Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

When Xiao Yan walked into the big tent, he saw a person standing in the room.

The man was neither fat nor thin, with a short, thick goatee, a black and red long gown with narrow sleeves, and his hands behind his back.

He walked right past the man and sat down on the chair above him. He took off the ivory bone bracelet on his thumb and placed it on the table before looking up at the man.

"What does General Guo want to see me about?"

This General Guo is none other than the commander of the Ningdong Iron Cavalry, Guo Zhou.

Xiao Yan and he are old acquaintances, or can be said to be very familiar with each other.

Because Guo Zhou served in the Beijing Army under Xiao Yan's father in his early years as a deputy general, and he had watched him grow up since he was a child.

In terms of feelings, a relationship like this should be particularly close. According to seniority, Guo Zhou is still an elder to Xiao Yan.

However, he did not have a good attitude towards this person, and could even be said to be disgusted with him. This had to do with his personality.

When Xiao Yan was born, his mother died of complications during childbirth due to her advanced age.

Although my father was the commander-in-chief of the Beijing army, he was forced to stay in the mansion, but he was always busy with military affairs and seldom had time to come back.

Even when he came back, it was late at night, and the father and son had almost no communication. If there was a war, he would be gone for another year or two.

Therefore, Xiao Yan grew up with servants and was extremely lacking in fatherly love, not to mention the motherly love that he had never seen.

As a result, he didn't like to talk until he was six or seven years old. People who didn't know him thought he was born dumb.

In order to take good care of Xiao Yan, the servants almost never allowed him to go out.

No matter how introverted a child is, he or she still has a playful side, and the more he or she is not allowed to go out, the more he or she wants to go out.

Once, he sneaked out when the old housekeeper was not at home and did not come back until evening.

The old housekeeper was so frightened that he almost went to see his ancestors on the spot. He sent people to look for the child, but in the middle of the night, the child finally came back with a pair of panda eyes and covered in dirt and grime.

No matter how the old housekeeper asked, Xiao Yan refused to explain the reason and only said, "Give me the knife."

The old housekeeper's eyes widened when he heard this. He couldn't possibly use a real knife, so he asked someone to carve a wooden sword for him.

From then on, Xiao Yan waved his wooden sword around every day, eating and sleeping with the sword.

It was the same until he was ten years old. He was immersed in swordplay every day, and even when his old father occasionally came home, he never said a word.

This was not a long-term solution, so the old housekeeper mentioned this matter to the Duke, who then often kept Xiao Yan by his side.

Guo Zhou was responsible for taking care of him, and he only took care of his food, clothing, and daily life, and there was no emotional exchange between them.

It was not until the 15th year of Shengzhi, when Xiao Yan was 13 years old, that the Northern Di people invaded the border of Daning again.

Xiao's father led an army of 50,000 to attack and reached the Arun River north of Bukhabrin.

Guozhou's intelligence was inaccurate and he made a misjudgment before the battle, which led to 10,000 soldiers being led into the swamp and drowned, and Xiao Yan being captured and his life or death unknown.

If it weren't for the reinforcements, the entire army might have been wiped out. In that battle, more than half of Ning's army was killed or wounded, but Guozhou escaped death.

As to whether it was a miscalculation before the battle, a ruse by the enemy, or something else entirely, no one knows the whole story.

Emperor Shengzhi was furious and wanted to execute Guozhou to vent his anger, but a noble official in the court saved his life.

In the end, he was only punished by having his property confiscated and his family members exiled to the southern barbarians. He himself was beaten with fifty sticks and demoted to a small county in Ningdong to serve as a city guard.

Unexpectedly, this person had good luck and was able to make a comeback in recent years and even took the position of the commander of the Ningdong Iron Cavalry.

Although Xiao Yan and him did not have a very good relationship in the past, they never had any hatred.

It was just that military defeat, and in the following few years, Guozhou and his son secretly "helped" the Xiao family a lot in the court.

Xiao Yan remembered him deeply.

"I heard that the general has detained a group of my subordinates. I don't know what crime they have committed. Why does he want you to come and arrest them personally?" Guo Zhou raised his eyebrows and asked knowingly.

Xiao Yan leaned back in his chair and said, "General Guo's soldiers should be consulted by the general."

"Oh?" Guo Zhou casually fiddled with the small flag in the sand table, somewhat disapprovingly.

"Your Excellency's words make me feel uneasy. My soldiers have always been law-abiding and will never do anything that violates military discipline."

He put his hands behind his back again, and a red agate ring looked particularly eye-catching on the old skin of his hands.

"However, I have heard that there are still rebels in this city who refuse to surrender and are causing chaos. For the safety of our army, it is reasonable for my soldiers to eliminate them."

"I didn't expect that the elderly, the weak, women and children are actually traitors in the eyes of General Guo." Xiao Yan sat up straight and rested his elbows on the table.

"So, I've wronged the general?"

Guo Zhou stared at Xiao Yan with a slightly cold look.

"General, you are still young, so it's understandable that you don't have a clear understanding of some people and things. Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, I wonder if you can release the person?"

"Of course." Xiao Yan stood up and ordered Yang Zhounan, "Go and bring General Guo's men."

"Yes!" Yang Zhounan glanced at Guo Zhou expressionlessly and walked out.

Xiao Yan took the dagger from the knife rack and started dancing with it in the center of the tent.

Guo Zhou couldn't understand what tricks he was playing, so he retreated to a chair at the side and sat down. Looking at this tall young man, he couldn't help but think of his childhood.

He is neither sad nor happy, doesn't like to talk, is not close to anyone, spends all day with a knife, and is only interested in talking about killing enemies on the battlefield.

He always acts like a mature young man, which makes people hard to understand and hard to like.

Perhaps it’s because sons take after their fathers, and when Xiao’s father was young he also gave people a cold and hard feeling of “keep away from strangers”.

In less than a cup of tea, Yang Zhounan brought people in.

However, the moment Guo Zhou saw the person, a frown appeared on his forehead, and his face was full of shock.

He slammed the table and stood up, shouting, "Xiao Yan, what do you mean by this?"

Xiao Yan swung his knife sideways, and three lights on the lamp tree went out instantly. Then he turned around and looked at him straight in the eye.

"That's what you see."

Two soldiers carried a large brown box and placed it in front of Guo Zhou. They opened the lid and a strong smell of blood suddenly hit his face.

He immediately raised his arm to cover his nose, turned his face away and retched repeatedly.

There were seven or eight bloody human heads piled in the box, with empty eyes and twisted mouths. Blood was still oozing out, forming a pool of blood in the box.

Guo Zhou was shocked and couldn't help but think of Xiao Yan's childhood. He felt at that time that this kid was eccentric, paranoid and difficult to get along with.

At the age of eleven, he was able to kill a bandit leader alone. As an adult, he was even more ruthless, even worse than his father.

Although they have been secretly competing with each other over the years, they have never fallen out with each other in public.

I didn’t expect that this time... this kid actually dared!

Guo Zhou was so angry that he almost had a stroke.

"You..." He raised his finger and pointed at Xiao Yan, scolding angrily.

"We are both soldiers, and we are both generals of the same army. You kill my people at will. You are really cruel. This is simply too much."

Xiao Yan's expression remained unchanged, but his words contained a hint of warning.

"I'm just trying to teach General Guo a lesson on behalf of the Emperor, not to overstep his bounds and lose his composure."

"Any sense of propriety?" Guo Zhou snorted angrily. "On the battlefields of all dynasties, swords must not be laid down for three days after a city is breached. This is the rule. You don't need to do that in front of me..."

"General Guo, don't forget your position." Xiao Yan's voice rose a few notches, staring at him coldly, "Don't try to be clever if the Emperor doesn't allow you to do anything."

"you……"

"see a visitor out!"

Xiao Yan lightly turned the handle of the knife and threw it towards the weapon rack. The short knife was quickly put back into the sheath.

Guo Zhou's face was red and swollen, and his back teeth, which were sticking out from his cheeks, were shaking slightly.

The Ningdong Iron Cavalry and the Longyujing Army are both the main forces of Daning, the only difference is that they are defending in front and behind.

But, let’s talk about strength.

As a commander who came from behind, he could not compare with the power and influence of the Xiao family, which had made great contributions for generations.

Not to mention killing a few lieutenant generals and commanders, I'm afraid that if this kid gets angry, he might even kill him.

Even if you bring the matter to the emperor, it won't cause much trouble, and you might end up being the one who suffers.

Even if the Xiao family unfortunately loses power, there is still a queen mother standing behind them.

If you want to shake the Xiao family's position in the court, now is not the time to fight for it.

Guo Zhou clenched his palms, snorted coldly, and walked away with a flick of his sleeves. Several soldiers also carried the box out.

"What are you going to do with the detained soldiers?" Yang Zhounan straightened the fallen flags on the sand table. "Just keep them locked up like this?"