After talking about Yang Jisheng, Shen Mo asked Zhao Wenhua about it again: "I heard that the man died violently, and he died extremely strangely. ”

"I sent someone to kill you." Lu Bing said lightly, as if he was saying something that had nothing to do with him: "The intestines are rotten, and they will be famous in history." He added: "You don't have to worry about others, and you won't be in trouble after returning to Jiangnan." ”

Shen Mo nodded and said with a wry smile: "I'm chasing ducks to the shelves, and I can't only hold on." ”

"You have to be careful, don't fold there." Lu Bingdao: "The Japanese Kou, the Hao family, the Yan Dang, and the Qingliu, all of them are enough for you to drink a pot." ”

"Let them all come." Shen Mo smiled and said, "If there are too many lice, I won't bite." ”

"Good!" Lu Bing picked up the wine glass and said, "Dry this glass, when I give you a strong trip!" ”

Shen Mo raised his glass and touched him, drank it all, and listened to Lu Bing again: "Although you are an official, those people will not come with you according to the rules. Saying that, he smiled and said: "I have already transferred Zhu Shisan and Nanzhili Jinyi Wei Qianhu, and he has already set off for Suzhou...... If you have something to do, just look for him. ”

"Thank you, senior brother," Shen Mo said happily, "This is really a send-off." ”

Lu Bingdao: "And the last time Zhao Wenhua's house was copied, the old rule is that the house is all opened in three or seven, the big head is handed over to the treasury, and the small head is divided by the brothers...... A total of 800,000 taels, 50,000 taels out, divide it among the people below, and then take out 50,000 taels, and take care of the stewards and eunuchs in the palace, as well as those bull-nosed Taoist priests, everyone is a little sweet. In this way, no one will gossip...... I kept the rest of the money for 200,000 taels, and you took 500,000 taels. ”

Shen Mo didn't want to think about it, so he refused: "It's useless, what do I want your money for?" ”

"How can it be considered useless? Zhao Wenhua was brought down by you, and you should take this money. Lu Bing said with his surname: "Don't worry, the accounts have been cleaned, and Zhao Wenhua's whole family has also been wiped out, and there is no such silver in this world." ”

Shen Mo just shook his head, so angry that Lu Bing scolded: "Love or not!" As he spoke, he got up again and took a Nanmu box, handed it to him, and said, "You're getting married, and I can't eat your wedding wine, so let's take this as a congratulatory gift." ”

When Shen Mo opened the box, he saw a dark gold vest, which was not silky or hairy to the touch, and had a metallic texture, which was slightly heavy.

"This is my family heirloom armor, which can block bows and arrows and projectiles, and is warm in winter and cool in summer, which is a rare good thing." Lu Bingdao: "But I don't need it now, you will inevitably encounter danger here, so I'll give it to you...... You can't refuse this, right? ”

"How can the treasure of my brother's family be given away casually?" Shen Mo continued to excuse himself.

"Just take it," Lu Bing glared, "Good things don't need to be waste." ”

"That's good," Shen Mo finally nodded, "I'll borrow it for a few years first, and I'll return it when someone from your family goes to war." ”

"What was sent, how can there be any reason to come back?" Lu Bing shook his head and said.

"Didn't Senior Brother also say it, no matter how good things are, it's a waste if you don't use them." Shen Mo smiled: "I won't use this thing all the time, it's still your family's big use." ”

"We'll talk about it then." Lu Bing nodded and said, "Put it away." ”

When I came home from the Governor's Mansion, it was already night, and I talked to Ruohan, and I talked about the treasure armor silently, so I took it out like a treasure, showed it to her, and said: "Bring the scissors, I'll poke and try to see if it's really invulnerable." ”

Ruohan smiled and fetched it for him, Shen Mo carried the soft armor with one hand, and poked the scissors in one hand to the armor, only to hear a muffled sound, the scissors were blocked out, and they couldn't enter the slightest.

Ruohan smiled: "It must be true, can Lu Taibao still give you a fake?" ”

Silent but with a different complexion, he put down the scissors, rubbed the soft armor with both hands, listened to the movement inside, and then looked around inside and out. He instructed Ruohan: "Remove the lining." As he spoke, he handed the armor to Ruohan, and he got up and closed the door tightly.

Ruohan opened a corner of the lining according to his words, and saw several thick official tickets, the top one with a denomination of 8,000 taels of silver.

She said lightly, removed the entire silk, and saw a dense crowd of official tickets, which were as thick as two books, and when counted, it was 500,000 taels...... She handed the stack of money to Shen Mo and said nothing.

Shen Mo also clicked it again, and said in surprise: "It can't be that he forgot about it sewn inside." ”

Ruohan picked up the box, reached out and touched it, and opened the silk padded in the box, and an envelope appeared in front of the two of them.

Shen Mo picked it up and looked at it, he didn't look up, he didn't make a payment, only five words: 'It's for you.' ’

"What is this for?" Ruohan said softly.

"Don't you see? For me. Shen silently put down the stack of silver tickets, crossed his hands in front of his chest and said, "But why did he give me so much money?" ”

"Why don't you send him back tomorrow." Ruohan said softly.

"My senior brother has already entered the palace at this time, and he won't come out for half a month, so he can't send it back even if he wants to." Shen Mo shook his head and said, "You sew it back and put it away first." ”

Ruohan didn't say anything again, sewed the letter and the official ticket back into the treasure armor, and listened to Shen silently: "Wait a few years, we will meet again, and then return the original." ”

"It's for the best." Ruohan smiled and said: "If we have to spend money, we can earn it ourselves, but we can't get rich with these." ”

Shen Mo hugged her soft waist, imprinted a hot kiss on her lips, and said with a smile: "Others rely on moderation to keep honest; The official relies on the lady. ”

"It's all a parent official, and it's not in shape yet." Ruohan leaned lightly on his shoulder and said.

"Hehe, the official is easy-going," said silently, a pair of thief hands wandered on Ruohan's body, and said with a ** face: "I won't leave tonight." ”

Ruohan's face turned red, and he muttered, "Okay." ”

"Yes," Silence said overjoyed, sitting up straight.

Ruohan took advantage of the situation to hide to the side, and giggled: "You sleep here, I'll go find Rou Niang." ”

Shen Modeng's face fell, and he said with a sad face: "You really can't bear it......"

Ruohan had already walked to the door, and when he heard this, he looked back at Qiu Bo who threw a ** at him and said, "I've been waiting for a year, and there is still the last month, you can definitely hold on." ”

"Really...... It's hard to sleep with you, it's hard to go to the sky. Shen Mo screamed, lay on the bed and hugged Ruohan's brocade quilt, sniffed deeply and said, "It's so fragrant......"

Ruohan looked at her husband, who was not in shape, and her face was full of happy smiles.

At noon the next day, Shen Mo came to Xu Jie's house as promised. Compared with the grand Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, the Xu Mansion looks a little cold, and the small courtyard with three entrances before and after, even the Li Ben's family is not as good, it is very hard and simple...... It's hard to believe that this is the mansion of a first-class master.

Ordinary officials will definitely be in awe when they see the residence of the dignified and second-class assistants, but Shen Mo is from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Knowing a large number of Su Song officials, Wang Yongji and Wang Chonggu both told him that Xu Ge's hometown was the largest landlord in Songjiang, monopolizing more than one-third of the local cotton supply, and even in Jiangsu, his future jurisdiction, there were hundreds of acres of mulberry gardens, accounting for one-fifth of the supply of silkworm cocoons.

You must know that the cotton cloth of Songjiang and the silk of Suzhou are the most famous goods of the Ming Dynasty, and they have always been coveted at home and abroad. The Xu family controls a considerable proportion of raw materials, and the wealth of their family must be much greater than that of Zhao Wenhua...... Comparing the residential conditions of the Xu and Zhao families, Shen Mo had to sigh, Xu Ge Lao really counted a lot of buns...... Xu Ge said that he was wearing casual clothes at home, like a teacher in a bookstore, and kindly pulled Shen Mo into the quiet back hall to sit down. The dishes on the table are quite sumptuous, which shows the sincerity of the host and the guests - in addition to a few delicate small cold dishes, there are a plate of yellow mud snails, a bowl of Dongpo meat, a bowl of sauce pigeons, a plate of Ma Lantou, a basket of crispy pork ribs, a plate of fried eel paste and braised paddling, eight treasure duck, stir-fried chicken hair cabbage and several special Songjiang dishes.

There are good dishes, of course, there are good wine, a bottle of Shaoxing flower carving ten years old, in the porcelain pot, warm in the basin, the pot with ginger silk and plum, just smell a smell, a kind of foreign land to meet the warmth of the deceased, it is permeated in the hearts of people.

Xu Jie smiled: "This is your mother's own cooking, and her skills are easily revealed." If I hadn't heard that it was Wen Kuixing who came today, I wouldn't have been so good-mouthed. ”

Shen Mo looked flattered and said: "My mother is wrong to love, and my teacher laughed." He poured wine respectfully for Xu Gelao.

"Fill yourself up too," Xu Jie said with a smile: "The wine in the north is too strong, and we southerners still drink Huadiao." ”

Respectfully respecting Xu Ge's old man with a glass of wine, he smiled silently: "The student once ate Songjiang cuisine, this cuisine is fresh, sweet, delicious and elegant, and can make the laity dumb." ”

"I'm still a connoisseur," Xu Jie said with a smile, "Then do you know which dish is the most important in Songjiang cuisine." ”

"Yes......" Shen Mo nodded to one of the plates, "This yellow mud snail, right?" ”

"Exactly." Xu Jie smiled and said: "If the yellow mud snail is not well prepared, it will not be a dish." Taste it. ”

Silence did not shirk, tasted a few yellow mud snails that melted in the mouth, only to feel the rich aroma, drunken mellow, salty and fresh, and the aftertaste around the tongue. I couldn't help but praise in Songjiang dialect: "It's so rare that my eyebrows fall off!" ”

This compliment made Xu Ge Lao, who had always been quiet, dance with his eyebrows, personally poured wine for Shen Mo, and said with a smile: "The northerners who have come to my house to eat all say that Songjiang cuisine is good, but there is a small snail that is so bad to eat that it is so bad that I don't know what the smell is, and it is raw." Xu Ge Lao also asked me to taste it every time, as a treasure......" I only heard him say very seriously: "So, after that, I will learn to be obedient, and then invite northerners to eat, and I don't eat this fairy dish, and I will destroy the heavens at the same time." He burst into tears of laughter as he spoke.

Silence naturally laughed too.

Huang Niluo opened his appetite, a cup of Huadiao entered his stomach again, and Xu Ge Lao beckoned Shen Mo to taste a few chopsticks dishes, and it was really full of taste, making it easy for people to eat the sincerity of the owner.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Xu Ge Lao opened up the conversation and said: "This time you went to the south, you were originally appointed as the prefect of Hangzhou, but Yan Ge Lao proposed to let Tang Ruji, the champion of the previous department, serve as the prefect, and His Majesty will not refute his face, so he will change you to the prefect of Suzhou." He said with a smile: "But you don't have to worry about it." It is said that 'there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below', which shows that there is no difference between the two places. Moreover, Hangzhou has a governor, a governor, a political envoy, and an envoy, and four mothers-in-law take care of you and a daughter-in-law, so it is better to be able to let go in Suzhou. ”

Shen Mo nodded and whispered a few words...... This is all a matter that has already been done, Xu Jie can't just take it out and fry cold rice, it must have other intentions.

Sure enough, after listening to Xu Ge's old words, he turned his head and said: "But if you are in Suzhou, it will not be smooth sailing...... Now some people in the court regard the errand you are going to do as big fat meat, and they must gnaw on it fiercely; And for those Fujian and Zhejiang maritime merchants, you are tantamount to smashing their cornucopia, and they will definitely not sit still. ”

Shen Mo nodded, and said softly: "Lu Dudu also reminded the students of this. ”

"But you don't have to be too pessimistic, because the vast majority of people still support the opening of the port." Xu Jie relieved the pressure on him and said: "As far as I know, the maritime merchants monopolized smuggling and wantonly lowered prices, which has already caused many people to complain. Ever since I heard that the Imperial Court was going to reopen the market, most of them have stopped trading with the maritime merchants, waiting for you, the great savior, to rescue them...... You have to get in touch with these people a little bit more and try to unite them as much as possible to resist the pressure from all sides. ”

Seeing that this old Xu Ge, who believes in 'a hundred words, it is better to be silent', he is unusual, tirelessly teaching himself, listening silently while listening attentively, while pondering the other party's intentions...... For a veteran politician like Xu Gelao, 'nothing to do, or steal', this sentence is by no means slander.

In Shen Mo's view, the reason why he is like this has at least two meanings. First of all, the teacher-student relationship between the two is already broken bones and tendons, and Xu Ge wants to use this kind of action to imply that his status in his heart has achieved the goal of completely capturing himself. Moreover, from the original meaning of these words, it can be understood that Xu Ge is always vaguely interceding for Su Song's big family...... To 'unite them' is to give them privileges.

But no matter what, he had to show gratitude on his face, and said to Xu Jie: "Thank you for your guidance." ”

"Hehe......" Xu Ge said with a smile: "I'm just talking on paper, what will it be, you have to go to Suzhou to find out by yourself." ”

Shen Mo nodded and said: "Students who do such a thing on the cusp have long been prepared to meet the open guns and hidden arrows, but they are far away from the Beijing Division, and they will inevitably be worried and ridiculed, and they will be attacked and ridiculed......"

"You don't have to worry about this, because the strict party supports the opening of the sea ban." Xu Jiedao: "And my Ming dynasty will remain stable for a long time...... "Said and found a report for Shen Mo: "This is issued by the cabinet today, you haven't seen it yet." ”

Shen Mo opened it and took a look, it turned out to be Yan Ge's old first product for nine years and then full ...... In other words, he has served as the first assistant for eighteen years, and I saw Yan Song say in a sparse manner: 'The old classics of the national examination, those who have been in the ministers for nine years are not reinstated, and the ministers are the first of the courtiers, and after nine years, there is no size of merit, and it should be avoided by example. It turned out to be a regular request to retire to the mountain.

Shen Moxin said, how good it would be if this old guy really retired, but everyone knew that it was impossible, and I saw that the next thing was Emperor Jiajing's excellent edict, praising him for his loyalty and diligence, and his long and meritorious achievements. 'Don't allow him to resign, and give a banquet to the Ministry of Rites, and one of his sons is a scholar in the middle school.

Xu Jie said with a faint bitterness on his face: "See, although Yan Ge is eighty years old, he is still old and strong, and he is not mediocre at all, and His Majesty still relies on him very much," he said and sighed: "Among the six Shangshu, Wu Peng, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Yan Shifan, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, are Yan Song's henchmen, and the Shangshu of the Ministry of War is replaced by the veteran Xu Lun, who resigned Yang Bo...... This old man is almost old, and he only thinks about retiring peacefully, so all the generals are overthrown, and the troops are all under the command of Yan Shifan. ”

"As for Zhou Yan, the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Fang Blunt of the Household Department, and Wang Wei, the Secretary of the Criminal Department, although they have served the public service, they have not had an affair with the Yan Party, but they are all just the same, and they are just Mingzhe to protect themselves." Xu Jie sighed infinitely desolately: "Strict party power is all over the world, which is naturally a great harm to the imperial court, but it is an opportunity for what you want to do." ”

Saying that, he looked at Shen Mo and said: "You have to seize this opportunity to make a real name, and make the City Boss a place for the money and food of the Ming Dynasty, and no matter how the political situation changes, you can sit firmly in Diaoyutai." ”

"The students were taught." Silently stood up and said solemnly.

Two days later, bidding farewell to his friend in Beijing in the same year, Shen Mo and his family escorted him on the official ship heading south, and the destination was Shaoxing, his hometown after a long absence.

Leaving the capital of the Longtan Tiger's Den, the silent mood finally relaxed, talking and laughing along the way, beautiful and happy. He didn't know that the city of Suzhou, known as the paradise on earth, had become an even more dangerous tiger's den, quietly waiting for his arrival.

(To be continued)