"Is that Deng Zhi and Deng Bomiao in front of you?" Zhang Yi shouted in surprise as he looked at the purple-robed scribe looking outside the city gate.
"Deng Zhi is here. Is this Mr. Zhang Fu here?" Deng Zhi knew that Zhang Yi would be sent to Wuchang today, so he waited at the city gate early in the morning.
Zhang Yi's mood has been ups and downs these days. That day at the Guangxin County Temple, he heard the King of Wu's envoy say that someone had come from Shu to take him back to his country. He was so happy that he cried. However, on the way to Wuchang with the envoy, he was very worried. , for fear that things might change, Zhang Yi felt relieved when he saw Deng Zhi coming out of the city to greet him.
Although Zhang Yi knew Deng Zhi, he had not been acquainted with him when they were in Shu. However, when they met now, they felt very cordial. They kept holding his hand and talking until the envoy coughed from behind, and the two of them stopped talking. .
Deng Zhi said to the envoy: "My envoy has worked hard all the way. The King of Wu has agreed to return Zhang Fujun. Now please hand Zhang Fujun over to someone."
The envoy didn't know whether it was true or not, and just looked at the Wu official behind Deng Zhi. The official nodded and said that this was what the King of Wu had promised, and that the envoy could just return to his post after handing over the person. The envoy did not question this and bowed farewell to Deng Zhi and Zhang Yi. Seeing that the handover was completed, Deng Zhi immediately asked Zhang Yi to get in the car and go to the post house to rest.
"Bo Miao has done a great job, traveling between the two places and uniting the two countries. It is really a great achievement." Zhang Yi said with a smile. He has calmed down now and is putting his hands on the stove next to the desk to keep warm.
Deng Zhiqian said: "How dare you take credit? This is all the result of the Prime Minister's strategizing. Zhi is just running errands to spread the word."
Zhang Yi took a sip of hot tea and said again: "Bo Miao is too modest. The Han and Wu families have deep grudges. You can exchange affection between the two countries, which is something ordinary people cannot do. Alas, a certain person was manipulated by Xiao Xiao and detained in another country. , doing nothing, I don’t know how to face the Prime Minister when I return to Chengdu one day.”
Deng Zhi advised: "Don't be depressed, Mr. Zhang. Yizhou County is far away from the capital and the situation is dangerous. Your Majesty went deep into the dangerous place alone and was taken advantage of by Yong Kai's thieves without noticing. Please don't worry about it. Prime Minister, he is here." The people in Shu are also very worried about Duke Zhang and look forward to his early return to Shu to help the king."
After listening to Deng Zhi's advice, Zhang Yi's mood improved. He stood up and paid homage: "Prime Minister, I will certainly live up to your sincerity. I will certainly not forget Bo Miao's great kindness." How could Deng Zhi dare to greet Zhang Yi? He quickly got up to avoid it, helped him up, and sat back down.
"Mr. Zhang, although the King of Wu has promised to release you, he said that he would summon you before leaving. He also hopes that you will be dealt with carefully to prevent the King of Wu from changing his mind. As long as we leave Wuchang City, we can follow the Prime Minister's instructions. The plan is to return to Shu." Zhang Yi understood the pros and cons and nodded in agreement.
Early the next morning, someone from the Wu Palace invited Zhang Yi to the palace to meet the King of Wu. Although Sun Quan agreed to Deng Zhi's request for release at the banquet that day, he thought afterwards that Zhuge Liang specifically entrusted Deng Zhi to return the officials of Western Shu. Is it really to stabilize the people of Shu? Moreover, although Deng Zhi also requested the release of other Shu officials, he seemed to care about Zhang Yi the most in his words. Is it because Zhang Yi had the highest official position and he cared the most? Sun Quan couldn't come up with a clue after thinking about it, but he was suspicious by nature and planned to make a fuss after seeing Zhang Yi. It was not that he was going to break the promise, but to see who Zhuge Liang valued. also?
It turned out to be an old man. Sun Quan looked at Zhang Yi standing at the foot of the stairs and couldn't help but complain. After giving Zhang Yi a seat, Sun Quan thought of it and asked, "I heard that the widow of the Zhuo family in Shu once eloped with Sima Xiangru. How can the customs in your area be like this?"
Zhang Yi saw the sarcasm made by Lord Wu and replied without thinking: "King Wu, I foolishly thought that this widowed woman of the Zhuo family was much more virtuous than Zhu Maichen's daughter."
Needless to say, the story of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun. Zhu Maichen was a minister of the Western Han Dynasty and a native of Wu County, Kuaiji County. He spent the first half of his life in poverty. His wife left because she could not bear the poor life. Unexpectedly, Zhu Maichen was appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and became a great minister. He was an official, so his wife was ridiculed by the world because she was blind and could not accompany her husband until he became prosperous.
Sun Quan used the story of the elopement of Zhuo Wenjun and Sima Xiangru to mock the customs of Shu, but he didn't want Zhang Yi to use the story of Zhu Maichen's wife to say that the customs of Wu were not as good as those of Shu?
Sun Quan saw that Zhang Yi had handled the situation well and was not angry at all. He asked again: "After returning to the country, the Duke will definitely serve Xi Shu. He will not stay in the countryside like a farmer. How can the Duke repay Yu Gu?" "
Sun Quan was testing Zhang Yi to see if there would be any harm done to him after Zhang Yi returned to serve as an official. Of course, Zhang Yi understood what Sun Quan meant. He got up and went to the palace to worship with tears: "If you return with a guilt, you will hand over your life to Yousi." Dispose of it. If I am lucky enough to save my head, my life before the age of fifty-eight was given by my parents, and from then on it will be a gift from the king."
Seeing that Zhang Yi remembered the kindness he had given him back, Sun Quan felt relieved and happily took Zhang Yi to continue talking about the customs and customs of Wu and Shu. During this period, Zhang Yi responded with restraint and spoke in a reasonable manner. Sun Quan gradually showed his affection for him. Appreciation of talent.
Seeing this, Zhang Yi suddenly felt rude and hurriedly said goodbye because it was getting late. Although Sun Quan felt reluctant to leave, he had to agree and told Zhang Yi that he would come to Soochow as a guest in the future when he was free.
Zhang Yi came out of the palace gate and hurried to the post house. On the way, he couldn't help but regret that he had not pretended to be stupid to attract Sun Quan's attention. He thought that Sun Quan was reluctant to let him go, so it seemed that he had to follow his plan to successfully return to Shu.
As soon as he found Deng Zhi at the post house, Zhang Yi was about to tell the situation. Deng Zhi also felt that if he left quickly, there might be changes, so he immediately ordered someone to change Zhang Yi's clothes, pretending to be an ordinary old servant and quietly driving with his subordinates. Out of town. Deng Zhi is now a guest of Soochow. As long as he does not leave, his subordinates can go out of the city to do business.
Sure enough, when they arrived at the city gate, the guard sergeant saw that the Shu envoy was sending people out of the city for business, checked the travel token, and immediately let them go. After getting out of the city, Zhang Yi couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately followed the plan and rushed to ten miles outside the city, where there was a ship that Deng Zhi had prepared. After boarding the ship, Deng Zhi, the envoy from Western Shu, sent his subordinates back to Shu to report on the alliance between the two countries. Along the way, the officials and soldiers of the Eastern Wu Dynasty had no doubts, because this was a common occurrence, so Zhang Yi and the others had a smooth journey. No obstacles, speed up.
But on the afternoon of the next day, Deng Zhi estimated that Zhang Yi had gone far away, so he immediately asked to see Sun Quan to say goodbye. In fact, Sun Quan was still considering whether to keep Zhang Yi. When he heard Deng Zhi coming to say goodbye, he immediately asked Prime Minister Sun Shao: "Zhang Yi is an outstanding talent. He will definitely become Zhuge Liang's great arm after he returns. Such a talent, how can he be alone?" I don’t want to give it back to Xishu. But now that I have promised Deng Zhi, I can’t regret it anymore.”
Sun Shao understood that his master wanted to regret leaving Zhang Yi but could not lose face, so he immediately replied: "Your Majesty, why don't you pretend that I, Soochow, feel sorry for Zhang Yi's previous exile, so I want to keep him here for a longer time to chat. To compensate, we can send Deng Zhi back to Shu first. In this way, wouldn’t Zhang Yi’s future stay still be in the hands of the Supreme Being?”
When Sun Quan heard this, he said happily: "The Prime Minister is really resourceful and this plan is brilliant. Come, tell Deng Zhi to go to the palace."
Deng Zhi didn't expect that King Wu really wanted to regret it, so he couldn't hide it at this moment, so he had to tell him directly: "King Wu's kindness, I accept it on behalf of Mr. Zhang. It's just that Mr. Zhang missed his family very much, so he returned to Shu yesterday. In this way, only if there is a chance in the future, let Duke Zhang come to Wu to pay homage to the king."
Sun Quan didn't expect that Deng Zhi would do this to him. Although he was angry, he couldn't let it out at this time, so he had to force a smile and said: "It's such a pity."
"Forget it. Since my mission has been completed, I will order Prime Minister Sun to go out of the city for me tomorrow to see you off. I also have a handwritten letter here, please give it to Prime Minister Zhuge."
Deng Zhi immediately put it away and said goodbye. Sun Quan held Deng Zhi's hand and walked straight to the palace gate. Before leaving, he gave him some wine and said, "After this farewell, when will I be able to see Bo Miao again?"
Hearing this, Deng Zhi was also quite reluctant to say goodbye, and shed tears and said: "As long as Wu and Shu always form a good alliance and the exchanges on the river continue, there will be many opportunities for Zhi and the king to meet again. Deng Zhi bids farewell to the king."
Sun Quan looked at Deng Zhi's carriage going away. Although he was reluctant to leave, he could only turn back to the palace. After entering the palace gate, he suddenly smiled at Sun Shao and said, "The Prime Minister quickly sent people to recover Zhang Yi. Zhuge Liang made a move, how could I not fight back?"
After all, Sun Quan's pursuers failed to catch up with Zhang Yi. With the support of Yong'an Li Yan, Zhang Yi had already entered the Shuhan boundary for dozens of miles, and the pursuers could only look at the situation and return in lamentation.
