When Shang Cheng and Wang Yi left the county mansion, it was already the beginning of the Shen Dynasty. The hour was still early, and it was not a big deal, so Shang Cheng and the two of them were not in a hurry, so they loosened the reins and let the horse slow down the street to the west.

This is the inner west city, Chongyi Fang is in the middle of the north in the Chongde Shou Luyi Fang, and more than a dozen squares around are either high-ranking officials and dignitaries or Shixun nobles, so the street is very generous. Because the yamen inside and outside the place had already sounded the drums, there were hardly a few officials in blue and scarlet clothes on the street, and the people who came back were either black-jacketed domestic servants or brown-robed servants, all of whom were in a hurry because of the street walls. Occasionally, you can also see one or two carriages, the hooves of the horses pulling the carts on the paving stone slabs clattering, in the rhythmic jingling bells, leading the carriage to slowly sway and pass by.

After walking for a while, Wang Yi suddenly said: "I came to this Chongyifang once last year. In May last year, Prince Lao Lu went to the fairy, and I came to pay tribute. I remember that wasn't the case here. It was summer, and the King of Jinan and I had just walked to Gudefang when we smelled an overwhelming musty smell and an indescribable smell of corruption, and the Seven Kings were vomiting in the carriage at that time. When I got closer, I saw this piece of ......," he turned around on horseback and looked left and right for a long time, but he couldn't find what he was looking for, so he muttered, "...... It seems to be this one. There is a dead pond with a radius of several acres on the side of the road, and the garbage of three or four people high is piled up on top of each other on the side of the pond, as if building a dam around the pond. He suddenly pointed his whip and said, "There it is!" The pond I'm talking about is there! ”

Shang Cheng looked in the direction he pointed, and didn't see any stinky pools and stagnant ponds, but he saw that there seemed to be a vacant lot on the south side of the street beyond the three or four arrows, and more than a dozen people threw off their jackets and underwear, rolled up their sleeves, and were getting mud bricks around the two carriages; Both men and horses were so tired that they were drenched in heat, and two small mountains of bricks were piled up on the ground. One or twenty steps further is a high wall that has been built up and down, two craftsmen stand on the half-human high wooden frame inside and outside the wall, one person carries a brick shovel in one hand and the mud brick in the other, and carefully puts the mud bricks up and down according to the height and level, and each piece is built, he picks up the supporting board from the wall and carefully fills the cracks in the bricks with mud.

It was a scene he knew very well. When he first arrived in Huojiabao, he made a living by doing odd jobs, and when it came to carrying stones and moving mud bricks, he was a good hand.

"They're fenced off that pond." Wang Yi said with certainty. Turning his head to look at the door of the family he had just walked through, he turned around and smiled, "It's Peng Qu's family." ”

Shang Chengdu had never heard of this person, so he casually asked, "Who is Peng Qu?" ”

"The prison break Shaoqing of Dali Temple." Wang Yi said, "If you stay in the capital for a long time, you will know that this is a very boring person." ”

"What's that saying?"

"Have you heard of the Shoshu Tian Wang of the Tobe earlier?"

Shang Cheng nodded. Of course he knows the famous Tian Wangtian Dongli. He also knew that this person was the first court member to be involved in Liu Lingtai's case, and once he was dismissed, he never made a comeback. Some people say that he is too deeply involved in the case to show up and be used as an arrowhead, and some people say that he is discouraged and does not want to enter the official career again.

Wang Yi saw that he knew Tian Wang, so he continued: "Peng Qu is Tian Wang's classmate and friend, and it is said that the two of them are still close friends, and they were also the people who followed Tian Wang the most closely back then. As a result, in the ninth year of the Eastern Era, Tian Wang was forced to resign for inexplicable reasons, and he immediately defected to Peng Zi, the deputy minister at the time. One by one, he and Peng Zi are uncles and brothers. ”

Shang Cheng didn't know about these old things from more than ten years ago; He wasn't interested either. But Wang Yi couldn't interrupt when he spoke, so he casually echoed and asked, "Who is this deputy minister Peng Zi?" ”

"Zhang Pu's teacher when he was a senior scholar in high school."

In this way, Shang Chengcheng understood that Peng Zi was also the backbone of the Southward Expansion faction. That is to say, Peng Qu jumped from the northerners to the southerners, and was a capitulation-style figure. To be precise, this is a "junjie" who knows the times.

"In the autumn of the tenth year of the Eastern Era, Peng Zi's family accidentally injured a farmer when they were negotiating tenants in their hometown, and the news came back to Shangjing, where he was impeached by the crowd, and finally had no choice but to return to his hometown, and Peng Qu turned back to follow Dong Quan."

Of course, Shang Cheng knew Vice Minister Dong Quan. A few days ago, he went to Zhang Pu to talk nonsense and "make trouble", and he also met the leader of the Beijin faction in the public office. But he and Dong Quan and the Beijin faction all had official dealings, and there was no personal dealing, so when they met in the public office, they nodded and said hello to each other, and they didn't even say a word. But he didn't understand that the Beijin faction was so short of manpower, as for taking back Peng Qu, the wall grass?

Wang Yi snorted, looked back at the gate of the Peng family's courtyard again, and said with a smile: "Peng Qu and Dong Quan are sons and daughters. The eldest son of the Dong family married the eldest daughter of the Peng family. ”

Shang Cheng half-turned around on horseback, looked Wang Yi up and down, and scolded with a smile: "If there is a fart, let it go." If you want to say that Peng Qu is not, just say that Peng Qu is not good. You have an eldest son and an eldest daughter, are you pointing at the monk and scolding the bald donkey? ”

Wang Yi laughed, then retracted his smile and said, "I just want to say this." Zida, you have a different identity now, and your status is also different, marrying a wife is a big deal, you have to take it seriously and carefully. If you marry a concubine's daughter and go home, I am afraid that someone in the court will talk about it. After a pause, he added, "Even if it is the daughter of the Poyang Hougu family, it will not be!" ”

Shang Cheng glanced at him and said, "It's my own business who I marry or not, and others can......'t care about it."

Wang Yi saw that Shang Cheng didn't seem to take this matter to heart, and said in a low voice: "You can't say this!" The imperial court has a system. If you really marry the daughter of the Gu family, you will definitely not be able to fall well! is Poyang Hou Gushi, and he can't escape the impeachment of Yushi! He saw that Shang Cheng was still sitting on horseback with an indifferent and inattentive appearance, and his tone suddenly became a little stern, and he warned: "You really have to be careful, don't let people catch your sore feet!" One by one, the grain is real, in vain to grow up so old, the rice is eaten in the nose, and he actually plays this kind of trick that harms others and himself! "Counting from the generation of his ancestor Wang Zhen, he and Gu Shi are the same generation, and they usually call the world brother when they meet in private, so they unceremoniously name Gu Shi.

"Be quiet!" Shang Cheng hurriedly persuaded him. He kicked off his horse, let the two horses come closer, laughed and whispered, "What are you excited about?" You know that this is against etiquette, doesn't Gu Shi know? He knows about it, but he wants to do it, you say, what is he for? "Seeing that Wang Yi blinked his eyes and seemed to understand, he simply explained the words to him, so as not to let him talk nonsense everywhere in ignorance." Didn't we just say that in the study? There is a reason why Gu Shi can't be the commander, one by one, he wants to avoid suspicion. Because of this, he is usually very cautious in doing things. But why did he want to marry a concubine daughter to me? Is it that he suddenly doesn't remember that the court has a system? This is obviously impossible. This old fox is going to do it with both hands. Someone obstructed it, the court didn't allow it, and in the end it didn't matter, at most it was just a painless application; He just happened to have nothing to do with this kind of small fault and flaw to carry, so he hit his heart. If you get married, then you will be developed, and if a concubine is replaced by a son-in-law of Shangzhu Kingdom, where is there anything more beautiful in the world? I'm afraid that Gu Shi will have to wake up laughing when he falls asleep. ”

Wang Yi opened his mouth and listened to him talk all the way, and only after a while did he ask a question: "That, that...... But after all, you are violating the system, and you don't take the laws of the country seriously, so you are not afraid of the impeachment of the imperial history? ”

Shang Cheng shook his head and smiled: "I am a general in the army, and I am still a high-ranking general, and I am afraid of impeachment by the imperial history." Believe it or not, even if there are so many impeachment documents in the imperial history that they can drown the prime minister's office, I will be fine. Whoever dares to stretch out his hand at me with this matter, without me making a sound, those royal histories who impeached me can get that guy out. What kind of ability is it to let a military general write a letter of ambush and be punished and deducted? Only by overturning one or two prime ministers and deputy prime ministers can we highlight the arrogance and demeanor of our generation! What's more, this impeachment is still a one-shot accuracy. No matter who he is, the charge of 'a civilian official meddling in military affairs' has fallen, and the king of heaven can't protect him. A few words and a piece of paper can teach him to disappear in a snap of his fingers......"

His eyebrows fluttered and he was chattering, but Wang Yi was dumbfounded, twisting his brows and just thinking bitterly. Seeing the Tailiang Gate connecting the inner and outer cities in front of him, he could be considered to have woken up, shaking his head and smacking his tongue with a series of sighs: "It's a pity, it's a pity!" It's a pity that I couldn't have gotten acquainted with you ten years earlier, otherwise how could it be the achievement of today's pattern? One by one, you really should be a civil servant. ”

Shang Cheng pointed to his face seriously and said, "With this face, can you be a civil official?" "He's telling the truth. Da Zhao has regulations in this regard, whether it is to participate in scientific examinations or to work in the yamen, there is a basic requirement above "people in appearance". With his current unpleasant appearance, he doesn't want to have a general in this life.

Wang Yi smiled. Although he knew that Shang Cheng didn't care about making jokes about his appearance, he couldn't do that.

When he got out of the gate, he pointed to an inconspicuous alley with his whip and said, "Go this way." The night before, when I met with those two elders, they were full of praise for you. He lifted the reins, let the horses slow down, let a group of little dolls run through the alley with a whining whimper, and then said, "I won't tell you if they praise you, I guess you can guess seven or eight points......" Shang Cheng was a wrong horse's head than him, and said with a smile: "You say, I'm not afraid." I've never been afraid of others praising me, and the more I praise me, the better! Wang Yi didn't laugh and continued to say his own: "They just have a question. They said, you Shang Yanshan is also a ruthless person who dares to fight for his life, this time he suffered such a big loss from Xiao Jian and Yan Gu, why didn't he say that he would give them a courtesy? ”

Shang Cheng was silent for a moment and asked, "...... That's what they asked you to ask? ”

Wang Yi nodded solemnly. He explained it to his two uncles and uncles, but the two old generals felt that it was unreasonable, especially the unsuitable character. Shang Cheng almost forced Zhang Pu into a corner twice in a row; When he was in Yanshan, he didn't even move his mouth and forced Ye Xun, the cadre of the Nanjin faction, to jump over the wall, and it was obvious that he was definitely not a good person who suffered a loss. But seeing that Xiao Jian had offended him to death this time, he just acquiesced silently; It's really hard to figure out.

Shang Cheng lowered his eyelids and said slowly: "I was promoted by Old General Xiao in Mogan when he was in battle, and Old General Xiao cultivated Xinzhong's kindness to me, and I want to repay him." And this time, it was not his intention, but it was strictly fixed behind his back. ”

Wang Yi opened his mouth, but said nothing.

“…… General Xiao Lao is calm and steady with his soldiers, and he is also a peaceful and upright person, if he wants to transfer me out of Yanshan, it is impossible to plot like this. Regardless of whether I agree or disagree, he will communicate with me first, obtain my understanding and support, and then make suggestions to the military department. But this time, I was transferred out of Yanshan suddenly. Here sent someone to inform me to go back to Beijing to recuperate, and Zhu Xu over there has already gone to Yanshan to take up his post, and the two are staggered, it seems that he wants to catch me off guard, but this person didn't think about it, if I don't agree to return to Beijing, or simply stay in Yanzhou City and don't leave, Zhu Xu can't take office when he arrives in Yanshan, or he can't take office and instruct others not to move, where will the face of the court be placed? Like this, a seemingly rigorous and meticulous plan is full of holes, and this kind of clumsy method without a head or tail, except for Yan Baisheng's ability to use daring, who else can there be? I see, Old General Xiao is just agreeing with Yan Zhuang. Your two elders are also in general mind, and they don't look down on rigidity and want to eat white food, so they keep silent and don't object. ”

This is said very seriously, and Wang Yi is not easy to talk to. But he heard the meaning of Shang Cheng's words clearly: the reason why Shang Cheng didn't pursue this matter was because he wanted to repay Xiao Jian; But after this incident, the grievances between the two people have been written off, and if this kind of thing happens again, Shang Yanshan will be unwelcome. He believes that Shang Cheng can do what he says. Because Yan Gu is definitely not Shang Cheng's opponent; It's too far off......

Both fell silent.

Neither of them spoke, and sat silently on the horse's back.

Shang Cheng pursed his lips and looked at the deep and silent alley in front of him. On both sides of the alley, one is high and the other is low, and there are houses. Most of them are tiled houses, but there are also wool houses, and some are two-story and three-story wooden wrench buildings, and you can sometimes see old houses in disrepair that are not yet tall. Unlike the city scene in Yanzhou, where almost every household has a small courtyard, the households here hardly see a yard, and it may not be necessary to have a yard in the back. The lanes are not the kind of spacious avenues paved with bluestone slabs in the inner city square, and all the bricks buried in the ground are broken slabs and remnants. Fortunately, the ground is quite clean, and there is basically no dirty pickled garbage; There was no weird smell in the air. This is probably the merit of the old prefect Tao Qi. Otherwise, the alley in front of him, as well as the stagnant pond in the inner city, must still be as he saw when he first entered Beijing the previous winter, except for a few Dafang cities and a few streets, garbage can be seen everywhere in other places, and the alleys are basically not passable, and everywhere is smelly, rotten, and messy.

After walking out of another paragraph, Shang Cheng couldn't help but complain: "It's not there yet?" Just for this meal, the horses have been lost weight by me! ”

"Coming soon! Just cross this alley. ”