In July, the city of Hangzhou is immersed in a blazing furnace, and the peach trees that have long faded from the bright red stamens are as lush as an umbrella canopy, and the lazy tone of the summer cicada comes from the peach trees. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn the courtyard made of blue bricks, turquoise creepers climb all over the sturdy walls. Purple morning glories grow in the courtyard, creating a small world of flowers. The oriole stood on a shelf covered with vines and cried, and the occasional startled sound immediately spread its wings and flew high, leaving behind the swaying vines and the small flecks of light that were free and easy on the ground.

Chen Zhongqing, who was rumored to be unprofessional in Hangzhou City, sat in the courtyard and fiddled with his bottles and cans, since the Song Guanzi left Bianliang for Hangzhou, he had disappeared again in the cause of everyone, and the accidental mention of Heming Tower killing three dead soldiers by one person was quickly covered up by the overwhelming news of displaced people and famine.

Disappearing from everyone's sight in a low-key manner is the best choice for Chen Zhongqing, he hides in the yard and tinkers with bottles and cans, and occasionally gives Lao Jia a piece of paper, asking him to buy all the things listed on the market. Lao Jia just stood aside and watched curiously as his young master tossed these strange stones, and occasionally the two chatted with each other.

"Well, this stone is called alum,"

Chen Zhongqing shook the green spar in his hand, there were still a lot of spars calcined at high temperature in the distillation kettle, and at the other end, liquid continued to leak into the vessel, filling the porcelain bottle.

After filling it with firewood again, Chen Zhongqing took the dry firewood that Lao Jia brought over, the high-temperature calcination was a long wait, his face had been blackened by the firewood, Chen Zhongqing wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, brushed the hair standing on his cheeks behind his ears, and continued to say to Lao Jia behind him, "The previous alchemists put this kind of alum in the distillation kettle and calcined it to make alum oil, which has a strong corrosive effect. ”

"Is there any use?"

Lao Jia really didn't know why the young master liked to toss these, there was no practicality in his eyes, and he couldn't understand the young master's temper and temperament, he only knew that in some aspects, no one could stop what he wanted, and on the other hand, the young master showed the gentleness and tolerance of an elegant scribe. It seems that two completely different emotions are mixed in him, and sometimes he thinks of the vassal kings of Northern Liao he has seen in confusion.

A quarter of an hour ago, a gentle man who was still kind to him, stuffed steamed buns into the homeless children on the roadside, and in the next quarter of an hour, he understated that all the big clans who defected to the Southern Jin Dynasty, regardless of men, women, old and young, fell to the ground.

Chen Zhongqing didn't have much, in this era when practicality was the truth, alchemy was just something that Fang Shi used to coax the rich, no matter what he did, he would not be recognized, he just smiled and stuffed the porcelain bottle full of liquid with a stopper and carefully placed it on the table.

"I'm just in case, sooner or later, the peace of Hangzhou City will be broken, but there are more and more displaced people in the troubled times who are not in chaos, Lao Jia, with your temperament, you should guess what happened, right?"

After being silent for a while, Lao Jia, who was squatting on the ground and playing with the weeds, nodded and said, "Well, I guessed it." The vast majority of the displaced people came from the west road, and although Lao Jia never left the city, he always guessed what was happening. It's just that natural disasters and man-made disasters are far more than the emergence of a large number of displaced people, and the last thing that may happen is that there are bandits on Jiangnan Road, plus Hangzhou City has not only not let the displaced people into the city, but has strengthened its vigilance, plus the Southern Jin soldiers in and out of Hangzhou City in the past few days, it can only show one problem, the thieves are about to attack. ”

Chen Zhongqing nodded and agreed with Lao Jia's point of view, "Even you guessed that the dignitaries and nobles in Hangzhou City are definitely not stupid, but they think that those thieves can't capture a city, so they don't take it seriously." Anyway, it wasn't them who died, but the homeless people outside the city. ”

This time, Lao Jia looked at Chen Zhongqing very seriously, and for the first time, he didn't mean to echo the other party but put forward his own opinion, "Young master, we should pack up our burdens and go back to Bianliang, Hangzhou City is not safe now, and Lao Jia is afraid that he won't be able to protect you if he stays here." Fighting a war is not a small fight of murder and arson, no matter how high the martial arts of a master of the rivers and lakes are, he can't stop forty or fifty soldiers from besieging it, Hangzhou has fallen, if you have three long and two short, ......''

"You haven't understood it yet, Lao Jia."

Chen Zhongqing interrupted him abruptly, walked straight to the water tank, picked up the scoop placed next to him, and gently opened the lotus flower blooming on it with the edge, revealing clear water and a goldfish shuttling back and forth. Directly filled a large scoop of water, walked to the distillation kettle, and extinguished the last burning firewood, leaving only the charcoal and ashes that burned to gray, seeping out with green smoke, burrowing into people's nasopharynx, and choking people.

"Every move of Hangzhou City is related to the change of the Chen family's position in Bianliang, if Song Guanzi's game ends perfectly, the nine thousand years old will be forced to abandon the car to protect the commander, and the first thing to do after the current saint has the initiative is to weaken Huang Shiliang's power and pull out the other party's minions. In addition to the wavering puppet prime minister, the second card in the hand of the nine thousand years old is our Chen family. I saved enough incense on the emperor's side, just to prevent the Chen family from losing power in the future and atone for their sins, otherwise I wouldn't even have the opportunity to change ships. My brother guessed my intentions, and when I went back, I should use my strength to persuade my father to postpone my return to Bianliang. ”

Lao Jia felt that the burden on a young man's body was too heavy, so he relieved, "The young master over there shouldn't have to worry, after all, they are all people who have been in officialdom for most of their lives, and they know the priorities." ”

Chen Zhongqing shook his head firmly, denying his opinion. He saw the attitude of the two lives towards power and desire clearly.

Chen Zhongqing poured out the unspoken words to Lao Jia, "Father, second uncle, third uncle, you really think they are stupid enough to see through the situation, they just don't want to let go." Shangshu's right servant shoots the position, and the prime minister who is half a step away from being able to sit on the position of the extremely human minister, who is willing to let go at this moment. They are comforting themselves that bad luck will not befall them, but the truth is far more cruel than they imagined. If the emperor turns the tables, the first to bear the brunt is the Chen family. Why should I pull a Qin family, isn't it because once I lose power in the future, I can still use the other party's financial resources to make a comeback? ”

After saying this paragraph, Chen Zhongqing regained his composure a little, looked out of the door again, and made up his mind to finish this game of chess.

"A scorched court, a crumbling Hangzhou, whoever takes a step back will lose everything."