"Dare to ask, but Mr. Guo Congshi?" Guo Hong saw that the thirty-six or seventeen-year-old scholar came to open the door, so he bowed down and asked.

"I am Guo Congshi, are you Guo Hongzheng, the second eldest of Guo Zhongwen's family?" This person looked at Guo Hong's face covered with white spots, and was a little puzzled.

Guo Hong knew what he thought, so he explained: "I am Guo Hong...... Zheng, once in Huayin suffered a lightning strike, leaving markings on his face, the day before yesterday I got a letter from the predecessors of Luofu Mountain Xuanyuan, asking me to come here to find Mr., this is a token. He said as he took out the purple jade pendant from his bosom.

Guo Congshi led him into the study, took out a piece of paper from the bookshelf and spread it out to check the pattern, and after a long time, he breathed a sigh of relief, and returned the jade pendant to Guo Hongdao: "I am your distant cousin, and now the situation is sinister, I have to act carefully, Erlang is not strange." ”

Guo Hong said: "Where, this is the proper meaning. I just don't know where this pattern comes from? ”

Guo Congshi said: "This is the person in charge." The family lives close, so we'll go there now. ”

He hurriedly greeted his wife, and at this time, several children also came out to meet Guo Hong.

Guo Congshi only told them that he was a distant relative, and did not say the real name of "Guo Hongzheng".

He has six sons, the eldest son Guo Hongye and the second son Guo Hongyu are similar in age to Guo Hong, and the other four sons are not much different, and the youngest is also five years old.

Guo Congshi led Guo Hong to Changxingfang next door to the west of Qinrenfang, and further west of Changxingfang is Anrenfang, where Du Mu lives.

He said as he walked: "There are thousands of families in the old mansion, all of whom are children of the Guo family, and they can't expand if they are crowded together with the same clan, so they usually move out to buy a house when they become officials." One is to meet your third uncle, your father, second uncle, and third uncle all live there, plus your fourth and fifth uncle's houses, which are called small five rooms. Guo Congshi said as he walked.

In this era, people pay attention to living together, if it weren't for Princess Shang as a concubine, generally there would be no separation within three generations.

However, the state collects taxes on a household-by-household basis, and stipulates that after an adult marries a wife, he must pay taxes separately from his parents and brothers, so there will be a situation where separate households do not live together but pay taxes separately.

Guo Hongsan's uncle's family was with his father Guo Zhongwen's family, and they were merged into Changxingfang Guo Mansion, and the big house was Guo Zhongwen's lineage.

At this time, Guo Hong's mother, Mrs. Ma, had died of illness, his brother Guo Xingzhang went to Jiangxi, the eldest sister and the second sister were both married, and there was originally a third sister in the house, who was four years older than him, but suddenly disappeared two years ago.

The house was empty, so the second sister's family moved back.

The second room is Guo Zhongwu's family, and now they are all in charge of Langzhou Assassin, and only servants are in the courtyard.

The third room is Guo Zhongli's house.

Guo Congshi and Guo Hong walked to the gate of Guo's mansion.

When the gatekeeper saw that it was Guo Congshi, he invited them in, and then reported inside.

Guo Congshi led Guo Hong through several portals, entered a large courtyard, and saw a middle-aged man about forty years old practicing swords.

Guo Congshi whispered that this is the third uncle Guo Zhongli.

After Guo Zhongli finished practicing his sword, he took the handkerchief given by the servant and wiped his sweat, and turned his head to look at the two.

Guo Congshi stepped forward to salute and said, "Third brother, I will bring Hongzheng to see you." ”

Guo Hong also saluted and called the third uncle, Guo Zhongli nodded, looked at him carefully before making a gesture and asked the two to follow into the living room and sit down.

Guo Hong saw it and knew that the third uncle was taciturn, so he didn't squint and watched the changes.

Guo Zhongli sat down and took a sip of tea, and said: "Hongzheng has suffered outside in the past few years, but your identity is not suitable for outsiders to know now, fortunately, there are patterns on your face, which can be regarded as a blessing from God, as long as you are careful, you will not be discovered by the palace." ”

Guo Hong said that he is now studying under Liu Yuanjing and does not remember what happened before the age of twelve, Guo Zhongli didn't know what he was thinking with a cold face, and said to Guo Congshi after a while: "I won't keep you, go back and work hard, and the way out is to take the Jinshi exam as soon as possible." ”

Guo Congshi nodded and got up, saluted and said goodbye to Guo Hong before turning around and leaving.

Guo Hong knew that the third uncle had something to tell him alone, and sure enough, Guo Zhongli sent all the servants out, and looked at it for a moment before saying: "Back then, the Empress Dowager entrusted Erlang to Xuanyuanji, and I didn't expect you to go to Hengshan after leaving the palace. ”

"Light thief?"

"It's the thief who usurped the throne, and he was originally named the King of Light."

It turned out that Guo Zhongli was talking about Emperor Dazhong.

Guo Hong listened and asked: "The Empress Dowager sent a message to me to come to Chang'an, what happened?" ”

"I only know a rough idea, the Empress Dowager has a secret in her hands about the Tang Dynasty, the eunuchs in the palace think it is a secret treasure, and they dig three feet into the ground to find it everywhere, I heard the Empress Dowager mention it once, it seems to be related to Princess Yuzhen and Xiuxian. In fact, where will my Guo family have any treasures? There are so many children in Qinrenfang, and they spend a lot every year, which is like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's edict, even if the ancestors left gold and silver, they would have already been divided into families. The exact way to do this will not be known until you meet my rebel, who has now changed his name. ”

Guo Hong asked, "What is my cousin's name now?" ”

He changed his name to Guo Jingshu and became a palace envoy. Your third sister is not missing, in fact, she also entered the palace, according to the queen mother's wishes, and gave it to King Yun as a concubine, and now she is pregnant with Liujia, it has been eight months, and the true identities of the two of them are confidential, only me and your second uncle (Guo Zhongwu) know. ”

"King Yun?" Guo Hong didn't understand who it was for a while.

"It is the eldest son of the light thief, named Li Wen, the king of Huichang in the sixth year."

It turned out to be him!

The jade pendant that Guo Hong stole from Lingyou in Weishan belonged to this person, and it is said that he had a strange disease at that time, and he didn't expect to become a third brother-in-law.

"My third sister is the concubine of King Yun...... So the Empress Dowager has arranged a lot of back-ups? ”

Guo Zhongli said: "Yes, presumably the light thief was also aware of it, so he poisoned the Empress Dowager to death." ”

Guo Hong digested these amazing secrets, but he immediately found a problem and said, "Why me?" Shouldn't the secrets left by the Empress Dowager be handed over to the princes of the first emperor? ”

"After the thief usurped the throne, he killed the five princes of the first emperor, only the eldest son Li Jun was placed under house arrest in the Sixteen Princes' Mansion, because of his biological mother Wang Shufei, he was not poisoned, but he was also like a prisoner."

Guo Hong asked, "Concubine Wang?" ”

"Concubine Wang Shufei was implicated in Wang Cairen's rebellion case and was sent to the cold palace. After the light thief succeeded to the throne, he released her, and now lives in Xingqing Palace. ”

Guo Hong didn't want to care about any old cases in the palace, so he took out the purple jade pendant and asked, "This jade pendant is a relic of the Queen Mother?" ”

Guo Zhongli took the jade pendant, his hands trembled slightly, and he gently stroked it and said: "Look at the word 'Nianyun' on it, this is the name of the Empress Dowager!" And here...... The Queen Mother cultivates the Taoism, scrapes off a trace of it every day, and accumulates over time to form this missing corner. ”

Guo Hong sat down and said, "Third uncle, what kind of Taoism is the Queen Mother cultivating?" ”

Guo Zhongli said: "I can't remember this clearly, it seems to be the Taoism left by Princess Yuzhen, what is it called......"

Guo Hong continued: "The Yellow Emperor's Yin Fu Sutra? ”

"Yes, this is it! It seems that you have learned the Tao in Hengshan in the past few years, and your knowledge is very extensive. ”

Guo Hong nodded and said, "Then what is the origin of the pattern on the back of this jade pendant?" ”

Guo Zhongli said: "I don't know much about this, but there were several pieces of jade with this pattern back then, and the strange thing is that these jade artifacts are all mutilated." The first emperor somehow ordered to collect five pieces, but then Wang Cairen rebelled against the chaos in the palace, four of which were missing, and only this piece of purple jade was kept in the hands of the queen mother. ”

Guo Hong frowned slightly, this was the second time he heard Guo Zhongli mention the rebellion case, so he asked: "Third uncle, what is the matter with Wang Cairen's rebellion?" ”

Guo Zhongli nodded and said: "Hey, this is an old thing in the palace, Erlang originally knew about it, so let's talk about it carefully if I have nothing to do today, maybe you can think of something."

"After the powerful eunuch Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hong aspired to become the first emperor, they thought that their merits were high, so they used their blessings. In the third year of Huichang, the first emperor couldn't bear to kill Yu Hongzhi, Qiu Shiliang was afraid, and he proposed Zhishi, and he died of illness after a few months. In the fourth year of Huichang, Liu Zhi's rebellion was quelled, and when the time came to liquidate the Qiu family, the first emperor took advantage of the reason to make trouble, and killed Qiu Shiliang's eldest son Xuanhui to make Qiu Congguang, and the rest of the Qiu sons were either degraded or released, and the two forces of Qiu and Yu were swept away.

But Qiu Shiliang has been running the Shence Army for many years, and his protégés and former officials are all over the army, and Ma Yuanzhen, the lieutenant of the Left Army, is his cronie. Ma Yuanzhen felt that his position might not be guaranteed, and when the enemy's mansion was raided, he fought back, and worked hard to collect criminal evidence, we all thought that he had changed his mind, who knew that this was a sinister and cunning evil slave, secretly plotting with the light thief to kill the king.

In the first month of the fifth year of Huichang (845), the first emperor collected five pieces of jade, and said to the ministers that the immortal road was promising, so he ordered the 3,000 people of the Shence army to build Wangxiantai in the inner garden, and added the Wangxian Gate in the outer city of Daming Palace.

"In June, the two were all built, the palace had a large feast, Wang Cairen was pampered, wanted to ask for one of the jade as a reward, and was resentful after being rejected, the first emperor was irritable, but he was a man who dominated the world, and would not coax women to be happy, and the thief took the opportunity to seduce Wang Cairen, and the two of them did things in the palace ban through Ma Yuanzhen's arrangement.

"Qiu Shiliang's party has a close relationship with Buddhism, and in order to fight against the enemy's forces and clear his wings, the first emperor began to destroy Buddhism. At that time, the discussion was boiling, so the court also argued, and the first emperor was difficult to make a decision for a while.

But the enemy party can't wait, in August, the light thief instructed Wang Cairen to poison and rebel, after the defeat of the palace chaos, four pieces of jade missing, the first emperor was angry and gave the Wang family to death, the light thief relied on the cover of Buddhism to get out, so the first emperor immediately ordered to completely destroy the Buddha and destroy the temple, and pursue this thief!

Although Ma Yuanzhen participated in the reverse case, this old thief and slave were cunning and cunning by nature, and he saw that the situation was not good, so he used the left army to sentence Meng Xiurong to come out and take the blame and escape. When Qiu Shiliang was the supervisor of Fengxiang in his early years, Meng Xiurong served as a judge under him and was a loyal lackey of the enemy. Meng Thief claimed that he did not investigate for a while, and did not intend to let go of the light thief, and the first emperor demoted him to Gongling, the eastern capital.

"In the sixth year of Huichang, Ma Yuanzhen and others colluded inside and outside, and finally killed the first emperor and blamed Zhao Guizhen and others.

Guo Hong heard this and asked: "I went to Dongshi the day before yesterday, and I heard someone singing a song, telling the story of Wang Cairen, saying that the first emperor asked her about her wishes before he died, and she promised to be buried, and the first emperor died and Wang Cairen committed suicide, and now ...... After the light thief usurped the throne, he was named a virtuous concubine and buried in Duanling. But the same person? ”

Guo Zhongli slapped the case heavily and said angrily: "It's all fake!" The light thief reads books every day, is called an old Confucian in the palace, and likes to write legends and other words. The rumors in the market are all made up by himself, and he named that slut as a virtuous concubine just to disgust the spirit of the emperor in the sky, which can be described as extremely vicious! ”

Guo Hong understood a little, anyway, most of the people praised by Emperor Dazhong were not dealing with Wuzong.

He coughed twice, took a breath and continued: "In fact, when the first emperor was seriously ill, he asked Meng Cairen, and Zhang Hu, who was called Zhang Gongzi by Du Mu, also wrote a poem "Meng Cairen sighed": Occasionally, because of the singing style, he sang the twelve springs in the palace. But for the sake of He Manzi, the next spring must hang Meng Cairen. ”

He Manzi was a singer in Cangzhou during the Kaiyuan period, and he composed music as a song before his execution, and listened to it to the heavens, but in the end he was not pardoned. This song is full of mourning, and those who hear it cry. "He Manzi" later became the title of the Song Ci Brand.

Guo Zhongli took a sip of tea and adjusted his breath before continuing: "The light thief is the best at hypocrisy, and after usurping the throne, he put on a virtuous and filial appearance, he prides himself on remembering the old and relying on the enemy party to come to power, and now the most favored Qiu talent is Qiu Shiliang's granddaughter!"

"Concubine Wang Shuren and Wang Cairen are actually sisters, Concubine Shu is from the Taiyuan Wang family, and the talented person is from the Handan Wang family. I heard that the light thief has recently wanted to learn from the precedent of Emperor Taizong marrying his younger brother-in-law and include Wang Shufei in the harem, so as not to offend the Taiyuan royal family.

"I think he still feels ashamed, after all, Wang Cairen died because of him.

And his beauty Chao was originally the maid of Concubine Wang Shu, the two were like sisters, and Chao was sent by the first emperor who was still King Ying twenty years ago and became the concubine of the light thief.

"It is precisely because of this that the son born to the first emperor and Wang Shufei can live, but now he is under surveillance, and he is not allowed to go out without a will in the Sixteen Princes' Mansion, like a prisoner."

"In the past two years, the light thief has been in stable power, swept away the Li Party, and began to deal with the Guo family, killed the Empress Dowager last year, and released your second uncle to Langzhou this year, I don't know what else to do next? The Guo family is now going to Jiangxi to join your eldest brother, and the rest of the people are living in fear! ”

Guo Zhongli spoke in great detail, not at all as taciturn as he did at first.

It seems that it is just a disguise, he is always under the surveillance pressure of the Emperor Dazhong, and the appearance of not liking words is naturally for people to see.

Now that I see Guo Hong, I finally meet someone I can talk to, and I talk endlessly, from morning to evening.

Guo Hong heard so many secrets, it was like listening to a palace coup, but the murdered Wuzong was his cousin, and the empress dowager was his aunt!

According to Guo Zhongli, the Empress Dowager was unwilling to accept her defeat and targeted Li Wen, the eldest son of Emperor Dazhong, hoping to regain power to the Guo family, and did not want to be suspected of being killed by the emperor.

This emperor killed his mother (Empress Dowager Guo was Tang Xuanzong's mother) to kill his nephew (Wuzong), and wanted to accept his nephew's concubine, and his cruel and vicious place was called "Little Taizong" by later generations, and it really lived up to its name.

Although Guo Hong knew that he should hate the usurping emperor, due to his memory loss and being a time-traveler, it was difficult for him to share the same hatred as Guo Zhongli, and he had no interest in power, and felt as if he was an outsider.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with Tang Xuanzong's ruthlessness, which emperor was not selfish or vicious? Tang Taizong killed his own brother, and Emperor Wu of Han even killed his son.

The emperor's throne can only sit on one person, if he wants to go up, he has to fight, and the survival of the fittest survives, how can you let him not be ruthless?

However, the Guo family is now on the opposite side of the emperor, which is a natural position, and there is no way to change it.

As for Ziyu Pei's matter, only when he sees his cousin Guo Jingshu can he get further information.

"Then in the opinion of the third uncle, what should I do now?"

Guo Zhongli said: "The palace has not given up monitoring me, there is a lot of inconvenience here, Erlang and go back and wait for news, I will contact Wang Shufei and that rebel (Guo Jingshu), and then let Guo Congshi inform Erlang, he knows where you live, right?" ”

Guo Hong said: "I didn't tell him, but I can ask my senior brother to go to his house every day to inquire." ”

"It's best that if things change, there won't be no room for turnaround. Guo Congshi can be trusted, he is the younger generation of the Empress Dowager, and he is also involved in the affairs of the Empress Dowager's relics, and knows part of the inside story. ”

Guo Zhongli sent him to the back door and asked Guo Hong to walk from inside Changxingfang and leave through the Nanfang Gate.

Guo Hong met Cao Shouzhen, who had been waiting for a long time, and returned to Shengpingfang together.

Liu Yanniang is sick, Zhang Yanyuan has to come over to condolence these days, he said that he has entrusted Liu Gongquan and Liu Zhongying, and Yu Chengzhao's case will definitely have a result soon.

Yun Xuansu also came to visit, and Wang Du was all playing with Xiao Xuanji in the courtyard.

Lu Zhizhen's injuries have healed, and he is investigating Yizhen's movements near Qinglong Temple.

As soon as Yan Niang fell asleep, Yun Xuansu saw them coming back, so she went out to the living room and asked about today's situation.

Guo Hong said that he went to visit his third uncle, Guo Zhongli.

Yun Xuansu saw Chen Taihe sent a message from Qingcheng that day, knowing what Guo Hong was going to do in Chang'an, and also understanding that he was Guo Zhongwen's second son, so he said, "Didn't see your second brother-in-law?" ”

Guo Hong was stunned, he didn't go to the long room next door, and he didn't ask his third uncle about the situation at home.

Yun Xuansu said with a smile: "You can't be so unsophisticated, since you are a sister and brother-in-law, and there is only a wall apart, you must go and see it, it is still good for you to walk in Chang'an." ”

Guo Hong asked, "Who is my second brother-in-law?" ”

"Haha, you don't even know your brother-in-law? He is a dignified servant, and he thinks that the pomp and circumstance of marriage were very large, and he was very beautiful in Chang'an City for a while. ”

Guo Hong asked, "What is the carving servant?" ”

Yun Xuansu knew about Guo Hong's amnesia, and patiently explained: "His name is Gao Yu, and he was born in a generation. Senior sister still listened to her husband, Gao Qianli (Gao Yu) first joined the forbidden army, the spirit is very high, one day with the emperor hunting, saw two eagles flying together, and said: "If I can shoot, I will become a nobleman!" Then he killed two birds with one stone, and the others who saw it were astonished, and called him the Fallen Eagle Servant. ”

"I can't imagine that my brother-in-law is still a marksman!" Guo Hong followed Liu Tai to learn archery, and naturally knew the difficulty of killing two birds with one stone on a horse.

Ling Zun was a general of Jinwu at the time, and when he heard about this, he recruited him as his son-in-law. It's just that now he is also affected by the Guo family, and he is slowly boiling his qualifications in the Shence Army, and it is impossible to be promoted quickly. ”

Guo Hong understood that it was impossible for anyone who was close to the Guo family to be reused.

Gao Biao's marriage was set by Ling Zun before his death, he died in the second year of Huichang, and Ling Sister kept filial piety for three years. In the fifth year of Huichang, Gao Yu married your second sister, and it was the heyday of the Guo family, and the Manchu Dynasty had said that the scenery was tight. ”

The two talked again, and Guo Hong heard a lot of secrets about the Houmen of Chang'an from Yun Xuansu.

Ps：

Historical figures: Guo Congshi, Guo Hongye, Guo Hongyu, etc., Guo Zhongli.