Coming to Xiangyang Mansion, Zhao Dangshi had three and a half goals, two of which were related to Xiong Wencan.

One is to explore Xiong Wencan's mouth. After all, after fighting bloodily for more than half a month, Zhao Dangshi didn't want to work in vain at the end. Fortunately, from the enthusiastic reactions of the guests and Xiong Wencan himself, we can get a glimpse of the views of others on Zhao Ying, and Chen Hongfan's sentence "The virtuous brother will soon be appointed as the chief soldier" is even more like a needle in the sea, which makes Zhao Dangshi's sorrow disappear.

After the banquet dispersed that night, Zhao Dangshi also stayed at the Chen family manor. The next day, when I met Xiong Wencan, I greatly expressed my loyalty. He knew in his heart that Xiong Wencan, who lacked a foundation in Chuyu, intended to win him over. The northern part of Chu is a heavy place for thieves, even with the help of the soldiers and horses of the Beijing battalion, but the guest army may not be able to stay for a long time, and the most reliable one is not the main army that is rooted in the local area like Zhao Ying. Zhang Xianzhong was originally the first choice, but a series of past facts have proved that Zhao Dangshi would be a better choice.

Although Xiong Wencan appreciates Zhao Dangshi, he is limited by his identity and leaves room for speaking. However, between the lines, it is still intentionally or unintentionally revealed, which will push Zhao Ying to the first class of merit. Chen Hongfan confessed to Zhao Dangshi in private, saying that the credit for breaking the main force of the camp half a month ago had actually been reported to the imperial court, and the evaluation from the military department was quite good. This time, breaking the Cao camp again is equivalent to adding merit to merit, and the court needs to set up a model when employing people, and there will be no disadvantage. Xiong and Chen have a clear position, and Zhao Dangshi can only settle down and wait for the result.

The second is to ask Xiong Wencan for two letters of recommendation. In order to develop in the future, Zhao Dangshi actively broadened his contacts, and he was fortunate to catch the line of Xiong Wencan, which must be used well. As far as Zhao Dangshi knows, Xiong Wencan was recommended by Yang Sichang, a scholar of the current Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University, to be appointed prime minister, so he hoped to contact Yang Sichang and then touch the power center of the Ming Dynasty with this relationship. It's a pity that as soon as Xiong Wencan heard the word "Yang Sichang", his attitude immediately became ambiguous. Through conversation, Zhao Dangshi was keenly aware that the relationship between Xiong Wencan and Yang Sichang may not be as close as imagined. In essence, Xiong Wencan was recommended by Yang Sichang, mostly because Yang Sichang believed that he could implement his "ten-sided net" strategy of suppressing the gang and not others, and in terms of personal relationships, the two had almost no intersection before. And after Xiong Wencan took office, Yang Sichang gradually found that the progress of the suppression of Kou was not as he expected earlier, and he had a lot of criticism of Xiong Wencan. Zhao Dangshi had received information about these things, and now it has been confirmed by Xiong Wencan, and the matter of linking up with Yang Sichang can only be put on hold for the time being.

Yang Sichang can't do it, but the other person Zheng Zhilong can. In the first year of Chongzhen, Xiong Wencan was the governor of Fujian on behalf of Cai Jishan, and in the same year, he recruited Zheng Zhilong, a giant who dominated the southeast sea. At the end of that year, Zheng Zhilong's righteous brother Li Kuiqi was "fighting for the division of thieves and capital to bring about a radical change", "snatching the boat and carrying it, and recruiting rebels". Xiong Wencan and Zheng Zhilong teamed up to defeat them, and appeased Li Kuiqi's arm Zhong Bin, "destroying Kuiqi", and finally helped Zheng Zhilong defeat Li Kuiqi. In the third year of Chongzhen, Zhong Bin and Zheng Zhilong broke up and fought with each other, and Xiong Wencan also contributed a lot to Zheng Zhilong. Yes, and when Xiong Wencan left office in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the two had a good relationship. Talking about Zheng Zhilong, Xiong Wencan immediately relaxed, and every time he spoke, he would call Zheng Zhilong's expression "Feihuang", which was very kind.

Zhao Dangshi had the idea of dating Zheng Zhilong very early, and was later introduced by Chen Hongfan, who met Su Gaozhao, the head of the five merchants of Zhengjiashan, and negotiated the deed. Su Gaozhao was ordered to come to Huguang to inspect the cotton fields, and originally planned to leave in mid-July, but in July and August, Huguang Liukou came and went, and the situation was very unstable. Now that Hui and Cao's second battalions have been defeated and fled deep into the mountains, the thief atmosphere in northern Chu is clear, and it is a good time to return.

Su Gaozhao also attended Chen Hongfan's banquet, and after the two met yesterday, Zhao Dangshi learned that he had decided to leave for Hangzhou in mid-September. In the plan, Zhao Dangshi hoped to meet Zheng Zhilong in person, so he made up his mind and took this opportunity to go to the southeast with Su Gaozhao. However, it was entangled in internal and external affairs, and it was difficult to withdraw for a while, so Chen Hongfan was entrusted to come forward, at least to keep Su Gaozhao until October. Although the result is not yet known, Zheng Zhilong's preparations must be made in advance. With Su Gaozhao, the introducer, and Xiong Wencan's letter of recommendation, Zheng Zhilong will not slack off.

Xiong Wencan values Zhao Dangshi, and of course he readily agreed to a letter. It is difficult to call it a complete achievement, but it is acceptable.

Bidding farewell to Xiong and Chen, and leaving the Chen family manor, the first two goals were basically achieved. Zhao Dangshi did not return to Zaoyang, but bypassed the two gates of Xiangyang Xicheng and Wenchang, and entered Xiangyang Mansion City from the Yangchun Gate of the east city wall. Zhao Dangshi parted ways with Zhou Wenhe, who accompanied him, in the Zhongxuan Building in the city, and Zhou Wenhe went to the county, the government and the yamen of the inspection department to complete the half of the three and a half purposes. The so-called "half purpose" means that the sentencing of Chu Xidi is appropriate. Chu Xi colluded with Cao Ying, opened the city gate and let the thieves enter the city, killing countless officials and people, including Zhu Yuncheng, the magistrate, and the people were stolen, and the evidence was ironclad. But after all, the Chu family has some power in Xiangyang Mansion, Zhao Dangshi is cautious, and he doesn't want anything to go wrong, so Zhou Wenhe ran to the yamen, just in case. Zhao Dangshi himself was alone to achieve the last goal - to visit Huaqing.

Pinching his fingers, it has been three months since Huaqing was admitted to the palace of the Xiang Domain. In the past three months, things have been one after another, and Zhao Dangshi has been overwhelmed, although he is always worried about it in his heart, but he has no time to meet in the end, and the pain of lovesickness is really unspeakable. Now that there is a little gap, Zhao Dangshi has to seize the opportunity to talk about his sorrows.

The Xiangfan Mansion is not far from the Zhongxuan Building, Zhao Dangshi led the horse on foot, and arrived at the main gate of the Xiangfan Mansion in a short time. There are servants sweeping the floor under the green shadow wall in front of the door, Zhao Dangshi reported to the family that the servants passed the report on behalf of the family, and soon there was a burst of laughter, Zhao Dangshi followed the prestige, and saw Zhu Changfa, who was dressed in brocade, strode out.

The two met for a while, and Zhu Changfa narrowed his eyes and said, "Lord Zhao is going inside, and my father is already waiting in the tea pavilion." As he spoke, he smiled, "The county lord is also waiting for you." ”

Zhao Dangshi knew that he liked to joke with his young heart, and he didn't care, so he happily followed him into the house. The palace occupies a wide area, the whole style imitates the Jiangnan garden and is built, the corridor house, the rockery, the pond and so on are endless, the scenery is beautiful, the environment is quiet. Entering the back garden of the palace, an imitation Tang pavilion stands between the trees, and Zhao Dangshi walks up the third floor of the pavilion along the wooden ladder in the pavilion. It was a beautifully furnished room with lattice doors on all sides, but they had all been pulled open. Through the lattice door, you can walk to the perimeter of the railing around the perimeter and look out, you can see the gurgling Han River and the vast mountains in the distance, and even the rammed earth wall on the periphery of the Chen family manor a few miles away. Looking at the interior, all kinds of furnishings and furniture are also unique and distinctive. Some of them are produced in China, some are taken from Japan and Korea, and some are strangely shaped, and the wood used is never seen by Zhao Dangshi, and it is not known which strange country it came from.

Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang, was sitting on a chair, tasting famous tea, and when he saw Zhao Dangshi, he got up to greet him. Zhao Dangshi saw the ceremony, looked around at the furnishings, and felt luxurious and graceful. But looking forward to seeing Hua Qing's figure, it must be somewhere else. Zhu Yiming saw that his eyes were confused, thinking that he was shocked by the interior arrangement, and said with a smile: "It's just a small ornament, it's not enough to worry about it, Lord Zhao, please take a seat." ”

Zhao Dangshi answered, and when he turned around, he accidentally touched an incense burner. The strange thing is that the incense burner seems to be stable and heavy, but it only knocks once, and the body of the pot is tilted, and it is about to fall off the stage. Fortunately, Zhao Dangshi's eyes were quick and he held it up, so he was safe.

Zhu Yiming said with a smile: "Lord Zhao really has a vision, the material selected for this incense burner is the best yellow rosewood in Yazhou, which is carved from a log brought back from Yazhou by the old servant of the house three years ago. ”

Zhu Yiming said carelessly, Zhao Dangshi stuck out his tongue in his heart and thought: "The wealth of the vassal king is true, such a big yellow rosewood can be obtained, I really don't know how much silver money was spent at the beginning." Thinking of Zhao Yingzhi's scarcity, he sighed secretly. For the sake of face, I was embarrassed to ask too much, so I just smiled and nodded, perfunctory.

The two walked to the round table in the hall and sat down opposite each other. The material of this round table is known to Zhao Dangshi, and it must be rosewood. Just thinking about it, I realized that the touch under my feet was wrong, so I glanced down and saw that there were two layers of blankets under my feet. The upper layer was a large tiger skin blanket, and the lower layer, Zhao Dangshi deduced from the exposed corner that it should be a money leopard skin.

Zhu Yiming smiled again: "The rosewood used in this round table is taken from the deep forests of the Zhanbei country; The tiger skin underneath it was hunted by Sauron hunters in the Great Xianbei Mountain. One south and one north, separated by thousands of miles, but they meet here, and it is really interesting to think about it. ”

Zhao Dangshi arched his hand and said: "Thank you for your invitation, and today you have to open your eyes!" ”

Zhu Yiming said with a smile: "Lord Zhao is polite...... This kind of thing is just a vulgar thing, how can it get into the eyes of adults? At this point, the conversation changed, "I heard that the Lord led the brave and strong to attack the giant thief, forcing him to flee away, to ensure the stability of my mansion, and I am here to chat and express my gratitude." "Say it, clap your hands.

Zhao Dangshi looked at him, but saw that the light curtain next to the pavilion moved slightly, and a faint fragrance first drifted into his nose, and then he was surrounded by lightness, and it was actually a slender woman who jumped out. Look at the woman's face again, it is even more beautiful and gentle, which can be called the national color.

"This woman's name is 'Lian Zhi', which was purchased by the people in the house from Suzhou Mansion in Nanzhili, and she is good at singing and dancing, reading poetry and books, gentle and considerate, and the most knowledgeable person. Life needs to be relaxed, Lord Zhao is too tired on weekdays, and it is also good to have an empathetic person to accompany him to relieve fatigue. Zhu Yiming's eyes were full of smiles, and he beckoned to the woman, asking her to kneel and kowtow to Zhao Dangshi.

Zhao Dangshi hurriedly got up to stop it, and said to Zhu Yiming: "The prince is kind, and he understands it in his heart." It's just that military affairs are redundant, and I can't be idle for a moment, and the thieves have not been destroyed, why should I be at home, and in the future, I need to be conscientious and conscientious in official affairs to serve the country's kindness, how can I immerse myself in the gentle township, I hope the prince understands! He added, "If she follows me, she will be mistaken for life." ”

Zhu Yiming waved his hand and said, "Lord Zhao is serious. This woman is not a fox, she knows how to advance and retreat, and she understands etiquette. My original intention was to let her serve the adults to bring tea and water left and right, and take care of daily life, which is better than those rough men in the army who don't know the importance of their hands and feet. What do you think? ”

The other party spoke earnestly with the respect of the emperor, and Zhao Dangshi only felt that his face was not good when he refused again, and he hesitated for a moment and said: "That is the case, it is better to obey your fate than to be respectful, thank you, Lord Wang!" ”

Zhu Yiming raised his head and smiled: "Your Excellency doesn't have to thank me, if you want to thank you, just thank Lord Huaqing." ”

When Zhao Dangshi heard this, his heart was shocked, and he asked eagerly: "County Lord? Can you elaborate on it? ”

Zhu Yiming replied: "This is all due to the virtue of adults. Since the lord of Huaqing entered the mansion, he has often been grateful for the protection of adults. A few days ago, Xiao Wang heard that a servant girl beside her did not come to the mansion, and she was afraid that she would be lonely, so she gave her the Lian Zhi she had just bought. But she thought that there was a lack of people to serve as companions around adults, so didn't Xiao Wang choose the opportunity to give Lian Zhi to you. ”

"She actually ......" Zhao Dangshi listened, his heart was hot, and he hesitated and didn't know how to answer, but when he thought of Huaqing's intentions, he couldn't help but have an impulse to go to his head, just asking to see each other.

Zhu Yiming looked at him differently, and said with concern: "Lord Zhao, what's wrong with you?" ”

Zhao Dangshi asked: "Lord Wang, forgive me for taking the liberty of being presumptuous, where is the county master now?" ”

"How?" Zhu Yiming looked puzzled, "Lord Zhao wants to see her?" ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded and said: "I can't hide it, I have something important to say to her, I hope the prince will make it convenient." ”