However, the Qiu Tai army report that Pu Mao received was "a small defeat" first, and then "turned defeat into victory". The Zhang Shao army report that Xin Er received was "a big defeat" with a lot of results, "beheaded more than a thousand and seized mountains and valleys". The two military reports said the same battle, and the content seemed completely opposite. Why? For no reason, one of Qiu Tai and Zhang Shao had lies.

So who is the one who tells lies?

It's Qiu Tai.

This battle was indeed as Zhang Shao’s military report said. Dingxi won the victory. Qiu Tai was not a "small defeat" and there was no such thing as "turning defeat into victory". However, in terms of the results of the battle, Zhang Shao’s military report was also untrue. There were no "more than a thousand" beheadings. There were less than a thousand heads on the battlefield. These eight or nine hundred heads were real, all of which were killed by Qiu Tai soldiers, but the rest were all the Tang and Hu people in the countryside near the battlefield.

Speaking of the villages near the battlefield and the people of Tang and Hu in the pastures, the military discipline between the two armies was at war. No matter how strict the military discipline was, it would invade the people. Before, during and after the war, there would be invasion. Take this battle of Kou Shi for example. Not only Zhang Shao's army, but mainly Zhao Rangan's Tiefu cavalry, killed more than a hundred people in order to seek credit, to achieve results. In order to prove that he "turned defeat into victory", Qiu Tai even retreated, he even led his troops to plunder and killed hundreds of Tang and Hu in the pastures along the way.

This doesn't need to be said much.

He only said that after reading Zhang Shao and Zhao Rangan's military newspaper, although he was quite happy, the victory of this battle was in his expectation, so he didn't say anything more and put down the military newspaper. He asked Gao Chong, who was accompanying the hall, and said, "Can you reply to Li Ji come?"

Gao Chong said, "There is still no reply." After hesitating, he continued, "Ming Gong, although Li Ji has the family precept of 'not being a Hu slave', looking at his past, he has indeed refused to recruit Murong's family several times. However, compared to Di Qin, Di Qin is in power now, and our Dingxi is still not as good as it is. For Chun speculation, he probably is trying to protect himself, so he now has the intention of waiting and watching."

Xin Er started sending people to send secret letters to Li Ji a few months ago, hoping to pull him to Dingxi side. In the near future, until the end of the day, which was to send him another letter more than a month ago, Li Ji sent a total of three letters to Li Ji, but Li Ji did not reply to a single letter. After hearing Gao Chong's answer, Xin Er did not make any negative comments on Li Ji's behavior. Instead, he said in a reasonable tone: "Qin is strong and I am weak, and Li Ji has the intention to wait and see. After all, he is not alone. There are thousands of people in Bingzhou begging for life and the families of these soldiers under his tent. He is now far from Dingxi. Even if he wants to come to Dingxi, he will find it difficult to cross Guanzhong and come to my Long, so it is no wonder that he does not reply to my letter."

Gao Chong said: "Although Ming Gong has sent letters three times and Li Ji has not replied, one thing, Li Ji did not submit Ming Gong's letter to Pu Mao, but kept it privately. In addition, this time, when Di Qin attacked Fu Shi this time, Li Ji's troops acted slowly. They did not have the active attitude of advancing and resolutely blocking our Shuofang reinforcements. General Zhang's reinforcements were able to arrive at Fu Shi in time from Shuofang County... Ming Gong, from these two aspects, Li Ji still looked at me Tang, and was definitely not united with Di Qin."

Xin Er nodded, agreed with Gao Chong's judgment, and said, "Since that's the case, I'll send him another letter."

"What should Gong Ming say to him?"

Xin Er pondered for a while and said, "I won't say anything else. I just thank him for not working hard in this battle in the Kushima."

Gao Chong roughly guessed the meaning of Xin Er's words, but the last few words in his conversation did not understand the meaning, and asked: "'But work but not work', Ming Gong, what does this mean?"

Xin Er smiled and said, "The 'worker' is a ministry. If he doesn't work hard, he will do this ministry, but he will not use his strength to deal with it."

Gao Chong savored it for a while, and said, "Ming Gong's words are vivid and lively!"

Xin Er smiled and received Gao Chong's praise. He spread paper and picked up the pen and wrote another letter to Li Ji.

After writing it, he handed the letter to Gao Chong and asked him to arrange someone to send it to Li Ji immediately. The battle between Fushi has fought two or three times, and Pu Qin has shown no sign of withdrawing troops. Li Ji is still in charge of troops east of Shuofang. Compared with the first three letters, the messenger has to pass through the entire Guanzhong. Because Shuofang County is the territory of Dingxi, it will be easier to deliver this letter to him.

More than half a month later, Li Ji received this letter. After reading it quietly, just like the previous few times he received Xin Er's letter, he remained silent, did not reply, nor did he reveal a word to Wang Shinu, Feng Yu and others, and only hid the letter and kept it.

What Li Ji thought, and there is no need to mention it too much.

But when he said that he had finished writing to Li Ji, Xin Er got up from the couch and said to Gao Chong and others in the hall: "You don't have to accompany me anymore... Old Song, Dali, you two can be with me, let's go now."

Song Pian slowly got to the ground, bowed and said, "Ming Gong, Pian has a heartless request."

"Since it's 'ruthless', don't say it."

“…”

Seeing Song Pian's tongue-in-mouthed look, Xin Er laughed and said, "Old Song, I'm a joke. What do you want to ask? Tell me."

"...Pian has been feeling uncomfortable these days. I dare to ask Ming Gong to agree. If you leave the city today, don't let Pian follow you."

Xin Er asked Song Pian and said, "Do you know why you are uncomfortable in your stomach?"

"Maybe it was a cold."

Xin Er shook his head and said, "No, it's because you took stones too much! Lao Song, you can't accept the Five Stones anymore. Haven't you heard of it? Just three or four days ago, a ritual official named Zhang Daode in the middle office was killed because of his nature. He ended up eating his body, causing his whole body to become ulcerated and he died of pus. Lao Song, do you want such an end?"

If you eat too much Wushi Powder, there will be many sequelae, including atrophy of the tongue, hearing, vision problems, or carbuncles, that is, poisonous sores on the surface and limbs, ulcers all over the body, blood in the seven orifices, or problems with the brain. After all, the things synthesized Wushi Powder are minerals and contain elements such as mercury. How can it be harmless if you eat too much?

Where did Song Pian have a well-informed Xin Er? After hearing this, he was shocked and said, "Is Zhang Daode dead?"

Zhang Daode is a clan of Zhang Hun. He is a clan brother of Zhang Daochong, Zhang Daoyue, and Zhang Daojiang are all brothers. In the royal chat circle, this person is also a member of the general. Because he likes to eat Wushi San, he had a good relationship. When Song Pian was still in Guyin before, he had a good relationship. He used the words of later generations to form a "stone friend". They often took stones together, and after taking stones, they went to the streets with their chests and arms open and exposed. Then, they carried out other necessary procedures after taking Wushi San, and had a big meal and a big drink. At this time, drinking must be hot wine. While drinking, talking about the mystery. This can be said to be the happiest time for Song Pian to have these moons.

"I know you have a close relationship with him. Don't you know his death?"

"Not heard of it yet!"

"Old Song, if you don't stop taking stones, the moral consequence is your future!" Xin Er had already helped Fu Qiao quit taking Wushi Pian, but he didn't mind helping Song Pian quit. So he ordered Qi Dali without waiting for Song Pian to reply, saying, "Dali, you send a few people to Lao Song's house now and throw away all the five stones in his house! Send two more people, from tomorrow, they will follow him every day, no matter what he does, but Wushi Pian, you must not let him touch it again."

Qi Dali responded to the order quickly and ran out quickly, summoned two tribes who were in Zhuyeze, and told them Xin Er's orders, but after two points, Xin Er asked to throw away all the five stones of Song Pian, and never let Song Pian hold the five stones of Song Pian anymore. He said to the two of Zhuyeze's nonsense: "After searching, you will send the five stones of Song to my house at night! When I sell them, you two will inevitably benefit you! You two start following Song Sima tomorrow. When Song Sima couldn't help but want to eat the five stones of Song, you two ask him for money and buy it for him. However, after buying it, don't give it to Song Sima, and bring it for me, and it will also benefit you two!"

The two Zhu Zeye Zahu understood the truth and happily left.

Song Pian was unable to resist Xin Er's order, so he had to let it go.

Xin Er said, "Old Song, you don't want to go out of the city with me, it's better to have a rest. I'll give you a few days off. You can quit the Wushisan first!"

Dingxi folk customs are simple. Compared with Jiangzuo, the popularity of Wushi scattered among scholars is still less than that of Jiangzuo. Not to mention Zhang Daode, there were Fu Qiao and Song Pian, two "heavy stone recipients". However, Xin Er had aroused a long-standing idea. He thought to himself: "Five stones are really harmful to people. Now I cannot ban it completely, but at least I should do something to minimize its harm and... and make the most of it."

After he decided to settle down, he said to Gao Chong, "You will go to Qianli tomorrow and tell Qianli that it was me. Please inform the Quanzhou of Zhang Daode's death and explain the harm of Wushisan to the officials in the prefectures. From now on, all the officials in Qinzhou Prefecture and counties are not allowed to submit to Shi again. Any violators will be fined for the first time and then dismissed from the post! After the Wushisan was completely eradicated in Qinzhou Official Temple, please ask Qianli to summarize his experience and submit to the Gu Yin Dynasty. Please consider whether to follow Qinzhou and implement this order in the whole country of Dingxi."

Gao Chong did not accept stones. In fact, Wu Shi Powder was originally a prescription for treating typhoid fever, and was later taken by scholars for daily use. However, to this day, many people have realized that taking this substance will harm the human body. Among the scholars in Longzhou, various physical problems occurred due to taking this substance. In severe cases, such as Zhang Daode, there were many deaths in the past few decades. Therefore, Gao Chong was quite convinced of Xin Er's order. He promised: "Ming Gong ordered wise and wise men to take it. If Wu Shi Powder is taken, it will have all kinds of harm but no benefit. For decades, there have been many handsome men who died young because of taking this substance, which makes people sigh. It is indeed banned."

However, Wushi San is extremely harmful to the human body. This is one of the reasons why Xin Er decided to ban this thing with the grounds of Zhang Daode and Song Pian. However, this reason is just what he thought about just now, "to minimize its harm to the greatest extent". What he thought about just now was "and to maximize its use". How to use it? Wushi San is expensive, and those who can take it every day are all children of powerful families, such as poor men and poor men, who want to take it, and he has no money to buy it, because the rule of "demolishing the post again" is a way to "use it to the greatest extent". If this order can be fully implemented in Dingxi, if there are children of nobles who refuse to quit Wushi San in order to show their "characteristics", the position he was dismissed can be taken over by poor men.

"And to make the most of its use." Xin Er had another idea about this. After thinking about it for a while, he improved his idea and said to Gao Chong: "Zheng Jun, don't destroy all the five stones you collect. Tell Qianli and ask him to store it first."

Gao Chong asked: "Save it?"

"When the caravan in Guyin passes by Qinzhou, they will disperse these stored five stones to them and ask them to sell them to Puqin, or Daibei."

Gao Chong said indescribably: "Some people take Wushi Powder in Puqin territory, but Ming Gong and the officials have never heard of anyone taking this substance in Daibei?"

Xin Er smiled slightly and said, "The Tuoba Xianbei, Wuhuan, Dingling, Gaoche and other tribes in Daibei Province have not taken this product because this product has never been spread to them, and there are few raw materials for this product on the grassland. ... I just said that taking this product is 'a hundred harms but no benefit', which is inappropriate. Although I do not accept stones, I know that after taking this product, people feel floating and ecstatic, and they can make people's skin white. The most important thing is that it has the effect of nourishing the kidneys and strengthening yang! ... Old Song, am I right?"

Song Pian scratched his face, felt a little shy, and replied, "Okay, please know that if Pian takes this item, it is because after taking it, he is indeed cheerful, and it is definitely not for the purpose of strengthening aphrodisiacs."

Xin Er smiled and said, "You old Song's hair is strong, which shows that the kidney water is full, so there is no need to be stronger." He continued to say to Gao Chong, "There are so many 'benefits' of Wushi Powder, especially the aphrodisiac. Although no one is taking it in the North in the present, as long as we deliver the goods and come slowly, are you still afraid that no one will take it? Besides, Wushi Powder is also called "Hanshi Powder". After taking it, you can get cold clothes, cold drinks, cold food, cold lying on the South. Isn't it a place where you take Wushi Powder?"

After taking Wushi Powder, the water should be cool, but the wine should be hot, and it should not be inferior wine. It must be good wine.

Gao Chong thoughtfully and said, "Ming Gong said this, but it makes sense."

Xin Er sighed and said, "Pu Qin has now obtained the northern land. In three or two years, its national strength will definitely be much better than today. I, Dingxi, produce less. Not only in terms of national power, but also in terms of national strength, as you said, it is 'better'. It is also a power to make some money for me, Dingxi!"

Gao Chong said with admiration: "Ming Gong is good at making good efforts and the subordinate officials are impressed. The subordinate officials will ask for the Tang envoy tomorrow and tell him to order him."

Tang Ai and Xin Er were both very busy. Before Xin Er returned to Jincheng, although they were in Qinzhou Prefecture, they did not have time to meet every day. And after a while, Xin Er would go to welcome an important distinguished guest who came to Qinzhou from the Yin Yin of the Wangcheng Valley. He would accompany this distinguished guest in the next few days, and he had no time to talk to Tang Ai about this matter, so he handed over this task to Gao Chong to do it.

After deciding on this matter, Xin Er took Qi Dali and came out of the prefecture with Wei Shu and others to wait for the distinguished guest who came from the royal city.
Chapter completed!