At night, Xingzhou Post House. A soldier holding a red card gold lacquer handing over the shop, shaking the copper bell, galloped close to the post house. Although the people in the post house had already heard the brass bell, they were not a delivery shop here, so no one went out to greet them. The post house is a post house, the delivery shop is the delivery shop, and the post house receives officials and foreign envoys who pass by; The delivery shop is responsible for delivering official documents and official goods, and is also responsible for providing horses for passing officials. Therefore, the only connection between the post house and the delivery shop is that if the officials living in the post house need a horse, they need to find a nearby delivery shop and use a voucher to get a horse. However, it is often not very convenient, because the interval between post houses is generally 60 miles, and the delivery shops are generally about 20 miles.

So when the anxious handler came to the outside of the post house with a vermilion lacquer wooden sign in his hand, and the words "Imperial text, no entry into the shop" were written in gold characters on the card, it took a while for the post house to come out.

It is really rare to come to the post house with a gold medal, and this gold medal was handed over in a hurry and did not get off the horse, and directly asked the people of the post house: "Can the declaration mission be in the post house?" ”

When the people at the inn heard that they were asking the mission for the proclamation, they hurriedly replied, "I just dined here this morning, and then I went north." ”

When the soldiers on the horse heard that they had passed by this morning, they immediately whipped their horses and ran to the next delivery shop, and when they arrived at the next delivery shop, someone would naturally take his place and continue to chase the proclamation mission.

The trail is bumpy and difficult, and the road is unfamiliar, so it is extremely laborious to walk. After walking for about an hour, these guards from the pampering of the capital hummed and chirped one by one, complaining bitterly, and finally even Yang Zhonggui, who was "seasick", had given up the idea of continuing to walk the path, and after a short stay on the road, he finally went to the east post road. Walking along the post road, you can rush to Xiongzhou at dawn, and when you arrive in the big city of Xiongzhou, you can rest for two days, and no one will chase you along the way.

As the chief figure of this proclamation mission, Wang Anzhong knew why the official family wanted them to leave for the north in advance. Wang Anzhong is a scholar, and he is a nerd among scholars, he is very disdainful of the official family running through the emperor like this, even if he is the daughter of the emperor's family, there should be a rule, right? is so doting, how can you know how to run a house? Sure enough, it is what the sage said: only villains and women are difficult to raise, those who are close are not inferior, and those who are far away are resentful.

After some tossing, everyone was tired enough, and sometimes when he was close to the carriage, Wang Anzhong could still hear Yang Zhonggui snoring in the carriage. However, Wang Anzhong is envious of Yang Qiu, the wind and frost are harmless all the way, and he can lie down and sleep at any time.

Wang Anzhong, who walked on the post road, was really much faster, and there was no other fork in the road to go, and the group was only looking forward to rushing to Xiongzhou City as soon as possible, and they could rest for two days, so they were all in a hurry. When the sky was just dawning, I finally saw Xiongzhou, the northernmost border city of the Great Song Dynasty.

Xiongzhou is worthy of being an important border town, much taller and more majestic than the big city of the inland state capital, and the banner on the head of the city, as well as the soldiers standing upright with guns, all reveal the vicissitudes and heaviness.

When the group came to the outside of the city, there was already a swaggering Banzhi guard who stepped forward to call the door and shouted to the guards on the city tower: "I am the Banzhi in front of the palace of the capital, escorting the arrival of the proclamation mission, and the holy decree is issued; It's good to go out of town to greet you! ”

The guards on the city tower heard what the proclamation mission, and it was escorted by the front of the palace, knowing that he could not be offended, he was busy calling to be the guard on duty, and the guard asked the following proclamation mission on the city tower, knowing that it was Shangshu Zuocheng Wang Anzhong and the inner servant Yang Qiu, as well as other officials in the court, and hurriedly said: "The border is not as good as the mainland, the army has its own rules, please bring it a little, I will go to Tongyu Tong Xuanfu." So saying, he went down to the city.

Wang An and the others also understood it, so they waited outside the city gate. After a while, the heavy city gate slowly opened, and a group of people came out of it, led by Tong Guan, the envoy of the two rivers, as well as Liu Yanqing, the commander of the capital, and other generals, and then there were a group of staff who followed Tong Guan, a large group of people, followed behind Tong Guan, densely squeezed out of the city. Trina

Wang Anzhong's identity at this time is the declaration of the mission, naturally do not need to care about Tong Guan, after a greeting, Tong Guan welcomed the declaration of the mission into the city, placed in the post house, Wang Anzhong and Tong Guan first came to the guest house of the post house, Tong Guan said politely: "I don't know that the mission is coming today, and there has been no messenger in Beijing to send a message, saying that Wang Zuocheng led people to arrive, it is really rude." ”

Wang Anzhong was a little sleepy, and said: "The official family is in a hurry, and I rushed to Xiongzhou in two days and nights." Even if I sent a messenger to tell Master Tong in advance, I'm afraid it will only be more than half a day faster than me. ”

Tong Guan was puzzled and asked, "Why is the mission so urgent?" ”

"It's not because of Emperor Maud." At that moment, Wang Anzhong told how the official family openly agreed to Emperor Maode's concubine to come to Yanshan Mansion, and how the official family regretted it later, and secretly sent the delegation to leave ahead of schedule, some of these things were said by the officials themselves, and some were said by Wang Anzhong in private, and the ministers' offices and the emperor's harem were in the same imperial city, and it was not impossible to hear some of the emperor's private affairs. After Wang Anzhong finished speaking, he said: "The official family is still not at ease, and they want me to wait on the south bank of the river to stop and move as fast as possible along the way, so the road is fast." ”

Tong Guan said with a smile: "In this way, Wang Zuocheng has worked hard all the way, and he can rest in Xiongzhou for a few more days." ”

Wang Anzhong hugged his fist in the direction of the capital and said: "The official family values it, and Xiaoxing stayed overnight along the way, just to rush to Yanshan Mansion as soon as possible and read out the holy decree, which is the wish of the official family, and I dare not delay......"

As he was talking, he suddenly heard a sharp exclamation outside, the voice was shrill and thin, and then there seemed to be a cry, but it was much smaller, and I couldn't hear it clearly for a while.

Tong Guan and Wang Anzhong didn't know whether it was someone from the post house or a member of the embassy, so they came out of the guest house together and walked towards the shouting place in the compound.

Before he walked to the courtyard, he saw the waiter Yang Qiu walking over with a sad face, and when he saw Wang Anzhong, he hurriedly grabbed Wang Anzhong's arm, Wang Anzhong said with some disgust: "Yang Zhonggui, why are you so panicked?" Aren't you afraid of losing the face of the official family? ”

Yang Qiu was awakened by a sentence, Yang Qiu looked at Tong Guan, and then said to Wang Anzhong: "Wang Zuocheng, I arranged the house at the right time, and found that there were four fewer guards to escort me. ”

Wang Anzhong asked, "Can it be verified?" Is it true that there are four people missing? ”

Yang Qiu looked frustrated, nodded and replied, "It's the four of them." ”