The place where Hong Chengchou entertained the magistrate of Xuzhou was a guest room in the post house.
Two people sit opposite each other, with one person standing next to them.
Hong Chengchou left a guard by his side, and the attendant who had been sent to the post house to wait on Hong Chengchou now stood respectfully beside Xuzhou Zhizhou with his hands hanging down.
"Hong Futai misunderstood me. I have been too busy with official duties these days and have no time to come to the post house. I will apologize to Hong Futai here first." With that said, Yan Zhizhou actually apologized to Hong Chengchou for being rude.
However, Hong Chengchou did not stop him. After the other party bowed, he said: "Yan Zhizhou's words really make me feel ashamed. I am the governor of the Tiger-Character Banner, and Yan Zhizhou is the magistrate of the Ming Dynasty. It is not suitable for us to have close contacts. What's my fault? If I were in Yan Zhizhou's position, I would probably make the same choice."
"Hong Futai may not care, but I still want to thank Hong Futai for his understanding." Yan Zhizhou said gratefully, but his tone seemed very calm.
Upon hearing this, Hong Chengchou just smiled, accepting the other party's gratitude, or saying that he didn't want to waste more time on this matter, and asked: "Did you tell me when I can go to Nanjing?"
This time he went to Nanjing with a mission. No matter how nice Xuzhou was, he didn't want to stay too long.
"Hong Futai can set off at any time." Yan Zhizhou replied, and then asked, "Hong Futai mentioned three attitudes towards Futai before, but he only mentioned one, and there are two left, so why not Telling them all will satisfy my curiosity."
Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "Since Yan Zhizhou wants to know, then I will finish what I have said. The second option is to kill me, the envoy sent by the Tiger Character Banner. From now on, there will be no room for change between the Ming Dynasty and the Tiger Character Banner. .”
"The Ming Dynasty will not do such things as intercepting and killing envoys halfway if the two countries are at war." Yan Zhizhou said that the Ming Dynasty had no idea of getting rid of Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou smiled and continued: "Then the third option is to agree to my going to Nanjing. Of course, this also shows that someone in your court hopes to negotiate peace with the Tiger-Character Banner."
Yan Zhizhou was silent when he heard this.
As the magistrate of Xuzhou, there are still some channels to obtain news about Nanjing. He knew that someone in the court had indeed learned that Hong Chengchou had come to Xuzhou as an envoy of the Tiger-Character Banner, and he had the idea of peace.
At this time, a guard walked in from outside the house.
"Futai, it's time to eat."
Hong Chengchou faced Yan Zhizhou and said, "The food is ready, why not go and eat first?"
The two went to the dining room.
Early the next morning, Hong Chengchou arranged the carriage and prepared to go to Nanjing.
"Futai, Yan Zhizhou has arrived." Someone came to tell Hong Chengchou the news of Xuzhou Zhizhou's visit.
Hong Chengchou raised his head and looked out the door of the post house, and happened to see Yan Zhizhou walking in from the outside with only his retainer Master.
"Hong Futai is ready to set off?"
Before anyone came close, Yan Zhizhou's voice came over first.
Hong Chengchou greeted him with a smile and said, "I have been in Xuzhou for a few days, so I won't disturb Yan Zhizhou. I didn't expect that Yan Zhizhou would come over in person."
"It's all my job." Yan Zhizhou glanced at the busy crowd around him and asked, "Is there anything you need help with? I've brought some people here to help."
Hong Chengchou said politely: "Thank you Yan Zhizhou for your kindness. We have almost finished cleaning up. I originally wanted to say goodbye to Zhizhou before leaving. Since Yan Zhizhou came here in person, let's say goodbye here!"
As he spoke, he cupped his hands towards Yan Zhizhou.
Yan Zhizhou also bowed his hand in return and said immediately, "Before setting off, I was asked to send a few words to Hong Futai."
"What are you talking about?" Hong Chengchou asked curiously.
When he met the Xuzhou magistrate yesterday, he felt that something was wrong with him, but he didn't say anything until the two of them had dinner. He thought he had guessed wrong.
Seeing this Yan Zhizhou again, he knew that his feelings were correct.
Yan Zhizhou reached out and pulled Hong Futai to a more remote place. After seeing some distance between him and the others, he whispered: "Hong Futai is going to Nanjing this time. Some people hope to meet Futai. I also hope Hong Futai will not refuse."
"See me?" Hong Chengchou looked a little surprised and asked immediately, "Who wants to see me?"
Yan Zhizhou said in a low voice: "That person's surname is Jiang. I won't tell you the specific name. I will know Hong Futai as soon as he arrives in Nanjing."
"Okay, I'll take note of it." Hong Chengchou nodded in agreement.
However, I was still thinking about who the person named Jiang was in the other party's mouth. If he could persuade a prefect to speak, he must have a lot of power behind him.
Seeing that Hong Chengchou agreed, Yan Zhizhou was obviously relieved.
Yan Zhizhou thought for a while and then said: "Although this person actively wants to see Hong Futai, I still want to say that Hong Futai's meeting with this person will be beneficial to this trip to the capital."
"Thank you Yan Zhizhou for the reminder. As long as the other party comes to find him, I will definitely see him." Hong Chengchou gave him a guarantee, and he also wanted to meet this person named Jiang.
When leaving Xuzhou, Hong Chengchou led a team of more than a hundred people.
Except for a small part of this team that he took with him when he set off from Jinan Prefecture, the rest came all the way from Peiping. In addition to the guards, there were also some officials in the team.
Moreover, as a team of envoys, local officials sent people to escort them along the way.
Such a team that is not easy to mess with at first glance will naturally not dare to attack this team wherever it passes.
As for the local government officials, no one dared to do anything to Hong Chengchou and his team of envoys because the tiger-character flag was not easy to deal with. Even if a few officials were dissatisfied, they could only suppress their dissatisfaction deep in their hearts and even send gifts out of the country.
Unlike Fan Wencheng who was sneaky on the way to Nanjing, the envoy team of the Tiger-Character Banner acted openly and even expected to be warmly received by local officials.
"Hongfutai, in front of it is the Qinhuai River, but this is just the moat of the outer city. If you want to go to Qinhuai, which is ten miles away, you need to enter the city from Dongshuiguan." An official sent by Nanjing City introduced Hong Chengchou.
This official was also the one who took Hong Chengchou's envoy team into the city, and his official position was not high, otherwise he would not have been sent such an errand.
Because of the direction of the wind, most of the scholars in Nanjing regarded the Tiger-Character Banner as their enemy, and their hostility was even greater than that of the slave thieves who had been at war with the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong for many years.
"If you have the chance, you must visit Shili Qinhuai, but after we enter the city, we should go to the post house of Honglu Temple first. What do you think of Zhou Shaoqing?" Hong Chengchou said to Zhou Shaoqing of Honglu Temple with a smile.
(End of chapter)
