Shang Cheng didn't bother to open the box full of letters, and he was not in a hurry to inquire about the reason why Uncle Seventeen suddenly arrived in Beijing, he asked first, "Are my aunt and my aunt alright?" ”

"Okay, they're all right."

"Where's my little brother?"

"Good! Great! At the mention of his son, who was less than one year old, Huo Shiqi's mouth immediately grinned at the back of his head, and his words brought out the native accent of Yixian. He said, "Your few coins are a miracle!" At the beginning of November, when your aunt took Shi'er to play, she accidentally poured the wind, and she was hot and crying, and she couldn't get better when she took medicine. On the sixth day, his throat was hoarse with tears. Your aunt was so anxious that she cried to death several times. It was almost when her fate was hanging by a thread, and it happened that Yue'er and the second girl accompanied the doctor to rush back to Yanzhou. The second girl has a vision, and overnight she found all the imperial color coins you brought back last year, and then asked the great virtue of Qingliang Temple to open up the light, and tied the color coins to his neck, hands and feet with red silk, in short, he couldn't teach King Yama to arrest him easily. With the blessing of the heavenly family, the blessings of the gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and the rejuvenation of the divine doctor, your brother's illness will improve greatly in two days, and he will be able to crawl around on the kang in less than five days! With a solemn face, he bowed his hand to the north to thank Emperor Dongyuan for his mighty grace, and bowed his head and prayed sincerely for the blessing of the Bodhisattva. And said, "This is also the real life, and he should not die!" It's also my Huo Shiqi's destiny to have this son! ”

Shang Cheng almost listened to Xiao Shi'er with two handfuls of cold sweat. It wasn't until he heard that Xiao Shi'er was okay that he breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the little guy is fine, otherwise Uncle Seventeen would probably not be able to bear such a heavy blow, and he would be completely depressed if he was not seriously ill. He froze and said with a reluctant smile: "Looking at my brother's face, I know that he is a person with great fortune and great fate, how can he even take this little twist and turn?" His future will surely be even bigger than yours! ”

Huo Shiqi likes to hear this the most. Shang Cheng's praise scratched his heart even more, and he was so happy that his eyes narrowed with laughter. The most taboo thing he used to be was that others said that he didn't have any heirs to inherit the incense. It's because he doesn't have a son, so no matter how his status changes, he always feels a head shorter than others. But since Sang Aiai gave birth to a son to him, he immediately became strong and strong, and his voice was three points louder than usual. And soon after the baby was born, he stepped into the ranks of generals, obviously a baby with wealth who can add blessings and increase Lu, so he cherishes and dotes on the little guy even more. He couldn't close his mouth with a smile and said, "I discussed with your aunt, and I thought that in a few years, when he was older, I would ask you to be his teacher......

"Okay!" Shang Cheng immediately agreed.

Huo Shiqi was overjoyed, quickly got up from the seat, straightened his clothes and straightened the sleeves of his robe, and bowed to Shang Cheng with his hands on his forehead: "Shiqi is here to thank Mr. for the dog." ”

Shang Cheng was not humble, and he took the full salute from Huo Shiqi and then got up and returned the half salute. After sitting down again, Shang Cheng asked him again, "Are your sisters okay?" Did you receive the letter I sent back at the beginning of last month? ”

"The letter arrived. It's all good. ”

"Then, is Yue'er planning to go back to her hometown in Yixian County or ......" Shang Cheng asked a little worriedly. He couldn't say what he was worried about.

"They all came to the capital."

Shang Cheng was relieved. Because the stone hanging in his heart fell to the ground, he was so happy that he didn't even bother to ponder Huo Shiqi's words. He refilled the cups of the two of them with hot tea soup, held the tea and said with a smile: "Then my heart will be completely down-to-earth." When will she arrive? As soon as the words came out, he himself felt that he was too eager to ask, so he hurriedly explained, "I have more than 500 feudal households and almost 20,000 acres of land in the feudal state of Yingxian County, as well as a few mountains and more than a dozen villages and towns, and I have never found anyone to see it, just thinking that I will wait for her to come and help me come up with an idea and make a decision." You know, I can do something else and deal with it easily, but these things are really hand-made! ”

Huo Shiqi glanced at him meaningfully, lowered his head and took a sip of water, and said, "Before leaving, Yue'er told me that after the fifth day of the new year, they packed up their things and entered Beijing with Zhongshan's team. ”

Shang Cheng was a little confused. He can understand that packing up his things is worth a lot of money, not to mention that it is still the home of the former Admiral Yanshan, who is currently in the Zhu Kingdom. But Yue'er has to follow Sun Zhongshan's team all the way to the capital when she moves, what is this saying?

"There's so much stuff."

Shang Cheng laughed. He also thought that Huo Shiqi was saying that Yue'er was reluctant to give up those broken pots and bowls at home, so he shook his head and said, "What are those worthless things worth?" Either don't give it away. This is Shangjing in the Central Plains, the largest city in the world, what is there? ”

"Not really." Huo Shiqi said, "Zhongshan and Sun Huan scratched a lot of tatters on the grassland, and when they came back, they distributed them to the east and west. If you're not at home, the mess will be handed over to Yue'er. There were about thirty or so cars. He lowered his head and drank water again, letting Shang Cheng himself experience what "tatters" the more than thirty carriages hauled. After a pause, he said, "Besides, there are dozens of people in your house. Although some people are homesick and reluctant to follow the south, more than half of them want to come. These people, as well as their household belongings, will also be delivered by horse-drawn carts. That's another twenty or thirty. All in all, it costs seventy or eighty carriages to move a house and bring goods with people. And my family, another thirty or forty ......."

"You're moving to Kyori too?" Shang Cheng asked in surprise, "Then you didn't enter Beijing this time, didn't you ......?"

Huo Shiqi put the tea cup on the case, and said with a smile: "Yes, I didn't go to Beijing this time for official business, but to run for my future." He stopped, the smile on his face gradually faded, and he sighed for a long time, and said, "Zhuxu...... Anyway, it's far worse than you! ”

"What's going on?" Shang Cheng hurriedly asked him.

"What else could it be? When the generals took office, the first fire burned on my head......" Huo Shiqi said with a wry smile.

In late November, Zhu Xu arrived with the Ministry of Rites to reward the Yanshan Guards. At that time, in order to welcome the meritorious service of the imperial court, a large group of meritorious soldiers such as Zhang Shao, Sun Zhongshan, Sun Huan and Ximen Sheng gathered in Yanzhou. Many people are questioning, the fake governor Guo Biao has fallen, but the Shang Governor is still there, why didn't the imperial court teach the Shang Governor to come back and send someone else to sit in Yanshan? Even if the merchant governor is sick and cannot work, then a person with the same ability as the merchant governor should be appointed; What is the surname Zhu, dare to be compared with the business governor? Fortunately, the steady Zhang Shao and Ximen Sheng were able to understand the general situation, and tried their best to comfort and persuade, and finally let Zhu Xu reluctantly sit on the governor's seat, which did not make the Ministry of Rites and the court lose face. Not only were the generals unconvinced by the new admiral, but the civil officials also ignored him. But a civil official is a civil official, and he is more mean than a military general. Lu Ji and Di Xu did not belittle Zhu Xu's inability to belittle Zhu Xu as bluntly as Sun Huan and Shao Chuan, but twisted the Ministry of Rites who accompanied Zhu Xu to ask for advice: Looking at the resume of Zhu Shangzhuguo, Zhu Da General has been in favor of the hussar lieutenant's Wu San rank since he was born, and he has made meritorious contributions in the military all his life, and has never acted for local government affairs, where did the imperial court find out that he has the ability to deal with Yanshan civil affairs? Who are the people who are recommending the generals to be the governor of Yanshan, and who is nodding in agreement? They also tactfully hinted that if anything goes wrong in Yanshan's government affairs in the future, no one will want to run away from these recommendations and nods.

The generals did not support it, the civil officials did not cooperate, and the admiral seat of the Zhuxuan was very difficult from the beginning. In addition, he did not earn his Shangzhu country by virtue of his military achievements, and the inheritance of the Marquis of Zhaoyu County could not pose any prestige in front of a large number of founding public marquis and founding uncles who relied on people, so Yan Shanwei, a group of arrogant soldiers, did not buy his account at all. At the first military meeting held after Zhu Xu took office, more than half of the people were either late or asked for leave, and he was so angry that he dropped three teacups in a row. Later, it was nicknamed "Zhu Sanzhan", and it was immediately spread to the three armies of Yanshan......

“…… That's it, the preface came to find my fork. Huo Shiqi said, "Before and after Zhongshan attacked Heishui City, heavy rain fell in Yanzhong and Beibei, and the road was completely blocked by muddy water, and grain and ordnance could not be transported at all. But Mogan's official letters one after another were all asking to stay in the town to fully maintain the grain route, and Zhongshan also said ruthlessly that if the army was defeated because of the lack of food, he would be the first to take my head to sacrifice the flag. I had no choice but to order the road to be mated with grain packs, and I didn't want thousands of stone army rations, so I just paved a road with grain bags, which was maintained until the army withdrew from Blackwater City to Yanshan. The mistake of the order to find me is to find this to talk about things. I made a total of three mistakes, 'I was good at it without asking for orders', 'I was inconsiderate of the people's strength', and 'I wasted material resources in vain'. Fortunately, with Zhang Shao's persuasion, I didn't seriously punish him, but the merits and demerits were offset, and my credit was erased, and the rank that should have been promoted was naturally impossible to talk about, and I was also dismissed. It's a pity. He said a few good words for me, and then received sixty military sticks surnamed Zhu, and then demoted to Yanshan Daku as a patrol camp captain. ”

Shang Cheng is not worried about Baokan. As long as Bao Kan no longer works in the Admiral's Mansion of the Order, there will be no trouble. As long as Bao Kan is still in the Yanshan army, there will naturally be someone to take care of it. No matter how broken Zhu Xu's heart is, there is no need for him to be angry, let alone make a big deal against a school captain.

He asked, "After you were dismissed, why did you remember to enter Beijing?" He remembered that Huo Shiqi had just said that he was here to run for the future. He didn't understand what this "future" specifically meant, and he couldn't figure out Huo Shiqi's own plan for his "future", so it was necessary to move his family together?

Huo Shiqi said with a smile: "I didn't think about moving my family here. When Yue'er received your letter, she came to me to discuss with your aunt. I originally said that I would let a few of them go to Beijing together, so that they could be each other's companions, and secondly, they could take the opportunity to go to the Central Plains to see each other......" He stopped talking and glanced at Shang Cheng, wanting to see what kind of expression he had on his face after hearing about it. But Shang Cheng's focused expression couldn't tell the depth, so he had to continue. He asked Shang Chengdao: "Shen Langzhong of the Yan Bo Division of the Ministry of Industry, do you know him?" ”

Shang Cheng thought for a moment and asked, "Is it Shen Zhi from the Yan Bo Division of the Ministry of Labor?" ”

"That's him."

Shang Cheng nodded. He knew this Ministry of Industry official surnamed Shen. It was this person who first discovered new farming tools and new farming methods in Yi County, and later a large number of improved processes excavated by Yan Shanwei from the people were also reported to the imperial court by this person. He was only slightly surprised at the speed of this man's promotion. The sixth department is engaged in the seventh grade, and Langzhong is from the fifth grade, and he has been promoted to four levels in a year and a half, which is definitely a rare thing in the civil service.

"In the middle of last month," Huo Shiqi raised his face and thought for a moment, and said uncertainly, "I can't remember whether it was the sixteenth or seventeenth of the lunar month, Lao Shen ran to my house to tell me that he had heard the rumors, and the imperial court would discuss the matter of knighting me again after the year." This time, it is likely that the founder of the country was awarded the fifth generation according to the recommendation of the Ministry of Industry; It is also possible that it will not be attacked and will be directly sealed to the founding uncle. ”

Shang Cheng listened intently. He was also more concerned about this matter, and once asked someone to help inquire. After inquiring about the news, it was said that there must be a knighthood, but it is difficult to say which level of knighthood it can be awarded, because Huo Shiqi's invention of new agricultural tools and new practices is not a field military merit after all, and it is difficult to come up with a standard to measure, so the court has a great controversy about his knighthood.

"Lao Shen helped me come up with an idea, and taught me to take advantage of the New Year's vacation to go to Beijing for a run, and see if I can find some way to go straight to the founding uncle, and then attack the fourth and fifth generations."

Can the seventeenth uncle confer the founding uncle, and can he still attack the fourth and fifth generations? Shang Cheng couldn't help but open his mouth wide in surprise. He immediately came to his senses and said, "What the hell did he come up with?" I'm going to help you run the door, too! "He doesn't know anyone, but he still has a few friends and acquaintances, Zhen Xiang Xue Xun and Chang Xiu are all squires in the sixth department, so you can ask them to help.

"Lao Shen asked me to go to Chang Xiu Chang Shilang, and asked Chang Shilang to introduce me to Zhu Xuan, the deputy minister who had just entered the Prime Minister's Office, and then let Zhu Xiang find an opportunity to arrange for me to meet His Majesty. If you can be appreciated by the Son of Heaven, it will be easier to find the founder of the country. Huo Shiqi said. He smiled firmly and said confidently, "I have thought about it all the way, as long as I have the opportunity to meet Zhu Xiang, the founding uncle should be able to succeed." I heard that the Son of Heaven likes calligraphy, so I specially prepared two gifts......"

Shang Cheng understood Huo Shiqi's plan as soon as he heard it. Looking at Huo Shiqi's smile again, you can almost know what kind of gifts he is carrying. Don't ask, it must be the handscrolls of the words that I left at home in Yanzhou. He even guessed that the two gifts Huo Shiqi said were just gifts for Emperor Dongyuan, and the other two were to be given to Chang Xiu and Zhu Xuan respectively. Maybe what Chang Xiu sent was the "One Stroke Tiger" Zhongtang Yiyi Chang Fat Man coveted the Zhongtang when he was still in Yanshan, and mentioned it several times in front of him, but he pretended not to understand and fooled him......

Take a few words you wrote to change the founding father, this money-making business can of course be done. But if you want to go through Zhu Xuan's way to climb the friendship of Emperor Dongyuan, things will be more troublesome. Shang Cheng thought about it for a while, and then said, "Uncle, let's eat first, and then we will discuss the matter of giving gifts carefully." ”

Huo Shiqi had been with him for a long time, and he could hear that there were other words in his words, and the topic was still very important, so he nodded: "Okay, eat first." ”