Compared with the northeast of the capital, although the northwest is not more densely populated than the central area of the east and west cities, there are still one or two noble gardens near the pond, but the northwest corner surrounded by Xizhimen and Xinkaidao Street belongs to the slum area. Most of the people living in this area are chariot and horse sedan drivers, or handymen who work temporarily and temporarily, and there are inconspicuous low yards everywhere, often in a courtyard there are several families living together, some of them are houses that they have worked hard to build, but most of them live in rented yards. After all, after many years, there is no idle land in the capital.

The small courtyard rented by Huitong is in Banqiao Hutong on the west side of Xinkaidao Street, only two or three alleys away from the northern edge of the city wall. There are many military families living in this vicinity, and the third or even fourth generation of grandparents and grandchildren are crowded in the same courtyard, and there is a constant noise and shouting throughout the whole day, but he will not care if he is used to living in the market.

Now that he has money in hand, he is much more generous than when he was in Nanjing. In the past two months, more than ten or twenty eyeliners have been planted in Dongcheng and Xicheng, and even the old department of the former West Factory has been found by him with clever words. It's just that Beizhen Fusi and Dongchang are both behemoths, and there is no news of the revival of Xichang, so he doesn't dare to be too ostentatious for the time being. This time, when the apprentice under his hand sent a letter, he opened it and found that it was Xu Xun's familiar left-handed book, he couldn't help grinning, buttoned up his hat and went out.

The three alleys opposite Banqiao Hutong are next to Jishuitan, and there is a stall selling various cakes and tea soups at the end. Now that it was winter, the leaky place was naturally a normal business, so the owner had to build a simple shed with linoleum and firewood, and occasionally people looking for work around came to sit down for a while and drink tea to warm up. Huitong was familiar with the road to the small tea stall, and saw that on a table in the far corner sat Xu Xun, who was dressed in a brown coat and a small hat, which was the most common thing here, and he casually threw two coppers to the strong man who opened the tea stall, and then sat down opposite Xu Xun. When a large bowl of hot tea was delivered, he took a few sips before putting it down.

"What do you want to come to me personally? Wasn't it all the same Po Lai a while ago? ”

"Dingguo is dead."

Hearing Xu Xun say so lightly, Huitong was stunned for a moment, and then pouted and said, "Dingguo is dead?" What's the matter with you? Although we came over with the people from the Wei State Mansion, Xu Xu entered the Guozi Prison, and Wang Shikun also dragged Ding Changsun to Xing'an Bo Mansion to help with the funeral, but the death of the Ding Guo Gong will not make the prince of the world so elongated, right? ”

"I asked Ding Changsun to find me a few officers like the General Banner and Baihu before, but Ding Changsun is now a mourner and can't get away, and I'm afraid that the next person will do something indiscriminate, and I'm afraid that the imperial history will find out about the impeachment, so I only have four or five." Xu Xun was too lazy to go around in circles with Huitong, and when he said this, he asked bluntly, "So I am short of people right now, very short!" Do you have a Spiritual Force, and you have a military membership? An officer like Baihu has to go to the military department, but the general flag and small flag don't need to go to the military department, and I can call the shots with a single note. ”

A strip can call the shots!

Although the general banner and other officers are not in the stream according to the civilian officials, for military households, the quota of each household is one, and the rest of them are called military surplus, saying that they can take the imperial examination and farming, but they are always the first class than civilian households, and as for the regular army, they often can't get a small flag in their lives. Huitong is considered to be talented, and he voted for the fate of Wei Ying, who was punished by the West Factory for thousands of households, and was promoted to the general flag, but it was more majestic than ordinary commanders. But now, although Xu Xun is not a detective errand, he is practicing in Xiyuan!

Thinking about it, if it weren't for the name of a hundred households, he would have won the Ministry of War, and Huitong was the first to be moved. He took a deep breath, pondered it for a while, snapped his fingers, and then said with a smile: "I don't have a military membership, and even if I do, they are all fugitive soldiers, and you can't use them anyway." Fortunately, I was shrewd, and after moving to Banqiao Hutong, I walked around and got along well with these neighbors. Moreover, you must know that the roster of each guard has its own guard, and you can find a few officers from the side posts to help through the Dingguo Mansion, but you definitely can't pick it yourself. There are three military households at the root of the north city wall where I am, which are the avant-garde of the government army, and there are a few boys who often dance with guns and sticks, I will go and inquire about the names, and you will pick ...... when the time comes."

Speaking of this, Huitong suddenly slapped his thigh again and said, "No, several of them are military surpluses, not regular soldiers!" Speaking of this, I remembered, you are a fledgling young commander, those veterans who are old in the army, you can't suppress it, you know, many regular soldiers are seven or eight years old and eleven or twelve years old and eat the money and food passed down by Lao Tzu, and they are very slippery! I'll give you an idea, don't be in the army, just the army, but you have to fight the joints of the army first! If you want to say that those people in the military department look down on us warriors the most, you have to bother to work hard. ”

"You don't have to worry about that." Xu Xun smiled slyly, and then said unhurriedly, "Wang Shouren, the director of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War, said that he planned to follow him to Xiyuan to supervise the army. He is a serious Jinshi background, a famous family, and a person valued by Li Gelao, if it is for the serious matter of governing the army, he should be able to help. ”

Wang Shouren?

Huitong has been away from the capital for a long time, and now when he comes back, he mainly inquires about the ministers of the cabinet bosses, and even the big eunuchs such as the ceremonial supervisor or the personnel of the Jinyi Weibei Town Fu Division, and he naturally has never heard of a small head of the military department. But even so, he still gave Xu Xun a thumbs up.

"It's really worthy of being the prince of the world, the ability to pull relationships and friendships is incomparable, those uncles in the military department have always sat facing south, and they ignore us who are in the military, you can actually pull a person, this ability...... Gee! ”

"Don't brag about me, a few days ago, I made a big fuss with the prince Miss Shen and the affairs of the eldest princess's mansion, but I don't know who attributed the matter of the prince who escaped from the Wenhua Hall to lecture that day. Although the emperor must have a plan in his heart, maybe there is still a toss. ”

"What!"

Huitong was shocked and angry when he heard this. Of course, he is an old man from Xichang, but after being away for many years, he has long been unable to know the movements of various dignitaries and dignitaries as before, but even so, he did not know in advance about such a big thing happening under his nose, which is inevitably a major blow. Although he and Xu Liang are old friends, Xu Liang, the empty earl, will not want to take care of things for a while, and all his chances to turn over are gambled on Xu Xun. If Xu Xun had any mistakes, he would certainly not be poor for the rest of his life, but everything else would be empty!

"I'll look it up." Huitong's eyes flashed with a chilling light, and he said viciously, "This time I was negligent, from now on, I will stare at those imperial histories who like to write the book to impeach this impeachment and that one!" ”

In the Ming Dynasty, Kunning Palace has always been the queen's middle palace. In addition to the Qianqiu Festival, the women who were ordered to congratulate each other, usually accept greetings from the concubines. However, Hongzhi has always been simple and simple, and the Thousand Autumn Festival is often exempt from court, and there is no concubine in the harem, and Kunning Palace naturally lacks those flowery warblers and Yanyan. However, it is not deserted here, because Empress Zhang monopolizes the holy family, the big eunuchs love to flatter here when they have nothing to do, talk about human favors through the news, and then come to the female officials around the queen by the way.

Empress Zhang didn't have to go to great lengths to fight for concubines, nor did she have to pretend to take care of her concubines, so she naturally lived very comfortably. In her early thirties, she was very well maintained, her complexion was as ruddy and shiny as a girl, and she had a slight illness and pain, which was a major event that shook the palace, and she couldn't wait to revolve around her from the emperor to the imperial hospital. This time, because the weather was getting cooler, there was a slight cough, and the embassy of the Tai Hospital personally accompanied him in the Xinuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace, watching the imperial doctor ask for a prescription, and finally took the prescription and considered it again and again, and finally said a word.

When these people in the hospital retreated in fear, Empress Zhang impatiently ordered someone to hang up the tent on the bed, sat up with her hands on her hands, and angrily said to a female official next to her: "I just coughed twice, you have a lot of things, you have to work hard to ask for some imperial doctor, and the emperor will inevitably nagged and asked again!" ”

"Niangniang, you don't know the emperor's temper, if you cough in front of you, the slaves and maids don't report and don't ask for a doctor, it's our sin to turn around, you can just rest in peace!"

"If I keep raising it any longer, I won't move!"

Having said that, but several female officials were persuaded by the side with clever words, and Empress Zhang had to lie down according to her words, thinking that Emperor Hongzhi had made a big move to personally try the case before, and promised Liu Shan Ling Chi in the Qianqing Palace, and even sent all the attendants to watch the punishment, she couldn't help but gradually show a smile on her face. When she was in her heart, she heard a sudden commotion outside, and only then did she raise her elbows and lean out a little, and she saw a man rushing in.

"Mother, mother!"

Seeing that it was her son, Empress Zhang's just trace of anger was immediately thrown out of the clouds, and she quickly sat up straight and said with a smile: "The lecture in Wenhua Hall is over so early today?" ”

"Yes, when Erchen heard that his mother was sick, he asked Mr. Li for a favor, and Mr. Li wrote two pages less!" Being able to find an excuse to slip back from the Wenhua Hall so early, Zhu Houzhao was naturally very proud in his heart, but his face was still honest, and he asked with great concern, "What happened to the queen mother's illness?" ”

"It's just a few coughs, and they are so troublesome that they go to your place to talk a lot!" Empress Zhang said this in her mouth, but she was happy in her heart. My son has grown up so big, don't usually say that he has a headache and brain fever, even when he was seriously ill, he was not so anxious, this case is really a blessing in disguise!

"Ah, it's okay, it's okay!" Zhu Houzhao grabbed Empress Zhang's hand and shook it twice with relief, then knelt down on the pedal in front of the bed, and said with a sad face, "If the queen mother is okay, then please call the shots for her son!" ”

"Huh?" Empress Zhang was full of anger, "What, who made you angry?" Say it quickly, it doesn't matter which gentleman in the cabinet or the old man of those ministries, you name it, the queen mother will give you the decision! ”

"It's Xu Xun, today there is a royal history to impeach Xu Xun, saying that it was he who instigated Erchen to skip school last time! Queen Mother Mingjian, if he hadn't gone with his sons, how could he have pulled out that Zheng Wang from the eldest princess's mansion, and how could he have caught Liu Shan's dog...... What's more, not to mention ......" Zhu Houzhao hesitated for a moment, suddenly turned his head and glared fiercely, and saw that several female officials had all slipped away, so he said nemesly, "Erchen was suffering from rumors in the past, and he also told Erchen to look at his parents' heart, and he was the most accurate when he was a child......"

Although Liu Jin outside the door is looking at his nose and nose, his ears have been listening to the movements inside. Listening to Zhu Houzhao babbling to Empress Zhang, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, secretly thinking that he was not in vain to find out the news, and said it in front of the prince, this favor is really wonderful.

Although he Liu Jin has a few fox friends in the East Palace, he has few people outside the palace who have a dark eye and few people he knows, and this prince of Xing'an must grasp it!

(To be continued)