The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty has been completely shrouded in night, not far from the Xibian Gate in a mansion, Li Dongyang, who has passed the age of sixties, sits in the study, only to see his slender figure, some dark skin, and his appearance is also very ordinary, it seems that there is nothing outstanding at all, if it is the first time to see him, I am afraid that I can't believe that this gray-haired old man will be Li Dongyang who moves the world with his wisdom.

At this time, Li Dongyang was intently looking at the letter he had just received in front of him, and the knuckles of his two hands holding the letter were thick, and he didn't look like a pair of hands holding a pen at all, but like a hand holding a hoe. This is mainly related to Li Dongyang's life when he was a child, although his father was also a well-educated man, but because of the poverty of his family, he often worked for others, and even worked as a ferryman, Li Dongyang often worked with his father when he was a child, so he raised a pair of hands with thick knuckles.

In addition to Li Dongyang in the study, there was another person sitting opposite him, only to see this person with a Chinese face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a majestic appearance, although he was wearing a scribe's robe, he looked like a martial artist. This person's name is Yang Yiqing, nearly ten years younger than Li Dongyang, the former official worshiped the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, led the military affairs of the three towns, and was also regarded as half a martial artist, and was later promoted to the right capital of the imperial history, that is, Wang Lun's top boss, but unfortunately he was the same as Wang Lun, he hated Liu Jin's eunuchs very much, and was also dismissed after the last time, but he did not return to his hometown, but still lived in the capital.

"Brother Bin, what did Brother Ruyan say in the letter?" Yang Yiqing finally waited for Li Dongyang to put down the letter in his hand, and immediately asked a little impatiently. Ruyan is Wang Lun's word, when Wang Lun was the deputy capital of the imperial history. It happened to be Yang Yiqing's deputy. The two not only cooperate tacitly in business. Personal relationships are also good, and now that Wang Lun has an accident, he cares more than anyone else.

Li Dongyang, who read the letter, showed a puzzled expression, which is very rare in him, who is known as resourceful. Then I saw Li Dongyang speak: "Ru Yan's attitude this time is very strange, he hopes that we can delay things as much as possible, preferably until April, when his dilemma can be solved?" ”

"Procrastination?" Yang Yiqing was also stunned when he heard the content of the letter, and then asked again. "Then Brother Ruyan has not explained the reason, why do you want us to help him delay, does he have any plans?"

Li Dongyang shook his head slowly, and said with a frown: "No, Ru Yan didn't say anything in the letter, but only mentioned that this was a suggestion made to him by a young man named Zhou Chong, and he also promised that as long as it was April, there would be a big variable." ”

"Big variables, what big variables, are you confused? What's the use of just procrastinating for time, let alone the idea given to him by a hairy boy. Could it be that the other party is the reincarnation of Kong Ming, can it be counted as pinching? Yang Yiqing obviously didn't understand Wang Lun's way of letting them delay time, and he was even more dissatisfied with Zhou Chong.

What Yang Yiqing didn't expect was that Li Dongyang smiled strangely at this time: "Maybe this Zhou Zhong can really pinch and calculate." ”

"Huh?" Yang Yiqing was startled when he saw Li Dongyang's appearance, and immediately spoke, "Brother Bin, how can you be confused, if you are a young man of unknown origin, it is just an honest person who deceives Brother Ruyan, how can you believe that kind of nonsense that has no evidence?" ”

Regarding Yang Yiqing's words, Li Dongyang said with a smile: "Ying Ning, this Zhou Chong is not a young man of unknown origin, he is Ruyan's quasi-son-in-law, in addition to this layer of identity, the Journey to the West, which has recently set off great storms in the capital, is written by this Zhou Chong, a fifteen-year-old boy can write such a strange book as Journey to the West, if someone says that Zhou Chong can really pinch and calculate, then the old man will also believe it!" ”

In the middle of last year, the manuscripts of the first ten chapters of Journey to the West were circulated to the capital from the south, and immediately caused a huge sensation among all readers.

With the huge impact of the book Journey to the West, the author of this book, Zhou Chong, has also made many people firmly remember it, especially for his fifteen-year-old age, which has aroused the interest of many people, at first most people did not believe that Zhou Chong was really only fifteen years old, but with the news about Zhou Chong in the south, almost everyone now knows that Journey to the West is indeed written by a fifteen-year-old prodigy.

Journey to the West was originally a mythological novel, and Zhou Chong completed this magnificent masterpiece at the age of fifteen, which itself is like a mythological story, which also makes the book borrow people's names and people borrow books, and under the echo of the two, Zhou Chong and Journey to the West's great names spread throughout Beijing, and even heard that even the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was not doing his job, was sending people to find the whole Journey to the West.

"It turned out to be him!" Yang Yiqing also showed a shocked expression on his face when he heard that Zhou Zhong was the author of Journey to the West, he is also a fan of Journey to the West, and he has unloaded the first ten times back and forth many times, but unfortunately he has not been able to find the following content, and he is also very sorry in his heart, he didn't expect that the person who wrote the book turned out to be the quasi-son-in-law of an old friend.

At the same time that Li Dongyang and Yang Yiqing discussed Zhou Chong and Journey to the West, the imperial city Xiyuan, which is not very far from them, is located here, and the famous leopard room is located here.

At this time, it was already very late, but the leopard room was still brightly lit, only to see a large hall, Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao with a group of henchmen were having a feast, among which Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong and other eight people among the eight tigers were all there, a group of people while enjoying the song and dance in the middle, while chatting loudly, it looked so lively.

Zhu Houzhao is a handsome, strong young man, he has just turned 20 years old this year, is at the most energetic age, although he has been having fun all day during the day, but now there is no tiredness, still sitting there with Liu Jin and these henchmen talking and laughing.

"Liu Banban, what interesting things happened today?" I saw the young Emperor Zhengde take the wine glass and drink it all, and then asked Liu Jin, who was sitting on his right, with a smile.

Since moving to the leopard room, Emperor Zhengde has been completely free, although the ministers of the court have been admonished many times, but he promised on the surface, in fact he still does his own thing, and then the ministers of the court simply no longer care about him, Zhengde is even more unbelievable, plus the leopard room has everything to eat, drink and have fun, so he stays in the leopard room every day, and the news of the outside world is only conveyed through Liu Jin.

"Your Majesty, the court is still the same today, and there is nothing big happening in the capital, if you really want to say anything interesting, then there is only a news from the south, the whole Journey to the West that Your Majesty has been looking for has been published as a book, and it will soon be sold on the market, and then Your Majesty will be able to see it!" I saw Liu Jin stand up and replied very respectfully.

Although Liu Jin is only in his fifties, because eunuchs have always aged relatively quickly, he now looks gray-haired and has a somewhat rickety back, and some people believe him if he is seventy years old. However, Liu Jin is now in a high position, and he is the leader among the Eight Tigers seated, so he has a sense of power when he speaks.

Hearing Liu Jin mention Journey to the West, Zhu Houzhao immediately raised his spirits, and said excitedly: "Great! I'm being scratched by the monkey of Journey to the West, but unfortunately there are only the first ten times, it's really not fun to watch, and when the whole book of Journey to the West is on the market, you will immediately get me a set, and then I have to see if this monkey can poke God out of a big hole? Haha......ha

Looking at Zhu Houzhao in the big smile, Liu Jin and the others also laughed together, but at this moment, sitting on the left side of Zhu Houzhao, Zhang Yong, who was second only to Liu Jin among the Eight Tigers, suddenly stood up and said with a smile: "Your Majesty wants to see Journey to the West, where do you need to wait for a while, the slave sent someone to Songjiang a few days ago, and then found the bookseller who printed Journey to the West, and has bought a complete set of Journey to the West from there, which has just been delivered this afternoon, and I want to invite Your Majesty to take a look!" ”

Zhang Yong is physically strong, he has practiced martial arts before, and he can be said to be a rough man who does not learn and has no skills, but when it comes to the most reluctant, he is proud in his heart, and even drags a sentence, which makes everyone very surprised.

"Good! That's great! It's still thoughtful to Zhang Banban, let people send the book in, I will also read it tonight, let the ministers outside see it, I am also a diligent son! I saw that Zhu Houzhao heard that the whole book of Journey to the West had been found by Zhang Yong in advance, which made him stand up excitedly and praise Zhang Yong again and again.

Hearing the praise of His Majesty the Emperor, Zhang Yong also smiled happily, don't look at their Eight Tigers are usually majestic, but in fact, the power in their hands comes from Zhu Houzhao, whoever has a closer relationship with Zhu Houzhao will have more power in his hands, and now he has taken a step to send the whole book of Journey to the West, so he can naturally get Zhu Houzhao's trust more.

Liu Jin saw Zhang Yong's villainous appearance on the opposite side, but he secretly hated in his heart, they were not monolithic, and there were contradictions between them, for example, he and Zhang Yong were very wrong, last time because of some contradictions, the two also fought in front of Zhu Houzhao, and because Zhang Yong was in good health, he also suffered a lot of losses, although later after Zhu Houzhao's mediation, the two got along on the surface, but in fact, the relationship had already broken down, Zhang Yong took the lead in presenting Journey to the West this time, in fact, he wanted to compete with him for favor.

Thinking of this, Liu Jin couldn't help but feel a little regretful, he paid too much attention to the affairs of the court during this time, but he was a little negligent about the preferences of His Majesty the Emperor, but it is still too late, he must find a way to win the favor of His Majesty again, and he must not let Zhang Yong, a martial artist, steal his limelight! (To be continued......)