Quanzhou, this city in the era of Li Zhang's life, is far from being comparable with Guangzhou, Shanghai and other first-tier cities, but few people know that the city of Quanzhou holds a world record, that is, it once occupied the name of "the world's largest port" for 400 years, and Alexandria in Egypt, and is also the only certified starting point of the slightest road on the sea, and the Song Dynasty is the most glorious period of Quanzhou.

Compared with the traditional seaports of Guangzhou and Mingzhou, the real development time of Quanzhou is actually later, mainly because the five dynasties of the King of Min attached great importance to maritime trade, thus expanding the scope of Quanzhou's city, and also made Quanzhou become the second largest port after Guangzhou, and ships from all over the world have also berthed in Quanzhou, and there is a grand occasion of "people from ten states in the market" in Quanzhou.

For the seaport of Quanzhou, Li Zhang has naturally longed for a long time, and even has always wanted to see it, but it is not Quanzhou's maritime trade that attracts him, after all, in comparison, Guangzhou is the largest port in the Great Song Dynasty, and the reason why Li Zhang wants to go to Quanzhou is actually because of another thing, but this matter is really inconvenient to say to people.

Dong Qing's encounter gave Li Zhang a good excuse, so early the next morning, Li Zhang took Dong Qing out of the door, and the carriage also came straight to the gate of the imperial city, but this time Li Zhang did not rush into the palace, but let the carriage stop in front of the gate of the imperial city.

Dengwen Drum Courtyard, the Dengwen drum used to let the people redress their grievances at the door is still standing there, speaking of which, Li Zhang and Dengwen Drum Courtyard are really fateful, the first time was that he personally sounded the Dengwen drum in order to save Lu Wu, and the second time was Qingzhi who beat the Dengwen drum for him, which also prompted the couple to finally come together.

Looking at the familiar Dengwen drum in front of him, Li Zhang couldn't help but feel a little emotional, Qingzhi and himself already have a pair of children, and Lu Wu is old, he resigned two years ago to retire at home, playing chess and drinking with the old knife every day, and recently he was pestered by An Ran to let him teach martial arts, the old man is smiling every day, and his spirit is much stronger than before.

At that moment, Li Zhang walked towards the Dengwen drum, and the attendants guarding the Dengwen drum also knew him, after all, among the imperial relatives of the entire Great Song Dynasty, only the Dingbei Marquis in front of him had beaten the Dengwen drum, and even his wife had beaten it, so the guard's inner servant couldn't help but feel weak when he saw Li Zhang coming to the Dengwen drum, for fear that Li Zhang would beat the drum again.

"Slave maid see Dingbei Hou!" The eunuch in charge of the Dengwen Drum Courtyard also got the report, and immediately ran out at this time, and saw Li Zhang also saluting very respectfully, this eunuch Li Zhang actually knew, it seems that his name is Xu Shu, and he used to be a small chamberlain by Yan Shilang's side, and he doesn't know when he was assigned here.

"Your name is Xu Shu, when did you come to the Dengwen Drum Temple?" Li Zhang glanced at the other party and asked casually.

Xu Shu didn't expect Li Zhang to remember his name, and immediately replied again with a happy expression: "Master Qiyu, Yan Du knows that the slaves and maids are quite attentive, so they rewarded me with a shortage last year, and let me come to Dengwen Drum Courtyard to be on duty!" ”

Li Zhang nodded when he heard this, Yan Shilang is Zhao Zhen's most trusted eunuch, and the official worships the introspection, when he first defeated Yanyun some time ago, he was sent to Yanyun to be a supervisor, mainly to monitor the main general Liu Ping, but later Liu Ping returned to Beijing, and Yan Shilang also returned to Beijing with him, and he still served by Zhao Zhen's side after receiving the reward.

Xu Shu also wanted to ask Li Zhang why he came to Dengwen Drum Courtyard, but the identities of the two were very different, they were the eunuchs in the palace who were the royal slaves, but Li Zhang was Zhao Zhen's cousin and belonged to the emperor's relatives, so these eunuchs could not be afraid of other officials, but they were most afraid of powerful and powerful imperial relatives like Li Zhang, who were very close to the royal family.

Li Zhang didn't pay attention to Xu Shu at this time, but walked into the Dengwen Drum Courtyard, which made Xu Shu also stunned, but he could only follow carefully, and Li Zhang entered the Dengwen Drum Courtyard and went straight into a hall, then turned to Xu Shu and asked, "Has anyone been beating the Dengwen Drum recently?" ”

Xu Shu was also stunned when he heard Li Zhang's question, because things like Dengwengu have always been responsible for them, and outsiders have no right to ask at all, even Li Zhang, but at this time he didn't dare not answer, after all, Li Zhang really didn't dare to offend, so he could only say carefully: "Lord Qiqi, there have been a few people beating the Dengwen drum recently, and the slaves and maids have been reported." ”

Li Zhang sneered when he heard this, and then pointed to Dong Qingdao, who was brought in behind him: "Do you know him?" ”

Xu Shu and the others also looked at Dong Qing at this time, but they quickly shook their heads, but they didn't lie, Dong Qing was like a beggar before, but now after freshening up, it was like a different person, so of course they couldn't recognize it.

"Two months ago, he came to beat the drum to Dengwen to avenge the lives of fifty-seven members of his family, but you kicked him out, you shouldn't forget it, right?" Li Zhang sneered at this time and said, Dengwen Drum Courtyard is the place to sue the emperor, and in a major case like this involving fifty-seven lives, if someone didn't get in the way, they would never dare to drive people away.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Zhang's words came out, Xu Shu's face immediately changed, but he was very smart, and then shouted with a bitter face: "Master Hou is angry, it turns out that you are here for that incident, but what this Quanzhou person told the slave has already been ascertained, it was just an accidental fire that caused his family to die tragically, and the case in Quanzhou has long been closed, so we will drive him away from Dengwen Drum Academy." ”

If it were someone else, maybe he would be prevaricated by Xu Shu's words, but Li Zhang sneered and said again: "I didn't expect to see you for many days, but your courage has become bigger, and you dare to lie in front of you, since you don't dare to tell the truth, then I can only call Yan Shilang and ask him to ask you!" ”

Li Zhang said and turned around and left, but Xu Shu's face changed in fright, Li Zhang didn't bother to talk to him more, but if Yan Shilang was allowed to come, it would be completely different, if he didn't say it, Yan Shilang had the means to pry his mouth open.

Thinking of the torture in the palace, Xu Shu immediately knelt on the ground and grabbed the hem of Li Zhang's shirt and begged: "Lord Hou is angry, the slave and maid are blinded by lard, but this matter has nothing to do with the slave and maid, it is the inner service province that knows that Huang Qiu has ordered the slave and maid, if there is a Quanzhou person who comes to beat the drum, the person will be driven out, the slave and the maid dare not offend Huang Qiu, so they can only obey the order!" ”

"Huang Qiu? Sure enough, it's a big fish! Li Zhang also snorted coldly when he heard this, and immediately kicked Xu Shu away and left the Dengwen Drum Courtyard, people like Xu Shu are just small characters in the palace, and it is not worth wasting time at all, but his days in the Dengwen Drum Courtyard are also over.

At the moment when Li Zhang entered the palace, Dong Qing couldn't enter the palace, so he could only stay with Li Zhang's coachman, guards and others outside, and after Li Zhang entered the palace, he came directly to the vertical arch hall, Zhao Zhen was discussing political affairs with Lu Yijian and others at this time, Li Zhang did not bother, but waited quietly on the side.

Generally speaking, only when encountering some particularly difficult to make a choice, Zhao Zhen will convene ministers to discuss, usually the general government affairs are mostly discussed by the government hall to make a decision, and then submitted to Zhao Zhen, if Zhao Zhen has no opinion, only need to directly approve it.

Li Zhang stood aside and listened for a while, and found that Zhao Zhen and Lu Yijian and others were also discussing the rectification of officialdom, and Li Zhang also met Han Qi among the ministers, and now Han Qi is qualified to enter the Vertical Arch Hall to discuss matters, which is also a recognition of his ability.

Finally waited until the political affairs were discussed, Lu Yijian and the others also said goodbye and left, and when they left, Han Qi also said hello to Li Zhang, and after they left, Zhao Zhen also rubbed his temples, and then smiled at Li Zhang: "Cousin, why did you come so early today, is there something wrong?" ”

Li Zhang usually came to Zhao Zhen in the afternoon, because Zhao Zhen had to deal with government affairs in the morning and morning, so Zhao Zhen would say this, and Li Zhang also stepped forward at this time and said: "Your Majesty, the minister really has something to report today!" ”

Li Zhang said that he told the story of the Dong family's annihilation tragedy, and also said that the internal service province knew that Huang Qiu was related to this matter, and even asked the Dengwen Drum Academy to drive away Dong Qing, who was complaining, which made Zhao Zhen's face more and more ugly.