Tian Lei and others who were on an envoy to Changshan hurriedly and slowly drove back to Julu.

When Tian Lei and his friends first arrived in Julu, the scouts had already passed the information back to Julu City.

According to reports from scouts, Tian Lei and others brought back a huge convoy and were heading back.

Huge, when he heard this adjective, Li Mengxi was very excited and looked forward to it. He wanted to know how much money Tian Lei and his party made in this transaction.

When Tian Lei and his party were about to arrive, Li Mengxi and Guan Yu left the city and were waiting three miles outside the city.

Soon, when the convoy appeared in sight, Li Mengxi and Guan Yu immediately went out to greet it.

Tian Lei, who was high-spirited after his victory, saw the military advisor and General Guan coming from a distance. He smiled and said, "Drive!" Tian Lei kicked the horse in the belly and rushed forward.

——

"Military advisor, General Guan, this time I brought back four thousand stones of grain and grass, seven carts of medicinal materials, and two carts of salt. I also borrowed fifty million from the Zhen family. Fortunately, I have lived up to my fate!" Tian Lei reported excitedly.

Li Mengxi was immediately happy, with a bright smile on his face. He looked at Tian Lei and the other accompanying scholars behind Tian Lei, "Good, good!"

This is a great emergency for our army!

You have made great achievements!

Let’s go back to the city, I’ll take care of you all!”

Knowing that Tian Lei and his party were arriving soon, preparations for the banquet had already begun in the city.

When Tian Lei and his party returned to the city lord's mansion, the banquet was already prepared.

The dishes at the banquet were still the same, including sweet and sour fish, fried eggs, meatball soup, and white flour steamed buns. Compared with the banquet after the imperial examination last year, there were more wild vegetables stewed in vinegar.

In addition to inviting Tian Lei and other envoy officials to the banquet, Li Mengxi also did not forget the ordinary soldiers and chariot and horsemen. The soldiers and chariot and horsemen were in other places, and meat soup, steamed buns and fish had been prepared for them.

When entering the banquet, Tian Lei introduced several strangers, who were sent by the Zhen family to accompany them.

Li Mengxi warmly greeted the Zhen clan members to sit down in front of them, and those who offered wine and meat were busy non-stop.

When the Zhen clan saw the little military advisor Tian Lei mentioned, they were very surprised at Li Mengxi's age. The young military advisor was just as Tian Lei said, he was really just a boy... no younger than a boy, he was obviously a child!

Usually when there are banquets, Liu Bei will accompany the guests.

Now that Liu Bei is away, Liu Bei led his troops to Luoyang to die. If in the past, it was Liu Bei who accompanied the guests at the banquet, laughed and drank, but now that he was absent, Li Mengxi took over the entertainment.

Li Mengxi recalled the etiquette of hospitality. There are some etiquettes for hospitality. The banquet in ancient times was different from that of later generations. Later generations talked while eating. In ancient times, people ate without saying anything and talked after eating.

Therefore, Li Mengxi didn't say much.

Li Mengxi also remembered that as the host of the banquet said, don't look at anything inappropriate. You can't always stare at the guests. Otherwise, the guests will feel uncomfortable being stared at and will not enjoy their meal.

Li Mengxi also remembered that it was inappropriate not to stare at the guests and keep eating without stopping. This would make the guests feel slighted.

Therefore, the most appropriate approach is to always raise your head and look at the guest without looking too much. If your eyes meet the guest, just smile and nod.

Also, during a banquet, the host must not put down the kuaizi first. If the host puts the kuaizi away, the guests will be embarrassed to eat.

Therefore, if the host eats well and generously, then the guests can eat generously.

From all these reasons, the method is to use more tachyons and get busy, but it doesn’t have to be really overwhelming.

After thinking back and understanding how to treat guests, Li Mengxi began to act according to the plan. He kept moving with his kuaizi. He was very busy with his kuaizi, but he didn't eat quickly. From time to time, he would smile and look up at the people at the banquet.

, he doesn’t look too much, he glances at him from time to time and then looks away. If he meets someone’s eyes, he smiles and nods slightly towards that person.

It's just a meal, I think it will keep Li Mengxi busy.

If anyone pays attention to the comparison, they will find that Li Mengxi and Liu Bei behave exactly the same.

Liu Bei was the same. He didn't eat much when he was with guests, but he kept moving. Liu Bei also frequently raised his head and looked here and there, smiling at this person and that person. He was very busy.

Tian Lei and other Julu scholars had already had a banquet and were very familiar with the food.

When Tian Lei and others went to the banquet before, it was the Qionglin Banquet after the imperial examination. The meaning of this banquet is different. This time it is a banquet to reward merit after a military mission.

Tian Lei and others have already eaten sweet and sour fish meatball soup, but I have to say that no matter how many times they have eaten it, they still find it delicious when they eat it again.

As for the Zhen clan members who are new guests, the Zhen clan is a wealthy family. The clan members are extremely well-equipped with food and clothing, and have eaten all kinds of delicious food. But even so, even if they are used to eating delicious food, when they eat sweet and sour fish, they

At this time, the eyes of the people of the Zhen clan were still bright.

The food during the banquet was not very sumptuous, but it was very delicious. Even a plate of Bi Yingying's ordinary wild vegetables was sour, crisp, refreshing and delicious.

Tian Lei and other scholars and the Zhen clan had a great time eating and drinking.

——

Although Li Mengxi has now fully dealt with the matter, it is different this time. This time he is not banqueting his own new scholars, nor is he banqueting Zhuozhou scholars who have defected from Zhuozhou. It is the Zhen family, but someone else.

Condition.

When the banquet was almost over, Li Mengxi was talking to the guests. He just said some polite words and thanked the Zhen family.

Li Mengxi's response was slightly inadequate and he failed to notice the subtleties. Fortunately, Guan Yu was there.

Guan Yu was better versed in the humanities and sophistication of the late Han Dynasty than Li Mengxi.

Guan Yu asked insinuatingly for a while. He asked the Zhen family if they had any plans to establish a trade relationship with Julu. The Zhen family said that if this could be done, it would benefit both the family and the family.

He mentioned the Dali family, but did not say that he came here this time for this matter, which means that the Zhen clan members who came here may have other intentions.

Then Guan Yu asked insinuatingly. He asked several Zhen clan members where they were working. Several Zhen clan members said that they usually helped the clan and did not hold big responsibilities.

Guan Yu carefully observed and saw that several members of the Zhen clan were very young, so Guan Yu made some guesses.

There are young tribesmen, and there are no young tribesmen with important responsibilities. The purpose of these people coming can be guessed.

Guan Yu looked at several Zhen clan members and asked, "Do any of these little brothers know how to ride?"

Several young Zhen clan members replied proudly that they had some knowledge of riding.

This is a self-effacing statement. If you say you have some knowledge of riding, you must have excellent riding skills.

Guan Yu nodded and asked a few people with a smile, "Our army is looking for talents. I wonder how many of you would deign to come and help our army?"

The young people of the Zhen family were overjoyed when they heard this, and bowed to Guan Yu, "We have heard about the heroic feats of the rebel army in fighting for the Yellow Turbans, and we are just about to join in. I hope the general will not give up!"

Guan Yu smiled and nodded.

Li Mengxi had doubts on his face and couldn't help but scratch his head.

He didn't understand why Guan Yu came up and said he wanted to recruit people as soldiers. Isn't this rude?

Li Mengxi was not well versed in the ways of the world. He did not know that after contacting the envoys, the Zhen family saw that the rebel army was powerful and specially sent young members of the family to come and join the army. This was also called placing a bet.——

The banquet ended soon after. Li Mengxi and Guan Yu took several Zhen clan members and arranged accommodation for them. During the process, Li Mengxi said apologetically that the city was under construction and there were no spare houses for the time being, so they could only stay in the military tent.

among.

Several members of the Zhen clan were very happy and didn't take it seriously at all.

Afterwards, he asked Tian Lei to take the Zhen clan people around the city. Li Mengxi summoned officials from the Ministry of Personnel and began to verify the merits of Tian Lei and his party.

All the materials Tian Lei brought have been put into storage, including four thousand stones of grain and grass, fifty million yuan, plus medicinal materials and salt. These do not count the carriages and horses brought from the Zhen family to transport grain and grass.

and livestock, it’s not a small price.

During Tian Lei's trip, he exchanged a mere thousand pieces of iron armor for a huge amount of supplies, which was a huge contribution. If the imperial court came to ask for it soon, the four thousand stones of grain brought back by Tian Lei could directly help the rebels.

Having more food and grass to last more than a month will directly make the rebel army's logistical resilience several times stronger.

After unanimous discussion, Tian Lei has made outstanding achievements during this trip and should be promoted to the first level.

The other scholars accompanying the trip are not yet clear about their role in this trip and should be investigated carefully.

Among the hundreds of scholars selected by the imperial examination, Tian Lei was not ranked high, so Tian Lei, who was assigned to the Ministry of Commerce, was ranked lower than others in the Ministry of Commerce. After having made great achievements this time, Tian Lei was promoted to

The director of the Ministry of Commerce has not been promoted to the top.

As for which department of the Ministry of Commerce is the director, I don’t know. The Ministry of Commerce is starting from scratch. Tian Lei and other officials from the Ministry of Commerce have been discussing and planning the structure of the Ministry of Commerce, and the discussion has not yet been completed.

The 13th Military and Government Department was established by Li Mengxi himself, and now Li Mengxi feels that it is convenient.

With the Ministry of Personnel responsible for approving and approving official promotions, you don't have to worry about merit and rewards yourself, you can just leave it to the Ministry of Personnel.

The officials of the Ministry of Personnel received the instruction. After leaving the city lord's palace, Qin Shu, the chief officer of the Ministry of Personnel, found Tian Lei and met. Qin Shu congratulated Tian Lei and said, "Congratulations to Brother Tian. Brother Tian has made great achievements in this trip. Our Ministry of Personnel has completed the verification. Press

As a result, Brother Tian was promoted to Director of the Ministry of Commerce.

In addition, the military commander ordered me to reward you with ten kilograms of meatballs."

With that said, Qin Shu handed a large bag of meatballs to Tian Lei.

Taking the meatballs, Tian Lei smiled happily.

At this time, the Zhen clan members on the side felt aggrieved by Tian Lei. He was rewarded with ten pounds of meat and no money at all for such a huge contribution. This was too harsh.

How did the new Zhen clan members know that ten pounds of meatballs was enough and a heavy enough reward in the eyes of Tian Lei and all the Julu officials.

It's not that Tian Lei and other scholars are noble and upright, but that the ethos of the rebel army is different. The distribution of the rebel army is fair, the top and bottom are balanced, and those who serve as officials and generals are not much better than ordinary civilians and soldiers.

You know, many soldiers who have made meritorious service in the army are only rewarded with a few kilograms of meatballs.

It is not enough to promote one Tian Lei. There are two to three hundred people sent as envoys to Changshan. The evaluation of the merits of these two to three hundred people is all the responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel.

Qin Shu and other officials went to Changshan to find Centurion Zhao, who was accompanying Changshan, and asked if any of his soldiers had made meritorious deeds on this mission.
To be continued...