax him. He also sat there and secretly shouted in his heart: "When I get back and know, I will definitely visit you in front of the emperor."
If you have the ability, please don’t show up today!"
Time passed little by little, the sun set in the west, twilight fell, and the living room was still extremely quiet.
Xia Houlan sat in his seat and began to doze off. Along the way, he had to rush and take care of Gao Qi's food and daily life. He was really tired, so once he sat down for a long time, he would inevitably get sleepy.
Gao Qi was sitting there, keeping his eyes closed and breathing evenly. He didn't know whether he was asleep or awake.
After a while, the yamen servant started lighting the lamp in the living room, and informed Gao Qi and Xia Houlan that Sima Yi had no time to see them today and would have to wait until tomorrow, and arranged for them to stay in the west wing.
Xia Houlan really didn't expect that Sima Yi really didn't come to see them. He was really angry and clamored to arrest Sima Yi and ask what happened. Gao Qi persuaded them to stop him and asked someone to prepare some
The food and wine appeased Xia Houlan, and the two of them went to rest.
It was an uneventful night. Xiahoulan and Gaoqi were tired all the way. Gaoqi's body was weak, so Xiahoulan did not dare to let him bump too much, and the journey was relatively slow. However, both of them were relatively tired, so once they fell asleep,
He slept until dawn.
"Dong dong dong!"
A rapid drumbeat sounded in the government office. The rapid drumbeat woke up Xiahou Lan and Gao Qi from their sweet dreams. When they got up, they asked: "Who is playing the drum?"
The yamen officer replied: "It's our Lord Prefect."
"Why is Mr. Sima beating the drum? Is there any case to be tried?" Gao Qi asked.
The officer replied: "Langya Mansion has been peaceful for the past two years. There are no roosters or dogs in the territory. The prefect does not even have a prison. How can there be any cases to be tried?"
Gao Qi had heard about the public security situation in Langya Mansion early in the morning, but he didn't know that it would be so clean. He continued to ask: "Since there has always been peace in Langya and there are no cases to be tried, why is Master Sima beating the drum?"
The rumble of the drums has been uninterrupted, sometimes as fast as raindrops, sometimes as slow as a snail. In short, the drums have not stopped while they are talking.
"Your Highness, you don't know. This is our Lord beating the war drum. Our Lord has said that beating the war drum can boost morale, thus doubling the courage of the soldiers who are fighting bloody battles on the battlefield. Therefore, every morning, our Lord will
He beat the three-way drum himself, and then he rested after the three-way drum was beaten."
"Three-way drum?" Gao Qi has never been involved in the art of war or military affairs, and the books he has learned are the Book of Songs, etiquette, etc., although his father often taught him not to be rigid, to draw inferences from one instance, and to think about the past.
People dare not think about it, and their predecessors dare not do it, but he really doesn’t understand this three-way drum.
Xia Houlan had been in the army for many years and knew the three-way drum best. Seeing the difficulty on Gao Qi's face, he explained: "Your Highness, the ancient three-way drum was used to beat drums to urge conquests. In ancient times, when two armies fought, they usually formed a battle array facing each other.
, then one side beats the drum to call for war, and the other side beats the drum to answer the challenge. If the opponent does not beat the drum to answer the challenge, the calling party usually has to beat three drums before starting the attack."
After hearing this, Gao Qi found it very interesting. He couldn't learn these things in the palace. He heard the drums were still beating and wanted to see who Sima Yi was. Every time he heard Gao Fei's conversation,
, seemed to have high regard for Sima Yi. So, he walked out quickly and headed towards the direction where the drum sound came from.
Xia Houlan followed closely, but secretly scolded Sima Yi for not knowing how to show appreciation.
Following the sound of the drums, the two people soon arrived at a large venue where Sima Yi was playing drums. When the two people followed the Yamen servants and came here, they were suddenly dumbfounded. This Sima Yi was so amazing. He personally beat the drums and made a rumble.
Under the sound of drums, rows of chickens, ducks, and geese automatically lined up in a line, standing there flapping their wings and squawking happily.
In addition, at the edge of the square array of chickens, ducks, and geese, four dogs squatted in four different corners, like four gods, staring motionlessly with their two dog eyes, guarding the chickens closely.
Duck, goose.
On top of a high platform, I saw a lean and capable young man, well-dressed, wearing a long shirt and top hat, with white sleeves rolled up, holding two drumsticks, and beating the war drum regularly. If it wasn't Sima Yi, who else could it be?
Gao Qi looked at Sima Yi carefully and saw that Sima Yi was tall, fair-skinned, and had two long beards on his temples that moved with the wind and fell on his shoulders, making him look particularly elegant.
Sima Yi's handsome face without any flaws, his thick and clear eyebrows are embedded with a pair of shining eyes like gems, his broad forehead shows wisdom beyond ordinary people, and there is a hint of tranquility.
The melancholy expression can impress anyone, but it also makes people feel that the emotion is so deep and elusive.
"This is Sima Yi. He is indeed a talented person with both talent and appearance." After seeing it, Gao Qi felt that Sima Yi had a great attraction to him for some reason. Of course, that attraction did not mean that he had that
His orientation was simply that he was attracted by Sima Yi's temperament.
After a while, the drum sound stopped. Sima Yi put down the drumstick, wiped the sweat on his forehead, turned around, and slapped the group of poultry in the open space. First, the four dogs left first, followed by the chickens and ducks.
, the geese line up and go back to their nests, which looks very regular.
After that, Sima Yi walked up to Gao Qi, raised his hands and said, "Did your Highness have a good rest last night?"