Bianjing City, Ningyuan Street, Ningyuan Houfu.
Outside the corner door, the porter looked at a young man in a Confucian shirt, with a dragon-like and phoenix-like figure, holding a famous post, and did not dare to neglect it. He immediately bowed and saluted and said: "Sir, wait a moment, I will go and report to you now!"
Changbai cupped his hands and said, "Thank you very much!"
After a while, the young man trotted out again and bowed to Changbai respectfully: "I have kept you waiting for a long time. The Marquis has invited me. Please follow me this way!"
The young man led Gu Er all the way to the front hall. He was dressed in rich brocade clothes and had a strong back but wrinkles on his face. He looked at Ningyuan Hou Gu Yankai, who was much older than his father, sitting at the top of the table. Holding a tea cup.
"Nephew Sheng Changbai, I have met the Marquis!" Changbai called himself his nephew, not to establish a relationship with Marquis Ningyuan, but to show that the purpose of his visit this time was not for official business.
"There's no need to be so polite, just take a seat!" Seeing Changbai, Gu Yankai's face showed a rare smile. Although his son didn't live up to expectations, among the few friends he made, one was better than the other, and one was better than the other. At the same time, Gu Yankai couldn't help but envy Sheng Hong. Not only did Chang Bai have such an outstanding son, Wang Zhong, who was so talented, was about to become his son-in-law.
When Gu Er went to the Sheng family's school to study, Gu Yankai, as Gu Er's father, personally visited the Sheng family with gifts, met Chang Bai, and even visited Zhuang Xuexue in person. Naturally, he also Changbai had met each other before, but although the two families gave gifts during every year and festival, there was not much contact.
Like today, it was the first time that Chang Bai visited the Marquis Mansion.
Changbai cupped his hands and said, "I should have come to visit you a long time ago, but I have been busy with worldly affairs recently, so I have no time. I hope the Marquis will forgive me!"
Gu Yankai had a very good attitude towards his son's friends like Changbai. After all, he was not one of those friends who only took his son to look for flowers and flowers all day long. He said with a smile: "Zecheng just got married, and he has filled the gap. He can be busy." It’s inevitable that this is what happened to me when I was young!”
"By the way, how is your health lately? How is the old lady at home?"
Changbai said: "Master Lao is thinking about you. My father and mother are in good health and everything is fine. My grandmother took her sixth sister back to her hometown in Youyang in early autumn, but she hasn't come back yet! She did write a letter, saying that she felt comfortable staying in her hometown. I’m a little reluctant to go back to Bianjing.”
After the two exchanged pleasantries, Changbai got into the topic.
"The first thing I came to visit this time is to take a look at the Marquis for Zhong Huai, and to report to the Marquis that he is safe!"
Not wanting to listen to Chang Bai's words, the smile on Gu Yankai's face disappeared in an instant. With a bit of sullenness, he snorted heavily: "Huh! That traitor still knows that I am his father!"
If Chang Bai hadn't been there, Gu Yan would have been so angry that he would have slapped the table and thrown the cup.
Changbai said: "There is no overnight feud between father and son. In fact, Zhonghuai is well aware of the concern and love the Marquis has for Zhonghuai. When we were drinking in private, Zhonghuai would often proudly tell me and Zihou, Among his peers in the Gu family, he was the only one who received personal instruction from the Marquis and received the true inheritance of the Marquis's art of war and martial arts.
Parents love their son, and they have far-reaching plans. This prince is so devoted to Zhonghuai's future. How could Zhonghuai not know that as a son, he would inevitably long for some love and concern from his father. "
When Chang Bian was talking, he was always paying attention to Gu Yankai's expression. Watching Gu Yankai's expression change, Chang Bai continued: "Zhong Huai also knows what the Marquis expects of him, and he made up his mind before leaving the capital. He must do something good so that the Marquis can see that he is not the ignorant and unskilled libertine that the Marquis sees."
"It would be great if he really has this determination, don't just say it!" Although Gu Yankai still said something tough, his eyes had betrayed him.
Changbai continued while observing: "Now Zhonghuai is in Quanzhou. Recommended by Zihou, he temporarily takes the post of Superintendent of Soldiers and Horses in Quanzhou. He leads the troops to sea and annihilates seven or eight groups of powerful pirates entrenched on the sea route. , beheaded more than 300 people, captured more than a thousand people, and achieved considerable military exploits."
Gu Yankai was stunned for a moment when he heard this. Gu Er didn't even say hello to him before leaving Bianjing. He originally thought that Gu Er would live in the world, or go to Yangzhou to take care of the Bai family's properties and hang out in the world. , unexpectedly went to Quanzhou and joined the army quietly.
"They are just some pirates, they can be said to be war achievements!" Gu Yankai said with some disdain: "The soldiers and horses in Quanzhou are all in charge, which sounds nice, but the soldiers and horses in Quanzhou are just a group of archers and brave warriors. He is not even a Xiangjun. He has little fighting power and can only bully a few pirates."
"Of course it can't be compared with the Marquis, but for Zhonghuai, it's still a good start. Now Quanzhou magistrates Chen Jun and Zihou have jointly signed a letter to ask for credit for Zhonghuai! It's just..."
Changbai changed his voice and said: "It's just that in Quanzhou, as the Marquis said, Zhonghuai is a military general. If he stays in Quanzhou for a long time, he will naturally have no future. Therefore, Zhonghuai entrusted Zihou long ago and wrote to the officials to recommend him. He went to Huaihe and Huaihe to quell the rebellion, but Zhonghuai had offended officials because of his false statements as a child!"
"So you came to me because you want me to enter the palace to seek help from the officials and give that scoundrel a chance?" Gu Yankai looked at Changbai and said.
Changbai said: "Master Hou is aware of this! It's just that Zhonghuai doesn't know about this. It was Zihou and I's idea."
Gu Yankai looked at Changbai, looked at Changbai's open and upright eyes, and couldn't help but sigh: "That scoundrel is really lucky to have friends like you and Wang Zihou who have carefully planned for him."
Changbai said: "Zhong Huai has always had great ambitions. Zi Hou and I met Zhong Huai because we have similar interests and admire Zhong Huai's character!"
Gu Yankai snorted again: "What kind of character can that traitor have if he doesn't hesitate to fall out with his family for the sake of a woman?"
Obviously, Mr. Gu still had a grudge against Gu Er because of Zhu Manniang's falling out with him.
Changbai explained: "Although Zhong Huai is smart, he is a little younger after all, and he lacks a little experience and knowledge. Naturally, he is not as sharp-eyed as the Marquis. He is helpless if he is not aware of it for a moment and is deceived by others."
"However, according to Zihou's letter, Zhonghuai had seen the true face of the woman. He just wanted her to give birth to children for Zhonghuai. After all, he couldn't bear to kill her, so he just exiled her overseas and never allowed them to return to the Song Dynasty. !”
Gu Yankai was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Chang Bai in disbelief: "Did that traitor really drive that woman away?"
Changbai took out the letter written by Wang Chong from his sleeve, "This is a letter written by Zihou. Zihou is a person who never talks lightly and will never joke about such things."
Gu Yankai took the letter and scanned it carefully. When he saw Wang Zhong mentioning Gu Er's current situation in Quanzhou in his mind, he read it carefully.
Unfortunately, the letter was not long and could not be too detailed. Wang Zhong only said that Gu Er saw Zhu Manniang's true face and knew that she was not a kind person, which would lead to her children being taught bad things, so he banished her overseas and returned her to the country. It is said that Gu Er's two children are now at Wang Zhong's home, and Wang Zhong's sister-in-law is taking care of them.
Finally, it was mentioned that Gu Er was planning to go to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion, but for fear of another incident, Gu Er asked Chang Bai to go to Ningyuan Hou Mansion to see if he could get Gu Hou to come forward and help Gu Er.
After Gu Yankai finished reading the letter, he sighed with a complicated expression, not sure if it was relief or emotion.
After Changbai left, Xiao Qin hurried over with a gloomy face after receiving the news. When he saw Gu Yankai, a surprise smile appeared on his face again, and he asked impatiently: "I heard that Erlang of the Sheng family brought Any news about our Ting Ye?"
Gu Yan said: "Erlang went to Quanzhou and became the military commander and made great contributions!"
An unnatural flash passed in Xiao Qin's eyes, but the surprised smile on his face became brighter: "Really? Let me just say, Erlang is a good boy, but he was just young and ignorant. Now he has returned from his lost ways and has become an official. , it’s a great joy to have made a contribution.”
After saying that, he immediately turned around and called to the nanny beside him: "Come here, tell me to go down and have the kitchen cook more good meals and dishes, and prepare a few jugs of good wine. Let's celebrate!"
Gu Yankai was also in a good mood. Although in front of Changbai just now, he seemed to look down on the things Gu Er had done, but in fact he was very happy in his heart. As the saying goes, a prodigal son returns with gold. My dandy son finally did something serious, instead of just looking for flowers and having fun all day long.
"It's just that the traitor had offended the official family before!" Speaking of this, Gu Yankai couldn't help but sigh quietly in his heart, and glanced at Xiao Qin with a complicated look, not knowing what he was thinking.
Gu Yankai hurriedly entered the palace to ask for an audience with the officials and left. When Gu Yankai left, the smile on Xiao Qin's face disappeared without a trace, and there was a cold glimmer in his eyes.
"This villain actually went to Quanzhou and made meritorious deeds!" Xiao Qin said through gritted teeth.
The waiter at the side said to my mother: "We don't have much manpower in the south!"
Xiao Qin's face showed a sinister expression: "Just because we don't have it, it doesn't mean that others don't have it."
In just a short moment, countless figures flashed through Xiang's mother's mind, and with a sudden flash of inspiration, she asked with some uncertainty: "Madam, are you talking about those people from the Bai family?"
Xiao Qin said: "The Bai family's huge family fortune and mountains of money have now all belonged to Gu Tingye. Would the Bai family have no idea?"
Xiang's mother said with some worry: "But the Bai family is just a salt merchant after all, and now the Bai family's family business is in the hands of the second master. I am afraid..."
"There are some good people who dare to be salt merchants!" Xiao Qin said.
"If the earthen pot is not broken outside the well mouth, the general will inevitably die in front of the battle. Isn't he going to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion? There are thousands of troops on the battlefield. Even if there is an accident, no one else can be blamed."
Xiang's mother's eyes lit up, as if she had seen the dawn, and a smile appeared on her face, and she complimented: "What the lady said is absolutely true!"
Xiao Qin's cold voice sounded again, his face was as sinister as a poisonous snake, and his eyes were venomous: "You must not leave this matter to others, let your family go to Yangzhou in person! Remember to bring more money, Don’t be afraid of spending money.”
"I understand!" Aunt Xiang was also a little excited.
Xiao Qin looked at herself in the mirror with a ferocious face, and her eyes were in a daze for a moment. She had pretended to be kind and kind for so long, and sometimes even she couldn't tell which one was her true face.
"For Saburo, that villain must die!"
This thought came to mind again, Xiao Qin's eyes widened, and his eyes became firmer.
If it were before, all she wanted was to find ways to make Gu Tingye hate Gu Yankai and the entire Gu family. To drive Gu Tingye out of the Gu family, it would be best to remove him from the family genealogy so that her San Lang could inherit the Gu family business. , inheriting the title of Marquis Ningyuan.
But now, as Gu Er left Bianjing and became prosperous outside, Xiao Qin's thoughts also changed.
As Gu Yankai's pillow, how come Xiao Qin didn't know Gu Yankai's thoughts? She obviously favored Da Lang and treated Gu Er harshly, but in fact she had high hopes for him and loved him very much, but she didn't say it openly. , It’s just that iron can’t be turned into steel. If Gu Er really makes a name for himself, then in the future this prince’s house will still have a title, and there will be nothing to do with her Sanlang.
Xiao Qin has long been paranoid about the title of Marquis Ningyuan, and even for this title, she began to make plans as early as when Gu Er's biological mother, Bai, first married in, and instilled in Gu Tingyu the idea that Bai was his mother-killing enemy. Later, she married into the Marquis Mansion and pretended to be a loving mother in front of outsiders. She planned painstakingly for more than twenty years to put Gu Er above all the brothers in the Gu family. How could she allow Gu Er to transfer the title from her family? Take it away from Saburo!
Gu Er, who was far away in Quanzhou, naturally didn't know that someone in Bianjing City was already worried about his life, and a killing spree against him was about to begin.
In the palace, Emperor Jiayou looked at the old-looking Gu Yankai in front of him, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional when he heard his plea for his son.
"Hey!" Emperor Jiayou sighed and did not answer directly, but asked: "How is your elder brother's health? Has his condition improved?"
Gu Yankai bowed his hands and said respectfully: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. Quan Zi's health is still the same. He is bedridden all day long. The imperial doctor said that Da Lang's disease was brought from his mother's womb and there is no cure!"
The eldest son had been hating the second son since he was a child. Gu Yankai didn't know why. He was just thinking about his friendship with the Xian Qin family, the eldest son's frail body, and his high expectations for Gu Tingye, so he was biased.
Emperor Jiayou said: "I remember that your eldest son only has one daughter?"
Gu Yan opened his hands and said: "The imperial doctor said that the dog is too weak to have children, so he only had one daughter for many years."
Emperor Jiayou looked at Gu Yan and said, "Is Gu Hou going to be forty-eight or forty-nine this year?"
"Your Majesty, I just celebrated my forty-ninth birthday!" Gu Yankai didn't expect Emperor Jiayou to remember his own age so clearly.
Emperor Jiayou said: "I don't think you have reached the age where you know your destiny. Now that you have reached this age, I wonder if you can think about who will be the heir to Ningyuan Hou Mansion in a hundred years?"
Gu Yankai did not expect that Emperor Jiayou would suddenly ask him this question, but he did not panic, because Gu Yankai had already made up his mind: "After the father dies, the son will succeed, the elder brother will succeed the younger brother, this is the ethical code, and it is a natural and rightful thing. I dare not violate it."
Gu Yankai's eldest son has no son, only a daughter. Naturally, a woman cannot inherit the title. In the future, he will either adopt a child from one of his brothers and inherit the title of Ningyuan Marquis, or he will let Gu Tingye become Ningyuan. Hou.
Although Gu Yankai didn't say it clearly, it seemed that Gu Yankai wanted Gu Tingye to inherit the title. Thinking of Gu Er's previous reputation and his performance in Quanzhou, he thought a lot in an instant.
"I have issued a decree to ask the Ministry of War to award rewards according to merit, and to ask the Privy Council to dispatch your second son to go to Lianghuai to quell the rebellion!"
A smile suddenly appeared on Gu Yankai's face, and he hurriedly opened his robe and knelt down and kowtowed to Emperor Jiayou to express his gratitude: "Wei Chen kowtows to thank the saint for the dog!"
······
The reward from the Ministry of War and the transfer order from the Privy Council had just been sent to Tokyo when an urgent message of 800 miles was sent to Tokyo.
For the rest of this year, Haozhou and other places were hit by locust plagues, and the people's fields were deprived of any harvest. The local tycoons took the opportunity to buy land from the people, forcing good people to work as tenant farmers. I don't know how many people lost their families and sold their children and daughters.
At that time, there were riots in several villages. The leaders killed the local wealthy households, robbed money and food, and went up the mountain. Not long after the Double Ninth Festival, the crops in the fields were about to mature, but at this moment, there was a riot. stand up.
A group of rebels set off a rebellion in Dingyuan County, Haozhou. Within a few days, they captured Dingyuan. The magistrate of Dingyuan fled to Haozhou for help. However, the rebel army was so powerful that before Haozhou could send troops, they surrounded the surrounding areas. All the market towns were occupied, and soldiers and horses were stationed on the south bank of Hao River.
The magistrate of Haozhou did not dare to advance rashly, so he recruited local brave men to defend the north bank, and used Haoshui and Moye Mountain as the boundaries to confront the rebels. At the same time, he sent people to notify the nearby prefectures and counties to send troops to trap the rebels in Dingyuan. He never thought of this The group of rebels had already planned and ambushed troops in the surrounding states and counties. They took advantage of the nearby states and counties to send troops and took advantage of the night to raise their troops and rush into the government offices. The surrounding bandits and water bandits responded one after another. Suddenly, these people were The group of rebel thieves created quite a momentum.
Xie Bingde, the commander of the Wuwei Army, immediately led his troops to march north to Haozhou. Unexpectedly, not long after entering the territory of Luzhou, he ran into the rebels head-on. They fought several battles. The rebels hijacked the people, and the number was getting larger and larger. However, Fortunately, they were all rabble-rousers who had never been on the battlefield, and their weapons were of all kinds. Although the Wuwei Army was a Xiang army, it was still a regular army. After several battles, each had its own victory or defeat, and it was difficult to distinguish between them.
I never thought that Xie Bingde was a stupid person, headstrong and incompetent. One night half a month ago, while Xie Bingde was still sleeping, he was attacked by rebels at night. Before he could react, he was captured. The rebels put the knife on their necks. Except for a few of the Wuwei Army soldiers who escaped, most of the rest were captured by the rebels.
Xie Bingde's defeat directly boosted the morale of the rebels. Countless people in the green forest rushed to join him. In just a few days, the number of people increased to 70,000 or 80,000. The momentum was quite huge. The rebels took advantage of the situation and sent troops to attack. In the nearby prefectures and counties, the Jiangnan area has been at peace for a long time. Many of the city walls are damaged, and most of the weapons in the treasury are in disrepair. There is no way to stop the rebels. In addition, regular troops such as the Wuwei Army on Huainan Road have been destroyed. Not to mention the brave people in various states and counties.
The momentum of the rebels is getting bigger and bigger, and green forests in Lianghuai and even Jinghu, Sichuan, Guizhou and other places have responded, raising rebel flags and attacking prefectures and counties.
Emperor Jiayou was already upset about the appointment of a crown prince, but now there was another rebellion. One wave after another, and the princes in the court became more and more anxious about the appointment of a prince. The Grand Prime Minister Han Zhang even led several important ministers to visit the palace in person every day to advise him.
Fortunately, Emperor Jiayou is still here, and the many years of frivolous corvee and meager gifts have given the people below him a sense of belonging to the imperial court. Except for those who have suffered disasters and really can't survive, those who have dreams of becoming princes and prime ministers , and there are also those who have no choice but to be coerced by the rebels, and can only be forced to work outside the rebels. There are almost no people who take the initiative to go within the sphere of influence of the rebels to serve.
The Sheng family, Sheng Hong and Chang Bai are also worried about the safety of Mrs. Sheng and Minglan who are far away in Youyang. After all, Haozhou is not too far from Youyang. Who knows whether this group of rebels will hit Youyang? Yang goes.
However, both father and son were civil servants. Although Changbai practiced some martial arts with Wang Zhong, he mainly focused on strengthening his body and did not focus on killing enemies. Moreover, Bianjing was more than a thousand miles away from Youyang, so the father and son wanted to Help is beyond our reach.
At the same time, in Youyang, which is thousands of miles away, due to its business all over the place and its in-depth cooperation with the Caobang, the Sheng family's news is not as fast as the imperial court, but it is not bad. Moreover, Haozhou is far away from Youyang. There's only one Zhenzhou and one Chuzhou separated, so it's really not too far away.
With the defeat of Wuwei Army, the atmosphere in Youyang gradually changed.
The government office also posted notices to reassure people.
In the old house of the Sheng family in Youyang, Changwu had only been married for more than a month. Originally, Shengwei was going to take Changsong and Shulan to Quanzhou again. After all, the Jihai business in Quanzhou is developing rapidly. At this stage, you have to go and watch in person to feel at ease. Since Changsong will be the person in charge of Jihai Company in the future, he will naturally follow him.
But now that Mrs. Sheng and Minglan were both in Youyang, it was naturally difficult for Sheng Wei and Shulan to leave, so they sent Changsong away and went back to Quanzhou first.
I never thought that such a change would happen just a short time ago.
In the original plot, Gu Er joined the Wuwei Army early. Although the rebels were powerful, the Wuwei Army won consecutive battles on the battlefield and gradually gained the upper hand.
But now Gu Er is still in Quanzhou, and Xie Bingde is an incompetent idiot. He killed thousands of Wuwei Army's troops. With the weapons and supplies of Wuwei Army, the strength of this group of rebels is much stronger than that in the original plot. At that time, it was much stronger, especially in the past ten days, I heard that the rebels had captured several county towns, and their momentum was getting stronger and stronger.
Now that the position of the crown prince has not been decided yet, the old lady is worried about the situation in Bianjing City, fearing that Sheng Hong will not be able to control it himself, and is thinking of returning to the capital.
"Aunt, although the rebels are only around Haozhou now, those murderers and bandits are everywhere. Could it be that aunt has forgotten the group of water thieves that aunt and girl Ming encountered when they came here?" The current situation is There is chaos and bandits everywhere. Sheng Wei is worried about the safety of Mrs. Sheng and Minglan and does not want them to return to Beijing in danger at this time.
Just when Mrs. Sheng was hesitant, Sheng Wei's mother suddenly fell ill.
(End of chapter)
