Ma Shaoyu frowned and stared at the two unclear words on the table, and muttered out in his mouth: "Yu...... Yu Shi? ”

"Tang Yushi, Chen's father-in-law. Chen has a daughter who is married to his son Qilong. ”

"Oh, it's him." A vague figure flashed in Ma Shaoyu's mind, but his face suddenly darkened a lot.

Chen Hongfan continued: "I remember that Tang Gong was a general in Liaodong before, and there was an exchange of letters a few years ago, but somehow there was no news in the past two years. Ma Gong also had a lot of contact with him in Beijing in the past, but do you know that he is now in Beijing or Liaodong? "Ming officers in Liaodong and other places have many properties in Beijing. Tang Yu was old at the time, and he was on the front line, and he often returned to Beijing on weekdays, moving around at both ends.

Ma Shaoyu looked left and right, and said in a low voice: "Tang Gong has been cleared with his ancestor a few years ago. ”

"Cleared?" Chen Hongfan was stunned for a moment, and then nodded, "No wonder the news is broken." ”

Ma Shaoyu asked tentatively: "Chen Gong came to Beijing, is it just to find Tang Gong?" ”

"No, there is something else. However, I have not been in touch with my relatives for many years, and I am afraid that I will be separated, so I just want to visit by the way. Chen Hongfan tilted his head and sighed repeatedly, "Since he has been cleared, there is nothing to say." ”

Zhao Yuanheng deliberately asked at this time: "I heard that Wu Sangui of Liaodong Town is on his way to Beijing?" ”

Ma Shaoyu responded: "Exactly." Shunjun treated Wu Sangui's family well, and promised the father and son to be the marquis, giving 10,000 taels of platinum, 1,000 taels of gold, and 1,000 brocade coins. With such courtesy, Wu Sangui was panicked and helpless, how could he not accept it? ”

Zhao Yuanheng said: "But as far as I know, Dashun rewarded Tang Tong with a million dollars to reward the army and the marquis, and Wu Sangui's strength is far above Tang Tong, is it a little bit of a reward to do so?" "Tang Tong, the general soldier of Jizhou, was originally ordered to deploy the Juyong Pass, the throat of the northwest of Beijing, but when the Shun army arrived, he surrendered without a fight.

Ma Shaoyu said with a smile: "At this time and that time, although Tang Tong is weak, he returned to Shun at Juyong Pass, making the road for the Shun army to enter Beijing unimpeded, and the Shun army can take Beijing, which is indispensable for his credit." Although Wu Sangui is strong, he is only forced to surrender due to the situation, and he has no merit in size, and he can still be rewarded by the marquis, and Dashun is very affectionate. He also said, "And Dashun is in full swing in Beijing, as long as there is some oil and water, it has to be peeled off, but it is not what about the rich Wu family, which can be described as benevolent and righteous." ”

Zhang Jiayu said with a hesitant face: "Emperor Dashun didn't treat the Wu family well, but those Qiu Ba under his hands were not so disciplined. Ma Gong may not know that the day before yesterday, it was rumored that Liu Zongmin came to the Wu family and opened his mouth to ask for 200,000 taels of silver, which he had to collect within five days, otherwise he would have to collect it himself. The Wu family was frightened by this, even if they didn't wait for Liu Zongmin to make a move, they were panicked. ”

Ma Shaoyu sighed: "It's true that the Shun army wants money and food, how can it not be important? ”

Zhang Jiayu said: "The little eunuch who ran out of the palace said that Emperor Dashun handed over the matter of recovering stolen goods to Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Tian Hu and other generals in the camp to chase the comparison. When Emperor Dashun learned about it, he felt that it was not good, and took advantage of the meeting to say, "Why don't you help Gu be a good emperor", Liu Zongmin went back on the spot, "The throne is yours, the torture is in me, and the two have nothing to do with it", and still went his own way. is like this, where will a general Wu Sangui be put in his eyes. ”

Ma Shaoyu shook his head again and again: "I hope that the state affairs will be settled for a while, and the clean government can be implemented, and there will be no more such violent acts." He turned to Chen Hongfan with a smile and said, "Chen Gongnian is a high virtue and has a lot of qualifications, since he happened to come to Beijing, it is better to return to Dashun with us." ”

Chen Hongfan smiled and said: "Chen's old Mailong Clock has long been unusable, and he wants to finish taking care of Beijing's affairs, so he will go to the wilderness to choose a landscape and an elegant environment and spend his old age in peace." ”

When Ma Shaoyu heard him say this, he suddenly became alert, and said in his mouth: "Chen Gong is too modest, Lao Ji is ambitious for thousands of miles, in my opinion, Chen Gong's style is better than that of a young man." Then he suddenly got up and said, "Everyone has their own ambitions, I still have some important things here, so let's go first." The coming day is long, and we will meet again. After saying that, he bowed and hurried away.

Seeing this, Zhang Jiayu hurriedly put down the teacup and arched his hand: "It's rude, go first." ”

The two went one after the other, and went out in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Yuanheng was still wondering, Chen Hongfan tightened his face, grabbed him and said, "Beijing can't stay, we have to leave quickly!" ”

"Huh?" The situation changed rapidly, and Zhao Yuanheng was confused.

Chen Hongfan explained: "During the conversation, although I deliberately avoided talking about the purpose of this trip to Beijing, it was obvious that Ma Shaoyu refused to let go. Don't say it on the surface, but secretly test me many times. I said that I wanted to go into the wilderness, but in his ears, he refused to vote for Dashun. The Shun army ordered in the city that all the old officials who could not hide were punished, and Ma Shaoyu was eager to be an official, and he would definitely sell me for glory. ”

Zhao Yuanheng was surprised: "But he is Chen Gong's old friend!" ”

Chen Hongfan reluctantly smiled: "Therefore, the hand can be counted, but the best friend is not." In life, you can get a few close friends in your life, but nothing can fall on him. I know that he is a very selfish person, and the more acquaintances like him are, the more dangerous he is. If you go here, you must go directly to the Shunjun to denounce me. If we don't leave today, we won't be able to go again! ”

Zhao Yuanheng hesitated: "There is still a companion on the second floor......"

"I can't take care of them, you and I still have coils in our packages, let's go!" Chen Hongfan said solemnly, and then quickly instructed the innkeeper a few words, and was just about to go out, but he didn't want to meet Zhang Jiayu when he came.

"Fuck."

Chen Hongfan touched the sword on his waist, and Zhao Yuanheng was also eager to fight, but Zhang Jiayu saw the posture of the two of them, waved his hand as he walked, and said: "The two of you are in a panic, I am here to inform the two of you to leave as soon as possible!" "Go to the next road," Ma Shaoyu had already gone to the Shun army inspection camp in the west of the city at this time, I am afraid that the Shun army will come to pick up people in a quarter of an hour, and the two of them left quickly. There is a small gate along this alley to the northwest, and there is no Shun army to strictly guard it, you can go out of the city, don't look back! ”

"Thank you, Brother Zhang, that's what I mean." Chen Hongfan nodded and arched his hand, and turned over with Zhao Yuanheng, "Brother Zhang will be fine, right?" ”

Zhang Jiayu shook his head and said: "Ma Shaoyu brought people to find the two, he was the one who was punished, and I will be fine." ”

Chen Hongfan bowed his hand again, patted the horse and left first, Zhao Yuanheng pulled the reins, and couldn't help but ask before leaving: "Brother Zhang may be prosperous and rich with the two of us, why do you abandon it?" ”

Zhang Jiayu smiled and said: "For the country, not for yourself, the people are not for the king." It is not easy to be a country, and we encourage it. After speaking, he slapped Zhao Yuanheng's horse vigorously and urged him to scatter his hooves.

Chen Hongfan and Zhao Yuanheng rode all the way, and encountered many patrolling Shun troops along the way. The scale of the Shun army was already huge, and many soldiers and horses were incorporated along the way and into Beijing, and most of them were unfamiliar with each other. Now that the martial law season, everyone is in peace, and suddenly Chen and Zhao are two unscrupulous outliers, and the Shun army only thinks that the generals in the army are in a hurry, and even avoid them one after another, where do they want to get Chen Hongfan is actually bluffing. With a sense of courage, the two of them escaped smoothly from the Beijing city where the Shun army gathered.

The two of them went out of the city, did not dare to stop, and continued to gallop southeast, running straight from the morning until the sky was about to dark, and there was no trace of the Shun army for several miles before slowing down. I asked a common person to ask, but it was already in Tongzhou, east of Beijing. That night in Tongzhou, the two were preoccupied and did not sleep all night.

The next day, Chen Hongfan decided to continue eastward and block Wu Sangui on his way to Beijing. The city of Beijing is in crisis, and there is no other way. So the two bought two more horses in Tongzhou, and one of them rode on two horses. After another day and night, we arrived at Fengrun County, which borders Yongping Province.

There is a large empty field in the east of Fengrun County, Chen Hongfan and Zhao Yuanheng walked around a hundred paces apart, and finally met again, both of them had some doubts on their faces.

"I heard a few days ago that Wu Sangui had set off from Shanhaiguan, how could I say that it was time to go to Fengrun today, why was there no trace?" Zhao Yuanheng scratched his head and said, if it is said that hundreds of thousands of people marched there is still a possibility of missing, but Wu Sangui's army is tens of thousands, and the action is huge, and it is impossible to pass by.

Chen Hongfan shook his head lightly and said: "Something is strange, I just turned around over there, and there are obvious signs of army camping, among which the ashes of the camp fire have not yet risen. It is almost certain that at least yesterday, Wu Sangui was still rich. ”

"Could it be that Wu Sangui temporarily changed his route? But he is going to Beijing, this is the nearest way, where else can he go? ”

The two were puzzled, and at this moment, a few people walked slowly not far away. Look at the way they walk and look around or lean over to pick up, they should be picking up leaks. Whenever the army marches out, there is always something left behind in the abandoned camp, and it is a windfall to be lucky enough to pick up the lost treasure of a soldier, and it is also useful to collect some unburned coal and timber if you are unlucky.

Chen Hongfan stepped forward and asked directly: "I ask you about it, have you ever seen the army come and go?" ”

The people looked at each other, but they were silent. Chen Hongfan didn't say a word, threw a piece of broken silver over, and the people rushed to grab it, and even threw the things they had worked so hard to accumulate all over the ground. Chen Hongfan couldn't look past it, and exclaimed: "Answer well, everyone has a reward!" ”

As soon as these words came out, several people stopped one after another, and some of them replied in a hurry to receive the reward: "Back to this uncle, there was indeed a large army here earlier, it seems to be ...... It seems to be ......"

He scratched his ears and cheeks, and gave others a chance, and someone immediately made up: "It's the soldier of Lord Wu of Liaodong." The majestic company camp is boundless for 100 miles, and there are millions of them! ”

Chen Hongfan asked again: "Okay, then where did Wu Ye go?" ”

"I don't know ......"

"I know, I'm going to Beijing!"

"Fart, obviously I went to Tianjin!"

The people have no concept of geography, and they tear each other down for the sake of rewarding silver, and they are different and quarrelsome. Zhao Yuanheng was irritable, drew his sword, and scolded sharply: "There is no more accurate number, don't want silver, don't want to keep your life!" ”

The sword shot the cold light, which frightened several people to tremble, and for a while they all squatted down and hugged their heads and said again and again, and they boldly raised their eyes and said carefully: "The second master is the grandfather of Dashun soldiers from Beijing?" ”

Zhao Yuanheng snorted coldly, shook his sword and said, "So what?" ”

Those few people listened to the army, and they were a lot quieter in an instant, and there was no more noise. The bold looked around and saw that no one squeaked, so he said: "The villain doesn't dare to talk nonsense, I don't know where Wu Ye's soldiers went, I only know that they went east." ”

"Isn't it Beijing to the east?"

"Nonsense, it's obviously Tianjin!"

Chen Hongfan and Zhao Yuanheng both chuckled in their hearts, and at the moment they were too lazy to care about the people who began to gossip again, and galloped eastward for a while, and when they arrived near Deguan Road, they saw deep horse hooves and chariot marks. The two jumped off their horses, examined them carefully, and then looked up almost at the same time, and said in unison, "It's really going east." ”

To the east of Fengrun County is Yongping Mansion, and Shanhaiguan is at the easternmost point of Yongping Mansion.

"Wu Sangui, this is ...... Do you want to go back to Shanhaiguan again? Zhao Yuanheng said stunned.

"What is he going to do in Beijing, back to Shanhaiguan?" Chen Hongfan was also puzzled, and by the way, he poked the traces on the official road with his hand, "These turned up dirt is still fresh, it seems that Wu Sangui's army has not left here for long, and it is still too late for us to catch up!" ”

"Okay." Zhao Yuanheng was full of doubts, clapped his hands and Chen Hongfan got on the horse, and galloped east again along the official road.