Looking at the Baoding government office not far away, Deputy Qianhu Sun Li took two steps quickly and whispered in the ear of Qianhu Zhang Ping: "I don't know why, I always have an ominous premonition in my heart, as if I just step into this mansion."
It will be as if there is no way out of the yamen's gate."
Qianhu Zhangping stopped and turned to look at him: "What should we do? Let's turn around and go back?"
"That's not what I meant, I just felt a little panicked." Sun Lida said.
"There is no turning back when you shoot a bow. Now that things have happened, there is a dragon's pool and a tiger's den inside. We can only go in bravely." Zhang Ping puffed up his chest, took steps and continued to walk forward.
Seeing the guarding Qianhu, the yamen servant at the door had a flattering smile on his face. He bowed his body and began to greet: "Sir Qianhu."
"Yeah." Zhang Ping responded casually and prepared to go in directly.
As if he remembered something, he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at the yamen officer who greeted him: "Are the people from Dongchang still inside?"
"Go back to Mr. Qianhu, the people from Dongchang are inside." The yamen officer replied hurriedly.
"Several people?"
"only one."
"Oh." Qianhu Zhangping nodded, feeling relaxed in his heart, crossed the threshold, and walked inside.
There is only one person in the government office, so he probably doesn't want to attack him.
As long as they don't know their true identity, no matter what their request is, they will agree to it.
Sun Li, the deputy Qianhu, also clearly heard the yamen officer's answer just now. His thoughts were the same as Zhang Ping's. The Dongchang alone was definitely not here to cause trouble with the guards.
Raising his right hand and stroking his chest, Deputy Qianhu Sun Li followed Qianhu Zhang Ping and crossed the threshold of the government office.
In the government office hall, watching the guard military attache walking in from the gate, the prefect Li Huaigu habitually put his hands on the table and prepared to stand up.
"Sit down. They are just your subordinates." Xiao Chen on the side said softly.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Li Huaigu smiled awkwardly, took his arm off the table, and straightened up.
At the entrance of the hall, Qianhu Zhang Ping walked into the hall casually and without any scruples.
Without giving up his hand, he asked Li Huaigu loudly at the table: "Master Magistrate, you are asking all the military attachés of the guard army to gather in the government office. Do you have something important to do?"
"Yes, no no..." Li Huaigu stuttered, not knowing how to answer for a while.
As if he didn't know where to place his hands, he held them together and placed them on his legs.
Seeing Li Huaigu's reserved look, Qianhu Zhangping ignored him and looked at the person sitting next to him.
As if he didn't see the other person coming in, Xiao Chen held the tea bowl in his hand, put his right leg on his left knee, and raised his legs high. With a "sizzle", he took a sip of the fragrant tea that had become warm.
Qianhu Zhangping frowned and stood there, not knowing what to do for a moment.
The other party's look seemed like he didn't take himself seriously.
Judging from the other party's clothes, he is just an ordinary school captain. After all, he is also a fifth-grade military attache of the imperial court, a dignified Qianhu. Standing and watching the other party drink tea like this, no one has dared to treat me like this before.
It took almost half an hour for Xiao Chen to finally drink all the fragrant tea in the bowl.
Holding the teacup in his left hand, he slowly placed it on the table. Xiao Chen then raised his head, rolled his eyelids, and looked at the group of people standing in the hall.
He scanned everyone's faces one by one, and finally fixed his gaze on Qianhu Zhang Ping's face.
"Who are you? Standing in the hall like a wooden pile stupidly, don't you know the etiquette of seeing me?"
Hearing this, Qianhu Zhangping grinned, raised his fists, and arched his fists at Xiao Chen in a rigid manner: "Guardian Qianhu Zhangping, led all the hundreds of guardsmen to meet you, sir."
"I'm wrong." Xiao Chen waved his hand and pointed at Li Huaigu next to him, "You are directly under the Baoding Prefecture. The one who should pay homage is the prefect of Baoding Prefecture. Salute him."
"I have met the prefect." Qianhu Zhang Ping turned slightly and raised his hand to the prefect Li Huaigu.
Before Li Huaigu could agree, Xiao Chen shook his head and made a "tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk" sound.
"The guard army, even if it recruits some dogs and cats, is still an army established by the imperial court, and it receives military pay from the imperial court. When you meet your immediate superior, you can't even give a military salute. Lord Magistrate, you Baoding City
Is the guard army the imperial army?" Looking at Li Huaigu, Xiao Chen said with a smile.
To Li Huaigu's ears, he thought these words were Xiao Chen accusing him of being lax in running the army.
But in the ears of the military attachés who were guarding the army, the words "It's still not the imperial army" made everyone's hearts skip a beat and their backs felt numb.
The speaker has no intention of listening, and the listener has no intention. Faced with Xiao Chen's accusation, Qianhu Zhangping no longer dared to continue to show his own score. He flicked his hands on his sleeves and knelt down on one knee with a "pop" sound.
On the ground.
"Zhang Ping, a member of the guard army, led his military attachés to pay homage to the magistrate." Zhang Ping, a member of the Qianhu family, paid homage loudly to the prefect Li Huaigu.
Behind him, Deputy Qianhu Sun Li, as well as the seven Baihu people behind him, also hurriedly knelt down on one knee and performed military salutes.
Seeing each other choose to surrender one by one, Xiao Chen stopped saying anything, made a fist with his right hand, and gently tapped his thigh.
"Zhang Qianhu, get up quickly, all the generals." Li Huaigu stood up, swung his hands upward, and said hurriedly to everyone.
Standing up, Qianhu Zhang Ping said: "Sir, in accordance with the orders of the government office and Dongchang, my subordinates and the military attachés of the guard army have gathered together. I wonder what your orders are?"
"This, this." Li Huaigu stuttered twice and looked at Xiao Chen beside him, "Sir, everyone has been gathered. Please speak."
Hearing Li Huaigu call him "sir", Qianhu Zhangping couldn't help but look at Xiao Chen again.
He was obviously just wearing an ordinary school captain's uniform, so why was he called "Sir" by the prefect? The one who could be called "sir" should be the famous purple-robed school captain of Dongchang.
But the purple-clad captain, even if he doesn't wear purple, should still have his own special clothes. How could he just wear a captain's uniform and sit on the chair in the government office like this?
Could it be that not only the purple-robed captain but also a higher-ranking figure came to Dongchang?
"Oh, that's it." Xiao Chen slowly raised his head, "I heard from the prefect that although the Baoding City Guards are nominally controlled by the Baoding Prefecture, in fact, the guards are very arrogant and have no control over the government.
The orders of the government and the prefect are familiar to me, and I never take them to heart. Today, I want to try to see if the guard army is really what the prefect said."
Looking at the prefect Li Huaigu, Xiao Chen laughed: "It seems that this guard is not as arrogant as the prefect said, but the overall quality is too low and they don't know etiquette."
Listening to Xiao Chen's explanation, Qianhu Zhangping gritted his teeth.
In your eyes, gathering all the military attachés of the guard army is just for fun. Do you still treat us as human beings?
Although I was angry in my heart, I didn't dare to say it out loud. I could only stand there, my face changing from blue to purple.
"My lord is teaching you that the guards really need to be disciplined more strictly." Li Huaigu said perfunctorily.
"Strict discipline? I wonder how the prefect plans to impose strict discipline?" Xiao Chen seemed to be very interested in this topic, and leaned forward, cocking his ears, waiting for the next sentence.
"Here, let me go back and think about it carefully before making a plan." Li Huaigu said.
At this moment, Li Huaigu felt extremely embarrassed.
On the one hand, there is Dongchang, whom he cannot afford to offend, and on the other hand, there are the guards, whom he dare not offend. Both parties have to take care of their face, and they will only embarrass themselves.
"That's wrong." Xiao Chen waved his hand, "The prefect has too many shortcomings in running the army. If an army cannot obey orders and prohibitions, it is not its own army. The Baoding City Guards are not
Follow the orders of Baoding Mansion. Let’s not talk about whether this is worthy of the name of Baoding City Guards and the military pay of the imperial court. They are absolutely sorry."
"These people, let's just say Daning Dusi. If they are placed in Daning Dusi, for such behavior, even if their heads are not chopped off, they will all be put in prison. It is not an exaggeration at all."
Xiao Chen smiled, his eyes glancing over everyone's faces one by one.
