She County, the ancient name of Shezhou, in the early years of Hongwu was assigned to the Huizhou Mansion of Nanzhili, it is the location of the Huizhou Mansion, more than 600 miles away from Jinling in the north, more than 100 miles away from Huangshan Mountain in the south, the famous Huizhou merchant gang in the Ming Dynasty originated here.

Zhang Bin took a few entourage, set off from Jinling, went south from Yingtianfu, passed through Ningguofu, drove for two days, and finally arrived at the boundary of She County.

At this time, it was already dusk, Zhang Bin did not take everyone into the capital city of Huizhou, but under the guidance of Zhang Charu, he hit a horse and went straight to the west of She County.

He had come to visit Bi Maokang and Bi Maoliang, and the two brothers were from She County.

Just a few days ago, Zhang Bin had ordered Zhang Cha and Zhao Ru to rush to She County with their own greetings to explain their intention to visit Bi Maoliang.

The post did not say what the specific thing was, but only stated that he was a person from Funing Prefecture, the political envoy of Fujian Chengxuan.

Sure enough, Bi Maoliang did not refuse to visit himself, and the reply was quite earnest.

Zhang Bin received the reply, and set off early the next morning, more than 600 miles, two days, this road really drove him miserable, but at this moment, he was in a pretty good mood, because he was about to see the Bi brothers.

Originally, he just wanted to discuss the development of a flintlock pistol with Bi Maokang, but after chatting with his boss Yang Wenzhong, he suddenly realized the horror of the friends at this time in the late Ming Dynasty.

In such an environment, it is almost impossible for a person to be in power alone!

Like the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party, they are all a lot of them, when they are in power, they can be described as covering the sky and the sun, and almost all the yamen are controlled by them, only in this way can they be regarded as the real power, if they are single-handed, they may turn around, and their backs will be filled with dark arrows, and they don't know how to die!

If you want to be in power, if you want to be a powerful minister, you must have your own camp.

Cao Huachun is almost wooed, but he is Chongzhen's cronies after all, and it is really hard to say whether he will integrate into his camp after he takes power, so Zhang Bin is eager to win over a group of like-minded officials to form his own camp, and the Bi brothers are his first target.

Soon after the horse galloped, Bifu was already in sight, because Zhang Bin had already sent Zhao Ru to go to Bifu to announce first, and the gate of Bifu was already open at this time.

From a distance, you can see that two men in fancy clothes are standing in the middle of two rows of family members, looking this way.

This should be the Bi brothers, there are still dozens of steps away from the Bi Mansion, Zhang Bin beckoned everyone to turn over and dismount, and then threw the reins into Zhang Cha's hand, and walked towards the Bi brothers quickly.

Before he arrived, he hurriedly arched his hand and said, "I'm ashamed to be ashamed of the two adults to greet each other in person." ”

At this time, Bi Maoliang, who was standing in front, narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at the young man in front of him.

Zhang Bin's age really startled him, looking like this, he was in his twenties, and he turned out to be a member of the military department from the fifth grade, this young man is not simple.

Originally, when he heard that an official from Jinling wanted to visit, he wanted to refuse.

However, when he opened the post, he saw that this Zhang Bin turned out to be from Fujian, and he immediately changed his mind.

He has been an official for more than 20 years, and half of his time has been spent in Fujian, so it can be said that Fujian is his second hometown, especially after becoming the political envoy of Fujian, he has more of that sense of responsibility as a parent.

Now, an official from Fujian Province has come to ask for help, and he really can't bear to refuse.

In his mind, Zhang Bin must have come to ask him for help, because being demoted to Jinling basically means staying away from the center of power, and it is difficult to return to the capital to grasp real power.

Don't look at him has resigned to his hometown, his network is still there, and there are a few big people who are scared to death.

For example, Gu Bingqian, the head of the court, and he are in the same department, as well as Liu Yixian, Sun Shenxing, Zhou Yingqiu and a group of powerful figures who have great influence in the government and the opposition, all of which belong to their own department!

He himself doesn't want to be in the same dynasty as the eunuchs, so he doesn't want to get mixed up, but even if he is not an official in the court now, with his connections, it is still very simple to help a little foreigner return to the capital.

This young man is personable, heroic, and comfortable to look at, plus he is from Fujian, Bi Maoliang has already made a decision, if this young man's heart is not bad, he will help.

He pretended to be tentative: "Lord Zhang is too polite, both of us brothers have already resigned and returned to our hometown, where are we still adults." Originally, we heard the news that Lord Zhang was coming, and we should go to Jinling to visit, but at our brother's age, he really couldn't withstand the long journey, and now, it was rude and rude to let Lord Zhang come to the door in person. ”

He looks afraid that he is in his fifties, and it is possible that he can't withstand a long journey, but Bi Maokang looks like he is in his forties, he is in the prime of life, how can he not withstand a long journey, this is obviously a polite remark, Zhang Bin hurriedly bowed his hand again: "Master Bi is honest and honest, he can be called a model, and the younger generation has admired him for a long time. ”

Well, humble and polite, not bad, not bad, Bi Maoliang nodded secretly, led his hand to Bi Maokang's side, and introduced: "This is the second brother of the contemptible Menghou." ”

Zhang Bin hurriedly arched his hand at Bi Maokang and said, "Look up for a long time." ”

Bi Maokang hurriedly returned the salute and said, "Lord Zhang is polite." ”

After a greeting, Bi Maoliang led Zhang Bin and his party inside.

The scale of this Bifu is not small, covering an area of dozens of acres, almost the size of a county government, and everyone walked for almost a quarter of an hour before coming to the middle lobby.

At this time, Zhang Bin hurriedly took the gift from Wang Er and Sun Qing, and followed the Bi brothers into the lobby.

There are a lot of gifts, there are four kinds, but they are not very valuable, a live chicken, a bag of dried longan, a bag of dried lychee and a bag of white sugar, the total adds up to less than one or two silver.

Bi Maoliang was very happy after receiving the gift, dried longan, dried lychee, and white sugar are Fujian specialties.

He actually said excitedly: "Come on, hurry up and take it to the kitchen to stew together!" ”

Well, in this way, it's actually a bit out of order, the gift, just accept it, and stew it directly, which really surprised Zhang Bin.

Bi Maoliang handed over the things to his subordinates, and then explained: "It's rude, it's rude, I haven't eaten chicken like this for a long time, when I was in Fujian before, I ate it like this every New Year's Day, and I really miss the taste." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he hurriedly echoed: "Well, this stew is indeed delicious, and the younger generations also like to eat it like this." ”

In fact, he likes to eat a fart, longan, lychee and chicken stewed with sugar are sweet and greasy, I am afraid that only people here in Jiangsu and Zhejiang love to eat it!

Bi Maoliang seemed to be in a very good mood, accepted the gift, sat down with the host and guest, and served tea again, he took the initiative to speak: "Master Zhang is so young and promising, it is really a waste of talent to be placed in the sixth department of the southern capital!" ”

Zhang Bin was stunned when he heard this, I'm afraid it's a bit of a misunderstanding.