It was already evening when Wang Qiang rushed back to Tongzhou, and Cai Ling'er had already moved back from the shelter and was directing his family to renovate the house. Cai Ling'er saw Wang Qiang, hurriedly came over to check from head to toe, and was relieved to see that Wang Qiang was okay, but he still couldn't help but nag about his worries, Wang Qiang had a ghost in his heart, and he was a little timid when he saw Cai Ling'er. The two talked for a few words, and Cai Ling'er remembered and said: "By the way, master, the old man in the inner courtyard has sent someone to pass the word several times, saying that he has something to find you." ”

The old man mentioned by Cai Linger refers to Jiang Yuquan, Wang Qiang rescued him from the death row of Dongchang and placed him in the Fuzhong General, because he was usually too busy, he didn't go to see him much. However, Cai Ling'er went to take care of Father-in-law Jiang for three days, and asked his family to serve him well, and he must not be lazy, and Father-in-law Jiang also appreciated it.

Wang Qiang heard that Jiang Yuquan was looking for him, and he must have something important, so he hurried to the inner courtyard to see Jiang Yuquan. Wang Qiang entered Jiang Yuquan's room and saw that he was leaning on the bed and closing his eyes to recuperate, so he arched his hand and said: "Father-in-law Jiang, you have always been fine, I am too busy these days to come over to greet you, I hope you will forgive me." After saying that, he sat down on the stool next to him.

When Gonggong Jiang saw Wang Qiang coming in, he said in a mocking tone: "You are naturally busy, you have been training all day long to raise salaries, and you have repelled tens of thousands of Qing troops the day before yesterday, which is really amazing. ”

Wang Qiang was scratched to the itch, very proud, and said modestly: "Hey, this is nothing, the Qing army is already the end of the strong crossbow, plus the subordinate soldiers used their lives, so there is today's victory, I don't have the ability to fart, but I am lucky." ”

"If you enter the court today, the emperor must have rewarded you a lot, right?" Jiang Yuquan asked.

"That's not true, the emperor only rewarded me with a painting. Hey. Wang Qiang was embarrassed to say that he was asking for grace.

"Hmph." Jiang Yuquan snorted coldly and said, "Listen, tell me the details of today's face saint, and don't leave a word behind!" ”

Wang Qiang saw that Jiang Yuquan didn't seem to be joking with him, so he also became serious, and carefully told him what happened to Chongzhen, and Jiang Yuquan listened very seriously, and asked each other from time to time to verify the details.

After listening to Wang Qiang's narration, Jiang Gonggong squinted his eyes and pondered for a long time, and burst out with a piercing sneer, "Quack, quack! You little cub is dying, and you're still there smug, what an incorrigible idiot! ”

Wang Qiang was shocked and hurriedly asked, "Why did the old man say this?" I hope you will always make it clear. ”

Gonggong Jiang leaned up and said faintly: "The old man has spent his whole life in the palace, and I watched Chongzhen's child grow up, so I know him very well." This man is narrow-minded, suspicious and jealous. I remember when he was eight years old, a foreign feudal tribute a few pieces of jade Ruyi, divided to several princes each of the one, he has always suspected that the other princes' Ruyi is better than his, so he did everything possible to find several other Ruyi to compare, and found that the three princes' Ruyi was slightly better than his, and they were crushed, which shows that their nature is so. He can't tolerate others being stronger than him, and he can't tolerate other people's things being better than his, even after becoming the emperor, he can't get rid of this problem, is this his nature! ”

"So you see that after he ascended the throne, all those ministers with great ability and high prestige were killed or deposed by him, and he made great use of those incompetent and greedy people, sycophants, why, because he could not tolerate others who were more capable than him, and he was afraid that others would rob him of his throne and take away his country! That Yuan Chonghuan was originally a famous general who resisted the Qing Dynasty and made many miraculous achievements, but he was killed by him, which led to the rampant Manchu Qing today; The 9,000-year-old worked hard for their Zhu family all his life, and personally helped him to the throne, he was jealous that the 9,000-year-old monopolized the court, so he killed him. Think about it, the first emperor was tired of politics in his later years, if it wasn't for the nine thousand years old who worked hard there, the world of the Zhu family would have been defeated long ago, if the nine thousand years old wanted to oppose him, how could he be allowed to this day. He killed 9,000 years old and took power alone, but what was the result? The people's livelihood is withering, the smoke is everywhere, and internal and external troubles are coming! The country is crumbling. He has neither the talent to govern the country, nor the amount of people who can tolerate people, and it is in vain to be tired and half dead all day, and the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed in his hands sooner or later! ”

"You kid is young and ambitious, and it's not bad to want to have a job, but if you engage in the market, it's just a matter of issuing treasury bonds, and you want to run a militia group, which is taboo, the better you do, I'm afraid the closer you are to killing the head. Alas! Or is Hong Chengchou an old man who is cunning, he has been pulling and pulling and entangled with the thieves for so many years, and he has been suppressing but not extinguishing, do you really say that he can't destroy the bandits? He didn't want to die at all! Once the bandits are destroyed, Chongzhen will cut his military power at the least, and he may be killed and imprisoned. So he and Li Chuang are a pair of mandarin ducks who depend on each other for life and death. What can be done by such a master! ”

Wang Qiang listened to Jiang Gonggong's words, and felt a chill down his spine, although he also vaguely heard from various channels that Chongzhen was jealous, but it was the first time that Jiang Gonggong said this so thoroughly today, and he couldn't help but feel a chill, and the joy during the day had already flown out of the clouds.

Father-in-law Jiang said helplessly: "I am not grateful that you kid rescued me from prison, but the girl with Cai Linger is very good, I can't bear that she has no support for the rest of her life and has become a scattered person, so I remind you a few words, believe it or not, you know yourself." ”

Wang Qiang felt that Jiang Gonggong's words were very reasonable, but he felt that it might not be so serious, thinking that Chongzhen had always been fond of himself, and he had made great contributions this time, how could he not openly kill the meritorious minister, right? Unless this Emperor Chongzhen is sick!

Wang Qiang got up and asked with a bitter face and a slightly complaining tone: "I said, old man, why didn't you remind me of such an important matter earlier?" ”

"You are full of thoughts of being loyal to the monarch and serving the country as a famous minister, our family has long said where you will believe, even now you may not be convinced. Some words are said early, you have a heart barrier, if you dodge words in front of the emperor, it will not be good. It's better to treat the Emperor as you do today. Jiang Yuquan said.

Wang Qiang bowed deeply to Jiang Yuquan and said: "The kid is ignorant, how should I deal with the current situation, I hope my father-in-law will teach me." ”

Gonggong Jiang glanced at Wang Qiang, sighed and said, "Alas! It's useless to say it earlier, but now I'm afraid it's too late. Although you are jealous, after all, you don't have much power, Chongzhen Xiao'er should not kill you, but it is certain to cut your authority. For today's plan, the only way to do this is to take the initiative to release power, show weakness, and show greed. ”

"Oh?"

"The first release power, you have too many errands in your hands now, and the authority is too heavy, you should take the initiative to hand over some of it, especially the militia group, which should be handed over to others, so that Chongzhen will not suspect you of rebellion. Second, show weakness. is to put all the credit you have obtained now on others, and tell the emperor that you are actually a courtier who doesn't know anything, and it is all with the help of others to do these many errands, so that Chongzhen will not be jealous of you. The third is to show greed, that is, to show your greed, to make the emperor feel that you are a greedy for money, lustful, greedy for pleasure, all such people are ambitious, short-sighted, and only in this way can the emperor really rest assured of you. ”

Wang Qiang sat there thinking about these suggestions of Gonggong Jiang, thinking that he would hand over the foundation he had worked so hard to create, and he was unwilling to do so anyway, but he believed that the reason why Gonggong Jiang reminded him that there must be a reason for him, thinking about it left and right, and couldn't make up his mind, so he asked: "In addition to these, is there any other way?" ”

"Hey, hey, hey." Gonggong Jiang sneered and said: "There is a way, that is, to rebel!" Do you have the guts? ”

"This? I never thought about it. Wang Qiang said hesitantly.

"Don't dream, with your current strength, it's easy for the emperor to kill you, don't look at you now in power, you are nothing when the emperor writes an edict, those people below are good to you now, that is to see that you are the emperor's favorite minister, if you are the opposite, they may not follow you, and they will kill you first to invite credit." Hey. Father-in-law Jiang said with disdain.

"Alas!" Wang Qiang sighed helplessly and said, "Thank you for mentioning it, I have to go back and think about what to do." After speaking, Wang Qiang said goodbye to Jiang Gonggong and returned to his bedroom, Cai Ling'er had not yet slept, seeing Wang Qiang coming back, he asked what was going on, Wang Qiang only told Cai Ling'er that he would take good care of Jiang Gonggong in the future, and he should be his own father-like support, and then looked at the roof blankly and thought about countermeasures until the dawn of the east.

Wang Qiang is still thinking hard about countermeasures here, but it is too late, and Guozhang Zhou Kui has already made a move.

said that this week, after the banquet, the guests were sent away and went to the back house to find Chen Yuanyuan.

Chen Yuanyuan was thinking nonsense on the spring bench in the back house. She saw Wang Qiang again today, and secretly felt that they were destined for each other, and her heart was also secretly happy, just now she went out to perform, and saw that Wang Qiang was among the guests! She pondered privately: "Seeing that he is young, why did he sit in the first place, is he the champion?" Or a relative of the emperor? Anyway, the status is respected. This person is my bosom friend, and he is so elegant and friendly, looking at today's appearance, it seems that he is interested in me, if he can follow this person, he should be regarded as relying on this life. Only I, a dusty woman, may not be taken in by others, even if I marry back, eighty percent of them are also small, alas! As long as he can treat me sincerely, why should I care about my name? "Thinking that this round circle has also reached the age of Sichun, and when I think of getting married, I don't feel a fever on my face.

"Yuanyuan." Zhou Kui interrupted Chen Yuanyuan's thoughts with a soft call. Chen Yuanyuan hurriedly got up and said hello to Zhou Kui. Zhou Kui shook his hand with a smile, sat on the chair, and asked, "Yuanyuan girl, I really have a lot of work for you today, there is no way, all the important ministers of the court are here, and the old man is not easy to refuse." ”

"Oh, it doesn't matter. The master ransomed the slave family with a lot of money, and treated me kindly, which should have been reciprocated. Chen Yuanyuan said.

"Huh! You can't say that, you're still young, and you're so beautiful, it's a pity to be in the dust. The old man is a person with a daughter, and he naturally pity you when he sees you, so he redeemed it, but it's a pity that my daughter entered the palace at your age and became a queen, and it was difficult to see each other, and I thought of my daughter when I saw you. Zhou Kui pretended to be sad and said.

That Chen Yuanyuan's parents died when he was a child, he was brought up by his grandmother, and later sold himself in the Qinglou, lost his freedom, and never experienced any parental affection, and now when he heard Zhou Kui say this, he felt sad in his heart, and couldn't help but tearfully say: "The master loves so much, he killed the slave family, I have no parents since I was a child, I sold myself in the Qinglou, and my status is humble. ”

Zhou Kuixi said: "Okay! In this way, I will recognize you as my goddaughter, and the old man is overjoyed to have a daughter like this! Hahahaha. ”

Chen Yuanyuan was clever, and when he heard this, he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "Father, please accept your daughter's worship." ”

Zhou Kui hurriedly helped Chen Yuanyuan up and said, "Good daughter, get up quickly." ”

The two sat down again, and now that their identities are different, they are naturally a little closer. Zhou Kui thought for a moment, and said in a cozy manner: "Since you are my daughter, this lifelong event is naturally a matter for the father, and you must find a person of the same age, who is both wise and brave to be worthy of my daughter!" ”

Chen Yuanyuan heard Zhou Kui mention the marriage, and lowered his head shyly, Zhou Kui pretended to say to himself: "Today's guests are all noble people, but they are too old. ”

When Chen Yuanyuan heard this, he couldn't help but think of Wang Qiang, and said in his heart: "Could it be that Wang Gongzi is also an old man?" ”

Zhou Kui then said to himself: "There is one who is quite old, but is this? ”

"But how?" Chen Yuanyuan knew that he was talking about Wang Qiang, and couldn't help but ask.

"But this Lord Wang is a father-in-law, and it is absolutely impossible to match my daughter!" After Zhou Kui finished speaking, he secretly observed Chen Yuanyuan's expression.

Chen Yuanyuan originally pinned his hopes on Wang Qiang, but now that he heard that Wang Qiang was a eunuch, his heart was relieved. It was fate, regret in my heart, sigh slightly, and break this thought.

That Zhou Kui was treacherous, and he saw through Chen Yuanyuan's mind at once, and then said: "But goddaughter and relax, my daughter is the queen, she accompanies the emperor every day, and the world's talents are in the emperor's pocket, the old man plans to send you to the queen's palace, you sisters can get along day and night, and then look at the opportunity, let the emperor choose a young talent to marry you, marry whoever is a genuine brand, wouldn't it be glorious, how about it?" ”

Zhou Kui's clever words moved Chen Yuanyuan, although she has been in the dust for a long time, but after all, she is young, and she trusts Zhou Kui, how can she see through the treachery of this old thief, and unconsciously has fallen into the trap of others, and completely believes Zhou Kui's nonsense. She got up and said to Zhou Kui Yifu: "My daughter's lifelong affairs are all up to my father, and my daughter has thanked her here." ”